Ukraine-Russia war latest: Vance says ending aid to Kyiv was ‘one of Trump’s proudest achievements’

Join us as world affairs editor Sam Kiley sits down with former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger and Dr Rachel Ellehuus, director-general of The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) and former Pentagon official, to explore the shifting global security landscape.

In this episode of World of Trouble, The Independent’s new expert-led discussion series, our panel unpacks the fast-changing global security landscape in a discussion entitled Shifting Alliances.

They delve into the strategic importance of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Nato’s future, and whether Europe has the strength and resolve to face the Russian challenge.

Ukrainian forces retook occupied territory in an unprecedented assault using only unmanned machines, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, as he praised the country’s era-defining advances in frontline technology.

The president revealed in an address that drones have carried out more than 22,000 missions on the frontlines in three months – a major shift on the modern battlefield that he cast as key to protecting human life.

“For the first time in the history of this war, an enemy position was taken exclusively by unmanned platforms – ground systems and drones. The occupiers surrendered, and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our side,” the president said, referencing a groundbreaking manoeuvre in Kharkiv oblast last year.

Ukraine’s supply of US-produced Patriot missiles “could not be any worse” as the war in the Middle East impacts Ukrainian aid, the country’s president has warned.

Volodymyr Zelensky told German outlet ZDF that the air defence missiles were facing a critical shortage, with the Iran war reducing Ukraine’s chances of receiving foreign military aid.

“We are receiving (air defenses) slower than is possible, but we are receiving them,” he added.

Cameroon this week confirmed the deaths of 16 of its soldiers fighting in Ukraine, following a notification from Russia.

The nation’s foreign affairs ministry sent a memo to the Russian Embassy, acknowledging the fatalities among Cameroonian personnel serving in what Russia terms the “special military operations zone.”

The ministry stated that “necessary arrangements” were being made to inform the families of those who died.

In a separate communication issued on the same day, the ministry also invited the relatives of six other Cameroonian nationals residing in Russia to attend a meeting regarding “urgent matters,” though no further details were provided.

JD Vance said that cutting Ukraine off from US support is one of his proudest achievements of the Trump administration.

The US vice president told a Turning Point USA rally in Georgia on Tuesday that he still backed the decision to end nearly all new weapons deliveries for Kyiv, leaving Europe to pay for vital aid instead.

“I still believe that, obviously, and it’s one of the things I’m proudest that we’ve done in this administration is we’ve told Europe that if you want to buy weapons, you can, but the United States is not buying weapons and sending them to Ukraine anymore,” he said.

Referencing a clash with a Ukrainian-American over his push to withdraw funding for Ukraine, Vance added: “Being an American means caring about Americans first, and that’s the perspective we should be taking in his immigration policy”.

European countries have bought the vast majority of US weapons bound for Ukraine since Donald Trump took office last January.

Britain has announced a major new package of support for Ukraine, worth millions of pounds, as senior ministers engage in a series of high-level international meetings.

In Washington DC, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed a £752 million payment to Ukraine, ahead of a meeting with Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

The payment, part of a larger £3.36 billion loan, is earmarked to procure essential military equipment, including long-range missiles, advanced air defence systems, and drones.

Ukraine has regained control of nearly 50 sq km (19 sq miles) of its territory from Russia in March, its army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Wednesday.

He added that with the change of weather conditions, Moscow’s forces have stepped up their offensive operations and were conducting them along virtually the entire 1,200-km front line.

The EU is ready to supply Ukraine with its promised 90 billion euro loan as soon as Hungary drops its veto after last Sunday’s election, EU Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said on Wednesday.

“The people have spoken. A new wind is blowing,” Kubilius said about the election that was convincingly won by Hungary’s opposition leader Peter Magyar.

“In any case, we are ready to implement the loan as soon as we get the green light,” the commissioner said.

The defeat of Hungary’s ​Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Ukraine’s harshest EU foe, could pave the way for the loan that Kyiv urgently needs to fund the war with Russia, and that was originally agreed on by all EU member states in December.