Ukraine war latest: Russia 'reveals secret chat' with MI6 chief - as Zelenskyy warns EU about 'bigger risks' at funding talks

We're pausing our live coverage now - as we await developments from the EU.

The bloc is mulling over plans to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's defence against Russia.

As we've been reporting, most of the €190bn (£166bn) of those assets were frozen after the start of the war in 2022.

They are currently held in Belgium and, specifically, by Euroclear - the Brussels-based financial clearing house - hence the Belgian fears about the legal consequences of using them.

We'll be back tomorrow with the latest - and potentially before then if there is any movement from the EU.

Donald Trump has said he believes talks towards ending the war are "getting close to something".

He was speaking ahead of a US meeting with Russian officials this weekend.

During an Oval Office event, he added: "I hope Ukraine moves quickly."

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said Russia deployed its latest nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile system to Belarus.

He said the missile system arrived in his country yesterday.

However, he did not say how many missiles have been deployed or share any further details.

A British man who fought in Ukraine has been jailed for 13 years for being a paid mercenary, Russian prosecutors say.

Hayden Davies, 30, was tried by a court in Russian-occupied Donetsk today, Russia's Prosecutor General said, and sentenced to 13 years in a maximum security prison camp.

Russian prosecutors released a video of Davies dressed in a black coat and with a shaven head, being questioned behind bars.

When asked if he pleaded guilty to the charge against him, Davies said "yeah" and nodded his head, although it was not clear if he was speaking under duress.

Read the full report here...

The Kremlin believes Russia's relationship with the US is in ruins, Russian state news agency RIA has reported.

However, with progress being made on Ukraine, the Kremlin hopes it can be restored.

If Washington can broker a peace deal, there is a belief that it would boost ties between the two countries. 

In what was her first big speech as MI6 chief, Blaise Metreweli said earlier this week that Russia is trying to "bully, fearmonger and manipulate" Britain and its allies.

Could the Kremlin's claim about having held a secret call with her fall under one those categories?

Russia's foreign spy chief Sergei Naryshkin says he had a "rather lengthy telephone conversation" with Metreweli, "a few days ago" (see our post at 14.53).

Our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes was there during the speech from the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Haynes said Metreweli broke the tradition of other chiefs - who have spoken about a range of threats - and focused solely on Russia, taking aim at Vladimir Putin's devastating war in Ukraine and accusing him of "dragging out negotiations" on a peace deal.

Watch the new MI6 chief speaking...

Metreweli also said in her speech that "we all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO".

Read Haynes's full report on the new spy chief's speech here - which includes a warning about Russia playing games with information...

We've just heard from our military analyst, Michael Clarke, who believes Russia's foreign spy chief Sergei Naryshkin "has his own agenda" after revealing he had a phone call with MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli (see our previous post).

Clarke said the "Brits would never" publicly admit that a phone call had taken place, despite acknowledging that it happens "from time to time". 

"It's very, very sensitive stuff," he said.

"The British head... should never, ever reveal that they've done that, and the fact that Naryshkin is doing it shows that he's got his own agenda."

Clarke believes Moscow is "trying to imply that the Brits are somehow appealing to them... because of the negotiations going on in Washington".

Watch Michael Clarke's full remarks...

We've just got a new report from Russia's state news agency Tass, which has said that Russia's foreign intelligence director had a call with the newly appointed MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli.

Sergei Naryshkin said: "A few days ago, I had a rather lengthy telephone conversation with the newly appointed chief of MI6 Metreweli."

He added that Russian intelligence officers worked officially in London while MI6 officers worked officially in Moscow, according to Tass.

Russia will take action if the US decides to resume nuclear testing, its top military chief has said.

Valery Gerasimov told Russia's Interfax state news agency that Washington had not yet responded to Russian proposals for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty - or New START - an agreement with the US designed to limit the use of nuclear weapons.

The current agreement is due to expire on 5 February next year.

"If these tests are resumed by the American side, appropriate countermeasures will follow," Gerasimov said. 

After holding a press conference in Brussels in the last hour, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has further explained his views on using frozen Russian assets on social media.

In a series of short posts on X, echoing his speech to the European Council, Ukraine's president said Russia had lost "everything it tried to use to threaten or break" Kyiv and Europe.

He continued: "If we’ve all achieved so much, then how can the European Union break now? 

"The decision now on the table – the decision to fully use Russian assets to defend against Russian aggression – is one of the clearest and most morally justified decisions that could ever be made."

It must be Europe that makes the decision over the frozen assets, not someone from the outside, Zelenskyy said.

"And if – or when – this decision is made to fully use Russian assets to defend against Russian aggression, then it will become clear to everyone over time – this was the right choice, and it made Europe stronger."

He added: "I know that Russia is intimidating different countries over this decision. But we should not be afraid of threats – we should be afraid of Europe being weak."

The Ukrainian president also argued that the EU could benefit if the war continues - with the money being used by Ukraine to pay for weapons made by European firms.