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The head of the CIA told his Russian counterpart to make a deal with Ukraine as Moscow’s position deteriorates during a secretive visit this week, according to a report.
US officials told the New York Times that CIA director John Ratcliffe presented FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov with evidence of the enormous price Russia has paid for relatively small gains in Ukraine, attributed to Kyiv’s “mastery” of drone technology.
The CIA boss urged that Russia should enter serious negotiations with Ukraine to end the war given their difficulties on the ground and mounting economic woes, the sources claimed in comments to the newspaper.
Mr Ratcliffe flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with his intelligence counterparts in the first visit by a CIA director since 2021, when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ratcliffe also brought up the possibility of a Russian operation against a Nato member and Russia’s continued support for Iran during the meeting.
Russia nonetheless on Thursday warned that British military installations and equipment in and outside of Ukraine could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons, after the UK offered Kyiv access to technology to make missiles.
UN warns humanity is ‘close’ to handing kill decisions to machines
The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross intensified a joint appeal on Tuesday for countries to enact bans and restrictions on autonomous weapons systems — often called killer robots — warning that "the risks have intensified."
Building on a proposal first issued three years ago and years of multilateral discussions, the stance stops short of requesting a complete ban.
It highlights that such systems are currently under development, though neither the U.N. nor the Red Cross has confirmed their deployment on the battlefield. Still, protections for civilians are urgently required for when that moment comes...
James Reynolds28 August 2026 22:00
Watch: The woman making Ukraine safe from landmines amid a brutal war
James Reynolds28 August 2026 21:00
A theater is reimagining Homer’s Odyssey through the agony of Ukraine’s war
War’s timeless ache — death, captivity, the agonizing wait and the pull of home — has found a new stage in wartime Kyiv, with Homer’s epic reimagined as a contemporary Ukrainian odyssey.
The play “Odysseus, Maeotis” is ready to open in the Ukrainian capital as the ancient tale enjoys a global moment with Christopher Nolan’s IMAX spectacle and box-office hit “The Odyssey” starring Matt Damon.
In Kyiv, the story is performed by professional actors and active-duty soldiers, including Daniil Mireshkin, a serviceman who plays the warrior king Odysseus...
James Reynolds28 August 2026 20:00
Recap: What head of CIA told Russian counterpart on secretive visit to Moscow
The head of the CIA told his Russian counterpart to make a deal with Ukraine as Moscow’s position deteriorates during a secretive visit this week, according to a report.
US officials told the New York Times that CIA director John Ratcliffe presented FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov with evidence of the enormous price Russia has paid for relatively small gains in Ukraine, attributed to Kyiv’s “mastery” of drone technology.
The CIA boss urged that Russia should enter serious negotiations with Ukraine to end the war given their difficulties on the ground and mounting economic woes, the sources claimed in comments to the newspaper.
Mr Ratcliffe flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with his intelligence counterparts in the first visit by a CIA director since 2021, when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine.
Read the full story:
James Reynolds28 August 2026 19:00
Trump must be pressed to hand over interceptor designs to Ukraine, says Gordon Brown
Ukraine is facing its “worst winter” since the conflict with Russian began, Gordon Brown has warned, as he called for Britain and other nations to press Donald Trump to do more to help the Eastern European nation.
The former prime minister said the US president should be pushed to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles – saying these could help the country defend itself from Russian attacks.
Describing the conflict – which began when Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022 – as being at a “critical moment”, Mr Brown recalled how Mr Trump had previously “promised he would give the design for interceptors to Ukraine”, but “hasn’t yet done so”.
Read the full story:
James Reynolds28 August 2026 18:00
Ukraine says it stockpiled enough gas for winter season
Ukraine has stored 14.6 billion cubic metres of gas in underground storage, enough for the upcoming winter season, the country's energy minister said on Friday.
"Ukraine has stockpiled natural gas for the baseline scenario for getting through the winter," Denys Shmyhal said on the Telegram app.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 17:00
Catch up: Moscow warns UK ‘playing with fire’ over plans to help Kyiv produce missiles
Russia has threatened Britain with retaliation after prime minister Andy Burnham vowed to provide Ukraine with access to technology to produce Storm Shadow missiles domestically.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said that London was just “one step away” from becoming legally complicit - in their eyes - for what she called “terrorism” against Russian civilians and warned of “inevitable catastrophic consequences” unless Britain changed course.
“We have repeatedly warned that any British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and beyond its borders could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons,” she said.
Zakharova accused both the UK and France of “playing with fire” after France also agreed to supply long-range missile technology to Ukraine.
After the comments on Thursday, a spokesperson for Britain's ministry of defence said London stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine and was committed to providing the equipment that Kyiv needed “to defend itself against Putin's illegal invasion”.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 16:00
In pictures: Aftermath of Russian strikes on Ukrainian shopping centre in Zaporizhzhia
James Reynolds28 August 2026 15:30
Mapped: The UK military bases threatened by Russia as Kremlin rages over missiles for Ukraine
Russia has threatened to bomb UK military bases in its latest threat over Britain’s support for Ukraine.
Britain has been told to back off on its hostile stance towards Ukraine by Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, who said the UK risked taking the conflict to a new level.
She told the same Moscow news briefing earlier that Britain and France were "playing with fire" by supplying sensitive missile technology to Ukraine.
Read the full story:
James Reynolds28 August 2026 14:50
Drone damages grocery store and health centre in Moscow region
A drone struck a grocery store of Russian retailer Magnit in the town of Pavlovsky Posad in the Moscow region, the governor of the Moscow region said on Friday.
The drone also shattered windows at a nearby health centre but the centre remains open, governor Andrei Vorobyov said on Telegram.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 14:15
