Ukraine-Russia war latest: Poland scrambles jets as Putin attacks Kyiv with jet-powered drones

Donald Trump Jr’s new wife, Bettina, has confirmed that their May wedding weekend celebration was partially funded by a man with close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

In a post on her Instagram page on Monday morning signed by the couple, Bettina Trump wrote that the man, Umar Kremlev, was a “dear friend,” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”

“It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful,” it went on.

ProPublica reported that Kremlev “footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses,” including paying to rent out one of two private islands where the three-day party was held and a fireworks show.

Kremlev was recently honoured with the Order of Friendship by Putin, according to the International Boxing Association, and accompanied Putin to China as part of a Russian delegation, according to the Chinese state media cited by the outlet.

The ​United States imposed further sanctions on Russia’s VTB Bank, accusing it of involvement in Iranian ⁠sanctions evasion.

The action builds on sanctions imposed against VTB, Russia’s second-largest lender, in 2022, when the bank was targeted following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The US said VTB had opened offices in Iran, established banking relationships with sanctioned Iranian lenders ​and helped build financial channels designed to facilitate trade and financial coordination between Moscow and Tehran.

“Under Operation Economic Outcast, Treasury will ​continue ⁠to target and disrupt ‌those who provide material, technological, or financial support that allows the Iranian regime to ‌sustain its terrorist enterprise,” treasury ‌secretary Scott Bessent said in the statement.

“Treasury will not tolerate any support to the regime and will continue to identify, expose, and isolate Iran’s enablers,” he said.

Bessent warned last week that president Donald Trump’s administration would sanction a large bank as it continues to apply economic pressure on Tehran to end ‌a more than six-month US conflict with ​Iran.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would “expand and deepen” joint work with Russia in a message to Russian president Vladimir Putin, state media KCNA reported this morning.

In a reply sent on Monday to Putin’s congratulations for North Korea’s 78th founding anniversary, Kim said Pyongyang’s government had a firm will ⁠to broaden cooperation with ​Russia “in ⁠a comprehensive way” based on friendship, mutual assistance, and what he described as ⁠the countries’ alliance relations.

Kim also said he was convinced of Russia’s victory in the current “sacred war for defending the security interests of the country and international justice”, language that appeared to refer to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

He pledged his “invariable support” for Putin and the Russian people.

The remarks come as Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn markedly closer, with North Korea sending troops to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine in 2024 and deepening military cooperation under a mutual defence pact.

Ruslan Horbal, a volunteer for Animal Rescue Kharkiv (ARK), was on a rescue mission in Ukraine’s war-torn eastern city of Kramatorsk, when a Russian drone hit the vehicle, killing one of the rescued dogs. He had only just gathered the animals into the back of the car when the attack took place.

“It happened very fast. There was an explosion, smoke and glass everywhere,” recalls Mr Horbal, who was hospitalised after the attack, in an interview with The Independent. “At first, I was confused. It took me a moment to understand what had happened. Then I started checking if everyone was alive and if the animals were OK. That’s when I realised I was badly injured too. There was a lot of blood.”

A drone hit a petrol station in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv in the early hours today, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app,

There was also a strike on warehouse facilities in another part of the city. A Reuters witness heard an explosion in Kyiv.

The attack comes after US president Donald Trump said on Monday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to hit each other’s energy targets.

Russia has recently started ‌hitting petrol stations in Kyiv, expanding the range of target facilities. In recent months, Russia hit some 300 petrol stations, mainly ‌in or near Ukraine’s frontline regions.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said Kyiv was ready to support a US-led proposal for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire protecting energy sites – but only if Washington could ensure Moscow was genuinely ready to end its war.

Zelensky made his comments in his nightly video address after US president Donald Trump said that Ukraine and Russia had both agreed not to hit each other’s energy targets.

“If this can become the first de-escalatory step, ⁠a step towards ending Russian strikes against ​our ⁠critical infrastructure and our strikes in response, Ukraine is ready to support de-escalation,” Zelensky said.

“So far, no one has seen any genuine willingness on Russia’s part to bring the war to an end. But if our American partners can secure Russia’s genuine readiness to end the war aimed at destroying lives, and to do so honestly and on a long-term basis, Ukraine will take its own de-escalatory steps,” Zelensky said.

A drone attack has damaged an industrial facility in the Russian Samara region on the Volga River, governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said on Telegram, without naming the facility.

The region is home to a number ‌of large ​oil ‌refineries.

A missile attack has damaged a warehouse of Russian e-commerce company Ozon in the port city of Taganrog in Russia’s south, regional governor Yuri Slyusar said on Telegram.

He added that a gas pipe and a few residential buildings were also hit.

A Nato fighter jet shot down a drone in Lithuania shortly after midnight on Tuesday, the Lithuanian national crisis management centre said.

The drone, which likely entered from Belarus, was shot down near Pratkunai village in southern ⁠Lithuania, near Kaunas, the second-largest ​city, ⁠the centre’s spokesperson said. Its origin is yet to be determined, ⁠he said.

A drone alert was issued earlier in the capital Vilnius and surrounding region.

Fighters with the Nato Baltic Air Defence mission have patrolled the skies ‌of Latvia, Lithuania and ‌Estonia since the Baltic countries joined the alliance in 2004.

The mission’s jets shot down stray ⁠Ukrainian drones over Estonia in May, and Latvia in June and August.

Military drones straying into the airspace of Russia’s neighbours have stoked concerns that Russia’s war in Ukraine is spilling over Nato’s borders.