Ukraine war latest: Ukraine building secret 'robot army'; Kremlin responds to Trump assassination attempt (2024)

Video footage released by the Russian defence ministry press service today shows Russian and Chinese military sailors attending a welcome ceremony for their joint naval force exercises.

The two naval forces will take part in exercises in the southern city of Zhanjiang that are expected to last until mid-July.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, the exercises will include anti-missile drills, sea strikes and air defence.

This comes after NATO leaders labelled China a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war in Ukraine last week.

Beijing’s mission to the EU said the latest NATO summit was "filled with Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric".

More than 45 European leaders will converge on Oxfordshire this week to discuss pressing issues, including the Ukraine-Russia war.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will welcome leaders from across the continent to Blenheim Palace on Thursday.

The PM is expected to use the meeting as a platform to push for continued international military and financial support for Ukraine, ahead of what is expected to be a difficult winter.

"Europe is at the forefront of some of the greatest challenges of our time," said Mr Starmer.

"Russia's barbaric war continues to reverberate across our continent, while vile smuggling gangs traffic innocent people on perilous journeys that too often end in tragedy.

"We cannot be spectators in this chapter of history. We must do more and go further, not just for the courageous Ukrainians on the frontlines, or those being trafficked from country-to-country, but so our future generations look back with pride at what our continent achieved together."

Almost 44% of Ukrainians think that it is time for official peace negotiations with Russia to begin, according to a survey published by a major Ukrainian newspaper.

ZN.UA used the Razumkov Centre to conduct the survey, which also found that 35% were opposed to peace negotiations, and 21% said they were undecided.

At the same time, an overwhelming majority of respondents (83%) said they were opposed to the current ceasefire conditions offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Putin said he would order a ceasefire "literally at the same minute" if Ukraine agreed to give up four regions partially occupied by Russia - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

He also said Ukraine would need to give up its effort to join NATO.

There was some regional disparity in response to whether Ukraine should begin peace negotiations with Russia.

In western Ukraine, 35% said they supported peace talks, a similar figure to those from eastern Ukraine (33%), where the majority of heavy fighting is ongoing.

In the south of Ukraine, 60% of respondents said they were in favour of negotiations. Roughly half (49%) of residents in the centre of Ukraine were in favour.

A slim majority (61%) were not ready to give any concessions to Russia in order to obtain a peace deal, and 66% of respondents said they still believed in military victory over Russia.

The survey was conducted from 20-28 June 2024, with 2,007 respondents aged 18 and over interviewed.

Ministers from the European Union could snub Hungary by organising their own foreign affairs summit in August instead of travelling to Budapest for Prime Minister Viktor Orban's event.

That's according to Politico, who say foreign affairs ministers have been hunting for a way to avoid becoming props in Mr Orban's "propaganda show".

The Hungarian leader has received criticism for his self-styled peace missions to Moscow and Beijing, with EU leaders feeling he is undermining their interests of unity with Ukraine.

Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and plans to host a foreign affairs summit on August 28-29.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will, according to three EU diplomats speaking to Politico, summon ministers to a formal foreign affairs council at the same time as Orban's summit.

One of the diplomats said that by boycotting the Budapest meeting, foreign minsters wanted to "send a clear signal that Hungary does not speak for the EU".

Pictures show the aftermath of Russia's "double tap" missile attack on a small town near Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv.

Two people died and 23 more were injured in the mid-afternoon attack that targeted the railway station in Budy, officials said. After rescue teams arrived, a second missile hit the area.

Ukraine's interior minister Ihor Klymenko said the head of the Kharkivdistrict emergency services Artem Kostyria was killed, along with a policeofficer from a rapid reaction unit.

Ukrainian drones have targeted a coastal area of Sevastopol in occupied Crimea and struck an electrical substation in Russia's Lipetsk region, according to reports.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed head of Sevastopol, claimed that Russian defences shot down at least one drone over Cape Fiolent on Crimea's southern coast.

The Russian defence ministry claimed its forces downed as many as six drones, while the Crimean Wind Telegram channel wrote that local residents heard at least eight explosions.

The targeted area was, according to the channel, a Russian military unit base equipped with air defence systems.

Elsewhere, Russia's governor for the Lipetsk region says a drone struck an electric substation overnight.

The drone hit "the territory of an electrical substation in the Stanovlyansky municipal district", Mr Artamonov said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has released a statement rallying Ukraine's citizens on Statehood Day.

The national holiday was established by decree of Mr Zelenskyy in 2021 during the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence.

The day commemorates the baptism of Kyiv, which occurred under the rule of Volodymyr the Great in 988.

Mr Zelenskyy posted a message on Telegram this morning telling citizens "there will always be Ukraine here: our history, our people, our state".

"We are fighting against a terrible enemy, one that cannot be called human and is infinitely far from true Christianity," he said.

"Its essence is ruins, and the death it brings is something we must overcome. Ukraine cannot agree to anything less than to live, to preserve itself, and to remain human.

"Ukraine will not succumb to the evil that sheds blood for its own sick self-assertion, that despises truth - both human and divine - and devalues everyone except itself. Russia builds its statehood precisely on this. But we are different."

Ukraine is hoping to assemble swathes of cheap, unmanned drones that it hopes will kill Russian troops and save its own wounded soldiers and civilians.

An ecosystem of laboratories in hundreds of secret workshops across Ukraine are building this robot army at a fraction of the cost it takes to import similar models.

Estimates believe around 250 defence startups across the country are creating the killing machines at secret locations that typically look like rural car repair shops.

Costing around $35,000 (£27,000) to build, employees at startups like those run by entrepreneur Andrii Denysenko can put together an unmanned ground vehicle called the Odyssey in four days from a shed.

