Summary
That’s it for today’s Ukraine live blog. Here’s a recap of what has happened today.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address today that Russian forces have launched several drone attacks, noting that some have been shot down.
At least four people have been killed after a Russian military plane crash into a residential area of Yeysk, near Ukraine, Russian news agencies have reported.
Ukraine has announced that more than 100 prisoners have been swapped with Russia in what it said was the first all-female exchange with Moscow after nearly eight months of war.
In the eastern region of Sumy, four people were killed and several more wounded after rocket strikes targeted energy infrastructure this morning.
Thank you for reading; see you with more updates soon!
Here’s more information on Zelenskiy’s comments about recent Russian drone attacks.
The Ukraine president said in a video address today that Russian forces have launched several drone attacks, noting that some have been shot down.
Zelenskiy did not say where the attacks had taken place, reported Reuters. But earlier today, Russia launched dozens of drone attacks on the capital city Kyiv, killing at least four people and injuring three.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has reported that there have been new Russian attacks using drones, adding that some have been shot down, reports Reuters.
More info coming soon.
Canada is imposing further sanctions related to Russian disinformation, reported Reuters.
Canada is imposing sanctions on 34 individuals and one entity that it says are complicit in dissemination of Russian disinformation and propaganda, the Canadian foreign ministry said on Monday.
“As the number of Russian human rights abuses continues to increase, Canada is taking measures to counter the propaganda that attempts to excuse them,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement.
The US Pentagon is considering paying for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network, reported Politico today.
The satellite, operated by Musk’s SpaceX company, helped restore communications in Ukraine.
Money to pay for the satellite would come from a fund being used to supply weapons, according to two US officials involved in the potential arrangement.
At least four dead after military plane crashes in tower-block in Yeysk
At least four people have been killed after a Russian military plane crash into a residential area of Yeysk, near Ukraine, Russian news agencies have reported.
Previous updates had confirmed that at least two people died as a result of the crash.
Images circulating social media showed a nine-storey residential building on fire. A criminal investigation into the crash, which reportedly occurred during a training flight, has been launched. The pilots had ejected.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has been informed and ordered “all necessary assistance be given to casualties from the military plane incident,” the Kremlin told the state-run news agency Tass.
“On 17 October 2022, while taking off to carry out a training flight from the military airfield of the southern military district, an Su-34 aircraft crashed,” the ministry said. Its statement said the military jet had malfunctioned after “one of its the engines caught fire during take-off”.
“At the site of the Sukhoi Su-34 crash, in the courtyard of a residential area, the aircraft’s fuel caught fire,” the ministry said.
The blaze reached five out of nine floors of a residential building, according to emergency services, quoted by Russian state-run agencies. It had spread over 2,000 sq metres (21,500 sq feet), the services added.
Updated
In case you missed it: here’s an article from the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey on indiscriminate drones that were falling on Kyiv today.
It flew like a kite propelled by a stern wind. Harmless enough to the unschooled eye. Swooping, a small triangle in the sky. Then there was the noise. Similar to a moped at first but ever more like the full-throated roar of a motorbike as the kamikaze drone swept closer into view.
It was one of an estimated 28 launched on Monday morning at targets around Kyiv’s central railway station and elsewhere in Ukraine’s capital; some people had fled at the sight of it, scattering to find cover, as the dark grey triangle swept above the high-rise apartments in the cloudless pale blue sky.
Others stood, staring upwards. Fixed to the spot even as the menacing outline of the Iranian-made Shahed-136, not dissimilar to a fighter jet in miniature, became ever more apparent.
A certain sense of fatalism took over as the drone hovered directly above, turning this way and that. A surreal yet bewitching calm. Then grim-faced soldiers and armed police broke the spell as they vainly fired their AK-47s in its direction, rat-a-tat-tat, as did the slightly heavier-sounding air defence systems. To some, the burst of fire was what first made them aware of the mortal danger.
Read the full article here.
There are reports of drones being shot down in Kyiv.
The Guardian’s chief reporter Daniel Boffey, who is in Ukraine, commented on the actions and tweeted out images of the downed drones:
Downing of the drones pic.twitter.com/yHopyy36Y2
— Daniel Boffey (@danielboffey) October 17, 2022
More Star Wars above Kyiv pic.twitter.com/z4K348cyXP
— Daniel Boffey (@danielboffey) October 17, 2022
Summary of the day's events so far ...
At least four people have been killed and three others hospitalised after a series of “kamikaze” drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a dead woman was recovered from the rubble of a house in Shevchenkiv district, where an explosion has occurred as a result of a drone attack. He identified two other victims as “a young couple, a husband and wife who were expecting a child. The woman was six months pregnant. Earlier, Kitschko said 18 people had been rescued, and that there had been five explosions after 28 drones had been directed at the city.
Four people were killed and several more wounded in the eastern region of Sumy after rocket strikes targeted energy infrastructure. The emergency services said an electrical substation was shelled, sparking a fire that damaged an administrative building. Three people were “rescued from the rubble”.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “It seems that the current enemy unites in its evil all previous enemies of our statehood. It acts insidiously – kills civilians, hits housing, infrastructure. Terror must lose and will lose, and Ukraine will prevail. And will bring to justice every Russian terrorist – from commanders to privates who carried out criminal orders.”
A Russian fighter plane crashed into a residential building in the southern Russian city of Yeysk, near Ukraine. Footage on social media showed a large fireball erupting from what appeared to be a multi-storey block. A criminal investigation into the crash, which reportedly occurred during a training flight, has been launched. The pilots had ejected.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said after the fresh wave of drone attacks that Russia should be expelled from the G20 group.
Ukraine’s foreign minister called on the European Union to sanction Iran for providing Russia with suicide drones that killed at least four civilians in Kyiv today.
Iran said again on Monday that it had not provided Russia with drones to use in Ukraine. “The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it is circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc would look for “concrete evidence” about the participation of Iran in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The European Union has agreed to create a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and will also provide a further €500m to help buy weapons for the war-torn country under Russian attack. EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday approved the two-year training mission, which will involve different EU forces providing basic and specialist instruction to Ukrainian soldiers, in locations in Poland and Germany. Officials hope the mission, which is expected to cost €107m, will be up and running by mid November.
Ukraine announced that more than 100 prisoners have been swapped with Russia in what it said was the first all-female exchange with Moscow after nearly eight months of war. The head of the breakaway region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, confirmed the exchange, saying that out of 110 people agreed in the swap, two people had decided to remain in Russia.
Israeli officials refused to comment on remarks from Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, that Tel Aviv is preparing to supply military aid to Ukraine. In a Telegram message on Monday, Medvedev, currently deputy chair of Russia’s security council, warned Israel against arming Kyiv, calling it a “a reckless move” that would “destroy relations between our countries”. Despite numerous attempts from Kyiv to buy Israeli aerial defence systems since the war broke out, Israel has tried to maintain a neutral stance in the seven-month-old invasion, as it relies on Russia to facilitate its operations against Iranian-linked actors in Syria.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV journalist who staged an on-air protest against the war in March, has fled the country according to her lawyer.
The US has warned that it will “not hesitate” to take action against nations and companies found to be assisting Iran’s drone program after it was implicated in this morning’s attacks on Kyiv, AFP reports.
“Anyone doing business with Iran that could have any link to UAVs or ballistic missile developments or the flow of arms from Iran to Russia should be very careful and do their due diligence – the US will not hesitate to use sanctions or take actions against perpetrators,” state department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
“Russia deepening an alliance with Iran is something the whole world – especially those in the region and across the world, frankly - should be seen as a profound threat,” he said.
Citing previously released US intelligence, Patel said that some of Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicles being sold to Russia have malfunctioned.
The transfer shows the “enormous pressure” on Russia after losses in Ukraine, he said. Moscow is “being forced frankly to resort to unreliable countries like Iran for supplies and equipment,” he added.
Updated
Up to 9,000 Russian soldiers and around 170 tanks will be deployed in Belarus to build up a new joint force, the Belarus ministry of defence has said.
