US and Kyiv in security deal at G7 as Russia runs nuclear drills – Ukraine war live

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that attempts by the West to take the income from frozen Russian assets was criminal and would lead to a response from Moscow that would be very painful for the European Union.

Group of Seven countries and the European Union are weighing how to use profits generated by Russian assets frozen in the West to provide Ukraine with a large loan to secure Kyiv’s financing for 2025.

Russia‘s advance in the Kharkiv area is slowing and the frontline is stabilising after some allies lifted restrictions on Kyiv’s use of donated weapons on Russian territory, U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday.

“What I see is a slowing of the Russians’ advance and a stabilising of that particular piece of the front. Now, I think we’ll see incremental gains – and we’ll see puts and takes –going forward,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

“But again, a couple of weeks ago, there was concern that we would see a significant breakthrough on the part of the Russians. I don’t think we’ll see that going forward.”

Mr Austin said the Ukrainians were putting donated weapons to a good use, after Joe Biden late last month approved the use of American weapons to strike targets inside Russia that were being used to attack Kharkiv

“The Ukrainians have done a lot to fortify their defensive positions and are making good use of the weapons and munitions that they’re being provided,” he told a news conference. “And more of that will continue to flow in. And so in my view, they’ll get stronger as time progresses.”

Ukraine and the US will sign a 10-year bilateral security agreement at the G7 summit in Italy.

Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, described the pact as a “real marker” of the US commitment to Ukraine, “not just for this month and this year, but for the many years ahead”.

Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media that the document is “unprecedented, as it should be for leaders who support Ukraine“.

The agreement will not commit US troops directly to Ukraine‘s defence against Russia‘s invasion. That is a red line drawn by the US president, who does not want to have America pulled into a direct conflict with nuclear-armed Moscow.

Russian drills to deploy tactical nuclear weapons for combat involved the special delivery of dummy nuclear warheads to forward storage points and an airfield where they were loaded on bombers, according to Russia‘s nuclear unit.

President Vladimir Putin ordered the nuclear drills after what Russia said were threats from the West, including signals from Western officials that they would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western weapons.

Drills have taken place in the south of Russia, which borders Ukraine, and with the involvement of soldiers from the Leningrad military district in Russia‘s northwest, and have included mobile missile launchers, the air force and navy.

The war in Ukraine has produced more emissions than the country of Netherlands does in a year, a new report has claimed.

The report, published on Thursday by Ukraine’s environment ministry in collaboration with climate NGOs, claims the war, now in its third year, has led to the emission of about 175 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to annual emissions produced by 90 million cars or the whole of the Netherlands.

The number includes emissions already released and future emission from work to repair the destruction caused by the war.

NATO defense ministers gathered Thursday hoping to agree on a new plan to provide long-term security assistance and military training to Ukraine, after Hungary promised not to veto the scheme as long as it’s not forced to take part.

The ministers are meeting over two days at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the last high-level talks before a summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on July 9-11, where the military organization’s leaders are expected to announce financial support for Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to bolster their military support as Russian troops launch attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, taking advantage of a lengthy delay in U.S. military aid. European Union money was also held up by political infighting.

A Group of Seven summit opened Thursday with agreement reached on a U.S. proposal to back a $50 billion loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral, giving Kyiv a strong show of support even as Europe’s political chessboard shifts to the right.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni welcomed the G7 heads of state to the summit at a luxury resort in southern Italy, saying she wanted the message of this meeting to be one of dialogue with the global south and unity.

She likened the G7 to the ancient olive trees that are a symbol of the Puglia region, “with their solid roots, and branches projected toward the future.”

Russian forces deliberately starved Ukrainians in Mariupol as a tactic of war by targeting their water, food and medical facilities before taking the strategic port city in 2022, according to an investigation by an international human rights group.

Satellite imagery showing evidence of targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure in the city, including food distribution centres, was collected by Global Rights Compliance’s Starvation Mobile Justice Team, and relate to the first 85 days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine before the fall of Mariupol.

With her contempories in Puglia contending with challenging domestic elections or troubling poll ratings, the Italian premier alone has entered the summit from a position of stability, seeking to further her own agenda for Italy.

While the Ukraine war and stability brought by Joe Biden’s US presidency had lent unity to proceedings in recent years, the prospect of Donald Trump’s return and a number of other elections has imbued this week’s summit with a different sense of urgency to reach agreements while the status quo still remained in place.