Ukraine war latest: NATO 'waiting for Trump' before crucial Ukraine decision; Tucker Carlson back in Moscow for interview (2025)

The UK's foreign secretary has called on fellow NATO member states to "get serious" about defence spending targets ahead of Donald Trump's looming return to the White House.

"It's hugely important that we step up defence spending, across NATO allies particularly," David Lammy said at a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers.

Trump, in his last term as president, consistently criticised members of the alliance for not "pulling their weight" when it came to defence spending, and NATO countries have been urged to raise more funds in response to his re-election.

"In the United Kingdom, we are at 2.3%, heading to 2.5% as soon as we can get there, and we urge all allies across the NATO family to get serious about defence spending," Lammy said.

"All of our populations require us to understand the tremendous security challenges that we are facing at this time, the time to act is now."

Syrian rebels fighting against the Assad regime in Syria are receiving Ukrainian drones, Russia's foreign ministry has said.

Russia is supporting the Syrian government in its fight against the rebels, who launched a devastating and ongoing offensive last week.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow was doing what it could to counter the offensive, which the Kremlin says is being carried out by "terrorist groups" receiving support, including drones and training, from outside the country.

"We strongly condemn this attack ... there is no doubt that they would not have dared to commit such an audacious act without the instigation and comprehensive support of external forces that seek to provoke a new round of armed confrontation in Syria, unfurl a the spiral of violence," she told reporters.

Zakharova also said, without providing evidence, that the rebels - including some from former Soviet countries - had received drones from Ukraine and training in how to operate them.

Ukraine has not commented on the claims.

It's been more than 1,000 days since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, with both sides showing no sign of giving up.

But as Ukraine struggles to hold back the Russian advance, the conflict is still prompting many questions. Our military analyst Sean Bell is on hand to answer some of yours.

Read his answers here:

More from the NATO foreign ministers meeting now, where the delegation from the Czech Republic has said that up 100 "suspicious incidents" in Europe this year can be attributed to Russia.

Jan Lipavsky said "this year there were 500 suspicious incidents" across the continent in total, and "up to 100 of them can be attributed to Russian hybrid attacks, espionage, influence operations.

"We need to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won't be tolerated," Lipavsky added.

By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent

On the streets of Tbilisi right now, there is a battle for Georgia's future.

On one side are protesters and pyrotechnics. On the other, is the increasingly strong arm of the law.

Flashes of pink, green and gold light up the night sky, as fireworks sparkle and rockets scream past.

Flying in the other direction are tear gas canisters. First you hear the low thud of them being fired, then the rattle and hiss as they hit the ground.

But the protesters are undeterred - building barricades out of wheelie bins, and taunting police from behind them.

For six nights now, they've massed outsideGeorgia'sparliament, angry at the ruling party's decision to pause plans to join the EU.

People feel cheated, and they believeRussiais behind it.

Read more from Bennett here.

Last week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested a ceasefire deal could be struck if Ukrainian territory he controls could be taken "under the NATO umbrella" - allowing him to negotiate the return of the rest later "in a diplomatic way".

Mr Zelenskyy, inan exclusive interview with Sky's Stuart Ramsay,said NATO membership would have to be offered to unoccupied parts of the country in order to end the "hot phase of the war", as long as the NATO invitation itself recognises Ukraine's internationally recognised borders.

He appeared to accept occupied eastern parts of the country would fall outside of such a deal for the time being.

Since then, experts have been weighing in on whether such a proposal could work.

Analyst and ex-defence British minister Tobias Ellwood said that while it may sound unique, this sort of plan is not unprecedented.

"We went through this in the Second World War as well with East Germany, for example," he told Sky News, referring to the division of Germany in 1945.

Ellwood said it was recognised then that "one day it must be returned back to Germany [to make it] whole".

This case is slightly more complicated however, as Russia will insist on certain territories being non-negotiable.

"Crimea is not even on the table to be discussed at the moment."

But would NATO even sanction such a step?

"Article five suggests that your borders must be sound," Ellwood said, noting that the NATO charter does not allow states to join if they are at war.

"The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all."

NATO charter article five

"But if they want to allow Ukraine to join, they could make it happen. They could easily provide the guarantees," he added.

Yesterday, our defence and security analyst Michael Clarke talked us through one such way of doing so - namely a "ceasefire line" - which you can read about here.

On this week’s episode of The World podcast, Yalda Hakim and Richard Engel are joined by former MI6 "C" Sir Alex Younger, who was head of the Service from 2014-2020.

He warns how Russian cyberthreats will be a "feature of our life", gives his take on what peace between Russia and Ukraine could look like, and dissects the current rebel offensivein Syria.

Click hereto watch the full episode on YouTube, or click play on the podcast below.

To get in touch or to share questions for Richard and Yalda, email theworld@sky.uk.

Episodes of The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim will be available every Wednesday on all podcast platforms.

Outspoken and controversial right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson has returned to Russia for his second major political interview of senior Kremlin figures.

Having spoken with Vladimir Putin in February, Carlson has returned to the Russian capital this time to speak with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

He said the interview with Lavrov would air "very soon," without specifying a date.

Carlson was widely criticised for his interview with Putin earlier this year, with many accusing him of letting the Russian leader lead the interview and failing to press him on important issues including war crimes.

Russia has released images of what it says are its navy frigates equipped with new generationhypersoniccruise missiles conducting drills in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the crews of the frigates fired Zircon (Tsirkon)hypersonicanti-ship missiles, while a Russian submarine launched a Kalibr cruise missile, another weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

On the coast nearby, a missile system carried out a live launch of an Onyx anti-ship missile, it said.

It comes after Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for Russia's use of its nuclear weapons, following Western nations' decision to allow Ukraine to use weapons they had supplied to strike targets deep inside Russia.

The UK's foreign secretary will urge NATO to increase military support for Ukraine as he meets allies in Brussels this morning.

David Lammy is also expected to call for the alliance to deter co-operation between Moscow and other countries following the deployment of 10,000 North Korea troops to assist Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking ahead of his first NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting, Mr Lammy said: "Investment in Ukraine's security is investment in Euro-Atlantic and global security.

"99% of military support to Ukraine has been from NATO allies.

"This support is critical to enabling Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression, and the UK and allies must double down on our efforts to ensure Ukraine prevails."

His comments come amid questions over the potential impact of a second Donald Trump presidency on Western support for Ukraine, after the incoming president said he wanted to end the conflict on "day one" of his term.