Russia Ukraine war latest news: Putin’s forces in cruise missile drills as Zelensky announces test of Kyiv-made missile – UK Times

Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, will sign a landmark security pact on Friday that reflects global geopolitical changes, Russian state news agency RIA has said.

The agreement will be among the documents the leaders are set to sign in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on the 25th anniversary of the Union State, a borderless union and alliance between the two former Soviet republics and neighbours.

“We are covering the topics of state, public, economic security, talking about ensuring stability in the development of our economies,” the agency quoted Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Nazaruk as saying.

“It is designed to take into account the changed external conditions, when the world is moving to a polycentric world order,” he added, describing what he called a “landmark” agreement.

As president, Lukashenko has kept Belarus in a firm authoritative grip for the past three decades, and been a loyal ally of Putin, allowing his territory to be used as a launch pad for Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Russian Defence Ministry has said its forces had gained control of two new settlements, Romanivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and Novodarivka, in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.

The Independent could not verify this claim.

A Foreign Office minister has denied the UK changed its approach to Ukraine when the Prime Minister mentioned “negotiations” to secure peace in eastern Europe.

Catherine West pledged the UK would support Kyiv in pursuit of “a just peace on its own terms”.

Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel had asked her whether Sir Keir Starmer’s comments represented “a departure from the current approach” towards the conflict.

Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in the City of London on Monday, the Prime Minister vowed to “continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes, to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence, and right to choose their own future”.

An alleged Russian spy ring targeted Ukrainian soldiers at a US military base in Germany who were believed to be training to use a crucial air defence system to defend against Russia’s invasion, British prosecutors have said.

Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, are accused of being part of a sophisticated spying network run by a Russian agent named as Jan Marsalek, which planned six operations from Britain.

Prosecutors say the trio – along with Orlin Roussev and Bizer Dzhambazov, who have admitted being part of the conspiracy – carried out surveillance of journalists and planned to stage a fake protest outside the Kazakh embassy in London.

The trio are accused of acting under the direction of Roussev who was receiving instructions from Marsalek, an Austrian national who used the false name Rupert Ticz and was chief operating officer of collapsed payments company Wirecard.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan told the jury on Tuesday that in late 2022, Marsalek tasked Roussev with surveilling a US military base in Stuttgart, Germany, though the operation was cut short after the defendants were arrested.

Morgan said Marsalek believed the base was being used to train Ukrainian forces to use the Patriot air defence system.

The surveillance was carried out in October and November 2022, “at an absolutely crucial time in terms of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” she said.

Ivanova, Gaberova and Ivanchev deny the accusations.

A number of Nato members are waiting for the new US administration to take office before making up their minds on Ukraine’s request for an invitation to join the alliance, Latvia’s foreign minister has said.

Kyiv has urged Nato foreign ministers to issue an invitation at a meeting in Brussels this week, but movement appears unlikely amid opposition from some capitals and the transition in Washington.

President-elect Donald Trump has said he will end Russia’s war with Ukraine in a day, but his team’s plans for Ukraine policy remain unclear.

“In principle, we as political leaders have agreed that Ukraine will be a member,” Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže told Reuters.

“The issue is what conditions when, and obviously that is where the alliance has to come together. All allies, currently, everybody is waiting for the new US administration to start working, so I think that is one aspect that is said or unsaid, but it’s a reality.”

Braže, a former senior Nato official, said Ukraine’s battle-hardened military would be an asset for Nato, and that her country would be in favour of inviting Ukraine to join if a decision was on the table.

“A number of countries don’t necessarily feel comfortable inviting a country at war to join Nato,” the minister said, adding: “We are more flexible.”