Trump tells Nato members ‘you’re on your own’ if they do not increase spending

30/04/2024

Rescuers work at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine – Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/REUTERS

Any Nato member that does not pay their way will be “on their own” in the face of Russian aggression, Donald Trump has said.

“If you’re not going to pay, then you’re on your own,” he said in a Time interview published on Tuesday.

The former president, who has long claimed that the US overpays in the alliance, said that he would not pay into Nato unless Europe starts “equalising”.

“If Europe is not going to pay, why should we pay? They’re much more greatly affected. We have an ocean in between us. They don’t.”

Nato is drawing up plans to secure a five-year military aid package of up to $100 billion, which it is believed Nato diplomats hope will “Trump-proof” Ukraine.

Under Joe Biden, the US has sent more than $100 billion to Ukraine to defend itself but the US president struggled to secure an additional $60 billion military support package, which his election rival openly spoke against.

03:15 PM BST

Today’s live blog is now closed

That’s all for today, thanks for following along. Here is a summary of the day:

Five people were killed in a Russian strike on a Ukrainian law school known locally as the “Harry Potter castle” in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, local officials said. At least 32 others were injured in Monday’s attack with 23 of them still hospitalised on Tuesday.
About 30 Ukrainian men have died trying to illegally cross Ukraine’s borders to avoid fighting in the war against Russia, the spokesman for Ukraine’s border service told Ukrinform news agency. “Some lost their lives while attempting to cross a mountain river or traverse mountains,” said Andriy Demchenko, according to a Ukrinform report.
Nato countries have not delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, which has benefited Russia on the frontline, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance chief, said yesterday. “Serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine, Stoltenberg said in Kyiv while meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Estonia has accused Russia of violating international airspace regulations by interfering with GPS signals. The Estonian foreign minister said it will take up the matter with its NATO and European Union partners.
Russian strikes on Kharkiv killed at least one person and wounded nine on Tuesday in the latest deadly attack on the city in northeast Ukraine, the regional governor said.
Serbia’s new government will include a former intelligence chief who has fostered close ties with Russia and is sanctioned by the United States, the country’s prime minister-designate said Tuesday. Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership but has maintained friendly relations with Russia and refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Authorities in Kyiv today began taking down a Soviet-era monument celebrating friendship with Russia. The monument commemorates the signing in 1654 of a treaty binding Ukraine to Russian rule.

03:15 PM BST

Secret Atacms missiles shot down over Crimea, claims Russia

Six long-range US missiles secretly shipped to Ukraine have been shot down over Crimea, Russia has claimed.

The Russian-backed head of occupied Crimea claimed that its air defences intercepted long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) over the peninsula overnight.

Sergei Aksyonov posted a photo on Telegram showing what he described as undetonated submunitions of ATACMS missiles. He said that they had been shot down over the occupied Crimean cities of Dzhankoi and Simferopol.

Mr Aksyonov did not specify when and how many missiles had been shot down.

Local Crimean Telegram accounts also reported the news and said that the Crimean bridge had been closed as a result.

The Russian defence ministry later said: “Ten Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, six ATACMS tactical missiles manufactured by the United States and two guided ‘Hammer’ aircraft bombs manufactured by France were shot down by air defences,” but did not state where they had been shot down.

The Telegraph is not immediately able to verify either claim.

Authorities warned residents not to pick up the debris.

The United States in recent weeks secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine, which has so far used them twice, a US official said last week, including on targets in occupied Crimea.

03:14 PM BST

Ukraine’s trust in NATO allies dented by arms delivery failures, Stoltenberg says

Ukraine’s trust in its NATO allies has “taken a dent” because of delays and failures in the delivery of arms for the war against Russias invasion, NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg said.

The Nato chief said that it was time to revamp the coordination of international military aid to Kyiv.

“Of course, the fact that we have not delivered what we promised has put a dent … into the trust,” Stoltenberg said, pointing to the U.S. Congress taking six months to pass a $60-billion Ukraine aid package and European countries delivering much less artillery ammunition than promised.

“We need a more robust, institutionalised framework for our support to ensure predictability, to ensure more accountability and to ensure burden-sharing,” he added.

Stoltenberg said one way to avoid future shortfallswas to give NATO a greater coordinating role and draw up a multi-year plan that makes clear the contributions expected from each ally.

He has put such a proposal to NATOs 32 members and said it should be backed by a big financial commitment. Diplomats say 100 billion euros (£85 billion) over five years has been floated.

“That will make it easier to plan. It will make it clear what each and every ally is expected to deliver,” Stoltenberg said, sitting at a small table in his train carriage, jabbing a pen on a NATO notepad from time to time to emphasise his points.

“And NATO can then play a bigger role in ensuring allies actually deliver what they have announced.”

02:47 PM BST

Government officials urged to stop using Telegram in Ukraine

The National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council today called on Ukrainian governmental organisations and officials to stop using Telegram, the most popular messaging application in Ukraine, Kyiv Independent reports.

“Although Telegram is a very convenient form of communication, officials and official governmental organizations must be kept off Telegram, and this ban must be implemented immediately,” Olha Herasymiuk, the head of the council, told Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications.

Telegram is widely used by Ukrainian officials and various government bodies.

The decision comes after Telegram blocked three Ukrainian government chatbots, which were primarily used to communicate with those living in Russian-held areas.

02:34 PM BST

Ukraine dismantles Soviet monument to friendship with Russia

Authorities in Kyiv today began taking down a Soviet-era monument celebrating friendship with Russia.

The monument commemorates the signing in 1654 of a treaty binding Ukraine to Russian rule.

“City municipal services have begun dismantling” the monument, the mayor’s office said on social media.

“The dismantlement could take several days since the structure is quite massive. It includes around 20 pieces” weighing between six and seven tonnes each, the mayor’s office said.

01:57 PM BST

Ukrainian prosecutor general: Russia used cluster munition against Odesa in deliberate targeting of civilians

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has echoed other officials in saying that Russia used cluster munitions to attack Odesa yesterday, killing five people.

“This (cluster munition) is an indiscriminate weapon, the use of which can lead to significant casualties among the civilian population,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Telegram, citing Kostin.

“The investigators have a reason to believe that the decision to use such a weapon was taken by the Russian military officers deliberately to kill as many Ukrainian civilians as possible.”

According to the prosecutors, fragments of the missile were uncovered within a radius of 1.5 kilometers from the site of impact.

01:52 PM BST

Serbia’s new government will include a former intelligence chief who has fostered close ties with Russia

Serbia’s new government will include a former intelligence chief who has fostered close ties with Russia and is sanctioned by the United States, the country’s prime minister-designate said Tuesday.

Aleksandar Vulin will serve as one of several vice-premiers, said Milos Vucevic as he announced the composition of his future Cabinet, which is expected to be voted into office in the coming days in Serbia’s parliament.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership but has maintained friendly relations with Russia and refused to join Western sanctions against Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

01:45 PM BST

Moscow man accused of ‘discrediting’ army with hair colour

A man who went to a Moscow police station to report being beaten was instead accused there of “discrediting” the Russian army because his hair was dyed in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag, rights groups said Tuesday.

Moscow has cracked down on any dissent since its troops entered Ukraine in 2022.

The OVD-Info rights group said Stanislav Netesov, a Russian whose hair is dyed blue, yellow and green, went to a Moscow police station over the weekend, after being attacked at a bus stop.

“The police officers decided that Netesov’s hairstyle symbolises Ukraine and discredits the Russian army, drawing up a protocol against him,” OVD-Info said.

The police officers also gave Netesov a notice for a draft enlistment centre, OVD-Info said.

Russia has punished thousands for criticising the Kremlin’s Ukraine offensive.

01:09 PM BST

Kharkiv governor increases casualty toll from Russian strikes again

Russian strikes on Kharkiv killed at least one person and wounded nine on Tuesday in the latest deadly attack on the city in northeast Ukraine, the regional governor said.