The creation of the new force tasked with defending the Belarusian borders against a perceived Ukrainian threat was announced last week following Russian setbacks in Ukraine. AFP reports:
The “total number” of Russian soldiers “due to arrive in Belarus is up to 9,000”, according to Valeri Revenko, the Belarusian defence ministry advisor for international military cooperation, speaking on Telegram.
Revenko said Russia will also send to Belarus “around 170 tanks, up to 200 (other) armoured vehicles and up to 100 weapons and mortars with a calibre exceeding 100 mm.” Russian units will be deployed to four training grounds in the east and the centre of Belarus, where they will take part in exercises involving notably “combat firing and anti-air missile firing”.
Belarus insists the force will be uniquely defensive and aims to secure its borders. Last week, the leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claimed Ukraine was plotting to attack his country and announced a joint force with Moscow.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of “trying to directly draw Belarus into this war” at a recent G7 meeting. Zelenskiy called for an international observer mission to be placed on the Ukraine-Belarus border.
Updated
Multiple Ukrainian reporters have identified the pregnant victim of a drone attack on a residential building in central Kyiv as Viktoriia, or Vika, who reportedly died along with her husband, Bohdan. Reporters say the 34-year-old worked as a sommelier.
This is Vika. She was a sommelier at the Goodwine store in Kyiv.
— Daryna Antoniuk (@daryna_antoniuk) October 17, 2022
Her body was found today under the rubble of the destroyed building along with her husband and cat.
Vika was 6 months pregnant. pic.twitter.com/pHFP8CP4Gj
Updated
Ukraine says 108 women freed in prisoner swap with Russia
Ukraine has announced that more than 100 prisoners have been swapped with Russia in what it said was the first all-female exchange with Moscow after nearly eight months of war.
“Another large-scale exchange of prisoners of war was carried out today ... we freed 108 women from captivity. It was the first all-female exchange,” the Ukraine presidency’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on social media.
The head of the breakaway region of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, confirmed the exchange, saying that out of 110 people agreed in the swap, two people had decided to remain in Russia.
Another large-scale POWs swap was carried out today. Extremely emotional and really special: we freed 108 women from captivity.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) October 17, 2022
Mothers and daughters. Their relatives have been waiting for them to come back. 37 Azovstal evacuees, 11 officers, 85 privates and NCOs. pic.twitter.com/6wIjS2ouJe
Yermak said that some of the people exchanged were mothers and daughters who had been held together. Thirty-seven, he said, had surrendered at the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol.
Images released by Yermak showed dozens of women - some wearing coats and military fatigues - disembarking from white buses.
Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov in southeastern Ukraine, withstood weeks of relentless Russian bombardment, with resistance concentrated in a dense network of underground tunnels at its Azovstal steel plant.
Updated
Russia has launched a criminal investigation into the crash of a Su-34 fighter jet in the southern city of Yeysk, the country’s investigative committee said.
“Military investigators are establishing the circumstances and causes of the incident,” it said. The committee did not say what evidence pointed to potential foul play. Russian new agency TASS initially said the crash, which reportedly occurred during a training flight, was caused by an engine fire.
Further footage has emerged on social media of the aftermath. A large fireball was captured erupting from a multi-storey building. Anton Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, shared the clip below. Claims about fatalities or ammunition have not been confirmed.
Combat plane lost control and fell on a residential building in Russian Yeysk city. The plane carried ammunition.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 17, 2022
At least one person died, several were hospitalized.
🇷🇺 weapons fell on 🇷🇺 heads on their way to kill Ukrainians. Will this make them think and protest against war? pic.twitter.com/9dnUo4T7fL
Updated
Fighter plane crashes into building in Russian city near Ukraine
A Russian fighter plane has crashed into a residential building in the southern Russian city of Yeysk, near Ukraine.
Footage on social media, which has been verified by BBC News, showed a large fireball erupting from what appeared to be a multi-storey building.
Yeysk is located on the coast of the Sea of Azov, which separates southern Ukraine and southern Russia.
Russian news agencies said the pilots had ejected and officials were trying to establish information about casualties on the ground.
RIA news agency said the plane was a Sukhoi Su-34, a supersonic medium-range fighter-bomber, and crashed during a training flight from a military airfield. Tass said the crash was caused by an engine fire.
Interfax, another Russian agency, quoted the local emergencies ministry as saying five floors of the apartment building were on fire, the upper floors had collapsed and about 45 apartments were damaged.
A military plane has crashed into an apartment block in the Russian town of Yeysk on the Sea of Azov. The pilot is reported to have ejected himself. Data on civilian casualties to be confirmed. pic.twitter.com/uFYSuOpUJd
— The Insider (@InsiderEng) October 17, 2022
Updated
The UK and US will further their cooperation on sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as well as on other targets, Reuters reports.
Top financial officials for the two allied nations released a joint statement on Monday. Andrea Gacki, head of the US treasury department’s office of foreign assets control, and Giles Thomson, head the UK’s sanctions enforcement office, wrote:
Over time, we expect to realise the benefits of our collaboration not only in relation to the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also across other common sanctions regimes.
US, UK and European sanctions have targeted oligarchs and the Russian economy since the invasion began in February.
Updated
Further photographs from Kyiv show the extent of structural damage inflicted by Russian drones.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Monday’s barrage of 28 drones came in successive waves – in what many fear could become a more common mode of attack as Russia seeks to avoid depleting its stockpiles of long-range precision missiles.
One strike appeared to target the city’s heating network, hitting an operations centre. Another slammed into a four-story residential building, ripping open a gaping hole and collapsing at least three apartments on top of each other.
Four bodies were recovered, including those of a woman who was six months pregnant and her husband, Klitschko said. An older woman and another man also were killed there.
Updated
The Belarusian defence ministry has said that it will conduct live fire exercises and anti-aircraft guided missile launches as part of its joint grouping with Russian forces, Russian news agency Interfax reports.
“Military units from the formations are planned to be deployed at four training ranges of the Republic of Belarus in the eastern and central part of the country, after which they will start conducting combat training activities,” Interfax quoted a Minsk defence official as saying.
The defence ministry said last week that Russian troops would deploy to Belarus to form a new “regional grouping” amid claims from Minsk that Ukraine is preparing to attack its territory. Belarus has offered no evidence of Ukraine’s aggressive intentions.
Belarus is a close Russian ally that has provided logistical and political support to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Shortly before their invasion began in February, Russian troops arrived in Belarus for what Moscow described as military exercises, crossing the Ukrainian border soon after.
Updated
If you are wondering what so-called kamikaze drones are, and why Russia is using them, Dan Sabbagh has put together an explainer. He writes:
The Shahed-136s first appeared in the war in September, and although they are described as kamikaze drones, they are better thought of as small cruise missiles with a relatively limited destructive capacity given their 50kg payload. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russia had bought 2,400 – a large-sounding number, but these are being depleted fast.
Read the piece in full here: What are kamikaze drones and why is Russia using them in Ukraine?
Updated
Sumy rocket attack death toll rises to four
In the eastern region of Sumy, emergency services said four people were killed and several more wounded after rocket strikes targeted energy infrastructure this morning.
The emergency services said an electrical substation was shelled, sparking a fire that damaged an administrative building. Three people were “rescued from the rubble”.
Russian strikes also hit energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said, leaving one person injured. Power has since been restored.
The news from Sumy means eight people have died in total as a result of drone and rocket attacks in Ukraine on Monday.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
At least four people have been killed and three others hospitalised after a series of “kamikaze” drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a dead woman was recovered from the rubble of a house in Shevchenkiv district, where an explosion has occurred as a result of a drone attack. He identified two other victims as “a young couple, a husband and wife who were expecting a child. The woman was six months pregnant”. Another person is under the rubble, he added. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Earlier, Kitschko said 18 people had been rescued, and that there had been five explosions after 28 drones had been directed at the city.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said: “It seems that the current enemy unites in its evil all previous enemies of our statehood. It acts insidiously – kills civilians, hits housing, infrastructure. Terror must lose and will lose, and Ukraine will prevail. And will bring to justice every Russian terrorist – from commanders to privates who carried out criminal orders.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said after the fresh wave of drone attacks that Russia should be expelled from the G20 group.
