Ukraine-Russia war latest: Starmer warns Putin of ‘severe consequences’ if he breaches ceasefire deal

An explosion rocked an oil depot in Russia's Krasnodar region where firefighters are trying to extinguish a blaze that broke out after a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week, regional authorities said on Friday.

"During the extinguishing process, due to depressurisation of the burning tank, there was an explosion of oil products and release of burning oil," officials said on the Telegram messaging app.

The fire spread to another tank, and the fire area increased to 10,000 square metres, they added. Two firefighters were injured.

The depot, near the village of Kavkazskaya, is a rail terminal for Russian oil supplies to a pipeline linking Kazakhstan to the Black Sea.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had already violated a proposed ceasefire on energy sites by attacking the depot

The Ukrainian military suggested it had carried out a "successful strike" in western Russia's Kursk region on the Sudzha gas station, through which Russia sends gas to Europe.

A picture showing a huge fireball rising skyward was shared on the Ukrainian military Telegram channel following the strike.

"Media are reporting a successful strike on the Sudzha gas transport system through which the enemy used to transport gas to Europe,” it said, citing media reports.

There was no official word on the incident from the government in Kyiv.

Authorities in Moscow also did not report the incident.

Ukrainian forces have faced pressure from the Russian army in the area for the last seven months.

The station at Sudzha was the only point through which Russian gas had passed on its way through Ukraine and on to Europe until Ukraine declined to prolong a transit agreement in January this year.

Ukrainian media also reported the strike and posted video footage of the blaze, as did Telegram channels in the Kursk region.

The Baza Telegram channel, close to the Russian security services, said the pipeline had been damaged.

Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday that Ukraine had already violated a proposed ceasefire on energy sites in the three-year-old war by attacking an oil depot in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar.

Three people were injured after Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odesa late on Thursday.

Regional governor Oleh Kiper said drone strikes damaged high-rise buildings and a shopping centre, sparking huge fires.

The attacks happened in three locations, causing power outages in the area.

Public broadcaster Suspilne had earlier reported more than 18 explosions in the city after 10pm.

Russia has imposed a state of emergency in the district of Engels in the Saratov region after 10 people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield.

All those wounded are being treated in hospital and there is no threat to their lives, the head of the regional health ministry told a local TV channel.

Ukraine struck Russia's Engels strategic bomber base on Thursday with drones, triggering a major blast and fire.

Several buildings in the area were damaged following the strike.

French president Emmanuel Macron said he will host a meeting of European leaders with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris next Thursday to discuss ways to help defend Ukraine.

He said his goal was to discuss ways to speed up immediate military support, how to make a possible ceasefire work, and draw up plans to beef up the Ukrainian military after a deal and possibly deploy troops there.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's top security adviser Sergei Shoigu has arrived in North Korea and plans to meet its leader Kim Jong Un today, Russian news agencies reported this morning.

Further details of the former Russian defence minister's visit to North Korea are not immediately clear. North Korea's state media have not reported on Shoigu's arrival.

Mr Shoigu had earlier made visits to Pyongyang as North Korea geared up to deploy troops to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine.

According to the US and South Korean officials, North Korea has deployed more than 10,000 troops who were sent into combat in Russia's eastern Kursk region and also shipped heavy weapons including artillery and ballistic missiles.

Seizing the opportunity to drive a wedge between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s president has moved swiftly to usher the American president back towards his corner.

By respecting, vocally, Trump’s efforts to get a ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine has exposed Putin’s deep reluctance to agree to any lowering of hostilities until he can be sure of permanently mangling Ukraine’s sovereignty.

According to a briefing on a call between Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump, the US president has calmed down, stopped calling him a “dictator”, and come up with an agreement to supply some badly needed air defences for Ukraine.

Sam Kiley writes from Odesa:

Prime minister Keir Starmer said he didn't know whether there would be a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine war, but "we are making steps in the right direction" as a "coalition of the willing" led by Britain and France moves into an "operational phase."

"We hope there will be a deal but what I do know is if there is a deal, the time for planning is now," he said during a visit to the meeting of military planners at a British base in Northwood, just outside London. "It's not after a deal is reached."

"It is vitally important we do that work, because we know one thing for certain which is a deal without anything behind it is something that (Russian president Vladimir) Putin will breach," he said.

His remarks come as senior military officers from more than 30 countries across Europe and beyond met in England yesterday to flesh out plans for an international peacekeeping force for Ukraine as details of a partial ceasefire are worked out.

After a week of frenetic activity on the war front, there has been a welcome return to peace – if only the idea of it. High-level meetings in London and Brussels have served to clarify a few basics.

Military leaders met behind closed doors in London for what was billed as operational planning for Sir Keir Starmer’s “coalition of the willing”. EU leaders, meanwhile, thrashed out preparations for closer defence cooperation and the eventuality, however distant, of peace in Ukraine; Volodymyr Zelensky reported from Norway on his recent “friendly” phone call with Donald Trump.

With much of the recent action happening between Washington and Moscow, and with diplomatic meetings taking place in Saudi Arabia, it has been all too possible to neglect the role that could and should be played by Europe and the Europeans. Here was an illustration of why they matter.

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