Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky to join emergency EU summit after US cuts intelligence sharing with Kyiv – UK Times

Read Tom Watling’s full report here:

Russian forces have taken control of the village of Andriivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Moscow’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

For months, Russian forces have been slowly advancing in the region as Ukraine struggles to cope with the sheer manpower of the military.

The battlefield report has not been independently verified.

Europe must be ready to offer security guarantees to Ukraine, EU chief Antonio Costa said ahead of talks later today, after the US cuts its military support to Kyiv.

EU leaders are set to convene in Brussels today for an emergency summit on how to quickly ramp up their support for Ukraine after Washington ended military aid and intelligence sharing in the past few days.

In a letter inviting EU countries to the talks, Mr Costa said: “As far as Ukraine is concerned, there is a new momentum, which should lead to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.

“The EU and its member states are ready to take more responsibility for Europe’s security. We should therefore be prepared for a possible European contribution to the security guarantees that will be necessary to ensure a lasting peace in Ukraine.”

American and British volunteers have survived a Russian missile strike in Ukraine which killed four people, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

More than 30 people were injured in the strike on the central city of Kryvyi Rih, Mr Zelensky added in a post on Telegram.

“Just before the strike, volunteers from one of the humanitarian organizations checked into the hotel – citizens of Ukraine, the United States, and Britain. They survived because they managed to get out of their rooms,” Mr Zelensky wrote.

“Many civilian facilities around the hotel were damaged by the strike. Rescuers are still working at the scene – all services.

“There can be no pause in the pressure on Russia to stop this war and terror against life,” he concluded.

Ukraine also shot down 68 drones out of a total 112 launched by Russia overnight, its air force said Tuesday morning.

France is offering intelligence to Ukraine to help fill a gap left by Washington’s suspension of intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

The move was announced by French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu, who said: “We have intelligence resources that we use to help the Ukrainians.”

“It has been suspended since yesterday afternoon,” he added, referring to US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. “I think for our British friends who are in an intelligence community with the United States, it is more complicated.”

The US suspended the sharing as it pressures Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to cooperate with president Donald Trump’s bid to convene peace talks with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed senior veteran diplomat Alexander Darchiev as ambassador to the United States, to lead a rapprochement that has stunned Ukraine and Washington’s European allies.

The Foreign Ministry said last week Washington had given it the green light at a meeting between Russian and U.S. officials in Turkey to appoint Darchiev, who now serves as head of the Foreign Ministry’s North America department.

That six-hour meeting in Istanbul last Thursday, where the delegations worked to try to restore normal function of their embassies, was the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries.

Russia has had no ambassador in Washington since last October when the previous envoy, Anatoly Antonov, left his post.

Darchiev, 64, has served two long spells in Russia’s Washington embassy and was ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021.

The UK wants to act as an “honest broker” in securing peace in Ukraine, a minister has said.

Asked whether the Government regrets the US decision to withdraw intelligence sharing with Kyiv, industry minister Sarah Jones told Times Radio: “The role that we are playing in this situation is to be an honest broker, and the Prime Minister has been clear that that means we’re not commenting on every twist and turn or comment that has been made overnight” adding “it wouldn’t be the right thing to do.”

She added: “We learnt in Northern Ireland how important it is when you are playing that honest broker role, to not be commenting on every twist and turn, but to be sticking to our principles which I think everybody in the country supports in terms of continuing to support Ukraine, playing that role to stop the fighting. And that means working with the US, working with France, working with others.”

Asked whether it was a principle that intelligence should be shared with Ukraine, Ms Jones added: “We don’t comment on intelligence matters, as I said. The principle is that we will support Ukraine. That is an unwavering position.”

The US has cut intelligence sharing with Ukraine, severely impacting the flow of vital information that Kyiv uses to defend itself from Russian attacks.

The latest blow comes after Donald Trump suspended military aid to Kyiv and despite the US leader boasting during an address to Congress on Tuesday about receiving a letter from the Ukrainian president expressing willingness to come to the negotiating table to end the three-year war.

“We have taken a step back and are pausing and reviewing all aspects of this relationship,” Mr Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said on Wednesday.

Today, European leaders will hold crisis talks in Brussels in support for Ukraine.

The US has provided critical intelligence to Ukraine for its fight against Moscow’s forces, including information that helped thwart Vladimir Putin’s drive to seize Kyiv at the start of his full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Volodymyr Zelensky had on Tuesday night bowed to the intense pressurefrom Mr Trump, calling the White House spat “regrettable” in a statement while pledging to enter peace talks.