Keir Starmer defends uncertainty over defence spending target June 2, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has defended not setting a precise date for when the UK will deliver its “ambition” to spend three per cent of GDP on defence. The Prime Minister is facing backlash after the government appeared to row back from an important target ahead of Monday’s strategic defence review announcement. Starmer told the BBC [...]
Ukrainian girl killed and another hurt in Russian missile attack May 31, 2025 A Russian missile has hit a front-line region in Ukraine, killing a child and injuring another, as uncertainty remains as to whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul. Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into [...]
North Sea windfall tax causing ‘irreversible damage’ says oil giant May 27, 2025 The boss of Enquest has slammed the windfall tax on oil and gas firms as doing “irreversible damage” to the industry and “driving job losses across the sector”. Amjad Bseisu, Enquest’s chief executive, called for the North Sea tax to be scrapped in an operations update on Tuesday after claiming it makes the UK a [...]
Defence boom will continue long after Ukraine war, says Panmure May 19, 2025 An end to hostilties in Ukraine would only be a short-term setback for the share price of European defence manufacturers, according to analysts. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (ISS) said last week that in the case of a mid-2025 ceasefire in Ukraine, Russia could rearm and attack a Baltic state as soon as 2027. [...]
UK condemns Russian drone strike that left nine dead in Ukraine May 17, 2025 The UK has condemned a Russian drone attack that killed nine people in Ukraine early on Saturday. The attack, which struck a passenger bus in Ukraine’s north-eastern Sumy region, came just hours after the first face-to-face talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “appalled” by the [...]
Trump’s apparent change of heart on Russia ‘welcome’, says senior minister April 27, 2025 Donald Trump’s apparent change of heart about Russia is “welcome”, a senior UK minister has signalled. The US president turned his criticism towards Vladimir Putin on Saturday after meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on the fringes of the Pope’s funeral in Rome. Images of the encounter within the Vatican showed the two leaders locked in [...]
Ukraine and Russia agree to prisoner swap as Putin announces ceasefire April 19, 2025 Russia and Ukraine said on Saturday they had swapped hundreds of prisoners in the largest exchange since the Russian full-scale invasion started over three years ago. Russia’s ministry of defence said that 246 Russian service members were returned from territory controlled by Kyiv and that, “as a gesture of goodwill”, 31 wounded Ukrainian prisoners of [...]
Russia says it has taken another village from Ukrainian forces in Kursk region April 19, 2025 Kremlin forces have pushed Ukrainian troops from one of their last remaining footholds in Russia’s Kursk region, officials said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces took control of the village of Oleshnya, on the border with Ukraine. The “Units of the North military group have liberated the village of Oleshnya in the Kursk region during [...]
High income households could pay more for electricity, Ofgem says April 16, 2025 High-earning households could be forced to front more of the cost for running and upgrading the UK’s energy network, Ofgem has said. Jonathan Brearley, the boss of the energy regulator, told a briefing on Tuesday that wealthier households may have to pay more via the standing charge on their energy bills, while those out of [...]
Trump condemns Putin as two killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine March 30, 2025 Donald Trump has hit out at Russian President Vladimir Putin for comments he made about the leader of Ukraine. The US president was speaking after Russian drones hit a military hospital, shopping centre and apartment blocks in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, killing two people and wounding dozens. In an interview with NBC News, he [...]