We are closing this blog now. Thanks for following developments with us, you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Summary
It’s slightly past 11pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
According to a new law adopted on Thursday, every Ukrainian serviceman is now allowed to take an annual paid leave of ten days. “In a special period during martial law, military personnel may be granted a part of the annual basic leave, as well as leave for family reasons and for other valid reasons with preservation of financial support,” Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zaliznyak wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s General Staff has announced that Russia is withdrawing some of its military units and is preparing to evacuate occupation personnel from certain settlements across Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Russian publishers at a leading Moscow bookfair told Agence France-Presse Thursday they were “all very worried” by new restrictions and feared the return of Soviet-like censorship. Yevgeny Kopyov, of the large Eksmo publishing house, said he was worried by the “broad interpretation” of the LGBTQ propaganda law. He warned that it “may affect a large amount of literature, including the classics,” adding, “Everything will depend on our interaction with the regulatory authorities.”
US president Joe Biden said he has no immediate plans to contact Russian president Vladimir Putin but is prepared to speak with him if he shows an interest in ending the war in Ukraine, and only in consultation with NATO allies. “I have no immediate plans to contact Mr Putin,” Biden said at a White House news conference after talks with French president Emmanuel Macron, Reuters reports.
US president Joe Biden has told the press conference that the US stands with its allies “as strong as ever” against Russia’s “brutal war” against Ukraine. Biden said the support would continue in the face of Russian aggression, which he adds has been “incredibly brutal”. He adds: “I knew Russia was [brutal], but I didn’t anticipate them being as brutal as they have been.”
US president Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have issued a statement beforehand, after a meeting between the two presidents earlier on Thursday. “The presidents strongly condemn Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and stress that intentionally targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure constitutes war crimes whose perpetrators must be held accountable,” part of it said.
EU members are close to agreeing a $60 dollar per barrel price cap on Russian oil, diplomats said Thursday, with just Poland left to give the final nod, Agency France-Presse reports. Europe will begin enforcing an embargo on Russian crude shipments from Monday, so the price cap will apply to oil exported by sea by Moscow to ports around the world.
The British adventurist and TV personality Bear Grylls has become the latest celebrity to meet Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. Grylls posted pictures with Zelenskiy on his Instagram on Thursday afternoon. He wrote that he wanted to know how Zelenskiy was coping for an upcoming programme “but got so much more.”
The UK-based Royal United Services Institute defence and security thinktank published a paper on Wednesday that examined the early days of the Russian invasion in February. A few snippets from the report’s executive summary. It believes that a Ukrainian victory is possible, but “it requires significant heavy fighting”. The paper says that according to operational data from the Ukrainian general staff, Russia had a 12:1 advantage over the Ukrainian forces north of Kyiv in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.
More than 1,300 prisoners have been returned to Ukraine since Russian troops invaded, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday. Zelenskiy was speaking after a new exchange of 50 prisoners with Russian and pro-Russian forces. “After today’s exchange, there are already 1,319 heroes who returned home,” Zelenskiy said on Instagram, posting a photo showing a few dozen men holding Ukrainian flags.
The head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, said it was too early reach a verdict on talks between Poland and Germany about sending the Patriot air-defence systems from Germany to Ukraine. “We all agree on the urgent need to help Ukraine, including with air defence systems,” Stoltenberg said at a joint news conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Ukrainian servicemen of the Armed Forces will now be allowed to take a paid leave during martial law, Euromaidan reports.
According to a new law adopted on Thursday, every Ukrainian serviceman is now allowed to take an annual paid leave of ten days.
“In a special period during martial law, military personnel may be granted a part of the annual basic leave, as well as leave for family reasons and for other valid reasons with preservation of financial support,” Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zaliznyak wrote on Telegram.
No more than 30 percent of the total number of servicemen of a certain category and unit is allowed to be absent at the same time, he added.
Ukraine’s General Staff has announced that Russia is withdrawing some of its military units and is preparing to evacuate occupation personnel from certain settlements across Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports.
⚡️General Staff: Russian troops withdraw from some settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 1, 2022
Russia is withdrawing some of its military units and preparing to evacuate occupation administration personnel from some settlements in the region, Ukraine's General Staff said.
Russian publishers at a leading Moscow bookfair told Agence France-Presse Thursday they were “all very worried” by new restrictions and feared the return of Soviet-like censorship.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Since president Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, Russian authorities have strengthened controls on the flow of information, including in the arts.
Last week, lawmakers approved a bill banning all forms of LGBTQ “propaganda” in books, films, the media and the internet.
Authorities also want to ban the sale to minors of books written by “foreign agents” - a label given to Kremlin critics and activists, but also to a growing number of writers.
Leading novelists like science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky and historical fiction novelist Boris Akunin have been slapped with the tag, which has Stalin-era connotations.
At the “Non/Fiction” book fair in Moscow - an important annual cultural event in the Russian capital that opened Thursday - many publishers, booksellers and readers were concerned.
Yevgeny Kopyov, of the large Eksmo publishing house, said he was worried by the “broad interpretation” of the LGBTQ propaganda law.
He warned that it “may affect a large amount of literature, including the classics,” adding, “Everything will depend on our interaction with the regulatory authorities.”
