Ukraine war latest: Fallout after Biden mistakes Zelenskyy for Putin; Russia uses 'imitator' attack drones to overload air defences (2024)

A former Russian president has admitted Moscow will continue its military operation to "crush" Ukraine - even if Kyiv accepted the terms of the Kremlin's so-called peace deal.

Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said Russia will "drive a long steelnail into the coffin" of Ukraine in the event it surrenders much of its eastern territory.

Mr Putin has been shopping around the proposal that Ukraine give up four regions and drop its aspirations to join NATO in return for a ceasefire - a plan deemed absurd by Ukraine and its allies.

"What if they take [the deal] and accept it?" asked Mr Medvedev on Telegram.

"This will not be the end of Russia's military operation. Even after signing the papers and accepting defeat, the remaining part of the radicals, after a regrouping of forces, will sooner or later return to power, inspired by Russia's Western enemies.

"And then the time will come to finally crush the reptile. Drive a long steel nail into the coffin of Bandera's quasi-state," he said, making reference to the Second World War-era, far-right Ukrainian nationalistStepan Bandera.

"Destroy the remnants of his bloody legacy and return the remaining lands to the bosom of the Russian land."

Russian propaganda frequently seeks to portray the modern day Ukrainian state as sympathetic to the Nazis.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution demanding Russia urgently withdraws from Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

It expressed "grave concern over the precarious nuclear safety and security situation" at the plant, which it said must be returned to Ukrainian control.

The resolution was approved by 99 votes to nine, with 60 countries abstaining and 25 countries not voting.

Russia was joined by Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Syria, Burundi and North Korea in opposing it.

There have been fears of a nuclear catastrophe since Russian troops occupied the plant shortly after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Zaporizhzhia, which has six nuclear reactors, sits in Russian-controlled territory in south-eastern Ukraine near the front lines and has been continually caught in crossfire.

TheInternational Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about cuts to Zaporizhzhia's electricity, which is crucial for the plant's operation.

Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said the repercussions of a possible incident "would be even more catastrophic" thanthe Chernobyl plant explosion in 1986.

Mr Kyslytsya warned that "if we simply stand with our arms crossed, that good luck will not last forever, and an incident will be inevitable".

Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky accused the communique's supporters of trying "to promote the false Western narrative about the source of threats to nuclear facilities in Ukraine".

Russia is likely jamming radars in European nations as part of a campaign targeting NATO allies, according to war analysts.

Disruptionsto aviation and maritime GPS are likely components of a "hybrid campaign" to undermine unity in the alliance and support for Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Finnish transport authorities told Iltalehti that GPS "malfunctions" increased in the past week, after a sailor reported severe interferencewhile guiding other boats near Kotka and Hamina on Finland's southern coast.

"Russia's apparent GPS jamming is likely part of Russia's intensifying hybrid campaign directly targeting NATO states, likely aimed at undermining support for Ukraine and NATO unity," the ISW said.

The US-based think tank said Russian jamming was likely responsible for GPS signal problems on a plane carrying former British defence secretary Grant Shapps in March, and for forcing Finnair to cancel flights to Tartu, Estonia, until May.

Jamming may originate from Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea separated from the Russian mainland by Lithuania and Belarus.

Hungarian Prime MinisterViktor Orban appears to be taking an approach to the war unrecognisable to his NATO and EU allies.

Hot on the heels of a surprise meeting with Vladimir Putin, as well as trips to Kyiv and Beijing, Mr Orban met with Donald Trump while the NATO summit was ongoing.

The pairdiscussed the "possibilities of peace"at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida"as the next stop of his peace mission," the prime minister's spokespersonsaid.

Trump has said he would quickly end the war - without any explanation. Advisers have reportedly presented him with a plan making aid to Kyiv conditional on Ukraine joining peace talks.

NATO and EU leaders have been angered by Mr Orban's antics, having launched his self-styled "peace mission" without their coordination and undermining their attempts to isolate Russia.

"Whatever adventurism is being undertaken without Ukraine's consent or support is not something that's consistent with our policy, the foreign policy of the United States," said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

On his trip to Kyiv, Mr Orban did not tell Volodymyr Zelenskyy he was stopping in Moscow afterwards.

"Not all the leaders can make negotiations. You need to havesome power for this," Mr Zelenskyy said at the NATO summit.

Mr Putin's so-called "peace plan" means Ukraine surrendering four of its regions and dropping aspirations to join NATO.

