Burnham Bars Putin From Manchester G20

British prime minister Andy Burnham said Vladimir Putin wouldn’t be invited to next year’s G20 summit in Manchester, where host governments traditionally invite every member. The answer to The Economist was one word: “No.” Russia remains a member of the Group of Twenty despite Western efforts to isolate it after its invasion of Ukraine. The summit’s guest list is set by political leaders; the people living through the war have no such say.

Summit invitations and state power

Burnham’s decision breaks with president Donald Trump. In September, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had invited Putin to a G20 meeting in Miami in December, giving him an opportunity to engage with President Donald Trump and other world leaders. Two governments, two choices about access to the same international forum. Burnham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the White House, Melania Trump was due to host representatives from Russia and Ukraine on Thursday. The White House described the meeting as “an unprecedented diplomatic initiative by an American first lady” and said Trump would deliver remarks about a six-day local ceasefire around the Russian-held town of Oleshky, which she helped mediate. The diplomatic language sits alongside reports of people killed and trapped under rubble.

Volodymyr Zelensky condemned a Russian bombing that killed at least 40 people at a school in Komyshuvakha, in southeastern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Search-and-rescue operations continued three days after Moscow dropped nine aerial bombs on the settlement. Separately, Zaporizhzhia police said the death toll from a Russian bombing of an aid distribution point on Monday had risen to 42 by Thursday, with up to 33 people still buried beneath rubble. Ivan Fedorov, co-head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Defense Council, had said on Wednesday that 59 people were missing.

Reuters-verified bodycam footage from one of the police officers killed showed the moments before a second Russian strike hit and destroyed a shelter where residents were hiding after a radio warning. Ukraine’s national police said the strikes included a 3-ton FAB glide bomb. Russia’s Defence Ministry said the attack targeted Ukrainian military units around Komyshuvakha and two other settlements, and that up to 25 Ukrainian servicemen were killed. The competing official accounts arrive amid the search for people beneath the rubble.

War decisions, civilian costs

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, said Russian players wouldn’t compete at the world junior championship in Canada next month. “While Russia and Belarus are supporting this illegal, unjustified, horrific war in Ukraine, as long as that's going on, there will be none of those athletes competing for their countries in Canada,” he said. The move followed a Court of Arbitration for Sport decision to lift the ban on Russian participation in International Ice Hockey Federation events, saying safety concerns “were not supported by sufficient evidence.” Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Latvia and the Czech Republic had also opposed playing Russian teams.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha thanked European countries for “refusing to share the ice with Russia.” He also urged countries to “Refuse to play against Russia and deny visas to its players,” adding: “A war of aggression and hockey are incompatible.” These are decisions by governments and sporting bodies over who may represent a country; they don’t end the attacks reported from Ukraine.

Zelensky said he hoped Democratic gains in US midterm elections would bring more help for Ukraine. Speaking to Germany’s ZDF television, he said Democrats spoke clearly about supporting Ukraine and providing assistance, and expressed hope that a change in the balance of power would bring more support. He arrived in Spain for talks on boosting Kyiv’s air defences and meetings during the Ibero-American summit. He also said talks with US officials were planned ahead of three-way talks in Abu Dhabi next week, including Russia.

Aid beyond official ceremonies

British volunteers said public willingness to financially support Ukraine was declining, citing donor fatigue and other global crises. Graeme Reavley, 69, from Northumberland, had made 21 trips to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, delivering 50 vehicles through his independent aid organisation, which had raised around £150,000. “There are a lot of other issues in the world requiring people's support,” he told the BBC. He said fundraising had become harder, while donations of clothing, sleeping bags and fire extinguishers had increased.

British paramedic science lecturer Kate Snowdon, who recently delivered a vehicle and medical supplies to Lviv, warned: “There's a real concern that everyday people are going to be forgotten in all of this.” Her account points to practical aid organised outside the summit rooms, as volunteers try to keep supplies moving.

In the Black Sea, Bulgarian border police responded to drone attacks on commercial ships off the coasts of Bulgaria and Romania. Over 24 days in October, nine cargo ships and tankers were struck by aerial or naval drones, and at least 30 sailors were confirmed dead or reported missing. Bulgarian patrol crews helped the 15 members of the Chelsea 3, a Ukraine-operated cargo ship sailing under a Maltese flag, after it was hit by three drones. Nikolay Monev, who commands the border police base in Sozopol, said its vessels served as a first response. Established in 2013 with EU funding, the base kept between two and five vessels on active duty, supported by coastal stations with radar, thermal imaging and daylight cameras.

A Ukrainian drone attack killed three members of the same family, including an eight-year-old child, in Russia’s Belgorod region on Wednesday, officials said. Russian-installed governor Leonid Pasechnik said seven people were killed in two separate attacks on buses in Russian-controlled Ukraine’s Luhansk region on Thursday, with 14 injured, including two boys aged 15 and 17. Leaders decide who meets, who is excluded and what support is promised. The dead and the missing are counted elsewhere.