Ukraine war briefing: Stop wasting the world’s time, Putin told

Original article by Warren Murray with Guardian writers and agencies

• Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, has demanded Vladimir Putin “stop wasting the world’s time” while the UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said the Russian president “should end the bluster and the bloodshed” and sit down to negotiate peace. Margus Tsahkna, the Estonian foreign minister, said it was “pretty obvious” that the Kremlin was not interested in peace as European leaders reacted on Wednesday to apparently fruitless talks in Moscow between US envoys and Putin.

• In Britain, King Charles spoke directly of “Russian aggression” as he hosted Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The monarch said both countries “together stand with Ukraine and bolster Europe against the threat of further Russian aggression”. The king has strongly supported Ukraine’s fight since the outset of the Russian invasion. His latest remarks may prick the ears of Donald Trump, who, after once haranguing Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, drastically changed his tune, at least for a time, after Charles indulged the US president with a state visit and impressed upon him the broader importance of Ukraine’s defence. The king also met Zelenskky directly after Trump and Vance humiliated Ukraine’s president at the White House.

• Trump on Wednesday continued to loosely preside over attempts to strike a peace deal. In vague remarks the US president said the path ahead was unclear though talks between his envoys and Vladimir Putin had been “reasonably good”. Those talks failed to produce any breakthrough or visible progress. Trump said Putin would like to make a deal but “what comes out of that meeting I can’t tell you because it does take two to tango”.

• The US had “something pretty well worked out [with Ukraine]”, Trump continued. The Kremlin said Putin accepted some US proposals aimed at ending the war in Ukraine but “compromises have not yet been found”. Donald Trump’s special envoy, the real estate dealer Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will meet with top Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov in Florida on Thursday.

• The Romanian military said it blew up a maritime drone that was endangering navigation in the Black Sea and claimed it was a Sea Baby used by Ukraine’s security forces. Ukraine’s SBU, which runs covert warfare operations, said all of its Sea Baby drones active in the Black Sea region were accounted for, with none lost or in Romanian waters.

• Ukraine’s military general staff announced recent strikes on Russian targets including an oil depot in Russia’s Tambov region; a Black Sea observation post on an oil rig; and Russian Orion drones based at the Saki airfield in illegally occupied Crimea. Damage of two oil tanks was confirmed after the Livny oil depot in the Oryol region of Russia was hit on Tuesday.

• In other battlefield updates, the Ukrainian military said it had pushed Russian forces back to the northern outskirts of Kupyansk in Kharkiv oblast, north-eastern Ukraine, and created a “kill zone” hampering the invaders’ return. The Institute for the Study of War meanwhile said Putin had exaggerated Russia’s claimed seizure of Pokrovsk as strategically important. “ISW has not observed evidence to confirm the complete Russian seizure of Pokrovsk, but Russia’s seizure of the town in the near future is unlikely to produce rapid Russian advances.” The Ukrainian military has denied completely losing Pokrovsk. The Associated Press said drone footage showed Myrnohrad, near Pokrovsk in eastern Donetsk, was largely in ruins and nearly surrounded by Russian troops.

• Britain and Norway will jointly operate a warship fleet to hunt Russian submarines in the north Atlantic. The aim is to protect undersea infrastructure such as cables that western officials say are increasingly under threat from Moscow. Britain’s Ministry of Defence reports that sightings of Russian vessels in UK waters have increased 30% in the past two years.

• The European Commission will move ahead with funding Ukraine using a loan based on Russia’s frozen assets, write Jennifer Rankin and Shaun Walker. But in a concession to concerns raised by Belgium, which hosts most of the assets, the EU executive has also proposed another option: an EU loan based on common borrowing. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday the two proposals would ensure “Ukraine has the means to defend [itself] and take forward peace negotiations from a position of strength”. EU leaders will be asked to decide on the options later this month.

• The UN general assembly has called for the immediate and unconditional return of Ukrainian children “forcibly transferred” to Russia. The assembly adopted the non-binding resolution by a vote of 91-12, with 57 abstentions. Russia was among the states rejecting the measure. Ukraine accuses Russia of abducting at least 20,000 Ukrainian children since the start of the conflict in February 2022. On Wednesday the Russian ambassador was represented by an empty chair after failing to show up at a US Senate hearing about the children.

• Australia and New Zealand will become the first non-Nato countries to contribute to a fund buying critical military equipment for Ukraine. It includes a A$50m contribution to Purl – the “prioritised Ukraine requirements list” under which Nato buys arms for Ukraine from the US. Australian Defence Force supplies and weapons worth $43m will also be donated including tactical air defence radars, munitions and combat engineering equipment. An extra $2m will be provided to help Ukraine with advanced drone technologies. It brings Australia’s total support to more than $1.7bn since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. In the coming weeks, the final group of 49 M1A1 Abrams tanks gifted by Australia will be delivered.

• Australia has also sanctioned a further 45 “shadow fleet” ships that Russia uses in attempting to evade sanctions on its oil exports; and aimed financial sanctions and travel bans at more than 1,180 people and 293 entities. Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said due to the government’s actions, direct Australian imports of Russian energy products had fallen from $80m to zero. However a sanctions “loophole” has allowed Russian oil products refined elsewhere to find their way to Australia. Wong has called on Australian businesses to ensure their supply chains do not indirectly fund the Russian government.