‘If Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn,’ Zelenskyy warns after overnight strikes in Russia – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! We will catch up with the overnight developments at the EU summit first thing tomorrow. Here is your summary of the day: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that “if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn” (12:44) as he ramped up his rhetoric after overnight drone strikes on the Russian capital (9:55, 11:41, 15:00).

Zelenskyy is attending the European Council’s meeting in Brussels tonight, discussing the next steps in the EU’s support for Ukraine and its prospective membership of the bloc (16:46, 16:54, 17:14). Earlier today, The US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth warned that “Nato has been a paper tiger and a one-way street” (9:55), as he delivered another blistering criticism of the European allies, blaming them for becoming “a dependency of the United States” (9:55) and “free riding” (9:55). Hegseth said that the refusal of some Nato allies to support the US forces in Iran strikes was “shameful” (10:00), as he announced plans for a review of US posture in Europe (10:05).

Poland and Lithuania are among countries that hope to attract permanent US military presence on its territory as part of the review (15:39, 16:46). com. social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just arrived for the EU summit, flanked by the European Council’s António Costa and the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen. Costa says it’s “a historic week for Ukraine,” as the formal accession negotiations are now under way, and the G7 leaders agreed on “clear and strong support” for the wartorn country. “The EU, the US, and our partners from Canada, Japan, the UK – all of us – are working together to continue to support Ukraine,” he says.

He says there is “a new momentum” in the pursuit of peace in Ukraine. ” Von der Leyen says that Russia, in contast, is struggling, with its economy “suffering” and growing digital censorship. ” He says he hopes to discuss the next steps during the summit tonight, and talk about how they can further support Ukraine and pressure Putin to the negotiating table.

Today’s summit will also see some new faces as Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev and Hungary’s Péter Magyar make their formal debuts in Brussels. Magyar will also take part in informal talks in the Visegrad Four format, with his counterparts from the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia, which are getting revived after the last few years of tricky relations with his predecessor, Viktor Orbán. ” Lots of attention during this summit will be on Ukraine and Moldova as they open the first cluster of negotiations in their talks on joining the EU.

Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda says he is supportive of the process and hopes to see them open all clusters in July, and progress at pace toward a full membership. ” “The Russian population will start to realise that this is not about watching the war on the TV screens, but this is about the war on their own soil,” he says. ” He says any meaningful discussions – including on who should represent the EU – could only take place if Russia changes its attitude first.

He says the EU still has more instruments it can use to push Russia towards the negotiating table. Meanwhile, back in Brussels, EU leaders are now arriving for tonight’s European Council summit on Ukraine, competitiveness, and the next EU budget (or “multiannual financial framework” in EU-speak). Poland’s Donald Tusk is among the first ones to arrive and speak to reporters and he plays up the prospects of Poland seeing permanent deployment of US troops on its territory (15:39).

He says the proposal seems to be progressing faster than he had expected and things are “on the right path”, although no final decision has been made just yet. Tusk also reacted to the arrest of a man suspected of fatally shooting a Russian activist critical of president Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. A 36-year-old man carrying a Georgian passport was arrested this morning.

Tusk said the authorities were taking this “very seriously” given potential links with Russia. Speaking at the same event, US undersecretary of defence Elbridge A. Colby stressed that the continued support of Nato’s European members for Ukraine will be essential to keeping its fight against Russia alive.

Colby said that the US policy of shifting responsibility for supporting Ukraine onto Europe has worked out well. “In the past year, European allies have taken the leading role in supporting Ukraine’s defence, assuming the responsibility for the financial support of Ukraine, as well as providing their own arms to Ukraine. ” He said “Ukraine’s situation has even improved” as a result.

” “We in the United States hear time and again how vital Ukraine’s defence is for Europe and for our allies … but our allies must back words with actions. ” Ukraine ⁠and Germany signed an agreement ⁠on anti-ballistic ⁠capabilities, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, calling on other western ⁠allies to join the ‌effort and ‌deliver results by ‌winter. Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact ‌Group, Zelenskiy said Ukraine urgently needed long-range artillery and ⁠unmanned vehicles, Reuters reported.

Zelenskyy also asked to develop additional financial instruments ‌to finance the Ukrainian army long-term, Reuters added. The US Department ⁠of Defense is open to Poland’s offer to host a ⁠permanent US ⁠military presence in Poland, Polish defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said ⁠after meeting US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, in Brussels. Reuters reported that Poland has been ⁠pushing for a bigger allied presence on Nato’s eastern ‌flank after ‌Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in 2022.

“The US responded ‌positively to Poland’s proposal to establish a permanent US military base in Poland,” Kosiniak-Kamysz told reporters. But no decision has been taken yet, he added. Poland has so far hosted US troops on ⁠a rotational basis, with a recent controversy over a short-lived decision to pull some troops from the country.

Separately, Lithuania is also hoping to attract more US troops on its territory, with the new ruling coalition adding this into its government programme today. Peter Beaumont in Pavlohrad, Warren Murray and Pjotr Sauer Russia, the world’s third biggest oil producer and ‌a major oil and fuel exporter, is to import fuel by sea this month as it seeks to manage a shortage after extensive Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries. Russian hardliners called for Moscow to retaliate, with some urging the Kremlin to consider using nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

” wrote the ultraconservative billionaire Konstantin Malofeev on Telegram. ” Andrey Gurulyov, a retired lieutenant general and state duma deputy, called for Russia to “strike the enemy mercilessly” in response to the attack. “We need to strengthen our air defence system, but most importantly, we need to hit the enemy,” he told RTVI.

” He says that up to 48% of the Russian state budget is now being spent on defence. “These are crazy numbers,” he says. “We cannot be naive about Russia,” he stresses, but also says Nato is “very strong” and “we will do everything to make sure that they understand that it will be their biggest mistake if they try” to attack the alliance.

And that ends the press conference. Rutte gets challenged on the extent of the US commitment given Hegseth left the meeting very early. He replies by saying he was there for nearly two hours, and listened to contributions from “many allies,” so it’s all fine.

He says he knew Hegseth would have to leave because of other commitments. Rutte now gets asked about Hegseth’s suggestion that the US could pay less, if other allies don’t meet their targets. ” He says that “more generally, … we are working very hard” to meet targets.

“When you look at the individual countries, there are still some who need to do more,” he says. ” Rutte gets asked about his repeated praise for European allies stepping up and how it compares with Hegseth’s criticism. ” “Obviously that means also there are some rough waters, it is a rocky phase.

” Rutte gets asked if there will be “a significantly depleted US presence” after the proposed review, and if countries get punished for their position on Iran. His answer does not even anywhere get close to the original question. ” Rutte gets asked about the changes to the Nato Force Model, the alliance’s readiness force.

” He says it’s for planning purposes, but the US can always provide more, too. ” Rutte says the ministers will shortly take part in the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, joined by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy. “Ukraine is changing the dynamic on the battlefield and inflicting usual huge losses on Russia, but it can only keep doing this if we step up our support,” he says.

Rutte begins by hailing the progress made so far, saying more and more allies are confirming plans to meet their increased defence spending target of 5% GDP by 2035. “Some allies will already get there this year, way ahead of schedule,” he says. ” He says the priority for next month’s Ankara summit is to get more forces, more resources, and a stronger industrial base.

He says the US “expressed strong commitment to Nato very clear today,” while also expressing the need to achieve “a more equitable distribution of labour” in the alliance. He acknowledges the US decision to review its troops presence. ” Rutte is here.

You can watch along below, but I will bring you all the key lines here, too. Back to Brussels, we are going to hear from Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte soon, as he is expected to face the media after today’s Nato ministerial in Brussels. Expect him to get asked about Hegseth’s comments this morning.

We will bring you his press conference live, obviously. Meanwhile, local authorities in Moscow said that the supply ⁠of ⁠petroleum products to Moscow ⁠and the operation ⁠of petrol ‌stations ‌in ‌the Russian capital is “proceeding as normal” ‌after a major Ukrainian drone attack, Reuters reported. Separately, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted by Interfax as saying that the latest strikes set back the prospect of any direct contacts between Russia’s Putin and Ukraine’s Zelenskyy.

on the Ukraine-Belarus border Russian spy drones flying into Ukraine from Belarusian airspace have sharply increased since the beginning of the year, as senior officials in Kyiv express mounting concern over Belarus’s involvement in the war. Ukraine has stepped up by reinforcing fortifications on its northern border, including anti-tank ditches, concrete “dragons’ teeth” obstacles to block armoured vehicles and new areas of barbed wire. Troops operating along the border say they have noted a jump of about 20% in Russian intelligence drones since January.

The increase in drone sightings comes in parallel with reports that Russia has constructed five new drone bases near its shared border with Belarus as part of its efforts to use Minsk’s airspace to attack Ukraine. Ukrainian officials, including the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have spoken of “unusual activity” on the Belarus border, amid concern that Moscow is seeking to draw its ally further into the conflict, and warnings that have been given to Minsk. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that “if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn” as he ramped up his rhetoric after overnight drone strikes on the Russian capital.

Scores of drones ⁠targeted Moscow overnight, hitting the Russian capital’s oil refinery for the second time this week, Reuters reported. “We don’t ⁠want this war, we never did, and everyone knows it, and our partners ‌know it,” Zelenskyy ‌said in a voice message sent to reporters on a ‌WhatsApp group, quoted by Reuters. But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn.

Zelenskyy also called on Europe and ⁠the United States to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions on Russia’s defence and energy sectors and broader economy to force president Vladimir Putin into ending ‌the war. US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has also offered his view on the relationship with the UK, after meeting Britain’s new defence minister Dan Jarvis. His predecessor resigned in protest against low government spending on defence.

” He praised Jarvis for having first-hand experience of serving in a combat zone. ” He added: “If we need access and basing, whether it’s in the UK or say at Diego Garcia, we can’t live in a world where other countries are standing at the end of a runway with a clipboard trying to decide what flies and what doesn’t. It’s not gonna, it’s not gonna work for us.

” “I think [it was] a good start to a relationship that we need to renew even more,” Hegseth said. We are now again hearing from US defence secretary Pete Hegseth again, as he’s speaking with reporters after his explosive speech at the Nato ministerial in Brussels this morning. Just as I argued (10:15), he tells them that the message is not new, with many countries already stepping up – but not all of them.

“We will be clear with them, and as we do this review, we’ll change how we look at the continent as a result,” he says. Separately, speaking on Iran, he also notes that a number of European countries are “prepared to step up” to help with the strait of Hormuz. “It’s an international water bill, and frankly, European countries and Asian countries use it a lot more than we do,” he says.

Peter Beaumont in Pavlograd and Warren Murray Ukrainian drones have hit several locations across Moscow, including setting an ⁠oil refinery on fire, sending out flames and towering plumes ⁠of smoke over the city and forcing the capital’s airports to suspend flights. The scale of the long-range attack, apparently designed to shut down operations at the key oil refinery in the Kapotno area, caught most Muscovites by surprise in a city that does not typically warn residents with air raid alarms, and prompted panicked messages on social media. Footage posted online showed three plumes of smoke rising from the refinery.

The strike was the second in two days on the facility, in what the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then called “a just response to Russian strikes”. “Air defence forces are continuing to repel a large-scale attack. Several drones managed to reach the [Moscow oil refinery],” said Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, adding that a shopping centre was also damaged.

He claimed ‌about 180 drones heading for the capital had ‌been downed. Sobyanin said emergency crews were working at the site and also reported “damage” to Sadovod shopping centre in the south-eastern part of the city. At least seven drones appear to have beaten Russia’s air defences to strike targets in the city.

Traffic was halted on Moscow’s ring road near ⁠the refinery, the broadcaster RIA cited ‌the interior ministry as saying, while air traffic was disrupted at Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo, and Zhukovsky airports. Let’s get a bit more on these Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has offered its take on yesterday’s G7 summit – including a supportive statement on Ukraine (Europe Live, Wednesday) – saying that the US president, Donald Trump, was “pumped with” harmful ideas by the EU.

The US had no contacts with Moscow after the meeting, Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov was quoted by Interfax and Reuters as saying. Ushakov also disputed the EU’s assumption that ‌the battlefield situation was changing in Ukraine’s favour. Separately, Nato has agreed to modernise its nuclear capabilities and strengthen ⁠its nuclear planning ⁠capacity, the alliance’s senior body for nuclear deterrence ⁠said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

All Nato allies except ⁠France are members of the Nuclear Planning ‌Group, which ‌serves as a forum ‌for consultation and decision-making on nuclear deterrence. Defence ministers taking part in the meeting “recalled that the strategic nuclear forces ‌of the Alliance remain the supreme guarantee of Allied security and underpin Nato’s extended deterrence architecture,” the statement said. None of this is really new new – Hegseth largely repeats the US’s main frustrations and grievances with the alliance, repeatedly expressed by Trump – but the tone of the delivery is still very, very striking.

