Closing summary
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is working to provide Ukraine with more air defence systems as winter approaches. Last winter, Russian forces deliberately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure, knocking out power and gas at a time when heating was necessary. More air defence systems could work in preventing that from happening again.
Out of the chaos that was the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as US speaker of the House comes more uncertainty around US aid to Ukraine. As more and more hardline Republicans begin to throw their hat in the ring for the coveted leadership position, Washington insiders are beginning to have doubts on whether additional Ukraine funding will be possible – even with Ukraine’s ambassador already engaging in dialogue with most of the candidates.
The US will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and rounds of ammunitions to Ukraine. While this move should alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukraine, it’s unclear what legal authorities the US will use to facilitate the weapons’ transfer – currently, seized weapons must be destroyed or stored, according to the UN.
Award-winning freelance journalist Victoria Roshchyna, an award-winning freelance journalist, has not been heard from since 3 August. She had been reporting from a Russia-occupied territory of Ukraine, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) said today. Roshchyna had been reporting from the frontlines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine since the war began in February 2022, and was previously captured by Russian forces in March 2022 and held for 10 days in Berdyansk.
The Princess of Wales has sent a message of support to Ukraine saying “we are all thinking of you” as she left her handprint on a picture which marked the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. Kate wrote the words on a parcel she filled with food, clothes and toiletries for those affected by the war, during a visit to a Bracknell centre providing services for Ukrainian families settled in the area.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, urged western allies to continue supporting and arming Ukraine so it can “finish the job” against Russia. His comments come as US aid to Ukraine remains uncertain after the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. Before yesterday’s vote, McCarthy had avoided government shutdown by pushing to pass a US government funding bill that excluded support for Kyiv, leaving Joe Biden to rely on the Republican speaker for a separate deal. Yesterday, Adm Rob Bauer, Nato’s most senior military official, warned that western military powers are running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine. “The bottom of the barrel is now visible,” Bauer said.
Dozens of Ukrainian drones attacked three Russian regions overnight, according to the Russian ministry of defence, which claimed to have shot down 31 unmanned aircrafts. However, there are reports now that a drone struck a Russian air defence system in the Belgorod oblast.
Ukraine’s navy said on Wednesday that 12 more vessels were ready to enter a Black Sea shipping corridor on their way towards Ukrainian ports, and that 10 other vessels were ready to depart from the country’s ports. Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk made his remarks as Ukraine tries to defy a de facto Russian blockade on Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea after Moscow pulled out of a deal in July that had allowed Kyiv to safely export grain.
A Russian court has sentenced the former state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who burst into a news broadcast with a placard that read “Stop the war” and “They’re lying to you”, to eight and half years in jail in absentia on Wednesday. Ovsyannikova was found guilty of “spreading knowingly false information about the Russian armed forces”, according to a statement posted by the court on Telegram. Ovsyannikova, 45, fled Russia with her daughter for an unspecified European country a year ago after escaping from house arrest, according to her lawyer, saying she had no case to answer.
Ukraine increased its road shipments of agricultural goods in September, according to Spike Brokers, a commercial agent broker on the grain and oil market of Ukraine. In September, 514,000 metric tons of agricultural goods were exported by lorries, while in August, 506,000 tons were exported. The increase is still down from the year before, which saw 639,000 tons in September 2022.
A 75-year-old woman sustained shrapnel wounds in Russian attacks on Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk oblast today, the regional governor said.
Russian forces shelled Nikopol in both the morning and in the afternoon, and in between shellings, struck the city with an unmanned drone, Serhii Lysak said on Telegram.
Ten private houses and several commercial buildings were damaged, with one completely destroyed. “Infrastructure objects, cars and power lines were also damaged,” Lysak said.
