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Putin evaluating scenarios of invading Kyiv from Belarus and Bryansk as he eyes Ukrainian capital once again
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Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to find ways in which Russia can launch new offensive operations on Ukraine to capture Kyiv, said Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
These include Russian offensives launched from Belarusian territory to capture the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding areas, Syrskyi said.
Another scenario includes a strike from Russia’s bordering Bryansk region towards Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, which is the most probable scenario, he said.
This comes as Ukraine struck a satellite centre in the Moscow region being used to gather intelligence for Russian forces for the second time on Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In a post on Telegram, Zelensky said his forces had attacked the Dubna space communications centre some 500km from the Ukrainian border.
He said the site was used for reconnaissance and for coordinating the activities of Russia’s forces in Ukraine. It also came under Ukrainian attack last week, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said.
The US remains indispensible for the defence of Ukraine, said Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, at a news conference alongside German chancellor Friedrich Merz, and German defence minister Boris Pistorius.
“When it comes to the defence of Ukraine, the US is still indispensable,” he said.
“Europe is massively supporting Ukraine in money, and in support and in defence industrial output.
Look at Germany, when it comes to what Germany is doing bilaterally, but also through the Czech ammunition initiative and other initiatives and also investing in the defence industrial base in Ukraine so that’s Europe. But also the US. And we need both,” he added.
Germany will continue to purchase US weapons even as it seeks to become less dependent on US military supplies, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday.
“Despite seeking to become more independent, nobody has ever said we’ll refrain from buying American (weapons) systems. This is not the case and will not be the case in future,” he told reporters in Berlin.
“We are working very closely together with the U.S. defence industry and aim to continue doing so.”
We’ve now heard from Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, speaking at the aforementioned press conference in Berlin with chancellor Friedrich Merz.
He says that a Nato summit next week in Turkey will see Nato allies commit to providing sustainable, long-term security assistance for Ukraine.
“Allies will commit to providing sustainable and predictable, long-term security assistance for Ukraine,” Rutte told the news conference, alongside Mr Merz and German defence minister Boris Pistorius.
Rutte added that Nato’s message to the defence industry was to “scale up” and that next week’s summit would focus on turning extra spending into combat-ready capabilities.
Germany intends to make a new funding commitment to Ukraine at the upcoming Nato summit, German chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
“The German government proposes that, as European Nato allies, we make a new funding commitment to Kyiv,” he said at a joint press conference with defence minister Boris Pistorius and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte after a meeting at the defence ministry in Berlin.
Swedish defence equipment maker Saab signed a contract to deliver 16 Gripen E fighter aircraft to Ukraine in a deal worth about 24.6bn Swedish crowns.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the agreement reached with Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson involved the purchase of 16 Gripen E aircraft and included technical support.
Saab said deliveries of the aircraft were scheduled for 2029-2030.
In remarks on the Ukrainian presidential website, Zelensky said deliveries of Gripen C/D aircraft would begin early in 2027.
Zelensky said he had discussed implementation of the agreement and broader defence cooperation with Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson during a meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday, including drone and missile-defence projects.
Russian forces have taken control of the settlements of Kopani in the Zaporizhzia region of Ukraine and Ukrainske in the northeastern Kharkiv region, state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing the Defence Ministry.
The Independent could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
China’s covert military training of Russian forces last year was personally approved by president Vladimir Putin’s defence minister and directly involved at least four Russian and Chinese generals, according to two European officials and documents seen by Reuters.
The officials said the involvement of such high-ranking individuals in training linked to the Ukraine war signalled the importance for Russia and China of such cooperation, which has caused alarm in Europe even as Beijing has denied it took place.
A classified Russian document seen by Reuters directly referred to an internal decree issued by defence minister Andrei Belousov in August, 2025.
It said that, in accordance with a decision by Belousov, a delegation from Russia’s armed forces travelled to China to participate in training exercises at People’s Liberation Army (PLA) facilities.
The report and a second one described and displayed images of Russian soldiers being lectured by a Chinese instructor, looking at a model nuclear reactor, and being taught about “chemical reconnaissance”, “radiation reconnaissance” and protecting ventilation systems from contamination.
The inclusion of radiological, biological and chemical warfare training underlined the strategic nature of the exchanges, one of the European officials said, noting that the topic was particularly sensitive for militaries in general.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has said his government has learnt “the lessons of Ukraine” and will ramp up spending on drone technology.
Sir Keir said: “(We are) learning the lessons of Ukraine in order to modernise our military, equipped to fight the wars both of today and tomorrow.
“We’re backing this by putting in more than £5 billion pounds into drones and autonomous weapons – that is the largest ever UK investment in this technology.”
He said the military will also invest in “low-cost, one-way attack drones” which have proved so effective in the Ukraine war.
Sir Keir added that the plan would mean “driving real reforms within the Ministry of Defence to get greater value from our investment”, including by “reducing non-military spending on civil service staff”.
Ukrainian forces are witnessing signs of exhaustion among Russian soldiers and it is reflecting on the battlefield, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
In comments to TSN Ukrainian television, Syrskyi said there were indications that Russian troops were exhausted and the intensity of front-line battles was declining.
He said Russian frontline activity had declined by 30 per cent while Ukrainian forces pressed on with a campaign of long-range strikes against Russian targets, mainly linked to the oil industry.
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