Former ambassador says Nato membership for Ukraine is ‘frankly going to be very, very difficult’
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Russian air strikes killed at least four people and injured 21 others in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday.
Ukraine’s Air Force announced that the country had come under attack from 10 Russian drones, of which eight were shot down over the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
The drones were fired after Volodymyr Zelensky suggested he would temporarily cede Ukrainian territory to Russia in exchange for joining Nato.
“If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the Nato umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Mr Zelensky told Sky News. “We need to do it fast. And then on the occupied territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way.”
The UK’s former ambassador to Russia, Sir Tony Brenton, warned that a Nato membership for Ukraine is “frankly going to be very, very difficult”.
He added: “That is actually quite a major concession, because the longer term could be a very long time indeed,” he said, adding: “Putin will say to himself, ‘Ah, they are feeling weak, I can press for more.’ That is a danger if we go into this.”
Key Points
Russian and Chinese strategic bombers conducted a joint air patrol over the Sea of Japan, East China Sea, and Western Pacific Ocean, the Russian defence ministry said.
Russian Tu-95MS and Chinese H-6K strategic bombers conducted an eight-hour patrol accompanied by fighter jets from both countries.
The Russian aircraft took off from and landed at an airfield in China. The Russian ministry said that the flights did not violate the airspace of any foreign country and were not directed against any specific nations.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s suggestion that Ukraine could temporarily cede territory to Russia in exchange for joining Nato would mark a “major concession” to Vladimir Putin, the UK’s former ambassador to Russia has said.
Praising Mr Zelensky as “playing a very sophisticated game”, Sir Tony Brenton – who served as ambassador to Russia between 2004 and 2008 – told the broadcaster: “He knows that Trump is about to descend on him and on Russia. He is already arranging to have something to offer Trump.
“What he is suggesting in many ways is bringing us much closer to the obvious target area, which is a freeze in the fighting where the lines actually currently are, and then an eventual negotiation about who retains which bit of territory, and then security guarantees for Ukraine in the course of that ceasefire.”
Warning that Nato membership for Ukraine is “frankly going to be very, very difficult”, he said that Mr Zelensky’s statement that he is prepared to see a ceasefire and then negotiate the return of Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine over the longer term would be viewed by Mr Putin as a concession.
“That is actually quite a major concession, because the longer term could be a very long time indeed,” he said, adding: “Putin will say to himself, ‘ah, they are feeling weak, I can press for more’. That is a danger if we go into this.”
Ukrainian president ‘playing a very sophisticated game’ with remarks on Nato, says Sir Tony Brenton
Fifteen of Ukraine’s civilian airports have been damaged since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, prime minister Denys Shmyhal was quoted as saying by local media.
Ukraine, which the state aviation service says has 20 civilian airports, has been exploring avenues to partially open its airspace. It has been completely closed since the start of the war.
Ukrainians who want to fly abroad currently have to go via road or rail to neighbouring countries to catch flights. For those living in the east, the journey out of Ukraine can take a day in itself.
“We conducted a risk assessment and determined the needs of the air defence forces to partially open the airspace,” local news agency Ukrinform quoted Mr Shmyhal as saying. “Security issues and the military situation remain key to this decision,” he said.
Protesters gathered across Georgia on Saturday night in a third straight night of demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union.
More than 100 demonstrators were arrested as crowds clashed with police Friday night, the country’s Interior Ministry said. The Associated Press saw protesters in Tbilisi being chased and beaten by police as demonstrators rallied in front of the country’s parliament building.
On the same night, police also used heavy force against members of the media and deployed water cannons to push protesters back along the capital’s central boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the country’s parliamentary election on 26 October, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union, has sparked major demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of the parliament.
The opposition has said that the vote was rigged with the help of Russia, with Moscow hoping to keep Tbilisi in its orbit.
The world is at its most dangerous point for 40 years, the head of MI6 has warned, accusing Russia of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe to undermine support for Ukraine.
Sir Richard Moore also said the West could face a “reckoning” as potential terrorists are radicalised over war in the Middle East.
“In 37 years in the intelligence profession I’ve never seen the world in a more dangerous state. And the impact on Europe, our shared European home, could hardly be more serious,” Sir Richard said, adding that if “Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state he will not stop there”.
Andy Gregory reports.
Vladimir Putin will not stop if he wins war against Ukraine, Richard Moore says
Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has visited his country’s border with the Russian region of Kaliningrad to inspect progress on the construction of military fortifications along the eastern frontier, calling it “an investment in peace”.
Mr Tusk’s visit comes a month before Poland takes over the rotating presidency of the 27-member European Union.
Polish officials say their priority is to urge Europeans to strengthen defences at a time of Russian aggression and with change coming soon in Washington.
Some European leaders are concerned that the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump might be less committed to Europe’s defence.
Mr Tusk also proposed this week that Poland and the Nordic and Baltic countries carry out joint navy patrols in the strategically important Baltic Sea, after the suspected sabotage of undersea data cables.
A “sophisticated” UK-based spy ring passed secrets to Russia for nearly three years, a court has heard.
Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, allegedly carried out surveillance on individuals and places of interest to Russia.
The spying activities allegedly included locations in London, Vienna, Valencia, Montenegro and Stuttgart, jurors have heard.
Read the full report from our crime correspondent Amy-Clare Martin below:
Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev, 39, deny conspiring with a Russian agent to pass information to the country
The Russian defence ministry said its air force carried out strikes on Syrian rebels in support of the country’s army after the faction led by Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
The strikes followed what was the boldest rebel assault for years in a civil war where front lines had largely been frozen since 2020.
The state-run Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of the Enemy Parties in Syria said the missile and bomb strikes had targeted “militant concentrations, command posts, depots, and artillery positions” in Aleppo and Idlib provinces.
It added that about 300 rebel fighters had been killed in the attacks.
Police in North Macedonia have arrested a Macedonian national suspected of intending to join the Russian army and fight in Ukraine, according to the country’s interior ministry.
The man, identified only by his initials as JK, was arrested late on Friday and the investigative judge has ordered him placed under house arrest for 30 days.
The man was charged with “participating in a foreign army, police, paramilitary or parapolice formation”. If convicted, he faces a minimum three-year sentence.
The ministry said the suspect had been in online contact with a person who had introduced himself as tasked by the Russian army to recruit soldiers for a compensation of £2,490. Willing to join a newly formed detachment, the suspect flew to Moscow in October.
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