Ukraine war latest: Kyiv slams NATO official's 'absolutely unacceptable' suggestion of giving up land for membership (2024)

Poland's president has defended a huge increase in the country's defence budget, on the day the military took part in its biggest parade since the Cold War.

Opening the parade, Andrzej Duda announced Poland would spend just over £26bn on the military this year - about 62% more than last year.

That's around 4% of Poland's entire GDP, the highest proportion of any NATO country. By way of comparison, the UK spends 2.07%. Fellow Russia neighbours Latvia and Estonia spend 2.27% and 2.73% respectively this year.

But Poland faces concerns on two fronts: sharing a 250-mile border with Belarus to the east, and a 144-mile northern border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave.

“The defence of our eastern border, the border of the European Union and of NATO is today a key element of Poland's state interest," Mr Duda said.

“The goal of this huge modernization is to equip Poland's armed forces and create such a defense system that no one ever dares attack us, that Polish soldiers will never need to fight."

But the decision to fund the massive spending increase through borrowing has attracted sharp criticism at home.

President Duda justified the move, saying "we cannot afford to be idle this is why we are strengthening our armed forces here and now.

"The security of Poles is priceless."

For the tens of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen wounded in the 18 months of grinding war, the toll of their injuries lasts far beyond the moment they leave the hospital.

And new research has found a fear of abandonment by the government in Kyiv is very widespread.

A survey by the Gradus Research company found that 72% of wounded Ukrainian servicemen fear the state will forget about them once they return to civilian life.

Half of respondents said they worried they will not be able to find a job, or get used to a peaceful life.

Around a third of soldiers worried the injuries they had sustained would affect the attitude of those around them.

These concerns aren't affecting a small subsection of the Ukrainian people.

A survey completed in June by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found almost four in five Ukrainians have close friends or relatives who have died or been injured since the start of Russia's invasion.

All evening we've been updating you on the diplomatic row between NATO and Ukraine, sparked by a suggestion from Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, that Ukraine may have to sacrifice territory in exchange for joining the alliance (see 4.30pm post).

It led to a furious reaction from Kyiv, which has described the idea as "ridiculous" and "absolutely unacceptable".

Mr Jenssen's comments drew particular attention because they were a marked shift from his boss's long-standing position that NATO supports Ukraine's territorial integrity, and that it's up to Ukraine to decide when and how to negotiate.

NATO has reiterated that position tonight.

In a statement to Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne, a NATO spokesperson said: "We will continue to support Ukraine as long as necessary, and we are committed to achieving a just and lasting peace.

"The position of the Alliance is clear and has not changed."

India has chosen not to invite Ukraine to its G20 summit next month.

A formal list of invitees published on the G20 website shows eight non-member states have been invited: Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Non-member Spain is also expected, as a permanent invitee.

It's up to the host country to decide which non-members to invite each year. Ukraine was invited to Indonesia's summit last year, with President Zelenskyy appearing virtually.

Ukraine was also invited to the more exclusive G7 summit in Japan earlier this year.

But India has shown itself to be among Russia's stronger economic allies since the start of the war, ignoring Western sanctions by continuing to import vast amounts of Russian oil.

Russia has once again been invited, despite repeated calls to eject the Kremlin from the intergovernmental group.

Moscow is expected to attend, but Vladimir Putin is reportedly weighing up whether to appear in person. A Kremlin source told NBC News last month that Mr Putin still hasn't ruled it out.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu appeared in his place last year.

Next month's summit will be the first since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president, accusing him of illegally deporting children to Russia.

The warrant technically limits where Mr Putin can travel - countries signed up to the court would in theory be forced to arrest him if he sets foot on their territory. That's why he decided to skip the BRICS summit in South Africa last month.

Unlike South Africa, India is not a member of the ICC, so Mr Putin could attend without fear of being arrested by Indian authorities.

The head of a senior judiciary group in Ukraine has been suspended on suspicion of taking a bribe to swing a court case in a business's favour.

Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court has suspended Oleksiy Salnikov from his important role as the head of the State Judicial Administration until 24 September.

The court was set up by former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in 2019.

But tackling corruption has been a key part of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's domestic policy throughout the war - he's repeatedly said anyone involved in corruption in wartime is effectively a traitor.

Accusations of corruption in the Supreme Court have rumbled for months. The chief justice was arrested in May on suspicion of taking a bribe of more than £2m.

