India ready to help end Russia-Ukraine war, says foreign minister on visit to Kyiv
India is ready to help bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, the country’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday during his visit to Kyiv.
“If India can be of any help, in any manner, we are there,” he said, standing alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha, Reuters reported.
The foreign minister’s visit to Kyiv comes just days after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met Russian president Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan on Monday.
During the meeting, Mr Modi told Mr Putin that “India supports all efforts towards peace, and will continue to do so”.
Modi implores visibly-uncomfortable Putin to end Ukraine war
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 10:15
Russia’s wartime budget deficit reaches 2.8 per cent of GDP
Russia’s budget deficit increased by 40 per cent between January and July to 2.8 per cent of GDP, as the cost of its war in Ukraine continues to weigh on government finances, Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
The official target for the full year is 1.6 per cent of GDP, with Moscow relying on higher taxes and borrowing to help finance spending.
Putin dismissed concerns over the widening deficit, saying: “Considering that we have one of the lowest levels of national debt in the world, there is nothing critical here.” He said Russia would manage the shortfall despite the deterioration in its finances.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 09:30
Russia shifts tactics with round-the-clock attacks on Kyiv, disrupting daily life
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 09:10
G7 and IMF assess Ukraine’s finances as war strains economy
G7 ambassadors in Kyiv have met an International Monetary Fund mission led by Gavin Gray to discuss Ukraine’s economic outlook, with the G7 saying reforms aligned with EU standards remain a priority.
The IMF mission began meetings on 31 August and is examining Ukraine’s macroeconomic policies and reforms under its four-year, $8.1bn Extended Fund Facility, as well as the draft 2027 budget.
Ukraine’s $8.1bn four-year IMF programme remains a key source of international financing. The IMF approved a $690m disbursement in July, taking total payments under the programme to about $2.2bn, but said the economic outlook had weakened because of intensified Russian attacks on critical infrastructure and spillovers from the Middle East war.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 08:50
ICYMI: Putin meets Trump envoys as limited truce takes effect
Russian president Vladimir Putin held more than three hours of talks with Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow on Saturday, with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov describing the meeting as “substantive, very frank, and constructive”.
Ushakov said the envoys “put forward a number of ideas on possible routes to a settlement” and would take Putin’s views to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
A White House official said the sides had discussed “substantive plans for next steps”, to be announced in the coming weeks.
(Reuters)
Putin told the envoys Russia was making “real progress” on the battlefield and insisted that “all the root causes of the conflict” had to be addressed. At the start of the meeting, he asked them to convey his “very best wishes and words of gratitude” to Trump, saying the US president was continuing efforts to resolve the conflict despite “a difficult situation”.
The talks took place during a limited pause in strikes on the two capitals. Putin said he had ordered Russian forces not to strike Kyiv for three days after receiving a request through diplomatic and intelligence channels, saying: “I issued the relevant order, and no strikes have been carried out on Kyiv since midnight.”
Zelensky said Ukraine would refrain from striking Moscow through Monday.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 08:30
Germany once cosied up to Putin. Now they are Russia’s public enemy number one in Europe
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 08:10
Norway seizes Russian vessel over $4.2bn Ukraine claim
Norway seized a Russian research vessel in Svalbard on Wednesday at the request of Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Naftogaz, as part of efforts to enforce a $4.22bn arbitration award over Russia’s seizure of Ukrainian energy assets in Crimea.
An arbitration tribunal in The Hague ordered Russia to pay the sum in 2023, but Moscow has refused to do so.
The vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized after Naftogaz sought enforcement through Norwegian courts. The company has been pursuing Russian commercial assets in several countries as it tries to recover the award stemming from Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 07:50
US NATO envoy calls Leipzig drone attack ‘more concerning’
NATO’s US ambassador Matthew Whitaker has described an attempted Russian-linked drone attack at a German airport as a concerning example of Moscow’s alleged hybrid warfare against Europe.
A drone carrying explosives was found in a restricted area at Leipzig on 4 August, near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft. The device failed to detonate, but its discovery forced the closure of a runway and disrupted flights.
Protesters wave the so-called Russian Opposition flag as they protest in favor of the pending closure of the Russian House for Science and Culture demonstrate near other protesters demonstrating against the closure on September 4, 2026 in Berlin (Getty)
German authorities later found traces of military explosives and concluded that Russia was behind the attempted attack, saying individuals involved had acted on behalf of Russian state agencies.
“Then you have what I would call the more concerning hybrid actions, as we saw in Leipzig, as we have seen in Poland,” Whitaker said on Saturday. “If we can identify who’s doing it – which Germany did – we make sure we express strongly that is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it.”
Russia has denied involvement. Germany has said it will close Russia’s consulate in Bonn and the Russian House cultural centre in Berlin in response to the incident.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 07:30
Russian oil refinery hit as Ukraine launches overnight drone barrage
Ukrainian drones targeted an oil refinery in Ryazan and several cities across Russia overnight, with explosions reported in Rostov-on-Don and a child injured in the southern city.
Rostov region governor Yuri Slyusar said air defences destroyed around 30 drones over the region. Two apartment buildings in Rostov-on-Don were damaged and a child was hospitalised, while damage was also reported to homes in other parts of the region, according to the Kyiv Independent.
An oil refinery in Ryazan was also targeted, with a fire reported at the site. The plant, which accounts for about 5 per cent of Russia’s refining capacity, has previously been hit by Ukrainian drones and suffered an operational shutdown in July.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 07:10
Kyiv urges Europe to unlock frozen Russian assets for war effort
Ukraine is pushing European governments to revive plans to use some €210bn (£180.4bn) in frozen Russian central-bank assets to help finance its war effort, as Kyiv faces a €27bn (£23.2bn) defence funding gap for 2026.
The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden have backed reopening the debate, while Belgium, where most of the money is held through Euroclear, remains opposed because of legal and financial risks.
Ukraine’s finance minister Sergii Marchenko has proposed moving custody of the assets from Belgium to the EU level, saying this would spread the risks across all 27 member states. “It will help settle everything and mitigate the risk,” he told Euronews.
Shahana Yasmin6 September 2026 06:50