Ukraine-Russia war latest: G7 leaders agree to boost Ukraine’s air defence after ‘very good’ Trump-Zelensky meeting – UK Times

The G7 leaders have announced they could allow military production licences to be issued to Ukraine in their bid to boost arms deliveries.

“We commend Ukraine for its resilience and progress on the battlefield in recent months and emphasise there is now a new momentum. To support and accelerate this new momentum, we agree to increase the delivery of air defence capacities, additional systems and interceptors, and long-range capabilities,” the statement read.

It added: “We are also ready to consider extending to Ukraine the benefit of licences to allow for an increase in Ukraine’s military production.”

The US has also said it would look into it but there was no further discussion of the matter, a senior EU official said.

The leaders of the G7 countries have announced today that they stand united in support of Ukraine, including its territorial integrity, and agreed to increase the pressure on the Russian war economy.

“In this context, we will strengthen our ⁠sanctions (against Russia), including those ​on ⁠the oil and ‌gas sectors,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

Separately, the leaders, who are meeting for a summit in the French town of Evian-les-Bains, have also welcomed the deal between the United States and Iran and said they are ready to contribute to its implementation.

They ‌added they will ​make efforts to ‌diversify energy supply routes ⁠and reduce dependence ⁠on the Strait of Hormuz ‌and increase ​energy stocks.

Crimea has banned the use of motorised vehicles such as scooters, quad bikes and motorcycles at nighttime, saying they sound like drone attacks, Moscow-installed authorities said.

Sergei Aksyonov, the peninsula’s Russian-installed governor, said the ban, which he called a temporary measure to guard military and other important facilities, would be in place between 8pm and 6am ⁠from Wednesday onwards.

“The moped noise hampers the work of defence systems. Their engines sound similar (to drones),” Oleg Kryuchkov, Aksyonov’s advisor, said separately on Telegram on Tuesday.

“The enemy is recruiting your children for nighttime rides.”

The ⁠ban in Crimea, a ‌popular summer tourist destination for Russians, does not apply to cars or larger vehicles.

Ukraine has recently intensified drone ‌attacks on Crimea, home to Russia’s Black ‌Sea Fleet, targeting the peninsula’s supply routes and triggering a fuel crisis, as the holiday season starts.

Russian president Vladimir Putin did not discuss the possibility of a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during his latest phone call with US president Donald Trump, said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

“No ⁠one has approached ‌us with such a proposal,” Ushakov told ‌reporters.

Trump said he spoke separately to Putin and Zelensky on Sunday.

Zelensky said on Monday that he had offered to meet Putin at a G7 summit in France this week, or even in the United States, for talks to end the war that is well into its fifth year.

The European Union is preparing emergency trade relief for Armenia to help offset Russian import restrictions, the Financial Times reported today, citing people briefed on the plans.

The ‌European Commission ‌is drawing up “autonomous ⁠trade measures” that would lower tariffs on Armenian food and agricultural exports, the ‌report said.

Volodymyr Zelensky appears to have got the tone right as he presented evidence to Donald Trump of the war’s impact on his country, which officials say moved the US president.

Two European diplomats said that, during the meeting, Zelensky showed Trump images of the aftermath of a Russian strike ‌on Monday ⁠on Kyiv’s Pechersk Lavra monastery.

Trump expressed disapproval of the strike, one of the European diplomats said, while the other said that it had been “psychologically” a good move by Zelensky to show the images.

European diplomats said the tone of the meeting had been constructive.

The 44-year-old exiled critic Robert Kuzovkov, also known as Semyon Skrepetsky, was killed in the city of Biala Podlaska, around 25 miles from the Belarusian border, on Monday morning.

Authorities said he was shot five times, including to his head, chest and back, in a car park near the Belarusian consulate.

Polish prosecutors said he was approached by a lone gunman and killed at close range. The gunman is said to have shot the artist twice before Kuzovkov fell to the ground, with three more shots as he lay on the ground.

President Trump has been non-committal on imposing further US sanctions on Moscow, as European leaders want, diplomats say.

Mr Trump said Washington was now in a position to let Russian oil waivers lapse after an interim accord to end the Iran war soothed markets, but he did not mention broader punitive measures.

European leaders want to convince him that previous US positions on the possible terms of a deal were overly favourable towards Moscow, particularly now that Ukraine’s drone incursions into Russia have improved its fortunes.