Bulgaria suspects Russia of interfering with a plane carrying the EU Commission president. Vladimir Putin is in China for a summit, where he’s been meeting India’s prime minister. And a former Donald Trump aide says he’s made peace in Ukraine less likely. Follow the latest below.
Monday 1 September 2025 12:00, UK
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A jet carrying the EU Commission president suffered GPS jamming as a result of suspected Russian interference, an EU spokesperson has confirmed to Sky News.
The Financial Times had earlier reported the jet carrying Ursula von der Leyen was forced to land using paper maps after GPS navigation services at a Bulgarian airport were disabled.
The aircraft, which was flying to Plovdiv on Sunday afternoon, was deprived of electronic navigational aids as it approached the city’s airport, the FT said.
It circled the airport for an hour before the pilot decided to manually land the plane using paper maps.
‘Blatant interference’ suspected
An EU spokesperson told Sky News: “We can confirm there was GPS jamming but the plane landed safe.
“We have received information from Bulgarian authorities that they suspect this blatant interference was carried out by Russia.
“We are well aware that threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia’s hostile actions.
“This will further reinforce our unshakable commitment to ramp up our defence capabilities and support for Ukraine.
“This incident underlines the urgency of the president’s current trip to frontline member states, where she has seen first hand the every day threats from Russia and its proxies.
“The EU will continue to invest in defence and in Europe’s readiness.”
Bulgaria issued a statement saying that “the satellite signal used for the aircraft’s GPS navigation was disrupted”.
“As the aircraft approached Plovdiv Airport, the GPS signal was lost,” the statement added.
Earlier this year, Sky News investigated how it’s possible to mess with the GPS used by planes, and rising reports of it happening – tap below for the full story on that:
Representatives of the NATO-Ukraine Council have called an extraordinary meeting today, Ukraine’s foreign minister says.
Andrii Sybiha said: “We anticipate a focused discussion on joint steps to adequately respond to Russia’s rejection of peace efforts and escalating terror against Ukrainians.”
We’ll bring you any updates from the meeting as we get them.
John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser during his first term, has been speaking to Sky News about the significance of the ongoing summit in China.
The gathering is widely seen as a reflection of the strengthened ties between Vladimir Putin and both India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping.
Bolton, who is also a former US ambassador to the UN, said the developments showed the damage done by Donald Trump’s policies since returning to the White House.
“There’s a lot of bad news here, very little good news,” he said.
Trump has undone ‘decades of effort’ with India
“The West has spent decades, the US in particular, trying to wean India away from its Cold War attachment to Russia, buying sophisticated weapons from them, and cautioning India on the danger posed by China,” Bolton said.
“Donald Trump, in the past week, has essentially upended that.
“And for a variety of reasons, now sent India back toward Russia to grow closer to China… shredding these decades of efforts to try and change that alignment.
“I’m not saying this can’t be fixed, but it’s going to take a lot of work, and I don’t see it starting anytime soon.”
He said Trump’s decision to dismiss what Modi perceived to be close negotiations with the US and order the imposition of 25% tariffs on India was among the factors that had offended the Indians.
‘Putin has gotten away – literally – with murder’
Discussing the impact of the Alaska summit between Putin and Trump and the prospects of peace in Ukraine, Bolton expressed a pessimism similar to that conveyed by Janis Kluge in our 10.30 post.
“I think the whole thing is collapsing,” Bolton said.
“I think the chances for peace in Ukraine are probably worse now than they were before the Alaska summit.
“Putin has gotten away literally with murder.
“Whatever he said to Trump in Alaska, he’s simply ignoring – with increased attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine, no diminution in Russia’s military efforts, no concessions whatever.”
He said he believed Trump would now “disengage” from efforts to secure peace in Ukraine – and added that he believed the US president had been humiliated by his Russian counterpart.
“I think he has been,” he said.
“I don’t think he realises it, but I think Putin believes that the old magic is back, that his KGB training has allowed him again to pull the wool over Trump’s eyes.
“It’s working out very well for the Kremlin.”
Watch the full interview below…
The US-Russia talks in recent weeks have given rise to a wave of statements suggesting we could be nearing a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine.
This notion, however, has been dismissed by one expert on Russia.
Dr Janis Kluge, deputy head of the Eastern Europe and Eurasia division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said: “The idea that there is any movement towards peace in Ukraine, that there is a diplomatic process to speak of or that there will be a need for peacekeepers anytime soon is a collective illusion in the West.
“It’s a nice fairy tale to help us sleep better at night.”
He added that the recent discussions between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had done nothing to move the conflict closer towards a resolution.
“Some people are saying that the Alaska summit was better than nothing,” he said.
“But what good is there in rehabilitating Putin on the world stage for nothing in return? There are no peace talks. Putin saw a chance to divide the West and to manipulate Trump. Alaska was bad for peace.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told Vladimir Putin their countries stood side by side even through tough times.
