Finland and Sweden deployed fighter aircraft on Thursday after a group of Russian military planes was detected over the Gulf of Finland, the Finnish Air Force reported on Friday (25 September).
EU member states have agreed on the terms for releasing around $7.52 billion (€6.6 billion) from the European Peace Facility for Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
Kallas said around $1.03 billion (€900 million) would go towards the EU’s military assistance mission for Ukraine, while $1.14 billion (€1 billion) would fund new joint procurement of military equipment.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Warsaw had received information suggesting Russia could be preparing a major operation this year, while stressing that the nature of any potential action remained unclear.
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Sikorski said he believed Moscow could stage a false-flag attack to create a pretext for further mobilisation.
He also warned of potential escalation involving NATO’s Baltic members, arguing that Moscow could seek actions designed to make invoking the alliance’s Article 5 mutual-defence clause more difficult.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukraine urgently needed to fill a $27-billion military funding gap or it would begin to run out of drones and missiles at the start of next year.
“About a third, or perhaps even slightly more, of these funds are needed for drones in January, February and March. If we do not order and pay for them in October and November, we will face serious challenges in January and February,” Zelenskyy told reporters in a briefing on WhatsApp.
He urged the European Commission to expedite the release of a second tranche of a €90-billion ($102-billion) loan to help pay for these weapons purchases.
The Kremlin said on Friday that a trilateral meeting between the U.S., Russia and Ukraine to discuss efforts to end the four-and-a-half year conflict in Ukraine could happen soon.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the meeting would be at a technical level and might take place in the United Arab Emirates.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said there were no details about the potential meeting to add for now, also said that Kirill Dmitriev, Russia's presidential envoy, was in the United States where he had been talking to the U.S. negotiators and focusing on the question of potential economic cooperation.
A source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters that Dmitriev had held a meeting with U.S. representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on 24 September.
Ukraine has struck a Russian defense enterprise in the city of Ulyanovsk, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday.
Zelenskyy said that aside from the Iskra Plant, Ukraine had also hit radar stations in the Rostov region.
The Kremlin on Friday condemned European Union sanctions on a former executive of broadcaster Russia Today as illegal and a violation of press freedom.
EU countries on Thursday agreed to impose sanctions on Xenia Fedorova, a former executive in RT's French division, saying she had been involved in spreading pro-Russian narratives about the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the move to reporters as “persecution of media representatives”.
Western human rights groups accuse Russia itself of violating press freedom in a crackdown on dissent that intensified after Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022. The Committee to Protect Journalists says 30 media representatives are currently imprisoned in Russia. The Kremlin says some censorship is necessary at a time of conflict.
Steelmaker ArcelorMittal said on Friday it could not restart production at Ukraine's largest steel plant after a series of missile strikes, the latest economic setback from Russia's escalating air campaign.
The Luxembourg-based firm said it had informed the Ukrainian government that “safe and sustainable” operations were not possible after four strikes in five weeks caused extensive damage and killed five workers at the southeastern plant.
Its shutdown is another blow to Ukraine's steel sector, a key industry that accounts for 15 per cent of the country's exports but has come under pressure from Russian attacks and restrictions from the European Union, its top trading partner.
“It is with deep regret that we have concluded that we are no longer able to safely operate ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih,” subsidiary CEO Mauro Longobardo said in a statement.
Britain will gain access to a Ukrainian battlefield database containing more than six million detections gathered by drones and other uncrewed systems under a new AI partnership between the two countries.
The data includes imagery of tanks, artillery, air-defence systems, infantry and aerial targets and will be made available to up to 12 British companies. Firms will be asked to develop technologies applicable to both Ukrainian and UK defence needs.
The programme will focus on AI systems capable of recognising targets and allowing groups of drones to coordinate routes, priorities and actions without relying on a single control point. The British government said human oversight will remain part of such operations.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said access to real battlefield data would help British companies develop new defence technologies while strengthening UK and Ukrainian security.
In Rostov, about 50 drones were destroyed and the Perm and Novoshakhtinsk oil refinerys were damaged, forcing it to temporarily suspend operations, Governor Yuri Slyusar said.
Eight people were injured and industrial and civilian infrastructure damaged in the Ulyanovsk region, while four people were injured and residential buildings, vehicles and industrial facilities damaged in Voronezh, where Governor Alexander Gusev said 88 drones were destroyed.
A passenger train travelling from Moscow to Tolyatti was also damaged in the Samara region, with an electric locomotive and first carriage hit by what Russia’s state railway operator called “external interference”. The train driver was injured and rail traffic on the line was suspended.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the United States proposed to host a trilateral meeting with Russia and Ukraine in United Arab Emirates to discuss efforts to end the four and a half year conflict.
“We are awaiting a proposal from the United States regarding the date, and the United States has suggested the Emirates as a possible location,” Zelenskyy told reporters.
Finland and Sweden deployed fighter aircraft on Thursday after a group of Russian military planes was detected over the Gulf of Finland, the Finnish Air Force reported on Friday.
The Swedish and Finnish jets approached the Russian formation in international airspace and identified several aircraft, including a transport plane and multiple fighter jets.
The operation was carried out under the two countries’ joint framework for monitoring and protecting their respective airspace, the Finnish Air Force said.
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