The head of the CIA told his Russian counterpart to make a deal with Ukraine as Moscow’s position deteriorates during a secretive visit this week, according to a report.
US officials told the New York Times that CIA director John Ratcliffe presented FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov with evidence of the enormous price Russia has paid for relatively small gains in Ukraine, attributed to Kyiv’s “mastery” of drone technology.
The CIA boss urged that Russia should enter serious negotiations with Ukraine to end the war given their difficulties on the ground and mounting economic woes, the sources claimed in comments to the newspaper.
Mr Ratcliffe flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with his intelligence counterparts in the first visit by a CIA director since 2021, when William Burns warned Russia against sending troops into Ukraine.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ratcliffe also brought up the possibility of a Russian operation against a Nato member and Russia’s continued support for Iran during the meeting.
Russia nonetheless on Thursday warned that British military installations and equipment in and outside of Ukraine could be targeted in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory carried out using British weapons, after the UK offered Kyiv access to technology to make missiles.
Watch: Kyiv region faces repeated strikes as rescuers continue work
James Reynolds28 August 2026 12:45
Recap: Donald Trump says Putin will not attack Nato
Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian president Vladimir Putin will not attack a Nato country, playing down reports that the head of the CIA warned Moscow against such an attack this week.
“He’s not going to attack a NATO territory,” Trump said of the Russian leader while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
Earlier in the day, Trump told Axios that there would be no such attack, and that CIA director John Ratcliffe, who flew to Russia on Tuesday to meet briefly with intelligence counterparts, had not been dispatched to deliver any particular message.
“Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message and there was nothing unusual,” Trump told the news outlet.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 12:15
‘We do a big shop and stock up on dry goods’: Readers on how they’re preparing for food shortages
The government is preparing to tell Britons to stock up on tinned food and bottled water, as ministers step up planning for extreme weather and potential attacks on the UK’s infrastructure.
The advice comes against a backdrop of heightened tension with Russia over Britain’s support for Ukraine, as well as a summer of heatwaves that has left farmers warning of the worst food security crisis in decades.
For many readers, the advice was nothing new. Dozens described habits many had already adopted – stocking up on tinned goods, running solar-powered freezers, growing their own veg – driven less by the cost of living.
Here’s what you had to say:
James Reynolds28 August 2026 11:45
Top story: Russia threatens to bomb UK military bases over support for Ukraine
Maria Zakharova told the same Moscow news briefing earlier that Britain and France were “playing with fire” by supplying sensitive missile technology to Ukraine.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 11:15
The Independent View: Six months on, Donald Trump’s Iranian ‘excursion’ must end
Editorial: Iran was clearly the wrong war for America to intervene in, not just because it was so senseless, but because there were others where US power and prestige could have been more fruitfully deployed.
The most obvious is, of course, Ukraine, where, had Mr Trump continued the policies of his predecessor (and of his own instincts in his first term, when the trouble was brewing), it is quite conceivable that Ukraine might well have prevailed by now, armed as it would have been with all the weaponry and anti-missile defences that have been squandered in and around the Persian Gulf.
Read the full story:
James Reynolds28 August 2026 10:45
The latest: Russia strikes Ukraine’s capital with waves of drones
Russia launched waves of drones at Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and surrounding region on Friday, damaging warehouses and homes in a second consecutive day of strikes Ukrainian officials said were an attempt to derail daily life for millions of residents.
At least one person was killed outside Kyiv, said Governor Tymur Tkachenko, adding that 14 warehouse premises, 16 homes and three blocks of apartment buildings had been damaged.
Frequent air-raid sirens blared throughout the city on Friday morning, a day after an hours-long missile and drone attack on Ukraine that targeted major retailers and consumer logistics in Kyiv and elsewhere.
Those strikes continued on Friday, destroying sorting centres belonging to Ukraine’s top private courier Nova Poshta near Kyiv and in the northern city of Sumy, the company said.
In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian drone tore into major home-improvement store Epicenter, wounding at least four people, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Friday.
Reuters28 August 2026 10:35
Ukraine thanks EU members for push to restart debate around using frozen Russian assets
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on Friday that Kyiv was grateful to four European Union member states for their initiative to reopen the debate on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine.
“Russia refuses to end the war and escalates terror instead. Ukraine needs to bridge gaps for growing defense expenditures and recovery costs.”
“It is only fair and logical to use Russian assets, rather than only European taxpayers money’, to cover additional costs of defending Ukraine and the rest of Europe from the Russian threat,” he said, adding that he was looking forward to talks with EU colleagues next week to “examine paths forward”.
The four states that proposed reopening the debate are the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 10:15
The latest: Nearly 1,500,000 Russian casualties in Ukraine since 2022, says Kyiv
Ukraine’s general staff claims in its daily update that Russia has lost 1,483,780 troops in Ukraine since 24 February 2022.
That includes an additional 1,630 recorded over the past day, they say.
James Reynolds28 August 2026 09:45
Three suspects accused of plotting arson attack on Ukrainian drone maker
Three suspects allegedly planned an arson attack on a drone factory operated by Skyeton, a Ukrainian-founded company in eastern Slovakia, prosecutors said.
“The attack was supposed to aim at the Skyeton company’s factory,” a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor’s office said.
A 26-year-old Latvian suspect was detained in Hamburg and faces extradition proceedings, while Slovak authorities said a Latvian and a Ukrainian had been detained in Slovakia.
Skyeton makes drones for civilian and military use.
Maroosha Muzaffar28 August 2026 09:15
Six Russian drones cross into Moldova’s airspace
Six Russian drones crossed into the airspace of neighbouring Moldova during the latest wave of attacks on Ukraine, according to local authorities.
One of the drones was later found on Moldovan territory.
Moldovan president Maia Sandu “strongly condemn[ed] this intimidation” as the incident raised fresh concerns about the conflict spilling beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Maroosha Muzaffar28 August 2026 08:45
