Australia is to give 49 superseded M1A1 tanks to Ukraine, whose president sent his thanks for the “brave” donation which he described as essential assistance in its defence against Russia’s invasion. Some will need refurbishment first, or could be used for spare parts as Ukrainian soldiers are already using American M1A1 tanks, also known as the Abrams, donated by the US. Australia’s most recent A$245m aid package for Ukraine also includes air defence missiles, guided weapons, anti-tank weapons, artillery, mortars and small arms ammunition.

The tanks bring Australia’s total military aid contribution to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 to A$1.3bn, which includes 120 Bushmaster vehicles. Australia’s defence industry minister, Pat Conroy, told national broadcaster the ABC: “We’re really privileged to be the largest non-Nato contributor of military assistance.” Australia is upgrading to the M1A2 version of the Abrams tank.

A Russian military officer recently returned from fighting in Ukraine was assassinated in a village in the Moscow region, the Russia’s Tass state news agency has reported. The victim was named as Nikita Klenkov, whom the independent news outlet Important Stories named as a high-ranking officer in the GRU military intelligence service. Tass said at least three shots were fired into the side window of his moving car and it crashed into a fence.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend a Nato defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday, according to a Nato agenda. Zelenskyy unveiled his “victory plan” on Wednesday. Its major points include an invitation for Ukraine to join Nato and permission to use western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets inside Russia – steps that have been met with reluctance by Kyiv’s allies so far. In his remarks to Ukraine’s parliament Zelenskyy said that in private communications with Ukraine its partners were increasingly mentioning “negotiations” and much less frequently using the word “justice”. He reiterated that Ukraine was not prepared for a “frozen conflict” or any “trade-offs involving territory or sovereignty”.

North Korea must face sanctions for taking Russia’s side in the war, Ukraine has told its allies. Zelenskyy told Ukraine’s parliament on Wednesday that spy services had confirmed North Korea’s supply of both weapons and personnel. “These are workers for Russian factories to replace Russians killed in the war. And personnel for the Russian army. In fact, this is the participation of a second state in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia.” The Kremlin has denied the allegation of North Korea sending people. Justin McCurry, the Guardian’s correspondent in Tokyo, goes into the details of how North Korean troops are believed to be involved.

The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said North Korea’s involvement posed a “huge threat of further escalation. We are approaching a new phase, new realities of war.” The US army’s Indo-Pacific commander, Gen Charles Flynn, told an event in Washington that North Korean personnel being involved in the conflict would allow Pyongyang to get real-time feedback on its weapons, something that had not been possible in the past.

Joe Biden will be in Germany on Friday on a whirlwind trip and hold talks with the chancellor, Olaf Scholz. The White House said the US president and Scholz would “coordinate on geopolitical priorities, including Ukraine’s defence against Russian aggression and events in the Middle East”. The US president and the chancellor could be joined by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, according to unconfirmed media reports.

Biden spoke to Zelenskyy on Wednesday and announced $425m in further military aid including air defences, munitions and armoured vehicles, the White House said.

Six Russian soldiers who fled the war in Ukraine have been granted temporary visas as they apply for political asylum in France, in what human rights activists describe as the first major case of a group of deserters being admitted to a EU country. The men arrived in Paris on separate flights over the last few months after initially fleeing Russia to Kazakhstan in 2022 and 2023, according to an organisation that assists soldiers in fleeing, and to accounts from the deserters.

A Polish court has sentenced a 26-year-old Ukrainian identified as Oleksandr D to two years and eight months’ imprisonment for trying to recruit a Polish citizen to spy against military aid efforts to Ukraine. The convicted man had sought “to send photos of military vehicles headed to Ukraine as part of the aid”, security services spokesman Jacek Dobrzynski said. In exchange the Polish recruit was to receive a payment of €15,000, Dobrzynski said without specifying if he had accepted. The planned recipient of the photos was believed to be Russia.

Russia claimed to have captured two more Ukrainian villages: Krasnyi Yar, south of the town of Myrnograd, which lies close to Pokrovsk; and Nevske, which lies in the Luhansk region, near the border with the Donetsk region. There was no independent confirmation, while the Institute for the Study of War reported attacks or advances in those locations and others.