Summary of the day
Thanks for following the Russia-Ukraine war live blog today. It will be closed shortly but you can continue to follow the latest news here. Below is a closing summary of today’s key posts.
Russian shelling has left 70% of Kherson without electricity, says the Kherson oblast governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. Shelling by Russian forces on Tuesday had “badly damaged” the infrastructure of the city, he said, adding that it was “difficult” to say when engineers would be able to complete restoration works. A railway station in the city was also attacked as a train was set to evacuate residents, killing one police officer and injuring four people, said Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko.
Ukraine’s armed forces commander has said his troops remain in an area of the eastern town of Marinka despite Russia’s assertions that Moscow is in control of the settlement. Capturing Marinka would amount to Moscow’s most significant battlefield gain since May.
A Russian politician calling for peace in Ukraine has been denied the chance to run for president. Russia’s central election commission refused to accept the former regional legislator, Yekaterina Duntsova’s initial nomination by a group of supporters, citing errors in the paperwork, including spelling. After losing Wednesday’s appeal against the commission’s decision, Duntsova said she would start working on the creation of her own political party that would stand for “peace, freedom and democracy”.
EU aid will not change the war’s outcome, the Kremlin has said. It added that such spending would only hurt Europe’s economy.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has warned that a move by Japan to hand over Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine, would have “grave consequences” for Russia-Japan ties.
Poland is getting closer to ending the trucker blockades of several border crossings with Ukraine, says the country’s prime minister, Donald Tusk. Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since 6 November, demanding the EU reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers to enter Ukraine.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has held talks in Moscow with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and said progress had been made on plans for Russia and India to jointly produce military equipment. Jaishankar added that he expected the Russian president, Vladimir Putin and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi to meet next year.
Russia’s newest howitzers will be deployed “soon” against Ukrainian forces. The head of the state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, told the RIA news agency that testing of the new self-propelled artillery units, named Coalition-SV, had been completed and mass production had already started, with the first pilot batch to be delivered by the end of this year.
Two people were killed in Russia’s overnight drone attacks on Odesa, according to updated figures posted on Telegram by the Odesa oblast governor, Oleh Kiper. A 17-year-old was among the wounded and remains in hospital.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, has thanked “all Ukrainian warriors” in a post on X. He also re-emphasised the priority for Ukraine “to strengthen our country, defend our people, and bolster our positions in all areas”.
Updated
Poland is getting closer to ending the trucker blockades of several border crossings with Ukraine, says the country’s prime minister, Donald Tusk.
“We are close to the belief that our actions can bring results, both the talks in Kyiv and Brussels,” Tusk told a news conference. “I do not think that we will achieve the maximum that the truckers want, but it seems that what can be achieved will allow us to relieve emotions and relieve blockades on the border.”
Polish drivers have been blocking several crossings with Ukraine since 6 November, demanding the EU reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers to enter Ukraine.
Polish farmers ended a blockade of one of the border crossings between Ukraine and Poland on Sunday, meaning that the movement of lorries was fully restored. Three other border crossings remain blocked by truckers.
Reuters reports that Poland’s deputy infrastructure minister, Dariusz Klimczak, said on Friday, after a meeting in Kyiv, that he hoped truckers’ protests on the border with Ukraine could be resolved before the end of the year.
Updated