Ukraine’s foreign minister called on the European Union to sanction Iran for providing Russia with suicide drones that killed at least four civilians in Kyiv today.
Iran said again on Monday that it had not provided Russia with drones to use in Ukraine. “The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it is circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc would look for “concrete evidence” about the participation of Iran in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The European Union has agreed to create a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and will also provide a further €500m to help buy weapons for the war-torn country under Russian attack. EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday approved the two-year training mission, which will involve different EU forces providing basic and specialist instruction to Ukrainian soldiers, in locations in Poland and Germany. Officials hope the mission, which is expected to cost €107m, will be up and running by mid November.
Denis Pushilin, the self-styled leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in occupied eastern Ukraine has announced a swap of 110 prisoners will take place on Monday.
Israeli officials have refused to comment on remarks from Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, that Tel Aviv is preparing to supply military aid to Ukraine. In a Telegram message on Monday, Medvedev, currently deputy chair of Russia’s security council, warned Israel against arming Kyiv, calling it a “a reckless move” that would “destroy relations between our countries”. Despite numerous attempts from Kyiv to buy Israeli aerial defence systems since the war broke out, Israel has tried to maintain a neutral stance in the seven-month-old invasion, as it relies on Russia to facilitate its operations against Iranian-linked actors in Syria.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV journalist who staged an on-air protest against the war in March, has fled the country according to her lawyer.
Updated
Apple has restored Russian social network VKontatke and webmail provider Mail.Ru to the App Store, three weeks after removing them both for sanctions violations, reports Alex Hern.
The two services, home-grown versions of Facebook and Gmail with domestic market share to match, were removed from Apple’s platforms in late September, following a wave of British sanctions that targeted the financial organisations that own them.
“These apps are being distributed by developers majority-owned or majority-controlled by one or more parties sanctioned by the UK government,” Apple said in a statement at the time.
The company has not responded to requests for comment from the Guardian. The ownership of VKontake and Mail.Ru has not changed in the past month, and the leadership of Gazprombank and Sberbank remain sanctioned by the British government. It is unclear why Apple restored the apps, but they reappeared on App Stores globally on Monday morning, according to the monitoring project Apple Censorship.
Benjamin Ismail, the project’s director, said:
The only thing we can say for sure is that, once again, Apple implements its App Stores policies in total opacity, thinking it will not be held accountable for its actions. While we are glad to see those apps restored, as some activists and members of civil society organisations were still using them when they were removed, we condemn Apple for its continuous, erratic, and non-transparent way of managing content in the App Store.
Updated
The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey has interviewed a resident of a central Kyiv block that was hit by a drone strike this morning. He reports:
Halyna Stefanova lived with her mother, Nadia, 65, two floors below a young couple killed in the attack and three floors below a 59-year-old woman she named as Tatiana, who also died.
Stefanova heard the first three explosions as drones struck near Kyiv’s railway station and then an attempt by police officers to shoot down the drone that was heading towards her four-storey apartment block. She said:
I heard the police shooting from automatic weapons. They tried to shoot down the Shahed drone. And 15 minutes after that me and my mum heard a very loud explosion.
The walls in our apartment collapsed. We were sitting in the corridor and immediately there was a lot of black smoke in the corridor.
My bedroom window blew out, the kitchen window blew out and the walls collapsed. At the time of the explosion, my mother and I were already fully clothed.
The smoke was so strong and thick that we could not see anything for five minutes and we were completely disoriented. It was like a heavy fog, me and mom started suffocating in this smoke. Then we found water and started drinking it. And when this black dust finally fell down, I saw that the window was blocked by the debris of the house. The entire central entrance was also covered with debris from the building.
Fortunately, our house has a second, emergency exit. My mother and I ran there and thus we were able to get out. There we saw the rescue service and stood next to them. Then more explosions began, my mother and I hid in a deep trench, three meters deep. Near our house. Then the workers of the rescue service called us and we ran to the bomb shelter.
When I passed the rescuers, I saw and was told that the rescuers had already retrieved the body of our 59-year-old neighbour from the fourth floor. Her name is Tatiana. The body was already packed in a black plastic bag.
The married couple lived on the third floor. I did not know them personally. I have lived in this house all my life. And this married couple moved into an apartment on the third floor about one year ago.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister has called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Iran for providing Russia with suicide drones that killed at least four civilians in Kyiv today.
The drones have been used elsewhere in Ukraine in recent weeks against urban centres and infrastructure, including power stations. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.
Dmytro Kuleba said on his social media accounts that the next EU sanctions package on Russia “must be strong” and again requested more air defence systems and ammunition for Ukraine.
Speaking in a video statement posted on Facebook, Kuleba said he became the first minister to participate in Monday’s call with the EU foreign ministers from a bomb shelter. He said he told his EU colleagues that the attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities amounted to a blow to European energy security, as they derailed Ukrainian energy exports to the EU.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also set to publish a collection of his war speeches, reports Sarah Shaffi.
A Message from Ukraine will include 16 speeches personally selected by Zelenskiy, which will “explore Ukraine’s journey since 2019”, said publisher Penguin Random House.
The speeches will help readers “understand Ukrainians: our aspirations, our principles, and our values”, said Zelenskiy.
Read the full report here: Volodymyr Zelenskiy publishes collection of war speeches as ‘battle cry for the world’
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has issued a further statement about today’s drone strikes on Kyiv. He has pasted to Telegram:
It seems that the current enemy unites in its evil all previous enemies of our statehood. It acts insidiously – kills civilians, hits housing, infrastructure. Today, as a result of the occupiers’ attack on a residential building in Kyiv, four people have already died. Among them is a young family that was expecting a child. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing.
Terror must lose and will lose, and Ukraine will prevail. And will bring to justice every Russian terrorist – from commanders to privates who carried out criminal orders.
Updated
Russia has told a top United Nations representative that the extension of the Black Sea grain deal was dependent on the west easing Russia’s own agricultural and fertiliser exports, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Reuters reports that in a meeting in Moscow, Russia’s deputy defence minister, Alexander Fomin, told the UN under-secretary general, Martin Griffiths, that extending the deal, which unlocked Ukrainian agricultural exports from its southern ports, “directly depends on ensuring full implementation of all previously reached agreements”.
Russia says the impact of western sanctions on logistics, payments, shipping and insurance prevents it from exporting fertilisers and chemicals, and that easing those restrictions was a key part of the deal, brokered in July by Turkey and the United Nations.
Updated
Death toll from 'kamikaze' drone strike in Kyiv rises to at least four – mayor
The number of people killed in a Russian drone strike on a residential building in Kyiv has risen to four according to the latest information from the city’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.
He posted an update to Telegram to say:
Four people have already died under the rubble of a house in the Shevchenkiv district of the capital, which was hit by a Russian terrorist drone. The rescuers discovered and retrieved another body – that of a dead man. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. There may still be people under the rubble. Three victims were hospitalised. Two of them are employees of the state emergency service.
Updated
Bethan McKernan reports for the Guardian from Jerusalem:
Israeli officials have refused to comment on remarks from Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, that Tel Aviv is preparing to supply military aid to Ukraine.
In a Telegram message on Monday, Medvedev, currently deputy chair of Russia’s security council, warned Israel against arming Kyiv, calling it a a “reckless move” that would “destroy relations between our countries”.
Despite numerous attempts from Kyiv to buy Israeli aerial defence systems since the war broke out, Israel has tried to maintain a neutral stance in the seven-month-old invasion, as it relies on Russia to facilitate its operations against Iranian-linked actors in Syria.
