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Comes as Zelensky says Ukraine is ‘fully committed’ to peace ahead of meeting with US in Saudi Arabia
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Russian troops have crept miles through a major gas pipeline to launch a surprise attack on Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, according to pro-Russian war bloggers.
As part of a major offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region, some of the Russian special forces had spent several days in the pipe before attempting the surprise near the town of Sudzha, said Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers seized about 1,300 square km of Russia‘s Kursk region in August last year in what Kyiv said was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to force Russia to shift forces from eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv is “fully committed” to constructive dialogue with US representatives in Saudi Arabia next week and hoped to agree the next steps.
“Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of this war. Realistic proposals are on the table. The key is to move quickly and effectively,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
Mr Zelensky said he would visit Saudi Arabia next week and after he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives would stay for a meeting the following day with the US team.
US representatives have already held two sets of talks with their Russian counterparts, the first of which was in Saudi Arabia.
German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz on Sunday said he would like talks with France and Britain about sharing their nuclear weapons, but not as a substitute for US nuclear protection of Europe.
“Sharing nuclear weapons is an issue that we need to talk about…we have to become stronger together in nuclear deterrence,” he said in an interview on Deutschlandfunk radio, a day after agreeing cornerstones of a coalition deal between his conservative party and the Social Democratic SPD party.
“We should talk with both countries (France and Britain), always also from the perspective of supplementing the American nuclear shield, which we of course want to see maintained.”
Germany, due to its Second World War past, has bound itself to non-nuclear defence in a number of international treaties but participates in NATO weapons-sharing arrangements.
At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders backed plans to spend more on defence amid fears that Russia, emboldened by its war in Ukraine, may attack an EU country next and that Europe can no longer rely on the US to come to its aid.
Merz’s tougher stance on security and migration reflects a changing political landscape, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has surged to become the country’s second-largest party.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Saudi Arabia over March 10-12 for talks with Ukrainian counterparts, a statement from the US Department of State said.
Rubio will also have a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the statement from spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Rubio will then travel to Canada over March 12-14 for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting, the statement added.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that recent advances by Russian forces against Ukraine in the Kursk region meant that Kyiv’s soldiers were almost surrounded.
In a post on Telegram about the fighting in Kursk, Medvedev wrote: “The lid of the smoking cauldron is almost closed. The offensive continues.”
Britain and other European nations must be ready to take over Nato if Donald Trump carries out US threats to withdraw from the organisation.
They must replace American military aid to Ukraine scrapped by Mr Trump and make sure Russian leader Vladimir Putin does not win the conflict.
That was the powerful message delivered on Saturday by former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace.
Simon Walters reports:
France will use interest from Russian assets to fund another €195 million in arms for Ukraine, Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a newspaper interview.
France also plans to hand over some of its older armoured fighting vehicles, such as its AMX-10RC and personnel carriers, Lecornu told La Tribune weekend newspaper.
“Thanks to interest from frozen Russian assets, we will also tap new funds worth €195 million,” Lecornu said, adding that it would be used for 155-mm artillery shells and glide bombs for Mirage 2000 fighter jets France has given Ukraine.
The Group of Seven powers agreed last year to provide Ukraine with $50 billion via a series of bilateral loans that Kyiv could pay off using windfall profits from $300 billion of frozen Russian state assets.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has said it is “deeply concerning” that military aid and intelligence-sharing from the US to Ukraine has been cut off.
Speaking to LBC on Sunday, Mr Philp said: “It’s deeply concerning that this vital support to Ukraine has been suspended, both the military support and the critical intelligence-sharing.
“We’ve seen in the last 48 hours Russia deliberately targeting Ukrainian civilians and it’s caused fatalities, so I’m not sure what the thinking is, I’m deeply concerned by it.
“Certainly, I think the United Kingdom should be continuing to stand unequivocally with Ukraine in this dark hour both in terms of military equipment and whatever intelligence we are able to provide.
“They’ve been barbarically and brutally invaded by a dictator, Vladimir Putin, and I think it’s morally right that we stand with them to help them defend themselves.
“It’s not just a moral case, there’s a wider case as well because we don’t want dictators like Putin thinking they can just walk into countries and invade them as he’s done.”
A Ukrainian drone hit an industrial facility overnight in Russia’s Volga river region of Chuvashia, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, the regional governor said on Sunday.
The strike – one of the deepest yet into Russia by a Ukrainian drone – caused no casualties, Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Emergency services were at the scene at the Kombinat Burevestnik facility in the region’s capital, Cheboksaray, Nikolayev added. He provided no further details about the strike and the extent of any damage was unclear.
Unofficial Russian news Telegram channels said Ukrainian overnight attacks on Ryazan and Lipetsk had targeted local oil refineries.
Ukrainian Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Center for Countering Disinformation, part of the National Security and Defense Council, said, without providing evidence or saying directly that Ukrainian drones were involved, the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant in Lipetsk was under attack.
The reports on what was targeted in the attacks could not be independently verified.
A major Brexit rethink is needed on defence and security, former deputy prime minister Lord Michael Heseltine has warned in the wake of Donald Trump’s shocking actions in withdrawing military aid and intelligence from Ukraine.
Writing in The Independent, the Tory peer believes the threat of Mr Trump’s administration has opened the doors for Keir Starmer to have a much more profound repair of the damage of Brexit beyond the limited ambitions of his reset talks.
Lord Heseltine, who played a significant role in the Remain campaign, sees the rethink as leading to a single European military command structure and defence of the continent’s borders.
Read Lord Heseltine’s piece here:
The Latvian president has called for European countries to “absolutely” introduce conscription as well as up defence spending.
Edgars Rinkevics also admitted the continent is currently “quite weak” militarily, which is especially notable amid the “ups and downs” in its relationship with the US.
Latvia introduced conscription for men two years ago, while its defence spending is now four per cent of its GDP.
Mr Rinkevics told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips: “Seeing what is happening in the world, the decision that we took – many other European countries need to follow that.
“A lot of people are a little bit nervous. People are following the news. Of course strong reassurances [are] one thing, but another thing is other European governments [have] to make sure that we all get stronger.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that it had taken the village of Konstyantynopil, in the southern part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
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