Many publishers like Kopyov are waiting for authorities to clarify what they believe is LGBTQ “propaganda” or not.
But some bookstores in Saint Petersburg already got rid of problematic books by offering discounts of up to 50 percent, according to local media.
At the Non/Fiction fair, Marina Kadetova of the Kompas-Gid publishing house, warned that the restrictions are fuelling “self-censorship.”
“When people start censoring themselves, then the problems start,” she said, adding, “In any restrictions that are not justified and not thought through, it is hard to work.”
Tatiana Stoyanova, who also works at the same publishers, said the restrictions could lead to a revival of the Soviet “samizdat” practise that saw the underground publishing of banned books.
“In Russia, there is such a mentality: the more its forbidden, the more it’s interesting,” she said.
US president Joe Biden said he has no immediate plans to contact Russian president Vladimir Putin but is prepared to speak with him if he shows an interest in ending the war in Ukraine, and only in consultation with NATO allies.
“I have no immediate plans to contact Mr Putin,” Biden said at a White House news conference after talks with French president Emmanuel Macron, Reuters reports.
“I’m prepared to speak with Mr. Putin, if in fact there is an interest in him deciding he’s looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done that yet.”
Macron: 'we will never force Ukrainians into a compromise'
Biden and Macron are asked about Republican dissenters about money being sent to support the Ukrainian war effort.
Macron responds. Speaking in English, he says: “Look I do thank president and his administration for his great commitment they have vis a vis Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.
“Let me just say that our two nations are made of values and a history. What is at stake in Ukraine is now just very far from here, in a small country, somewhere in Europe. But it is about our values. It is about our principles. And it is about what we agreed together in the UN charter, protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity. That’s why I do believe that the US strongly supporting Ukraine in that time is very important, not just for the Ukrainians but also for the Europeans, but for the stability of our world today.
“If we consider that we can abandon a country, and abandon the full respect of these principles, it means there is no possible stability in this world. I think it is important to have you so much committed.
“We will follow up our own support. We increased our military support, our humanitarian support and our economic support.”
He goes on to add that he will not try to strongarm the government in Kyiv into agreeing a settlement they are unhappy with.
“We will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will never be acceptable to them. They are so brave, and they defend precisely their lives and nations and our principles. It will never build a sustainable peace if we want a sustainable peace. We have to respect the Ukrainians to decide the moment and the conditions which they will negotiate their territory and their future.”
Emmanuel Macron is now responding to Joe Biden’s comments.
Macron said that France led the diplomatic effort to avoid Russia’s invasion in February. “We clearly condemn this war, immediately,” he says.
“We support both the Ukrainian army that is resisting and the Ukrainian population.”
He thanks the US for its support, saying that it is affecting Europe directly and recognises the money the US has sent as part of the war effort.
“The war effort is targeting the civilian infrastructure, bringing even more violence to make the Ukrainian people desperate and make it difficult for them to survive this winter,” the French president said.
Macron said the allies are committed to the UN charter, and helping rebuild Ukraine after the war and a “sustainable peace”.
Biden: 'I didn't anticipate Russia being as brutal as they have been'
Joe Biden has told the press conference that the US stands with its allies “as strong as ever” against Russia’s “brutal war” against Ukraine.
Biden said the support would continue in the face of Russian aggression, which he adds has been “incredibly brutal”. He adds: “I knew Russia was [brutal], but I didn’t anticipate them being as brutal as they have been.”
“Today we reaffirm that we are going to stand together against this brutality. We will continue this strong support for the Ukrainian people as they defend their homes, their families, hospitals, their nurseries, their sovereignty, their integrity, against Russian aggression.”
He adds that France has welcomed more than 100,000 refugees, and Biden thanks them for doing so.
“Attacking civilian infrastructure, choking off energy to Europe to drive up prices, exacerbating the food crisis. That is hurting very vulnerable people not just in Ukraine but around the world. But he won’t succeed.
“We will work together to hold Russia accountable for their actions, and to mitigate the global impacts of Putin’s war on the rest of the world.”
The US president says that the country is helping Europe with its energy security and that a new deal has been agreed with France on civil nuclear power.
Russia must be held accountable for war crimes say Biden and Macron
Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron are set to give a press conference shortly, as part of the French president’s official visit to the White House.
They have issued this statement beforehand, after a meeting between the two presidents earlier on Thursday.
The main part is that they say that Russia is carrying out war crimes and that they should be held responsible.
The presidents strongly condemn Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and stress that intentionally targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure constitutes war crimes whose perpetrators must be held accountable.
They also condemn and reject Russia’s illegal attempted annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory, in clear violation of international law. The United States and France deplore Russia’s deliberate escalatory steps, notably its irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its disinformation regarding alleged chemical attacks, and biological and nuclear weapons programs.
They reaffirm their nations’ continued support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the provision of political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine for as long as it takes.
This includes the provision of significant resources to support Ukrainian civilian resilience through the winter, including stepping up the delivery of air defense systems and equipment needed to repair Ukraine’s energy grid. The United States and France plan to continue working with partners and allies to coordinate assistance efforts, including at the international conference taking place in Paris on 13 December 2022.