“Nine people were wounded and one person was killed as a result of enemy bomnbardment of Kharkiv,” governor Oleg Synyegubov said.

He earlier said that Russia “attacked Kharkiv with guided aerial bombs” and had initially put the toll at two dead.

Ukraine’s railway company said the 24-year-old victim was one of its employees.

“This is another targeted attack on civilian railway infrastrucutre by the enemy,” the company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said in a statement.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) issued a statement on Tuesday, describing a worsening situation in the city, with an increasingly anxious population subjected to regular air raids.

It said recent attacks have caused “extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and led to a sharp increase in casualties among the local population.”

The city now regularly suffers “severe power outages, interruptions in water and heating supply, and a complete halt of trams for public transportation.”

12:31 PM BST

Watch: Five killed in Russian strike on Ukraine’s ‘Harry Potter castle’ in Odesa

11:40 AM BST

Duchess of Edinburgh will take Bucha stories home in her heart

The Duchess said she would take the stories she had heard home in her heart.

Speaking at an evening reception at the residence of Martin Harris, the UK ambassador to Ukraine, she also thanked the survivors she had met for their honesty.

She said she had travelled to many countries in conflict or post-conflict, where “women and girls pay the highest price in terms of human costs”.

The Duchess added: “Rape is used to demean, to degrade and to destroy. And we have to get better at trying to prevent that from happening. Where we cannot prevent it from happening. What we must do is put measures in place to support those who have fallen victim to such crimes.”

Sophie said if the survivors she had met: “Their stories are sad. I hear many stories like this, sadly, from around the world. But I appreciate their time and their openness.”

The Duchess added that she had met people who “played a large role in Bucha and Irpin” to help their communities, and that she would “take those stories home in my heart”.

11:15 AM BST

Estonia says Russia violates international airspace rules with GPS interference

Estonia has accused Russia of violating international airspace regulations by interfering with GPS signals.

The Estonian foreign minister said it will take up the matter with its NATO and European Union partners.

Finnair on Monday announced a temporary suspension of its flights to Tartu in eastern Estonia for a month due to ongoing GPS disturbances that prevented two aircraft from landing.

The flights will be suspended to allow the airport to install an alternative approach method not relying on GPS, Finnair said. Most airports have such equipment installed.

The Finnish airline said it did not know where the interference originated but that there had been an increase in incidents since 2022.

“GPS interference in Estonian airspace by RF (Russian Federation) has affected civil aviation in our region. In doing so Russia violates international regulations,” Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna said.

11:03 AM BST

Open source videos show Russian glide bombs hit in Kyiv’s Saturday attack on Kushcehvskaya airfield, MoD says

10:27 AM BST

Couple who ran Greek hotel alleged to be Russian spies behind deadly Czech explosions

A couple who ran a hotel on the Greek coast have been unmasked as Russian spies behind deadly attacks on several ammunition warehouses in the Czech Republic, an investigation has found.

Nikolay and Elena Šapošnikov bought the three-storey hillside Villa Elena, which features an outdoor swimming pool and large garden, on the Aegean peninsula of Halkidiki for £235,000 in 2009 and moved in a year later.

But the hotel also served as a safe house for members of the GRU, Vladimir Putin’s intelligence agency, according to The Insider, a Russian investigative journalism outfit.

09:57 AM BST

Zelensky shares photos thanking Ukraine’s state border guard

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky releases photos of the state border guards, thanking them for their service. – Instagram/State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

09:20 AM BST

Nato chief rebukes members over slow Ukraine aid

Nato countries have not delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, which has benefited Russia on the frontline, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance chief, said yesterday.

“Serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine, Stoltenberg said in Kyiv while meeting the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

“The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defense has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces,” he added.

Ukraine’s army chief on Sunday said that, outgunned, Kyiv’s forces had to retreat from three villages in the east where Russia has been making gains.

