Ukraine-Russia war latest: Macron warned Trump could ‘betray Ukraine’ in leaked call with European leaders

Nato must be ready to respond to increasing hybrid threats in order to defend its member states’ territory, the alliance’s top military commander said.

Hybrid threats refer to both military and non-military tactics designed to undermine an adversary’s security and typically include cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, sabotage of key infrastructure and use of drones or irregular armed groups.

“Hybrid threats are a real issue, and I do think that we can anticipate more of that happening,” Alexus Grynkewich, a US Air Force general serving as Nato’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told reporters at the alliance’s military headquarters outside the Belgian city of Mons.

Speaking of recent incidents in Europe, Grynkewich said some were reckless and some intentional. He said it was important to say who was behind hybrid incidents and that the alliance knew Russia was behind some of them.

“We also do think about being proactive… If Russia is attempting to provide dilemmas to us, then maybe there are ways that we could provide dilemmas to them,” he said, adding that Nato was a defensive alliance and “there’s nothing offensive about this”.

An Irish navy ship spotted up to five drones operating near the flight path of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s aircraft as he arrived for a state visit to Ireland on Monday, local media reported.

The sighting triggered a major security alert amid fears it was an attempt to interfere with the flight path, the Irish Times reported. It quoted unnamed sources as saying the aircraft, which arrived slightly early, was not in any danger.

The Ukrainian delegation arrived late on Monday and departed late the next day as part of a trip to help drum up support in Europe for Kyiv as Russia presses on with its war in Ukraine.

Drone flights, the origin of which are mostly unknown, have recently disrupted airspace operations in Europe. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has called the incursions “hybrid warfare”.

The Journal website, which first reported the spotting of the drones at Dublin airport, said they reached the location where Zelensky’s plane was expected to be at the exact moment it had been due to pass.

It said enquiries were being carried out to determine whether the drones took off from land or from an undetected ship. They were first spotted northeast of Dublin, around 20 km (12 miles) from the airport, both news outlets reported.

Russian president Vladimir Putin will hold summit talks with prime minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today, aiming to boost trade with the top buyer of Russia’s arms and seaborne oil as Western sanctions squeeze their decades-old ties.

Putin is on his first visit to India in four years at a time when New Delhi is engaged in talks with the US for a trade deal to cut punitive tariffs imposed by president Donald Trump on its goods over India’s Russian oil purchases.

Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss other topics including labour and civil nuclear energy, with the sides expected to announce new agreements to showcase resilience of their relations.

Moscow has been India’s top arms supplier for decades and has said that it wants to import more Indian goods in an effort to grow trade to $100bn by 2030 that so far has been skewed in its favour due to New Delhi’s energy imports.

Since European countries cut back their reliance on Russian energy after Russia invaded Ukraine nearly four years ago, India has ramped up its purchases of discounted Russian crude.

“India faces a conundrum; by taking steps to strengthen ties with Moscow or Washington, New Delhi risks setting back ties with the other,” Michael Kugelman, senior fellow at Washington’s Atlantic Council think tank, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

French president Emmanuel Macron has called on China to back a moratorium on strikes against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure through winter.

Mr Macron, who was speaking at a press conference with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said it is vital to do everything possible to find compromises and adhere to international law, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“I hope that China will join our call and our efforts to reach at least a ceasefire in the form of a moratorium on strikes on critical infrastructure as soon as possible,” he said.

It is crucial for the coming winter, with energy facilities still under Russian attack.

Turkey is telling Russia, Ukraine, and all other parties to keep energy infrastructure out of their conflict and wants energy flows to continue uninterrupted, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said after a series of attacks off Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

Ukraine, which is targeting Russia’s oil exports as Moscow bombards its power grid, has taken responsibility for an attack by sea borne drones on two empty tankers heading towards a Russian port last week.

But it denied any link to another incident on Tuesday in which a Russian-flagged tanker loaded with sunflower oil said it had come under drone attack.

“Hopefully, this horrible war will end. But as of today also, we say to all the parties – Russia and Ukraine – to keep the energy infrastructure out of this war,” Bayraktar told journalists in embargoed comments.

“We need to keep the energy flows uninterrupted,” he said, adding that routes like the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline should be kept safe.

Ukrainian units continue to hold the northern part of the city of Pokrovsk, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces has said.

An “extremely difficult stage” in the defence of the Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad urban area is ongoing, Oleksandr Syryskyi said, adding that Kyiv’s troops are still holding designated areas inside the two cities

Ukraine’s military denied on Thursday that Russian troops were in control of the southern village of Dobropillia, which is located near a part of the frontline where Moscow’s forces have recently advanced.

“An enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group infiltrated the outskirts of the village, taking advantage of the weather conditions,” Ukraine’s General Staff said on Telegram, adding that the village currently is under the control of Kyiv’s troops.

President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Thursday that Russia would take full control of Ukraine’s Donbas region by force unless Ukrainian forces withdraw.

“Either we liberate these territories by force of arms, or Ukrainian troops leave these territories,” Putin told India Today ahead of a visit to New Delhi, according to a clip shown on Russian state television.

Ukraine says it does not want to gift Russia its own territory that Moscow has failed to win on the battlefield, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Moscow should not be rewarded for a war it started.