Democrats urge Biden to drop out of race after Nato gaffes

Thanks for following our live coverage of the final day of the Washington Nato summit, as Joe Biden fielded questions from the press for an hour amid calls for him to drop out of the presidential race. This live blog is now closed.

Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary under Joe Biden, says the US President’s performance will keep him in the race for now - but his campaign is stuck in “purgatory”.

“It gave them more time, which for the campaign is a win. It doesn’t mean it’s a win for the process, because this purgatory, and this in-between, is a real challenge,” she said on MSNBC.

A Democratic source has told Fox News that Joe Biden’s press conference is the “worst possible outcome” because it delays him stepping down.

Joe Biden says questions about his campaign over polling are “premature because the campaign hasn’t even really started... hasn’t started in earnest yet”.

Speaking about potential successors, Mr Biden says he is “best qualified to govern, and I think I’m best qualified to win”, adding that any other candidate would have to “start from scratch”.

He says he would stand down if his advisers told him there was no way he could win but “no one says that.” It represents a slight softening in his position compare to an interview last week where he said he would only drop out if the “Lord Almighty” told him to do so.

Asked about his “vice president Trump” gaffe and how Donald Trump is using it to mock his age, the US President responds: “Listen to him.”

Joe Biden says convention delegates are “free to do whatever they want” when asked if they should vote with their conscience if they believe he is not mentally up to the presidential race. He won the primary with “overwhelming support”, he adds.

“I’m going to be going down to the Johnson Library,” Joe Biden says, before appearing to forget what he will say and tailing off. “Anyway,” he says, changing the subject. 

Asked about taking a cognitive test, he answers: “I’ve taken three significant and intense neurological exams by a neurosurgeon, by a neurologist... as recently as February and they say I’m in good shape.”

“The only thing age does is it creates a little bit of wisdom if you pay attention,” he says.

“Every single day I’m surrounded by good docs,” Mr Biden adds, saying he will take a test if they advise him to - but that they have not done so.

Suddenly shouting, Joe Biden says: “More children are killed by the bullet than any other cause of death.

“We’re the United States of America. What hell are we doing?”

Joe Biden says he changed his mind on serving just one term in the White House when he realised the “gravity” of the issues facing the US.

“Most presidential historians give me credit for having accomplished more than most any president since Johnson and maybe before that to get major pieces of legislation passed,” he says.

“I realize was my long time in the Senate had equipped me to have the wisdom on how to deal with the Congress to get things done.”

“I want to finish it. To get that finished,” Mr Biden adds. He says he is “determined” to run wants to “allay fears” among Democratic colleagues that he will lose the presidential election.

“My numbers are better in Israel than they are here,” Joe Biden jokes, wrapping off a detailed answer on foreign policy.

“I am ready to deal with him now, and three years from now,” Joe Biden says of Vladimir Putin, adding that he will not talk to the Russian leader unless he changes his behaviour. The US President says he is dealing with China’s Xi Jinping now.

David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to Barack Obama who was been critical of Joe Biden, has been impressed by his performance at the Nato summit press conference.

The US President is “very comfortable on national security issues,” he wrote on social media.

Donald Trump, Jr has praised Joe Biden’s performance at the Nato summit, saying he is “doing ok” and “could stay in if he wanted to. He’s not too bad.”

There is widespread speculation that the Trump campaign would prefer Mr Biden to stay in the presidential race because he is a diminished figure since last month’s debate, and their strategy is geared towards beating him.

A former Obama strategist suggests there is little Joe Biden can do tonight to sway the trajectory of the race, and his future, Rozina Sabur writes.

“This thing is moving so fast,” the strategist shares.

“He didn’t assure anybody” with his ABC interview with George Stephanopolous.

“That’s probably the most likely outcome of what happens if he has a ‘good night’. It doesn’t change anything”.

Joe Biden is asked what attributes Kamala Harris has to take over as president, amid calls from some quarters to drop out and anoint her as his successor.

