Ukraine war briefing: Report of Russian weapons programme in China ‘deeply concerning’, Nato says

A Nato spokesperson said a Reuters report that Russia has established a weapons programme in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in its war against Ukraine was “deeply concerning” and that Nato “allies are consulting on this matter” . The White House national security council said it appeared to be an instance of a Chinese company providing lethal assistance to a US-sanctioned Russian firm. The White House had not seen anything to suggest the Chinese government was aware of the transactions involved, but China had a responsibility to ensure companies weren’t providing lethal aid to Russia for use by its military, a spokesperson added. IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned arms company Almaz-Antey, has developed and flight-tested a new drone model called Garpiya-3 (G3) in China with the help of local specialists, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two sources from a European intelligence agency and documents it had reviewed.

Former president Donald Trump said Ukraine should have made concessions to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, instead of going to war with its invading neighbour, describing the Ukrainian people as “dead” and the country “demolished”. Speaking at an event in North Carolina on Wednesday, the Republican presidential nominee – who is not expected to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on his trip to the US – said: “The worst deal would’ve been better than what we have now.” Trump added: “What deal can we make? It’s demolished … The people are dead. The country is in rubble.”

The US House speaker, Mike Johnson , meanwhile, demanded that Ukraine fire its ambassador to Washington as the feud between Trump and Zelenskyy escalated and Republicans accused the Ukrainian leader of election interference . In a public letter, Johnson demanded that Zelenskyy fire the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova , over a visit to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, calling it a “partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats”.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced $375m in military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday, in a package that includes Himars precision rocket launchers, cluster munitions and light tactical vehicles . “The United States is committed to Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s brutal aggression,” Blinken said in a statement, adding Washington would “deploy this new assistance as quickly as possible”.

Zelenskyy told the United Nations that Russia was planning to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants as he repeated his calls for unity from world leaders in order to force Russia to the negotiating table to conclude a “just peace”. In a speech to the UN general assembly on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader said he had received information that Russia was gathering intelligence on Ukrainian nuclear power plants in preparation for a potential strike.

In further comments, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s peace plan must be supported by world leaders, and that alternative initiatives to hold talks with Putin would simply aid the Russian president . Zelenskyy in particular targeted a joint proposal by China and Brazil, which have proposed a six-point peace plan for the Ukraine war without Kyiv’s backing. “If someone in the world seeks alternatives … it likely means they themselves want to do a part of what Putin is doing … the question arises: what is the true interest?” Zelenskyy said. “Everyone must understand: you will not boost your power at Ukraine’s expense.”

Zelenskyy also criticised the UN security council, saying it was “impossible to truly and fairly resolve matters of war and peace because too much depends in the security council on the veto power” . Russia is one of five permanent members of the security council and it exercises a veto power over any decisions taken by the body.

Zelenskyy’s comments came as Vladimir Putin escalated his nuclear rhetoric , telling a group of senior officials that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if it was attacked by any state with conventional weapons. The Russian president told the country’s powerful security council that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if Moscow received “reliable information” about the start of a massive launch of missiles, aircraft or drones against it.

The UN chief also criticised the powerful but deeply divided security council at a high-level meeting on Wednesday for a failure of leadership to end the war in Ukraine as well as wars in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere. “Peace demands action. And peace demands leadership,” the secretary general, António Guterres, told the 15-member council charged with ensuring international peace and security. “Instead, we’re seeing deepening geopolitical divisions and mistrust.”

Russia said on Wednesday it had captured two more villages in Ukraine and was attacking in the town of Vuhledar, a longtime Ukrainian stronghold . Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken the villages of Hostre and Hryhorivka, though the claim could not be independently confirmed. State news agency Ria cited the Russian-installed head of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, as saying that fighting was taking place inside Vuhledar, which had a prewar population of 14,000. The Ukrainian governor of the region, Vadym Filashkin, said Russia’s troops had not reached the outskirts of Vuhledar but its reconnaissance groups were operating there.

Disinformation attributable to Russian and Belarusian services spiked on the internet by about 300% during the first days of severe flooding in Poland, the country’s deputy premier and digitalisation minister was quoted on Wednesday as saying . The worst floods in at least two decades left many towns in central Europe, including south-western Poland, submerged earlier this month, and the government warned of a spread of disinformation at the same time.

Russia on Wednesday struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk with guided bombs, killing at least two people and wounding 19, regional governor Vadym Filashkin said . The Donetsk region governor said in a video post from the scene there were fears that the toll could grow.