Russia’s defence ministry has accused Ukraine and European countries of taking “provocative steps” to wreck direct peace talks. Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry has insisted it is still continuing to work on a draft peace memorandum. Follow the latest below.
Tuesday 27 May 2025 11:21, UK
Our defence and security analyst Michael Clarke is back to answer your Ukraine war questions at 12pm tomorrow.
You can still get involved by submitting them in the comment box at the top of this page.
Our defence and security analyst Michael Clarke has said Russia is testing Donald Trump with its latest strikes on Ukraine.
“They’re pushing American patience as far as they can,” he told our presenter Gareth Barlow.
“They obviously think they can push it a fair bit further, but we’ll see.”
Clarke explained that Ukraine’s defence ministry is accusing Russia of launching more than one thousand devices since Friday.
“A lot of the drones are designed to exhaust the Ukrainian air defences and create holes that the missiles can come through,” he added.
“On the one hand, the Russians are sending a message to the Ukrainians that this war will go on and it will get harder for them.”
Watch Clarke’s full analysis in the video below.
The Kremlin has responded to Donald Trump’s threat of new US sanctions on Russia after recent drone attacks on Ukraine.
Earlier, we told you that Trump said Vladimir Putin had “gone absolutely crazy” after Russia launched its biggest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war (see 10.02 post).
“I’m not happy with Putin, I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” the US president told reporters, before stating he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
Watch our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett break down the reaction to Trump’s comments
But the Kremlin has said the threat of new sanctions is a campaign aimed at wrecking peace talks with Ukraine.
That’s in line with the message coming out of Russia this morning, with the country’s defence ministry accusing Ukraine and other European countries of taking “provocative steps” (see 10.23 post).
Russia’s defence ministry has accused Ukraine and European countries of taking “provocative steps” to wreck direct peace talks, Russia’s Interfax news agency has reported.
It hit out at Kyiv for increasing the number of attacks using Western-made drones and rockets on civilian targets in Russia over the past week.
The defence ministry said 2,331 drones have been intercepted and destroyed over the past week.
But as we’ve been reporting, both sides have been accusing each other for an increase in attacks – something which led Donald Trump to label Vladimir Putin as “absolutely crazy” (see previous post).
Meanwhile, Russia’s foreign ministry has insisted it is still continuing to work on the draft memorandum which will set out the terms for a possible ceasefire.
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added the document will be handed to Kyiv as soon as it’s ready.
It’s a new week, and – as always – we start it off by taking a step back, taking stock of the key developments over the past seven days.
Biggest aerial attack of war so far
While Moscow talks about peace, and Washington remains optimistic of a breakthrough (more on that below), Ukraine’s residents are seeing no sign of a respite.
Fighting continues right across the frontline, with Russia claiming more settlements in the east.
But over the weekend, Russian attacks were felt particularly keenly in Kyiv.
At least 13 people were injured in the early hours of Saturday, when Ukrainian authorities reported Moscow launched 250 drones and 14 missiles across the country.
This was already one of the largest aerial attacks since the war began, but even this was dwarfed heading into Sunday morning.
Ukraine said 298 drones and 69 missiles formed that offensive, making it the largest aerial bombardment of the war so far. 
At least 12 people were killed, including three children of the same family.
And overnight, Ukraine said Russia launched 60 drones against the country, while Moscow said it downed 99 Ukrainian drones.
Defending against such attacks has become all the more difficult, according to the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ihnat, who said Russia has upgraded its missiles with radar decoys and evasive manoeuvres.
Troop build-up to ‘give Ukrainians something to worry about’
North of Ukraine, Russian troops are said to be amassing across the border from the regions of Kharkiv and Sumy.
Our military analyst Michael Clarke said this is partly to “fix Ukrainian forces in place”.
“They want to give the Ukrainians something to worry about, but they’re also displaying that to the rest of the world,” he said.
But that’s not to say they’re about to take cities across Kharkiv, Clarke added.
“They failed in the past, but they’ve certainly got troops on their side of the border, they’ve got 60-70,000 troops there,” he said.
What this force is capable of doing is creating a buffer zone of sorts, with Vladimir Putin talking about the need for a 15 or 20-kilometre area to stop the Ukrainians getting over the border, Clarke explained.
In fact, Putin himself recently made another visit to the Kursk region – across the border from Sumy – where Ukraine launched a stunning incursion last summer and held territory for months.
Is a Sumy offensive coming?
Michael Clarke does not think a Russian attack is coming, describing the build-up of troops as a “distraction technique”.
He added: “It’s a way of getting into more territory and distracting the Ukrainians, and it may become part of the overall strategy.”
But could the Russians actually take Sumy?
“I doubt it,” Clarke added. “Can they take Kharkiv? Almost certainly not. But can they take territories around it? Yes, they probably can, if they push.
“And if they push, they’ve got about four months to do it until the weather turns against them.”
Trump and Putin – from ‘good’ call to ‘crazy’ comment
Last week, which ended so ominously, actually began with a note of optimism, at least it did from Donald Trump.
After a two-hour phone call with Putin last Monday, the US president announced Russia-Ukraine discussions would begin “immediately”, and he felt there was a “good” chance of a deal to end the war.
But Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as again tying the chances of any ceasefire to “appropriate agreements”, which have typically involved huge concessions for Ukraine.
And while Trump spoke of a red line – without saying what it is – European countries re-upped sanctions on Russia – including 100 new measures announced by the UK.
By the end of the week – and following back-to-back aerial onslaughts on Kyiv – Trump said Putin had “gone absolutely crazy” by unleashing aerial attacks on Ukraine, and said he was weighing up new sanctions on Moscow.
But the Kremlin accused the US president of an “emotional overload” and said whatever decisions the Russian leader makes are “necessary for the security of Russia”.
But we’ll be back soon with more from the battlefield and diplomatic sphere.
You can tap through the key points above for a catch up of the main things you need to know from today.
We’re just hearing from Donald Trump now.
He says he is “not happy” with what Vladimir Putin is doing – “killing a lot of people”.
“I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” he says.
“I’ve known him a long time. I always gotten along with him. But he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it.”
He adds: “I don’t like what Putin is doing. Not even a little bit. He’s killing people. And something happened to this guy, and I don’t like it.”
He’s also “absolutely” considering sanctions on Russia.
Ukraine’s air force is warning of more drones over the country.
Waves have been reported across the country, including the Sumy, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions.
In Kharkiv, the local governor said “every new night is a test of strength”.
“The enemy does not stop shelling,” Oleg Synegubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine hold heaven and earth.”
There are air raid alerts over more than half the country right now.
China supplies Russia’s military factories, according to the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service.
In an interview with Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform, Oleh Ivashchenko said: “There is information that China supplies machine tools, special chemicals, gunpowder and components specifically to military enterprises.
“We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories.”
The full interview has not been published yet.
Germany’s military must be fully equipped by 2029, the country’s chief of defence has ordered.
Why by 2029? Because that’s when NATO officials believe Russia may have reconstituted its forces enough to attack the alliance’s territory.
That’s all according to a document seen by Reuters news agency, which was signed by defence chief Carsten Breuer on 19 May.
In the document, Breuer sets priorities for the weapons that should be developed most urgently.
Among them, he lists the strengthening of Germany’s depleted air defences, in particular with a view to intercepting drones.
Another priority is a capability to launch deep precision strikes, effectively hitting targets far behind enemy lines.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free

source