“First of all, the way she’s handled the issue of freedom of women’s bodies... Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board, this was a hell of a prosecutor,” he says.

“She was a first rate person, and in the Senate she was really good. 

“I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president from the very beginning, I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her. “

Joe Biden denies that any European leaders have appealed to him to drop out of the presidential race at the Nato summit.

“I’m not having any my European allies come up and say,’ Joe. Don’t run.’ What I hear them say is, ‘You’ve got to win.’”

He claims that world leaders refer to Trump as a “disaster”.

Joe Biden says that he “loves” his staff - but they “add things all the time” to his schedule. “I’m catching hell from my wife,” he adds.

Joe Biden denies reports that he has suggested ending his working day at 8pm and get to bed earlier.

“What I said was instead of my every day, starting at seven and going to bed at midnight, it’d be smarter for me to pace myself a little more,” he says.

The US President says he has done 20 major events while Donald Trump has done “virtually nothing”.

Returning to an argument the two candidates had in the presidential debate, he says: “Where’s Trump been? Riding around in his golf cart, filling out a scorecard before he hits the ball.”

This press conference is becoming excruciating to watch.

Asked about his mental acuity and Kamala Harris’s ability to take over from him, Joe Biden refers to her as “Vice President Trump”. He seems to have a problem where he accidentally refers to people on his own side as the last enemy he was thinking of.

The US president visibly stumbled as he tried to explain that this Nato summit had been the most successful “for a long time”, and that he had been credited by other world leaders for bringing them together.

Joe Biden laughs when a reporter questions him about his “President Putin” gaffe.

“I was talking about Putin, and I said, and now at the very end, I said, here, I mean Putin. I said, No, I’m sorry, Zelensky. And then I added five other names,” he says.

Mr Biden adds, referring to the Nato summit: “I thought it was most successful conference I’ve attended a long time. And find me a world leader who didn’t think it was .”

Joe Biden’s response to that gaffe is to turn his closing speech of this summit into a campaign event.

“My predecessor has made it clear he has no commitment to Nato,” he said, in an attack on Donald Trump. He said that other world leaders had used their own speeches to “thank me personally”.

He argues that that the “future American of policy is up to the American people,” before talking about domestic inflation figures, and Trump’s plans to introduce tariffs.

Make no mistake: this is a very strange speech for a US president to give at the end of a Nato summit. Mr Biden is on the back foot, and he’s coming out swinging.

Attacking Donald Trump, whom he does not mention by name, Joe Biden says: “My predecessor has made it clear he has no commitment to Nato. 

“He’s made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor Article Five. He’s already told Putin, and I quote, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’”

“I rallied a coalition of 50 nations from Europe to Asia, to help Ukraine defend itself,” Joe Biden says, in a speech where he is putting emphasis on his foreign policy achievements. 

He has stumbled over his words and cleared his throat a couple of times. At one point he claims that Vladimir Putin thinks Ukraine is the “mother home of Russia”.

Joe Biden is now onstage, hailing the Nato summit as “a great success, especially momentous because it represented the year, the most important military defensive alliance in the history of the world”.

Joe Biden’s “President Putin” gaffe happened just in time for the evening news, according to US media. Networks including ABC, CBS and NBC included the clip on their 6:30pm shows.

Democrats are reportedly turning on Joe Biden after he called Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin” in his latest high-profile gaffe.

One said: “This is the greatest introduction of all time … It would be like introducing Winston Churchill and saying ladies and gentlemen, Hitler.”

Six Democrats in the House of Representatives are ready to break cover and call for Mr Biden to drop out of the presidential race if he performs badly today, according to Politico.

Joe Biden called Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin” when he introduced the Ukrainian leader in a major gaffe at the Nato summit in Washington, DC.

The error will pile further pressure on Mr Biden to drop out of the presidential race and intensify concerns about his mental acuity, following a disastrous debate against Donald Trump last month.

Mr Biden is shortly due to give a press conference that has been described as a “make-or-break” moment for his candidacy.

