Russia Ukraine news live: Drone attack on Putin’s forces at Crimea port as Germany to slash military aid

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Britain for a series of bilateral meetings with European countries.

Zelensky arrived at the European Political Community, held in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, on Thursday, where he will speak to leaders.

The Ukrainian leader published images from an airfield showing him standing with Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Kyiv’s newly appointed ambassador to London who previously served as the head of the Ukrainian armed forces.

“We will sign an intergovernmental agreement on support for the Ukrainian defence and industrial complex, discuss future defense cooperation, and expand our defense capabilities,” Zelensky said.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has vowed to bolster European defence as she faced a make-or-break vote for re-election.

Ms von der Leyen pledged to create a “true European Defence Union” to protect European security in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine and uncertainty over continuing American support.

It comes as 65-year-old, who has run the commission since 2019, is aiming to win a second five-year term as the EU’s top official in a European parliament vote on Thursday.

With no obvious alternative candidate, Ms von der Leyen’s supporters have framed the vote as a choice between stability and chaos at a time of external and internal challenges for the bloc.

Ukraine has launched a major overnight aerial and naval drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s forces in occupied Crimea, according to officials.

Moscow’s defence ministry claimed to have downed 33 air drones and 10 unmanned Ukrainian boats over the Black Sea, as residents reported loud explosions near Sevastopol.

Meanwhile, Novorossiisk’s mayor Andrei Kravchenko urged locals to stay away from the shoreline amid the surprise attack.

Novorossiisk is Russia’s largest Black Sea port and a key outlet for crude oil and oil product exports in Russia’s south. It also loads oil coming from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and handles grain, coal, fertilizers, timber, containers, food and chemical cargoes.

A new hearing in the espionage trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is due to be held on Thursday, but the court hearing his case has said it will take place behind closed doors.

Mr Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American journalist who denies any wrongdoing, went on trial behind closed doors last month in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where he faces charges of espionage which could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that Mr Gershkovich gathered secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Officers of the FSB security service arrested him on 29 March, 2023 at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles (1,400 km) east of Moscow. He has since been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

Mr Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US government all reject the allegations and say he was merely doing his job as a reporter accredited by the foreign ministry to work in Russia.

Prime minister Keir Starmer’s review of Britain’s defences comes as the West faces a “dangerous quartet” of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, according to Nato chief Lord Robertson.

Russia remains the key threat, as it is continuing to wage war in Ukraine, including a deadly missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv last week. Relations with Russia are at their worst since the Cold War period, and military experts believe that European countries need to be prepared for conflict.

But how do Britain’s armed forces compare now to 40 years ago, in 1984, when the UK was engaged in a stand-off with Russia?

In terms of personnel and vessels, the UK’s capacity is substantially lower than in 1984, primarily because the UK is in peacetime.

The Conservative ex-premier was in Washington this week to attend the Republican National Conference in Milwaukee, where Mr Trump was named the party’s official candidate in the upcoming US presidential elections.

After a photograph circulated showing him giving a speech to a near-empty room at the conference on Tuesday, Mr Johnson later shared an image of himself meeting with Mr Trump, just days after the ex-president survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.

After almost 30 months of war with Russia, Ukraine’s difficulties on the battlefield are mounting even as its vital support from the United States is increasingly at the mercy of changing political winds.

A six-month delay in military assistance from the U.S., the biggest single contributor to Ukraine, opened the door for the Kremlin’s forces to push on the front line. Ukrainian troops are now fighting to check the slow but gradual gains by Russia’s bigger and better-equipped army.

One person was killed and eight were wounded in Ukrainian attacks on part of the southern Kherson region which is controlled by Russian forces, Vladimir Saldo, the area’s Russian-backed governor, wrote on Telegram.

Saldo accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the area and of striking it with drones.

Reuters could not independently verify his assertions and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Germany has said it will halve its military aid to Ukraine next year, despite concerns that US support for Kyiv could potentially diminish if Republican candidate Donald Trump returns to the White House.

It will be cut down to €4bn (£3.36bn) in 2025 from around €8bn (£6.72bn) in 2024, according to a draft of the 2025 budget seen by Reuters. Germany has faced criticism for repeatedly missing a Nato target of spending 2 per cent of its economic output on defence.

Germany hopes Ukraine will be able to meet the bulk of its military needs with the $50bn in loans from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets approved by the Group of Seven, and that funds earmarked for armaments will not be fully used.

“Ukraine’s financing is secured for the foreseeable future thanks to European instruments and the G7 loans,” German finance minister Christian Lindner said yesterday at a news conference.

Officials say EU leaders agreed to the idea in part because it reduces the chance of Ukraine being short of funds if Trump returns to the White House.

Alarm bells rang across Europe this week after Trump picked Senator JD Vance, who opposes military aid for Ukraine and warned Europe will have to rely less on the United States to defend the continent, as his candidate for vice president.