Poland’s prime minister says two Ukrainians who “collaborated” with Russian intelligence are behind a bombing on a railway over the weekend. Elsewhere, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’ll be in Turkey tomorrow for talks aimed at ending the war. Follow the latest.
Tuesday 18 November 2025 13:32, UK
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On Wednesday at 1pm, military analyst Professor Michael Clarke will answer your questions on the Ukraine war in his weekly live session. Send us yours in the form at the top of the page.
Here are some of the latest pictures from Ukraine.
In the frontline town of Hulyaipole, in the Zaporizhzhia region, emergency services were evacuating civilians while under shelling, Ukraine’s National Police Service said.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed to have taken Hulyaipole earlier this week, but these claims were not independently verified and Ukraine seems to still be operating in the town.
However, it is under increasing pressure from Russian forces and the situation has worsened for Ukrainian troops there in recent weeks.
While Ukraine has been evacuating civilians from frontline cities throughout the nearly four-year-old war, veteran rescuers say it is exceptionally risky now because of swarms of drones that have arrived on the battlefield.
We’ve got a bit more to bring you now from Polish PM Donald Tusk’s update on the alleged Russian sabotage in the country’s east (see our previous post for more).
Speaking to Polish politicians, he says that the alarm level has been raised on certain rail lines.
Tusk told his country’s parliament:
“The head of the Internal Security Agency and the interior minister have requested that I introduce the third threat level, Charlie, due to terrorist threats. This level will apply to certain railway lines, while the rest of the country will remain under the second alert level.”
He also outlines that Warsaw is now working on figuring out how to use the military to protect key infrastructure like railways.
Tusk also warns that the actions of Russian services are escalating across all of Europe.
Polish PM Donald Tusk says the country has identified the two people it believes are responsible for the sabotage on its rail lines over the weekend.
Tusk tells Polish politicians the two people allegedly behind the plot were from Ukraine and they had collaborated with Russian intelligence.
He adds that their aim was to cause catastrophe on the railway.
As a reminder, Polish authorities earlier said “everything points” to Russia being behind the incident.
In the update, Tusk also says:
For context: The incident took place Sunday morning along the Warsaw-Lublin route near the Mika village in east-central Poland.
A train driver on the line reported track irregularities at around 7.40am.
Two passengers and several staff members were on the train, but no injuries were reported.
A Ukrainian parliamentary session meant to vote on two ministers accused of corruption has been suspended after protests.
Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada was supposed to vote this morning on resolutions over the dismissal of justice minister Herman Halushchenko and energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk
Halushchenko and Hrynchuk both resigned last week after Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for them to step down amid a major embezzlement and kickbacks scandal involving the state nuclear power company.
The two are alleged to have gained payments from the construction of fortifications to protect energy infrastructure from Russia’s attacks.
However, today, a livestream of the parliament showed deputies, allegedly from the European Solidarity party, blocking the speaker’s rostrum until the session was abandoned.
According to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspline, the deputies called for the resignation of the entire cabinet.
We’ve got a bit more to bring you now on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Spain.
As we reported earlier, the Ukrainian leader started his trip with a visit to the Spanish parliament. While there, he briefed the presidents of the upper and lower houses on the latest situation in Ukraine.
He also raised the PURL initiative – a programme in which NATO allies purchase US weapons for Ukraine.
Our Europe producer Simone Baglivo reports that Spain has confirmed it will purchase €1bn (£880m) of military equipment from the US to be used by Kyiv.
‘Essential equipment’
Zelenskyy has also met with weapons and defence manufacturers in the Spanish capital.
“Advanced radars, drone technologies, essential equipment – all of this means better protection of lives,” Zelenskyy says in a post on social media.
His visit to Spain comes after trips to Greece and France, both of which he signed agreements with as well.
Later today, he is expected to meet with Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s prime minister.
This week’s aviation deal signed between Ukraine and France has already caused a stir in Moscow.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said this morning that the agreement was “regrettable” and said it “does not contribute to peace” (see 9.45 post).
By contrast, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it will help Ukraine have “one of the greatest” air defences in the world.
So what’s actually in the deal?
Under the agreement, over the next 10 years, Ukraine will be able to buy:
The strategic agreement will last for a decade, and the two nations will also work closer together with their respective military industries and technologies.
No timeline has been given on the delivery of the jets, while reports suggest it can take at least three years to train pilots to fly them, meaning they’ll likely not have much of an immediate impact in the war.
The deal also includes the purchase of 55 new electric locomotives from France at a cost of around €475m (£418m).
The commander of Ukraine’s drone forces has confirmed attacks on two thermal power stations in Russian-occupied Donetsk.
Major Robert Brovdi wrote on Telegram that the Starobeshivska and Zuivska power plants had been hit by his forces.
He posted a video appearing to show onboard footage from a drone attacking one of the facilities.
Earlier, the Moscow-installed governor of the Ukrainian region said the attack was “unprecedented” and had left 65% of consumers without electricity (see 7.10am post).
Here are the latest battlefield maps showing the territory held by both Ukraine and Russia.
Much of the current focus is on the key city of Pokrovsk, but the frontline stretches across the east of the country.
Over 2025, Russian forces have slowly expanded the territory they control there, and have kept up their near-nightly barrage of air strikes on Kyiv and other cities – as we’ve been reporting today.
Scroll through to view different parts of the frontline, including the situation in key regions such as Luhansk, Donetsk and Belgorod.
A spokesperson for Poland’s special services minister says “everything points” to Russian intelligence services being behind an explosion on a Polish railway line over the weekend.
A bomb damaged a key route used to transport weapons to Ukraine, partially destroying the line that connects Warsaw and Lublin.
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, quickly labelled the incident as an “unprecedented act of sabotage”.
Asked about the investigation into the incident, spokesperson Jacek Dobrzynski said authorities were “securing evidence, gathering information, and verifying the information they’ve gathered so far”.
“You are aware that those who commissioned (the sabotage) – and everything indicates that these are Russian intelligence services – would very much like to know in which direction the proceedings conducted by the police and internal security agencies are heading,” he said.
Poland has previously blamed Russia for such attacks, saying it has become one of Moscow’s biggest targets due to its role as a hub for aid to Kyiv.
Russian representatives will not take part in talks on Ukraine in Istanbul tomorrow, the Kremlin has said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier he would go to Turkey in an attempt to revive negotiations on ending the war. A Turkish source said that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would join the planned talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters this morning that Vladimir Putin was open to conversations with the US and Turkey on the results of the talks.
Asked to comment on France’s aviation deal with Ukraine, under which Kyiv will buy 100 Rafale fighter jets, Peskov said the deal was “regrettable” and “does not contribute to peace”.
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