Six Democrats in the House of Representatives were reported to be preparing to call on him to stand down if he performs badly. Mr Biden was reading from a teleprompter when he made the error.

“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Mr Biden said on the sidelines of the Nato summit, mistakenly referring to the Russian leader who invaded Ukraine two years ago.

The 81-year-old started to make way for Mr Zelensky at the podium before realising his mistake and moving back to the microphone.

“President Putin? President Zelensky… I’m so focused on beating Putin,” he said.

Asked if Joe Biden can serve another four-year term in the White House, Sir Keir Starmer says the US President should be “given credit” for his work at the Nato summit.

He said Mr Biden had “led” through the three-day conference and “spoken in every session, pulled people together - I think he should be given credit for that.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz downplayed Joe Biden’s gaffe where he mistakenly referred to Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”.

“Slips of tongue happen, and if you always monitor everyone, you will find enough of them,” Mr Scholz said when asked about the incident by reporters. 

“But this does not change a single thing of what the U.S. president stated very clearly in his speech.” 

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, said Mr Biden was “in charge” and on top of matters while speaking to the media.

There were gasps in the huge press area tonight as Joe Biden called Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin”.

Mr Biden made it all the way through his remarks without a single slip-up, even as eyes were trained for the smallest error that would worsen the political crisis he is facing.

It was almost theatrical how the 81-year-old president teed himself up for this gaffe ─ pausing before delivering the killer line.

We can expect to see that clip played out again and again until November’s election.

A growing number of Democrats are calling on Joe Biden to drop out of the presidential race before he holds a crucial press conference at the Nato summit in Washington, DC.

At least 14 Democrats in the House of Representatives have publicly called on the US President to make way for a younger successor to take on Donald Trump in November’s election.

Ed Case, a Hawaii congressman, today cast doubt on Mr Biden’s “ability to continue in the most difficult job in the world for another four-year term”.

Minutes later, Greg Stanton of Arizona said he had been one of the US President’s earlier backers when he ran four years ago, but that he should now “pass the torch to a new generation of leaders”.

At least six more House Democrats are preparing to call on the 81-year-old to make way for another candidate if his press conference goes badly this evening, Politico reports.

Several Democratic senators appeared unconvinced by Mr Biden’s re-election prospects after meeting with campaign officials earlier on Thursday.

Aides to Joe Biden have discussed “persuading him to stand down”, convinced he cannot beat Donald Trump in the upcoming election.

Citing three aides briefed on the matter, the New York Times reported that a small group of Mr. Biden’s advisers are making the case to the president that he should appoint another presidential candidate, such as vice president Kamala Harris. 

Mr Biden has fought against criticism that he is not fit enough to lead for a second term following his poor performance in a debate against Donald Trump, and vowed to stay in the race.  

Democrats and party backers have been getting increasingly frustrated with Mr Biden’s stubbornness and see his candidacy as the torpedo that will sink their chances of reelection.

The advisors say they have to assure Mr. Biden that, should he step aside, the process to replace him would be orderly and not chaotic. 

Jens Stoltenberg is expected to wrap up the Nato summit in Washington, DC with a press conference in 20 minutes. It will be the last conference he chairs as secretary general before handing over to Mark Rutte in October.

Several Democratic senators seem unconvinced by Joe Biden’s re-election prospects after meeting with campaign officials on Thursday afternoon, according to US media.

Richard Blumenthal, the senator for Connecticut, said he needs to see more data before making a decision on Mr Biden remaining at the top of the ticket.

John Tester, the Montana senator, signalled he had still not been convinced that the US President was “up to the job for another four years”.

Peter Welch, who yesterday became the first senator to openly call on Mr Biden to drop out, said: “It doesn’t change my point of view.”

Joe Biden has “multiple pathways” to winning the presidential election in November, his team insists, amid reports that the US President’s aides have appealed to him to drop out of the race.

A memo sent out by Jen O’Malley Dillon, who chairs the campaign, admitted the polls had moved towards Trump in the wake of Mr Biden’s disastrous debate performance - but denied there had been a “drastic shift in vote share”.

