Nato chief commends Berlin’s decision while Ukrainian leader says Putin trying to apply military pressure on Ukraine before Trump meeting. What we know on day 1,268

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Germany plans to fund a $500m package of military equipment and munitions for Ukraine sourced from the US, Nato said on Wednesday. Alliance chief Mark Rutte commended Germany for the decision, saying: “This delivery will help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.” Germany’s foreign and defence ministries said the support was focused on equipment such as “critical air defence capabilities” against Russian airstrikes that were “killing more and more civilians throughout Ukraine”. The Netherlands and Sweden have also pledged major contributions.

Germany’s move came as Donald Trump said there would be “very severe consequences” if Vladimir Putin did not agree to stop his war in Ukraine after the summit between the US and Russian presidents in Alaska this Friday. The US president’s comment came after a virtual meeting with European leaders including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told the group that Putin “is bluffing” about seeking peace. “He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front,” Zelenskyy said, amid a sharp thrust from Russian forces into eastern Ukraine in recent days. “Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine,” he said. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the leaders had a “constructive and good” discussion with Trump.

Trump suggested to the group that he would push for a second summit if his meeting with Putin went well – this time including Zelenskyy , reports Patrick Wintour.“If the first one goes OK, we’ll have a quick second one,” Trump told reporters in Washington. “I would like to do it almost immediately, and we’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelenskyy and myself, if they’d like to have me there.” Trump’s remarks followed what he described as a very good call with the European leaders in which he consulted about the goal and strategy for his summit. He pleased Europe’s leadership by giving reassurances that a ceasefire was his priority and he would not make any territorial concessions without Kyiv’s full involvement.

Keir Starmer said there was now a “viable” chance for a Ukraine ceasefire . The British prime minister said ahead of the Trump-Putin talks that Ukraine’s military backers – the so-called coalition of the willing – had drawn up workable military plans in case of a ceasefire but were also ready to add pressure on Russia through sanctions. “For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near ... a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer told the European meeting. “Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the [US] president has put in.”

Russia wants to include the topic of a reduction in Nato troops’ presence in any conversations about the future of Ukraine, the Polish prime minister said . Donald Tusk told reporters on Wednesday: “That is why it is so important that we build such a strong and united group of states, both in relation to Russia but also in relation to other allies, like the United States.”

Russian hackers briefly took control of a dam in Norway earlier this year, the country’s counter-intelligence agency chief said on Wednesday, the first time Oslo has officially attributed the cyberattack to its neighbour. While in command of the dam in Bremanger, western Norway, on 7 April, the hackers opened a flood gate and released 500 litres (132 gallons) of water a second for four hours before the attack was detected and stopped, authorities previously said. No one was injured. The UK’s spy chief accused Russia in September last year of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe, partly to scare European countries from helping Ukraine. Moscow denies the allegation.