Ukraine was once again attacked by a barrage of missiles and drones overnight.

The air force said itshot down five cruise missiles and 11 out of 19 droneslaunched by Russia.

Moscow's main target was the town of Starokostiantyniv, an important Ukrainian air base and a frequent target of Moscow'sstrikes, the air force said.

The air force said it did not have the location of the remaining eightdrones launched in the attack.

"It is likely that the enemy is using imitators of attackdrones to overload air defence. There was no information oncasualties or damage."

It comes as the country continues to reel from a devastating wave of strikes on Monday, which killed 44 people and injured almost 200 more.

Joe Biden - a keen ally of Ukraine - is facing fresh calls to bow out of the presidential race after mistakenly referring to Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin".

There were gasps from those in the room at the NATO summit in Washington at the first of two major gaffes - the second: referring to Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump".

Kyiv will be keenly watching what impact this has on the presidential race. The Biden administrations support for Ukraine - both directly and via NATO - has been crucial, while Donald Trump has questioned America's aid.

Indeed, at the news conference, Mr Biden argued Trump would weaken NATO.

The president trailed off before he had completed his thoughts during some answers, while in others, he delivered detailed responses on issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict and the need for western countries to produce more weaponry.

The Biden campaign has been on the ropes for two weeks, since
his poor debate performance against Trump.

At least 16 of the 213 Democrats in the House and one of the Senate's 51 Democrats have appealed publicly to the president to withdraw from the race.

Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut joined that group
shortly after the news conference ended.

"We must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump's promised MAGA authoritarianism," he said.

"I no longer believe that is Joe Biden."

The campaign has commissioned a survey to test how Vice President Kamala Harris would fare if she were to replace Biden as candidate, a source with knowledge of the matter told AP.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found Harris would fare no better than Biden in a match-up with Trump.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

NATO leaders ended their summit in Washington last night, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the alliance's "crucial" support for Ukraine will help stop Vladimir Putin's "appetite for aggression".

We'll bring you updates and analysis throughout the day - but first, here's a recap of the key developments over the course of the last 24 hours.

• NATO has announced €40bn (£33.6bn) in military aid will be given to Ukraine during the next 12 months;
• The US has also promised a new $225m (£174m) aid package;
  
• Joe Biden mistakenly introduced Volodymyr Zelenskyy as 'President Putin' in Washington;
  
• NATO's secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine's future is in the alliance and its allies are "eager" to demonstrate their support to Mr Zelenskyy and his country;
• Hungary does not want NATO to become an "anti-China" bloc, and will not support it doing so, the country's foreign minister has said;
• A Russian plot to kill the CEO of a German arms manufacturer has reportedly been foiled by the US and Germany;
• Ukraine and Romania have signed a 10-year security agreement, while Norway will give £72.2m to boost Ukraine's air defences.

We are ending our live coverage for now.

Scroll back to find out all the day's latest developments.

The Democrat congressman becomes the second senior lawmaker to call for Biden to stand down following his latest gaffes.

Analysis by James Matthews, US correspondent

It was Biden’s big screen test but, in truth, he rather blew it before it began.

A couple of hours before he took the stage, the president had a "Putin" moment – mistakenly introducing Ukraine's President Zelenskyy as "President Putin".

It was already the gaffe of the day.

Biden might have led a successful NATO conference but it was a meme-tastic moment to define his performance for the screen-scrolling generation, the very one he needs onside.

Joe Biden spoke economy, foreign policy and "domestic division" as he rolled out his record.

His difficulty, by now, is an audience that can't hear one sentence for the anticipation of what he'll say next.

He was asked about Kamala Harris and he mistakenly called her "vice-president Trump".

Like the "Putin" gaffe, it was a mistake that anyone could make. If Biden himself had made it a couple of years ago, it would have gone unnoticed.

His problem now is that every sign of infirmity, large or small, feeds into an established narrative – one that tells the story of a stubborn old president, cosseted by a government machine not listening to a growing crescendo of concern for his mental fitness.

Over the course of the news conference lasting an hour, he did actually hold it together.

As a politician talking politics, he sounded as comfortable as it gets at the age of 81. On the subject matter, he sounded across his brief and finished with the certainty that he was the "best qualified to govern and to win".

The uncertainty is, was it good enough?

Not for Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, who called for the president to step down within minutes of the news conference ending.

On the night of the big news conference, the big question is now: how many will follow?