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Talks with US have been ‘positive’ and discussions are still ongoing to secure long-range missiles, Ukrainian envoy says
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The transfer of America‘s long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine is still on the table and Kyiv is engaged in “positive” talks with the US, the war-hit country’s ambassador to Washington says.
Olha Stefanishyna told Bloomberg that discussions were “still ongoing” and that Ukraine has “a lot of delegations working to scale up the available financial resources to procure more military capabilities from the US”.
Donald Trump has repeatedly wavered on whether or not to allow Ukraine to be sent Tomahawks, which would help Kyiv strike targets deep inside Russia.
On Sunday he said he was “not really” inclined to let a deal go ahead, even after the Pentagon said it had no logistical objections.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has ordered a record number of troops be conscripted before the end of this year, according to the Ministry of Defence.
“Putin is increasing the number of Russians conscripted into the military. 135,000 is the number of Russians Putin has ordered for conscription by the end of the year,” the MoD said in an update yesterday.
Swiss commodity trader Gunvor has withdrawn its proposal to buy the foreign assets of Russian energy giant Lukoil after being called out as “Russia’s puppet”.
The move scuttles what would have been Gunvor’s largest acquisition and underscores Washington’s attempt to use sanctions to isolate Russia and choke revenues it uses to fight the war in Ukraine.
The US Treasury said in a post on X that president Donald Trump “has been clear that the war must end immediately. As long as (Russian president Vladimir) Putin continues the senseless killings, the Kremlin’s puppet, Gunvor, will never get a license to operate and profit”.
Seth Pietras, Gunvor’s corporate affairs director, said in an email that Treasury’s statement was “fundamentally misinformed and false” and it welcomed “the opportunity to ensure this clear misunderstanding is corrected.”
“In the meantime, Gunvor withdraws its proposal for Lukoil’s international assets,” Pietras said.
The Treasury imposed sanctions on Lukoil last month in an effort to cut Russia’s revenues used in fighting the war. Lukoil then said it had accepted an offer from Gunvor to buy its foreign assets.
Senior North Korean and Russian military officials discussed strengthening cooperation in their latest talks this week in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said today, as the two countries continue to align over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The report came days after South Korea’s spy agency, in a closed-door briefing to lawmakers, said it had detected signs of recruitment and training activities in North Korea, possibly in preparation for additional troop deployments to Russia.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said North Korean officials, led by Pak Yong Il, vice director of the Korean People’s Army’s General Political Bureau, held talks on Wednesday with a Russian delegation headed by vice defence Minister Viktor Goremykin.
KCNA said the two sides discussed expanding cooperation in line with the “deepened bilateral relations” developed under North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian president Vladimir Putin. The report didn’t mention any specific agreements. KCNA also said Goremykin’s delegation separately met with North Korean defence minister No Kwang Chol.
When asked whether North Korean and Russian officials may have discussed additional North Korean troop deployments to Russia, Chang Yoon-jeong, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Unification Ministry, said Seoul was closely monitoring the situation but wouldn’t make assumptions.
Ukraine has asked Sweden to start training Ukrainian pilots on Swedish Gripen fighter jets as soon as possible, Kyiv’s defence minister said.
Denys Shmyhal told reporters in Stockholm alongside his Swedish counterpart that Ukraine was ready to send personnel to Sweden immediately.
Gripen is a fourth generation light single-engine supersonic fighter jet. It is a so-called multi-role fighter aircraft, designed for missions such as air-to-air combat, aerial bombing and reconnaissance. It is seen as a solid low-cost alternative to the more expensive fifth generation planes, such as the F-35.
The Gripen E is just over 15 metres long, weighs 16.5 tonnes and can refuel, rearm and be back in the air in 10-20 minutes after landing, and is capable of operating from relatively rough air strips.
Gripen, Swedish for the mythical creature Griffin, has been in commission since 1996 but has been upgraded several times.
An anti-Russian rebel group has carried out sabotage operations and attacked dozens of locomotives being used to transport weapons and ammunition, Ukrainian intelligence agency said.
The Freedom of Russia resistance movement, seen as one of the most dominant resistance groups on Russian territory, carried out the attack. A video showed locomotives set ablaze in multiple locations, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR) said on Telegram.
“The partisans’ incendiary cocktails incinerated the control and power systems of dozens of vehicles used for military cargo transport,” the statement by HUR said.
The attacks have slowed down Russian logistics and disrupted the military supplies to Russian frontline units.
Nato is now producing more ammunition than Russia, the alliance’s secretary general Mark Rutte has said.
“We are already turning the tide on ammunition. Until recently, Russia was producing more ammunition than all Nato allies put together. But not anymore. Across the Alliance, we are now opening dozens of new production lines and expanding existing ones,” he said at the Nato Industry Forum in Bucharest yesterday.
“We are making more than we have done in decades. We need to build on this progress in other areas, from high end air defence and low-cost drone interceptors,” he said.
Rutte warned that the danger posed by Russia “will not end when this war does”.
“For the foreseeable future, Russia will remain a destabilising force in Europe and the world. And Russia is not alone in its efforts to undermine the global rules. As you know it is working with China, with North Korea, with Iran and others,” he said.
“They are increasing their defence industrial collaboration to unprecedented levels. They are preparing for long term confrontation,” Rutte said.
Ukraine is engaged in “positive” talks with the US on buying Tomahawk missiles and other long-range weapons, the country’s ambassador to Washington Olha Stefanishyna said.
“The discussion is still ongoing but we have a lot of delegations working to scale up the available financial resources to procure more military capabilities from the US,” she told Bloomberg.
US president Donald Trump on Sunday said that for now, he is not considering a deal that would allow Ukraine to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles for use against Russia.
Trump and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte discussed the Tomahawk missile sale to Kyiv when they met at the White House on 22 October.
The While Trump has cooled on a plan for the United States to sell Tomahawks to Nato nations that would transfer them to Ukraine, with Trump now saying that he does not want to escalate the war.
“No, not really,” Trump told reporters as he flew to Washington from Palm Beach, Florida, when asked whether he was considering a deal to sell the missiles. He added, however, that he could change his mind.
Unless Europe dramatically increases pressure on Russia, Ukraine will face a “forever war” and a slow erosion of its territory, a former Nato secretary general has said.
“If we do not carry out major changes in strategy we will look into a forever war,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general from 2009 to 2014.
“Putin has no incentive to engage in peace negotiations so long as he thinks he can win on the battlefield. Changes in speed and mindset are needed,” he said.
Calling on the deployment of a European protection force for Ukraine in advance of a ceasefire agreement, Rasmussen said the “coalition of the willing” is now reduced to a coalition of the waiting as it waits for fighting to end.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered a fresh round of conscription of troops before the end of this year, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
“Putin is increasing the number of Russians conscripted into the military. 135,000 is the number of Russians Putin has ordered for conscription by the end of the year,” the MoD said in an update yesterday.
Putin signed a law on year-round conscription into the army on Tuesday, according to Russia’s legal acts portal.
It has been nine years since Russia called up so many men in its autumn draft, according to the ministry. The defence ministry said at least 160,000 men were called up in this year’s spring intake. That was the highest number of Russian servicemen drafted into the military during the spring since 2011.
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