Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin threatens ‘retaliation’ after claiming Kyiv struck student dormitory

German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday his government will spend more than 4% of the country’s gross domestic product on defence this year and is on its way to 5%.

Germany will suggest intensifying defence cooperation with Ukraine with the goal to speed up production, Wadephul also said prior to a meeting of NATO held in Helsingborg, Sweden.

France is reportedly looking to join a British-German plan to make new long-range missiles as Europe weans itself off military reliance on the United States.

Sources familiar with the discussions told the Financial Times that Paris has formally expressed interest in joining the deep precision strike programme.

The three nations are hoping to hold trilateral talks early next month, the newspaper reports.

The programme aims to build a series of ground-launched missiles with a range of more than 2,000km, capable of hitting military targets deep inside Russia.

Russia has begun nuclear war games and moved Iskander-M missiles into Belarus, on the doorstep of the European Union. Ukraine has rushed troops to its northern border, and Nato has condemned the threatening moves.

Ria Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned news site, said: “Since May 18, Belarus has begun training in the combat use of nuclear weapons and their provision by military units. It involves the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern and Pacific Fleets, the Long-Range Aviation Command, as well as part of the forces of the Leningrad and Central Military Districts.”

Nato forces have taken over a London tube station to use as their underground HQ as they simulate launching “deep strike” operations on Russia in the event of an attack on allied forces.

In a ramping up of preparations for war, the UK-led Nato Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) moved its military capability to a disused platform at Charing Cross station.

As part of Operation Arcade Strike, soldiers are testing Nato’s capacity to use electronic warfare to jam Russia’s communications and down the Kremlin’s drones in case of a fictional Russian invasion of a Baltic country.

​The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine ⁠had informed it that a fire ⁠broke ​out ⁠at the Dniprovska 750-kilovolt ⁠electrical substation ​on ⁠Friday due ‌to military activity.

The UN nuclear ‌watchdog said South ‌Ukraine nuclear power plant ⁠was partially disconnected from its off-site power supplies at the request of ‌the grid ​operator ‌as a ⁠result of ⁠the incident.

With Europe now eyeing a lead role in direct communications with Russia, Ukraine says that US-brokered talks are reaching the point of exhaustion.

Foreign minister andrii Sybiha said on Friday: “My impression is that this format is gradually reaching the point where discussions possible at this level are becoming exhausted.

“At times, the same issues end up being discussed several times over.”

Little tangible progress has been made to end the war since talks broke down in February. And with the US now tied up in Iran, Europe is weighing restarting dialogue with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Sybiha assessed that European engagement is one of the ways to reinvigorate the process. Another option, he added, is meeting at the leaders’ level, which Ukraine has been pressing for.

Ukraine’s military on Friday denied Russian ⁠accusations that it attacked a student ⁠dormitory in ​the occupied ⁠Starobilsk as “manipulation” and ⁠said it targeted ​an ⁠elite drone ‌command unit in the ‌area.

Kyiv’s general staff ‌said on Facebook ⁠that it hit one of the headquarters of the Rubicon drone unit near ‌the ​town overnight.

It ‌stressed ⁠that Ukraine ⁠complies with international humanitarian ‌law.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said that Donald Trump’s decision on the presence of American troops in Poland is “good news for Poland and the USA”.

“I thank everyone involved in this matter, President (of Poland) Nawrocki, ministers, congressmen, and friends of Poland in the USA for their effectiveness and unity of action,” he wrote on the X platform.

It came after Trump said on Thursday the United States would send 5,000 more troops to Poland, citing his relationship with conservative president Karol Nawrocki as the reason.

On Tuesday, JD Vance told reporters a US troop deployment to Poland had been delayed, but it was not accurate to say the troops were being withdrawn from Europe.

Earlier, Polish authorities had been alarmed by reports that the Pentagon had cancelled plans to deploy troops there, but they offered reassurances to Poles that this was not the case.

Diplomatic efforts to end Russia’s war ⁠in Ukraine should be reinvigorated, president Volodymyr Zelensky ⁠said ​on ⁠Friday after talks ⁠with leaders ​of Britain, ⁠France and ‌Germany.

Zelensky added in his evening ‌address that ‌he expects proposals from the ⁠United States on new formats of diplomacy, stressing that the frontline situation ‌was favourable ​to Ukraine after Kyiv’s troops ‌liberated ⁠590 square ⁠kilometres so far this year.