Trump’s ‘short attention span’ leaves Ukraine in lurch at ‘G6’ summit. What we know on day 1,211
North Korea will send “a division of builders, two military brigades – 5,000 people” as well as 1,000 demining personnel to the Kursk region, according to Russian news agencies quoting Vladimir Putin’s security council chief, Sergei Shoigu, who was visiting Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Out of 10,000 North Korean soldiers already sent to fight against Ukraine there have been 6,000 casualties, the British defence ministry said this week. Tuesday’s Russian reports suggested the new personnel would be put to work in Kursk, which was partly invaded by Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accused Putin, the Russian president, of exploiting the preoccupied international climate to carry out a deadly attack on Kyiv. “It shows the complete cynicism of President Putin, who is using the international context to step again attacks against civilians,” the French president told reporters at the G7 summit in Canada, which Trump rushed out of on Monday night. A US citizen died in the attack on Kyiv, the state department said.
Trump’s absence left Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the lurch, Patrick Wintour writes, and has set European leaders and officials seething. One said: “It is an permanent hazard that Ukraine is a victim of events and Trump’s short attention span. There had been all sorts of promises for this summit – including new US arms deliveries being offered.” Ukraine was proposing to buy US weapons including new air defences, to get around Trump’s complaint that Ukraine is a drain on the US budget and instead appeal to his focus on making money.