“Most importantly, we maintain multiple pathways to 270 electoral votes,” she said, arguing that all battleground states were still in play.

Ms O’Malley Dillon added there was no evidence that potential successors to Mr Biden would do any better than him against Trump.

“Hypothetical polling of alternative nominees will always be unreliable, and surveys do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter,” she said.

Jens Stoltenberg has opened the Ukraine-Nato council, where he says member states are “putting in place the foundations for Ukraine to prevail - to defend today and to deter tomorrow”.

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, is at the meeting and is given a “warm welcome” by the Nato secretary general.

“Today, we will take further decisions together with Ukraine, making clear that Nato support is built to last and affirming that Ukraine’s future is in Nato,” Mr Stoltenberg says.

The meeting is taking place behind closed doors, and the media is ushered out following Mr Stoltenberg’s brief remarks.

Hello and welcome to the live blog if you’re just joining us. Benedict Smith here. We’ll be bringing you all the updates from the Nato summit ahead of Joe Biden’s press conference this evening, as pressure grows on him to exit the presidential race.

Ukraine’s former armed forces chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi began his job as Kyiv’s ambassador to Britain, he said on the Telegram messenger on Thursday.

Mr Zaluzhnyi, who is very popular among Ukrainians for leading the armed forces through the first hours of Russia’s invasion in February 2022, was replaced as the top commander in a shakeup in the military in February 2024.

A group of Democrats are planning to speak out against Joe Biden if tanks in his solo press conference at the Nato summit tonight.

Around half-dozen lawmakers from his party are planning to make their grievances with the president public, with three having already drafted their statements, Politico reported.

The possible move reflects the rising impatience among Democrats as Mr Biden ignores calls to step down and make way for a candidate more able to beat Donald Trump in the election.

On Wednesday, George Clooney, a major Hollywood fundraiser for Democrats, said that Mr Biden was no longer the same person who won the White House in 2020 and that he should drop his bid for re-election. 

Jens Stoltenberg will bid farewell to Nato leaders on Thursday after chairing his final summit as the military alliance’s top civilian official, bringing an unofficial end to a decade at the helm during one of the most tumultuous periods in its history.

Stoltenberg steps down as Nato’s 13th secretary-general in the fall, handing over to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Oct 1. Only Joseph Luns, who spent 12 years in charge, was head of the world’s biggest security organization for longer.

Mr Stoltenberg took over in 2014, the year that “ little green men ” from Russia infiltrated Ukraine. Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula, awakening Nato from a post-Cold War slumber. So began a defense spending buildup that gathered momentum throughout his term.

The Kremlin warned of a new arms race after the US agreed to deploy hypersonic missiles in Germany.

Russia said it would develop a “military response” to the move, announced on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Washington.

Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they would begin deploying long range weapons in Germany for the first time since the Cold War to demonstrate their commitment to Nato and to European security.

In response, Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy Russian foreign minister, said: “Without nerves, without emotions, we will develop a military response, first of all, to this new game.”

Later, Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, warned that Washington’s actions would lead to an arms race.

“The Americans are increasing the risk of a missile arms race,” Mr Antonov said, adding that “instead of aspiring for peace, like Russia does, the Americans took a dangerous militarist path”.

The US intends to base SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles in Germany. The SM-6 missile is designed to attack aerial targets at long distances. Tomahawks are Cold War-era cruise missiles with a range of approximately 1,500 miles.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the Nato summit on Thursday that Turkey is continuing its efforts to end the Ukraine-Russia war with a just peace.

Turkey had begun to revive the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Mr Erdogan told his Ukrainian counterpart, adding that Turkey is ready for any initiative, including mediation, to lay the groundwork for peace.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce a new $225 million (£177 million) aid package for Ukraine, including an additional Patriot missile system to bolster its air defenses against a deadly onslaught of Russian airstrikes.

Two US officials said the announcement is expected to be made during Biden’s meeting Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details of the aid before the public announcement.