They also intend to continue providing robust direct budget support for Ukraine, and to urge the international financial institutions to scale up their financial support.
The United States and France reiterate their duty to uphold applicable international obligations and the principles and purposes of the UN Charter. They also reiterate their steadfast resolve to hold Russia to account for widely documented atrocities and war crimes, committed both by its regular armed forces and by its proxies, including mercenary entities such as Wagner and others, through support for international accountability mechanisms, including the international criminal court, the Ukrainian prosecutor general, UN Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry, and the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, sanctions, and other means.
The United States and France remain committed to addressing the wider effects of Russia’s war, including working with the international community to build greater resilience to food and energy disruptions.
Updated
EU members are close to agreeing a $60 dollar per barrel price cap on Russian oil, diplomats said Thursday, with just Poland left to give the final nod, Agency France-Presse reports.
Europe will begin enforcing an embargo on Russian crude shipments from Monday, so the price cap will apply to oil exported by sea by Moscow to ports around the world.
Measures will be taken to prevent tankers from shipping Russian oil sold above this price, for example by refusing to allow British and EU insurers to cover vessels and shipments.
The EU was already in agreement with Washington on the need to cap the price western clients pay for Russia’s oil, to prevent Moscow profiting from price rises triggered by its own war on Ukraine.
The European Commission had suggested the ceiling along with an order that if the trading price of oil falls below $60 then the cap will be cut until it is 5% lower than the market. Poland had been pushing for it to be even lower at $30.
The British adventurist and TV personality Bear Grylls has become the latest celebrity to meet Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.
Grylls posted pictures with Zelenskiy on his Instagram on Thursday afternoon. He wrote that he wanted to know how Zelenskiy was coping for an upcoming programme “but got so much more.”
“Through this special programme the world will see a side to president Zelenskiy that has never been shown before.”
Word started spreading that Grylls was in Ukraine on Wednesday when he was photographed filming at a Ukrainian petrol station.
Grylls also posed for pictures on a train with the staff of Ukraine’s state railway company posted on Thursday. Ukraine has not had commercial flights since the invasion.
Sean Penn, Ben Stiller and Richard Branson are among other celebrities who have been hosted by Ukraine’s president in Kyiv since the start of the invasion.
The UK-based Royal United Services Institute defence and security thinktank published a paper on Wednesday that examined the early days of the Russian invasion in February.
A few snippets from the report’s executive summary. It believes that a Ukrainian victory is possible, but “it requires significant heavy fighting”.
The paper says that according to operational data from the Ukrainian general staff, Russia had a 12:1 advantage over the Ukrainian forces north of Kyiv in the immediate aftermath of the invasion.
The paper’s four authors said that the plan was to invade Ukraine over a 10 day period, which would have led to a full annexation by August 2022. It hoped to draw defending forces away from the capital, enabling a swift capture.
However it goes on to say: “The very operational security that enabled the successful deception, however, also led Russian forces to be unprepared at the tactical level to execute the plan effectively.
“The Russian plan’s greatest deficiency was the lack of reversionary courses of action. As a result, when speed failed to produce the desired results, Russian forces found their positions steadily degraded as Ukraine mobilised.”
It also claims that Russia planned to arrested and execute those involved in the 2014 Maidan revolution, which led to the resignation of pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych.
Rusi’s paper says that Russia underperformed tactically compared to expectations, and it was only superior weapons systems and Ukrainian troops using up their ammunition supply that has led to relative Russian successes.
The paper also paints a chaotic behind-the-scenes operation for Kremlin troops. It says the Russian army “are culturally averse to providing those who are executing orders with the context to exercise judgement”.
It also has lessons for UK and US forces. It says that it is only because of two artillery brigades that Ukrainian forces prevented Kyiv being captured, and initially it was able to match the resources of the Russians. However this has since shifted starkly in favour of Russia, and that the imbalance “must be rectified if deterrence is credible and is equally a problem for the [British] RAF and Royal Navy.”
More than1,300 prisoners returned to Ukraine since Russia invaded
More than 1,300 prisoners have been returned to Ukraine since Russian troops invaded, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.
Zelenskiy was speaking after a new exchange of 50 prisoners with Russian and pro-Russian forces.
“After today’s exchange, there are already 1,319 heroes who returned home,” Zelenskiy said on Instagram, posting a photo showing a few dozen men holding Ukrainian flags.
“We will not stop until we get all our people back,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said the 50 returning Ukrainians included those who had defended Mariupol and Azovstal.
In a meeting with the Red Cross in October Russia said it held about 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Updated
The head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, said it was too early reach a verdict on talks between Poland and Germany about sending the Patriot air-defence systems from Germany to Ukraine.
“We all agree on the urgent need to help Ukraine, including with air defence systems,” Stoltenberg said at a joint news conference with German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
However, he added, “it is important to understand that this is not only about delivering new systems but ensuring the systems that are being delivered can operate,” Reuters reports, including having enough ammunition, spare parts and maintenance.
Summary of the day so far
The time in Kyiv has just gone 6pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s stories so far:
Ukraine’s military said Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on the main frontline in the south. The statement gave only limited details and made no mention of any Ukrainian forces having crossed the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials also stressed that Russia had intensified shelling across the river, knocking out power again in Kherson where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops vacated the city and fled across the river.
