A Russian strike last year is estimated to have inflicted tens of millions worth of damage to the site of the nuclear power plant. What we know on day 1,695

Britain will provide £17m ($23m) to fund critical repairs to the Chornobyl power plant hit by a Russian drone attack, as Andy Burnham seeks to bolster support for Ukraine amid doubts about long-term US commitment. The UK will help restore its protective shelter and ventilation, which were damaged by an attack last year, amid concerns that corrosion could create longer-term environmental and safety risks, the chancellor and foreign secretary announced on Thursday. The pledge comes after Burnham hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street, where he told the Ukrainian president the UK was “behind you and that will not change”.

The meeting came during a period of strained relations between Kyiv and Washington after it emerged that Ukraine’s military has had its access to Elon Musk’s Starlink technology throttled in key areas, in effect rendering most of the drones used to strike behind the frontlines inoperable and reducing its air defences.

Russia is already at war with Nato, a former top commander of the military alliance has said. Retired four-star general Curtis Scaparrotti, who served as Nato’s supreme allied commander Europe from 2016 to 2019, warned there was a long-term plan behind the Kremlin’s “spurious activities” against member countries and stressed the need to protect critical facilities. “If you looked at it from their spectrum, we’re at war with Russia today, within the alliance, because they’re taking actions that are intended to undermine individual countries’ capability to support warfare, undermine their civilians’ confidence in their own government or within Nato, and to break Nato,” he said in Washington.

The US proposed European countries ⁠unfreeze some ⁠Russian ​sovereign assets and transfer them to ⁠a vehicle overseen ​by ‌Washington in ‌an attempt to ‌revive peace talks, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. European delegates reportedly rebuffed the plan from US special envoy Steve Witkoff ⁠and Donald ​Trump’s son-in-law ​Jared Kushner.

Questions over the future of support in Europe for Ukraine were highlighted on Wednesday by surging far-right parties. France’s Marine Le ⁠Pen, who on current polling is predicted to win next ​year’s presidential ‌vote, said Paris ⁠cannot keep financing Ukraine due ⁠to the “perilous” ⁠state ​of the euro zone’s second-biggest ⁠economy. Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the small leftist BSW party joined forces on ⁠Wednesday to pass ⁠a symbolic motion ​in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt calling for an end to Berlin’s military support for Ukraine. The motion has no practical effect, because state parliaments have no role in foreign ‌policy.

Shares in European satellite operator Eutelsat have soared following news of Ukraine’s difficulties with Starlink technology, fuelled by investor bets that European providers could benefit from growing strains between Washington and Kyiv. But experts say Europe does not have a ready-made alternative that Ukrainian soldiers could attach to their drones. Christian Freiherr von der Ropp, an ‌independent satellite consultant, said Eutelsat’s OneWeb network was not well suited to wartime use and would require the replacement of thousands of Starlink terminals. European defence commissioner ​Andrius Kubilius said at a conference in Brussels on Wednesday that the continent was quite dependent on American space capabilities. “The answer to that situation is to develop our own capabilities,” he said.

Dozens of people detained after government building and two banks set on fire as tens of thousands march over education costs and corruption

Tens of thousands of students have taken to the streets of Tirana, the Albanian capital, setting alight a government building and two banks and hurling stones at police during a protest over rising education costs and ⁠corruption.

Police responded with water ⁠cannon and teargas to disperse protesters who started a fire at the ministry of education building, overturned bins and smashed the fronts of local businesses. A branch of Raiffeisen Bank near the education ministry also caught fire.

Donald Trump has denied intelligence sharing with Ukraine had stopped, while demanding that Kyiv halts strikes on Russian refineries. What we know on day 1,694

A Russian ballistic missile struck a power plant in Kyiv on Tuesday evening without Ukraine receiving advance warning from its western allies, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The president said Ukraine’s systems picked up the missiles only as they were nearing the city. “This is absolutely unjust: when they are destroying our infrastructure, and Ukraine is not even receiving early warnings about ballistic missile launches,” he added. US officials made explicit threats over the weekend to their Ukrainian counterparts that the Trump administration was on the brink of halting intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

Donald Trump has denied intelligence sharing had stopped, telling reporters on Tuesday: “We are helping them, and we are sharing intel. We want the war to end, so we’re working with them and Russia on getting the war to end.” Trump has demanded that Ukraine stop attacking Russian oil refineries and has blamed Zelenskyy for the rise in fuel prices in the US. On Friday the US president announced a deal with Vladimir Putin to import diesel from Russia, dropping previous US sanctions.

Two people also died in a strike on a high-rise apartment building in the capital on Tuesday night, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, who said apartments were on fire and being evacuated. A further 21 injuries were reported. Emergency ‌crews were battling fires in apartments throughout the building and residents were being ‌evacuated.

Zelenskyy has said he has proposed new talks with ⁠US ​envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The proposal follows talks in ​the US last week ‌at which Witkoff and Kushner told ‌a Ukrainian delegation that a deal allowing Russian diesel exports was aimed at drawing Moscow back to negotiations. In a video ‌address on Tuesday night, Zelenskyy also reiterated that Ukraine supported president Donald Trump’s proposed ​energy truce as long as Russia observed it. “Our team has sent the American side the ⁠relevant proposals regarding possible next meetings and ​conversations,” he said.

Trump is facing cross-party calls on Capitol Hill to ditch his controversial diesel deal with Russia. A group of six Republican and six Democrat senators has jointly warned that the lifting of sanctions to allow Moscow to sell the fuel is “a gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our allies”. The US president has defended the decision as he seeks to increase supply and so bring down soaring pump prices ahead of critical stateside elections next month, which will decide control of Congress.

The EU has opened new areas of negotiations with Ukraine, marking a key step in Kyiv’s long path to join the bloc. Ukraine took a step forward in ⁠its membership bid on Tuesday, opening talks ⁠on ​internal market and competitiveness standards, Irish minister of state for ⁠European affairs Thomas Byrne said, after Hungary dropped its objections. The move came after Ukrainian lawmakers passed legislation protecting the rights of the Hungarian-speaking minority in western Ukraine, which has long caused tensions with Budapest. Hungary had blocked Ukraine’s EU membership bid, officially submitted days after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Suspected Russian drones struck two cargo ships off Bulgaria on Tuesday, sinking one vessel and leaving 11 sailors missing in the latest spillover from the Ukraine war in the Black Sea. Bulgarian prime minister Rumen Radev summoned the Russian ambassador after drones struck a Ukrainian-owned cargo ship, the Chelsea 3, while another vessel, the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship Dignity, was also hit and sank farther north off the coast. Radev called the attacks “absolutely unacceptable” and said Bulgaria was seeking Nato and EU assistance. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen called the attacks “another front of escalation of the Russian war in Ukraine”.

The Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday said its air defences overnight shot down 604 Ukrainian drones across the country and the Sea of Azov. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 417 drones targeted the Moscow region. Most were downed far away, while 65 were intercepted as they approached the Russian capital. A school, two private houses and a car were damaged in the attack in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow, governor Vladislav Shapsha said.