Hegseth has laid into Nato allies for not helping enough with bases and overflights during its early Iran operations – and once he did not name any countries, it’s likely targeted at the likes of Spain, Italy, Portugal. In other parts, it is just a broader criticism of what the US sees as “free riding” from the allies, as they do not move quickly enough on spending. Coming just weeks before the Nato summit in Ankara, it is clearly intented to serve as a warning to several of the allies that still don’t spend enough and don’t seem to act with the urgency the US is expecting them to increase that spending – or even offer a credible path towards it.

The proposed posture review – and explicit threat that some of them will fail it – and the suggestion the US could reduce its contributions if others do not pay enough, will make some think twice about their plans in the next few weeks. ” You bet it’s going to be lively. ” “This is the right thing to do by the American people.

It’s the right thing to do by this alliance. ” Hegseth makes it clear that the review will not be just a box-ticking exercise. “It’s a review that some countries will fail and others will pass with flying colours.

” Hegseth says the US will be “doubling down” on its efforts to get allies to spend what they need to spend. He says his department will conduct a six-month review of US forces in Europe. He says it will look at actual benefits of having US military in Europe – and will be a real review.

” He then goes further to say that the US dues to the Nato budget will be contingent on other countries meeting their defence spending targets. “Where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues, contributions will go down. ” He says Trump disagrees.

) Hegseth makes it very clear how the US is annoyed about the perceived lack of support on Iran. “The United States has defended Europe for generations, and the President said all he said was that our jets would need to take off from bases in Europe or our ships from ports to strike targets in the Middle East, Iranian targets that threaten European interests even more directly than they threaten us. But too many of our allies said no, or tried to drown us in arcane legal debates, or criticised us publicly for doing what they aren’t prepared or able to do themselves.

It was shameful. ” Hegseth now goes hard on some Nato countries that are still paying below the expected levels. ” He says he believes the US approach has been validated on Ukraine, with allies taking more responsibility for Ukraine’s defence – and this approach actually yielding positive results.

” He says that’s why his department is “so clear and so candid” about the need to “restore Nato’s core military role and character” and why it’s returned US troop levels to pre-2022. ” He says some countries “got the message and stepped up,” but others are still failing. ” But in another eye-catching quote, he goes on to say: “Europe was not supposed to be a dependency of the United States.

That’s not what Winston Churchill or Charles de Gaulle or Konrad Adenauer wanted or expected. ” “Europe’s borders flew wide open, welfare states expanded, defence budgets cratered, along with Europe’s belief in itself and its civilization. ” Ouch, again.

US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth has asked to speak at the beginning of the Nato ministerial in Brussels, and it very much looks like his comments will set the tone for the day. ” “Nato has been a paper tiger and a one-way street. ” Ouch.

Ukraine hit an oil refinery near Moscow and other targets in Russia overnight in what president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called “a justified response” to recent strikes on Ukraine. Russian officials were quoted as saying that the attack forced commercial flights and airports to be suspended for safety reasons and caused a temporary halt on Moscow’s ring road, after some 180 drones were shot down over the Russian capital. “This is a fully justified response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities, and another important result of our warriors’ work against facilities that sustain Russia’s war machine,” Zelenskyy said.

The strikes come on the day of a Nato ministerial meeting in Brussels, the last before next month’s summit in Ankara. Nato allies are expected to discuss the latest on their defence spending plans, with the US pressing Europe to take more responsibility for the defence of the continent. Later on, the ministers will also take part in the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, a key forum to coordinate on support for Ukraine, which is expected to be attended by Zelenskyy.

The main event comes fairly late in the day, as EU leaders are expected to gather for the European Council meeting on Ukraine and the Middle East. It’s a two-day summit, likely to go late into the night. Lots for us to cover.

It’s Thursday, 18 June 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live. Good morning.