It has grown more forceful in its criticism of Moscow, however, since the Russian justice ministry announced in the summer that the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental body that facilitates immigration to Israel, should be shut down.
The increasing Russian deployment of Iranian-made drones, which were used for the first time today to attack the Ukrainian capital, has also toughened Israel’s stance: an anonymous Ukrainian official told the New York Times last week that Israel has begun sharing basic intelligence on Iran’s drone programme.
The Guardian previously reported in April that Iran was believed to be sending munitions and military hardware to Russia to aid in the war effort.
Updated
Pro-Russian leader in Donetsk announces prisoner swap with Kyiv
Denis Pushilin, the self-styled leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in occupied eastern Ukraine, has announced a swap of 110 prisoners will take place on Monday.
The Russian state-owned RIA Novosti agency reported that he posted to Telegram to say: “Today, an exchange is taking place according to the formula 110 for 110. We give Kyiv mainly women. From the dungeons of the Ukrainian regime, we return home 80 civilian sailors who were held hostage. Also, 30 servicemen from the DPR, Luhansk People’s Republic and other regions of the Russian Federation receive freedom.”
Updated
Marina Ovsyannikova, the former Russian state TV journalist who staged an on-air protest against the war in March, has fled the country according to her lawyer.
Reuters reports that her lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov said Ovsyannikova is currently “under the protection of a European state”, declining to elaborate as “it may turn out to be a problem for her”.
She was placed under house arrest from August and the 44-year-old was charged with distributing information about the Russian armed forces deemed by the government to be false – a charge that could lead to a 10-year prison sentence.
The former editor at Channel One made global headlines in March when she interrupted a broadcast of its flagship Vremya (Time) evening news, holding a poster reading “No war”.
EU to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and provide further €500m military support
The European Union has agreed to create a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers and will also provide a further €500m to help buy weapons for the war-torn country under Russian attack.
EU foreign ministers meeting on Monday approved the two-year training mission, which will involve different EU forces providing basic and specialist instruction to Ukrainian soldiers in locations in Poland and Germany. Officials hope the mission, which is expected to cost €107m, will be up and running by mid-November.
The EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, said it was “not just a training mission” but “clear proof that the EU will stand by Ukraine for as long is needed”.
Ministers also approved a further €500m to provide weapons and other military kit for Ukraine, meaning the EU has now pledged €3.1bn for Ukraine’s military since the Russian invasion in February.
Several EU and Nato countries are already training Ukraine’s army, but Brussels officials believe the EU mission can offer added value. Borrell said he was “strongly convinced that putting together the capacities of the European armies” would mean “a much better product”.
Ukraine was reported to have requested an EU training mission in July 2021, prompting months of discussion among the EU’s 27 member nations. Officials insist the current mission differs from previous proposals, although Borrell himself has complained about slow progress.
In a speech last week, where he lambasted the EU diplomatic service as slow and ineffective, Borrell said:
And then, boom, the war comes and people said: “We should have done it [the training mission for Ukraine].” Yes, we should have done it. And now we are doing it quickly – well, quickly for European standards. Quickly for European standards means a couple of months.
Speaking on Monday, Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, said it could become “the biggest EU mission ever and of course it should be. For us there is no doubt Ukraine needs all the support they can get.” He also said the mission was historic for Denmark as it was the first time Copenhagen had agreed to take part in an EU military mission following a resounding vote to abolish its opt-out on EU defence policy on 1 June.
Updated
An adviser to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Iran is responsible for “murders of Ukrainians”, accusing the country of supplying Russia with drones used to attack Kyiv this morning.
Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter:
Iran is responsible for the murders of Ukrainians. Country that oppresses its own people is now giving ru-monsters weapons for mass murders in the heart of Europe. That is what unfinished business and concessions to totalitarianism mean. The case when sanctions are not enough.
Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented.
Updated
Photographs circulating on social media have shown the scale of damage to a building in central Kyiv caused by a drone strike that resulted in the death of three people.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said a young couple were killed in the residential attack. The woman was six months pregnant, he wrote on the Telegram messaging service
Rescue workers on the scene of an attack in the centre of Kyiv this morning. At least three people were killed when a drone hit a residential building, authorities say. pic.twitter.com/Rghu03ghYI
— Anna Chornous (@4nnchor) October 17, 2022
Updated
The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey has published a vivid report from on the ground in Kyiv. He describes the tension as residents became aware of drones circling ominously overhead before selecting a target.
A certain sense of fatalism took over as the drone hovered directly above, turning this way and that. A surreal yet bewitching calm. Then grim-faced soldiers and armed police broke the spell as they vainly fired their AK-47s in its direction, rat-a-tat-tat, as did the slightly heavier sounding air defence systems. To some the heavy burst of fire was what first made them aware of the mortal danger.
The question on everyone’s mind was which way would it turn now, where was it heading? Then the drone fixed on its target. Where was it pointing? It turned in the air, a wing tilted to the right – and it dived. Faster now, not a kite but a swallow. Five seconds, no more, and the boom of an explosion, a burst of flames, screams from those closer to its final destination. Dark grey smoke billowed from the unfortunate spot. Relief for some meant horror for others.
Read Daniel Boffey’s report in full here: An explosion, a burst of flames, then screams: ‘kamikaze’ drones rain down on Kyiv
Updated
Footage has emerged of a cat that was rescued from the rubble of a building struck by a drone in Kyiv. A picture of the animal being cradled in a man’s arms was widely circulated after being posted on social media by Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko.
the essence of ukraine in 30 seconds. pic.twitter.com/aGQkf2Wm2I
— вареничок.еріставі 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@maksymeristavi) October 17, 2022
Ukrainian grain exports have almost returned to pre-war levels, Reuters reports.
Exports in the first 17 days of October were just 2.4% lower than in the same period of 2021, despite the closure of several seaports and the Russian invasion, agriculture ministry data showed on Monday.
The country’s grain exports have slumped since February, after the war closed off Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.
Three Black Sea ports were unblocked at the end of July under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
Footage has also emerged of Kyiv police officers shooting down a drone, posted by Anton Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser. Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, has claimed that 13 or more were shot down this morning, all of them as they flew in from the south.
It has been widely reported that the drones used in the attacks appeared to include Iranian-made models. Tehran has denied providing weaponry to the Russians.
Speaking shortly after Kyiv was hit this morning, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “we will look for concrete evidence” about the participation of Iran in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Updated
CCTV footage said to be from inside the residential building that was hit in central Kyiv this morning, published by Ukrainian outlet Censor.NET, is circulating on social media.
📹 Камера спостереження в під'їзді зафіксувала момент удару дроном-камікадзе по житловому будинку pic.twitter.com/tsNvlMeEbB
— Цензор.НЕТ ✍️ (@censor_net) October 17, 2022
The text accompanying the video above reads: “The surveillance camera in the entrance recorded the moment when a kamikaze drone struck a residential building”.
Three killed in Sumy rocket attack, regional governor says
The regional governor of the eastern region of Sumy has said that three people were killed and nine more injured in a rocket attack this morning.
“At 5.20 (0220 GMT) in the morning, three Russian rockets hit a facility of civil infrastructure. At least three people died. Nine are injured. There are still people under the rubble,” Dmytro Zhyvytsky wrote on social media.
Prime minister Denys Shmygal earlier said that Russian strikes had hit energy facilities in Sumy and the central central Dnipropetrovsk region, where, according to the presidency, the attacks had resulted in further deaths.
Updated
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko has also said that a young couple were killed in a residential drone attack. The woman was six months pregnant, he wrote on the Telegram messaging service.
"During search and rescue operations in a residential building in the centre, bullets hit a Russian drone, and the bodies of three dead civilians were pulled out.
“Among them is a young couple, a husband and wife who were expecting a child. The woman was 6 months pregnant. Russia is a terrorist country!”
'Young family' killed in Kyiv drone strike
Anton Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, said a “young family” were killed in a drone strike on a residential building in Kyiv this morning.
“Bohdan and Victoria, 34, were both found dead. It is reported they were expecting their first child in a few months,” he tweeted.
