Ukraine-Russia latest: Putin hails ‘courageous’ Trump after election win as Zelensky rejects ceasefire

European nations boosted their defences in response to the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but much remains to be done for them to be ready to face threats from Russia, according to a new report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Published as the think-tank opened a three-day gathering in Prague to discuss European and transatlantic military capabilities, the report said: “Nato has not just significantly increased its ambitions regarding its deterrence and war-fighting posture, but European members have sought to address critical capability and readiness shortfalls.

“Unsurprisingly, however, after decades of neglect and underinvestment, much remains to be done and progress has been mixed.”

Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger has said that Donald Trump’s desire for a swift end to the war in Ukraine will see Kyiv lose territory to Russia.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “He will attempt to engineer a rapid solution, but he’s been pulled in two directions. There will be a land swap. That is a terrible thing for the people who end up living under Russian rule.

“But fundamentally, it’s not the main argument. The main argument is whether Ukraine is a western or eastern country in future.”

Sir Alex added: “Trump’s advisers, on the one hand, are saying that Ukraine should be forced into neutrality, so basically back into the bosom of Putin. Others are talking about the need to do a land swap, but then reinforce its military and economic capabilities, and we need to make sure we are compounding that second argument.”

Ireland’s Taoiseach Simon Harris has said there was a very resolute view at the European Political Community summit in Budapest this week that the EU must stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“The US had its election and it made its decision but that doesn’t change European values, and European values around the importance of the UN Charter, the importance of territorial integrity remain,” he said.

Vladimir Putin has described China as Russia’s ally and threw his weight behind Beijing’s claims over Taiwan, while insisting that no countries have anything to fear from their deepening co-operation.

The two countries have not declared a formal military alliance, but signed a “no limits” partnership deal in 2022, less than three weeks before Mr Putin sent his troops into Ukraine.

“We do not believe that China is pursuing an aggressive policy in the region,” Mr Putin said at the Valdai discussion club in the Russian resort of Sochi.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, despite strong objections by the government in Taipei, and regularly holds wargames near the island. But Mr Putin suggested that Taiwan was trying to stir up a Ukraine-style crisis in Asia in order to attract outside support.

“A lot is going on around Taiwan,” Mr Putin said. “Everyone formally acknowledges, yes, Taiwan is part of China. But in reality? In reality, it is acting in a completely different direction. Provoking the situation towards escalation.

“We do support China. And because of this, we believe that [China] is conducting a completely reasonable policy. And also because it is our ally. We have a very large trade turnover, we co-operate in the security sector.”

South Korea has been targeted with cyberattacks by pro-Russia hacking groups after North Korea dispatched troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, Seoul’s presidential office has warned.

The office held an emergency intra-agency meeting after detecting denial-of-service attacks on some government and private websites in recent days.

Some of the websites experienced temporary outages but there was no serious damage, the presidential office said, adding that the government will strengthen its ability to respond to such attacks.

Vladimir Putin has described Donald Trump in one word as he spoke publicly for the first time about the Republican’s election victory, my colleague Lucy Leeson reports.

Putin said he had been “impressed” by Trump, before describing him as “courageous” concerning the assassination attempt on the president-elect at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

On Thursday, Putin said: “In his first term as president he was dubbed mostly a businessman, but his behavior when there was an attempt on his life, I was impressed, he is a courageous person.

The Russian city of Saratov was targeted by a Ukrainian drone overnight, the regional governor said on Friday, saying drone debris had fallen in an industrial zone after it had been destroyed.

The governor, Roman Busargin, made the comments on his official Telegram channel and said that nobody appeared to have been hurt.

Saratov, about 730km southeast of Moscow, hosts an oil refinery.

A major airbase housing long-range strategic bombers is also located less than 16km out of the city and has been targeted by Ukraine in the past.

Early this morning, Russian forces struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, with a guided KAB aerial bomb severely damaging a 12-storey residential building in the Saltivskyi district and injuring at least 25 people.

The blast caused a fire, destroyed multiple floors, and left residents trapped, according to Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov. Search and rescue teams are working to locate anyone still beneath the rubble.

Five of the injured were taken to hospital, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. The attack, launched from Russian-controlled Donetsk Oblast, also damaged nearby buildings, metro entrances, and vehicles.

A separate strike targeted Kharkiv’s city centre, hitting administrative and historic structures as well as residential areas. Another hit impacted a nearby neighbourhood, damaging shops, multistorey buildings, and cars. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in these additional attacks, Mr Syniehubov confirmed.

Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Russia has reportedly lost 705,880 troops, according to data shared by Ukraine’s Armed Forces on its Facebook page. This tally includes 1,580 soldiers killed within the last 24 hours alone.

In addition to personnel losses, Ukraine’s General Staff reports that Russia has sustained heavy equipment losses, listing 9,233 tanks, 18,661 armoured fighting vehicles, 28,495 transport and fuel vehicles, and 20,226 artillery systems. Russian forces have also lost 1,245 multiple launch rocket systems, 996 air defence systems, 369 aircraft, 329 helicopters, and 18,526 drones, along with 28 naval vessels and a single submarine.

Russian forces conducted a large-scale drone assault on Ukraine’s southern Odesa Oblast early this morning, leaving one person dead and injuring at least nine others, reported Kyiv Independent, citing local officials.

The attack caused significant damage to residential buildings, with Ukraine’s State Emergency Service confirming casualties. Odesa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper, reported that shockwaves shattered windows at a city school, while shrapnel punctured and ignited two gas pipelines in another district, heightening the risk to nearby areas.