Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kremlin rejects Nato troops on the ground after Trump’s security guarantees ‘revealed’ – UK Times

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Wednesday appointing Olha Stefanishyna, a former top cabinet minister, as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States.

Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, said he had signed a decree on the appointment of Stefanishyna, 39, after formalities had been completed.

“I outlined the key tasks for reinvigorating the work of our embassy,” he said.

She takes over as ambassador from Oksana Markarova, who held the position for six years, including more than three years of full-scale war with Russia.

Zelensky singled out two agreements as critical — on providing weapons for Ukraine and on supplying drones to the United States.

“The main thing is to fully implement all the agreements reached in Washington, our agreements with President [Donald] Trump, above all in the defence sphere…Much of Ukraine’s long-term security depends on relations with America.”

Stefanishyna had served in Zelensky’s administration as a deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, playing a major role in the country’s integration into Western institutions, and as minister of justice.

Two German air force Eurofighter jets scrambled to intercept a Russian reconnaissance aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea on Tuesday according to German outlet Deutsche Welle.

NATO’s air command gave the order to intercept the aircraft, which was flying in international airspace with its transponders turned off and without submitting a flight plan.

Moscow is suspected of using such aircraft to gather information about NATO military activity on the Baltic coast, particularly in Poland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

Poland has had to scramble jets numerous times along its borders throughout the war.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister said he was confident of a solution to continue Poland’s funding of 30,000 Starlink internet systems for Ukraine, after Poland said it might no longer be able to pay for them following a presidential veto.

Poland is the biggest donor of SpaceX’s satellite internet devices to Ukraine. Kyiv uses tens of thousands of them across the frontline as a crucial communication tool resistant to hacking and jamming.

Mykhailo Fedorov, who is also Ukraine’s digitalisation minister, told Reuters in an interview that while Ukraine also had other satellite communication systems, none could match the scale and cost of Starlink, operated by Elon Musk’s rocket company.

“We are communicating with our colleagues and I’m sure that all will be well, that we will find a solution to continue supporting this project,” he said.

The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak has said that he was in Riyadh along with security council chief Rustem Umerov to discuss paths to peace in Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia’s participation in this process.

Yermak wrote on the Telegram app that they held meetings with the Saudi defence minister and national security adviser.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Turkey, the Gulf States or European countries could host talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine is looking at how to share battlefield data with allies, the country’s deputy prime minister said, calling the vast trove of stored information one of Kyiv’s “cards” to strengthen its position as it negotiates support from friendly countries.

“The data we have is priceless for any country,” Mykhailo Fedorov, who heads Ukraine’s digitalisation ministry, told Reuters in an interview, adding that Ukraine is currently “very careful” about sharing it.

Vast datasets are crucial for training artificial intelligence (AI) models to recognise patterns and make predictions.

That need is particularly pressing in the burgeoning global defence sector. While datasets for most civilian activities can be found commercially, the 21st century’s biggest war between advanced armies has given Ukraine a set of combat data with no parallel, which could help Kyiv prove its value as an ally to Washington.