German chancellor says that he underscored need for continued support for Kyiv during US visit ; Trump says Ukraine is ‘very high’ on his priority list. What we know on day 1,470

German chancellor Friedrich Merz, in Washington for talks with Donald Trump, said he stressed that Ukraine should not have to accept further territorial concessions during his conversation with the US president. He said he also underscored the need for continued support for Ukraine, which last week marked the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. “We all want to see this war coming to an end as soon as possible. But Ukraine has to preserve its territory and their security interests,” Merz said at the start of his third visit to the Oval Office. He told reporters he thought Trump had understood the point after he showed him a map of the war-torn country.

Trump assured Merz that negotiating a deal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine remained “very high” on his priority list, and said he believed the US had plenty of munitions to fight Iran and sell them to Europe for use in Ukraine.

Merz also urged Trump to put pressure on Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine. “Russia is playing for time here, and in doing so is also acting against the will of the American president. In today’s talks, I called for increasing the pressure on Moscow,” the German chancellor told reporters. The US, Russia and Ukraine are taking part in trilateral talks aimed at securing a peace deal. Merz however said only a pact supported by Europe could be lasting. “We are not prepared to accept an agreement that is negotiated over our heads,” he said.

A suspected Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker seized by Belgium is being held on a €10m ($12m) bond, after inspections revealed infractions, Brussels said on Tuesday. The Ethera, which Belgium alleges is part of a flotilla of ageing vessels Moscow uses to avoid western sanctions, was seized by Belgian special forces in the North Sea on Sunday. Investigations carried out after it was brought to the port of Zeebrugge confirmed it had been sailing under a false Guinean flag, the Belgian government said. In total inspectors found 45 infractions, including technical defects, leading to the ship being impounded, it added. The tanker’s Russian captain and its 20-strong crew were ordered to remain on board. “The ship will only leave the port once it is compliant and the deposit has been paid,” said Belgium’s mobility minister Jean-Luc Crucke. Russia has previously described the seizure of its tankers and other vessels carrying its cargoes as acts of piracy.

The US has deployed a low-cost combat drone in Iran modelled on the Iranian Shahed, as the it pushes to accelerate weapons programs in the wake of the Ukraine war. The Low-Cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System (LUCAS) drone was deployed just eight months after its Pentagon unveiling. Defense officials said the compressed timeline reflected lessons learned from observing drone warfare in Ukraine, where both sides have employed thousands of low-cost unmanned systems.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the Druzhba pipeline, which is at the centre of a dispute with Hungary and Slovakia and has held up approval of a €90bn EU loan to Kyiv. A commission spokesperson said the two leaders had discussed the matter during a call but could not share any details of the conversation. Earlier von der Leyen said on X that they had discussed topics including the loan, sanctions on Russia and “the wider impact of the developments in the Middle East on energy prices, on energy security and on availability of badly needed defence materials”.

The Guardian

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