Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump aide says Putin is suffering ‘staggering’ losses of 5,000 troops a week

Secretary of state Marco Rubio has said the US continues its work to provide Ukraine with military support via Nato allies.

On the sidelines of his meetings in Manila, Rubio said there had been no change in Washington’s military support for Ukraine, with weapons being purchased by Nato allies and transferred to the war-ravaged country.

On the lack of progress with peace talks involving Russia, he said “we’ll have to find new suggestions and new ideas” that are acceptable to both sides.

“That’s been the challenge — an end that both sides can accept,” Rubio told reporters.

“We’ve tried and we’ll continue to try to see if we can, you know, find a middle ground that brings this about. And we’re prepared to play that role if the opportunity presents itself.”

Ousted Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said he would accept no other government position besides his former job, escalating a political crisis that has gripped Ukraine at a pivotal point in the war with Russia.

Fedorov’s surprise dismissal this month had sparked rare wartime protests prompting president Volodymyr Zelensky to replace his unpopular top general with a respected younger commander.

Zelensky said on Thursday he had offered Fedorov several other roles, including vice prime minister for defence innovation, but has not indicated he would reappoint him to the defence ministry.

Fedorov said only the positions of president, military chief and defence minister could “actually shape the course of the war”.

“No other role carries the actual authority to combat procurement corruption, complete the army’s transformation, plan and execute asymmetric operations against the enemy,” he said.

Discussions between Zelensky and Fedorov were still ongoing, according to a source familiar with the matter.

“I think they will talk more,” the source said.

Russia is losing upwards of 5,000 to 6,000 troops each week in its war on Ukraine, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said, called in a “staggering number”.

Rubio said the Russian war in Ukraine is one of the only wars in history where the number of troops killed in combat is exceeding the number of troops injured.

Reiterating president Donald Trump’s central objective, Rubio said the US wants “that people stop dying, that people stop being slaughtered.”

Trump, Rubio said, wants Ukraine to be able to “go on and live in peace,” allowing Ukrainians to return home and rebuild, while ensuring that “young Russians aren’t being killed at the tune of 5,000 a week in the battlefield.”

“We are prepared to play a constructive role in bringing about an end to a senseless war, we’re ready to do that, and we of course expressed that,” Rubio said, referring to a meeting he held yesterday with his Russian counterpart.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that the Trump administration is poised to help end the “senseless war” in Ukraine but acknowledged there is no quick path to a deal, saying diplomacy will require sustained effort and new ideas.

Rubio, who held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the Philippine capital, alluded to how US-mediated talks have stalled.

He called them “unsuccessful or at least unfruitful” in the past but insisted that president Donald Trump was committed to the work “if conditions and factors have changed to make that possible.”

“That’s been the challenge — an end that both sides can accept,” Rubio told reporters.

“We’ve tried and we’ll continue to try to see if we can, you know, find a middle ground that brings this about. And we’re prepared to play that role if the opportunity presents itself.”

A warehouse of the leading Russian online retailer Wildberries in the Leningrad region has caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack, governor Alexander Drozdenko said on Friday.

Three ‌people were injured, ⁠he added. Wildberries said that the work of two of ‌its logistics ​sites ‌in ⁠the region ⁠had been halted.

An Irish probe into a major alumina ​plant has found no “concrete or definitive” evidence its exports to Russia are used to make aluminium for weapons, but it has also been unable to ⁠rule it out, prime minister Micheal Martin said on Thursday.

Ireland is under mounting pressure over the Aughinish Alumina plant, Europe’s largest refinery of the aluminium feedstock alumina, which the facility continues to ⁠export to Russia.

Dublin commissioned the ​investigation, even ⁠as it defends a European Union decision to leave the plant, which is owned by Russia’s Rusal , ⁠off Russian sanctions packages. The government argues the refinery ​in ⁠southwest Ireland is strategically important ‌to EU supply chains.

“The investigation has not found concrete or definitive evidence linking the alumina to a weapons manufacturer ‌in Russia,” Martin told a joint press ‌conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv.

“That said, neither has it found definitive evidence that alumina may not be ⁠going to weapons manufacturers.”

Martin said the investigation is almost complete and would be shared with the European Commission once it is finalised.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said sanctions were having an effect on Russia’s economy and have made it harder for Moscow to raise capital abroad.

“We also see that due to the sanctions, they can’t raise capital outside,” she said.

“It ​is clear that if we put this in place, it has an effect together with ‌other elements,” she said.

The European Union approved its 21st sanctions package against Russia over its war in Ukraine, imposing curbs on the country’s banking sector and cryptocurrency networks, the Council of the EU said yesterday.

Kallas said sanctions were only one element of a broader European strategy to pressure ‌Russia into serious negotiations with ​Ukraine.

“We have different elements of this approach. The sanctions are ‌just one of them,” she said. “We are ​looking at what more we can do to pressure Russia to actually sit around the negotiation table and negotiate with Ukraine.”

A warehouse of Russia’s online retailer Wildberries in the Leningrad region has been set on fire in a Ukrainian drone strike, the regional governor said this morning.

Kyiv has broadened its campaign against a company at the heart of Russia’s consumer economy.

Kyiv has now struck four warehouses owned by the company beginning on the weekend on the grounds that they are part of infrastructure that supports the Russian military.

The Kremlin has denied that Wildberries handles military supplies. Russia has targeted Ukraine’s logistics hubs as well as its energy system and power grid.

Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), announced today that he was suspending his activity with the organisation after being placed on the latest European Union sanctions list.

The EU’s 21st sanctions ⁠package, issued in connection with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, imposes punitive measures against 170 entities and 48 individuals. Measures include asset freezes, travel and transaction bans.

Dvorkovich, in a statement on the FIDE website, denounced the EU move as “unlawful and unfair” and pledged to challenge it by all possible means.

“However, given that until a formal court ⁠decision is rendered and/or such decision is cancelled or amended, ​these ⁠sanctions could hinder the ‌stable functioning of FIDE, I have decided to voluntarily suspend the exercise of my powers and duties as FIDE President ‌with immediate effect…” he said.

Military activity has hit water supplies to parts of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and nearby areas of southeastern Ukraine, the UN nuclear power watchdog said.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a statement there was no shortage of well water needed to ensure fuel in the reactors remained cool.

But attacks in ​and ⁠around the city of ‌Enerhodar, where many of the plant’s staff live, had “targeted, among other locations, local electrical infrastructure, leading to a loss ‌of water supply in the city ‌and at the ZNPP site.”

“Reliable access to basic services and supplies is important for staff well-being and for the continuity of their essential work,” Grossi said, adding that IAEA monitors stationed at the plant had had “only limited access to tap water since 18 July.”

Grossi, who has visited the plant several times since it came under Russian operation, made no reference to either Ukraine or Russia in terms of the ‌military activity in the area.

He said the IAEA on-site team had not been able to visit a nearby emergency operations center since December because of security concerns.

Russia’s state ⁠nuclear corporation Rosatom last week said a Ukrainian drone had killed ‌the plant’s chief ​engineer.

In his latest statement, Grossi repeated that nuclear power plant staff “must be protected at all times.”