Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump told Putin he wanted to restore ties with Moscow in hour-long phone call, says Kremlin

Moscow has lashed out at the deployment of an advanced US missile system to Nato member state Norway, saying on Monday it dealt a further blow to the prospects for US-Russia talks on strategic nuclear stability.

Reports in the US said Washington had delivered a missile system to Norway that used Mk-41-style launchers capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the deployment posed a threat because the launchers could be used to fire missiles capable of reaching a substantial part of European Russia, including Moscow.

“Steps such as the deployment in Europe of U.S. ground-based intermediate-range missiles that pose a threat to the Russian Federation ‘reset to zero’, to put it mildly, the conditions for constructive dialogue with the US on strategic issues,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that Russia would pay “particular attention” to the deployment sites and command-and-control centres of US missile systems and that they would become targets in the event of a military conflict.

The UK is set to provide a £100 million air defence package for Ukraine ahead of the winter, including Patriot missiles, the government has announced.

Weapons will be provided through the PURL initiative, in which European countries buy American weapons and provide them to Ukraine

“Both the Prime Minister and I heard loud and clear on our first visits to Kyiv the importance of supporting Ukraine through this winter, as Putin prepares to use winter as a weapon by continuing barbaric attacks against civilian and energy targets. We promised to mobilise allies and provide more support wherever we can,” defence secretary Wes Streeting said.

The package will include patriot missiles, which are used to stoop aircraft, and cruise and ballistic missiles, along with other air defence equipment.

Hungary has expelled 10 Russian diplomats who “were engaged in activities in Hungary that are unacceptable for diplomats under the Vienna Convention,” foreign minister Anita Orban has announced.

“This decision protects Hungary’s security and sovereignty,” she said in a Tuesday statement.

“It does not imply breaking off diplomatic relations with Russia. Hungary intends to continue the necessary dialogue, based on mutual respect and adherence to the rules,” the statement added.

The success of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in state elections could herald a disaster for Ukraine, a European victory for Vladimir Putin, and a stampede of greed over democracy orchestrated by one man.

Kirill Dmitriev is to Donald Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, what Putin is to the 47th president – their favourite and much favoured Russian.

What Putin gives Trump – the thrill of proximity to unlimited power – Dmitriev offers to America: unlimited potential wealth. He is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Moscow’s sovereign wealth government slush pot, and he has close links to the AfD.

There was unbridled delight in Moscow with the success of the AfD over the weekend.

Dmitriev called the result a win that “humiliates the arrogance, narrow-mindedness, warmongering, ineptitude and hypocrisy” of German chancellor Friedrich Merz’s governing coalition.

The AfD, seen by German intelligence as an extremist organisation, has enjoyed (among other things) Russian support for its social media campaigns to win the elections in Saxony-Anhalt, according to German and other European intelligence sources.

Russia is confident that victory in the conflict with Ukraine is “very near,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday while speaking to Indian journalists.

“Yes, we are confident, and we are sure that victory is very near,” Peskov said.

The EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, has described the horrors of Russia’s overnight air attack on Kyiv.

“The Russians bombed us all night. Kyiv was exploding and burning. We were all hiding in shelters,” she wrote.

“I went to sleep in the shelter. My hotel room was not safe. Just as homes, apartments and children’s bedrooms were not safe for women, children and the elderly across Kyiv.”

Romania’s SRI intelligence service prevented a sabotage operation coordinated by Russia on Romanian territory, it said on Tuesday.

We’ll bring you more on the operation as it comes in.