CIA Director John Ratcliffe visits Moscow to urge peace deal with Ukraine

The head of the CIA told his Russian counterpart to make a deal with Ukraine as Moscow’s position deteriorates during a secretive visit this week, according to a report.

US officials told the New York Times that CIA director John Ratcliffe presented FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov with evidence of the enormous price Russia has paid for relatively small gains in Ukraine, attributed to Kyiv’s “mastery” of drone technology.

The CIA boss urged that Russia should enter serious negotiations with Ukraine to end the war given their difficulties on the ground and mounting economic woes, the sources claimed in comments to the newspaper.

Mr Ratcliffe flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with his intelligence counterparts in the first visit by a CIA director since 2021, when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine.

Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ratcliffe also brought up the possibility of a Russian operation against a Nato member and Russia’s continued support for Iran during the meeting.

Russia nonetheless on Thursday warned that British military installations and equipment in and outside of Ukraine could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons, after the UK offered Kyiv access to technology to make missiles.

Ukraine’s general staff claims in its daily update that Russia has lost 1,483,780 troops in Ukraine since 24 February 2022. That includes an additional 1,630 recorded over the past day, they say.

Three suspects allegedly planned an arson attack on a drone factory operated by Skyeton, a Ukrainian-founded company in eastern Slovakia, prosecutors said. A 26-year-old Latvian suspect was detained in Hamburg and faces extradition proceedings, while Slovak authorities said a Latvian and a Ukrainian had been detained in Slovakia.

Six Russian drones crossed into the airspace of neighbouring Moldova during the latest wave of attacks on Ukraine, according to local authorities. One of the drones was later found on Moldovan territory. Moldovan president Maia Sandu “strongly condemn[ed] this intimidation” as the incident raised fresh concerns about the conflict spilling beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Ukraine has received a small batch of US-made Patriot missile interceptors, president Volodymyr Zelensky said, as Russian forces continue using ballistic missiles against Ukrainian cities.

The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden are pushing the EU to reconsider using frozen Russian central bank assets to help fund Ukraine. In a letter to the European Commission, the four countries said: “We believe now is the time to revert to the issue of how we can make further use of Russia’s immobilised assets for the benefit of Ukraine.”

A lunchtime Russian strike on a shopping centre in Kharkiv killed one person and injured two others, Ukrainian officials said. The attacks also hit commercial and industrial infrastructure elsewhere in the country, including a retail distribution centre in the Kyiv region and a shipment hub belonging to a toy company. Roshen, the chocolate company founded by former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, said one of its warehouses outside Kyiv was destroyed.

A Russian strike on a thermal power plant in Kherson has wiped out all of its generating capacity, according to Ukraine’s state oil and gas company Naftogaz. Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin urged residents who can to leave, warning: “Kherson may find itself without electricity or heating” for an extended period.

Russia launched a major overnight assault on Ukraine, with the Ukrainian military saying it shot down seven ballistic missiles and 258 drones. The attack continued into Thursday, hitting ports, grain storage sites, energy facilities, industrial targets and other infrastructure.

Russian forces have struck warehouses belonging to Ukrainian delivery company Nova Poshta near Kyiv, according to local authorities.

Kyiv experienced a record 13 air-raid alerts in 24 hours on Thursday, keeping the capital under warning for nearly 15 hours as Russia launched waves of drones and missiles. It was a single-day record for the capital since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.