Ukraine war latest: US cuts intelligence-sharing – Starmer insists Trump ‘reliable’

A former North Korean sergeant has said Pyongyang troops fighting in Ukraine were told their families would be executed if they are captured alive.

“If the soldiers are captured and tell information to the enemy, their families will be punished, go to a political prison camp, or worse, they will be executed in front of the people,” North Korean defector and researcher, Pak Yusung, told ABC News.

A British man has been jailed for 19 years after being convicted of fighting for Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region.

The Russian court said its decision followed a closed trial where a Ukrainian soldier from the same unit testified.

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The Dutch government will reserve €3.5bn(£2.9bn) to continue its support for Ukraine in 2026, prime minister Dick Schoof said.

Mr Schoof said the funds would ensure Dutch support would continue unchanged next year, adding that the money could also be used in 2025 if necessary.

The previous Dutch government had already earmarked a comparable sum for support through 2025.

The prime minister said €700m from those funds would be used to invest in drones for Ukraine.

European leaders are meeting today with the hope of endorsing bold new measures to ramp up support for Ukraine.

Leaders of the European Union’s 27 countries will be joined by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit in Brussels.

The gathering comes after Donald Trump’s suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv, fuelling concerns the continent can no longer be sure of US protection.

Diplomats expect leaders at the summit to give the proposals a broad welcome and instruct officials to quickly turn them into draft legislation.

EU members will then have to agree on the nitty-gritty, which will not be straightforward.

On Ukraine, almost all EU leaders are keen to reassure Mr Zelensky that he can still rely on Europe for support after his bruising Oval Office clash with Mr Trump last week.

But EU members have so far not been able to agree on a proposal by foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to put a figure on the military aid they will pledge to Ukraine this year.

Officials have suggested the EU should vow to at least provide €20bn this year, as it did in 2024.

US president Donald Trump has indicated that he wants to force a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, warning that “if [Ukraine] didn’t have our weapons, this war would be over in two weeks”.

Russian former president Dmitry Medvedev mocked French president Emmanuel Macron’s warning that Russia posed a threat, saying the French leader posed no threat at all and would not be missed once he stepped away from public life.

“Russia has become, as I speak to you and for years to come, a threat to France and Europe, says Macron,” Mr Medvedev said on X today.

“Micron himself poses no big threat though. He’ll disappear forever no later than May 14, 2027. And he won’t be missed,” he added, misspelling the French president’s name.

His comment comes after Mr Macron warned Europe had to face up to the threat from Russia and proposed a discussion on extending the protection offered by France’s nuclear arsenal to its European partners.

“Russia has become a threat for France and Europe,” Mr Macron said, adding that “to watch and do nothing would be madness.”

At least two people were killed and 29 were injured after a Russian missile smashed into a hotel in Volodymyr Zelensky’s home town in Ukraine’s Kryvyi Rih.

Around 20 of the total injured were in serious condition and rescue operations proceeded past midnight, said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city’s military administration.

Ukraine’s Emergency Services said 14 people had been rescued from rubble at the hotel, which suffered heavy damage.

They posted pictures of crews making their way through piles of rubble outside the floodlit five-storey building and clambering up and down ladders.

Smoke billowed from the top of the hotel and virtually all its windows had been blown out. A crane was deployed to reach upper levels.

Sir Keir Starmer has faced pressure from across the political spectrum to withdraw the invitation, which he hand-delivered to Mr Trump just a day before his Oval Office shouting match with Mr Zelensky. That is only likely to increase since Mr Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine.

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Brave as the Ukrainian forces and civilians have been, and supportive as the European and Nato allies have tried to be, the loss of American hardware and intelligence will inevitably hurt Ukrainian morale and its ability to defend its present territory, let alone counterattack and push the Russians back.

Indeed, unless the European and other allies in the broad “coalition of the willing” – including Canada and, potentially, Turkey – swiftly plug the huge gaps left by the American retreat from its obligations, then the very existence of Ukraine as an independent state falls into jeopardy.

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While the United States is withdrawing its military support for Ukraine, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed that he is “ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air” to support a peace deal for the war-torn country at a defence summit with world leaders in London on Sunday.

The prime minister announced last week that UK defence spending will rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027, with an aim to hit 3 per cent by the end of the next term; saying that “tyrants” like Russian president Vladimir Putin “only respond to strength”.

US president Donald Trump has indicated that he wants to force a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, warning that “if [Ukraine] didn’t have our weapons, this war would be over in two weeks”.

Read the full analysis here from our data correspondent Alicja Hagopian: