Donald Trump says he sympathises with Vladimir Putin’s position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato, incorrectly accusing Joe Biden of changing US policy on the issue.
“A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘You could never have Nato involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone,” Mr Trump said, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.
“And somewhere along the line Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join Nato’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”
Nato’s official position since 2008 has been that Ukraine should work towards membership, and that remains the case. No new invitation to join Nato has been offered, despite calls from Kyiv for the alliance to do so.
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On the battlefront, Ukraine said its forces were “commencing new offensive actions” in Russia’s western Kursk region, finally confirming the renewed assault first reported over the weekend.
And in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv said it was still clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town that Russia claims to have captured.
Key points
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Trump sympathises with Russia’s opposition to Ukraine’s Nato bid
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Biden set to announce ‘substantial’ final weapons package for Ukraine
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Ukraine’s army fighting on in key Donetsk town Putin’s forces claim to have captured
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Why is Ukraine fighting to keep a piece of Kursk?
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions
05:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions in surprise assault
Ukraine appears to confirm new offensive in Kursk
04:59 , Arpan Rai
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Ukraine confirmed its forces were “commencing new offensive actions” in Russia’s western Kursk region, before quickly deleting the phrase from an official update.
The first substantive remarks came more than two days after the first Russian reports of a renewed Ukrainian thrust in the area. The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that Kyiv had launched a new counter-attack.
Ukraine’s general staff yesterday said Kyiv’s military had hit a Russian command post near Kursk settlement of Belaya.
The strike and other recent operations in the region were coordinated with Ukrainian ground forces who “are currently commencing new offensive operations” against Russian troops, it said.
The military later edited out any mention of a new attack in the Telegram statement, replacing the phrase with the much vaguer “combat operations”. It provided no explanation.
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Ukraine first seized part of the Kursk region in a surprise incursion last August, and it has held territory there for five months despite losing some ground.
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains?
04:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine-Russia war map 2025: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline?
Biden set to announce ‘substantial’ final weapons package for Ukraine
03:15 , Arpan Rai
The Biden administration is set to announce a massive, final weapons aid package for Ukraine as part of defence secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Germany tomorrow to meet with representatives of about 50 partner nations who have come to Ukraine’s defence since Russia invaded nearly three years ago, two senior defence officials said.
The officials did not provide an exact dollar amount but said the package was expected to be “substantial,” although it would not include all of the roughly $4bn left in the congressionally authorised funding for Ukraine.
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There likely would be “more than a couple of billion dollars” remaining for the incoming Trump defence team to provide to Ukraine if it chooses to do so, the officials said yesterday in briefing reporters traveling with Mr Austin.
Mr Biden’s defence officials working on Ukraine have been in contact with Trump’s transition team to discuss “all the issues that we believe are important,” one of the officials said.
Ukraine is in the midst of launching a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating position possible before president-elect Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.
Trump sympathises with Russia’s opposition to Ukraine’s Nato bid
03:00 , Arpan Rai
President-elect Donald Trump said he sympathised with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of Nato, and he lamented that he will not meet Russian president Vladimir Putin before his inauguration.
“A big part of the problem is, Russia – for many, many years, long before Putin – said, ‘You could never have Nato involved with Ukraine.’ Now, they’ve said that. That’s been, like, written in stone,” Mr Trump said, speaking at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
He also blamed outgoing Democratic president Joe Biden for allegedly changing the US position on Nato membership for Ukraine.
“And somewhere along the line Biden said, ‘No. They should be able to join Nato’ Well, then Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”
Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have officially expressed support for Ukraine‘s eventual membership since the Bucharest Summit of 2008, and the Biden administration continues to support Ukraine‘s eventual Nato accession, though Ukraine has never been extended an invitation.
Bulgarians celebrate the feast of Epiphany with a ritual plunge into icy rivers
03:00 , Tom Watling
Bulgarians celebrate the feast of Epiphany with a ritual plunge into icy rivers
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
02:00 , Tom Watling
The Russian glide bombs changing the face of the war in Ukraine
Putin has ruled Russia for 25 years – but what can he show for it?
