Ukraine-Russia latest: Musk ‘joins Trump Zelensky call’ as Putin hails ‘courageous’ US election win

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will meet France’s president, Britain’s prime minister, the head of Nato, and leaders of Nordic and Baltic states soon to discuss transatlantic cooperation and the war in Ukraine, he said on Saturday.

The future of aid to Ukraine is among the major questions facing the European Union after Donald Trump’s US election victory. Trump has criticised the level of US support for Ukraine‘s fight against Russia’s invasion, and before the election promised to end the conflict before even taking office, without explaining how.

“There is no doubt that this new political landscape is a serious challenge for everyone, especially in the context of a possible end to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a result of an agreement between, for example, the president of Russia and the new president of the United States,” Mr Tusk said.

“…in the coming days, we will very intensively coordinate cooperation with countries that have a very similar view on the geopolitical and transatlantic situation and situation in Ukraine,” he added.

Tusk said French President Emmanuel Macron and Nato head Mark Rutte would visit Warsaw soon and he would meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer either in Warsaw or in London. Tusk will also meet Nordic and Baltic leaders in Stockholm.

“Everything will, of course, be in the context of new challenges facing our homeland, the entire region, the European Union and the Western community,” Tusk said.

He reiterated what he said before the US election: no matter the result, Europe has to take greater responsibility for its own safety and Ukraine‘s future cannot be decided without Ukraine.

Ukraine targeted and struck Russia’s Aleksinsky chemical plant, which produces gunpowder, ammunition and weapons in the Tula region, during an overnight drone attack, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters on Saturday.

The source said the attack was part of a broader strategy to target Russia’s munitions factories that support Moscow’s defence sector and the war effort against Ukraine.

Former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace has claimed that “momentum has dropped back” on Ukraine.

Sir Ben told the BBC that the UK’s leadership on Ukraine has “started to drop back into the… pack” and said that in order to drive change while in government “you have to really do it every single day”.

The former army officer – who served in the Ministry of Defence under the last three Conservative prime ministers – said that Britain’s stance had brought “lots of Europeans with us”.

His comments come amid uncertainty over the future of US backing for Kyiv after Donald Trump’s election victory this week

Sir Ben told Radio 4’s Today programme: “What has happened is the leadership that Britain showed right from the start has started to drop back into the sort of pack.”

He claimed that officials during his time in government had been reluctant to “get ahead” but cross-party consensus in Parliament meant that the UK “took a position to lead”.

“And the leadership did bring lots and lots of Europeans with us,” he said.

He added: “I definitely have a sense that that momentum has dropped back, and my experience of government is if you want to really drive things, you have to really do it every single day.

“You can’t just do a statement and then float around.”

The European Union’s outgoing top diplomat Josep Borrell has arrived in Kyiv.

Russia’s foreign ministry sees no grounds for talking about resuming dialogue on strategic stability and arms control with the United States at the moment, Interfax reported Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Saturday.

Ryabkov said that Moscow and Washington “are exchanging signals on Ukraine“ through closed channels at the military and political levels, according to Interfax.