The Patriot air defense system, the second the US has provided to Ukraine, is one of several Mr Biden announced this week at the Nato summit and is part of a swell of pledges to get weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks, including one this week that hit a children’s hospital in Kyiv.

Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet Donald Trump after the Nato summit in Washington, sources close to the former US president’s campaign said on Thursday.

The sit-down in Florida is likely to further upset Budapest’s allies after Mr Orban drew widespread ire from European counterparts for meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Right-wing Orban - whose country took over the rotating presidency of the European Union this month - has been a vocal supporter of Trump, and last met the Republican at his Mar-a-Lago residence in March.

Mr Orban sparked uproar in the EU by jetting to Moscow last week to hold talks with Putin on what the Hungarian leader described as a “peace mission” over the war in Ukraine.

Lithuania’s parliament took a first step on Thursday towards pulling out of an international treaty against cluster munitions, citing security reasons for a move that has been denounced by campaigners.

The bill, which was passed in first reading, would end Lithuania’s participation in the Oslo convention prohibiting the use, transfer, production and storage of cluster bombs.

The munitions can be dropped by aircraft or fired by artillery before exploding in mid-air and dispersing mini-bombs over a wide area.

They also pose a lasting threat because many of them do not explode upon impact, thus acting like landmines that can be triggered years later.

Ukraine and Romania have signed a 10-year security agreement, the Ukrainian presidential office said.

The deal brings the total number of long-term bilateral agreements Kyiv has signed with partners such as Britain, Germany, France, and the US, to 23. The documents have a similar framework but all differ.

“A special feature of this agreement is specific points of cooperation to strengthen security in the Black Sea region,” a Ukrainian statement said.

Romania will assist in mine clearance in the Black Sea, it added. The agreement also envisages Romania’s contribution to training Ukrainian pilots for F-16 jets.

The Nato Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has kicked off day two of the Nato summit in Washington by saying today’s session will address the ‘growing alignment of authoritarian powers’.

“In this session we will address our shared security challenges including Russia’s war against Ukraine, China’s support for Russia’s war economy and the growing alignment of authoritarian powers. In response we must work ever more closer together to preserve peace and protect the rules based internationl order.”

The summit is Nato’s 75th and will see Joe Biden later give a speech, a moment in which he will be hoping to silence doubters over his health and prove he is fit to lead. 

Chancellor Olaf Scholz  hailed a decision from the United States to periodically station long-range missiles in Germany as a step to increase deterrence.

“It’s something of deterrence and it’s securing peace, and it is a necessary and important decision at the right time,” Mr Scholz told reporters at a Nato summit in Washington on Thursday.

From Washington DC

On the third and final day of the Nato summit in Washington, Sir Keir Starmer will pledge almost £400 million in support for Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky will sit down with the alliance’s 32 leaders for a high-level meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council later on Thursday. 

It is only the second time the so-called NUC has met at the leaders level since it was formed last year in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

Sir Keir, the prime minister, will tell the meeting: “NATO was founded by the generation who defeated fascism. They understood not just the value of our strength, but the strength of our values.

“Those values are under attack once again. Putin needs to hear a clear message ringing out from this summit – a message of unity and determination, that we will support Ukraine with whatever it takes, for as long as it takes to uphold our shared values and our shared security.” 

£300 million of the cash promised by Britain will be used to purchase 120,000 rounds of 152mm Soviet-era artillery shells, while £40 million will be channeled through Nato’s humanitarian aid scheme.

Expect more pledges of support from Nato allies, with a particular focus on air-defence, given Russia’s willingness to continue striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure and other civilian targets with long-range missiles. 

Aside from Ukraine, there will be a particular focus on Joe Biden’s health as he holds the traditional press conference by US presidents to end Nato summits.   

A senior MEP and strong ally of Emmanuel Macron has called on Europe to “rein in Viktor Orbán’s rogue presidency” of the European Council.

The Hungarian prime minister has sparked a rift in the European Union after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin before the Nato summit in Washington this week.

