US president says Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has given him an assurance; EU to work on G7 leaders about Russian assets. What we know on day 1,331 Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Narendra Modi had assured him India would stop buying oil from Russia . “That’s a big step,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing.” The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to emailed questions about whether the Indian prime minister had made such a commitment. Prior to the Ukraine war, India imported less than 1% of its oil from Russia, but this has surged to about 40% as Russia has discounted its oil while the price has been capped by sanctions. Trump said India could not “immediately” halt Russian shipments, calling it “a little bit of a process, but that process will be over soon”. Trump has slapped tariffs on Indian exports to the US, ostensibly because of India’s Russian oil imports – the proceeds of which help Russia fund the war against Ukraine. Nato’s head, Mark Rutte, said it was “testing integrated systems that will help us detect, track and neutralise aerial threats” as the alliance and the European Union seek to boost anti-drone defences . The EU is debating creating a “drone wall” with possible signoff from ministers at a leaders’ summit next week. Rutte said about 10 more Nato countries had pledged to contribute to the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine . Ukraine’s defence minister, Denys Shmygal, said Kyiv hoped the total committed under the initiative, known as Purl, would reach “$12-20bn” next year. Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defence minister, announced $500m in Purl purchases for Ukraine by Berlin . The Czech Republic has arranged supplies of 3.7m artillery rounds to Ukraine, including 1.3m so far this year , under an internationally funded scheme, the outgoing Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, announced on Wednesday. He said this year’s supplies should reach 1.8m shells. Andrej Babis, whose ANO party won elections on 3-4 October, has criticised the initiative. Before the election, Babis said he would bring the programme to an end, but he has been less clear since his victory and after the Czech president, Petr Pavel, called on parties to keep it running. The European Union will urge G7 partners to consider tapping immobilised Russian assets in aiding Ukraine , the EU’s economy commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, told AFP on Wednesday, as finance ministers from the seven convened in Washington. European allies have been working on a plan to provide loans to Ukraine without an outright seizure of Russian assets frozen in the west. “UK and Canada have already indicated willingness to work alongside with the EU’s reparation loan model,” Dombrovskis said. “So, we’re also awaiting more concrete responses from [the] US and Japan.” Under the European Union’s plan, it would borrow funds from international deposit organisation Euroclear in Belgium that have matured into cash, and the money would in turn be loaned to Ukraine. The understanding is that Russia will eventually have to pay postwar reparations, which would be used to reimburse the Europeans . Dombrovskis said G7 finance leaders would also be encouraged to mobilise frozen assets in their territories. The leaders will also discuss work on further sanctions against Russia. One person was injured when Russian drones hit apartments and a logistics building in Nizhyn in the Chernihiv region on Wednesday night, Ukrainian authorities said. Russia struck a thermal power plant in Ukraine, gas firm Naftogaz said on Wednesday, and also targeted gas facilities in the Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv regions over the past week. Ukrainian authorities made more emergency power cuts on Wednesday because of Russian attacks on the grid. “Because of the complicated situation for Ukraine’s energy system, emergency electricity cuts have been imposed in all regions” except for Donetsk in the east, the centre of most of the fighting, Ukrenergo posted on Telegram. Italy’s top court has blocked the extradition to Germany of a Ukrainian man accused of coordinating the 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines . Because of a legal error, the case against Serhii Kuznietsov, as he is identified under German privacy laws, will have to go before court again at a date that is still to be confirmed. “In light of today’s outcome, I will assess in the next few days whether the conditions exist to request my client’s release, as the legal basis for his detention has now been removed,” said his lawyer, Nicola Canestrini. Continue reading...