Ukraine-Russia war latest: Europe considers postwar ‘buffer zone’ as US to sell thousands of missiles to Kyiv

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that discussions by Kyiv’s partners on security guarantees for Ukraine should be “urgently” elevated to a leaders’ level.

He made the remark in a briefing with reporters in Kyiv, during which he also said he wants allies to ratify any such guarantees through their respective parliaments.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday that the Commission has received funding requests totalling the full €150 billion available under the EU’s ‘SAFE’ rearmament initiative.

She added that 19 countries, including Latvia, had applied for support through the instrument.

Launched earlier this year, the plan aims to boost Europe’s defence capabilities by helping member states replenish military stockpiles and strengthen strategic autonomy

Russia has claimed that Western proposals on Ukraine are “one-sided” and would increase the risk of conflict.

Ukraine and its European allies are attempting to pull together a series of security guarantees that will help to form part of a peace deal and deter a future Russian invasion.

“Security guarantees must be based on reaching a common understanding that takes into account Russia’s security interests,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

She told a news briefing in Moscow that the current proposals were “one-sided and are clearly designed to contain Russia.”

“This line (of proposals) violates the principle of indivisible security and assigns Kyiv the role of a strategic provocateur on Russia’s borders, increasing the risk of the (NATO) alliance becoming involved in an armed conflict with our country.”

The Ukrainian military has struck an oil pumping facility in Russia’s Bryansk region in its latest attack on the country’s energy infrastructure.

In a statement, Kyiv’s General Staff said the station in the village of Naitopovichi had been struck, causing a fire.

The station has a pumping capacity of around 10.5 million tonnes per year.

The Kremlin has hailed Russia-China relations ahead of a planned trip to the country by President Vladimir Putin.

Putin, whose programme in China the Kremlin said would begin on Sunday, is due to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and to attend a Chinese military parade.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed Russia’s major aerial attack on Kyiv shows President Vladimir Putin is “choosing ballistics” instead of “real steps towards peace”.

Speaking in his nightly address on Thursday, Zelensky said despite claims of being ready to negotiate, Moscow’s war goals “have not changed”.

Watch his full address below.

Estonia’s defence minister has said that the best security guarantee for Ukraine would be membership in Nato.

Speaking to reporters, Hanno Pevkur said that the US would need to be united on security guarantees with European leaders to successfully bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

Zelensky has called for sanctions to be placed on Russia after its latest attack on Kyiv, which killed 23 people.

“Russia kills every day,’ he wrote in a post on X. “Therefore, every day they must feel pain for what they are doing. And this is possible. The world’s sanctions. Tariffs. Support for Ukraine. Our strong army. Our ability to defend lives and respond powerfully to the Russian war machine. Eternal memory to all whom the Russian state has killed.”

Support for Ukraine and its defence industry will be the most important topic when EU defence ministers meet in Copenhagen on Friday, Denmark’s Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told reporters.