Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin’s plans for Ukraine ‘not affected by Trump’

The election of Donald Trump opens a possibility for new dialogue between Russia and the United States although Washington’s aim remains to contain Moscow, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva told reporters on Thursday.

“Regardless of domestic political shifts, (Washington) consistently pursues a sense of containing Moscow … the change of administration does little to alter it,” said Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.

“The only shift might be possible is dialogue between our countries, something that has been lacking during the last several years,” he added.

Ukraine has announced it is investigating the reported killing of a civilian by Russian forces in occupied Donetsk.

The prosecutor general’s office reported on Telegram, a messenger platform, that they were looking into the killing of a woman in the village of Terny, in the Lyman district sitting on the frontline.

“A woman was walking down the street when Russian soldiers opened fire on her,” they wrote. “As a result of a shot from a small weapon, she died on the spot.”

They also attached two pictures, one of the woman walking down a street and the second showing her body after being shot on that road.

We have decided not to include that second photo.

Former Conservative Party leader and foreign minister William Hague has said that if Donald Trump oversees the collapse of Ukraine, it will be a “humiliation”.

Speaking to the Telegraph’s Daily T podcast, William Hague said Mr Trump was at risk of hypocrisy over his stance on Ukraine.

“(Donald) Trump highlighted (Joe) Biden’s humiliation over Afghanistan… but if he ends up with the collapse of Ukraine, that’ll be a far bigger humiliation for the US and the power of the US in the world,” he said.

A Russian man faced trial on Thursday on charges of high treason for a video he had allegedly sent to Ukraine’s security services, the latest in a growing series of espionage cases amid the fighting in Ukraine.

The Volgograd District Court began hearing a new case against Nikita Zhuravel, who is currently serving a 3.5-year sentence for publicly burning a Quran in front of a mosque.

The new charges against Zhuravel are based on allegations that he filmed a trainload of military equipment and warplanes in 2023 and sent the video to a representative of Ukraine’s security agency. He could be sentenced for life if convicted.

Rights activists say Zhuravel is a political prisoner and condemned violence against him in custody.

While in pretrial custody before his first sentence, Zhuravel was beaten by the 15-year-old son of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed strongman leader of the mostly Muslim region of Chechnya.

The elder Kadyrov posted the video on social media and praised his son, causing public outrage. He later awarded his son with the medal of “Hero of the Republic of Chechnya.”

Federal authorities have refrained from any criticism of the Chechen strongman.

Footage has surfaced of Donald Trump’s appointee for director of national intelligence calling for Ukraine to accept neutrality as Russian forces marched through the country.

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman, was nominated for the role yesterday. If approved by Congress, she would be in charge of an office created in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks and tasked with leading and synthesizing intelligence collected from around the world.

But Ms Gabbard has come under criticism before for peddling Russian conspiracy theories, including falsely claiming that the US has funded “biolabs” in Ukraine.

And in the footage below, posted just three days after the Russian invasion, she can be seen calling for Ukraine to be declared a neutral state away from both the West and Russia, as well as urging everyone to say “aloha” to one another.

Ukrainian neutrality has been a key aim of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine‘s military said on Thursday its troops were in full control of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk and that their forces had stopped a Russian advance towards the rail hub.

A Russian-installed official said earlier that Russian forces had gained a foothold on the outskirts of the city.

The Independent cannot verify either claim.

Below you can find a link to updated maps showing the frontline in Ukraine.

Russia made confirmed advances in eastern Ukraine, including int the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.