Russia talking down Medvedev’s influence after nuclear threats; oligarch’s superyacht goes on sale with proceeds to Ukraine. What we know on day 1,260

Lithuania has called for Nato help to boost its air defences after Russian military drones repeatedly violated its airspace. “Last Monday, a Russian military drone violated Lithuanian airspace,” said Kęstutis Budrys, the foreign minister in Vilnius. “This marks the second such incident in less than a month. Similar airspace violations have also been reported recently by other allies.”

Budrys added that he and the defence minister, Dovilė Šakalienė, had asked the Nato secretary general for “immediate measures to enhance air defence capabilities in Lithuania and accelerate the full implementation of the rotational air defence model. Air defence is vital to allied security. Securing Nato’s eastern flank must remain a top priority for the alliance.”

Amid the nuclear row between Donald Trump and Dmitry Medvedev , the Kremlin has moved to play down the latter’s role in Russian decision-making, the Institute for the Study of War has said. The thinktank said Medvedev was subsequently being portrayed as having a “different assessment” from Putin on nuclear issues. An ISW assessment said: “The Kremlin regularly uses Medvedev to introduce nuclear threats into the Russian and international information spaces.” Medvedev, a high-ranked official who was once prime minister of Russia, as well as a proxy for Putin in the presidency, accused Trump of taking “a step towards war” by tightening an ultimatum for Russia to seek peace. Trump in response said he had moved two nuclear submarines into position “just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that”.

The ISW further assessed that “Kremlin officials utilised three main framings to respond to Trump’s decision to redeploy the submarines: posing Trump’s decision to redeploy the submarines as “emotional,” discounting the threat that this decision poses to Russia, and posturing Russia as a more responsible international actor than the United States … These official Russian responses ignore the Kremlin’s history of frequently using nuclear saber-rattling to push the west to make decisions that benefit Russia.

On the battlefield, the ISW said that Ukrainian forces had recently advanced near Pokrovsk, which Russian forces have been trying to capture since at least July 2024 . Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Siversk, Toretsk, and Velykomykhailivka, the institute said. Russian claimed on Tuesday to have captured the village of Sichneve in east-central Dnipropetrovsk region. The Reuters news agency, which carried the claim, said it could not independently confirm it.

Donald Trump has said he will make a decision on whether to sanction countries that purchase Russian oil after a meeting with Russian officials scheduled for Wednesday. That is when Steve Witkoff – real estate promoter, friend of Trump and officially his Russia envoy – is due to meet with Russian leadership in Moscow. A Bloomberg report suggested that Putin might agree to a ceasefire in terms of airstrike but not on the ground. Also on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that Trump’s administration is considering additional sanctions on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers that illicitly move Russian oil.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, said on Tuesday he’d had a “productive” conversation with Trump about ending the war, sanctions on Russia and the finalisation of a US-Ukraine drone deal. Ukraine, he said, had long supported US proposals for an immediate ceasefire and had proposed a number of formats to implement a halt to the fighting. “We have spoken with and proposed to Russia quiet in the skies, no missile and drone attacks and specifically no attacks on civilian infrastructure or on the energy sector. All of this has been violated by the Russians and in a very cynical fashion .”

The $300m superyacht of a sanctioned Russian billionaire is being auctioned off . The 348-foot (106-metre) Amadea was seized in Fiji in April 2022 from its former owner, Suleiman Kerimov, and is berthed in San Diego California. The auction is being held by National Maritime Services, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, company. Sealed bids are being accepted until 10 September subject to a $10m deposit. The US Congress has passed legislation allowing the sale of seized Russian assets to fund humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.