Ukraine-Russia war live: Blow to Putin's forces as weapons destroyed as Zelensky claims battlefield victories

Pope Francis will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

A summit of Ukraine's key allies in Ramstein, Germany, has been postponed after U.S. President Joe Biden canceled a planned trip abroad, organizers announced.

Biden canceled trips to Germany and Angola on Tuesday, a setback to plans for the highest-ever meeting of the Ramstein Group of Ukrainian arms donors aimed at underscoring Kiev's unwavering support against the Russian invasion.

“The October 12, 2024 event is postponed,” the U.S. public affairs office at Ramstein Air Base said in an email to reporters. “Announcements about future meetings of the Defense Contact Group of Ukraine will be made shortly.”

The Ramstein group was scheduled to meet on the sidelines of Biden's state visit to Germany from Oct. 10 to 13, which would have been the first U.S. state visit in nearly 40 years.

But the White House said Biden was delaying his trip to oversee Hurricane Milton preparations and relief efforts after another hurricane killed more than 200 people last month.

“It was clear that Biden had to send the signal that he cares about domestic policy – ​​so close to the (US) elections,” said Stefan Mair, director of the German foreign policy think tank SWP. “I don’t see this (shift) as a downgrade of Ukraine’s importance.”

A Russian court has found Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine released by Russia in a prisoner swap in 2022, guilty in absentia of serving as a mercenary for Ukraine and sentenced him to 14 1/2 years in prison sentenced for years.

The Russian Investigative Committee, which looks into serious crimes, said Reed joined the Ukrainian army in July 2023 and “participated directly on the side of the Ukrainian security forces in combat operations” against Russian troops in Ukraine.

It said it had put Reed on the international wanted list.

Reed could not immediately be reached for comment. The US State Department said last July that he had been injured in fighting in Ukraine and had been transferred to Germany for medical treatment.

Reed, born in 1991, was convicted in Russia in 2019 for drunkenly endangering the lives of two police officers during a visit to Moscow. The USA described his trial as a “theater of the absurd”.

He was released in April 2022 as part of a prisoner swap in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been convicted of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

Separately, a Russian court on Monday sentenced 72-year-old American Stephen James Hubbard to nearly seven years in prison for serving as a mercenary for Ukraine.

Lithuania has fortified a bridge crossing towards the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the Defense Ministry said.

Several bridges would also be destroyed, it said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Fortifications will be supported by firepower when necessary to detain and destroy the enemy,” they said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda will not travel to a summit on Ukraine in Ramstein, Germany, because it will not take place as planned after U.S. President Joe Biden decided not to attend, Duda's adviser said.

“The (Polish) president will not travel to Ramstein because this meeting will not take place in Ramstein,” said Duda’s foreign policy adviser Mieszko Pawlak Reuters. “(The meeting) is postponed… but at the moment we have no information about when that will be.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Croatia to discuss “further defense cooperation.”

He will also take part in the third summit between Ukraine and Southeast Europe.