Ukraine war latest:Trump urged to take action after calling Putin ‘crazy’

Hackers working for Russian military intelligence targeted Western technology and logistics companies involved in shipping assistance to Ukraine, the US National Security Agency said.

The hackers were trying to obtain details about the type of assistance entering Ukraine and, as part of the effort, sought access to the feeds of internet-connected cameras near Ukrainian border crossings, according to the NSA’s report on the cyberattack.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit Berlin on Wednesday, several sources told Reuters on Monday.

A spokesperson for the chancellery declined to comment on the planned meeting, which was first reported by news outlet Spiegel.

Spiegel said Zelensky would hold talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz about possible steps towards further technical talks between Ukraine and Russia as well as briefing him on plans for a new EU sanctions package against Russia, Spiegel reported.

The leaders are also expected to discuss further military support for Ukraine, the report said, adding that Zelensky would also meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Shortly after taking office earlier this month, Merz travelled with his French, British and Polish counterparts to Kyiv where they declared that Russia would be hit by new punitive measures if it did not heed calls for a 30-day ceasefire within days.

French president Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he thinks that Donald Trump is realising aspects of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s lies regarding Ukraine.

He added that he hopes Trump’s anger would “translate into action”.

“President Trump realises that when President Putin said on the phone he was ready for peace, or told his envoys he was ready for peace, he lied,” Macron said.

“We have seen once again in recent hours Donald Trump express his anger. A form of impatience. I simply hope now that this translates into action.”

Macron’s remarks came after Trump wrote in a post on social media that Putin had “gone absolutely CRAZY” after large aerial attacks in the war in Ukraine and that Trump was weighing new sanctions on Moscow.

Trump has threatened to slap sanctions on Moscow on several occasions but has declined to follow through.

Ukraine has confirmed information that China is supplying a range of important products to Russian military plants, the chief of Ukrainian foreign intelligence was quoted on Monday as saying.

“There is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defence manufacturing industries,” Oleh Ivashchenko told Ukrinform state news agency.

“We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories,” he said.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has forged even closer trade and other economic relations with Russia since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, triggering Western sanctions on the Russian economy.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that China was supplying weapons and gunpowder to Russia, the first time he had openly accused Beijing of direct military assistance for Moscow. China dismissed the accusation as “groundless” but Kyiv imposed sanctions on three Chinese entities.

Russia launched 367 drones and missiles in Sunday’s onslaught, striking more than 30 cities and villages, according to Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force.

Sounds of explosions boomed throughout the night in Kyiv and families in a village near the capital returned to find their homes burned down on Sunday.

The prime minister’s activities on the world stage have made him of great interest to Moscow, says Katia Glod, who shows how Russian media activity about him soars every time he sticks his head above the parapet

Russian president Vladimir Putin will meet with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The pair will mostly discuss bilateral relations but will also talk about Ukraine.

Turkey held peace talks between Russia and Ukraine earlier this month, the first since meetings, which were also in Turkey, in March 2022.

Nothing substantive came of the talks earlier this month, though a deal was made to swap 2,000 prisoners of war.

That exchange was completed yesterday, hours before Russia launched it’s largest aerial attack on Ukraine of the more than three year war, in signs that the positive agreement to swap a large amount of POWs had little effect on the long-term prospects of peace.

Russia’s latest wave of drone and missile attacks, the most significant of the more than three year war, must be met with increased sanctions, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

In a post on social media, the Ukrainian leader said Russia must be punished for the attacks, instead of being offered “more effort on ‘diaolgue’”.

“Putin shows just how much he despises the world — the world that spends more effort on “dialogue” with him than on real pressure,” Zelensky wrote on X.

“The increase in Russian strikes should be met with increased sanctions. Russia’s disregard for diplomacy and refusal even to consider a ceasefire must be met with a freeze on Russian finances and a halt to its oil trade.”

You can read his full statement below.

Germany’s foreign minister has said the international community “cannot tolerate” Vladimir Putin’s continued attacks on Ukraine while talks about peace are ongoing.

In what could be interpreted as a veiled swipe at the Donald Trump administration, German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said it was clear that Putin “doesn’t want peace” and that more needs to be done to punish him.

“The international community cannot tolerate this,” he said, adding that Putin was “trampling on human rights”.

Ahead of a planned visit to Washington on Wednesday to meet with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Wadephul added that Russia’s latest aerial attacks on Ukraine represent an “affront to US president Donald Trump, who tried to bring the Kremlin chief to the negotiating table”.

“And now, this reaction,” he said, referring to Russia launching 355 drones and nine missiles at Ukraine last night. “You can see that Putin doesn’t want peace, he wants to continue the war, and we cannot allow him to do that.”