Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump admits Putin could invade more of Europe after meeting Zelensky at Nato summit

Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS summit in Brazil next week because of an outstanding International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him, a Kremlin aide said.

The warrant was issued in 2023, a little over a year after Russia launched its war against Ukraine. The ICC accused the Russian president of the war crime of forcibly deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Russia denies allegations of war crimes and the Kremlin, which did not sign the ICC’s founding treaty, has dismissed the warrant as null and void.

But it means that Putin needs to weigh the risk he might be arrested if he travels to another country that is a signatory to the ICC treaty.

In 2023, he decided not to travel to one signatory, South Africa, for a BRICS summit.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin would take part in the summit via video link.

“This is due to certain difficulties, in the context of the ICC requirement. In that context, the Brazilian government could not take a clear position that would allow our president to participate in this meeting,” Ushakov said on Wednesday.

Russia has warned that European supplies of arms and mercenaries to Ukraine have increased the threat of destabilisation in the region.

Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov made the comments on Thursday, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported, a day after allied nations agreed to boost defence spending and continue supporting Ukraine at the Nato summit in the Netherlands.

“Attempts to prolong military actions by supplying Ukraine with arms and mercenaries increase the threat of destabilisation. Including in Europe itself,” Belousov was quoted as saying.

Donald Trump yesterday said the US would remain committed to Nato’s mutual defence pledge, affirming that he would abide by Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty just a day after he rattled the 32-nation alliance by being equivocal about the pact.

“I stand with it. That’s why I’m here,” Trump said when asked to clarify his stance on Article 5. “If I didn’t stand with it, I wouldn’t be here,” he said.

Let’s take a look at what the Article 5 means for Nato:

Article 5 is the foundation stone on which the 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) is built.It states that an armed attack against one or more of the members shall be considered an attack against all members.

It also states that if such an armed attack occurs, each member would take, individually and in concert with others, “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.’’

That security guarantee is the reason previously neutral Finland and Sweden sought to join Nato after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and why Ukraine itself and other countries in Europe also want in.

Article 5 has only been invoked once, in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks on the US, paving the way for Nato’s biggest ever operation in Afghanistan.

But Nato allies have also taken collective defence measures, including joining the US to fight Isis in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as help keep the peace in the Balkans.

The Institute for the Study of War has noted Ukrainian advances along the war frontline from north to the eastern theatre of fighting.

Here are some of the advances seen in the past 24 hours.

1. Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Borova direction.

Assessed Ukrainian advances: Geolocated footage published on 25 June indicates that Ukrainian forces recently regained positions in Zelenyi Hai (east of Borova) and likely liberated the settlement.

2. Ukrainian forces reportedly advanced north of Lyman on Tuesday

Unconfirmed claims: A Ukrainian brigade operating in the Lyman direction reported that it launched a successful counterattack against elements of the Russian 283rd Motorized Rifle Regiment (144th Motorized Rifle Division, 20th CAA, MMD) and advanced near Ridkodub (north of Lyman).

The Ukrainian brigade reported that the counterattack “destroyed” a platoon of the 283rd Motorized Rifle Regiment. A Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces advanced east of Zelena Dolyna (north of Lyman) and north of Novomykhailivka (northeast of Lyman).

3. Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Velyka Novosilka direction

Assessed Ukrainian advances: Geolocated footage published on 23 June indicates that Ukrainian forces recently advanced southeast of Novopil (southwest of Velyka Novosilka).

4. Ukrainian forces may have conducted a strike against a Russian command post in occupied Crimea overnight on 23 to 24 June 23

Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces struck the command staff building of a naval detachment of the Russian 88th “Hispaniola” Volunteer Brigade (Russian Volunteer Corps) in occupied Crimea with two Neptune anti-ship missiles.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed 50 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said this morning.

Of these, nearly half of the drones were downed over the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine, the defence ministry said on its Telegram channel.

The rest were destroyed over several Russian regions, including three over the Moscow region, the ministry added.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he had a “good meeting” with US president Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Nato summit.

“We talked about the situation on the battlefield. Putin is definitely not winning. I presented the President with the facts about what is really happening on the ground,” Mr Zelensky said.

The meeting between the two leaders was their first face-to-face since April, when they met at St Peter’s Basilica during Pope Francis’ funeral.

Mr Trump also had a major confrontation with Zelensky earlier this year at the White House.

Mr Zelensky said he discussed with Mr Trump the possibility of Kyiv producing drones with American companies and buying US air defence systems.

Ukraine, which is not a Nato member, has been front and centre at recent alliance summits.

A row has broken out over the language used in the Nato declaration signed yesterday, with some reports suggesting the alliance has softened its stance on Russia to please Donald Trump.

The communique released refers to Nato’s unity “in the face of profound security threats and challenges, in particular the long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security” and reaffirms support for Ukraine, but does not explicitly condemn the Russian invasion.

Asked whether Donald Trump did not want Nato to condemn Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the summit’s joint communique, Sir Keir Starmer said: “On the question of Ukraine, the position in Nato has not changed nor has my position changed.

“In fact, over the last couple of days I would say in my discussions with leaders there’s been a real resolve that now is the time to push again to get Putin to the table for the unconditional ceasefire.”

Russian air defence units destroyed two drones targeting Moscow, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said this morning.

Specialists were examining debris on the ground, the mayor added.

Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport suspended departures and arrivals in response to the threat, news agencies quoted aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya as saying. Restrictions were also in place for a time at airports along the Volga River.

The governor of the border region of Voronezh earlier reported that more than 40 drones had been destroyed throughout the day. In Bryansk region, also on the border, the regional governor said seven drones had been destroyed.

According to the Russian defence ministry’s report from yesterday evening, at least 18 drones had been destroyed over a three-hour period in several regions extending through central and southern Russia.

European leaders in Nato have agreed to a historic increase in defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP – and praised Donald Trump for driving the uplift.

Secretary general Mark Rutte fawned over the US president for intervening in the conflict between Iran and Israel, likening him to a “daddy” figure overseeing two warring sides and calling the US president “a man of strength” for piling pressure on allies to put more money into security against a backdrop of worsening global tensions and the war in Ukraine.

The new spending pledge – 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence by 2035, and 1.5 per cent on security and resilience measures – was described by Mr Trump as a “monumental win” for the US, Europe, and “Western civilisation”.

Millie Cooke, our political correspondent in The Hague for the Nato summit, reports: