Summary of the day …
Here is a summary of today’s developments in the Russia-Ukraine war …
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has sharply rebuked Vladimir Putin over his “cynical” comments about civilian casualties. In parliament on Thursday Scholz said: “It makes me more than furious to hear the Russian president repeatedly warning that there could be civilian casualties from an armed conflict,” referring to Putin’s comments about the Israel-Hamas war. “It doesn’t get more cynical than that,” Scholz said, highlighting that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022 has caused a significant number of civilian casualties.
Scholz also said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future, but the use of additional funds was not a solution long term.
Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence. Finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”.
Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.
Ukraine said its forces remained under fire near Kupiansk and Avdiivka on the eastern front. Stupun said Russian forces “do not stop their attempts to encircle” Avdiivka and “they continue to exert pressure there”.
Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement. The Balticconnector pipeline linking Finland and Estonia ruptured earlier this month in a possible deliberate act of sabotage, authorities have said. Both Finland and Estonia are Nato members that border Russia.
Finland’s ministry of defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory.
Russia scrambled fighter planes to prevent British military planes from entering Russian airspace over the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry said. Russia said the British planes had turned back after being approached. It is not unusual for Russian and Nato forces to test each other’s airspace and defences. In June 2023 the UK’s Ministry of Defence claimed Nato had scrambled RAF jets six times in the previous three weeks, intercepting 21 Russian aircraft. An encounter between Russian and British planes in September 2022 near the Black Sea led to what was described as a “near-shoot down”.
A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday by masked Russian law enforcement agents. RFE-RL confirmed her detention on Thursday and said Kurmasheva had been charged with failure to register as a foreign agent and faced up to five years in prison.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his visit to Pyongyang, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Kazakhstan has banned the export of 106 specific products to Russia which could be used for military purposes. Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, said: “These are goods that Kazakhstan doesn’t produce. Russia attempted to acquire western components through re-export.”
Updated
Interfax in Russia has more detail of the incident where Russian planes claim to have warned off British planes from encroaching into Russian airspace near the Black Sea earlier today.
It reports the Russian ministry of defence claimed its air control “detected three air targets approaching the state border of the Russian Federation. Russian fighter crews identified the air targets as an RC-135 electronic reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft and two RAF Typhoon multi-role fighters.”
Interfax reports: “The Russian planes returned safely to their home airfield. There was no violation of the state border of the Russian Federation. The flight of Russian fighters was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters, without crossing air routes or dangerously approaching aircraft of a foreign state.”
Updated
