Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that 50,000 Russian soldiers called up as part of his mobilisation drive were now serving with combat units in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported. Read our live blog to see how the day's events unfold. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).
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12:07am: North Korea denies US claim it shipped weapons to Russia
North Korea has denied American claims that it's shipping artillery shells and ammunition to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, and on Tuesday accused the United States of lying.
The denial follows dozens of weapons tests by North Korea, including short-range missiles that are likely nuclear-capable and an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the U.S. mainland. Pyongyang said it was testing the missiles and artillery so it could “mercilessly” strike key South Korean and U.S. targets if it chose to.
North Korea has been cozying up to traditional ally Russia in recent years and even hinted at sending workers to help rebuild Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. The United States has accused North Korea, one of the most weaponized countries in the world, of supplying Soviet-era ammunition such as artillery shells, to replenish Russian stockpiles that have been depleted in the Ukraine.
11:50pm: Zelensky: Russia must be forced into "genuine peace negotiations"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday it was vital to oblige Russia to participate in "genuine" peace talks, describing the country as a destabilizing force on a range of issues, including climate change.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy decried "Russia's destabilizing influence" as the world confronted war, energy and food crises, and what he called the destruction of customary international relations. The climate agenda, he said, was "really suffering" but could not be "put on hold."
"So anyone serious about the climate agenda must also be serious about the need to immediately stop Russian aggression, restore our territorial integrity, and force Russia into genuine peace negotiations," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy also said he had not ruled out adding to the list of large companies that could be taken over as part of Ukraine's war effort.
"I do not rule out further similar decisions," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, hours after the government announced it had taken control over stakes in five large firms.
9:33pm: Zelensky says hundreds of Russians killed daily near Donetsk
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Donetsk region in the east remained the "epicentre" of fighting in the conflict, with hundreds of Russians being killed every day.
"The Donetsk region remains the epicenter of the greatest madness of the occupiers," Zelensky said in his nightly video address. "They are being killed in their hundreds every day. The ground in front of Ukrainian positions is littered with bodies of the occupiers."
The towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka are the focal points of the heaviest fighting in Donetsk region.
8:55pm: White House vows 'unwavering' Ukraine support even if GOP wins midterms
The White House on Monday said US support for Ukraine's war effort will be "unwavering" even if Republicans, who have expressed concerns about the level of spending, win midterm elections.
"We are confident the United States' support will be unflinching and will be unwavering," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
She said President Joe Biden is "committed to work in a bipartisan fashion, as he has been doing, to support Ukraine".
7:05pm: 'Huge areas of Kyiv without electricity'
"Huge areas of Kyiv [have been] without electricity for many hours throughout the day and in fact just further along my street it's completely in the dark," FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reported from Kyiv. "A lot of buildings have got generators outside now; I don't think it's very many private apartments that have got themselves generators. But clearly some businesses, clinics, places like that. So you can hear the sound of generators whirring in the street a lot."
5:28pm: Russians face strategic 'dilemma' around Kherson
“We're facing a situation of smoke and mirrors from the Russian side and from the Ukrainian side a virtual blackout on information as they try to disguise what they're doing military in the area around the city of Kherson,” said FRANCE 24 Chief Foreign Editor Robert Parsons. “We know that the Ukrainians have certainly made progress over the last few weeks but nothing like the speed that they were making progress a month or so ago.”
“But what they're doing is they're pressing the Russians up against the Dnipro River – a big river behind Kherson,” Parsons continued. “And the dilemma facing the Russians, and this is what this is all about at the moment, is should they stay and fight for what is an important gain for them in this war – one of the few important gains, Kherson city – or should they retreat? And if they retreat, what would the psychological consequences of that be?”
4:49pm: Ukraine receives first delivery of NASAMS air defence systems
Ukraine has received its first delivery of NASAMS air defence systems which will "significantly strengthen" its armed forces, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Monday.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said last month the United States was accelerating the shipment of the sophisticated NASAMS systems to Ukraine after a devastating missile barrage from Russia.
"Look who’s here! NASAMS and Aspide air defence systems arrived in Ukraine!," Reznikov wrote on the Telegram messaging app, thanking Norway, Spain and the United States for the shipments.
"These weapons will significantly strengthen the #UAarmy and will make our skies safer."
4:19pm: Ukraine says it never refused to negotiate with Russia, wants talks with Putin successor
A senior adviser to Ukraine's president said on Monday that Kyiv had never refused to negotiate with Moscow and that it was ready for talks with Russia's future leader, but not with Vladimir Putin.
The comments on Twitter by Mykhailo Podolyak followed a Washington Post report on Saturday saying the Biden administration was privately encouraging Ukraine's leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Moscow.
"Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open," he wrote on Twitter, saying that Russia should first withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
3:35pm: 'Putin's chef' admits to interfering in US elections
Yevgeny Prigozhin, an entrepreneur known as “Putin’s chef” because of his catering contracts with the Kremlin, on Monday admitted he had interfered in U.S. elections and said he would continue to do so — for the first time confirming the accusations he has been rejecting for years.
“We have interfered, are interfering and will continue to interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way,” Prigozhin said in remarks posted by his spokespeople on social media.
