Closing summary
German chancellor Friedrich Merz said Wednesday during a visit by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Berlin will help Kyiv develop new long-range weapons that can hit targets in Russian territory, AFP reported. “Our defence ministers will sign a memorandum of understanding today regarding the procurement of Ukrainian-made long-range weapons systems,” said Merz, without naming the manufacturers involved.
Germany will provide further military support for Ukraine amounting to about €5bn ($5.65bn), its defence ministry said on Wednesday, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met senior officials in Berlin. According to Reuters, in its statement, the ministry pointed to Russian airstrikes, “with many civilians killed and injured, as well as the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure in particular”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Germany’s plans to jointly develop long-range missiles with Ukraine, as well as supplies of its tanks to Kyiv, showed that it was already a participant in the Russia-Ukraine war. German chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking during a visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Berlin on Wednesday, said his government would not impose any range limits on the missiles which could be produced in Ukraine and Germany.
Russia has proposed holding the next round of peace talks with Ukraine on 2 June in Istanbul, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday. “The Russian side, as agreed, has promptly developed a relevant memorandum, which sets out our position on all aspects of reliably overcoming the root causes of the crisis,” he said.
Nearly 175,000 servicemen have signed Russian army contracts since the beginning of the year, the TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday, quoting top security official Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev, Russia’s former president, also said that more than 14,000 additional people had joined the army on a volunteer basis, TASS reported.
German prosecutors have charged three people – a Ukrainian, a Russian and an Armenian – with foreign agent activity, on suspicion of spying on a Ukrainian man in Germany with the possible aim of killing him, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The target of the operation was a man who had taken part in combat operations for the Ukrainian armed forces following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a statement from the federal prosecutor said.
Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday it struck several Russian weapon production sites during a major overnight drone attack that Moscow said its air defences had repelled. The latest attack struck Russia’s Kronstadt plant, which produces drones in the town of Dubna outside Moscow, and the nearby Raduga plant that makes cruise missiles, Ukraine’s general staff said.
Russia’s military has committed “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes” in its drone attacks on civilians in Ukraine’s Kherson region, UN experts concluded in a report published on Wednesday. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, established by the UN human rights council, said Russian armed forces were “systematically” hitting civilians, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine not being invited to the upcoming Nato summit would mean a victory for Russian president Vladimir Putin over the alliance. Zelenskyy had said on Tuesday that Nato chief Mark Rutte wanted Ukraine to attend the summit.
Ukraine has protested to the international atomic energy watchdog about reports that Russia is building power lines to connect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to its own grid, a Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.
Belarus will scale back military drills with Russia planned for September, cutting the number of soldiers taking part and moving them away from the western border, Minsk said on Wednesday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Kremlin believes that US president Donald Trump was not fully informed about the Russia-Ukraine conflict, foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Russia has massed more than 50,000 troops, including some of its best forces, near Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region, but Kyiv has taken steps to prevent them from conducting a large-scale offensive, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.
Turkey’s foreign minister will travel to Kyiv on Thursday for a two-day visit after discussing peace efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine in Moscow earlier this week, a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Russian president Vladimir Putin may be intentionally delaying negotiations on a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine and expressed disappointment at Russian bombing.
“We’re going to find out whether or not he’s tapping us along or not, and if he is, we’ll respond a little differently,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
