Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says patience with Putin ‘running out fast’ after Poland drone incursion

The events in Poland this week have reminded us that Europe is not immune to war. For Britain, the question is whether its people are ready – and if not, how quickly they could be trained.

Guy Walters looks at the MoD scheme that fast-tracks Ukrainian civilians into soldiers, and asks if it could work for the UK, too:

As wars are increasingly fought with the use of unmanned drones piloted from miles away, Taz Ali looks at what other weapons will shape the conflicts to come:

Prince Harry met with Ukraine’s prime minister during his surprise visit to the country this week.

Yulia Svyrydenkon shared pictures of the meeting as she and the Duke of Sussex visited damaged premises of the Ukrainian government building in Kyiv.

An early morning Russian attack killed three people on Friday in northern Ukraine’s Sumy region, a regional official reported.

Sumy Regional Governor Oleh Hryhory said a 6 am drone and missile attack killed three residents in or near Sumy and injured five.

But Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian operation in the region “has been completely foiled by our forces.”

Russian forces have tried in recent months to gain a foothold in areas like Sumy, a border region next to Russia’s Kursk region.

They have captured a string of villages near the border and subject larger towns, like the city of Sumy, to frequent shelling.

Zelenskiy has reported successes in other operations in Sumy in recent weeks. He said Kyiv’s forces were also actively repelling Russian troops in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, the two main areas on the front line.

The Duke of Sussex has said there is “light at the end of the tunnel” as he visited ex-service personnel during a surprise trip to Ukraine.

Harry travelled to Kyiv with a team from his Invictus Games Foundation following an invitation from the Ukrainian government and Olga Rudneva, chief executive of the Superhumans Centre, an orthopaedic clinic and rehabilitation centre for adults and children affected by the war in Ukraine.

His trip comes after spending several days in the UK, where he reunited with his father the King for their first face-to-face meeting for more than a year.

Asked about advice for those leaving military service and who may miss the camaraderie, Harry said: “You will feel lost at times, like you lack purpose, but however dark those days are, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

A number of Nato allies have agreed to join a new mission to beef up the defence of Europe’s eastern flank.

A new deterrence initiative called “Eastern Sentry” is to be launched in response to Russia’s drone attack.

Nato’s top military official, Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich, a US Air Force general, said it was a flexible operation to bolster defences along Nato’s entire eastern flank, which stretches from the Baltic states in the north to Romania and Bulgaria in the south.

The mission, which began on Friday evening, will involve a range of assets integrating air and ground bases.

Nato already has substantial forces in eastern Europe, including thousands of troops and it did not specify how many additional troops would be involved in the new operation.

Allies including Denmark, France, Britain, and Germany have committed to the mission with others set to join.

The announcement detailed a modest number of additional military assets – including two F-16 fighter jets and a frigate from Denmark, three Rafale fighter jets from France, and four Eurofighter jets from Germany.

Spain said it would provide air assets and Britain said it would detail its contribution soon.

After announcing the beefing up of Nato’s eastern flank, the military alliance’s chief Mark Rutte said the focus of the immediate new operation is Poland as “what affects one Ally affects us all”.

He said the situation in Poland due to Russia’s drone incursions two days ago “transcends the borders of one nation”.

The alliance’s chief said the aim of the operation is to integrate air and ground-based defences, increase information sharing among Nato allies, incorporate unspecified enhanced capabilities, and strengthen Nato’s posturing to protect the alliance.

Russian and Belarusian troops began a major joint military exercise yesterday for the first time since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The joint exercises are set to occur in Russia and Belarus, including Belarus’ Vitebsk, Minsk, and Grodno oblasts, and in the Baltic and Barents seas from 12 to 16 September.

The Zapad 2025 exercises consist of two stages, with the first consisting of air and ground defence operations, and the second including exercises to clear the territory of enemy forces and conducting counteroffensive operations, according to Belarusian Chief of the General Staff Pavel Muraveiko.

Both countries have carried out these joint exercises biannually, but cancelled the Zapad 2023 drills, likely due to Russia’s equipment and manpower requirements for its war in Ukraine.

The latest joint exercise also appears to be notably much smaller than the 2021 drills, according to the Institute for the Study of War.