Valérie Hayer, the president of the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament said: “It is time to rein in Viktor Orbán’s rogue presidency of the Council.”

She added that “the Hungarian prime minister is undermining positions adopted by the European Union and acting contrary to our interests and it has to stop.

The progressive MEP said the meetings are a “security threat” and “simply sickening” given Russia’s strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv on Monday.

A Russian court has sentenced a student to five years in jail for passing Russian military locations to Ukraine. 

The unnamed name was located 3,700 miles from Ukraine in the far eastern city of Birobidzhan, but collected information “using the internet” and passed it on to Ukraine’s security service in exchange for payment, Russia’s FSB told the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti. 

The court found the man guilty of treason, which is punishable by up to life in prison, but reduced his sentence to five years in a penal colony because he pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation, the FSB said. 

Birobidzhan is the main city of Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Region, which was established in 1934 as a Jewish homeland although its population was reported to be less than 1% Jewish as of 2017.  

Ukraine has said that it has seized a foreign cargo ship, alleging that the vessel illegally exported grain from the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. 

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said that the vessel, called Usko Mfu, transported agricultural products from the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014.

The security services of Ukraine (SBU) also said that it had detained the ship’s captain, accusing him of violating rules on entering occupied territory.

Prosecutors identified the captain as a citizen of Azerbaijan, while the SBU said that the charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. 

Since the 2022 Russian invasion, Kyiv has accused Moscow of illegally harvesting and exporting Ukrainian grain. It is illegal under Ukrainian law to enter internationally recognised Ukrainian territory through a border point not controlled by Ukrainian authorities. 

Ukrainian troops have repelled a Russian attempt to capture the village of Borova in the Kharkiv region, according to a military spokesman. 

“The enemy was really planning to make a breakthrough here and advance but failed to capture even a meter of land,” Maksym Zhorin said. 

Mr Zhorin, a deputy commander of Ukraine’s 3rd Seperate Assault Brigade, added that the advance was stopped by concentrated fire and the use of drones. 

Despite the reported successful defence of Barova, Russia continues to make incremental gains across the front line. Moscow said on Thursday that it had captured the villages of Voskhod and Yevhenivka, which are both in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. 

Responding to reports that Donald Trump would limit US intelligence sharing with Nato partners if he returns to the White House, a Ukrainian MP has warned against creating “fissures” in the alliance. 

Sviatoslav Yurash told the Telegraph: “Stronger NATO weakens Russia and other members of the autocratic axis. Intelligence sharing is a big part of that.”

“Any and all fissures in the alliance systems will be exploited by Russia and others, as always, as ever,” added Mr Yurash, who is serving on the front line but returns to the Ukrainian parliament twice a month to represent Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party. 

“Donald Trump is saying all kinds of things,” Mr Yurash continued. “If he wins the election, we’ll have to see what he does out of all what he says and react accordingly.”

Russia will not participate in Ukraine’s planned second peace summit, RIA Novosti has reported, citing Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin.

Ukraine said it aims to invite a Russian representative to the conference to present a plan based on Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace formula, although no official invitation has been sent so far. 

“We do not accept such ultimatums and do not intend to participate in such summits,” Mr Galuzin was quoted as saying. 

Russia was not invited to the first peace summit, which was held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.

The Kremlin has repeatedly rejected Mr Zelensky’s 10-point formula, which includes a full Russian withdrawal and the restoration of Ukraine’s 2014 borders. 

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, and Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato General Secretary, will hold a press conference on Thursday, Reuters reports.

It comes after Mr Stoltenberg and Nato allies vowed that Ukraine is on an “irreversible path” towards membership of the alliance.

Mr Zelensky met with western allies at the Nato summit in Washington this week as they reaffirmed their support for Kyiv in its war against Russia’s invasion.

The Ukrainian president also met with US lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives to shore up support for Kyiv amid the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House after November’s US election. 

Ukraine’s 32nd Mechanised Brigade has released drone footage of the devastated city of Toretsk, which has been pummelled with rockets and artillery as Russian forces advance towards its eastern suburbs. 