"We are fighting a huge country, and they don't have any resource limits. We understand that we cannot spend a lot of human lives," said Mr Denysenko, who heads the defence startup UkrPrototyp. "War is mathematics."

The 800kg Odyssey prototype can travel up to 18.5 miles (30km) on one charge of a battery the size of a small beer cooler.

It acts as a rescue and supply drone but can be modified to carry a remotely operated heavy machine gun or sling mine-clearing charges.

A fourth branch of Ukraine's military - the unmanned systems forces - joined the army, navy and air force in May.

"Squads of robots will become logistics devices, tow trucks, minelayers and deminers, as well as self-destructive robots," a government fundraising page said after the launch of the unmanned systems forces.

"The first robots are already proving their effectiveness on the battlefield."

Mykhailo Fedorov, the deputy prime minister for digital transformation, is encouraging citizens to take free online courses and assemble aerial drones at home. He wants Ukrainians to make a million of flying machines a year.

Human Rights Watch and other international rights groups are calling for a ban on weapons that exclude human decision-making.

It's going to be another busy week for Ukraine and Russia as the world reacts to last week's NATO summit and looks ahead to developments in the conflict on the battlefield and further afield.

Before we begin our coverage, here is an overview of what's happening in the conflict...

Reaction to Trump assassination attempt

Kyiv and Moscow have given differing reactions to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

The former president suffered a bullet wound to his ear in the shooting, which happened early on Saturday evening as he was giving a speech to supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Mr Zelenskyy said he was "relieved" to learn that Trump was safe and wished him a "speedy recovery". He added that such violence had "no justification and no place" in the world.

The Kremlin said yesterday it felt the current US administration had created an "atmosphere around candidate Trump" that had "provoked what America is confronting today".

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was "obvious to all outside observers that hislife was in danger", adding there were no plans for Mr Putin to call Mr Trump in light of the incident.

Key questions remain after NATO summit

Observers of last week's NATO summit in Washington are somewhat split over its success for Ukraine.

Mr Zelenskyy secured swathes of new aid packages to help defend his country against Russian aggression - including one from the US worth $225m (£173m).

NATO's secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine was on an "irreversible path" to joining the alliance, but stopped short of providing an official timeframe for when that could be.

Ukraine still hasn't convinced all NATO members they should join the alliance. According to reports, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggested in a plenary meeting with Mr Zelenskyy that Ukraine shouldn't join.

Mr Orban has, without any coordination with allies, visited Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing, and Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in the last fortnight, prompting criticism that his "peace missions" are undermining the EU's unity on Ukraine.

Russia looks east

Russia and China's naval forces have kicked off a joint exercise at a military point in southern China, days after NATO allies called Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war in Ukraine.

China's defence ministry said forces from both sides patrolled the western and northern Pacific Ocean and that the operation had nothing to do with international and regional situations.

Exercises are expected to last until mid-July and, according to state broadcaster CCTV, will include anti-missile exercises, sea strikes and air defence.

It comes after Beijing was accused by NATO of helping to enable Russia's war in Ukraine, a claim China refutes.

Russian advances

Ukraine's troops have been struggling to hold strategic locations in the south and southwest of the country, with Russia closing in on a key highway that provides vital support to an entire region.

Russian troops have made it as far as the village of Novooleksandrivka, northeast of Donetsk. There are fears they could soon take highway T0504, seen as a critical artery for some of the last Ukrainian-held cities in Donbas.

If captured, the highway could become a path for Russian forces to attack to the west, east, or both ways.

"It is a very serious threat, because after two years of war, the enemy has the ability and determination to break through the front line and not in one or two places, but in several (places) to threaten logistics," an infantry company commander with the 110th said of the Russian advance toward T0504.

The map below shows the latest territorial picture in Ukraine...

This is what you need to know as we head into the weekend - and you can check the Sky News and app and website for any breaking news on the war before we return with live updates on Monday.

• Poland is considering a proposal from Kyiv to shoot down Russian missiles heading towards Polish territory while they are still in Ukrainian airspace. The proposal was included in a security cooperation agreement signed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw this week.
• Ukraine will receive far fewer F-16 fighter jets than it had hoped for this summer, according to a report from Bloomberg. The first of around 85 jets promised to Ukraine will arrive from the Netherlands and Denmark and are set to be in the skies this summer. But Bloomberg's report says that Ukraine might only be able to field a single squadron of F-16s, anything from 15 to 24 jets, this summer.
• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said the "peace missions" being undertaken by Hungarian leader Viktor Orban lack strategy. Mr Orban has angered his NATO and EU allies by holding unauthorised meetings with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jingping. Yesterday, Mr Obran met US presidential candidate Donald Trump at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, shunning Joe Biden at this week's NATO summit in Washington.
• The Kremlin says the whole world paid attention to Joe Biden's verbal slips at the NATO summit, but it was more concerned with his "unacceptable" comments about Vladimir Putin. Mr Biden spoke in detail for some time about geopolitics, but all was overshadowed when he mistakenly introduced Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin", before quickly correcting himself. Separately, the US president referred to Mr Putin as "a murderous madman". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "We continue to consider it absolutely unacceptable and impermissible behaviour for a head of state to make such disrespectful remarks about other heads of state."
• The Kremlin has denied reports Russia planned to assassinate the chief executive of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, which has been producing artillery shells and military vehicles for Ukraine. CNN and the New York Times reported this week that US intelligence had discovered the plot.
• Russia is likely jamming radars in European nations as part of a campaign targeting NATO allies, according to war analysts. Disruptions to aviation and maritime GPS are likely components of a "hybrid campaign" to undermine unity in the alliance and support for Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said.