Prigozhin, a dozen other Russian nationals and three Russian companies were charged with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord and dividing American public opinion ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
3:32pm: Putin says 50,000 mobilised Russian soldiers serving with combat units
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that 50,000 Russian soldiers called up as part of his mobilisation drive were now serving with combat units in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported.
Putin said 80,000 were "in the zone of the special military operation" and the rest of the almost 320,000 draftees were at training camps in Russia.
3pm: Ukraine hails new air defences, warns power situation 'tense'
Ukraine announced Monday it had received more air defence systems from Western military allies, as officials in Kyiv said the situation with supplies was "tense" after protracted Russian attacks on energy facilities.
Attacks by Moscow's forces, including with Iranian-made drones over the past month, have destroyed around 40 percent of Ukraine's power stations and the government has urged Ukrainians to maximise electricity savings.
Kyiv has been rocked by barrages of Russian attacks on the first day of each week for nearly a month but air raid sirens were quiet on Monday with residents out as normal.
In a grey and foggy Kyiv -- conditions that military observers say make attacks with missiles and low altitude drones more difficult -- residents were unfazed by the threat of fresh strikes Monday.
"To be honest, it's not only Mondays, it's been eight months that we know this can happen every day and we adapted. I'm not going to change my routine for that. I'm coming to work... just like every other day," 21-year-old Kyiv resident Alyona Plekh told AFP.
2:58pm: Russia issues rare denial of 'pointless losses' by marines in Ukraine
Russia's defence ministry took the rare step on Monday of denying allegations that a naval infantry unit had suffered disastrous losses of men and equipment in a futile offensive in eastern Ukraine.
The ministry was responding to what Russian military bloggers said was an open letter from members of the 155th marine brigade of Russia's Pacific Fleet, complaining they had been thrown into an "incomprehensible" assault on Ukrainian forces southwest of Donetsk.
"As a result of the 'carefully' planned offensive by the 'great generals', we lost about 300 people killed, wounded and missing in the course of four days. (And) half of our equipment," said the letter.
The text was published by Grey Zone, a popular military blog. It was addressed to Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the far eastern Primorye region, thousands of miles from Ukraine, where the unit is based.
1:59pm: Ukraine confirms takeover of shares in five strategic companies under wartime laws
Three top Ukrainian officials confirmed on Monday that the shares of five strategic companies had been taken over by the defence ministry under wartime laws.
The decision was taken at a top security meeting on November 5 and came into force the following day, Security Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov told a briefing.
12:20pm: Ukraine hails arrival of Western air defence systems
Ukraine announced on Monday it had received more air defence systems from Western military allies, saying the weapons would help defend against Russian attacks that have recently targeted energy infrastructure.
"NASAMS and Aspide air defence systems arrived in Ukraine! These weapons will significantly strengthen the Ukrainian army and will make our skies safer," Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on social media.
"We will continue to shoot down the enemy targets attacking us. Thank you to our partners -- Norway, Spain and the US," Reznikov added.
Reznikov said last month that Ukraine had received the first Iris-T defence system from Germany.
11:12am: Russian authorities say working to restore power in occupied Kherson
Russian-appointed authorities say they are working to partially restore power in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson following what they have called a Ukrainian attack on power lines.
Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the pro-Kremlin administration of the partially occupied Kherson region, said Monday that “power and connectivity is being partially restored" in Kherson city. The alleged attack occurred on the Berislav-Kakhovka power line, and Russian state media reported on Sunday that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station had also been damaged by Ukrainian strikes.
Ukrainian officials have not responded to the allegations.
10:45am: Kremlin declines to comment on reported Ukraine war de-escalation talks with US
The Kremlin on Monday declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Washington held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials about avoiding further escalation in the Ukraine war.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that while Russia remains "open" to talks, it is unable to negotiate with Kyiv due to its refusal to hold talks with Russia.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in the hope of reducing the risk the war in Ukraine escalates into a nuclear conflict.
8:48am: Russian-occupied Kherson without water, electricity after strike
Ukraine's Russian-occupied city of Kherson was cut off from water and electricity supplies Sunday after an air strike, and a key dam in the region was also damaged, local officials said.
It is the first time that Kherson – which fell to Moscow's forces within days of their February offensive – has seen such a power cut.
"In Kherson and a number of other areas in the region, there is temporarily no electricity or water supply," the city's Moscow-installed administration said on Telegram. It said it was the "result of an attack organised by the Ukrainian side on the Berislav-Kakhovka highway that saw three concrete poles of high-voltage power lines damaged".
Energy specialists were working to "quickly" resolve the issue, the Russian-backed authorities said, as they called on people to "remain calm".
But the head of Ukraine's regional administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych, blamed Russia for the power outages. He said that in Beryslav city around 1.5 kilometres of electric power lines had been destroyed – cutting off power entirely because the "damage is quite extensive. [...] It is impossible to promptly repair the lines – there is a lack of specialists, equipment, and the Russian invaders will not allow this to be done."
1:53am: Ukraine warns of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned late Sunday of more potential Russian attacks on his country's energy infrastructure, as officials urged residents in the capital Kyiv to consider making plans to leave as ongoing strikes threaten the power supply, Reuters reported on Sunday.
Zelensky, in his regular nightly address, said Russia was "concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure. First of all, energy."
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, and Reuters)
