Summary
The time in Kyiv is coming up to 9pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s main news stories:
Ukraine shot down more than 60 of over 70 missiles launched by Russia in a massed missile strike on Monday, Ukraine’s air force command said. The strikes targeted Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, the air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian missiles have crashed into buildings in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, destroying several houses and killing at least two people, a senior Ukrainian official has said. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the presidential office, gave no further details of the attacks, Reuters reported.
Air defences shot down most of the Russian missiles fired at Ukraine on Monday and energy workers have already begun work on restoring power supplies, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. Russia carried out the latest in a wave of airstrikes on Ukraine, destroying homes in the south and knocking out power in the north and killing at least two people, Ukrainian officials said.
Mysterious explosions took place at two Russian airbases far from the frontlines on Monday, raising the possibility that Kyiv has found a way to target Russian long-range bombers used in attacks against Ukraine’s infrastructure.
Spanish police have intercepted three more envelopes containing animal eyes addressed to Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid and its consulates in Barcelona and Málaga, police sources close to the investigation said. Last week, Ukraine said a series of “bloody packages” were sent to its missions across Europe, soon after a letter bomb detonated at Ukraine’s embassy in Spain and police defused others sent to, among others, prime minister Pedro Sánchez.
Canadian-made parts have been found in the “kamikaze” Iranian drones used by Russia to attack Ukraine, according to a report. An investigative project from the NGO Statewatch found components from 30 European and American companies, concluding antenna parts from Tallysman Wireless, a Canadian manufacturer. Iranian-made Shahed 136 drones have been used by Russia in attacks against Ukraine, targeting civilian infrastructure. According to Statewatch’s project Trap Aggressor, the Russian military renamed the drone Geran-2 to mask its origins.
The White House has said that the latest Russian strikes against Ukraine are a reminder of the Russian president Vladimir Putin’s brutality. John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, also told reporters that an oil price cap would not have any long-term impact on global oil prices, Reuters reported.
Russia said that three of its military personnel were killed in what it said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian airbases. Two aircraft were lightly damaged, the defence ministry said in a statement. Four other people had been wounded, it said.
Moldovan police on Monday found fragments of a missile that came down in a region of northern Moldova near the border with Ukraine, state information portal Prima Sursa quoted the police as saying. Moldovan authorities did not immediately comment publicly on the incident, which was reported after Russia carried out a new wave of missile strikes on Ukraine.
Russia’s recent mobilisation has increased its military threat in Ukraine, with better-trained soldiers now arriving at the frontline, the commander of Ukrainian ground forces said. But he said Russia was now using a lot of old equipment because it had no other way of replenishing supplies, and that Russian forces had made only slow progress around Bakhmut, one of the main battle zones in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Vladimir Putin has driven across the Kerch Bridge, linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula, after it was damaged by a truck bomb in October. The Russian president drove across the bridge today and spoke to workers and a senior government official, reports Reuters.
India gave a list of Indian products to Moscow for access to Russian markets, foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, as his country seeks to narrow a growing trade deficit with Russia at a time when Moscow faces acute shortages of some crucial materials following western sanctions. Reuters reported last week that Moscow had sent India a list of more than 500 products for potential delivery, including parts for cars, aircraft and trains, as sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine squeeze its ability to keep vital industries running.
The Kremlin has warned the new western price cap on Russian oil will destabilise global energy markets, but claimed it would not impact its invasion of Ukraine. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was preparing its response to the move by the G7 and allies.
Olaf Scholz has warned the west to avoid creating a new cold war by dividing the world into blocs. Writing in an opinion piece for Foreign Affairs magazine, published today, the German chancellor called for every effort to be made to build new partnerships. He singled out China and Russia as two countries that pose a threat to a multipolar world.
Nine people have been killed in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk, Russian-backed military officials have said. It came after Ukraine shelled the city of Alchevsk, Reuters reports, citing state-run TASS news agency.
The Chinese foreign ministry has said it will continue energy cooperation with Russia after the G7, EU and Australia imposed a price cap on Russian oil exports. China, which said it would continue on the basis if respect and mutual benefit, has increased its purchases of Russia’s Urals oil blends this year.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Goodnight for now.
Ukrainian officials have recently been hinting at developments in the country’s grinding war with Russia. A long-range rocket, perhaps? Or a homemade modified drone? The apparent evidence of a new and unexpected weapon was visible on Monday morning, when mysterious explosions hit two Russian airbases.
Both took place a long way from the frontlines. Video from Russian social media showed a blast at the Engels-2 airbase in Russia’s Saratov region. Another happened at the Dyagilevo military airbase near Ryazan, a city just 150 miles from Moscow and Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. According to Russian state media, three people at the base were killed and five injured when a fuel truck went up in flames. At least two planes were reportedly damaged.
The exact cause of the explosion was uncertain. But it appears Ukraine has found a way to target Russia’s long range Tu-95 and Tu-22M aircraft, which are stationed at the airstrips. Since October the Kremlin had used these strategic bombers to wreck Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, bit by bit, leaving millions without heat and electricity as winter arrives.
There is speculation Kyiv has developed a strike drone with an astonishing 1,000km range. Late last month a Ukrainian serviceman said the weapon had already been used against the Russian military. If accurate, this means much of European Russia is now in reach. And that the asymmetric advantage Moscow has enjoyed this year – the ability to launch cruise missiles safely from deep inside Russia itself – is under threat.