Mr Salnikov is accused of taking a much smaller bribe - just under £6,000 - in May this year. Prosecutors allege the deal involved keeping some of the money for himself, and giving £4,000 to judges for a decision in favour of a particular business.

The State Judicial Administration was originally set up in 2010 as the equivalent of a government ministry to support the country's complex court system. It's now the main supervisory body for judges in Ukraine.

Take a walk through parts of Kyiv and you'll see destroyed Russian tanks, damaged or abandoned after Moscow's failed attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital in the war's early stages.

A mirror image is now in place on the outskirts of Moscow, to mark the start of the Kremlin's international "Army-2023" military forum.

The city's Patriot Park is exhibiting a collection of damaged or captured Ukrainian tanks, with journalists and international officials invited to explore them.

Russia's defence ministry says nearly 60 countries are taking part in the forum, with bilateral meetings due with foreign partners.

And it's an opportunity for big business too - the ministry predicts that defence contracts worth around £4bn will be signed this week.

Stepping away from Ukraine for a moment, officials in the UK have arrested five people suspected of spying for Russia.

The Metropolitan Police's counterterrorism command is leading the investigation into the five individuals, who have been accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act.

Four arrests were made at addresses in London, while the fifth took place in Norfolk.

Three of the five were arrested in February, and were then charged with possession of false identity documents with improper intention. They have been remanded in custody.

The other two have been released on police bail and are due to return next month.

We've got a full write-up of the story here:

Let's get more reaction to suggestions from the chief of staff to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Ukraine could have to give up some of its land in return for joining the alliance.

Ukraine's foreign ministry has just weighed in, slamming the comments as "absolutely unacceptable."

"We always assumed that the alliance, just like Ukraine, does not trade its territories," writes ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko on Facebook.

"Conscious or unconscious engagement of NATO officials in forming a narrative about Ukraine's refusal from its territories plays into the hands of Russia."

He adds: "It is for the benefit of Euro-Atlantic security to discuss ways of speeding up Ukraine's victory and gaining full membership in NATO."

Today's comments by NATO official Stian Jenssen have seemingly sparked a diplomatic row between the alliance and Ukraine. You can read more about what he said in our 4.30pm post.

Moscow has suggested it may U-turn on its previous pledge to not use cluster munitions in Ukraine, because the US has started supplying them to Kyiv.

Speaking at the Moscow Conference on International Security earlier today, defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia did have cluster munitions at its disposal.

"Until now, for humanitarian reasons, we have refrained from using them. However, this decision can be reconsidered," he said.

Cluster munitions are weapons that can be dropped by rockets, missiles and aircraft. They contain hundreds of "bomblets" that explode over a wide area.

Mr Shoigu's claims have certainly raised eyebrows, however. Russia is widely believed to have used the divisive weapons in the early days of the war.

In a May 2023 report, Human Rights Watch presented plenty of evidence that Russian armed forces have used cluster bombs in civilian attacks since the start of the war, causing hundreds of casualties.

Notably, the use of cluster munitions is banned under international law and is considered a war crime. But they can be used against military targets.

The Human Rights Watch did not rule out the possibility that Ukraine had used them in the first 15 months of the war.

But Washington's controversial decision last month to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, on the condition that they're used exclusively against the Russian military, was met with widespread concern.

Activists and fellow allies of Ukraine objected to the move, because cluster bombs are inherently indiscriminate in what they hit.

And that decision appears to have given the Kremlin cause to reassess their own use.

There's been some reaction to speculation by a top NATO official that Ukraine may have to cede some of its territory to Russia in exchange for joining the alliance - see our 4.30pm post.

Mykhailo Podolyak, the vocal adviser to President Zelenskyy, has given an angry response to the idea on X (formerly known as Twitter), dismissing it as "ridiculous".

"That means deliberately choosing the defeat of democracy, encouraging a global criminal, preserving the Russian regime, destroying international law, and passing the war on to other generations," he wrote.

"Obviously, if Putin does not suffer a crushing defeat, the political regime in Russia does not change, and war criminals are not punished, the war will definitely return with Russia's appetite for more.

"Attempts to preserve the world order and establish a 'bad peace' through, let's be honest, Putin's triumph will not bring peace to the world, but will bring both dishonour and war."