Summary

  • Indonesia's president says he's delivered a message to Russia's Vladimir Putin from Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky

  • Joko Widodo tells reporters after meeting Putin in Moscow that he wants to help start communication between the two leaders

  • Ukraine is celebrating after Russia withdrew its forces from Snake Island - but Moscow says the move is a "goodwill gesture"

  • UK PM Boris Johnson commits to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade

  • Nato members have agreed a significant increase in funding for the alliance, on the second day of its Madrid summit

  • The alliance's chief says Sweden and Finland will sign the protocol to join Nato on Tuesday, though member states will then need to ratify it

Live Reporting

Edited by Rob Corp and Heather Sharp

  1. We have to ignore Putin's rhetoric - UK's Truss

    Liz TrussEuropean Pressphoto Agency

    UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says Vladimir Putin's "rhetoric" should be "ignored" after the Russian president issued a fresh threat to Nato.

    Putin says Moscow will respond "in kind" if Nato deploys military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the alliance.

    Speaking from the Nato summit in Madrid, Truss says: "We've heard this rhetoric from Putin about all kinds of plans in the past.

    "So, he said that it was a red line for him that Finland and Sweden would join Nato, he said it was a red line if western nations supplied weapons to Ukraine...

    "We have to ignore the rhetoric and instead do all we can to continue to support Ukraine with the weapons they need to win this appalling war."

    We'll be bringing you all the latest from the last day of the Nato summit as it happens.

  2. Russia attempting creeping envelopment of eastern city - MoD

    The eastern city of Lysychansk is the focus of the UK Ministry of Defence's latest intelligence update.

    Ukrainian forces are continuing to hold their position in the city, the MoD says, after their withdrawal from its sister city on the other side of the river, Severodonetsk.

    The MoD says Russian forces are choosing an approach of "creeping envelopment", removing the need to force a major new crossing of the dividing river.

    Ground combat is likely to be concentrated on the Lysychansk oil refinery, 10km south-west of the city centre.

    Russian forces are making limited progress as they attempt to encircle Ukrainian defenders via advances from Izyum, according to the update.

    A graphic locating Lysychansk on a map.
  3. Analysis

    New British military aid causes friction at home

    Chris Mason
    Political editor, reporting from Madrid

    The Nato gathering has been dominated by one topic and its multiple implications: Ukraine, its invasion, what to do about it and what it means for western security.

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded with the alliance’s members for more help.

    Today, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will say the UK will provide an additional £1 billion in military aid for Ukraine, a near-doubling in its support. Only the US has given more military assistance.

    It is hoped the extra equipment will help Ukrainian forces regain land lost to Russia.

    The money has been found from what is known as "underspend" across government departments and £95m from the Scottish and Welsh governments’ budgets.

    Both acknowledge it is a worthy cause, but both are angry too at what they see as a dangerous precedent: budgets allocated for devolved matters, such as health and schools, being reclaimed by Whitehall.

    The government at Westminster claims these are unexpected pressures in a unique situation.

  4. What's happening on the ground in Ukraine?

    A graphic showing military advances by Ukrainian and Russian forces in the east of Ukraine.

    In the east:

    • Missiles continue to rain down as Russia focuses its offensive on the eastern Donbas region
    • The city of Lysychansk is under heavy fire - the frequency of the shelling there is "enormous," the regional governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai says
    • The evacuation of some 15,000 civilians who are still in the city "might be dangerous at the moment", he says

    Elsewhere:

    • A missile strike on the southern city of Mykolaiv destroyed a five-storey building, killing at least five people, according to President Zelensky
    • The clearing of rubble continues in the city of Kremenchuk, where a Russian missile on Monday destroyed a shopping centre and killed at least 18 civilians. A huge crane is working near the impact site, and in the destroyed parking area shopping trolleys piled with clothes and other household goods lie abandoned

  5. How has Putin reacted to Nato pledges?

    Vladimir Putin speaks to a group of journalistsReuters

    Putin made the comments to journalists in his first known trip outside Russia since he launched the invasion

    Meanwhile, Russia's President Vladimir Putin has accused Nato of having imperial ambitions, as the western alliance promises to bolster its defences and support for Ukraine.

    He accused the group of seeking to assert is "supremacy" through the Ukraine conflict.

    "Ukraine and the wellbeing of Ukrainian people is not the aim of the collective West and Nato but a means to defend their own interests"

    Speaking in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat he said Moscow had nothing against Finland and Sweden joining Nato. But he issued a fresh warning, saying Russia would respond in kind to any extra military deployments in the two Nordic countries.

  6. UK promises extra £1bn of military support for Ukraine

    As we've reported, the UK is to provide an additional £1bn in military aid for Ukraine - a near-doubling in its support for the fight against the Russian invasion.

    The new funding takes the military aid given to Kyiv to £2.3bn - and the UK has also spent £1.5bn in humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.

    PM Boris Johnson said British spending was "transforming Ukraine's defences".

    The pledge came after President Zelensky urged Nato leaders to do more to help Ukraine's war effort.

    Zelensky told Nato leaders the monthly cost of defence for Ukraine was around $5bn (£4.12bn).

    The UK is second only to the US in terms of military aid for Ukraine - the US recently approved a $40bn (£33bn) package of support.

    You can read more here.

  7. What's the latest?

    A man mourns in front of row of flowers offered to victims near a shopping centre targeted by a missile strike in Kremenchuk, UkraineGetty Images

    A man mourns near the site of a Ukrainian shopping centre which was struck by a missile on Monday

    Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

    Leaders of countries in the western defensive alliance Nato are meeting for a final day, after declaring Russia a "direct threat" to their security on Tuesday.

    Here's a roundup of the latest:

    Nato summit in Madrid:

    • Nato's chief Jens Stoltenberg said the number of Nato troops placed on high alert would increase to 300,000 "by next year"
    • Finland and Sweden are being formally invited to join the military group, Stoltenberg confirmed
    • The UK says it will provide an additional £1 billion in military aid for Ukraine, a near-doubling in its support
    • Poland has welcomed a decision by the United States to make permanent its army base there

    In Ukraine:

    • Ukraine's President Zelensky has cut diplomatic ties with Syria after it joined Russia in formally recognising the "independence" of two Moscow-backed separatist regions
    • Relatives continue to search for their loved ones after Monday's missile strike on a shopping centre in Kremenchuk in eastern Ukraine, which killed at least 18 people
    • Russia's President Putin still wants to capture most of Ukraine, US intelligence agencies believe. They think Moscow's troops have been so weakened by combat, they're only capable of slow territorial gains