“Ukraine – Russia”

For Americans who follow the Russian-Ukrainian war, the past few months must look very strange. In the first half of summer, the story from Kyiv – and the many western media outlets that repeated it – was that Ukraine was winning. Then, not long after the NATO summit in July, Kyiv announced it lacked the interceptors to prevent a winter disaster. The country needed 300 missiles to survive, we were told. Even if these 300 missiles arrive, they are unlikely to protect a country as large as Ukraine from the sheer volume of Russian ballistic attacks and glide-bomb strikes. Now it’s September, and Ukraine says it’s facing a $27 billion shortfall in defense funding. There seems to be a vast difference between the public relations campaign and the reality in Ukraine.

Awaiting him are hard problems. The New York Times has reported audits showing about US$1.2-billion lost to fraud, waste and mismanagement in defence procurement in 2024 alone.

The first time I saw Volodymyr Zelensky up close, in July, 2019, was at the third annual Ukraine Reform Conference in Toronto. He had been President for six weeks. Standing beside Justin Trudeau, he looked like he had been sent by the same casting agency.

The resemblance was uncanny, and not only physically. Both men were young, photogenic, magnetic in a room, instinctively warm. Both had come to politics from performance: Mr. Trudeau the former drama teacher, Mr. Zelensky the comedian who had played a president on television and then, astonishingly, became one. Watching them work that room together, it was almost impossible not to think of them as two versions of the same political animal.

On social media platforms, the man called himself “Adrian” or “Dios,” meaning “God” in Spanish. In 2024, accounts linked to the man posted job ads on Telegram. “Work as a photographer,” one offered in Russian in a chat about opportunities in Poland. “To those interested in applying, send resume, phone number and passport,” another advertised in a group for Cuban expatriates in Russia. “Looking for people with military experience in monitoring, intelligence, logistics and tactical maneuvers,” one said in Spanish in a group for Latinos, promising $1,500 (about €1,300) plus a bonus for each operation completed.

Just as Ukraine was learning how to parry Russia’s drone attacks, Moscow has moved the goal posts with a new generation of innovative jet-powered weapons.

New Geran drones and Banderol cruise missiles are lethal reminders that Russia still has the resources and supply chains to field fresh threats, this time packed with advanced electronics that allow them to find targets accurately and evade interception. Crucially, the leap forward was enabled in large part by components sourced from China, in violation of international sanctions, say Ukraine and others, based in part on wreckage from the few shot down so far.

China has said it regulates exports of technologies that could be used in war.

A British man plotted to sabotage a drone factory in the UK on behalf of Russia’s intelligence services, a court has heard.

Joshua Cammidge, who was charged on Wednesday with assisting Moscow’s military, allegedly researched four drone manufacturing sites in Swindon, along with a wifi jamming device.

He is suspected of communicating with and receiving instructions from an individual believed to be linked to the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russian intelligence services.

A man and a woman have been arrested by counter-terrorism police in London on suspicion of assisting Iran’s foreign intelligence service.

The arrests of the 42-year-old woman and 60-year-old man were made after searches at addresses in north and north-west London on 24 June, the Metropolitan police said.

A third property was also searched in north-west London on 9 September after their arrest under the National Security Act (NSA).

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has resigned after investigators used ladders to raid his office in connection with a major corruption scandal that threatens to embarrass Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ruslan Kravchenko quit his post on Monday after allegations that some of his officials were involved in large-scale money laundering. They received cash to protect call centres involved in illegal phone scams, it was claimed.

Kravchenko, who denies wrongdoing, left his job after meeting Zelenskyy. Ukraine’s president also spoke to the heads of Nabu and Sapo, the two anti-corruption agencies that have uncovered a sprawling criminal scheme involving government officials.

A Chinese state-owned company supplied Russia with materials to build hundreds of kamikaze drones.

The parts were sent to a firm linked to Russia’s largest energy producer, which builds the Geran drones used to attack a shopping mall in central Ukraine in August, killing at least 16 people.

The disguised transfer of the components is detailed in internal Russian documents, reviewed by The Telegraph in a joint investigation with Politico.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he expects the war with Russia to continue into the winter, following a round of talks with Donald Trump’s top envoys in Kyiv.

The discussions finished without an announcement of a major breakthrough, after Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Ukraine for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The previous day, the pair had held talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Ukraine is considering dismantling its ban on pornography as lawmakers seek to bring a large online adult industry into the tax system and redirect millions of dollars toward the country’s wartime needs.

Yaroslav Zhelezniak, an opposition lawmaker who chairs Parliament’s finance committee, estimates legalization could generate as much as $25 million a year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

He says that would be enough to finance about 30,000 drones.