In an interview, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj called for a rapid adjustment to the new political balance of power in the USA in order to secure further aid. The country needs to combine cross-party support, he told the Ukrainian television channel TSN. The supply of missiles for the US Patriot air defense system is the top priority. The US State Department last week approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles, delivery of which is not expected until the early 2030s.
US President Donald Trump says he met Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriyev in the White House. “I can’t tell you what I talked about,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. Asked whether he had met Ukrainian officials who were also at the presidential residence, Trump said he had not.
Trump spoke of a future agreement. “It will be a big deal and it will affect more than Ukraine,” he said. The whole of Europe may be affected.
Representatives from Russia-attacked Ukraine and Moscow were at the White House for an event honoring First Lady Melania Trump. Melania Trump was celebrated for her role in brokering a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky. According to his own statements, Trump did not meet with representatives of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha expects new steps to support his country after the midterm elections in the USA. “We expect a new dynamic,” he said at a press conference in Bucharest. “We expect new steps to support Ukraine.” Without the USA it would not be possible to end the war. At the same time, a new role is required for Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is in Spain by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and King Felipe VI. been received. He also met several Latin American heads of state and government in Madrid on the sidelines of the 30th Ibero-American Summit. Zelensky thanked Sánchez for inviting him to the summit and for his support for Ukraine.
He called on Latin American leaders to speak in their home countries about Russia's war of aggression against his country. “Make sure the world knows about these crimes,” Spanish state TV channel RTVE quoted him as saying. Although many Latin American countries have condemned Russia's war of aggression, they have otherwise hardly contributed to any aid to Ukraine.
Sánchez emphasized that support for Ukraine should not come only from European countries. “The world must support Ukraine in its fight for freedom and for international law, otherwise (...) the law of the strongest will be legitimized,” he warns.
Ukrainian MP David Arachamija has asked US First Lady Melania Trump for further efforts to de-escalate the war against Ukraine. Arachamija made the remarks at an event hosted by Melania Trump in Washington with Russian and Ukrainian representatives.
Russian President Vladimir Putin received the powerful Secretary General of the Iranian Security Council, Mohsen Resai, in the Kremlin. The Kremlin initially did not disclose details of the meeting on Thursday. Pictures released by the Kremlin showed that Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and the head of Russian military intelligence, Igor Kostyukov, also took part in the conversation.
Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev spoke at the White House at the invitation of First Lady Melania Trump. On behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he thanked her for her “outstanding humanitarian role” in brokering a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied front-line town of Oleshky. The ceasefire last week lasted from Tuesday to Sunday evening - Russia and Ukraine had already thanked the First Lady several times for it.
It was an unusual appearance in the White House for Dmitriev. Putin's confidant had already held talks with US representatives there in April 2025, albeit away from the public. According to US media reports, the fact that he took the floor himself at an officially announced event is a first. It was apparently the first time that representatives of Russia and Ukraine met in person in the White House.
In a large-scale investigation into call center fraud, Ukrainian corruption investigators suspect high-ranking police officers and a secret service agent of accepting bribes. “Members of a criminal organization systematically provided unlawful benefits to high-ranking state officials to ensure the unhindered operation of fraudulent call centers and other illegal businesses,” state investigators said in a statement.
The bribe went to secret service agents, prosecutors and police officers. In return, they should cover fraudulent call centers, the sale of drugs and the production of cigarettes and counterfeit money.
Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin has placed the Russian business of the tobacco company Japan Tobacco International (JTI), like those of other Western companies, under Moscow's receivership. According to the decree, he transferred the assets of the joint-stock company Promyschlennye Aktivy (in German: Industrial Assets). JTI says it has four factories in Russia and produces several cigarette brands in the country. The company therefore employs more than 4,000 people.
Putin had previously placed the Russian business of several Western companies under external management, including the subsidiaries of the trading groups Metro and Auchan as well as the food giant Nestlé. Unlike many others, the companies continued their work in the country despite Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Russian Ryazan oil refinery has apparently been the target of an attack. This is indicated by video footage published on social media showing a fire towards the industrial site with the refinery. The Reuters news agency was able to verify the location of the video, but not the time of recording. The region's governor had confirmed a massive drone attack involving more than 200 drones. Falling debris caused fires in industrial facilities, injuring one person, he said.
