#russia-ukraine-conflict

#russia-ukraine-conflict

Drone sightings, threats and an arms race raise spectre of war. After nearly four years of war between Kyiv and Moscow, fighting is heating up on the front lines of eastern Ukraine. But with drones spotted at sensitive sites across the European Union, its leaders have declared Russia is fighting a hybrid war beyond Ukraine's borders. They say the bloc will protect every centimetre of its territory, as member states scale up military spending to heights not seen for decades.

Russian air strikes hit Ukrainian civilian sites, Ukrainian officials said on November 3, killing several people and seriously damaging residential buildings while Moscow said it carried out massive attacks as its troops continue to make advances in the key city of Pokrovsk. On Pokrovsk's eastern and southern perimeters, Russian forces have slowly crept forward in recent weeks, seizing roads, slowly strangling supply lines, and pressuring Ukrainian defenses.

"This is the moment of taking existential choices that are ahead of us," Grabar-Kitarović said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed recent sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against Russia, calling them an important step in pressuring Moscow. "We waited for this. God bless, it will work. This is very important," Zelenskyy said as he arrived at an EU summit in Brussels. Speaking alongside European Council President Antonio Costa, Zelenskyy said Russia's continued attacks on civilian infrastructure, including kindergartens and schools, show it has no interest in peace.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Zelenskyy told reporters: [Trump] proposed Stay where we stay and begin conversation'. I think that was a good compromise, but I'm not sure that Putin will support it, and I said it to the [US] president. It comes as plans to hold a summit between Trump and Putin in Budapest have been put on hold as it was reported that Ukraine and its European allies had rallied in pushing for a ceasefire without territorial concessions from Kyiv.

Large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine's capital overnight have killed at least two people and injured five, including a two-year-old child, according to officials. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday that Russia launched a wave of drone and missile attacks on the capital. One person was killed and 10 rescued in the Dniprovskiy area after drone debris hit one of the floors of a residential tower.

United States President Donald Trump has expressed optimism about ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as he hosted his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. On Friday, Trump also told reporters that Zelenskyy will be in touch during upcoming negotiations in Hungary, where the US president will meet with Russia's Vladimir Putin. list of 3 itemsend of list But direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders are unlikely, according to Trump, who reemphasised there's a lot of blood between the two presidents.

After all, the Hungarian capital was the site of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine gave up the thousands of nuclear weapons it had inherited upon the breakup of the Soviet Union in return for assurances that Russia would respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. Putin broke that promise with his 2014 invasion and annexation of Crimea, with his decade-long military offensive in the Donbas region, and then with his all-out invasion in 2022.

Hungary's government has made clear it will not arrest Vladimir Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, if he arrives in Budapest for peace talks. Speaking to state radio on Friday, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban hailed the fact his country would host the meeting. Budapest is essentially the only place in Europe today where such a meeting could be held, primarily because Hungary is almost the only pro-peace country.

An overnight Russian barrage on the city killed at least four people, including a 12-year-old girl. Russia launched nearly 600 drones and more than 40 cruise missiles in a bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours over Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Images Residents stand near their apartment building which was damaged by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also spoke at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. Pezeshkian told the chamber that Iran has "no intention" to build a nuclear bomb. "I hereby declare once more before this assembly that Iran has never sought and will never seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek to build a nuclear bomb. We do not seek nuclear weapons," Pezeshkian said in his speech.

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 810 drones and 13 missiles during the attack, which caused damage across the country, including the cities of Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih and Odesa, as well as in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions. Other Russian attacks killed three in the Zaporizhia region, two in Donetsk, a 66-year-old woman in Kharkiv, a 51-year-old woman in Sumy, and a 54-year-old man in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

Overnight two drones entered Polish airspace, they were not shot down as the posed no danger, the Armed Forces Operational Commander Maciej Klisz said on Thursday. Poland's General Staff Chief Wieslaw Kukula said the drones then left Polish airspace and caused no damage. Overnight Russia launched another deadly attack in western and central Ukraine which saw the two drones enter Poland's territory.

Given how strongly the Kremlin is opposed to any suggestion of NATO membership for Ukraine, it felt like a surprise when Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country wouldn't be opposed should Ukraine join the EU. "As for Ukraine's membership of the EU, we have never objected to this," Putin said while visiting China. "As for NATO, this is another issue." Observers were quick though to note that Putin was likely trying to appear as a peacemaker to US President Donald Trump.

He suggested that Zelenskyy's term has expired with no means of extending it, once again questioning his legitimacy to hold the office without elections. So does it make sense to meet with the current administration? We could do that; I've never refused to do that if that leads to some positive outcomes, he argued. He said Trump asked him if it was possible to which he replied: I said yes, it was possible, let him come to Moscow.

Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least five people on Monday, including two in Kherson, one in Zaporizhia, and two in Donetsk, according to regional governors. The attacks wounded dozens more. In the Zaporizhia region alone, Russian forces launched 286 drone attacks, 10 missile attacks and five air strikes on 16 settlements in one day, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.

In connection with another attack by the Russian Federation striking objects on the territory of Ukraine, Polish and allied aviation has begun operating in our airspace.

These attacks show that Putin is just mocking any kind of peace efforts that are made,

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin should come to the negotiating table if he is serious about peace. "Just spoke with President Zelenskyy, then President Donald Trump, following the massive strike on Kyiv which also hit our EU offices," she posted on X. "Putin must come to the negotiating table. We must secure a just and lasting peace for Ukraine with firm and credible security guarantees."

Russian forces launched a massive aerial attack overnight on Ukraine on August 21, deploying a combination of drones and missiles against multiple regions of the country, according to the Ukrainian authorities. The authorities reported civilian casualties and significant damage to residential areas and infrastructure. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia launched 574 drones and 40 missiles in an overnight attack. In Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, a Russian missile and drone strike killed one person and injured two others, according to Maksym Kozytskyy, the region's governor.

Bolton stated that negotiations between Putin and Zelensky might succeed more if Trump is present, although he expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of direct bilateral talks.

The Donbas, an industrial region in eastern Ukraine, has been a primary battlefield in the current war, with Russia controlling the majority since its invasion in 2022.

Ukrainian soldiers sometimes accidentally jam their own drones in efforts to stop Russian ones due to overlapping frequency usage, complicating electronic warfare efforts.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated that his forces are countering and increasing pressure on the occupier despite Russian advances in Donetsk, especially around Pokrovsk.

The launch of a 10-year eurobond by the European Commission on June 15, 2021, symbolized a shift in the EU's approach towards joint debt issuance and economic collaboration.

The US has imposed a 25% tariff on Indian exports to the US, effective August 1, threatening to substantially increase it.

A woman removes broken glass in a damaged apartment building after shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in Donetsk.

"We see from the United States that they have also realized that Russia does not really want peace," Kaja Kallas told reporters, emphasizing the shift in the US stance towards Russia.

"We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening."