Summary of the day
That’s it from this live blog for today. Thanks for following along. You can continue to follow the latest news from Russia’s war on Ukraine here. Below is a closing summary of today’s key posts.
Russian authorities are attempting to quell dissent from the wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing that some were being paid off while others have been discredited online.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told the Associated Press that “winter as a whole is a new phase of war” and acknowledged that “we did not achieve the desired results” with the summer counteroffensive. He added that “we already can see the consequences of the international community shifting [attention] because of the tragedy in the Middle East”.
Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by nearly 170,000, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.
Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak said.
Russia said its troops were advancing in every section of the Ukrainian front, despite observers seeing little movement. The frontlines have barely shifted this year but fighting has remained intense. “Our servicemen are acting competently and decisively, occupying a more favourable position and expanding their zones of control in all directions,” Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Friday.
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost its power supply after the last remaining line to it from Ukrainian-controlled territory was disrupted, but it has since been repaired. Ukraine’s energy ministry said the blackout could have led to “nuclear catastrophe”.
Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs to improve its mobilisation system, with the issue of recruitment under public discussion for some time. Questions of corruption in the military, particularly in procurement and recruiting, have periodically seized public attention as Ukraine tries to press on with a counteroffensive that has so far produced only incremental gains.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution and that there was no reason for Russia to change the goals of its “special military operation”. He also accused western diplomats of cowardice in refusing to meet with him at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference in North Macedonia.
OSCE Conference participants have accused Moscow of undermining the Vienna-based organisation. Latvia’s representative, Katrina Kaktina, accused Russia of obstructing the OSCE agenda and of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Ukraine is developing plans to allow spectators to attend sports stadiums. Its sports ministry is developing a system that will allow fans to attend stadiums and watch games which have been off limits to the public since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border remained tense, with Ukrainian truckers stuck on the border saying they planned to launch a hunger strike if their demands were not met. Polish and Ukrainian officials agreed on measures designed to help ease the situation at border crossings blocked by Polish truckers, but did not address the protesting Polish truckers’ main demands. Slovak truckers said they would start blocking a border crossing with Ukraine.
A court in Russia has extended the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until 5 February.
Updated
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost its power supply after the last remaining line to it from Ukrainian-controlled territory was disrupted, but it has since been repaired, reports Reuters.
According to a statement published by Ukraine’s energy ministry on Telegram, one power line to the plant was disrupted late on Friday, while the last 750 kW line was broken at 2.31 am (00.31 GMT) on Saturday. In its statement, the energy ministry stated that it was the eight blackout at the nuclear power plant, which was captured by Russia in early March 2022. The ministry warned that this latest incident could have led to “nuclear catastrophe”.
Greenpeace have previously expressed concerns over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia power station, saying international regulators are incapable of properly monitoring its safety.
Updated
Ukraine is developing plans to allow spectators to attend sports stadiums
Ukraine’s sports ministry has said it is developing a system that will allow fans to attend stadiums and watch games which have been off limits to the public since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The country’s government has tasked the sports ministry, the internal affairs ministry, security agencies and regional military administrations with developing an “algorithm” to make sports events accessible and as safe as possible, reports The Kyiv Independent.
No timeline has been announced for when spectators could be let back in to stadiums, but the eventual return will help stadiums and clubs to be “financially viable again”, said Matvii Bidnyi, Ukraine’s sports minister. However, he added that the “the safety of spectators and athletes” remains the priority.
Updated
Latvia’s representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in North Macedonia, Katrina Kaktina, has accused Russia of violating human rights and committing war crimes. According to the Associated Press, Kaktina said on Friday:
It is Russia that is waging an unprovoked and unlawful war against Ukraine, and it is Russia that is obstructing the OSCE agenda. Russia is continuing violations of human rights: deliberate killings of civilians, including children, forced deportations, tactics of torture and sexual violence. Those are war crimes being committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Updated
Associated Press have provided a little more detail of the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s earlier comments in which he said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution.
Speaking at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in North Macedonia, Lavrov also said Russia was not prepared to “review its goals” in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters at the event in Skopje, he said: “We aren’t seeing any signals from Kyiv or its masters about their readiness to seek any kind of political settlement.”
Lavrov has held several bilateral meetings while in Skopje, including talks with the foreign ministers of North Macedonia, Armenia and Hungary. Budapest has maintained close ties with Moscow despite EU sanctions on Russia.
Lavrov has accused western diplomats of cowardice in refusing to meet with him. In comments made during a news conference on Friday, he said: “They probably want to emphasise their intention to isolate Russia but I think they just chickened out. They’re afraid of any honest conversation. It’s cowardice, simple cowardice.”
Conference participants have accused Moscow of undermining the Vienna-based organisation that originally was created to ease cold war tensions. Top diplomats from Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have chosen to skip the event in protest after North Macedonia’s decision to waive a flight ban on Russian officials so Lavrov could attend the two-day meeting.
Updated
Summary
It’s approaching 1pm in Kyiv, and here are the day’s main developments so far:
Russian authorities are attempting to quell dissent from the wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing that some were being paid off while others have been discredited online.
Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said.
Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by nearly 170,000, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs to improve its mobilisation system, with the issue of recruitment under public discussion for some time. Questions of corruption in the military, particularly in procurement and recruiting, have periodically seized public attention as Ukraine tries to press on with a counteroffensive that has so far produced only incremental gains.
Updated
If you’ve not been following the latest developments in the Ukraine war this week, my colleague Warren Murray has compiled this wrap of essential coverage – from news and features to analysis, opinion and more.
Russia trying to quell dissent from soldiers' wives with money and online attacks, says UK
Russian authorities are attempting to quell dissent from the wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.
The MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing that some were being paid off while others have been discredited online.
It comes after protests from soldiers’ wives in November.