It comes after Putin called Modi his “dear friend” and the two were pictured travelling to a bilateral meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in China together.
Modi earlier posted a picture on X of him and Putin inside the armoured Aurus limousine used by the Kremlin leader (see our 6.59 post).
Modi told Putin at the bilateral meeting that India and Russia had stuck together even in hard times.
“Even in the most difficult situations, India and Russia have always walked shoulder to shoulder,” Modi said.
“Our close cooperation is important not only for the people of both countries but also for global peace, stability and prosperity.”
At the bilateral meeting, Putin addressed Modi in Russian as “Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear friend.”
“Russia and India have maintained special relations for decades, friendly and trusting. This is the foundation for the development of our relations in the future,” Putin said.
Modi said he welcomed recent efforts aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
“We hope that all parties will move forward constructively. A way has to be found to end the conflict as soon as possible and establish permanent peace,” Modi said.
The Russian Ministry of Defence has been criticised by Russian military bloggers for exaggerating its battlefield successes, according to analysts.
Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov claimed over the weekend that Russian forces seized 3,500 sq km (2,175 sq miles) of territory and 149 settlements since March 2025.
But the Institute for the Study of War think tank reports military bloggers dismissed this figure as a “very big exaggeration” and asked which elements of the Russian military command structure were feeding false reports to the Russian high command.
ISW said it had observed evidence indicating Russian forces had gained only roughly 2,346 sq km (1,458 sq miles) of Ukrainian territory and seized 130 settlements between March 1 and August 30.
“The Kremlin is intensifying these information efforts because its territorial gains remain disproportionately limited and slow relative to the high losses incurred,” the analysts said.
It said estimates suggested the number of Russian soldiers killed in the conflict this year ranged from 26,250 to 36,250 per month.
“Russia’s gains have been largely gradual and creeping for many months, and Russia’s rate of advance is incredibly slow under the norms of modern mechanised warfare,” the group said.
“Any assessment of Russia’s battlefield performance and strength must examine both the tempo of advance and the resulting losses to make those gains.”
The US embassy in India says the partnership between New Delhi and Washington “continues to reach new heights”.
It comes as India’s Narendra Modi held the hand of Russia’s Vladimir Putin as they walked towards Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in China’s port city of Tianjin.
China and India are the biggest purchasers of crude from Russia, the world’s second largest exporter.
US President Donald Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases but there is no sign that India or China are going to stop them.
Ukraine suspects Russian involvement in the murder of former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy, the head of the Ukrainian police says.
“We know that this crime was not accidental. There is a Russian involvement.
“Everyone will be held accountable before the law,” police chief Ivan Vyhivskyi said on Facebook.
Parubiy was shot several times in the western city of Lviv on Saturday.
A suspect was arrested late on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said a sustainable peace deal with Ukraine hinges on addressing the issue of NATO’s eastward expansion.
Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, Putin said the West had tried to bring Ukraine into its orbit and then sought to entice Russia’s smaller neighbour into the US-led NATO military alliance.
“In order for a Ukrainian settlement to be sustainable and long-term, the root causes of the crisis, which I have just mentioned and which I have repeatedly mentioned before, must be eliminated,” Putin said.
His comments followed talks with China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi at the summit.
At the Bucharest summit in 2008, NATO leaders vowed that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually gain membership of the powerful alliance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been seeking a clear invitation to join.
Putin’s comments on Monday come after he last month agreed to allow Ukraine’s allies to offer it a NATO-like security guarantee as part of an eventual deal to end the war, according to US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
You can read more on that at the link below…
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
Vladimir Putin doesn’t do four-day getaways to a single country very often.
His last was 20 years ago, to attend the 60th anniversary session of the UN General Assembly in New York in 2005.
The fact that his current visit to China is that long says a lot. So does the timing – barely two weeks after the Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska.
It feels like a very deliberate illustration of how close Moscow is to Beijing in the face of US attempts to weaken the relationship and its drive to end the war in Ukraine.
With China, the American president has tried the stick. Threats of tariffs and secondary sanctions over its continued purchasing of Russian oil.
And with Russia, apparently, the carrot too.
As well as renewed warnings of “massive” sanctions on Moscow, the Reuters news agency last week reported that US and Russian officials also discussed energy deals during recent negotiations, in the hope of incentivising the Kremlin to agree to a peace deal, and to start diluting its bond with Beijing.
But Putin’s programme in China appears designed to emphasise that his relationship with Xi Jinping is stronger than ever.
After the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation security summit, the pair will hold face-to-face talks on Tuesday, before Putin takes his place as guest of honour at a military parade on Wednesday that marks the 80th anniversary of Japan’s formal surrender in the Second World War.
The symbolism is clear – Russia and China fought shoulder-to-shoulder against the enemies of the past, and they’ll remain united against the threats of the future.
You can read Bennett’s full analysis here:
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