An investigation is under way into a suspected letter bomb sent to the US embassy in Madrid. It would be the sixth after five were sent to the Ukrainian embassy, Spanish politicians, a Spanish airbase and a company that makes rocket launchers on Wednesday. Spanish police confirmed to the Reuters news agency that an envelope similar to the previous letter bombs had been intercepted at the embassy.
A private energy company in Ukraine has said that 40% of the country’s power infrastructure is damaged, as Russian attacks continue to target the supply. Millions have been without or with intermittent power since October, as Russia has focused its attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.
As Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly 6 million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night. Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people had been killed in fires, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that it was impossible to discuss nuclear arms control while the war in Ukraine continues, claiming the “western involvement” must not be ignored. Lavrov said that the US was trying to break up Russia, and that it was “naive” to think talks could take place while this happened.
Ukraine dismissed the deputy chief engineer of its Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, accusing him of collaborating with Moscow’s forces and treason, the Energoatom state nuclear energy company said. The statement was published a day after Russia said it had promoted the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, to serve as the director of the vast nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.
The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, has urged China’s top leaders to use their influence over Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Michel, who chairs EU leader summits, held talks with Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday, in the first face-to-face encounter between the head of an EU institution and China’s top officials since the start of the pandemic.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Europe should go back to its prewar “peace order” with Russia if Russian president Vladimir Putin will renounce aggression against his neighbours, according to a report in the Times of his comments at a security conference in Berlin.
The US army awarded a $1.2bn contract to Raytheon Technologies Co for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine on Wednesday, the Pentagon said. The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks.
Russia said on Thursday the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past. In a decision welcomed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians – the Holodomor – was genocide.
Another PoW exchange will take place later on Thursday between Russia and Ukraine. Fifty prisoners of war will be handed over in the latest swap between the two sides.
The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year, AFP reports, as the Ukraine war and other conflicts, climate emergencies and the still-simmering pandemic push more people into crisis, and some towards famine. The United Nations’ annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 339 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year – a staggering 65 million more people than the estimate a year ago.
France has become the first major western state to publicly back the creation of a special tribunal to try senior Russian officials – potentially including Vladimir Putin – for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.
Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called for the EU to include Russia’s missile industry in its next sanctions package. Kuleba says it is warranted for their part in Russia’s war efforts, including those which have targeted Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
Ukraine needs the US made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding he would be working with the German government on this issue. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Nato on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems, Reuters reported.
The UK has announced a fresh round of sanctions against 22 Russians, including those the Foreign Office says were involved in enlisting criminals to fight in Ukraine. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Wednesday his department would target a new set of officials, including Denis Manturov, the deputy prime minister, who is responsible for troop equipment supplies.
US president Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, US diplomatic posts.
Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said Europe should go back to its prewar “peace order” with Russia if the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will renounce aggression against his neighbours, according to a report of his comments at a security conference.
The Times reports that during a panel discussion at the event in Berlin on Wednesday, Scholz was asked how Germany would act towards Russia once the war was over given the “strong partnership” that had once been in place between the two countries.
He said: “At this stage I would say it’s not about partnership, to be very honest. Russia spoilt the peace order we worked on for so many decades and we agreed there should never again be the attempt to change borders by force.
“And what Russia is doing today is going back to the imperialistic approach of the 19th, 18th, 17th century where just a stronger country thinks it could just take the territory of the neighbour, understanding neighbours as just hinterland, and some place they can give rules to be followed. And this can never be accepted.”
However, he continued: “We have to go back to the agreements which we had in the last decades and which were the basis for peace and security order in Europe.
“And for Russia this also means that it accepts that there are open-minded societies, open societies, democracies, that follow completely a different way of how they are governed and how they attract people ... In the end there is no aggression coming from the member states of the European Union, there is no aggression coming from Nato, and all questions of common security could be solved and discussed. There is a willingness to do so.
“We can come back to a peace order that worked and make it safe again if there is a willingness in Russia to go back to this peace order.”
Updated
This is from our correspondents in Kyiv, Isobel Koshiw, and Brussels, Jennifer Rankin, on France backing the creation of a tribunal to try officials for crimes of aggression in Ukraine.
France has become the first major western state to publicly back the creation of a special tribunal to try top Russian officials – potentially including Vladimir Putin – for the crime of aggression in Ukraine.
The French foreign ministry said on Wednesday it was working with its European partners on the proposal. The statement came after the European Union, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, lent support for the tribunal in a speech on the bloc’s plans for Ukraine.
The defendants of such a tribunal would be those with decision-making power involved in committing the crime of aggression, meaning the transgression of Ukraine’s borders by the Russian military. This would very likely mean just a handful of figures, including Putin as well as other figures such as the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
If they were convicted, even in absentia, the sentence would set in stone current relations with Russia by labelling Putin and his team international criminals and make sitting down at the negotiating table nearly impossible.
Read more:
Updated
A Ukrainian artilleryman carries empty cartridges from 152 mm 2S3 Akatsiya (self-propelled howitzer) in a field near an undisclosed frontline position in eastern Ukraine yesterday.
Russia has pulled back forces from towns opposite Kherson, says Ukraine
Ukraine’s military said Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on what is now the main frontline in the south.
The statement gave only limited details and made no mention of any Ukrainian forces having crossed the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials also stressed that Russia had intensified shelling across the river, knocking out power again in Kherson where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops vacated the city and fled across the river.
Since Russia abandoned Kherson last month, nine months into its invasion of Ukraine, the river now forms the entire southern stretch of the front, Reuters reported.
Russia has already told civilians to leave towns within 15 km of the river and withdrawn its civilian administration from the city of Nova Kakhovka on the bank. Ukrainian officials have previously said Russia pulled back some artillery near the river to safer positions further away, but until now had stopped short of saying Russian forces were quitting towns.
“A decrease in the number of Russian soldiers and military equipment is observed in the settlement of Oleshky,” the military said, referring to the town opposite Kherson city, on the far side of a destroyed bridge over the Dnipro.
“Enemy troops were withdrawn from certain settlements of the Kherson oblast and dispersed in forest strips along the section of the Oleshky - Hola Prystan highway,” it said, referring to a 25-km (15-mile) stretch of road through riverside towns scattered in woods on the bank opposite Kherson city.
It said most of the Russian troops in the area were recently mobilised reservists, suggesting that Moscow’s best-trained professional troops had already left. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
Updated
Russia’s foreign minister has accused the west of becoming directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine by supplying it with weapons and training its soldiers.
Sergei Lavrov also said that Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure that have left millions without power, heating and water were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and derail the shipments of western weapons, the Associated Press reported.
“You shouldn’t say that the US and Nato aren’t taking part in this war, you are directly participating in it,” Lavrov said in a video call with reporters.
“And not just by providing weapons but also by training personnel. You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries.”
He said that the barrage of Russian missile strikes was intended to “knock out energy facilities that allow you to keep pumping deadly weapons into Ukraine in order to kill the Russians”.
“The infrastructure that is targeted by those attacks is used to ensure the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces and the nationalist battalions,” he said.
Updated
An investigation is under way into a suspected letter bomb sent to the US embassy in Madrid.
It would be the sixth after five were sent to the Ukrainian embassy and Spanish government officials on Wednesday.
Spanish police confirmed to the Reuters news agency that an envelope similar to the previous letter bombs had been intercepted at the embassy.
The road outside the embassy in the Spanish capital is closed with police on the scene.
#ÚLTIMAHORA Otro paquete bomba en la embajada de EEUU en Madrid. Sería el sexto del día. pic.twitter.com/YAZlYPPle0
— Borja Jiménez (@borjajimenezd) December 1, 2022
Updated
EU leader urges China to use influence on Russia to end war in Ukraine
The head of the European Council, Charles Michel, has urged China’s top leaders to use their influence over Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Michel, who chairs EU leader summits, held talks with Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday, in the first face-to-face encounter between the head of an EU institution and China’s top officials since the start of the pandemic.
Speaking to reporters, Michel said the pair had met for around three hours, where they spent “a lot of time” discussing the situation in Ukraine. Michel said he had urged Xi to use its influence as a permanent member of the UN security council to convince Russia to accept international law.
Michel said:
President Xi made very clear that China is not providing weapons to Russia,” Michel said, adding that the Chinese leader had also said Russia’s “nuclear threat is not acceptable and not responsible”.
I sincerely hope that all the international community, China included, will use all possible tools and instruments to advocate in order to convince the Kremlin and Russia to end the war and to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine
The EU demands echo a similar message delivered to Xi by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, last month, when the German chancellor went to Beijing.
In a readout of the meeting provided by EU officials, it was said Michel and Xi had discussed “Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war against Ukraine”. Last month a video message for a Shanghai trade fair by Michel that used similar language was dropped from the programme by Chinese authorities.
While Michel’s message is consistent with the EU line on Ukraine, ahead of the trip diplomats had worried about political missteps from the European Council president. EU diplomats also raised eyebrows about Michel’s decision to meet Xi alone, without the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is responsible for drafting and executing EU policy.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called for the EU to include Russia’s missile industry in its next sanctions package.
Kuleba says it is warranted for their part in Russia’s war efforts, including those which have targeted Ukraine’s power infrastructure.
After meeting EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell in Poland, Kuleba tweeted: “I thanked the EU for its continued defence assistance and stressed that next EU sanctions should include those hitting Russia’s missile production industry: it must be put to a halt.”
Updated
More on the letter bombs that have been sent to officials in Spain, including at the Ukrainian embassy (see 10:46am).
Spain’s deputy interior minister, Rafael Pérez, told a press briefing that the letters do not justify raising the terror level in the country.
Reuters reports that early stages of the investigations suggest that the envelopes were sent within Spanish territory, and that the government was unaware of other letters being received in other countries.
You can find our Madrid correspondent Sam Jones’ report below.
Updated
The Russian embassy in Spain has condemned the sending of letter bombs to the Spanish government, and Ukrainian embassy.
In a statement on Twitter, in Spanish, it said: “Any terrorist threat or act, even more so directed against a diplomatic mission, is totally reprehensible.”
Switzerland has said it has frozen $7.9bn in Russian assets, in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The amount is higher than the figure published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) in July.
