Won’t accept curbs on military, Kyiv tells US

Ukraine has told the US that accepting curbs on the size of its armed forces or on its military’s overall readiness would be a red line, a senior Ukrainian official said, as Donald Trump strives to negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he wants the size of Ukraine’s army to be limited. He has also said Kyiv must drop its ambitions to join NATO and that Moscow must control the entirety of four Ukrainian regions it claims as its own.

“This is a principled position of Ukraine — no one, and certainly not the aggressor country Russia, will dictate to Ukraine what kind of armed forces Ukraine should have,” the senior official, Pavlo Palisa, told the media in an interview.

155 Chinese fighting for Putin

Zelenskyy said Ukraine is aware of at least 155 Chinese nationals fighting for Russia and accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to their recruitment and allowing them to participate in the invasion of his country.