Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump dispatches 5,000 troops to Poland as Nato jets scrambled over Baltics – UK Times

Three people were killed when a locomotive was struck by a Ukrainian drone in Russia’s Bryansk region on Thursday, state company Russian Railways said.

The three victims were Russian Railways employees who were at a railway station in the town of Unecha when it was hit, it said.

Yegor Kovalchuk, the Bryansk region’s acting governor, had earlier said Unecha had come under attack.

The Bryansk region borders Ukraine and is frequently targeted in Ukrainian strikes.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country’s efforts to weaken Russian oil facilities are going according to plan.

Yesterday, Ukrainian drones hit the Syzran oil refinery more than 800km (500 miles) inside Russia. Local media reported that the Ukrainian drones hit the Syzran refinery owned by oil and gas company Rosneft.

“Overall, our long-range plan for May is being carried out largely in full. The key targets are Russian oil refineries, storage facilities and other infrastructure tied to these oil revenues,” Zelensky said in his evening address.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed any notion that Belarus would be dragged into the Ukraine war, but said Russia and Belarus would jointly defend themselves in case of aggression, Belarusian state news agency BELTA reported.

Lukashenko was also quoted by BELTA as saying that he was ready to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who has repeatedly suggested that Belarus could become further involved in the more than four-year-old conflict.

Lukashenko made his remarks during joint nuclear exercises with Russia which he and Russian president Vladimir Putin observed via a video ⁠conference.

“As for (Zelensky’s) statements that Belarus will be drawn into the war, as I have just said, this will occur in only one instance – if aggression is committed on our territory,” BELTA quoted Lukashenko as saying.

“We will together defend our Fatherland… where our two countries stand,” he added.

He said that if Zelensky wanted to “talk about something, have a discussion or perhaps something else, by all means, we are open to this. Any location – Ukraine, Belarus – I am ready to meet him and discuss problems in our relations”.

Belarus allowed Russia to use its territory ‌for Moscow’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Zelensky has for weeks warned of unusual activity and a possible cross-border incursion.

Russian defence systems were working to ⁠repel drone attacks over Moscow and the nearby Yaroslavl region in ⁠the early ​hours today, local ⁠authorities said on the ​Telegram ⁠messaging app.

At least four ‌drones headed for Moscow were downed and ‌emergency services were deployed ‌to the area, said mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Moscow and the Yaroslavl region, northeast of the capital, also came under drone attack earlier this week. Russia has energy infrastructure in both areas.

President Donald Trump has said the US will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, stirring confusion following weeks of changing statements from Trump and his administration about reducing – not increasing – the American military footprint in Europe.

The Trump administration has said it was reducing levels in Europe by about 5,000 troops, and US officials confirmed about 4,000 service members were no longer deploying to Poland.

Trump’s social media announcement raises more uncertainty for European allies that have been blindsided by the changes as the administration has complained about Nato members not shouldering enough of the burden of their own defence and failing to do more to support the Iran war.

“Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland,” Trump said on Truth Social.

Trump and the Pentagon have said in recent weeks that they were drawing down at least 5,000 troops in Germany after chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being “humiliated” by the Iranian leadership and criticised what he called a lack of strategy in the war.

Trump then told reporters at the beginning of the month that the US would be “cutting a lot further than 5,000”.

It is not immediately clear whether that meant the brigade would resume its deployment to Poland, if additional troops on top of that rotational deployment could be added, or whether there would still be a drawdown of US troops in Europe but from a different country.

The Russian defence ministry said this morning that more of its nuclear munitions have been delivered to field storage facilities in Belarus as part of nuclear drills.

This came just hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv has bolstered its defences and will ​send reinforcements to its northern regions in bid to step up diplomatic pressure on Belarus to counter what Kyiv believes are Russian plans to launch a new offensive north of the capital.

Minsk has remained one of Moscow’s staunchest supporters in the war, which was initially launched in part by Russian forces passing through Belarus. Russian drones have frequently crossed Belarus while attacking Ukraine, and Minsk said it deployed the Russian Oreshnik intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile system.

“As of now, we haven’t detected any movement of equipment or personnel directly at our border, ‌but of course, ​we can see the pressure Russia is ‌putting on Belarus,” Ukraine’s border guards spokesperson, ​Andriy Demchenko, told Ukrinform news agency.

On Monday, Belarus said it launched joint drills with Russia to practice the use of nuclear weapons that Moscow has deployed on the territory of its neighbour and ally.

The two countries have ramped up their cooperation in recent months, with the inclusion of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko as Vladimir Putin’s guest of honour in his Victory Day parade earlier this month.

The Kremlin has denied a report that China’s army secretly trained Russian soldiers in China late last year, some of whom went on to fight in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a lot of fake information was being published in Western media and that Russia needed to be cautious when dealing with such reports.

Reuters news agency reported this week, citing European intelligence agencies and documents, that China’s armed forces covertly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China in late 2025.

Russia has begun nuclear war games and moved Iskander-M missiles into Belarus, on the doorstep of the European Union. Ukraine has rushed troops to its northern border, and Nato has condemned the threatening moves.

Ria Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned news site, said: “Since May 18, Belarus has begun training in the combat use of nuclear weapons and their provision by military units. It involves the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific Fleets, the Long-Range Aviation Command, as well as part of the forces of the Leningrad and Central Military Districts.”

World affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:

As we reported earlier, Russian president Vladimir Putin was earlier observing nuclear drills held by Russia and Belarus on Thursday.

While watching the drills, he stated that the use of nuclear weapons would be a “last resort” measure, according to the Belarus defence ministry.

Such weapons, he said, must serve as a guarantor of Russian and Belarusian sovereignty.