01:00 , Tom Watling
What 25 years of Putin has done to the world, in a presidency bookended by war
Nato cannot defend Europe from Russia without the US, warn leaders
00:00 , Tom Watling
Nato cannot defend Europe from Russia without the US, warns Baltic leaders
Ukraine is right to stop the flow of Russian gas – whatever the cost
Tuesday 7 January 2025 23:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine is right to turn off the flow of Russian gas – whatever the cost
What happens now Ukraine has ended Russian gas to Europe?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 22:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine ends Russian gas pipeline to Europe – but how much will it cost Moscow?
Ukraine will ask allies to boost its air defenses at a meeting in Germany, Zelenskyy says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 21:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine will ask allies to boost its air defenses at a meeting in Germany, Zelenskyy says
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 20:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine-Russia war map 2025: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline?
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions
Tuesday 7 January 2025 19:00 , Tom Watling
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions in surprise assault
What does Ukraine stand to gain with latest Kursk counterattack?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 17:30 , Tom Watling
What Kyiv stands to gain and lose in surprise counter-attack on Russian soil
If the West gives an inch on Ukraine, Putin will take a mile
Tuesday 7 January 2025 16:30 , Tom Watling
If the West gives an inch when it comes to Ukraine, Putin will take a mile
Russia claims to capture village in eastern Ukraine after advances
Tuesday 7 January 2025 15:45 , Tom Watling
Russia claims to capture village in eastern Ukraine after advances
Ukrainian soldiers celebrate Epiphany – picture
Tuesday 7 January 2025 15:09 , Tom Watling
Slovak PM Fico to discuss gas transit with Commission on 9 January
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14:41 , Tom Watling
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will discuss the end of Russian gas transit through Ukraine with representatives of the European Commission on 9 January in Brussels, Slovakia’s government office said on Tuesday.
Supplies through Ukraine stopped on 1 January after a transit agreement between Ukraine and Russia expired, but Fico had been keen to continue receiving Russian gas through that route and threatened to retaliate against Ukraine for what he said were large economic losses for Slovakia.
Ukraine’s military reports ‘new offensive operations’ in Russia’s Kursk region
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14:17 , Tom Watling
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday its forces were commencing new offensive operations in Russia’s western Kursk region.
The general staff also said on Telegram that Ukrainian troops had hit a Russian command post in the region on Tuesday.
“The strike and a series of recent operations… were coordinated with the Ukrainian Ground Forces who are currently commencing new offensive operations,” it said.
Putin has ruled Russia for 25 years – but what can he show for it?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14:09 , Chris Stevenson
What 25 years of Putin has done to the world, in a presidency bookended by war
Ukraine is right to stop the flow of Russian gas – whatever the cost
Tuesday 7 January 2025 13:54 , Chris Stevenson
Ukraine is right to turn off the flow of Russian gas – whatever the cost
Tuesday 7 January 2025 13:39 , Chris Stevenson
Kyiv’s army has said it is clinging on to part of Kurakhove, a strategic town in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk that Russia claims to have captured.
The Ukrainian army said Tuesday fighting was still ongoing on the fringes of the town and accused Russia of using scorched-earth tactics to “completely destroy” it.
“Ukrainian troops are holding on in the western part of the town, on the western outskirts of the town,” Victor Tregubov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia army unit, which is fighting in the area, said in an interview on national TV.
A “large part of the town has been destroyed”, he said, adding that Russians were grinding through the area, clearing the town building by building.
“They are actually trying to dismantle the town brick by brick,” Mr Tregubov said.
Mapped: Russian advances in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Tuesday 7 January 2025 13:08 , Tom Watling
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:39 , Tom Watling
Ukraine-Russia war map 2025: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline?
What does Ukraine stand to gain with latest Kursk counterattack?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 12:05 , Tom Watling
What Kyiv stands to gain and lose in surprise counter-attack on Russian soil
Mapped: Ukraine launches attack in Kursk
Tuesday 7 January 2025 11:39 , Tom Watling
Ukrainian pilot destroys six miles in one sortie
Tuesday 7 January 2025 11:09 , Tom Watling
A Ukrainian pilot flying a Western F-16 fighter jet has shot down six Russian missiles in one sortie, the Ukrainian defence ministry has announced.
