Photograph: Yuri Kochetkov/Reuters
Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
Vladimir Putin has said any western troops placed in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets” for Russian strikes, upping the stakes as Kyiv’s allies scramble to come up with a convincing offer of postwar support to Ukraine (10:05, 13:27).
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the European planning on security guarantees for Ukraine to accelerate (10:05), as he met with Slovakia’s Robert Fico to discuss the contentious issue of energy imports (16:25, 17:10, 18:06), amid growing pressure from US president Donald Trump on Europe to drop Russian gas and oil supplies (9:58, 10:34, 11:46).
EU leaders have suggested the bloc was planning to step up its work on the next round of sanctions against Russia, with officials set to travel to Washington for talks with their US counterparts (12:40, 13:13).
In other news,
Portuguese police have confirmed that three Britons were among the 16 people killed in Lisbon on Wednesday evening when one of the city’s funicular streetcars derailed and hurtled down a hill and into a building in what Portugal’s prime minister, Luís Montenegro, described as “one of the biggest tragedies in our recent history”.
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].
I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.
Zelenskyy, Fico agree to disagree on energy in tense high-stake talks in Uzhhorod
During a tense press conference in Uzhhorod, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Slovakia’s Fico offered contrasting views on their energy cooperation, with the Ukrainian president repeatedly stressing the US president Donald Trump’s demand for Europeans to stop importing Russian energy sources to back its assertive position.
In his comments, Zelenskyy repeated his calls to put more pressure on Russia to end the war, accusing it of unnecessarily prolonging the conflict by not taking up the offers of peace talks.
On the contentious issue of energy, Zelenskyy repeatedly referenced Trump’s comments, saying that Ukraine was ready to work with Slovakia to ensure energy stability, but “with one condition: not from Russia.” “That’s because of the war; full stop.”
He added that Ukraine would continue to respond to Russian attacks on its energy systems, even if this could cause disruption in other countries – a thorny issue for Slovakia, which had been affected by similar exchanges of fire.
Zelenskyy also pointedly referenced the Chinese military parade earlier this week that Fico attended earlier this week, expressing his concern it could not only represent the past, but a pessimistic glimpse of the future.
In his comments, Fico insisted that despite differences in opinions between the two countries, his focus was on making the bilateral relations work on the basis of mutual respect.
He said there was “enormous” potential for cooperation on energy with potential to expand some connections, even if the two countries still have “quite different opinions” on this topic.
“This is a task for all of us, to find a system that will ensure that every country has a safe, high-quality energy supply at reasonable prices, and that countries will not take measures to harm each other,” he said.
But he also defended his engagement with Russia’s Putin, saying that “we may have a different view on this, but one day the war will end, and we all hope it will be very soon, and we will need to normalise relations with Russia, and we simply talk about possibilities in advance.”
Fico also declined a suggestion that he talked with Putin about some sort energy blockade of Ukraine, saying it was “false.”
The Slovak prime minister noted Trump’s reported comments about European purchases of Russian energy supplies, but didn’t elaborate further.
Hitting a more conciliatory tone, Fico wished Ukraine to quickly find a just, long-term peace settlement in its war with Russia, and endorsed Ukraine’s plans to join the EU, offering to share the Slovak experiences.
A further Slovak-Ukrainian ministerial meeting is expected in late October.
Updated