Switzerland is a favoured destination for wealthy Russians and their assets, and has also seen 15 Russian-owned properties seized.
The country’s banks are banned from accepting deposits from Russian nationals or people or entities based in Russia, of more than 100,000 swiss francs.
The government in Berne positioned itself alongside the EU over sanctions in the aftermath of the invasion in February.
Updated
Another PoW exchange will take place later on Thursday between Russia and Ukraine.
Fifty prisoners of war will be handed over in the latest swap between the two sides.
The news was revealed by the Russian-installed official in charge of the Russian-occupied region of Donetsk Denis Pushilin on Telegram.
Some more on that news conference with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, earlier on Thursday (see 9:34am).
He said that it was impossible to discuss nuclear arms control while the war in Ukraine continues, claiming the “western involvement” must not be ignored.
Russia backed out of talks that were due to start on Monday on the Start treaty on nuclear disarmament, which expires in 2026.
“It is crystal clear that it is impossible to discuss strategic stability today while ignoring everything that is happening in Ukraine. Because the goal in Ukraine has been declared – not to save Ukrainian democracy, but to defeat Russia on the battlefield, or even destroy Russia,” Lavrov said.
The foreign minister claimed that Russia would have looked at extending the Start treaty in the past to include hypersonic weapons, and that the Kremlin was prepared to go beyond a statement in June 2021, issued jointly with the US, that a nuclear war could not be fought and was unacceptable. He said that it could have included that war between nuclear powers would be unacceptable.
However Lavrov added it was “naive” of the US to expect Russia to discuss strategic nuclear issues while the US appeared to be trying to destroy Russia, in the view of Moscow.
Updated
Nearly half of Ukraine's electricity grid still damaged
A private energy company in Ukraine has said that 40% of the country’s power infrastructure is damaged, as Russian attacks continue to target the supply.
Millions have been without or with intermittent power since October, as Russia has focused on Ukraine’s energy system.
“Russia has destroyed 40% of the Ukrainian energy system with terrorist missile attacks. Dozens of energy workers were killed and wounded,” DTEK company said in a statement on social media.
“Electrical engineers are doing everything possible and impossible to stabilise the situation regarding energy supply,” the company said, according to Agence France-Presse, adding its technical teams are working “day and night” to quickly repair the infrastructure.
Nine people were confirmed to have died on Tuesday according to authorities, as incidents have increased where Ukrainians are trying to find alternative sources of energy, including generators and gas cylinders, both of which can be dangerous.
Updated
Summary
The time in Kyiv is 1pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s stories so far:
Police in Spain are investigating four more incendiary devices and letter bombs, a day after one exploded at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid. The devices have now been sent to the prime minister, the defence ministry, an arms company that makes rocket launchers donated to Kyiv, and a military airbase near the Spanish capital, as well as the one found at the embassy.
Ukraine dismissed the deputy chief engineer of its Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, accusing him of collaborating with Moscow’s forces and treason, the Energoatom state nuclear energy company said. The statement was published a day after Russia said it had promoted the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, to serve as the director of the vast nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.
The US army awarded a $1.2bn contract to Raytheon Technologies Co for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine on Wednesday, the Pentagon said. The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the west had a real chance to avoid conflict in Ukraine, but had chosen to spurn Russian proposals to halt the expansion of Nato and agree a special security status for Kyiv. Lavrov made the comments during a news conference in Moscow, Reuters reported.
Russia said on Thursday the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past. In a decision welcomed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians – the Holodomor – was genocide.
The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year, AFP reports, as the Ukraine war and other conflicts, climate emergencies and the still-simmering pandemic push more people into crisis, and some towards famine. The United Nations’ annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 339 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year – a staggering 65 million more people than the estimate a year ago.
As Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly 6 million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night. Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people had been killed in fires, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities.
The European Commission president has proposed a special tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia’s “crime of aggression” against Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen also wants to use the proceeds of Russian funds that have been frozen under western sanctions to aid Ukraine.
Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.
Ukraine needs the US made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding he would be working with the German government on this issue. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Nato on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems, Reuters reported.
The UK has announced a fresh round of sanctions against 22 Russians, including those the Foreign Office says were involved in enlisting criminals to fight in Ukraine. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Wednesday his department would target a new set of officials, including Denis Manturov, the deputy prime minister, who is responsible for troop equipment supplies.
US president Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, US diplomatic posts.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for the moment. My colleague Harry Taylor will be with you shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Spanish police investigate four more incendiary devices and letter bombs
Police in Spain are investigating four more incendiary devices and letter bombs, a day after one exploded at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid.
The devices have now been sent to the prime minister, the defence ministry, an arms company that makes rocket launchers donated to Kyiv, and a military airbase near the Spanish capital, as well as the one found at the embassy.
The first letter bomb exploded when it was opened by an embassy employee on Wednesday, causing minor injuries to the worker’s hands and leading Ukraine to warn its diplomats to bolster their security precautions.
The second, discovered hours later at the Instalaza weapons firm in Zaragoza in the Aragón region that manufactures C90 rocket launchers, was deactivated by bomb squad officers.