The pilot shot down the cruise missiles during a Russian aerial attack involving more than 200 missiles and drones on 13 December last year.
F-16—Ukrainian pilots set records.
During a massive missile attack on December 13, 2024, an F-16 fighter jet destroyed six cruise missiles in a single combat sortie. This marked the first time in the history of Fighting Falcon operations.📷: UA Air Force pic.twitter.com/GD7iWci66Y
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) January 7, 2025
Zelensky praises emergency services
Tuesday 7 January 2025 10:45 , Tom Watling
In various regions of our country – in the rear, on the frontlines, and in border areas of Ukraine – there are people who, 24/7, after everything Russia brings with its terror, do not hesitate to arrive at the scene and do everything possible to help as quickly as they can.… pic.twitter.com/UaaT6LGuB1
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 7, 2025
Nearly half of Russian attacks in past day staged in Kursk
Tuesday 7 January 2025 10:19 , Tom Watling
Nearly half of all of Russia’s attacks in the past day were launched in its own region of Kursk as it looks to blunt a fresh Ukrainian counteroffensive in the area, Kyiv’s military has claimed.
In its latest update, the Ukrainian general staff said Russia launched 94 assaults in Kursk. In total, they launched 218 attacks across the entire, roughly 640-mile frontline.
They added that Russia launched 67 attacks at the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in the Donetsk region, where Moscow has been advancing slowly over the past year.
In total, that means that 74 per cent of all Russian attacks yesterday were launched in Kursk, Pokrovsk and Kurakhove.
In pictures: On the frontline in Kharkiv
Tuesday 7 January 2025 09:52 , Tom Watling
Russia says its troops improve positions, repel Ukrainian attacks
Tuesday 7 January 2025 09:38 , Tom Watling
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its central, western and eastern troop groupings had repelled Ukrainian counter-attacks in the last 24 hours and improved their positions.
Russia said on Monday its forces had made important gains in eastern Ukraine while continuing to fend off a new Ukrainian offensive inside the Kursk region of western Russia.
However, open-source war trackers suggest that Ukraine have made confirmed gains in Kursk.
Ukraine-Russia war map: Where are Putin’s forces making gains?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 09:08 , Tom Watling
Ukraine-Russia war map 2025: Where are Putin’s forces making gains on the frontline?
Trump’s Ukraine envoy postpones Kyiv trip until after inauguration
Tuesday 7 January 2025 08:42 , Tom Watling
US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy has postponed a fact-finding trip to Kyiv and other European capitals until after Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, according to four sources with knowledge of the trip’s planning.
Retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, who is set to serve as Mr Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, had initially planned a mission to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders in early January, Reuters reported last month. His team was also setting up meetings with officials in other European capitals, including Rome and Paris.
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions
Tuesday 7 January 2025 08:29 , Tom Watling
Ukraine attacks Russia’s Kursk from multiple directions in surprise assault
Ukraine downs 28 Russian drones overnight, military says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 07:39 , Arpan Rai
The Ukrainian military shot down 28 Russian drones overnight, it said this morning.
Of the 38 drones launched, 10 did not reach their targets, the air force said.
Macron urges realism from Ukraine over territory
Tuesday 7 January 2025 06:50 , Arpan Rai
French president Emmanuel Macron has stressed the need for “realistic discussions on territorial questions” between Ukraine and invading power Russia saying that “such negotiations can only be conducted by Ukrainians themselves”.
Speaking on Monday in a new year’s address from the Elysee Palace, Macron called on the US to “help change the nature of the situation and convince Russia to come to the negotiating table”.
“The Europeans will have to construct security guarantees for Ukraine, which will be primarily their responsibility,” he said. Mr Macron countered Trump’s campaign pledge to reach a quick peace settlement, warning: “There is no quick and easy solution in Ukraine.
