Twenty-six countries commit so far as coalition of the willing convenes in Paris; Ukrainian military sharpens interceptor drone effort. What we know on day 1,290
A Russian rocket attack killed two mine-clearing workers from a Danish humanitarian group, officials said. “The attack claimed the lives of two Ukrainian colleagues and left eight others injured,” said an announcement by the Danish Refugee Council. “At the time of the incident, DRC teams were conducting purely civilian humanitarian activities – working to clear landmines and explosive remnants of war.” The strike was near the outskirts of the regional capital of Chernihiv, 125km (80 miles) north of Kyiv. “First, the Russians littered the area with explosives and mines. Now they are killing people, civilians who are risking their lives to clear our land,” said Vyacheslav Chaus, the regional governor.
Donald Trump complained to European leaders on Thursday that Europe must stop buying Russian oil he says is helping Moscow fund its war against Ukraine, a White House official said. It comes a few days, though, after Trump sympathised with the Moscow-friendly leaders of Hungary and Slovakia when their oil pipeline from Russia was bombed out of service by Ukraine. On Thursday it was unclear whether Trump was referring to Hungary and Slovakia’s imports – most other European countries stopped importing Russian crude in 2022, and Russian fuel in 2023 – or to possible indirect imports of fuels made from Russian crude in third countries such as India.