The exact extent of the damage to the refinery was initially unclear. The fires at the unspecified industrial sites have now been contained or extinguished, the governor later said. The refinery in Ryazan, which supplies the capital Moscow with fuel, has been the target of Ukrainian attacks several times this year. The facility is located more than 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow and has a processing capacity of 340,000 barrels per day.
Russia says it has intercepted almost 500 Ukrainian drones. The Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Thursday that a total of 496 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over 13 Russian regions, the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in violation of international law, and the Black and Azov Seas.
According to Governor Pavel Malkov, Ukraine used more than 200 drones against the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow. A person was injured. Falling debris damaged power lines and started a fire on an industrial site, Malkow said. Russian media later reported a fire at the Ryazan refinery.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses neutralized 105 of 128 Russian attack drones between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. Four people were injured in Russian attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kiev regions, it said. According to the head of the regional military administration, Olexander Hansha, three people were injured in the city of Dnipro. In addition, infrastructure, residential buildings and garages were damaged, said Hanscha. According to civil protection, a fire broke out in an attack on logistics infrastructure west of the capital Kiev and one man was injured.
The death toll from a Russian guided bomb attack on the southern Ukrainian village of Komyshuwacha has continued to rise. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 43 people had been confirmed dead so far. The identification of victims using DNA samples from relatives is ongoing, he wrote on the X platform. A person who had been reported missing was found alive. Monday's attack hit a humanitarian aid distribution point and an adjacent shelter. The search for missing people continued on Thursday.
The EU transferred 4.36 billion to Ukraine for the continued functioning of the state and basic public services, as well as for the purchase of military equipment. Specifically, 3.7 billion euros are earmarked to cover Ukraine's financing needs and 658 million euros for the procurement of drones, missiles, radar systems, electronic warfare systems and ammunition, as the EU Commission announced in Brussels.
"As Russia continues its relentless attacks, Ukraine faces its fifth winter of war. And as efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace for Ukraine continue, the EU's unwavering support also continues," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Talks on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction and security guarantees from Western allies for the country attacked by Russia are continuing, according to Ukrainian chief negotiator Rustem Umyerov. This Thursday at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, the focus will also be on financial resources for the coming year. Representatives of the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, the EU and NATO are involved. The World Bank and the US investment group BlackRock are also represented. NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart said it was about a path toward a “just and sustainable end to the war in Ukraine.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has warned that Europe could become less important for Ukraine in possible peace negotiations. This threatens if the EU does not end its competing diplomatic initiatives and agree on a single representative with authority to give instructions. In a letter to EU Council President Antonio Costa, Meloni said the proliferation of different negotiation formats was undermining Europe's credibility. This gives the impression that the EU is acting “in a random order”. Meloni called on EU leaders to decide who should represent the union in negotiations and what mandate that person should have.
She is not seeking a place at the negotiating table for herself or Italy. However, your government will not accept any commitments that would be negotiated without an EU mandate. The issue will be discussed at the informal European Council in Dublin next week. A formal decision could then be made at a summit in December after consultation with Great Britain, Norway and other European partners.
Polish authorities have arrested four people on charges of spying for Russian intelligence services and illegally supplying military supplies. Two other suspects who were accused of involvement in a criminal organization remained at large under certain conditions, the Polish domestic secret service ABW said on Thursday.
Among the total of six accused are five Poles between the ages of 25 and 52 and a 37-year-old Russian woman. The group is said to have supplied Russia with large quantities of military components, which were intended, among other things, for the production of ammunition and weapon systems, bypassing Western sanctions.
Seven people were killed in two attacks on buses in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, according to local authorities. 14 other people were injured, including two teenagers aged 15 and 17, Russian-appointed governor Leonid Passetschnik said on the MAX online service.
According to insiders, Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, will attend an event at the White House on Thursday and meet with US government representatives. First lady Melania Trump will host the event, two people familiar with his plans said.
The White House said in a statement that the president's wife would comment on the localized ceasefire for the evacuation of the Russian-occupied military town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, which she was involved in brokering. Thanks to the six-day ceasefire that ended on Sunday, residents of the city were brought to safety.
Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev. (Archive image) dpa
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj continues after the Democratic Party's victory