“The new American president himself knows the United States has no chance of winning anything if Ukraine loses,” he said. “The credibility of the West will be shattered if we compromise because of fatigue.”
Kyiv’s allies back new Kursk offensive: ‘Legitimate targets’
Tuesday 7 January 2025 06:23 , Arpan Rai
The United States, Britain and the European Union have reaffirmed their support for Kyiv in the wake of its new offensive inside Russia’s Kursk.
“Ukraine has the right to defend itself, and under international law, this right extends beyond its borders,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement to Reuters.
“Moscow’s unlawful war against Ukraine has included numerous Russian attacks originating from the Kursk region. So Russian military forces there are legitimate targets under international law.”
A US state department spokesperson said: “We are committed to putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position on the battlefield, including by surging security assistance and utilising all available resources authorised by the Congress.”
Britain said it would support Ukraine for “as long as it takes”.
What does Ukraine stand to gain with latest Kursk counterattack?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 06:04 , Tom Watling
What Kyiv stands to gain and lose in surprise counter-attack on Russian soil
West trying to smother Russia, Russian orthodox patriarch says
Tuesday 7 January 2025 06:01 , Arpan Rai
The patriarch of Russia’s orthodox church, celebrating Christmas alongside Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, claimed that the Western world despised Russia and its “alternative path of civilised development”.
Orthodox Christians in Russia celebrate Christmas today, according to the Julian calendar.
Patriarch Kirill, an enthusiastic backer of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, blessed icons and crosses that were to be engraved with the president’s initials and sent to servicemen in the 34-month-old war in Ukraine, Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying.
“They hate us because we are offering a different, alternative path of civilised development,” Kirill said at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, which was rebuilt on the site of a swimming pool in the 1990s after Soviet dictator Josef Stalin levelled it in the 1930s.
The West was in moral collapse, he claimed, while Russia showed the world how to blend science, culture, education and faith.
“Physically, they cannot really smother us, though they try through different types of slander and the creation of blocs of some sort intended to weaken Russia,” he said. “Nothing will work because God is with us.”
Russian drone kills one, injures nine in passenger bus in Kherson
Tuesday 7 January 2025 05:18 , Arpan Rai
A Russian drone attacked a civilian passenger bus in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson yesterday, killing at least one person and injuring nine more, the Kherson regional governor said.
The bus with shattered windows and pools of blood on its floor could be seen on a video from the site, shared by the governor alongside his statement on Telegram.
A 49-year-old man was killed, the regional prosecutor’s office said.
Civilians in Kherson region, which Russian forces partially occupy, and its capital constantly come under Russian drone attacks. Local authorities report casualties from such strikes on an almost daily basis.
Russia claims it has captured another town in eastern Ukraine but Kyiv doesn’t confirm the loss
Tuesday 7 January 2025 05:01 , Tom Watling
Russia claims it has captured another town in eastern Ukraine but Kyiv doesn’t confirm the loss
Why is Ukraine fighting to keep a piece of Kursk?
Tuesday 7 January 2025 04:46 , Arpan Rai
Over the weekend, Ukraine began a new offensive inside Russia to extend its incursion within Kursk oblast, an attack Kyiv has not yet acknowledged.
In a brief remark alluding to the events in Kursk, a senior Ukrainian official said Russia was “getting what it deserves” there.
Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had established a buffer zone and inflicted heavy losses in Kursk, preventing Moscow from deploying its troops in key areas of the eastern front.
Ukraine’s main achievement in the past five months of fighting has been its capture of territory inside Russia’s Kursk region, something it hopes could prove a bargaining chip in possible peace talks.
Independent military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady said Ukraine was trying to hold its pocket of Kursk for as long as possible, even as Russia continued to push deeper into eastern Ukraine.
“There’s a likelihood that we haven’t seen the main thrust of this Ukrainian offensive operation just yet,” he told Reuters. “We are essentially talking about platoon-sized, company-sized assaults with fairly limited gains thus far.” It remained to be seen if Kyiv’s forces could open up another axis of advance, Mr Gady added.
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