Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has cautioned that “Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield so he will try to negotiate his way there,” as she called for further support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia after a meeting of EU foreign ministers (14:17, 14:23, 14:26)
Earlier, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has also warned against “the unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation”, as Europe scrambles to assert influence over a US effort to end the war in Ukraine (9:24, 9:24, 9:24, 9:26, 9:29, 9:33, 13:14).
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said that Germans “have to get used to the idea again that peace and freedom do not come for free,” as he spoke about the country’s 2026 budget, and said that “Putin must realize that he has no chance of winning this war at the expense of the European order of freedom and peace.” (9:54).
At the same time, Russia welcomed some “aspects” of the new US plan to end the war, while saying it still required further analysis (13:53), and rejecting Europe’s “meddling” in the talks (10:56).
Meanwhile, speculations were swirling over where the leaked conversations involving US peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Kremlin’s senior aide Kirill Dmitriev, published by Bloomberg, may have leaked from (11:02, 15:55).
In other news,
Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine (17:09).
The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been convicted of illegal campaign financing in his failed 2012 re-election bid, after the country’s highest court rejected his final appeal (14:44).
Poland said it was expecting 44bn from the European Union’s SAFE programme to spend on defence projects, including drones, space defence, AI, cyber and cryptosecurity, and equipment for its army and border guards, becoming the largest beneficiary of the scheme (12:40).
Moldova displays Russian drone after summoning ambassador over 'unacceptable' crash
Moldova displayed a Russian drone that fell on its soil outside its foreign ministry as it summoned Moscow’s envoy over the crash, in an overt criticism of Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine, AFP reported.
The small ex-Soviet republic, wedged between Ukraine and Nato member Romania, has repeatedly seen violations of its airspace since Russia’s invasion of its neighbour in 2022 and has expelled dozens of diplomats and employees of the Russian embassy.
After summoning Oleg Ozerov, the Russian ambassador to Chișinău, on Wednesday, Moldova’s foreign ministry placed the crashed drone in front of its headquarters, AFP said.
The foreign ministry said it had handed Ozerov “a note of protest regarding the illegal overflight”, deeming it “totally unacceptable” and “a serious violation of the sovereignty” of Moldova.
