Ukraine war latest: Trump says no Putin meeting until peace deal is within reach

Nato member Lithuania closed its capital airport late last night and shut both crossings on the border with Belarus after helium weather balloons drifted into the Baltic country’s territory for a second consecutive day.

Traffic at Vilnius Airport was suspended until 2am, while the Belarus border will remain shut until the same time, Lithuanian officials said.

European aviation has repeatedly been thrown into chaos in recent weeks by drone sightings and other air incursions, including at airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region.

Sam Kiley meets Russian volunteers in Ukraine’s army near the southern front line who explain why they turned on Vladimir Putin – and how they’re happy to kill their countrymen.

Japan scrambled fighter jets to monitor nuclear-capable Russian warplanes that flew over international waters along the edge of Japanese airspace off its coast.

The defence ministry said the two Tu-95 bombers, accompanied by two Su-35 fighters, had initially flown toward Japan’s Sado Island before turning northward. The ministry also released a map showing the flight path of the Russian aircraft off Japan’s west coast over the Sea of Japan.

The Donald Trump administration has reportedly prepared additional sanctions to target Russia’s economy to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

US officials have also told European counterparts that they support the EU using frozen Russian assets to buy US weapons for Kyiv, two US officials told Reuters.

Washington has held nascent internal conversations about leveraging Russian assets held in the US to support Ukraine’s war effort, according to the report.

While it is not clear whether Washington will actually carry out any of those moves in the immediate term, it shows there is a well-developed toolkit within the administration to up the ante further after Mr Trump imposed sanctions on Russia on Wednesday for the first time since returning to office in January.

One senior US official told Reuters that he would like to see European allies make the next big Russia move, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs.

A separate source said Mr Trump was likely to hit pause for a few weeks and gauge Russia’s reaction to Wednesday’s sanctions announcement.

Those sanctions took aim at oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft. The moves spiked oil prices by more than $2 and sent major Chinese and Indian buyers of Russian crude looking for alternatives.

North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui will visit Russia and Belarus, state media KCNA said.

Her trip follows the invitation of the foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus, KCNA said.

Meetings between Russian president Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, and US officials will continue today, Reuters reported.

“Meetings between special envoy of the president of Russia for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries, Kirill Dmitriev and representatives of president (Donald) Trump’s administration were held on October 24 and 25 and will continue on October 26,” a source told the news agency.

Mr Dmitriev is in the US for what he said was a series of long-planned meetings.

Four children were among 14 people injured in Russia’s overnight air attack on Kyiv, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said this morning.

“Everyone is receiving medical assistance, some have been hospitalised,” the administration said on Telegram.

Two high-rise residential buildings were hit as a result of the attack, mayor Vitali Klitschko said earlier.

He did not say whether there was a direct hit on the buildings or if it was falling debris from destroyed weapons that fell onto the apartment complexes.

Ukrainian forces operating behind enemy lines derailed Russia’s hopes of reconnecting the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station before Vladimir Putin’s birthday earlier this month, sources have claimed.

Ukrainian sources told The Guardian that they believed Russia was trying to bring power back to the plant in time for the president’s birthday on 7 October, after it lost external power in late September.

Europe’s largest power station, which has been in Russian control since early in the invasion, was forced to operate on diesel backup generators after its last remaining external power line was severed on 23 September. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other.

Russian air defence systems destroyed a drone heading towards Moscow, the mayor of the Russian capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said this morning.