A young family died after a Russian attack on Kyiv residential building.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 17, 2022
Bohdan and Victoria, 34, were both found dead. It is reported they were expecting their first child in a few months.
So much pain because of TerroRussia.
WE NEED AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS.
Updated
Russia attacked 'critical infrastructure' in three regions: Ukrainian PM
Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmygal has provided further detail about the extent of Russian attacks this morning. He said the strikes had hit critical infrastructure in three regions, knocking out electricity to hundreds of towns and village across the country.
“Russian terrorists once again attacked the energy infrastructure of Ukraine in three regions”, he said. “Five drone strikes were recorded in Kyiv. Energy facilities and a residential building were damaged.”
He said Russia had also launched rocket attacks on “critical infrastructure” in the central Dnipropetrovsk region and Sumy region in the east.
“Hundreds of settlements were cut off as a result of the attack,” he added. “All (government) services are working on fixing the consequences of the shelling and restoring electricity supply.”
Shmygal urged Ukrainians to reduce their electricity use, particularly during peak hours. The president’s office said Russian missile strikes on critical infrastructure had left several people dead and wounded. And in Dnipropetrovsk, three Russian missiles were shot down but another hit energy facilities.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
At least three people have been killed and three people hospitalised after a series of “kamikaze” drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the body of a woman was recovered from the rubble of a house in Shevchenkiv district, where an explosion has occurred as a result of a drone attack. Another person is under the rubble, he added. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. An official said that 19 people had been rescued. Klitschko said that there had been five explosions after 28 drones had been directed at the city.
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal said: “Today, Russia again attacked civilian and energy facilities in Ukraine. Apartment building in Kyiv is among the terrorists’ targets. People are injured. The world’s response to these crimes must be clear: more support for Ukraine and more sanctions against the aggressor.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said after the new wave of drone attacks that Russia should be expelled from the G20 group.
Iran said again on Monday that it had not provided Russia with drones to use in Ukraine. “The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it is circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc would look for “concrete evidence” about the participation of Iran in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has posted to Telegram to say that the night in the Ukrainian-controlled area of the region “passed relatively calmly”. Maksym Marchenko, governor of Odesa, has said that overnight air defences in his region shot down six “kamikaze” drones.
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has said that one person has died and two people have been wounded by Russia strikes on the region in the last 24 hours.
Russian news agency Tass is reporting that buses are once again allowed to cross the Crimea bridge that was damaged in an attack a few days ago.
The UK Ministry of Defence says in its latest update that Russia is “likely” facing more acute logistical challenges as a result of the Kerch bridge bombing on 8 October. “A large queue of waiting cargo trucks remains backed up near the crossing,” the ministry reports.
The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, has said that the partial mobilisation will be completed in Russia’s capital from 2pm on Monday 17 October.
The operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) has said that it has again been disconnected from external power supply as a result of Russian shelling.
European Union foreign ministers are expected to agree on a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian troops from next month and an extra €500m-worth of funding for arms deliveries to Kyiv when they meet in Luxembourg.
That is it, from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Euan O’Byrne Mulligan will be with you shortly.
Updated
Death toll in Kyiv drone strikes rises to three
The death toll in this morning’s drone attack on Kyiv has risen to three, according to a presidential aide.
Reuters reports that Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, wrote on the Telegram messaging app that in addition to the three people who were killed in that Russian drone attack on a residential building in the country’s capital, 19 people had been rescued from the building and rescue work was continuing.
Ukraine’s interior minister reported several deaths across the country following the Russian attacks, but did not give a more precise death toll.
My colleague Andrew Roth has this to say about that announcement that the partial mobilisation is ending in Moscow. He writes:
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin claims the city’s mobilisation is over. It’s the most politically significant draft in the country and its end may seek to calm tensions. In a decision that seems to reward draft-dodgers, all mobilisation orders issued are no longer valid.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin claims the city’s mobilization is over. It’s the most politically significant draft in the country and its end may seek to calm tensions. In a decision that seems to reward draft-dodgers, all mobilization orders issued are no longer valid. pic.twitter.com/PeRFVxIYFd
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) October 17, 2022
He also had a warning too – “Muscovites may not want to come back from the dacha/Armenia just yet. In the past, Russian regions have declared the end of mobilisation and then … mobilised some more Russians.”
Muscovites may not want to come back from the dacha/Armenia just yet. In the past, Russian regions have declared the end of mobilization and then... mobilized some more Russians. https://t.co/00bkSQ9AR2
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) October 17, 2022
EU to 'look for concrete evidence' Iran has supplied drones to Russia amid official denials
European Union foreign ministers will examine reports that Iranian drones are being used to attack Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief has said.
Speaking shortly after Kyiv was hit by a series of Russian “kamikaze” drone attacks on Monday morning that have left at least one person dead, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “we will look for concrete evidence” about the participation of Iran in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, Anton Gerashchenko, said on Monday that Kyiv had been hit by “Iranian drones”, adding that some had been taken down by Ukraine’s air defences. Iran repeated its denials that it was supplying any weapons to the conflict. [See 9.14am]
EU foreign ministers sounded unconvinced by Iran’s protestations. Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, said: “What we can see now: Iranian drones are used apparently to attack in the middle of Kyiv, this is an atrocity, something we need to address.”
Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, suggested Tehran could face further EU sanctions if the allegations were proven. “Then it will be no longer about some individuals being sanctioned,” he said.
The EU’s 27 foreign ministers are expected later on Monday to approve sanctions against Iranian officials involved in the brutal crackdown of peaceful protesters, following the death of 22-year old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by Iran’s “morality police”. More than 100 people have been killed, in Iran’s biggest protests in years, since Amini died on 16 September.
Borrell said the latest sanctions were related to repression against demonstrators, adding that “on the issue of drones the discussion will continue”.
Updated
Moscow's mayor says partial mobilisation has ended in Russia's capital
The state-owned RIA Novosti news agency is reporting that the partial mobilisation has come to an end in Moscow. It cites the mayor of Russia’s capital, Sergei Sobyanin, writing on his personal blog:
The tasks for partial mobilisation, established on the basis of the presidential decree and the instructions of the ministry of defence, have been completed in full. The collection points for the mobilised are closed on 17 October 2022 at 2pm. Subpoenas sent out during the mobilisation process to the place of residence and enterprises cease to be valid.
The agency reports that he went on to say that the responsibility and patriotism of the city’s residents had enabled them to complete the partial mobilisation.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images to emerge from Kyiv in the aftermath of this morning’s wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital:
Also being widely circulated on social media is an image that has been shared by Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko which it is claimed shows a cat that was rescued from the rubble of a building struck by a drone this morning.
Picture of the day pic.twitter.com/Yl05XD9oAp
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 17, 2022
Daniel Boffey is in Kyiv for the Guardian. He reports:
At the scene of one of the drone attacks, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, has suggested that there may be further fatalities to announce.
He said: “Five explosions took place in the city of Kyiv. The rest of the drones were shot down by our military. You see destruction in the historic part of the city.
“Unfortunately, there are injured people, there are dead people. Rescue operations are ongoing. Perhaps we will still get people out from under the ruins of the building.All the explosions happened in the centre of Kyiv.
“This is not a Russian special operation. Russians want to leave the city of Kyiv without heat, without heating. Without electricity. They want to create a humanitarian disaster in Kyiv. The Russians want people in Kyiv to die without heat and electricity.
“The Russians are not only destroying our energy systems, they are destroying our country. I clearly understand that Putin needs Ukraine without Ukrainians. Now there is an attack on residential buildings where innocent people live. This is not the first case. Last week, we saw how a rocket flew into a children’s playground in the centre of the city and people died there.”
One killed after 28 Russian drones attacked Kyiv – mayor
At least one person has been killed after Russia launched a wave of 28 drones against Ukraine’s capital Kyiv this morning.
Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, said on the Telegram messaging service:
In the morning, 28 drones flew in the direction of Kyiv. Thanks to our armed forces and air defence, most of the flying terrorists were shot down. A total of five explosions were heard in Kyiv. One of them is in a residential building in the Shevchenkiv district. Rescuers continue extinguishing the building’s structures and work on dismantling the debris. Earlier, 18 residents of the building were rescued. Two were under rubble. A dead woman’s body was recently recovered. According to preliminary data, one more person is under the rubble. Search and rescue operations are ongoing.
Earlier Klitschko said that three people had been hospitalised. Here is our video report of the scenes in Kyiv this morning:
Dmitry Medvedev, the hawkish long-term ally of Vladimir Putin, and currently deputy chairman of the security council of Russia, has issued a warning to Israel against arming Ukraine. In a Telegram message, Medvedev described the suggestion that Israel might supply weapons to Kyiv as “a very reckless move” that would “destroy all interstate relations between our countries”.
Updated
At least one person killed, three hospitalised in Kyiv drone attack – mayor
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, has said in a message on the Telegram social media platform that one woman has been killed in one of the drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital.
He said: “The body of a dead woman was recovered from the rubble of a house in Shevchenkiv district, where an explosion occurred as a result of a drone attack. Another person is under the rubble. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Three victims were hospitalised.”
Updated
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has tweeted his response to this morning’s drone attacks in Kyiv. He said:
Today, Russia again attacked civilian and energy facilities in Ukraine. Apartment building in Kyiv is among the terrorists’ targets. People are injured. The world’s response to these crimes must be clear: more support for Ukraine and more sanctions against the aggressor.
Here is another image showing Ukrainian security forces attempting to shoot down a drone over Kyiv this morning.
Updated
Iran again denies supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine
Iran said again on Monday that it had not provided Russia with drones to use in Ukraine.
“The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it is circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war,” Reuters reports Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said during a weekly press conference.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said after a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities on Monday that Russia should be expelled from the G20 group.
“Those who give orders to attack critical infrastructure to freeze civilians and organise total mobilisation to cover the frontline with corpses, cannot sit at the same table with leaders of G20 for sure. Time to put an end to Russian hypocrisy. The Russian Federation must be expelled from all platforms,” Reuters reports he wrote on Twitter.
Russian news agency Tass is reporting that buses are once again allowed to cross the Crimea bridge, which was damaged in an attack a few days ago.
Tass quotes Kerch’s mayor Svyatoslav Brusakov saying “The most important thing is that we are already sending buses – these are children’s groups, excursions. And buses arrive at the Kerch bus station. Buses go over the bridge as usual.”
Initially when the road bridge was reopened it was only available for use by cars.
Updated
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has posted to Telegram to say that the night in the Ukrainian-controlled area of the region “passed relatively calmly”.
He stated “there were no casualties, but there is destruction”, citing attacks in the districts of Pokrovsky, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut.
The claims have not been independently verified. Donetsk is one of the regions of occupied Ukraine that Russia has claimed to “annex”.
Isobel Koshiw, who has been covering the war for the Guardian, tweets that there are instructions circulating on social media on how to shoot down drones using small arms. We have already seen images emerging of security forces attempting to shoot down the drones on Kyiv’s streets this morning.
Maksym Marchenko, governor of Odesa, has said that overnight air defences in his region shot down “kamikaze” drones. He posted to Telegram to say:
At night, six enemy kamikaze drones were destroyed in the sky over Odesa by anti-aircraft defence units. In the morning, the occupiers launched a rocket attack on the region with a Kh-59 missile. [It] damaged [an] infrastructure object. Fortunately, there were no casualties.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Justin Crump, a defence, intelligence and security expert, has been interviewed by the BBC on the Radio 4 Today programme about Russia’s drone tactics. He said:
These drones are used, they are relatively cheap, which is why Russia has turned to them, and they are effective because they have quite a small cross-section, they are quite hard to detect for radar. They fly low. And the way that you can send them in waves – or effectively swarms – makes them much harder to counter by air defences. If they are hit they are relatively easily disabled. They are comparatively light vehicles. But it is detecting them in the first place, and when it is going on for hours, obviously it has steadily overwhelmed air defences.
Reuters is carrying a little extra witness detail from the attacks in Kyiv this morning. It reports that a Reuters reporter saw pieces of a drone used in the attack that bore the words: “For Belgorod.”
The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod – close to the border with Ukraine – has accused Ukrainian forces of repeatedly shelling the region. Gunmen shot dead 11 people at a military training ground in the Belgorod region on Saturday.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has responded to this morning’s attacks. He has posted to Telegram to say:
All night and all morning, the enemy terrorises the civilian population. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine. A residential building was hit in Kyiv.
The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations. And we will get victory.
Updated
Two people trapped under rubble after kamikaze drone attack on Kyiv – mayor
Eighteen people have been rescued from a building struck by kamikaze drones this morning in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, but at least two people remain trapped under rubble, according to reports from the city’s mayor.
Vitali Klitschko posted to Telegram to say:
As a result of an attack by kamikaze drones, an explosion occurred in a residential building in the Shevchenko district of the capital. At present, 18 people have been rescued from it. According to preliminary information, two residents remain under the rubble. Rescue operations are ongoing. Extinguishing of destroyed building structures and demolition of rubble is ongoing.
He said authorities were continuing to try and verify casualty figures from the attacks.
Updated
While drone attacks have taken place in Kyiv, the pro-Russian “authorities" in occupied Donetsk have said that Ukrainian forces have been shelling Donetsk, Horlivka and Makiivka in the east of the country. The Russian state-owned RIA Novosti news agency cites messages on Telegram saying that 19 155mm and 152mm calibre shells were fired. The claims have not been independently verified.
Here are more of the images we have been sent via the newswires showing the aftermath of drone attacks in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
Updated
The latest update from Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, warns residents of the city to continue to exercise caution. He writes:
In the centre of the capital, traffic is blocked on sections of several streets. I am appealing to the residents of Kyiv: do not go to the city centre without an urgent need. Also, don’t ignore the air warning signals. Let’s be conscious and take care of our own safety. Let’s stand together!
In the UK, the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme has interviewed a witness from Kyiv about this morning’s attacks on the city. She told listeners:
[In the] last two hours, we can hear the explosions and the noise of the drones flying over our building, almost constantly. Believe me, once you’ve heard the sound of a rocket flying over your building, or a drone flying over your building, you can tell the difference. You can feel the difference.
A rocket is more like a whistle. If we are talking about the drones, imagine some huge 200kg motorcycle flying over your building. It is really freaking scary.
It’s something like every 10 or 15 minutes. We can hear the series of noises. We can tell that drones are flying and then our forces trying to hit them, every 10 or 15 minutes
Updated
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant again cut off from external energy supply
The operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) has said that it has again been disconnected from external power supply as a result of Russian shelling.
Energoatom, the Ukrainian state-owned concerned which runs the ZNPP, has posted to Telegram to claim that:
Russian terrorists once again fired at substations of critical infrastructure in the territory under the control of Ukraine, as a result of which at 03:59 the last communication line of 750 kV ZANP - Dniprovska was disconnected. In the transitional process, due to a short-term voltage drop, the reserve transformer of the ZNPP’s own needs was turned off and the diesel generators were started.
We once again appeal to the international community to urgently take measures for the demilitarisation of the ZNPP as soon as possible, the withdrawal of all Russian military personnel from the territory of the plant and the city of Energodar, and the return of the ZNPP to the full control of Ukraine for the sake of the security of the whole world.
The claims have not been independently verified. Russian forces have been occupying the ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, since the earliest days of the war in Ukraine. The ZNPP is located in one of occupied regions of Ukraine which Russia claims to have “annexed”, and Russia has announced its intention to bring the ZNPP under the control of Russia’s nuclear authorities.
Serhai Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has posted to Telegram to say that “the Russians are wiping the liberated settlements off the face of the earth with tanks, artillery and anti-aircraft fire”.
