New intelligence reviewed by US and Western officials suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin may have shifted his immediate focus in the Ukraine war towards the shorter-term objectives of solidifying his hold on territory his forces have seized as well as boosting his country’s struggling economy,

Donald Trump has made a dramatic U-turn on his stance on the Ukraine-Russia war after he acknowledged Russia's “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine for the first time in his presidency as part of his newly agreed minerals deal with Kyiv.