Ukraine-Russia war latest: Nato chief calls for wartime mindset as Trump criticises ‘crazy’ Biden policy move

A man falls to his death from the window of a burning apartment after a Russian air strike. Two girls in pink tutus join a ballet class in a bomb shelter.

The grisly evidence of war is everywhere in Ukraine, where, for a third year, soldiers and civilians are enduring the Russian army’s onslaught.

AP photographers have travelled across the country, capturing the agony and the life-affirming joy witnessed in the conflict.

Donald Trump has criticised Ukraine’s use of US-supplied missiles for attacks deep into Russian territory in a Time magazine interview published yesterday.

“It’s crazy what’s taking place. It’s crazy. I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done,” Mr Trump said in an interview to mark his being named Time’s Person of the Year.

Mr Trump has said he would like to bring a quick end to the nearly three-year-old war but has been cagey on the details. He told Time he had a “very good plan” to help but that if he reveals it now “it becomes almost a worthless plan.”

Pressed on whether he would abandon Ukraine, Mr Trump said: “I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.” He said the entry of North Korean troops into the picture was a “very complicating factor.”

President Joe Biden last month lifted the US ban on Ukraine using US-supplied longer-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, his latest attempt to boost Kyiv in its battle to repel a Russian invasion force from his country.

Nato secretary General Mark Rutte warned that Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe Ukraine off the map” and could come after other parts of Europe next.

“It is time to shift to a wartime mindset,” Mr Rutte told security experts and analysts at the Carnegie Europe think-tank in Brussels.

He said people should guard themselves against the prospect that Russia might try to use “swarms of drones” in Europe as it has a deadly effect in Ukraine.

The Russian president “is trying to crush our freedom and way of life,” Mr Rutte said. The former Dutch prime minister listed Russia’s attacks on Georgia in 2008, the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, and the all-out invasion launched almost three years ago.

“How many more wake-up calls do we need? We should be profoundly concerned. I know I am,” he said. “Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation. With Ukraine, and with us.”

The Nato official has also urged Europeans to press their governments to ramp up defence spending.

Russian air defence units destroyed at least 11 Ukrainian drones over three southern Russian regions late last night, officials said.

Russia’s defence ministry said six drones were destroyed over Rostov region to the east of Ukraine and four in Belgrade region, just over the border from northern Ukraine, in a period from 9pm to 10pm (6pm to 7pm GMT).

The governor of Bryansk region, also on the northern border, said local air defences destroyed one drone.

The warning comes as analysts estimated Russian forces are now within just a few miles of the important city.

Ukrainian troops repelled nearly 40 Russian attempts to storm defences around Pokrovsk over the previous 24 hours, the General Staff said in a battlefield report Thursday.

“Russian occupiers are throwing all available forces forward, attempting to break through the defences of our troops,” Ukrainian army chief General Oleksandr Syrskyi said. His forces are outnumbered, he added.

The Biden administration has announced another package of weapons aid for Ukraine valued at $500m, secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement.

President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration is seeking to provide Ukraine as much assistance as possible against Russia’s invasion before his term ends in January, when Republican president-elect Donald Trump will enter office.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said earlier the US would continue to provide additional packages for Ukraine “right up to the end of this administration.”

Washington said 10 days ago it would send Ukraine $725m worth of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons.

In its latest package worth $500m, the US has included ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs), among other assistance, according to Mr Blinken.

After Thursday, about $5.6bn worth of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to rush weapons from US stocks to the frontlines remains available to Mr Biden without requiring congressional approval.

Kyiv was not yet ready to start talks with Russia as it lacked the weapons, security guarantees and international status that it sought, said Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff in an interview broadcast late yesterday.

“Not just yet today,” Andriy Yermak told Suspilne, when asked whether Ukraine was ready to embark on talks.

“We don’t have the weapons, we don’t have the status that we are talking about. And that means an invitation to Nato and an understanding of clear guarantees that would provide for us, so that we could be sure that (Russian president Vladimir) Putin won’t be coming back in two-three years,” Mr Yermak said.

His comments come as Mr Zelensky publicly considers the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the war with Russia, launched by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.