Kyiv has recently received a small number of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. It comes as Britain and France pledged stronger military support for Ukraine.
OpenAI says it has disrupted a covert influence operation originating in Russia that used ChatGPT to promote the International Burke Institute, a self-described think tank based in Israel.
The Russia-based operators used AI to generate social media content promoting the institute and to produce posts critical of Ukraine, the EU and Western governments. OpenAI also found that much of the academic content presented on the institute’s website had been copied or misattributed.
OpenAI said there were indications that some real individuals in Israel had represented the institute, but stressed that it could not determine their relationship with the Russia-based operators. The campaign appears to have reached relatively small audiences.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland and Ukraine had chosen to “never again be Russian colonies”, accusing Moscow of pursuing an imperial policy towards its neighbours.
“Fear of Russia is not irrational, because Russia poses a real threat to its neighbours,” Sikorski said in interviews with Ukrainian media marking Ukraine’s Independence Day.
He argued that Moscow must accept internationally recognised borders and abandon its territorial ambitions, adding: “Russians must decide once and for all where Russia ends.”
Sikorski said Poland and Ukraine shared an interest in seeing Russia become a “normal nation” that respects its neighbours’ borders and focuses on its own development.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that no meetings with U.S. envoys are planned this week, as efforts to revive negotiations over the war in Ukraine remain stalled.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments following earlier reports that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner could travel to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
Peskov also accused Western leaders, including UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, of maintaining an “aggressive” stance towards Russia and “deceiving their voters” by suggesting Moscow could be defeated.
The Kremlin reiterated its opposition to the deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine and rejected proposals for a “free economic zone” in the eastern Donbas region.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled that Britain’s strong support for Ukraine will continue under his leadership following his first overseas visit as prime minister to Kyiv.
Talks are now focusing on strengthening Ukraine’s air defences ahead of winter, with Burnham urging allies to provide additional support as Kyiv prepares for further potential Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure.
A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III military transport plane landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport on Tuesday after flying directly from Riga, Latvia, according to Flightradar24 data.
The Kremlin said it had no information about the aircraft’s arrival, while it remains unclear whether the plane was carrying passengers or cargo.
The aircraft had arrived in Riga on 23 August from Joint Base Andrews near Washington, D.C. The last known direct flight by a U.S.-registered aircraft from Europe to Russia was in January, when U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Moscow for talks on Ukraine.
Officials from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration asked Ukraine not to strike Moscow, St. Petersburg and northern Russia on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the Financial Times's Chief Ukraine Correspondent has said, citing people familiar with the matter.
It comes as U.S. broadcaster CBS reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow aboard a C-17 aircraft for a meeting on Tuesday.
German investigators have uncovered a third drone and a batch of explosives that may have been part of an attempted attack against Leipzig/Halle Airport earlier in August, German news outlets have reported.
The third drone was discovered on 14 August in a field in Kabelsketal, an area west of the airport, a week after the apparent attempted attack. A drone carrying explosives was found at the airport on 4 August, near a Ukrainian cargo plane used for military supplies.
The Director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, travelled to Russia aboard a C-17 aircraft for a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, according to Jennifer Jacobs, Senior White House Reporter for U.S. broadcaster CBS.
Earlier, it was reported that a U.S. military aircraft landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport after flying directly from Riga, Latvia, according to flight-tracking data.
Two employees at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack, the plant's Russian-installed management has said.
The strike occurred near the plant's hydraulic structures and wounded two maintenance and construction workers.
Russia's Foreign Ministry added that one of the workers was in a serious condition, while the other sustained moderate injuries.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. It has been under Russian control since 2022.
Police have stopped a planned arson attack on a drone factory in the east of Slovakia, the country's national police force has said in a statement on Facebook.
Three foreign nationals have been charged in relation to the planned attack: two were arrested in Slovakia and a third in Germany, police from the Central European country said.
Officers from regional police in the eastern city of Prešov assisted officers from the country's organised crime unit in the operation.
"Police seized a larger amount of incendiary mixture, tools, mobile phones, camera and a handwritten plan," Slovakian police said, adding that there were about 70 people at the facility at the time of the planned attack.
Ukrainian drone manufacturer Skyeton invested $3.5 million into a factory in Prešov in 2024 to launch production of long-range combat drones.
Police investigators charged the suspects with public endangerment committed on commission.
NATO and European Union member Slovakia borders Ukraine to its east.
A courier involved in setting up a weapons stash near Berlin, who is now being held in Romania, is suspected by investigators to be part of a Russia-controlled agent network, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reported on Tuesday, citing unspecified sources.
According to Der Spiegel, the individual is a 24-year-old Ukrainian who travelled to Berlin by bus from Poland, collected weapons and transported them to an underground depot on the outskirts of the city. He is believed to have been acting on behalf of Russia, according to the magazine.
Kyiv has recently received a small number of U.S.-made Patriot interceptors capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
The country also got confirmation of future supplies of the French Crotale surface-to-air missile system, Zelenskyy was quoted as saying by Ukraine's national public broadcaster Suspilne.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev for Baku's "firm" position on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in a statement on X.
"Together, we keep building on our time-tested economic cooperation, breaking new ground in energy and security, and lending a helping hand to each other when needed," Zelenskyy added.
Russian forces carried out strikes on a cargo vessel and a tanker in the Black Sea on Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported, citing Moscow's Defence Ministry. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence has shared footage of what it says is a fire at Russia's Afipsky oil refinery, which Kyiv's forces struck overnight.
According to the Ministry, the refinery processes 6.25 million tons of crude oil per year, turning it into diesel and gasoline.
Latvia's government has approved a €200,000 ($233,264) package of energy support for Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže has said.
