Donald Trump has said the Duke of Sussex “is not speaking for the UK” after Prince Harry urged the United States to honour its obligations in Ukraine. Responding to the duke’s speech at the Kyiv Security Forum, Trump said: “I think I am speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry … But I appreciate his advice very much.” Harry, an ex-serviceman, did not claim to represent Britain, saying he spoke “as a soldier who understands service” and a “humanitarian”.
In his address, Harry highlighted America’s role in assuring Ukraine’s sovereignty after it gave up nuclear weapons. “The United States has a singular role in this story,” he said. “This is a moment for American leadership, a moment for America, to show that it can honour its international treaty obligations – not out of charity but out of its own enduring role in global security and strategic stability.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian MP Marian Zablotskiy revealed he had piloted a drone interceptor from about 2,000km away, calling the remote operation a “historic experiment” and a “breakthrough” in halting the Russian offensive. Drone manufacturer Wild Hornets confirmed his involvement and said it wanted the system to become the primary method of drone control. Defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Ukraine was the first in the world to systematically scale up remote control of interceptor drones, with targets downed at distances of hundreds and thousands of kilometres.
In Russia’s southern town of Tuapse, a fire at an oil terminal hit by Ukraine earlier this week continued to burn. Regional emergency officials said four storage tanks were ablaze, and urged residents to stay indoors because of thick smoke. The attack on Monday was part of Ukrainian efforts to target Russian oil exports that fund the war. Contaminated rainfall on Wednesday left “a black coating on surfaces”, authorities said.
EU leaders completed a long-awaited €90bn loan package for Ukraine, along with a 20th set of sanctions against Russia. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the first €45bn tranche, planned for 2026, could be disbursed by the end of June, with funding going towards Ukrainian domestic drone production – “drones from Ukraine for Ukraine”.
Russian strikes on residential areas in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region killed three people and wounded at least ten, including two girls aged nine and 14, regional officials said. In Russia’s Samara region, one person was killed in a drone strike, and another died in a separate attack in the border region of Belgorod.