09:04 AM BST

Russian strikes in Kharkiv kill two

Earlier we reported that Russian attacks in Kharkiv had injured two people over the past 24 hours. The regional governor has now said that two people were killed and six injured.

“According to preliminary information, two people were killed and six were wounded in the strikes on Kharkiv,” governor Oleg Synyegubov said.

Ukraine’s second city has faced a sustained daily bombing campaign from the Russians this year that is among the most devastating of the war.

08:42 AM BST

Odesa missile strike that killed five was shot down, student says

A student at the academy who identified herself by her first name, Maria, said the blaze was caused when the missile was intercepted.

“In front of my eyes, a missile was shot down, this was just in front of me. My doors were blown open and the glass was shaking. And then I saw this,” she told Reuters, pointing to the burning building.

“Just before this happened, we wanted to go down there for a walk, but thank God we weren’t there when it happened.”

Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian navy, said the strike was conducted by an Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead.

Smoke and flames rise from a damaged private building following a missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, 29 April 2024. – IGOR TKACHENKO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

08:33 AM BST

Russian attacks on Ukraine kill seven and injure 36 in past 24 hours, authorities say

Local authorities reported Russian strikes in 10 Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours, killing seven people and injuring at least 36.

Five of the deaths came from the missile strike on the private law academy in Odesa, which also injured at least 31 people. By this morning, 23 people were still hospitalised, four of whom are reported to be in a critical state, including a four-year-old girl, the local governor said.

The Donetsk governor reported one person killed and two others injured in the village of Krasnohorivka, Pokrovsk district.

In Kherson, one person was reported killed and another injured.

The governor of Kharkiv also reported two people injured in separate incidents, a 42-year-old man and a 67-year-old man.

Russian attacks were also reported in Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy.

08:19 AM BST

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, meets the Zelenskys

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska, in first British royal visit – Instagram/Olena Zelenska

08:01 AM BST

Thirty men have died trying to leave Ukraine to avoid fighting since war started

About 30 Ukrainian men have died trying to illegally cross Ukraine’s borders to avoid fighting in the war against Russia, the spokesman for Ukraine’s border service told Ukrinform news agency.

“Some lost their lives while attempting to cross a mountain river or traverse mountains,” said Andriy Demchenko, according to a Ukrinform report late on Monday.

“Overall, since the full-scale invasion began, about 30 people have died attempting to illegally cross the border.”

On Monday, the State Border Guard Service said in a statement on social media that 24 men alone have died while trying to cross the Tisa river on Ukraine’s border with Romania.

Mr Demchenko said that since the start of the war border guards have uncovered about 450 criminal groups that have attempted to smuggle people across the border.

“Attempts to illegally cross the border occur every day,” Mr Demchenko said. “Most of these attempts are outside of border checkpoints on the border with Moldova and Romania. The largest number with forged documents is recorded on the border with Poland.”

07:52 AM BST

Good morning

Hello and welcome to the Telegraph’s live blog of the war in Ukraine. Follow along as we bring you all of the latest updates and join in the conversation in the comments section.

First up this morning:

Five killed in Russian strike on Ukraine’s ‘Harry Potter castle’

Five people have been killed in a Russian strike on a Ukrainian law school known locally as the “Harry Potter castle” in the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa, local officials said.

Local officials said that at least 32 others were injured in Monday’s attack with 23 of them still hospitalised on Tuesday.

Footage showed the roof of the ornate building, a private law academy, all but destroyed after the strike as firefighters battled the flames.

“Monsters. Beasts. Savages. Scum. I don’t know what else to say,” Gennadiy Trukhanov, the mayor of Odesa, said in a video posted on Telegram. “People are going for a walk by the sea and they are shooting and killing.”

The building is also reported to be the residence of former MP Serhiy Kivalov, who runs the law academy and was believed to have been wounded in the strike, according to Ukrainian media.

Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian navy, said the strike was conducted by an Iskander-M ballistic missile with a cluster warhead.

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