Norway promises F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv during Nato summit after hospital strike

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has said he could not predict what Donald Trump would do if he regains the US presidency in November, but the whole world, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin, was awaiting the outcome of the ballot.

Mr Zelensky, speaking in Washington as world leaders gather for a Nato summit, said he hoped Mr Trump would not quit the 75-year-old alliance and that the United States would keep supporting Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion.

“I don’t know (him) very well,” Mr Zelensky said of Mr Trump.

He said he had “good meetings” with him during Mr Trump’s first presidency but said that was before the Russian invasion in 2022.

“I can’t tell you what he will do, if he will be the president of the United States. I don’t know.”

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz underlined the importance of Nato support for Ukraine, saying every member state would have to do its best and acknowledging a special role for Germany as the biggest European member of the alliance.

“Germany is the largest country in Europe within the NATO alliance. This gives us a very special responsibility and I can say very clearly here we will, I will, fulfil this responsibility,” Scholz said on Wednesday at the sidelines of a Nato leaders summit in Washington.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said he informed his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto on battlefield updates and preparations for the second international summit on peace in Ukraine.

“In this context, I emphasized that no peace initiatives can be based on Russia’s narratives,” he said on X.

The meeting follows Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s visits to Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing for talks that he described as a “peace mission”. Ukraine said talks in Moscow were not coordinated with Kyiv.

New Zealand have announced a £2.8 million weapons package to Ukraine, focusing on drones and military medical needs.

New Zealand’s military contributions to Ukraine total 19 million, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The Kyiv Military Administration responsible for the protection of the Ukrainian capital has revised down its death toll from the city-wide Russian attack on Monday.

Earlier, we reported that the administration had updated the toll to 34 fatalities. That has now been revised down to 33.

They have not provided details as to why the toll has been amended.

Nato allies are set to announce their intention to “provide a minimum baseline funding of $40 billion” (£31.2 billion) to Ukraine for the next calendar, the White House has announced.

It is believed the announcement will be made during the Nato summit in Washington, which started yesterday and finishes on Thursday.

The US will contribute to this pledge using “funds already appropriated by Congress in the national security supplemental, which President Biden signed into law in April”.

In April, Congress belatedly passed a $61bn weapons package for Ukraine seven months after it was initially proposed.

You can view the full White House statement here.

Norway will donate six F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, daily Verdens Gang (VG) has reported, citing the Norwegian prime minister at the Nato summit in Washington.

Deliveries are planned to begin in 2024, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said, according to VG.

“We plan to deliver during 2024… Norway has been participating in the training of Ukrainian fighter pilots in Denmark since the fall, and Norway will support the training in the future,” Mr Stoere said.

The European Commission on Wednesday said it welcomed the one year extension roaming between the European Union and Ukraine has been extended for another year

“In times of war, a phone line is a lifeline, connecting people who sought refuge in Europe to those who stayed on the front”, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said on social media platform X.

It is the fifth extension of a voluntary agreement between 22 European and seven Ukrainian telecommunications operators, ensuring that Ukrainian refugees can stay connected across borders for another twelve months, the Commission said in a statement.

At least one person has been killed and three injured in a Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol, the state emergency service has reported.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, they wrote: “As a result of an enemy attack in the morning in Nikopol, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, a man was killed and three more people were injured.

“As a result of the shelling, several fires broke out, and dry grass in the open area caught fire.

Rescuers extinguished all fires.”