Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin ‘dragging Asia into war’ as North Korea troops join marine and air forces

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend a Nato meeting to shore up allied support for Ukraine ahead of President-elect Donald Trump ‘s return to the White House in January.

Mr Blinken will meet Nato foreign ministers meetings in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, the US State Department said.

Blinken will “discuss priorities for transatlantic security, including supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, deepening cooperation with NATO’s southern partners in the Middle East, North Africa, and Sahel regions, and preparing for the upcoming summit at The Hague,” the department said in a statement.

Outgoing President Joe Biden will not be in power when Nato leaders gather for their next summit in June but he has stepped up the delivery of weapons and other materiel to Ukraine over the past several months and has also eased restrictions on how Kyiv can use them.

Biden's goal is to put Ukraine in the best position possible to negotiate a settlement and has come as Moscow has made significant advances in the conflict and North Korean troops have moved to assist Russian forces.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Germany would deliver additional air defence systems to Ukraine next year, and said his trip to Kyiv was demonstrating his country’s unwavering support.

“I am making this very clear to Putin here in Kyiv today. We have staying power and we will stand by Ukraine’s side for as long as necessary,” he told a press conference.

Scholz added he had told Russian leader Vladimir Putin that he should pull back its troops from Ukraine.

Ukraine needs more air defence systems to protect its important facilities from Russian missile attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.

“We are looking at how to protect two dozen special facilities, there are simply not enough (air defence) systems because of such dense missile strikes,” Zelenskiy told a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv.

Norway's defence ministry has said it will deploy F-35 fighter jets and NASAMS air defence systems to a logistics hub in Poland which coordinates military aid for Ukraine.

From early December, Norway will safeguard the airspace above the Rzeszow airport in Poland and will send around 100 soldiers in addition to the air defence systems and fighter jets, the ministry said in a statement.

"Ukraine remains in critical need of military support, with Poland as the most critical logistics hub ... This way Norway contributes to ensuring that aid to Ukraine reaches its destination," Defence Minister Bjoern Arild Gram said.

Asked whether Ukraine ceding territory in a peace deal would hand a form of victory to Vladimir Putin, the UK’s former representative to Nato Sir Adam Thomson told Sky News: “The outcome that Zelensky is suggesting is agreement to disagree over who owns a chunk of Ukraine currently owned by Russia.

“Russia would claim it as its own. Zelensky is making the crucial point that this would not be internationally legally recognised – it would just be a de facto control that could change at some future stage through diplomacy.

“Putin would have seized some territory, he would have done it at extraordinary cost – billions and billions of dollars, two new Nato members already, a thousand or more Russian soldiers being killed or wounded every day at the moment.

“It’s in that sense a compromise. He’s got some territory under his control, it’s not recognised, and it’s an outcome that means he’s lost the rest of Ukraine and alienated Europe for a generation.”

Volodymyr Zelensky’s suggestion that Ukraine could temporarily cede territory to Russia in return for Nato assurances are “quite smart” but it is unlikely that Vladimir Putin would accept such an arrangement, an expert has suggested.

Asked about the Ukrainian president’s recent remarks on ending the “hot phase” of Russia’s war, James Nixey, of the Chatham House think-tank, told The Independent in emailed remarks: “It’s quite smart.

“Because territory can be regained – even militarily if need be (and the Ukrainians could switch to ‘deniable’ subversive warfare). Or it could be re-acquired under a post-Putin regime. It’s hard to see Ukraine ever giving up on it forever.

“However, it’s even harder to see Putin going for it,” said Mr Nixey, adding: “Putin wants control, not territory. That’s why he hasn’t invaded Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan etc. He controls them ‘enough’ and they have not been so wayward.

“So Ukraine – any part of it – in Nato as part of a deal would be unacceptable.”

James Nixey of the Chatham House think-tank has warned that any part of Ukraine being in Nato would be unacceptable to Vladimir Putin, after Volodymyr Zelensky said he could accept territory being temporarily ceded to Russia in exchange for security assurances from the alliance.

“After all, [Nato] is, for him, an abhorrence. Putin doesn’t want a pause anyway – he believes he’s on the brink of an historic and strategic victory, kindly deal-sealed by Donald Trump,” Mr Nixey told The Independent.