Updated
A child swings at a park in front of damaged residential building due to airstrikes in Vyshorod, Kyiv oblast, Ukraine.
Ukraine sacks Zaporizhzhia engineer accused of collaboration
Ukraine dismissed the deputy chief engineer of its Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, accusing him of collaborating with Moscow’s forces and treason, the Energoatom state nuclear energy company said.
The statement was published a day after Russia said it had promoted the engineer, Yuriy Chernichuk, to serve as the director of the vast nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.
Spanish PM office confirms 'similar' package to letter bombs sent to him
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s office received on 24 November a letter containing an explosive device “similar” to the ones received by the Ukrainian embassy, a Spanish weapons manufacturer on Wednesday and an air force base on Thursday, the interior ministry said.
Security around public and diplomatic buildings are to be stepped up after a series of letter-bombs were received around the country, the ministry added.
Spanish security forces found a third suspected explosive device hidden in an envelope mailed to a European Union satellite centre located at an air force base in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, the defence ministry said on Thursday.
After scanning the envelope by X-ray, air force security officers determined it contained “a mechanism”, the ministry statement said. Police were still analysing the parcel on Thursday morning.
The satellite centre supports the EU’s common foreign and security policy by gathering information from space intelligence devices, according to its website. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described such systems as “the eyes of Europe” in September.
Two letter-bombs were found on Wednesday addressed to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid and to a weapons manufacturer, Instalaza in Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, police said.
Instalaza manufactures the C90 rocket launcher that Spain has supplied to Ukraine.
The first letter-bomb exploded, causing minor injuries to a Ukrainian embassy official.
A bridge is seen collapsed over a river near Lyman city, Ukraine.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov also accused Nato of trying to drag India into what he called an anti-Russian and anti-Chinese alliance at a time when he said the West was attempting to squeeze out Russian influence.
Lavrov, speaking at a news conference, added that the South China Sea was becoming a region where Nato was willing to ratchet up tensions and accused the United States of trying to subvert the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the west had a real chance to avoid conflict in Ukraine, but had chosen to spurn Russian proposals to halt the expansion of Nato and agree a special security status for Kyiv.
Lavrov made the comments during a news conference in Moscow, Reuters reported.
Western countries say Russia’s proposals made in the run-up to the Ukraine war were unrealistic and insincere.
Updated
Third mail-bomb found in Spanish air force base - reports
Spanish security forces found a third explosive device hidden in a mailed parcel to an air force base in Torrejón de Ardoz outside Madrid, the newspaper El Mundo reported on Thursday morning.
Two letter bombs were found on Wednesday addressed to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid and to a weapon manufacturer in Zaragoza, in northern Spain, police said.
The first one exploded causing minor injuries to a Ukrainian official.
Updated
Russia said on Thursday the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past.
In a decision welcomed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, German lawmakers passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring the death by starvation of millions of Ukrainians – the Holodomor – was genocide.
In November 1932, the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop. Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what the Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls “clearly premeditated mass murder”.
Russia on Thursday rejected the claim that this was a genocide and said millions of people across other parts of the Soviet Union, including in Russia, also suffered.
“There is another attempt to justify and push forward a campaign – being planted in Ukraine and sponsored by the West – to demonise Russia and to pit ethnic Ukrainians against Russians,” Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The Germans are trying to rewrite their history … downplay their own guilt and muddy the memory of the unprecedented nature of the countless crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the second world war,” it added.
The ministry accused the German parliament of “reviving the fascist ideology of racial hatred and discrimination and attempting to absolve itself of responsibility for war crimes” by passing the declaration.
Updated
Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary for energy resources at the US State Department, said on Thursday he was confident that agreement would be reached on the level at which to cap prices for Russian sea-borne oil under a G7 scheme.
Pyatt was speaking to reporters in Tokyo after a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Ryo Minami. A former US ambassador to Ukraine, Pyatt is in Japan to meet officials on aspects of energy security, Reuters reports.
Updated
The UN appealed for record funds for aid next year, AFP reports, as the Ukraine war and other conflicts, climate emergencies and the still-simmering pandemic push more people into crisis, and some towards famine.
The United Nations’ annual Global Humanitarian Overview estimated that 339 million people worldwide will need some form of emergency assistance next year – a staggering 65 million more people than the estimate a year ago.
“It’s a phenomenal number and it’s a depressing number,” UN aid chief, Martin Griffiths, told reporters in Geneva, adding that it meant “next year is going to be the biggest humanitarian programme” the world has ever seen.
If all the people in need of emergency assistance were in one country, it would be the third-largest nation in the world, after China and India, he said.
And the new estimate means that one in 23 people will need help in 2023, compared to one in 95 back in 2015.
As the extreme events seen in 2022 spill into 2023, Griffiths described the humanitarian needs as “shockingly high”.
“Lethal droughts and floods are wreaking havoc in communities from Pakistan to the horn of Africa,” he said, also pointing to the war in Ukraine, which “has turned a part of Europe into a battlefield”.
The global humanitarian plan will aim to provide $1.7bn in cash assistance to 6.3 million people inside Ukraine, and also $5.7bn to help the millions of Ukrainians and their host communities in surrounding countries.