He also said “the occupiers are placing concrete cubes and digging trenches throughout Luhansk region – preparing for a long defence”.
Luhansk is one of the occupied regions of Ukraine that Russia has claimed to annex, despite not fully controlling the territory there.
Updated
Olga Rudenko, Ukrainian journalist and editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent, has tweeted this about the situation in Kyiv in the last few minutes:
Dear free world, how are you starting your Monday? Coffee? A workout? Writing down goals for the week? We in Kyiv started it sitting in shelters, twitching from loud explosions as Russia is attacking the city with kamikaze drones.
Here are some of the latest images that we have received from Kyiv over the newswires.
Updated
Away from Kyiv for a moment, and Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has said that one person has died and two people have been wounded by strikes on the region in the last 24 hours. On the Telegram messaging app, he wrote:
As a result of the shelling, fires broke out in non-residential buildings. According to the regional centre of emergency medical assistance, a 45-year-old woman unfortunately died in the Kharkiv district as a result of the shelling of Lukyantsi. A 47-year-old woman was hospitalised with injuries in Solonytsivka. A 69-year-old man was hospitalised in the Kupyansk district. In the Izium district, two people – a 54-year-old man and his 16-year-old son – turned to doctors with previously received injuries.
Demining continues in the region. During the day, the state emergency service defused 630 explosive objects. Fighting with the Russian occupiers continues on the contact line.
The claims have not been independently verified.
This is Martin Belam in London on the live blog for the next few hours. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. If you’re just joining us, Kyiv has been hit by a series of explosions, just days after Russia’s president Vladimir Putin promised there would be “no need for more massive strikes” on Ukraine.
Here is the full story:
Kyiv residents ordered to remain in shelters as strikes continue
Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko posted on Telegram warning of further strikes on the city.
“Two more explosions in the Shevchenkiv district. Stay in shelters!,” he said.
Updated
After his attacks on 10 October, Russian president Vladimir Putin said most designated targets of the strikes had been hit, adding that it was not his aim to destroy Ukraine.
Speaking to journalists after a summit with regional leaders in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, the Russian leader said that the recent strikes had destroyed 22 out of the 29 targets in Ukraine set by the military and that “they are getting” the remaining seven.
“There’s no need for massive strikes. We now have other tasks,” he said.
What are Kamikaze drones?
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukranian president’s office, confirmed this morning that the attacks on Kyiv were carried out using Kamikaze drones.
Here is the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont on how the drones work – and Russia’s escalating use of these weapons in the war:
“The capital was attacked by kamikaze drones,” he said. “We need more air defence systems and as soon as possible. We have no time for slow actions. More weapons to defend the sky and destroy the enemy.”
Usually launched in pairs, the 200kg Kamikaze drone – which is armed with a warhead, officially has claimed range of about 2,000km although realistically it is believed to be closer to several hundred with anecdotal evidence suggesting that Ukrainian forces have at times struggled to track the incoming drones.
In a recent interview Oleg Katkov, of Ukraine’s Defense Express, suggested the drones were probably relatively low-tech, assembled from parts that could be bought easily online and guided by a civilian GPS system, with their effectiveness coming from their use in swarms.
“Since this equipment is assembled from low-quality parts, the reliability will be low. That is why the tactics of using these UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] involves their use in a so-called swarm. In other words, five to six, or even more, kamikaze drones are launched at one target, assuming that a few of them will fulfil their task.”
Here is our report on this morning’s attacks:
Kyiv has been hit by a series of explosions, just days after Russia’s president Vladimir Putin promised there would be “no need for more massive strikes” on Ukraine.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko confirmed two blasts sounded in the city’s central Shevchenkiv district in a series of statements posted to his Telegram channel just before 7am on Monday.
Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv at 6.25am, an almost daily occurrence, frequently ignored by citizens. This time however, they were swiftly followed by a series of explosions between 6.35am and 6.58am (0335 GMT and 0358 GMT). A second series of blasts was heard by Guardian correspondents at about 815am local time (615am BST).
Klitschko said that “as a result of the drone attack, a fire broke out in a non-residential building in the Shevchenkiv district” and several residential buildings were also damaged.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office, confirmed the attack in a Telegram post just after 7am.
“The capital was attacked by kamikaze drones,” he said. “We need more air defence systems and as soon as possible. We have no time for slow actions. More weapons to defend the sky and destroy the enemy.”
“The Russians think that this will help them but these actions look more like agony,” he said.
Emergency services were reportedly clarifying information about any possible victims.
The head of Ukraine’s state railway, Alexander Kamyshin, said some strikes hit near Kyiv’s central station. Scores of people sheltered in an underpass at the station.
Attacks in Zaporizhzhia overnight
Anatoly Kurtev, Zaporizhzhia City Council secretary, has just posted on Telegram that there was an attack on the city overnight, but that so far no injuries or casualties have been reported.
“Tonight, during the air raid, the racist occupiers launched an attack on the outskirts of the city and the suburbs.
According to preliminary data, there are no destructions and no injured people.”
Ninth drone strike on Kyiv as attacks continue
The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey reports that a ninth strike has hit Kyiv.
And we have a ninth drone. pic.twitter.com/kCXztRyF8V
— Daniel Boffey (@danielboffey) October 17, 2022
Updated
The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey says he is hearing reports there have been eight strikes on Kyiv this morning.
Reports from further afield suggest total drone attacks on city stands at eight
— Daniel Boffey (@danielboffey) October 17, 2022
If you’re just joining us, Russia launched strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv early on Monday morning. Residential buildings were damaged in the strikes, some of which occurred near Ukraine’s central railway station.
“Several residential buildings were damaged. Medics are on the spot,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post on Telegram.
No casualties have been reported yet.
The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey reports that a fifth drone has just flown over Kyiv and landed “with a bang” after Ukrainian soldiers were unable to shoot it down:
Just had a fifth drone now in Kyiv. Watched as soldiers sought to shoot it down but it avoided machine gun fire and landed with a bang
— Daniel Boffey (@danielboffey) October 17, 2022
More blasts heard in Kyiv
The Guardian’s Charlotte Higgins, who is in Kyiv, has just heard more blasts. More on this shortly.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has posted a photograph on Twitter of “the wreckage of one of the kamikaze drones that attacked Kyiv this morning”.
Уламок одного з дронів-камікадзе, які сьогодні зранку атакували Київ. pic.twitter.com/EV1Hy6GADL
— Віталій Кличко (@Vitaliy_Klychko) October 17, 2022
Zelenskiy says Russian deaths 'approaching 65,000'
In an update on Sunday night, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said almost 65,000 Russians had been killed since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. This figure is far higher than Moscow’s official estimate – released on 21 September – of 5,937 dead.
“The total losses of the enemy in terms of killed people are approaching 65,000. So many citizens of Russia gave their lives for the possibility of a handful of people in the Kremlin to ignore reality,” Zelenskiy wrote.
Estimates of the number of Russian soldiers killed in the war vary. In July, Colin Kahl, the US Under Secretary of Defence for policy, said estimated that up to 80,000 Russians had been killed or injured. It was believed that roughly a quarter of these were killed, two US officials told the New York Times.
EU foreign ministers to discuss transfer of Iranian drones to Russia – Reuters
European Union foreign ministers are expected to agree on a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian troops from next month and an extra €500m worth of funding for arms deliveries to Kyiv when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday, Reuters reports.
Several EU countries have already been instructing Ukrainian troops on how to use specific weapons and this will continue.
The European Union has supported Kyiv since the start of the war with financial and, in a first for the bloc, military aid.
The foreign ministers will agree to add a further €500m ($486 million) to a fund that reimburses EU member states for arms delivered to Ukraine, bringing the total amount earmarked for arms for Kyiv to over €3bn.
Unlike earlier tranches, the additional money will also cover costs for repair and maintenance of weapons already delivered to Ukraine.
EU foreign ministers will also discuss the transfer of Iranian drones to Russia, opening the way for potential further sanctions that could be agreed at a later date.
