Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces launch 100-drone attack as Germany’s Scholz makes surprise Kyiv trip

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has suggested he would temporarily cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in exchange for joining Nato. The negotiation to end the war has begun.

“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. We need to do it fast,” Mr Zelensky told Sky News.

He implied that he would worry about recovering the eastern provinces and Crimea later: “And then on the occupied territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”

Mr Zelensky understands two ways in which the tide of war is turning against him, and is seeking to stay ahead of events. After nearly three years of fighting, enduring terrible losses and hardship, the Ukrainian people are becoming more tolerant of a settlement that ends the war without recovering all Ukrainian territory – something that Mr Zelensky has not previously been willing to contemplate.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have made rapid advances towards the eastern flank of a longstanding lynchpin of Ukraine’s defensive line, according to the British Ministry of Defence.

The Donetsk town of Velyka Novosilka is now vulnerable following the loss of Vuhledar in early October, which lies 30 kilometres east, the ministry warned.

“This enabled increased Russian advances into less well-defended areas in western Donetsk oblast,” said the ministry, warning that “Russian forces are attacking behind established Ukrainian defences and threatening the primary logistics routes to the town”.

Ukraine must find diplomatic solutions to retake its occupied territory, president Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Kyodo News published today.

He said such steps could be considered “only when we know that we are strong enough”.

“Our army lacks the strength to do that. That is true,” he said, admitting it is difficult to retake by force some of the Russian-occupied parts of the country, including Crimea that Russia annexed in 2014. “We do have to find diplomatic solutions.”

Mr Zelensky said returning US president Donald Trump and his team were studying the Ukrainian “victory plan” and he expected additional talks with them to explain “certain things in more detail,” according to the report.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz has arrived in Kyiv for a surprise visit, public broadcaster ZDF reported today.

The German leader will hold talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as announce the delivery in December of further armaments worth €650m ($685m), ZDF cited Scholz as saying upon arrival.

“Germany will remain Ukraine’s strongest supporter in Europe. At the meeting with @ZelenskyyUa I will announce further military equipment worth 650 million euros, which are to be delivered in December,” he said in a post on X.

Ukraine’s process of joining the EU is marked by a “sense of urgency”, new European Council president Antonio Costa has said, during a vist to Kyiv.

Mr Costa, the former Portuguese premier, visited Ukraine along with the new EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and the bloc’s head of enlargement Marta Kos, on the day they all took office.

The EU has “stood with you since the very first day of this war of aggression, and you can count on us to continue to stand with you”, Mr Costa said, in remarks alongside Volodymyr Zelensky, adding: “These are not just words.”

Mr Costa said Ukraine’s process of joining the EU was marked by “a sense of urgency” and that the bloc could take steps to integrate Ukraine before its entry, such as coordinating mobile phone roaming rules and letting some goods into the single market.

“We cannot manage this process as business as usual because it is a geopolitical choice,” he said.

Ukraine’s air force said it downed more than 50 drones Russia launched to attack the country overnight.

Of the total 110 drones fired by Russian forces, the air force shot down 52 and 50 were ‘lost’, likely due to electronic warfare, it said.

One drone remained in Ukrainian airspace and six of the drones headed toward Belarus and Russia, the air force added.

Ukraine’s air force has warned that Russia was using thermal and radar decoys to trick Ukrainian air defences, and putting electronic warfare devices on its missiles.

"All this significantly complicates the operation of Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile systems. Western systems work much more effectively in such conditions, but Ukraine does not have enough to reliably cover hundreds of critical infrastructure facilities," the air force said.

It said foggy weather conditions also made it harder for machine gunners to spot drones, as Russia launched a large-scale attack this week on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

European Council president Antonio Costa and Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv yesterday, using the first day in their new roles to send a message of support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Their visit comes as Ukraine struggles to fend off a grinding Russian offensive and faces the uncertainty of US policy toward Kyiv when Donald Trump takes office next month.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said North Korean soldiers deployed by Russia will be used as “cannon fodder”.

Many North Korean soldiers will be sent to the frontlines of the war in the future, Mr Zelensky told Kyodo News and he said that it was “indisputable” that Russian president Vladimir Putin will use them “as cannon fodder” to reduce losses to his country’s military.

Mr Zelensky said there is evidence that about 12,000 North Korean soldiers had been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region bordering Ukraine but Kyiv needs “to have proof” before disclosing the exact number of casualties.

Russia’s air defence systems destroyed 15 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions overnight, the state-run RIA news agency reported this morning, citing the defence ministry.