Ukraine and Russia continue to report drone attacks, this time just hours after the framework of a partial ceasefire in the Black Sea was agreed. Meanwhile, Russia said its new ambassador to the US will leave for Washington today. Follow the latest here.
Wednesday 26 March 2025 16:14, UK
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived in Paris ahead of the European summit to discuss Ukraine, which is scheduled for tomorrow, according to his spokesperson.
French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting a group of European leaders tomorrow to discuss Ukraine and security in Europe.
The summit is a follow-up to Macron’s February and March gatherings of European and NATO leaders in Paris to discuss defence guarantees for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to have a meeting with Macron later today.
We’ll bring you more updates on Zelenskyy’s arrival to the French capital as we get them.
Further to Ukrainian reports we brought you earlier of a diesel spillage at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the Russian-installed management at the facility has dismissed the claims as “fake”.
Earlier, Ukraine accused Moscow of being incapable of managing safety at plant after what it called reports of a huge spillage of diesel (see post at 3.05pm).
“The spilled fuel was enough to power the station’s emergency generators for 25 days,” the country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, said.
He did not give the origin of the reports or say when or how the damage had come about, saying only that it was “a direct result of Russia’s reckless replacement” of licensed Ukrainian experts with Russian staff.
Last week, Donald Trump suggested the US could help run and possibly own Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.
But Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ownership has not been discussed and ruled out such a possibility.
A search is under way after four US army soldiers went missing in Lithuania, the US embassy in Vilnius reports.
The embassy said on their website that the soldiers went missing in a training area near Pabrade in eastern Lithuania, near the border with Belarus.
A search is being conducted by the US army, Lithuanian armed forces, Lithuanian law enforcement and others, the embassy added.
The embassy has not said when the soldiers went missing.
Ukraine has accused Russia of being incapable of managing safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after what it called reports of diesel spillage.
The country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, said Russia had not only stole the plant, but they were “unable to manage its basic safety”.
Here is what he has said on X…
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility is Europe’s largest nuclear plant and located in southern Ukraine.
The plant has been controlled by Russian forces since March 2022.
Since then, both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of attacking it – leading to UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, frequently expressing concern about the plant amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.
Donald Trump’s special envoy has come under fire for his comments around a 1994 deal transferring nuclear weapons from Ukraine to Russia, known as the Budapest Memorandum.
Here’s what Richard Grenell said:
“Lets be clear about the Budapest Memorandum: the nukes were Russia’s and were leftovers.
“Ukraine gave the nukes back to Russia. They weren’t Ukraine’s.
“This is an uncomfortable fact.”
The Budapest Memorandum was signed after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Those nuclear weapons were inherited from the Soviet Union, but Ukraine agreed to give them up in return for security guarantees.
Former US ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer, who was involved in those talks in 1994, was among those to respond to Grenell – pointing out Russia is not the same thing as the Soviet Union.
“Grenell is flat wrong. Nuclear warheads in #Ukraine were ex-Soviet, not Russian,” he said.
Political commentator and former Republican Representative Adam Kizinger was more direct in his response, writing: “They were Soviet you ignorant ass helmet.
“So they were as equally Ukraine’s as Russia’s. This is day one knowledge.”
We reported earlier that Russia had accused Ukraine of targeting energy infrastructure in three of its regions, despite an agreement not to carry out such attacks (see our 11.17am post).
The Ukrainian military has now rejected that accusation.
The general staff said on messaging app Telegram that Kyiv’s troops did not conduct any such strikes on 25-26 March.
The United Nations Security Council is convening to discuss Ukraine.
Only a brief summary of the agenda is available on the UN website, describing it as regarding the “maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine”.
The UNSC has 15 members, including China, France, Russia, the UK and US.
We’ll be bringing you all the key updates here in the blog – or you can watch live at the top of the page.
Any Russian attack on NATO members would be met by “the full force of this fierce alliance”.
Mark Rutte, the group’s chief, was speaking in Poland, where Prime Minister Donald Tusk said NATO’s commitment to defend the country would be “very important”.
And Rutte backed him, adding: “Our reaction will be devastating.”
He said this “has to be very clear to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin”, and “anyone else who wants to attack us”.
Ukraine-US ties are “back on track”, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.
Relations appeared to hit a new low last month following a disastrous meeting between Zelenskyy and Donald Trump at the White House.
But in an interview with Reuters news agency, Andriy Yermak said two rounds of talks in Saudi Arabia gave Kyiv the chance to show US officials it is open to working with Trump to end the war.
“I think we have great conversations with the Americans,” he said.
“I think we are back on track.”
Describing the negotiations in Saudi – where the US has also held talks with Russia – Yermak said Ukraine’s delegation demonstrated “we are very serious”.
“Dear American friends, you understand that we are partners. This was our goal,” he said.
In contrast to their approach, he added Russia is “just playing games”.
Michael Calvey was among the first Westerners to move to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union – and he started one of the first private equity funds.
He arrived “full of optimism”, and said he was happy until 2019 – when he was arrested on trumped-up charges invented by local business rivals.
He would spend two months in Matrosskaya Tishina prison, one of the country’s most notorious, with another two years under house arrest.
Speaking to our presenters Wilfred Frost and Leah Boleto, Calvey is now warning against investing in Russia as the US tries to reset business relations.
“It was a shock,” he said about his imprisonment.
“I was in a dispute for about a year and a half with two difficult and nefarious individuals, and the negotiations had been tense.
“There was one time when my apartment caught fire very suspiciously, just two hours before an important negotiation.”
He said he ended up suing those individuals in London over a disagreement.
“And I think when they realised they would lose, that’s when they effectively persuaded the FSB to have me arrested,” he added.
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