Andrii Sybiha, Kyiv's Foreign Minister, said the money would strengthen Ukraine's energy resilience and support it as winter approached.
A fire at a gas chemical complex under construction in Russia’s Far East has killed one Chinese national and injured more than 100 people, with at least 19 being treated in hospital.
The facility said work was continuing to extinguish the blaze, while specialists carried out a controlled burn of remaining industrial gases.
The complex is a joint project between Russia’s Sibur and China’s Sinopec.
Vatican envoy Paul Richard Gallagher met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday (25 August), stressing the need for diplomacy and dialogue during what he called a difficult time for international relations.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham are accused by the Kremlin of being part of the “party of war” after they backed Ukrainian strikes inside Russia, saying their comments show they want the war to continue.
The Kremlin has questioned the feasibility of a U.S. proposal for a free economic zone in Donbas, saying the territory is formally part of Russia and unlikely to be managed by a third party. Zelenskyy said the idea is among proposals to be presented to Moscow.
Kyiv sees a window of opportunity for U.S. mediation to end the Russia-Ukraine war until the end of summer 2027 and has drafted a page of ideas with U.S. and European officials to be presented to Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
Among the ideas in the document were a ceasefire and a previously discussed U.S. proposal for a free economic zone in Ukraine's eastern Donbas area, to be administered by a third party, he said.
"It contains one of the ideas for a ceasefire — that is the main point. The second part concerns what the Americans proposed regarding a free economic zone," Zelenskyy told reporters during a weekend briefing.
Zelenskyy added that he saw a window to end fighting between the G20 summit in the U.S. in December this year until the end of summer 2027, before attention shifted to the looming campaign for the 2028 U.S. presidential elections.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces has confirmed it struck the Afipsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region, southern Russian, overnight, causing a fire.
Earlier, the governor of the region said that a fire had broken out at the refinery following a drone attack.
The General Staff added that two gas separation units at the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant in Russia's southern Astrakhan region were also hit in an attack overnight.
Ukraine's Security Service has said it arrested a man suspected of collecting intelligence for Russia to help it prepare strikes on railway infrastructure and military and administrative institutions in Lviv, western Ukraine.
The man, originally from Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region, allegedly recorded the outer perimeter of sites with his phone camera, before sending the details back to a Russian intelligence officer, according to the Security Service.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his diplomatic efforts to help free Ukrainians held by Russia.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine appreciated Erdoğan's "personal involvement and Türkiye’s mediation in bringing Ukrainians home from Russian captivity," in a post on X.
He also thanked Türkiye for its "efforts to bring peace closer."
Russian air defence systems shot down 148 aerial targets over the country, as well as the Black Sea and Sea of Azov on Monday night, Moscow's Defence Ministry has reported.
Interceptions took place over the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, and Rostov, as well as the Krasnodar Territory, the Ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service said a Russian drone attack damaged infrastructure at Odesa’s Vinogradovka international automobile checkpoint on the border with Moldova, prompting a suspension of operations.
“The Moldovan side has been notified of this,” the service said, adding that emergency crews had extinguished the fire.
In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, one person was killed when Russian missiles struck the industrial zone of the Osnovyanskyi district, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham plans to visit the U.S. next month to lobby President Donald Trump over Ukraine’s military needs, Bloomberg reports.
Fire breaks out at Afipsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region after a drone attack, governor says.
It follows a move by President Vladimir Putin on Monday to hand the Russian state the power to take control of critically important infrastructure if it is deemed to be poorly protected from Ukrainian drone attacks and other threats.
The special powers, set out in a presidential decree, will allow the state to take over temporary administration of such facilities at a time when Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on oil refineries and retail warehouses.
Britain and France have pledged stronger military support for Ukraine, including access to classified technology to produce Storm Shadow missiles and faster deliveries of air defence interceptors. Kyiv says it needs at least 300 Patriot missiles to prepare for further Russian strikes on its cities and energy infrastructure.
The aftermath of Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine over the weekend, including a drone attack on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, con...
Sweden’s centre-left opposition has taken a slim lead in a closely fought election that could reshape the country’s approach to migrati...
U.S. Central Command said 101 commercial vessels have been redirected in the Strait of Hormuz, while oil prices rose more than 2 per cent amid...
Maritime trackers received new reports of an attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), adding to concerns about energy supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a vital oil pipeline on Saturday.
A Kyiv-Warsaw train was struck near the Polish border, Ukraine's state railway firm said on Sunday. No passengers were injured. Ukrainian Railways said that the country's railways were facing systematic attacks for a second day and warned of widespread delays.
Dubai’s property market has spent years climbing. Now, for the first time since 2021, prices are moving in the opposite direction.
Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline after it was hit by a drone attack, with Riyadh and Baghdad saying the strike originated from Iraq.
Swedes vote in an election on Sunday (13 September) that could see the far-right enter government for the first time if the country's right-wing parties can form a majority.
Sweden’s centre-left opposition has taken a slim lead in a closely fought election that could reshape the country’s approach to migration and the far right.
The aftermath of Russia’s latest strikes on Ukraine over the weekend, including a drone attack on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border, continues to draw international reaction, as Kyiv reports damage to civilian and critical infrastructure.
When Iran moved to shut the Strait of Hormuz this year, sending Middle East energy markets into turmoil, China had already spent the best part of a decade getting ready for exactly this kind of shock.
At the southern tip of the Red Sea, where Yemen faces Djibouti and Eritrea across a channel only around 30 kilometres wide at its narrowest, lies one of the world's most consequential waterways: the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Canada is exploring a new and potentially unprecedented relationship with the European Union as Prime Minister Mark Carney looks to strengthen economic and strategic ties with Europe amid ongoing tensions with the United States.
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