Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump issues first comment on CIA chief's mysterious visit to Moscow

CIA director John Ratcliffe warned Russia against an attack on a Nato member, sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal and Politico .

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence assessments had indicated that Putin could test Nato’s resolve with a limited assault on an allied country over the coming years.

Several possible scenarios had been posited from cyber-attacks to a small-scale land incursion, according to the report.

President Donald Trump said “something may come out of” Ratcliffe ’s visit to Moscow on Tuesday.

Trump said the US is “working very hard” to end the war in Ukraine , calling the CIA chief a “fantastic guy”.

Answering a question on Ratcliffe’s visit to Russia , Trump said that the CIA director made a visit to Russia on a “very semi-routine” basis and “something may come out of it”.

The Kremlin revealed yesterday that CIA director Ratcliffe held talks with Russian intelligence officials during a mysterious visit this week but did not meet president Vladimir Putin.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov framed communication between the two countries’ intelligence agencies as positive.

CIA director John Ratcliffe warned Russia against an attack on a Nato member, sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal and Politico .

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence assessments had indicated that Putin could test Nato’s resolve with a limited assault on an allied country over the coming years.

Several possible scenarios had been posited from cyber-attacks to a small-scale land incursion, according to the report.

President Donald Trump said “something may come out of” Ratcliffe ’s visit to Moscow on Tuesday.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia has no need to escalate in Ukraine as its troops are already advancing there.

It added that Russia’s response to Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s economic and trade infrastructure will be “harsh”, according to TASS.

Donald Trump has said “something may come out of” the CIA director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow on Tuesday.

The US is “working very hard” to end the war in Ukraine, he said.

“We would like to see the Ukraine war end.”

Answering a question on Ratcliffe’s visit to Russia, Trump said that the CIA director made a visit to Russia on a “very semi-routine” basis.

"Something may come out of it," Trump said, calling Ratcliffe a “fantastic guy”.

Russian online retailer Ozon said two of its logistics facilities in Ufa and Orenburg had been attacked by drones.

No fires ‌broke out ‌at either ⁠site as a result of the attacks, and the ‌facility ​in ‌Orenburg ⁠has already ⁠resumed operations.

Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed two of Ukraine's most prominent commanders to oversee the defence of the country's eastern strongholds, as Kyiv struggles to ⁠beat back a Russian onslaught on a region at the centre of stalled peace talks.

Visiting the frontline with his new top general, Zelensky said Third Army Corps leader Andrii Biletskyi and Denys Prokopenko, ⁠commander of the First Corps Azov, will head new groupings aimed ​at ⁠strengthening defences around Donetsk.

Both men represent a new generation of experienced field commanders and currently lead what are seen as some of Kyiv's most capable and best-trained forces.

Both their corps are already involved in defending that part of the front, and the commanders have been praised for their combat efficiency and planning.

EU countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, are urging Brussels to revive efforts to use immobilised Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine, the Financial Times reported today.

A ‌letter from a coalition of ‌states to ‌the European Commission will call on ⁠the EU's executive to restart work on plans to fund Ukraine using Russian central ‌bank assets, ​the FT reported, ‌citing four ⁠people briefed ⁠on the document.

Russia is considering stepping up its ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv, including targets in the city centre, and on critical infrastructure elsewhere in Ukraine after concluding that efforts to negotiate a peace deal have reached a dead end, said three people close to the Kremlin.

Speaking to Bloomberg, they said negotiation frameworks had effectively collapsed, while president Vladimir Putin remained unlikely to end the ‌war in response ​to sanctions ‌or Ukrainian ⁠strikes on Russian refineries ⁠and logistics networks.

Up to 70 vessels are waiting near the Danube's Sulina Canal for access to Ukrainian ports to load grain for export, traders and analysts said on Wednesday, with a shortage of pilots and priority given to other cargoes creating long delays.

After Russian attacks effectively blocked Ukraine's Black Sea ports, which had handled 90 per cent of the country's grain exports, some shipments were rerouted through Danube river ports, which have much lower capacity.

Grain cargoes are competing for access with higher-priority shipments such as fuel, slowing exports. Frequent air raid alerts, which force the suspension of all port operations, have added to the disruption.

Ukraine is one of the world's biggest grain exporters and disruptions to its shipments can drive up global prices.

A US senator sponsoring a bill for wide-ranging sanctions on Russia said on Wednesday he was hopeful it would pass the House of Representatives month, and be a "sledgehammer" to president Vladimir Putin's efforts to fund his war in Ukraine.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut who met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and senior officials during a visit to Kyiv, said the bill ⁠had strong Republican support in ​the House, ⁠after comfortably passing an initial Senate vote last month.

“Putin understands only force,” Blumenthal told a news conference. “And the Russia sanctions bill is a sledgehammer that can have the kind of force Putin understands.”

Though Democrats are broadly supportive of the sanctions, some have expressed concern that it would give Republican president Donald ‌Trump leeway to impose additional tariffs, including ‌on US allies.