NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten gathered in Münster, Germany, to visit the 1st German-Netherlands Corps and deliver a message that can be summarised as: Russia is a rapidly increasing threat, please keep calm and carry on supporting Ukraine.
Rutte warned that Russia "poses a rapidly increasingly threat to the Nato alliance," whether in the Baltics or in Germany, pointing to a recent drone incident in Leipzig and the August hybrid attack at Leipzig airport. He said the message of deterrence is "more vital than ever" and that while there is no imminent military attack against NATO, Moscow's "campaign of hostile actions" against allies would persist over the winter. "My message is clear and our message is clear: keep calm, carry on and continue the support for Ukraine," he said, adding that Europeans are "ramping up our intelligence cooperation to an unprecedented level so we can combat hybrid threats" and "reaffirming and stepping up our support for Ukraine." He also thanked Germany and the Netherlands for increased defence spending and noted he will pick up the 2026 International Westphalian Peace Prize later today on behalf of the alliance.
Merz stressed the importance of NATO as "our continental peace order is being challenged by violent revisionism emanating from Russia," and said Russian aggression on Ukraine was "unleashed by Moscow in utter disregard and contempt for law and order." He said the focus remains on finding "a diplomatic solution," even as "Moscow has so far shown no willingness to come to the negotiating table." He added that Europe's support for Ukraine will continue as "we refuse to be deterred by Moscow's hybrid attack," and that Germany is making "determined investments" in its military and general resilience. He also repeated his line that Europe needs to "make Nato more European so it can remain transatlantic."
Jetten said "Europe needs to show what it's made of, show that we are prepared to do whatever it takes to protect our security," and noted the Netherlands is increasing its defence spending too. The three leaders took no questions after their statements.
Rutte also had a message for Vladimir Putin: "I hope Putin gets the message. It's not just Ukrainians who are suffering. The whole of Russia is paying a huge price for his war of choice. Putin is sending tens of thousands of young Russians to their death each month, and for nothing. He is failing on a battlefield and he is failing to intimidate us."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian army struck a Russian oil facility in the Samara region, days after US president Donald Trump sought to put pressure on Kyiv to stop hitting energy targets in Russia. "I thank all our defenders who are working to send Russia's sick war back to where it came from," Zelenskyy said. "Today, we also have important results from our deep strikes. A target in the Black Sea was hit, as was a site in the Oryol region used to launch and store attack drones. Sanctions were also applied to an oil facility in the Samara region and a supply depot for the occupiers in the Bryansk region. These are exactly the kind of just responses we need right now. We will continue to deprive Russia of the ability to keep this war going."
On the nuclear front, a Russian drone hit the grounds of a nuclear research facility in Kyiv, causing a fire but leaving the facility's test reactor undamaged, Ukraine's nuclear safety watchdog said. The regulator did not say where the drone landed or provide imagery of the attack, which happened on Wednesday. The research reactor at the site has the capacity to generate around 10 Megawatts, around a hundredth of the generating capacity of a conventional nuclear reactor. There are four nuclear power plants in Ukraine, the largest of which was seized by Russian forces in 2022.
A Russian drone also hit a school in Kyiv, authorities said, the latest in a spate of worsening air attacks on the capital. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said children had been in the shelter at the moment of the strike, which sparked a fire. He reported no injuries. Additionally, the Kyiv metro and public transport services across the Dnipro river were suspended this morning after two Russian drones hit the support structure of the Pivdennyi Bridge. "Metro and surface public transport traffic across the bridge have been suspended. Specialists … are inspecting the structure's condition following the strikes," Klitschko said.
In Finland, authorities are investigating a slew of suspected break-ins at the homes of members of parliament, which Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said could "very likely" be linked to a foreign power. "If someone tries to destabilise Finland, our sense of security, or our support for example for Ukraine, it has the opposite effect. It strengthens our unity," Orpo said. Speaker of parliament Jussi Halla-aho confirmed that parliament had been made aware of a "significant" number of break-ins and signs of attempted intrusions at the homes of several politicians.
Russia has summoned the top Hungarian diplomat in the country and told him that "a group of employees" of the Hungarian embassy in Moscow and its consulates in St. Petersburg and Kazan must leave within two weeks. The Russian foreign ministry's move seeks to retaliate for a recent Hungarian decision to expel 10 Russian diplomats "for conducting activities incompatible with their status under the Vienna Convention." Hungary's prime minister Péter Magyar said at the time that the 10 Russian diplomats "carried out activities in Hungary that are unacceptable for diplomats." "We will defend our country's sovereignty," he added.
The UK has adopted 31 new measures sanctioning LNG shadow fleet vessels, Kremlin disinformation networks and alleged perpetrators of civilian torture and child indoctrination, the foreign ministry said. "Following sham elections in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine earlier this month, the UK is now taking firm action against people and entities found to have undermined Ukraine's territorial integrity through human rights abuses," the FCDO said. The new listings include eight people alleged to be involved in the arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian civilians as part of a broader system of repression. Seven people are targeted "for their role in the indoctrination and militarisation of Ukrainian children." The individuals will be subjected to asset freezes, trust services sanctions, and travel bans. The package also hits new vessels involved in Russia's shadow fleet. "We are targeting both the revenues that help sustain Russia's aggression and perpetrators of horrendous crimes against Ukrainian civilians, including children. The UK will not flinch in our support for Ukraine," Europe minister Steward Wood said. "While the UK does not seek confrontation with Russia, until Putin chooses to end his senseless and barbaric war, the UK's support for Ukraine will remain unshakeable," the ministry added.
The EU Commission, France, Italy, Ireland and Britain are holding a call on the possible need to release diesel stocks, an EU official said, as reported by Reuters. A Commission spokesperson had earlier declined direct comment on reports that the Trump administration has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help to ease global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban.
In media news, readers of Ukraine's leading English news site "really want Russia to suffer" but that should not lead the title to downplay the military and political problems facing Kyiv, its editor has said. Speaking to the Guardian before an event in London, Olga Rudenko said many of the Kyiv Independent's most-read stories described Ukrainian deep strike attacks into Russia, potentially distorting its coverage. The Kyiv Independent, however, cannot afford to become propagandistic, she argued, and marginalise Russian military successes or reduce reporting on Ukrainian corruption because the subjects are not so well read. "We had a conversation in the newsroom when somebody raised that our website, in the mornings, is all about Ukrainian attacks on Russian Wildberries warehouses and so on," Rudenko said. "But it's misrepresenting the full picture when you don't balance it out with enough stories about attacks on Ukraine, which are, by the way, far less popular with our readers." The challenge is that "people really want Russia to suffer", and read about "something going boom" but it was the Kyiv Independent's duty to "not just to feed them more of what they like".
And in the world of football, Jürgen Klopp has reacted with disgust to a social media debate questioning whether the Germany team he is in the process of forming are "white enough". Klopp said he believed there was no point in giving room to "such people and their utterances", dismissing them as "complete nonsense". Asked to respond to the debate as to whether the national team were "not German enough" or "not white enough", he said: "There is absolutely no reason to pay attention to these people. You won't get my thoughts on this. I have little time in everyday life for idiocy - and even less on social media." "The great crux of our lives is that everyone is allowed to express their opinion … it's insane when something like that exists." Klopp said watching sportspeople interact with each other was proof to him that mutual respect was still possible. "The world could learn a thing or two from a sports changing room … There, everyone is respected based on the facts and not discredited based on false opinions." Klopp, whose plans for Germany since he took over as coach in the summer have attracted huge attention, said the players he had gathered at the national team camp, including several players with a migrant background, "could not be better united than they are". The barrage of racist and generally offensive commentaries on social media followed Germany's 1-0 defeat by Greece last Sunday, in the Nations League, marking the first time Greece had beaten Germany. It is also reflective of plenty of utterances from MPs of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, who have repeatedly and consistently criticised the diversity and ethnic makeup of the national team, often referring to the squad in derogatory terms such as a "politically correct mercenary force".