Closing summary
This blog will be closing shortly. Here is an overview of today’s developments:
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, floated the idea of nominating the US president, Donald Trump, for the Nobel peace prize in a briefing to reporters, two days ahead of the announcement of this year’s winner, who would have been selected earlier in the autumn. Zelenskyy said in comments released on Thursday: “If Trump gives the world – above all, the Ukrainian people – the chance for such a ceasefire, then yes, he should be nominated for the Nobel peace prize. We will nominate him on behalf of Ukraine.”
Strikes on Russian oil facilities by Ukraine’s newly developed long-range missiles and drones are causing significant gas shortages in Russia, while on the battlefield a recent Ukrainian counteroffensive has derailed Russia’s plans to capture parts of the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says. Ukraine’s new Palianytsia missile has hit dozens of Russian military depots, Zelenskyy said. The Ruta missile drone, meanwhile, recently struck a Russian offshore oil platform more than 150 miles (250km) away in what Zelenskyy called “a major success” for the new weapon.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of wanting to sow “chaos” in Ukraine by launching strikes on his country’s energy grid and railway infrastructure, in comments published on Thursday. Moscow, whose forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, have in recent weeks escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and rail systems.
The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that it had struck the Korobkovsky gas processing plant and oil transport infrastructure in Russia’s Volgograd region overnight. The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces had struck port facilities and energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region that were used by the Ukrainian army.
Ukraine’s prime minister, the head of presidential office, and a senior sanctions adviser will go to the US early next week for talks with US officials, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday. Zelenskyy wrote in a post on social media: Topics include air defence, energy, and sanctions steps, as well as the negotiation track. The issue of frozen assets will also be discussed with the US.
A man formerly employed by Warsaw city council in its registry of births, marriages and deaths was charged with espionage for allegedly providing Russia with false identities its spies could use. The man, identified only as Tomasz L. in line with Polish privacy laws, was indicted on charges of espionage and abuse of power, the Polish Internal Security Agency wrote in a statement on Thursday.
Keir Starmer has said the UK will back India taking its “rightful place” on the UN security council as he met Narendra Modi in Mumbai at the end of his two-day trip, saying both he and Modi had discussed the need for a “just and lasting” peace in Ukraine. He said both had agreed the need to “break away from fossil fuels” as he praised the “remarkable” speed of India’s growing economy.
US sanctions on Serbia’s majority-Russian-owned oil company, which operates the country’s sole refinery, took effect on Thursday after months of delay. The US sanctioned the company, Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), in January as part of its crackdown on the Russian energy sector following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Emmanuel Macron will name a new prime minister by Friday evening, his office has said, hinting at the French president’s hopes that a sixth prime minister in less than two years will manage to steer a budget through the country’s deeply fragmented parliament. “This might be the last chance,” government spokesperson Aurore Bergé told RTL radio on Thursday. “I believe this is the last chance for politicians to regain credibility … all of this is only strengthening the chances and capabilities of the far right to take power.”
The French state prosecutor has called for the jail term of an unemployed builder to be increased after he contested his conviction for raping Gisèle Pelicot after she had been drugged unconscious by her husband. Dominique Sie, the lead state prosecutor, told the court of appeal in Nîmes that Husamettin Dogan’s claims of innocence were an example of how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”.
A man formerly employed by Warsaw city council in its registry of births, marriages and deaths was charged with espionage for allegedly providing Russia with false identities its spies could use, Polish authorities said on Thursday according to the Associated Press (AP).
The man, identified only as Tomasz L. in line with Polish privacy laws, was indicted on charges of espionage and abuse of power, the Polish Internal Security Agency wrote in a statement on Thursday.
Authorities allege the man provided Russia with intelligence between 2017 and 2022, while he was working in the archives of the Warsaw municipality’s civil registry.
The man is believed to have copied civil records of Polish and foreign citizens, allowing foreign intelligence services to create fake identity papers for their agents abroad, according to Polish prosecutors.
Tomasz L. was detained by Polish authorities in March 2022. According to Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, his arrest provided authorities with information which contributed to the expulsion of Russian diplomats in the same month.
Polish authorities have accused dozens of individuals of espionage or sabotage on behalf of Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started in 2022.