The MoD said:
Research by independent Russia media outlets and comments by protesting wives themselves suggest that, in recent weeks, the authorities have likely offered increased cash payments to families in return for them refraining from protest.
On 27 November 2023, one prominent online group for soldiers’ wives published a manifesto against ‘indefinite mobilisation’. On around 31 November 2023, the group was pinned with a ‘fake’ warning label – likely at the instigation of pro-Kremlin actors.
The authorities are likely particularly sensitive to any protests related to those citizens mobilised in September 2022, who have now been at the front line for over a year.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 02 December 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) December 2, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/P2GQ5enYf4
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/jkjMqQ8WRx
Updated
Control over Maryinka, a town in eastern Ukraine all but destroyed by more than a year of fighting, remained uncertain on Friday, with unofficial reports suggesting Russian forces had registered some gains.
Reuters reports that most accounts of Maryinka, south-west of the Russian-held regional centre of Donetsk, describe it as a ghost town amid daily reports of Ukrainian forces defending different districts.
Once home to 10,000 people, there are no civilians left.
Ukraine’s general staff said in its evening report that Russian forces had been unsuccessful in attempts to advance on villages near Maryinka, but did not mention troop movements in the town.
Russia’s defence ministry made no mention of the town in its dispatches.
The unofficial Russian blogger Rybar referred to a photo circulating on social media showing Russian forces hoisting the national flag in the south-west of the town. Ukrainian forces, they said, remained in control of other districts.
“However, if information about the movement of Russian troops to the south is accurate, the enemy’s retreat is a question that is fast approaching,” they said.
Ukrainian social media accounts noted Russian advances, but quoted soldiers as rejecting the notion that Moscow’s troops controlled the entire town.
Updated
Ukraine could reopen Kyiv airport soon, says official
Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said on Friday.
Andriy Yermak made the pledge while addressing diplomats at Boryspil international airport outside the capital.
“This return to the elements of peace is possible because Ukraine has grown stronger,” Yermak told the diplomats in remarks posted on Zelenskiy’s website.
“We are now capable of providing security for this site. Thanks to our defence forces and our friends, your countries. I am certain that the symbolic boarding cards that you were given when you came in today will soon turn into real ones.”
Yermak’s deputy, Andriy Sybiga, told the gathering that the airport was the first major site in Ukraine to be closed after Russian troops invaded in February 2022.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming through from Ukraine:
Updated
Putin boosts Russian troop numbers
We reported earlier that Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by nearly 170,000, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.
The Associated Press says it brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops.
It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, which Putin ordered in August 2022, put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1.15 million troops.
Russia’s defence ministry said the order did not imply any “significant expansion of conscription”, saying in a statement that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers. The ministry cited what it called “the special military operation” in Ukraine and the expansion of Nato as the reasons for the increase.
Boosting Russian troops was an appropriate response to “the aggressive activities of the Nato bloc”, the ministry said.
Updated
Changes needed in Ukraine's mobilisation system, says Zelenskiy
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs to improve its mobilisation system, with the issue of recruitment under public discussion for some time.
Questions of corruption in the military, particularly in procurement and recruiting, have periodically seized public attention as Ukraine tries to press on with a counteroffensive that has so far produced only incremental gains.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said a meeting of the military command had discussed scenarios to produce “concrete results” for 2024 in conditions of war.
“In particular, this concerns the issue of mobilisation. Everyone in Ukraine understands that changes are needed in this domain,” he said. “This is not simply a question of numbers, of who can be mobilised … It’s a question of a time frame for each person who is now in the military, for demobilisation and for those who will join the military. And it’s about conditions.”
Zelenskiy’s comments coincided with Vladimir Putin signing a decree ordering an increase of 170,000 in the Russian armed forces. According to the document, the regular strength of the armed forces is now set at 1,320,000.
Debate on altering procedures in Ukraine focuses on the extent of mobilisation, with commanders wanting to draw in younger and more skilled recruits. Serhiy Leshchenko, a presidential adviser, speaking on national television this week, called for troop rotations to ensure sufficient numbers at the front. He said many Ukrainian brigades were dominated by soldiers already in their 50s.
Zelenskiy has long highlighted corrupt practices associated with recruiting offices, including widespread bribe-taking to secure medical exemptions from service.
Updated
Welcome and summary
Hello and thanks for joining the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said changes are needed to improve Ukraine’s system of mobilisation and recruitment as part of an overall strategy to improve the country’s military position in the war against Russia.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said a meeting of the military command had discussed scenarios to produce “concrete results” for 2024 in conditions of war.
We’ll have more on this shortly, first here’s a round-up of the day’s other main news:
Zelenskiy told the Associated Press that “winter as a whole is a new phase of war” and acknowledged that “we did not achieve the desired results” with the summer counteroffensive. The Ukrainian leader also said that “we already can see the consequences of the international community shifting [attention] because of the tragedy in the Middle East”.
Russia said its troops were advancing in every section of the Ukrainian front, despite observers seeing little movement. The frontlines have barely shifted this year but fighting has remained intense. “Our servicemen are acting competently and decisively, occupying a more favourable position and expanding their zones of control in all directions,” Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the maximum number of servicemen in the Russian armed forces by 170,000, the Kremlin and the defence ministry said. The regular strength of the armed forces is now set at 1,320,000 servicemen, according to the document.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution and that there was no reason for Russia to change the goals of its “special military operation”.
The situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border remained tense, with Ukrainian truckers stuck on the border saying they planned to launch a hunger strike if their demands were not met. Polish and Ukrainian officials agreed on measures designed to help ease the situation at border crossings blocked by Polish truckers, but did not address the protesting Polish truckers’ main demands. Slovak truckers said they would start blocking a border crossing with Ukraine.
A court in Russia has extended the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until 5 February.
