Closing summary
British former defence secretary Ben Wallace warned his successor, Grant Shapps, that the UK was at risk of “falling behind” in its military support for Ukraine because ministers had yet to announce a military aid budget for 2024-5.
A section of railroad near the city of Nizhny Tagil in Russia’s Urals region was hit by a “bang”, Tass and RBC news agencies reported. Baza, a Russian media outlet, said the blast on the railway took place near the station of San-Donato, near an oil depot.
The Swedish prime minister announced that Sweden will send troops to Latvia next year as part of a Canadian-led force to deter Russia from attack – despite not yet being a full member of Nato.
In the Russian-occupied Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, a Russian warplane accidentally released a bomb on the town of Rubizhne, Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the region’s Moscow-appointed government, said. He reportedly said the bomb, an FAB-250 that carries a high-explosive warhead, did not cause injuries.
Pope Francis was quoted as saying in a speech referencing conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine that “indiscriminately striking” civilians is a war crime because it violates international humanitarian law.
Russia sent dozens of missiles across Ukraine early on Monday, killing at least four civilians, Ukrainian authorities said. Two people were killed in the western Khmelnytskyi region, local officials said. In Kryvyi Rih, a 62-year-old was reported to have been killed. Elsewhere, the governor of the Kharkiv region said a 63-year-old woman was killed in a strike on a town south of Kharkiv. Ukrainian forces destroyed 18 out of 51 missiles launched during the wave of Russian air strikes on Monday, Ukraine’s air force said.
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, said that Russia has “left people homeless” through its attacks on Ukraine, a reality of war she says “can only be changed by weapons”. “Russian shelling damaged homes and infrastructure in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovs’k, Zaporizhzhia and Khmelnytsky regions. There are dead and injured, including children,” she wrote on X.
Russia evacuated about 300 residents of Belgorod, a city near the Ukrainian border, because of strikes by Kyiv, the governor of the region said. The evacuation from Belgorod is the largest of a major Russian city since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Updated
Former British defence secretary warns UK at risk of 'falling behind' in Ukraine military support
British former defence secretary Ben Wallace warned his successor, Grant Shapps, that the UK was at risk of “falling behind” in its military support for Ukraine because ministers had yet to announce a military aid budget for 2024-5.
The former minister told parliament he had formally asked for between £2.3bn – the current annual level – and £2.6bn of funding for Ukraine in June before he left the government, but no announcement had been made since then.
“Planners in the department of the Ministry of Defence need time, as do the Ukrainians, to get used to it. If we don’t start making the announcement soon we will fall behind many of our European colleagues who have already overtaken us with our support,” Wallace told MPs present for defence questions.
In reply, Shapps praised the work of his predecessor but declined to offer a figure. Instead he said that Wallace “won’t be disappointed and he won’t need to wait for too long”.
Labour’s shadow defence secretary, John Healey, also pressed on the issue, warning that “current UK military aid funding runs out in a matter of weeks”. He said that he had asked in public for a fresh funding commitment in November.
Britain has given £2.3bn of military aid to Ukraine for two successive years, but while this year’s funding was announced six months in advance, next year’s budget has yet to be confirmed with less than three months on clock. Shapps, however, emphasised the existing commitment to Kyiv runs until April, and was not in danger of running out.
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