Ukraine Russia war: Trump offers to ‘settle’ war as Biden calls Putin ‘war criminal’ at presidential debate

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar visit the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine today.

Ukrainian Prime Minister said on Friday that military pledges outlined in 20 security agreements Kyiv has signed with its partners total $60 billion annually for the next four years.

“According to these agreements, in the next four years, our partners plan to provide Ukraine with total military support worth $60 billion annually,” Denys Shmyhal said during a governmental meeting.

Russia‘s Defense Minister ordered officials to prepare a “response” to U.S. drone flights over the Black Sea, the ministry said Friday, in an apparent warning that Moscow may take forceful action to ward off the American reconnaissance aircraft.

The Russian Defense Ministry noted a recent “increased intensity” of U.S. drones over the Black Sea, saying they “conduct intelligence and targeting for precision weapons supplied to the Ukrainian military by Western countries for strikes on Russian facilities.”

“It shows an increased involvement of the U.S. and other NATO countries in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kyiv regime,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Kremlin said on Friday that the outlook for EU-Russia ties was bad after EU leaders nominated Ursula von der Leyen for another term as European Commission president and picked Estonia’s Kaja Kallas as the next EU foreign policy chief.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the bloc’s decision to nominate Germany’s von der Leyen for a second five-year term would not change anything.

“Mrs von der Leyen is not in favour of normalising relations between the EU and Russia. That’s how we know her, that’s how we remember her. Nothing changes in this respect,” said Peskov.

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Commenting on the choice of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas for EU foreign policy chief, Peskov said she was known for her anti-Russian rhetoric.

“Mrs Kallas has not demonstrated any diplomatic inclinations so far either, and is well known in our country for her absolutely intransigent and sometimes even openly anti-Russian statements,” he said.

“Therefore, we do not think that European diplomacy will contribute in any way to the normalisation of relations. The prospects, in terms of relations between Moscow and Brussels, are bad.”

Russia has no comment on the U.S. presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump as it is an internal U.S. matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

Biden stumbled frequently in the encounter with Trump, which revived discussion about his age. Russia loomed large in the debate as both men tried to show who was tougher on foreign policy.

Trump said if the U.S. had a “real president” who was respected by Putin, he would never have invaded Ukraine on Biden’s watch.

Biden responded: “Go ahead, let Putin go in and control Ukraine, and then move on to Poland and other places. See what happens then. He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”

Putin said earlier this month he did not believe the outcome of the election would make much difference for Russia.

The border service of Belarus and the country’s Ministry of Defence are taking measures to further reinforce the Belarusian border with Ukraine after a security incident, the Belarusian border service said in a statement.

The border service said its staff had brought down a quadrocopter on Wednesday after it had illegally crossed the border from Ukraine to collect information about Belarusian border infrastructure.

Earlier in the week, it said materials for a homemade bomb had been found concealed in the same area and that it was aware that a unit of pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters was present in a Ukrainian region bordering Belarus.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signaled Wednesday that he is getting tough on officials he suspects are shirking their duties in the war with Russia that is now in its third year.

Zelensky and Commander in Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visited troops in the eastern Donetsk region who have weathered fierce Russian ground and air assaults in recent months. They also discussed with local officials the drinking water supply, social issues, evacuation plans and the rebuilding of local homes, Zelenskyy said.

He added that back in Kyiv he would speak to “officials who must be here and in other areas near the front line — in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions.”

The United States will confront Russia at the United Nations Security Council on Friday over violating a North Korea arms embargo, and will push for China’s view on growing ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, said deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood.

The meeting of the 15-member council comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Pyongyang last week to sign a pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in which they agreed to provide military assistance if either faces armed aggression.

“This should be of great concern to the entire global community,” Mr Wood told Reuters ahead of the meeting, accusing Russia of “in essence siding with a rogue state to violate countless U.N. Security Council resolutions.”

“This is unprecedented, and we need to call it out for what it is,” he said. “We also want to see what China has to say about this growing military cooperation between DPRK and Russia. They cannot view this as a positive development.”

Here’s a look at what we know about the first day of the trial for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been charged in Russia with espionage — charges that he, his employer and the US government deny.

Where was the trial held?

It was held on Wednesday in the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in the city of Yekaterinburg, about 880 miles (1,416km) east of Moscow. Gershkovich was arrested in the city in March 2023 while on a reporting trip.