Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump approves Putin-Zelensky meet as anti-drone netting of Ukrainian frontline begins

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban ordered extra security at critical energy infrastructure sites after claiming Ukraine was attempting to disrupt Hungary’s energy system.

In a video posted to social media, Orban, who maintains the closest relationship with the Kremlin of any European Union leader, said the Ukrainian government was using “an oil blockade” to exert pressure on Hungary and that Hungarian national security services showed Ukraine was “preparing further actions to disrupt the operation of Hungary’s energy system.”

He didn’t provide details or evidence for his claims.

“We will deploy soldiers and the necessary equipment to repel attacks near key energy facilities,” Orban said.

“The police will patrol with increased forces around designated power plants, distribution stations and control centers,” he said.

Budapest has recently accused Kyiv of deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine’s territory. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations, saying the pipeline, which feeds refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, was hit in a Russian drone attack.

Orban has in recent weeks launched an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign ahead of elections in April which will likely be the toughest he’s faced in his 16 years in power.

He has cast the neighboring country as a grave threat to Hungary’s security, and himself as the only guarantor of its safety.’

More than 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia in its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said, adding that Moscow was using deception to trick them into fighting.

Speaking alongside his counterpart from Ghana, Sybiha said that discussions were taking place with governments across Africa to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes. Ghana will chair the African Union regional bloc next year.

“We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war,” Sybiha told a news conference. “According to our data, there are currently over 1,780 citizens from the African continent fighting in the Russian army.”

The African fighters came from 36 different countries spread across the continent, he added.

Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in the armed forces.

However, reports of African men being lured into Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine’s front line have become more frequent in recent months, creating tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved.

Ukraine is set to significantly ramp up its defences against Russian attacks with plans to deploy anti-drone nets across 4,000 kilometres of roads in frontline areas.

The anti-drone nets will be installed by the end of 2026, defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Wednesday.

This urgent measure comes as Russian remotely piloted aircraft increasingly target military supply routes, rear bases, hospitals, infrastructure, and civilian traffic deeper within Ukrainian territory.

While a growing number of protective nets have been installed over the past year, Fedorov stressed the need for further expansion.

“After the blocking of Starlink for the Russians, the level of their efficiency compared to ours has sharply decreased, because Starlink is practically irreplaceable as a combat communication system,” he tells The Independent.

Sam Kiley reports from Kyiv:

Russian firms allegedly used Britain’s secretive island territories to conduct $8bn (£5.9bn) of trade since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a new report.

These included flow of goods ranging from oil-drilling equipment to luxury yachts linked to Moscow’s political elite.

The Russian office of the anti-corruption group, Tranparency International, operating in exile, has looked at least 29,000 transactions of trade deals involving more than 150 luxury yachts, dozens of aircraft and equipment destined for Russia’s money-churning oil sector.

The report looked at the role played by the British overseas territories in enforcing sanctions designed to turn the screw on the Kremlin.

The report allegedly identified yachts linked to allies of Vladimir Putin, drilling kit for Kremlin-backed oil projects, coal linked to Ukraine’s pro-Russian ex-president and a jet linked to the Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.

Russia cannot afford to launch a new major offensive in Ukraine owing to its heavy battlefield losses, according to western officials and military analysts.

Russia’s battlefield losses have crossed its monthly recruitment of 30,000 to 35,000 new contract soldiers for three consecutive months, Western officials told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity.

The losses could spark a fresh round of mobilisation for Russian manpower.

“We’ve seen a casualty uptick which is disproportionate in scale and some of the economic situation in Russia is starting to become quite precarious, especially as we move into summer,” British Armed Forces minister Al Carns said, reported Bloomberg.

This trend shows Moscow’s capacity to launch a major new offensive looks weakened, the officials said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is faced with force generation issue to supply troops in the Ukraine war and is now looking to prepare for “domestically unpopular” measures to continue fighting.

The Russian government is struggling to find funds to “continue to pay the large cash incentives that it has used to generate the necessary number of volunteers” to fight, Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War said.

It added that Moscow is facing “critical” manpower and military financing issues, with its casualty rate surpassing its recruitment rate for the first time in January.

“Putin is having to reassess Russia’s force generation mechanisms to determine how Russia can continue to send the number of troops to the front lines needed to sustain the incessant offensive operations he demands. Putin is clearly considering and preparing for domestically unpopular measures such as rolling involuntary reserve callups,” it said.

Ukraine will accelerate the placement of anti-drone nets over roads in frontline areas, aiming to cover 4,000km of roads by the end of this year, defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said.

A growing number of nets have been installed over the past year, but more are needed, Fedorov said, adding that an additional 1.6bn hryvnias (£27m) had been allocated from the budget to bolster protection measures and counter Russian drones.

Nets can snag propellers and prevent drones from reaching their targets – high-value equipment, soldiers or civilians.

“In just one month, we increased the speed from 5km per day in January to 12km in February. This significantly improved the safety of military movements and ensured stable functioning of frontline communities,” Fedorov said.

“In March, we plan to close 20km of roads per day. By the end of the year, we plan to install another 4,000 km of anti-drone protection on roads.

“Ukraine would also expedite the construction of fortifications in the northeastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy and the northern Chernihiv regions, bordering Russia, Fedorov said.

Russia has been targeting military supply routes and rear bases deeper and deeper into Ukraine with the remotely piloted aircraft.

Rustem Umerov, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council and head of Ukraine’s negotiating team will meet in Geneva today with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

Russia’s TASS news agency, quoting a diplomatic source, said president Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev would be flying to Geneva on Thursday to meet US negotiators, but gave no further details. There was no official Russian comment.

Proceeding with the reconstruction of Ukraine after the destruction wrought by Russian aerial strikes and frontline combat has become a major element in broader talks on how to end the war, which entered its fifth year this week.

Kyiv hopes to attract about $800bn of public and private funds over the next 10 years to rebuild the country.

Ukrainian officials are pitching Ukraine as a future European Union member and a lucrative investment destination but funds depend on a ceasefire and a peace deal.

Zelensky said Ukrainian and US negotiators would also discuss the details of prisoner-of-war exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.

The next round of trilateral peace talks on end the war in Ukraine should lead to a meeting of the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, Volodymyr Zelensky said after a phone call with US president Donald Trump.

Zelensky said Trump has backed the move.

“We expect this meeting to create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders’ level. President Trump supports this sequence of steps,” Zelensky wrote on X.

“This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war,” he said.

The phone call discussed three-sided talks with Russia and the United States that would take place early next month. US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also took part in the phone call.

Zelensky said the two leaders discussed both meetings. He thanked the United States for its “active involvement” in the peace process and for missiles for air defence systems that were helping Ukraine endure winter-time attacks.