Anatoly Antonov, the Russian ambassador to the US, has said that Washington risks setting off an “uncontrollable escalation” with its plan to deploy long-range missiles in Germany. 

In a post on Telegram, he said the US has taken a “dangerous militarist path” and added that “Washington has yet again displayed its insatiable need to show its own military superiority”.

Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they would begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany in 2026 to demonstrate their commitment to Nato and European security. 

Antonov’s comments come after Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, warned that Moscow would respond “militarily” if US weapons were deployed in Germany (see our post at 10:07am).

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, has said Moscow should work towards the “disappearance” of Ukraine and Nato.

Russia should “do everything so that Ukraine’s ‘irreversible path’ to Nato ends with either the disappearance of Ukraine or the disappearance of Nato”, Mr Medvedev said. 

In a post on social media, he added that the disappearance of both would be “even better”.

The comments came in response to Wednesday’s statement by Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, who promised that the alliance would continue to support Ukraine “on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including Nato membership”. 

Russia will “respond military” to the planned deployment of US long-range missiles in Germany, Sergei Ryabkov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, has said. 

Mr Ryabkov said the deployment was an escalatory move aimed at intimidating Russia. 

“Without nerves, without emotions, we will develop a military response, first of all, to this new game,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Washington and Berlin said in a joint statement on Wednesday that they would begin deploying long-range missiles in Germany in 2026 to demonstrate their commitment to Nato and European security. 

China has responded angrily to a planned statement from Nato’s Washington summit, saying it is full of provocation and lies. 

The draft communiqué is set to accuse China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and will detail Beijing’s supply of weapons, equipment and raw material to Moscow. 

In response, China said: “As we all know, China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine.

“The declaration of the NATO summit in Washington is full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content is full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears,

A Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Rzhevka in Russia’s Belgorod region killed one person and wounded three others, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the region’s governor, said on Thursday. 

Belgorod, located on the Ukrainian border, frequently comes under cross-border fire. The Kremlin launched an offensive into the neighbouring Kharkiv region of Ukraine in May, in what it said was an attempt to create a “buffer zone” and protect the area from Ukrainian fire. 

Russia’s prosecutor general’s office has labelled The Moscow Times an “undesirable” organisation, a designation that bans Russians from working with or having links to the outlet. 

“The work of the outlet is aimed at discrediting the decisions of the leadership of the Russian Federation in both foreign and domestic policy,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. 

Russia introduced its “undesirable” list in 2015 to crack down on foreign NGOs and ban Russians from working with or donating to them.

The Moscow Times is a Russian, independent, English-language newspaper. It was founded in Moscow in 1992 and based there until 2022, when it moved its newsroom to Amsterdam in response to Kremlin laws restricting coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Russian forces have captured the village of Yevhenivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, according to a Kyiv-based open source intelligence project. 

“The enemy has occupied Yevhenivka and advanced near Yurivka,” Deep State UA said. 

Yevhenivka is on the Pokrovsk front, a section of the front line that has seen the war’s heaviest fighting in recent months. 

Deep State UA is a Ukrainian non-governmental organisation that uses open-source intelligence to map Russian and Ukrainian military activity. 

Joe Biden, the US president, has announced at Nato’s Washington summit that Denmark and the Netherlands have begun sending US-made F-16 jets to Ukraine. 

Anthony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said that F-16 transfer “concentrates Vladimir Putin’s mind on the fact that he will not outlast Ukraine, he will not outlast us”. 

The move makes good on a key promise given last year to Kyiv, which has struggled to match Russia’s aerial superiority. 

The F-16 is a fourth-generation fighter introduced in 1978 and seen as a significant upgrade for Ukraine’s air fleet, which is largely made up of ageing Soviet-era jets.  

The Taiwanese defence ministry has released images of a Chinese fighter jet and a nuclear-capable H-6 bomber. It said it “monitored the situation and responded accordingly”. 

We’re bringing you the latest updates from the Ukraine war.