Closing summary
We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Russia and Ukraine coverage here.
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
The coming winter will prove the “sternest test yet” for Ukraine’s energy grid since Russia’s invasion, with numerous power plants destroyed or damaged, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. Putting forward a 10-point plan for Ukraine to safeguard its war-battered energy security, the IEA also warned of problems for neighbouring Moldova’s electricity supply after Ukraine stops allowing the transit of Russian gas at the end of 2024.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would “probably” meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who will be in the US next week to address a meeting of the UN security council on Russia’s war in his country. “Probably, yes,” Trump said in response to a question from a reporter about whether he will meet the Ukrainian leader. Trump did not provide further details.
Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Russian military received about 140,000 drones in 2023 and that Moscow plans to increase this number tenfold in 2024. “Whoever reacts faster to these demands on the battlefield wins,” Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at a meeting in St Petersburg about developing drone production.
A senior Russian lawmaker on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russia with western weapons would lead to nuclear war and that Moscow’s response would be tough with more powerful weapons. Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that what the European Parliament was proposing would lead to a “global war with the use of nuclear weapons.”
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Kyiv on Friday and meet president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as the bloc seeks to help Ukraine weather Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure. “I will be travelling to Kyiv to discuss these matters in person with president Zelenskiy tomorrow in our efforts to help Ukraine,” von der Leyen told a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.
The sum of €160m from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets will be allocated to meet Ukraine’s urgent humanitarian needs for this winter, von der Leyen said on Thursday. She added that a fuel power plant is being dismantled in Lithuania and will be rebuilt in Ukraine, where 80% of the country’s thermal plants have been destroyed.
Russia’s campaign of airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy grid probably violates international humanitarian law, a UN monitoring body said on Thursday. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) focused its report on nine waves of strikes between March and August 2024. HRMMU cited experts as saying that Ukrainians should expect power outages of between four and 18 hours a day this winter.
Germany has planned almost €400m ($445m) in extra military aid for Ukraine this year despite a row over budgetary constraints, according to a finance ministry document seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday. The additional funds are needed to “fulfil the German government’s support commitments to the Ukrainian armed forces”, the letter to the parliamentary budget committee said.
One elderly woman was killed and two other women were injured by Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, governor Ivan Fedorov said on Thursday. Russian forces shelled the region 161 times over the past 24 hours, damaging infrastructure facilities and residential buildings, he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday it had shot down all 42 drones and one of four missiles used by Russia during overnight attacks. Air defences went into operation in nine Ukrainian regions, the air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the central Dnipropetrovsk region, said the air force had shot down one missile over his region, and that no one was hurt there. Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said six people were injured in a Russian attack on the eastern town of Kupiansk, eight km (five miles) from the frontline. Civilian infrastructure, a school, a kindergarten and 10 apartment buildings were damaged in the city of Kharkiv, he said. An educational institution was also damaged in the Cherkasy region, regional governor Ihor Taburets said.
Russian forces have taken control of the village of Heorhiivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the RIA state news agency cited the defence ministry as saying on Thursday. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report, the latest in a series of reports by Russia of gains in eastern Ukraine.
Russia attacked energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy overnight, Ukraine’s national grid operator Ukrenergo said on Thursday. The attack caused a temporary power cut in the region, Ukrenergo said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
A Russian court jailed a student for almost two months on Thursday for making positive statements about a Ukrainian paramilitary unit that Moscow classifies as a “terrorist” group. The RIA Novosti news agency reported that the 19-year-old male student was accused of “publicly justifying terrorism” and has been placed in detention for “one month and 28 days”.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indefinitely postponed a staff mission to Moscow this week to review the Russian economy for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, after the move came under heavy criticism from several of Kyiv’s European allies. After revelations in the Guardian of widespread condemnation, the IMF said it would spend more time gathering information for a “rigorous analysis”.
Romania’s supreme defence council said on Thursday it has discussed additional measures to discourage and combat recent escalations in the Black Sea region which should be enforced nationally with support from Nato but did not offer details. Defence ministers from Nato’s eastern flank including Romania said on Wednesday Nato needed to enact a robust response to incidents in which Russian missiles or drones fired at Ukraine enter the alliance’s airspace.
North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui discussed expanding bilateral relations with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday, North Korea’s state media KCNA reported on Thursday. Earlier this week, Russia’s embassy in North Korea said Choe had flown to Russia.
The controversial documentary “Russians at War” will be shown at the Zurich film festival (ZFF) next month despite harsh criticism from Kyiv, the event’s director said on Thursday. Ukraine added Russian-Canadian film-maker Anastasia Trofimova, who directed the documentary, to a national security blacklist on Monday, saying it spread “Russian propaganda” about Moscow’s invasion.
Russian lawmaker warns Ukrainian strikes on Russia would lead to nuclear war
A senior Russian lawmaker on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russia with western weapons would lead to nuclear war and that Moscow’s response would be tough with more powerful weapons.
The European Parliament voted in favour of letting Kyiv hit Russian targets with western weapons, reports Reuters.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament, said that what the European Parliament was proposing would lead to a “global war with the use of nuclear weapons.”
