‘I deny everything,’ Macron said when asked about a leaked transcript of his call with Kyiv
Analysis: Putin and Modi to meet amid politically treacherous times for Russia and India
French president Emmanuel Macron has said that unity between Europe and the US was key in the support of Ukraine, adding there is “no mistrust” and denying a report he had said there was a risk Washington could betray Ukraine.
“Unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential. And I say it again and again, we need to work together,” Macron told reporters during a visit to China, Reuters reports.
German magazine Spiegel yesterday cited a transcript of a confidential call showing the French president and German chancellor have voiced scepticism about efforts by the US government and its envoys to negotiate a peace between Ukraine and Russia.
“I deny everything,” Macron said, when asked about the Spiegel report. “We need the United States for peace. The United States need us for this peace to be lasting and robust.”
Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, will meet the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, and Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, for emergency talks on Friday as the EU races to save its sorely needed financing plan for Ukraine.
The three leaders will dine in private in Brussels, a German government spokesperson said on Thursday, as Belgian officials continued to express strong opposition to the scheme, which involves the unprecedented use of frozen Russian assets.
With Russia’s attacks intensifying, Washington pushing for a peace deal that favours Moscow and Kyiv fast running out of money and Europe struggling for influence at US-led talks, the bloc must find a solution or suffer a major blow to its credibility.
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Sweden will increase its monetary support for Ukraine by phasing out development aid to five countries in coming years, Reuters reports.
The country will cut aid to the African countries Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Liberia as well as Bolivia in South America.
“Ukraine is Sweden’s most important foreign policy and aid policy priority and therefore the government is going to increase aid to Ukraine to at least 10 billion Swedish crowns ($1.06 billion) in 2026,” Dousa said.
Russia has proposed that India localise the production of the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, the Sukhoi Su-57, on its territory, said Sergei Chemezov, CEO of the Russian state corporation Rostec, as quoted by the state news agency TASS, Reuters reports.
Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi agreed to expand and diversify trade beyond oil and defence following a summit today.
India is the world’s top buyer of Russian arms and seaborne oil, and it has rolled out the red carpet for Putin during his two-day state visit, his first to New Delhi since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia will continue its military operation in Ukraine if Kyiv refuses to negotiate a settlement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, according to state news agency TASS.
It comes as the US pushes for a peace deal in Ukraine that is seen as favouring Moscow.
Here are some of the latest pictures coming from the wires …
Ukraine’s military said that it had carried out long-range strikes overnight on an oil refinery in the Russian city of Syzran and the Temryuk port in the Krasnodar region.
Earlier, Syzran’s mayor Sergei Volodchenkov said Ukraine had targeted the city with drones without providing more detail.
The US wants Europe to take over the majority of NATO’s conventional defence capabilities, from intelligence to missiles, by 2027, Pentagon officials told diplomats in Washington this week, Reuters reports.
The message, recounted by five sources familiar with the discussion, including a US official, was conveyed at a meeting in Washington this week between Pentagon staff overseeing NATO policy and several European delegations.
Such a shift would dramatically change how the US, a founding member of the post-war alliance, works with its most important military partners. In the meeting, Pentagon officials indicated that Washington was not yet satisfied with the progress Europe has made to boost its defence capabilities since Russia’s expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The US officials told their counterparts that if Europe does not meet the 2027 deadline, the US may stop participating in some NATO defence coordination mechanisms, according to the sources. Some officials on Capitol Hill are aware of and concerned about the Pentagon’s message to the Europeans, one US official said.
Russian drones struck a house in central Ukraine, killing a 12-year-old boy, officials said, while long-range Ukrainian strikes reportedly targeted a Russian port and an oil refinery, AP reports.
Drones struck Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, destroying a house where the boy was killed and two women were injured, according to the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired 137 drones of various types during the night.
Ukrainian drones attacked a port in Russia’s Krasnodar region on the border with Ukraine. The attack sparked a fire at the Temryuk sea port and damaged port infrastructure, officials said.
Ukrainian drones also aimed deeper inside Russia, attacking the city of Syzran on the Volga river, mayor Sergei Volodchenkov said without providing more details.
The Russian defence ministry said its air defences intercepted 85 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimea overnight.
French president Emmanuel Macron has said that unity between Europe and the US was key in the support of Ukraine, adding there is “no mistrust” and denying a report he had said there was a risk Washington could betray Ukraine.
“Unity between Americans and Europeans on the Ukrainian issue is essential. And I say it again and again, we need to work together,” Macron told reporters during a visit to China, Reuters reports.
German magazine Spiegel yesterday cited a transcript of a confidential call showing the French president and German chancellor have voiced scepticism about efforts by the US government and its envoys to negotiate a peace between Ukraine and Russia.
“I deny everything,” Macron said, when asked about the Spiegel report. “We need the United States for peace. The United States need us for this peace to be lasting and robust.”
Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces have captured the village of Bezimiane, in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
President Vladimir Putin earlier warned that Ukrainian troops must withdraw from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which includes Donetsk, or Russia will seize it, rejecting any compromise over how to end the war in Ukraine.
“Either we liberate these territories by force, or Ukrainian troops will leave these territories,” he told India Today. Moscow now controls 85% of Donbas.