The UK Ministry of Defence says in its latest update that Russia is “likely” facing more acute logistical challenges as a result of the Kerch bridge bombing on 8 October.
“A large queue of waiting cargo trucks remains backed up near the crossing,” the ministry reports.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 17 October 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 17, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/v6cysXlU8a
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/A6ZA7s5Saf
Conflict has pushed four million children into poverty, says UN
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its economic fallout have thrown four million children into poverty across eastern Europe and central Asia, the UN children’s agency, Unicef, has said.
“Children are bearing the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” Unicef said.
The conflict “and rising inflation have driven an additional four million children across eastern Europe and Central Asia into poverty, a 19 percent increase since 2021”.
Russian and Ukrainian children have been most affected since Moscow’s attack on its neighbour in February.
“Russia accounts for nearly three-quarters of the total increase in the number of children living in poverty due to the Ukraine war and a cost-of-living crisis across the region, with an additional 2.8 million children now living in households below the poverty line,” Unicef reported.
The blow to Russia’s economy from western sanctions had combined with its large population to exacerbate the effects.
“Ukraine is home to half a million additional children living in poverty, the second largest share,” Unicef said.
Romania followed closely behind, with a further 110,000 children in poverty.
Large fire in Dnipro, central-eastern Ukraine, follwing strikes on energy facility
A large fire has broken out at an energy plant in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth largest city, following strikes early on Monday morning, Reuters reports, citing the Dnipro mayor.
The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh is sheltering in an underpass at Kyiv station, near to where this morning’s attacks occurred:
Currently waiting in an underpass at Kyiv station after multiple drone strikes nearby. One explosion after I first arrived, the look of fear on some peoples faces. What a way to start a day pic.twitter.com/qg3TblYqmT
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) October 17, 2022
Strikes occured near Kyiv central station, no casualties
The head of Ukraine’s state railway, Alexander Kamyshin, says that the shelling occurred near Kyiv central station – confirming what the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey, who is at the station, said a few moments ago.
So far there are no known casualties from the strikes near the station, though residential buildings were also damaged in the attacks.
Shelling near #Kyiv central station. No casualties. Passengers safe. #KeepRunning.
— Alexander Kamyshin (@AKamyshin) October 17, 2022
Residential buildings hit in Kyiv attack
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says that “several residential buildings” have been damaged in the strikes on Kyiv this morning, and that medics are on site.
In a post on Telegram, Kitschko wrote:
As a result of the drone attack, a fire broke out in a non-residential building in the Shevchenkiv district of Kyiv. Fire departments are working. Several residential buildings were damaged. Medics are on the spot. We are clarifying the information about the victims.
Updated
Andriy Yermak, the head of the President’s Office, said in a post on Telegram confirming the Kamikaze drone attack on Kyiv this morning, “We need more air defense systems and as soon as possible. We have no time for slow actions. More weapons to defend the sky and destroy the enemy. So be it.”
At around 6.30 am, Guardian correspondents in Kyiv heard two blasts followed moments later by a third.
Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko confirmed two blasts in the city centre’s Shevchenkiv district on his Telegram channel.
Updated
Kyiv hit by Kamikaze drones
Citing Andriy Yermak, the head of the President’s Office, the Kyiv post confirms that Kyiv was hit by kamikaze drones.
⚡️ One more explosion reported in Kyiv.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) October 17, 2022
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko confirmed one more explosion in the city’s Shevchenkivskyi district.
According to Andriy Yermak, the head of the President’s Office, Kyiv was attacked with kamikaze drones.
According to Ukrainian military officials, “kamikaze drones” are cheaper and less sophisticated than missiles but have proved effective at causing damage to targets on the ground. The Shahed-136 drones are able to remain airborne for several hours and circle over potential targets before being flown into enemy troops, armour or buildings and exploding on impact.
Updated
The Guardian’s Daniel Boffey is in Kyiv train station and heard three drone strikes nearby:
Three Kamikaze drone strikes this morning very near to Kyiv train station. Tell tale moped style noise followed by hell of a bang pic.twitter.com/E6OBR99pIf
— Daniel Boffey (@danielboffey) October 17, 2022
Explosions heard in Kyiv
The Guardian’s Charlotte Higgins is in Kyiv, where she has heard at least three explosions this morning.
On Telegram, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote:
“The explosion in the Shevchenkiv district - in the center of the capital. All services follow in place. Details later. The air alert continues. Stay in shelters!”
The Shevchenkivskiy district is the same area that was hit by several explosions a week ago, on 10 October. At least 19 people were killed in last week’s attacks on Kyiv and more than 100 were injured.
❗️ Mayor of #Kyiv @Vitaliy_Klychko reports an explosion in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the city. pic.twitter.com/roEtCpmMup
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 17, 2022
Updated
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be taking you through the latest for the next few hours.
The Guardian’s Charlotte Higgins is in Kyiv, where she has heard at least three explosions this morning.
Meanwhile, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting economic fallout have thrown four million children into poverty across eastern Europe and Central Asia, Unicef said Monday.
“Children are bearing the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” Unicef said.
The conflict “and rising inflation have driven an additional four million children across eastern Europe and Central Asia into poverty, a 19 percent increase since 2021”, it said.
Unicef drew its conclusions from a study of data from 22 countries.
More on these developments shortly. In the meantime, here is a summary of key recent news:
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said a “very severe” situation persists in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with the “most difficult” fighting near the town of Bakhmut. The attacks came as Russia’s war in Ukraine nears the eight-month mark.
Pro-Kremlin officials on Sunday blamed Ukraine for a rocket attack that struck the mayor’s office in Donetsk, a city controlled by the separatists, while Ukrainian officials said Russian rocket strikes hit a town near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, among other targets.
More than 30 settlements across Ukraine have been hit by Russian strikes in the last day, according to the Ukrainian military. Two schools in the southern Zaporizhzhia region were reportedly destroyed in the strikes, which targeted civilian areas.
The Ukrainian military said the estimated number of Russians killed since the start of the war has reached 65,000. Sunday morning’s update from the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said the death toll had risen by 300 over the last 24 hours.
In Ukraine, 423 children have been killed since the start of the invasion the office of the Ukrainian prosecutor general said. It added that a further 810 children had been injured in the conflict and that the highest number of child casualties were in the regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Kyiv.
Ukraine has succeeded in maintaining its energy stability after Russian attacks last week that targeted key parts of its infrastructure, Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal said. In a post on Facebook, Shmyhal said that in the first three days of the week, Russia launched up to 130 missile and drone strikes against civilian and energy facilities, particularly in the capital, Kyiv.
Russia is “probably incapable of producing advanced munitions at the rate they are being expended”, according to the latest update from the UK Ministry of Defence.
US and allied security officials believe Iran has agreed to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles and attack drones intended for use in Ukraine. The topic is due to be discussed by EU foreign ministers in a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday.
The Belarusian defence ministry has said just under 9,000 Russian troops will be stationed in Belarus as part of a “regional grouping” of forces to protect its borders. Last week, the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, said his troops would be deployed with Russian forces near the Ukrainian border as part of a “joint grouping”, citing what he said were threats from Ukraine and the west.
Russian soldiers have reportedly shot dead Ukrainian conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko in his home after he refused to take part in a concert in occupied Kherson. The concert was “intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called ‘improvement of peaceful life’ in Kherson”, Kyiv’s culture ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page.
US-based thinktank The Institute for the Study of War has said Russia continues to conduct “massive, forced deportations” of Ukrainians that “likely amount to a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign”. In its latest assessment of the conflict, the Institute for the Study of War notes that Russian officials have “openly admitted to placing children from occupied areas of Ukraine up for adoption with Russian families”.
Poverty in Ukraine has increased tenfold since the start of the war, a top World Bank official has said. Arup Banerji, the bank’s regional director for eastern Europe, said Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure away from the frontlines of the conflict have complicated the already dire economic situation.
