Ukraine war live: Macron warns Trump could ‘betray Ukraine’ in leaked call

Ukraine wants “real peace, not appeasement” with Russia, its foreign minister said at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the security and rights body seeking a role for itself in post-war Ukraine.

The path forward for peace talks remains unclear at the moment, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, following what he called “reasonably good” talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“We still remember the names of those who betrayed future generations in Munich. This should not be repeated again. Principles should be untouchable, and we do not want appeasement, but real peace,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha told the OSCE’s annual ministerial council.

He was referring to the 1938 pact with Nazi Germany in which Britain, France and Italy agreed to Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland in what was then Czechoslovakia. Compromise is widely used as shorthand for failing to confront a threatening power.

Sibiha thanked the United States for stepping up peace efforts and pledged that Ukraine would use every opportunity to end this war, saying, “There were too many unfair peace agreements in the past in Europe. All of them only led to new catastrophes.”

Ukraine’s military said late last night that its forces attacked a large chemical plant in the Stavropol region of southern Russia, causing a fire.

The Army General Staff, writing on Telegram, said the Nevinnomyssky azot plant was attacked on Thursday night and produced components for explosives. It described it as one of the largest such plants in Russia.

There was no immediate reaction from Russian officials.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned European leaders that the US could “betray” Ukraine during peace talks, according to a bombshell report revealing an alleged transcript of a multi-party call.

“There is a possibility that the US will betray Ukraine on the issue of territory without clarity on security guarantees,” Macron said. mirror, Saying there was “significant danger”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Volodymyr Zelensky would have to be “extremely careful” in the coming days. In comments possibly referring to Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, he said: “They’re playing games with both you and us.”

Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who has warm relations with Trump, said: We should not leave Ukraine and Volodymyr alone with these people. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte agreed, reportedly saying: “I agree with Alexander, we must protect Volodymyr.”

Mr Merz also discussed the issue of frozen Russian assets, warning that the US must be clear that this issue is for Europe to deal with alone.

“Europe cannot leave decisions to other, non-European states as to what happens to an attacker’s financial resources, which are legally seized under the jurisdiction of our law and in our own currency,” he said.

The alliance’s top military commander said NATO must be prepared to respond to growing hybrid threats to defend its member states’ territory.

Hybrid threats refer to both military and non-military tactics designed to weaken an adversary’s defenses and typically include cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, sabotage of key infrastructure, and the use of drones or irregular armed groups.

“Hybrid threats are a real issue, and I think we can expect more of it,” U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grinkevich, who serves as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told reporters at the alliance’s military headquarters outside the Belgian city of Mons.

Talking about recent incidents in Europe, Grinkevich said that some were careless and some were deliberate. He said it was important to say who was behind the mixed incidents and that the coalition knew Russia was behind some of them.

“We also think about being proactive… If Russia is trying to give us dilemmas, maybe there are ways we can give them dilemmas,” he said, adding that NATO is a defensive alliance and “there is nothing objectionable about that.”

An Irish Navy ship spotted five drones near the flight path of the plane of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was on a state visit to Ireland on Monday, local media reported.

A major security alert was issued upon its sighting, with fears that it was an attempt to interfere with the flight path, Irish Times Informed. It quoted unnamed sources as saying that the plane, which had arrived slightly earlier, was in no danger.

The Ukrainian delegation arrived late on Monday and departed late the next day as part of a trip to help rally support in Europe for Kiev as Russia escalates its war in Ukraine.

Drone flights, whose origins are mostly unknown, have recently disrupted airspace operations in Europe. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called the incursion a “hybrid war”.

The Journal website, which first reported the drone sighting over Dublin Airport, said they reached the location where Zelensky’s plane was expected to be just as it was about to pass.

It said an investigation is being conducted to find out whether the drone took off from the ground or from an unidentified vessel. Both news outlets reported that they were first spotted northeast of Dublin, about 20 km (12 mi) from the airport.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today, aimed at boosting trade with Russia’s top buyer of arms and marine oil as Western sanctions weaken their decades-old ties.

Putin is on his first visit to India in four years at a time when New Delhi is engaged in talks with the US for a trade deal to cut punitive tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on its goods over India’s purchases of Russian oil.

Modi and Putin are also expected to discuss other topics including labor and civilian nuclear energy, with both sides also expected to announce new agreements to show flexibility in their ties.

Moscow has been India’s top arms supplier for decades and has said it wants to import more Indian goods in an effort to boost trade to $100 billion by 2030, which has so far been tilted in its favor because of New Delhi’s energy imports.

As European countries reduced their dependence on Russian energy after Russia invaded Ukraine nearly four years ago, India has increased purchases of subsidized Russian crude.

“India faces a conundrum; by taking steps to strengthen ties with Moscow or Washington, New Delhi risks worsening relations with the other,” Michael Kugelman, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on China to support a moratorium on attacks against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure during the winter.

Mr Macron, who was speaking at a press conference alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said it was important to make every possible effort to find a compromise and follow international law, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

“I hope China will join our efforts to reach a ceasefire as soon as possible, at least in the form of our call and a moratorium on attacks on critical infrastructure,” he said.

This is important for the coming winter, as energy facilities are still under Russian attack.

Following a series of attacks on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, Energy Minister Alparslan Baykartar said Turkey is asking Russia, Ukraine and all other parties to keep energy infrastructure away from its conflict and wants energy flows to continue unhindered.

Ukraine, which is targeting Russia’s oil exports as Moscow bombs its power grid, claimed responsibility for an attack by maritime drones on two empty tankers headed to a Russian port last week.

But it denied any connection to another incident on Tuesday in which a Russian-flagged tanker loaded with sunflower oil said it was hit by a drone attack.

“Hopefully, this terrible war will end. But even today, we ask all sides – Russia and Ukraine – to keep energy infrastructure out of this war,” Bayraktar said in restricted comments to journalists.

“We need to maintain uninterrupted energy flow,” he said. He said routes like the Caspian Pipeline Consortium pipeline must be protected.