Ukraine-Russia war latest: US refuses to sanction Moscow ahead of Trump’s Nato meeting with Zelensky

Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Yalta in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the state-run RIA news agency reported, citing the Russian Defence Ministry.

The Independent could not confirm the battlefield reports.

Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to approve plans to set up a new international court to prosecute senior Russian officials for the invasion of Ukraine.

The special tribunal will be created through an agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe. The Ukrainian president is visiting the Strasbourg-based organisation for the first time as part of the announcement.

The special tribunal aims to target senior Russian leaders for the “crime of aggression,” which underpins the countless war crimes Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing since the start of the war in 2022.

Existing international courts, including the International Criminal Court in The Hague, lack jurisdiction to prosecute Russian nationals for that specific offence.

Since early in the conflict, Kyiv has been pushing for the creation of a special tribunal that goes beyond prosecuting war crimes that Ukraine alleged Russian forces committed — including bombing civilian infrastructure, killing civilians, rape, taking hostages and torture.

Russia denies these claims.

Russia does not extradite its citizens, and whether or not Russian president Vladimir Putin will ever end up in the dock remains to be seen.

Under international law, sitting heads of state and certain other top officials — often referred to as the “troika,” including a country’s head of state, head of government, and foreign minister — enjoy immunity from prosecution. That means any potential indictment of Putin could only move forward if he leaves office.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that the European Union posed a “direct threat” to Russia and that Ukraine’s potential accession to the bloc would be dangerous for Moscow.

Medvedev said the EU had evolved to become a bona fide enemy of Russia, but that bilateral cooperation between Moscow and certain individual EU member states should continue.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said that all 32 members of the Nato alliance should do their part in defence spending and commit to the agreed target so that there would be no “free-riding”.

Nato members agreed in principle on Sunday to boost their defence spending target to 5 per cent of gross domestic product, as demanded by Donald Trump, but Spain said it could meet its commitments without spending so much.

“The point of an alliance is to make sure that there is a fair burden-sharing and that there is no sense that certain countries are sort of free-riding on the defence commitment of other countries,” Mr Mitsotakis said.

“So I think it is important to understand that these targets…should be binding and they should be binding for all 32 members of the alliance.”

Greece is now spending about 3 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence – nearly double the average in the EU.

It has asked the European Commission to exempt its 2026 defence spending from the EU’s budget rules as part of the so-called fiscal escape clause as it aims to spend 25 billion euros (£21.3 billion) by 2036 under a multi-year defence plan to modernise its armed forces and as it tries to keep pace with its eastern neighbour and historical rival Turkey.

Mitsotakis says this will help Greece reach the 5% target by 2035.

Nato allies will ramp up defence spending to counter the threat that Russia is posing to Europe’s security, not to curry favour with anyone, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said.

“Russia does not only threaten Ukraine, Russia threatens the peace and the political order on this entire continent,” he told reporters.

“We do not take these decisions to please anyone, but we act out of our own conviction that Nato as a whole, in particular the European part of Nato, must do more in the coming years to make sure we can defend ourselves,” he added, alluding to US president Donald Trump who has pressed allies to step up military spending.

Nato will decide unanimously for countries to raise defence spending to 5 per cent of gross domestic product, Mark Rutte, the chief of the military alliance, has said.

He added Europeans and Canadians would need to pay more for defence, not American taxpayers.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Politico that the United States will not impose further sanctions on Russia yet, and still wants room to negotiate a peace deal.

“If we did what everybody here wants us to do, and that is come in and crush them with more sanctions, we probably lose our ability to talk to them about the ceasefire and then who’s talking to them?,” Mr Rubio said.

Mr Rubio added that president Donald Trump will “know the right time and place” for new economic measures against Russia, and that the administration is working with Congress to make sure they allow Trump the appropriate flexibility, Politico reported.

“If there’s an opportunity for us to make a difference and get them (Russia) to the table, we’re going to take it,” Mr Rubio said.

US President Donald Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting of world leaders at the military alliance’s summit, “We’re with them all the way”, when asked about Article 5 of Nato’s charter.

Trump had cast doubt over the United States’ commitment to defending its Nato partners, suggesting there were “numerous” definitions to the cornerstone of the alliance’s mutual defence pact.