Nato military chiefs to discuss Ukraine and eventual security guarantees – Ukraine war live | Ukraine

Russia is in favour of reliable security guarantees for Ukraine but it hopes the United States understands that discussing security issues without Russia is a “road to nowhere”, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

The US has an increasingly clear understanding of the “root causes” of the Ukraine crisis, Lavrov added.

In further quotes, carried by Reuters, Lavrov also criticised what he saw as “clumsy” attempts by Europe to change Trump’s position on Ukraine, warning that the bloc was only trying to “aggressively escalate the Ukraine situation.”

He also claimed that Europeans did not field any “constructive” ideas in their meeting with Trump.

I will bring you the full quotes when we have them.

A regional prosecutor in Poland said that the initial assessment is that the object which exploded overnight in eastern Poland was a military drone.

Speaking at a press conference, prosecutor Grzegorz Trusiewicz said authorities could not yet confirm the origin of the drone, with forensic experts expected to arrive on scene shortly to lead the probe. It is believed that the drone was struck by explosive materials it carried.

The drone’s wreckage will be carefully collected and checked in a laboratory, he said.

Trusiewicz said the authorities couldn’t confirm what triggered the explosion, with investigators also looking at a potential crash with high-voltage power lines.

He said he couldn’t rule out that the drone arrived from abroad.

The prosecutor also provisionally ruled out two of the earlier suggestions it could be a smuggling or a civil drone (12:32).

Nato’s military chiefs are meeting (virtually) this afternoon to discuss the latest on Ukraine including eventual security guarantees that could be provided in case of a peace arrangement.

The meeting is set to being at 2.30pm CEST (1.30pm BST), with only few details publicly available.

But the focus is expected to be on taking forward what was discussed at the Monday’s White House summit with US president Trump, Ukrainian president Zelenskyy and numerous European leaders.

Separately, on Tuesday evening top US officer Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held talks with European military chiefs on the “best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal,” a US defence official told AFP.

We are getting a bit more detail on that object that exploded overnight in a field in eastern Poland (10:14), with authorities investigating three theories of a Russian or smuggling drone or an act of sabotage.

The incident took place in the village of Osiny, some 120 km from the Ukrainian border and 100 km from the Belarusian border.

The blast, captured on some CCTV cameras in the area, shattered windows in nearby homes, but nobody was injured, PAP news agency reported. Police officers found burnt metal and plastic debris at the site, it added.

The Rzeczpospolita newspaper claimed the object was identified as a Russian drone Shahed, regularly deployed by Russian forces against Ukraine.

Poland’s deputy prime minister and defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said it was most likely a drone of some sort, but was cautious about prejudging the investigation.

“The entire incident is being verified.

The three hypotheses: a drone that is Belarusian, Russian, or a drone used for smuggling, or an act of sabotage that could have taken place on Polish territory, none of these possibilities should be ruled out.“

Kosiniak-Kamysz compared the situation to recent incidents when Russian drones flew into Lithuania and Romania.

Jakub Krupa

It’s Jakub Krupa here, taking over from Charlie Moloney.

Good morning or afternoon, depending on where you are.

I will guide you through the rest of the day in Europe.

Ukraine’s president said on Wednesday that Russia had struck a gas distribution station in the southern region of Odesa.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X: “Last night, a drone strike on Okhtyrka in the Sumy region injured 14 people. A family with wounded children – 5 months, 4 years, and 6 years old – sought assistance after the attack. In Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, a glide bomb strike damaged five apartment buildings, and at least three people still remain under the rubble. The rescue operation continues.

“There was also a treacherous strike on a gas distribution station in the Odesa region. Shelling also targeted the Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions. In total, more than 60 drones and a ballistic missile were used.

“All of these are demonstrative strikes that only confirm the need to put pressure on Moscow, the need to impose new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy is fully effective,” Zelenskyy added.

