Ukraine war latest: Russia ponders nuclear shift and change in relations with West - as US leads drills after North Korea warhead test (2024)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is in Brussels to discuss "urgent things" such as Ukraine's air defence and continued talks over the country's European Union membership.

"We have to work on next steps," the Ukrainian president told reporters as he arrived to attend a summit of EU leaders.

He said he and the leaders would discuss "the urgent things -- air defence, that is one".

The EU launched membership talks with Ukraine on Tuesday in Luxembourg, two years on from the country being formally approved as a candidate in June 2022.

"We waited for this, a long period of time," Mr Zelenskyy said, thanking the EU for its approval.

EU leaders are expected to sign a document of security commitments to Ukraine today.

Vladimir Putin says Russia's navy will be boosted by at least 40 new ships in 2024.

In a report by state-run news agency TASS, the Russian leader is quoted as saying that one of the country's main objectives is to "comprehensively upgrade" its naval capabilities.

This includes "ship, aircraft and coastal components", while there are also plans to improve the infrastructure of naval bases to "strengthen its positions in the strategically crucial areas of the world ocean, and to drastically improve its combat potential".

Mr Putin said that, compared to previous years where numbers were lower, 2024 would see more than 40 ships and boats received.

"A lot has been done in this area, as our Navy is getting new ships," he said, adding that "repairs and profound refurbishments of equipment" are being carried out.

Russia's defence ministry says it has carried out missile strikes on Ukrainian airfields, which it says it believes have been designated to host Western military aircraft.

Sea-based, long-range Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and drones were used in the attacks, it said.

All designated targets were hit, the ministry added, withoutnaming the list of targets.

Ukrainian president VolodymyrZelenskyy has arrived in Brussels today, where he plans to sign three security agreements.

Among those is an agreement with the European Union, which will pledge to keep delivering weapons, military training and other aid to Kyiv for years to come.

In the event of "future aggression", the document, a draft of which has been seen by Reuters, says the EU and Ukraine intend to consult within 24 hours on Kyiv's needs and "swiftly determine" next steps in line with the commitments.

"For the first time, this agreement will enshrine thecommitment of all 27 member states to provide Ukraine withextensive support, regardless of any internal institutionalchanges," Mr Zelenskyy said in a statement.

The draft EU document says its commitments will remain in effect "as Ukraine pursues its European path" and will be reviewed in 10 years at the latest.

Swedish furniture giant IKEA is set to reopen its Kyiv store.

The company, like other multinational brands, closed its stores in Ukraine when Russia launched its invasion of the country in February 2022.

Now it's set to follow in the footsteps of popular retailers H&M, which reopened in November 2023, and Inditex, which owns Zara, by returning to Kyiv.

IKEA's "main priority for the resumption of store operations in Kyiv is the safety of our employees and customers," the Ingka Group, which is part of the Ikea group, told Forbes Ukraine.

"The return and success of H&M was an important signal for the head office of IKEA, and they also closely followed the recovery of Inditex," a source told Forbes Ukraine.

A chemical plant in Russia was targeted in an overnight drone attack, according to state-run RIA news agency.

The Redkinsky Experimental Plant, located in the Tver region to the northwest of Moscow, produces a number of chemicals used in the aviation industry.

The plant was previously struck by Ukrainian drones in September 2023. At the time, Ukraine's intelligence agency claimed the plant produces decalin, an aviation fuel additive.

This morning's attack saw four drones damage the plant's pipeline, roof, and a workshop building, according to independent Russian news outlet SOTA.

The Tver regional government said on Russian social media platform VKontakte that air defence systems thwarted a drone attack, but didn't comment on whether the plant was targeted.

"At around 4 a.m. on June 27, in the Konakovo municipal district of the Tver region, the air defence systems on duty of the Russian ministry of defence repelled another UAV attack," it said.

"Emergency services specialists continue to work at the site where the UAV debris fell. There were no casualties."

Russia has started the new trial of imprisoned US citizen Robert Gilman on four new charges, the state-run RIA news agency reported.

A former US Marine, Mr Gilman was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in October 2022 for attacking a police officer while drunk.

RIA said that sentence was reduced on appeal to three and a half years in May 2023.

Mr Gilman — from Massachusetts — said he did not remember the incident, but had "apologised to Russia" and to the officer he had kicked.

His lawyers told TASS, the Russian state news agency, that Mr Gilman was in Russia to study and obtain citizenship.

For context: Mr Gilman is one of at least a dozen US citizens being held in Russian prisons.

Among those, the best known is Evan Gershkovich. The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in March 2023 on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

Mr Gershkovich and his newspaper strongly reject the charges.

The US government has designated him as wrongfully detained, meaning it must seek ways to get Mr Gershkovich released, which could include a prisoner swap.

The Kremlin says Russia is considering a possible downgrading of diplomatic relations with the West due to the hostile approach of the US and its allies towards Moscow.

Speaking to reporters today, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the move is "standard practice" for states that face "unfriendly or hostile manifestations".

He added: "Due to the growing involvement of the West in theconflict over Ukraine, the Russian Federation cannot butconsider various options for responding to such hostile Westernintervention in the Ukrainian crisis."

Peskov said that no decision had yet been made on thematter and that Russia was considering different ways to respondto the West.

North Korea has successfully conducted a test aimed at developing missiles carrying multiple warheads, state media agency KCNA reports.

The country said the test was carried out yesterday using the first-stage, solid-fuel engine of an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

KCNA said the missile succeeded in separating warheads in a test that was aimed at developing multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) technology.

"The purpose was to secure the capability to destroy individual targets using multiple warheads," it said.

What else happened this week?

The dispatch comes a day after South Korea's military said North Korea had launched what appeared to be a hypersonic missile off its east coast that exploded in mid-air.

South Korea, the US and Japan condemned that launch as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat, and warned against additional provocations in the wake of last week's summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin.

Today, the US, Japan and S Korea began large-scale joint military drills involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defence against missiles, submarines and air attacks.

During Mr Putin's first visit to North Korea in 24 years, the two leaders signed a mutual defence pact, which Mr Kim lauded as an alliance, but which South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called "anachronistic".

A passenger train derailment in northern Russia has killed at least two people and left one other missing, a state-run railway company has said.

The 14-carriage train derailed in Russia's northern republic of Komi last night, Russian Railways said, with nine carriages coming off the tracks.

Up to 50 people were injured, Russia's news agency Interfax reported, citing emergency officials.

The train, carrying 232 passengers, was headed to the southern city of Novorossiysk from Vorkuta, a coal mining town in the north of Komi, Russian Railways said.

It said that heavy rainfall, which washed out parts of the track, was the likely cause of the derailment.