The Latest Breaking News from Vladimir Putin

THE INDEPENDENT VIEW: Editorial: The former head of MI6 warns that Europe must meet the challenge of the new rules set by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin

The defence secretary will hold further talks of the ‘coalition of the willing’ next week

John Healey will host defence ministers in Brussels alongside his French counterpart.

Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger told The Independent’s Sam Kiley that Vladimir Putin lacks rationality unless in a “permanent state of antagonism,” offering Russia only “security.” This remark comes just months after the third anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Trump's followers have embraced so many absurd, illogical contradictions they have no way back to reality. Do we?

The head of Britain’s armed forces has met Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

‘We can’t sit back and watch’: Former MI6 boss says Britain must get ready for war as Putin threatens Europe

Exclusive: As a Russia-Ukrainian ceasefire looks no closer, Sir Alex Younger tells The Independent how the UK is too detached from the threat posed by Putin – and that our ‘collective effort’ needs to change

THE INDEPENDENT DEBATE: Have your say: As former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger warns Britain must revive national service to face global threats, the debate over military readiness intensifies

These are the key events on day 1,136 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina – set in the troubled 1680s – can almost describe current events, say directors