Fabrizio Tassinari

Seven is a biblical number, a number dear to ancient Rome, and the number of Cristiano Ronaldo’s lucky jersey. Perhaps it is also now going to be the answer to Henry Kissinger’s (probably apocryphal) question: what number do I call when I want to talk to Europe? Maybe the answer is seven, like the number of leaders sitting at the table in Washington on Monday alongside Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It’s difficult to say at this stage whether anything good will come from the impromptu White House summit, but European leaders showing up as a group in support of Ukraine was a first. This seven-member format – Nato, the European Commission, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Finland – truly spoke with one voice. They did so on a crisis, Ukraine, over which they have sometimes been bitterly divided throughout the past three and a half years (remember Emmanuel Macron’s early concern not to “humiliate” Vladimir Putin?). Yet Ukraine is also the dossier over which European leaders have converged and yielded the greatest impact during the same timeframe: from the 18 sanctions packages the EU has imposed on Russia and the opening of EU accession negotiations for Ukraine, to the supply of weapons to Kyiv.

The US president may be helping Putin to destroy the west, but his vanity is causing Europeans to speak with one voice on Ukraine, Fabrizio Tassinari writes.

Dan Sabbagh

Over dinner on Monday, a simple barbecue of meat and roasted vegetables, the soldiers of Ukraine’s 150th reconnaissance and strike battalion have other things on their mind. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the White House and Donald Trump has just promised to give Ukraine “very good protection”.

When this development is passed on to the group around, one of the soldiers pipes up “From who?” and laughs, such is the uncertainty about who the US really supports. But in reality the troops are not following the news closely. After three and half years, the war has its own momentum, technology and schedule.

Near Dobropillia new trenches are visible, drone attacks continue and there is no sign of the fighting easing. Ukrainian frontline troops are sceptical of ceding land, writes Dan Sabbagh near Dobropillia. Read the full report here:

Patrick Wintour

After a week of historic summits on the future of Ukraine, will the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have to trade land for peace? Diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reports.

Anton Levsiushkin grew up in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine. It is a seaside city. “Swimming, windsurfing, kitsesurfing”, he tells Helen Pidd, “anything a human being can do in water, we did it”.

Sofiia Rozhdestvina is from a little farther north, in Donetsk. It’s a place, she explains, famed for its roses and its football club, Shakhtar Donetsk. Her family had their surname inscribed on a few of the stadium seats.

So is the three-year war in Ukraine close to an end? And what will it mean to Ukrainians like Anton and Sofiia if it is?

The US president, Donald Trump, said on Tuesday his country may provide air support to back a Ukraine peace deal. Trump ruled out putting US troops on the ground in Ukraine, but said he might provide air support as part of a deal to end Russia’s war in the country. It comes a day after Trump pledged security guarantees to help end the war at an extraordinary White House summit. The path to peace remained uncertain as the US and allies prepared to work out what military support for Ukraine might include.

“When it comes to security, (Europeans) are willing to put people on the ground. We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably … by air,” Trump said in an interview with the Fox News “Fox & Friends” program.

Nato military leaders were expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss Ukraine, with US Gen Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, expected to attend virtually, officials told Reuters.

Also:

• Putin has said Russia will not tolerate troops from the Nato alliance in Ukraine. He has also shown no sign of backing down from demands for territory, including land not under Russia’s military control, after his summit with Trump on Friday in Alaska.

• Later, in an interview with radio host Mark Levin, Trump characterised his negotiating style in trying to end the war as “probably instinct more than process.”

• Following Monday’s meeting, Russia launched its biggest air assault in more than a month on Ukraine, with 270 drones and 10 missiles launched, the Ukrainian air force said. The energy ministry said the strikes caused big fires at energy facilities in the central Poltava region, home to Ukraine’s only oil refinery.

• Oil is flowing to Slovakia again via the Druzhba pipeline, the Slovak economy ministry said late on Tuesday, after a Ukrainian drone strike on an oil pumping station in Russia’s Tambov region cut off supplies. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, a key conduit for generating money for Kremlin’s war efforts, with oil and gas sales accounting for a quarter of Russia’s total state budget proceeds.