Updated
Six million without power on first official day of winter
As Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly 6 million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people had been killed in fires, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities.
“Only in the last day there were 131 fires in Ukraine, 106 of them in the residential sector. Nine people died, eight were injured,” the emergency service said.
Updated
US hands Raytheon $1.2bn Ukraine missile systems contract
The US Army awarded a $1.2bn contract to Raytheon Technologies Co for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine on Wednesday, the Pentagon said.
The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks.
Ukraine received its first delivery of two Nasams air defence systems in November. Others will be delivered in future months once they are built.
“Nasams are just the latest in the diverse set of air-defence capabilities we are delivering to Ukraine,” said Bill LaPlante, under secretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment.
These six Nasams systems were part of the fifth Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package which was announced on 24 August and had a total value of $2.98bn, according to an Army Statement. USAI funds allow the Biden administration to procure weapons from industry rather than taking weapons from existing US weapons stocks.
The contract is for the Nasams batteries, training, and logistical support to Ukraine’s military and security forces.
Funds for the two other Nasams came from the third USAI package announced in July.
Last week Doug Bush, the chief weapons buyer for the Army, told reporters the US Army is accelerating its weapons acquisition process to speed through a backlog of contracts needed to replenish US stocks of weapons depleted by arms shipments to Ukraine.
The Pentagon has said the newly US-provided Nasams air defence systems so far have had a 100% success rate in Ukraine intercepting Russian missiles.
In total, the United States has committed more than $19.3bn in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration.
Updated
Summary
Hi, this is the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine, with me, Helen Sullivan.
In Washington, a $1.2bn contract for six national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said. The United States has approved sending Ukraine a total of eight Nasams to help fend off Russian missile and drone attacks. Ukraine received its first delivery of two Nasams air defence systems in November. Others will be delivered in future months once they are built.
Meanwhile as Ukrainians wake up on the first official day of winter, nearly six million people across a majority of Ukraine’s regions have no electricity, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night.
Here are the other key recent developments:
A security officer at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid was injured when he opened a letter bomb addressed to the ambassador on Wednesday. The security officer suffered light injuries, Spanish government official Mercedes Gonzalez told broadcaster Telemadrid.
In the wake of the incident, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba ordered all Kyiv’s embassies abroad to “urgently” strengthen security, a ministry spokesperson said.
The European Commission president has proposed a special tribunal to investigate and prosecute Russia’s “crime of aggression” against Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen also wants to use the proceeds of Russian funds that have been frozen under western sanctions to aid Ukraine.
Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Kherson in the south, the Ukrainian military said, as western allies sought to buttress Ukraine and its neighbours against Moscow.
Ukraine needs the US made Patriot missile defence systems to protect its civilian infrastructure, under heavy attack by Russia, foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said, adding he would be working with the German government on this issue. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Nato on Tuesday against providing Ukraine with Patriot systems, Reuters reported.
The UK has announced a fresh round of sanctions against 22 Russians, including those the Foreign Office says were involved in enlisting criminals to fight in Ukraine. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said on Wednesday his department would target a new set of officials, including Denis Manturov, the deputy prime minister, who is responsible for troop equipment supplies.
US president Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, pledged on Wednesday to make the release of detained Americans a priority if she is confirmed to one of most important, and challenging, US diplomatic posts.
Ukraine’s state emergency service has said nine people have been killed in fires in the past 24 hours, after breaking safety rules in an attempt to heat their homes after Russian attacks on power facilities. “Only in the last day there were 131 fires in Ukraine, 106 of them in the residential sector. Nine people died, eight were injured,” the emergency service said.
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has arrived in Kyiv for a three-day visit to show solidarity with the people and churches of Ukraine. Welby will meet leaders of Ukraine’s churches, refugees and internally displaced people.
The head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, discussed nuclear issues and Ukraine in a meeting this month with the CIA director, William Burns, the RIA news agency reported. Elizabeth Rood, the charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Moscow, previously told RIA that Burns “did not negotiate anything and he did not discuss a settlement of the conflict in Ukraine”.
Moscow has promoted the chief engineer of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Yuriy Chernichuk, to become its head, according to Russia’s nuclear agency Rosenergoatom. The position has been vacant since October, when Kyiv says the plant’s boss Ihor Murashov was abducted by Russian authorities.
Oleksandr Starukh, the head of Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Telegram early on Wednesday morning that Russian strikes in the region overnight hit a gas distribution point, causing a fire that has since been extinguished. There were no injuries or casualties.
One person was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Wednesday, the regional governor said. Yaroslav Yanushevych wrote on the Telegram messaging app that several residential buildings and medical facilities had been damaged in the city, which was liberated this month after months of Russian occupation.
Ukraine claims to have killed another 500 Russian soldiers in the last 24 hours, bringing the total who have died in combat since 24 February to about 88,880. The general staff of the armed forces said it had taken out three more tanks and six armoured personnel carriers.
Ukrainian forces have downed three Russian reconnaissance drones in the last 24 hours, according to its armed forces. In an early morning bulletin from Ukraine, the spokesperson for the general staff of the armed forces, Alexander Štupun, said Ukraine had been subjected to a number of missile attacks from planes and artillery, including on Kivsharivka in Kharkiv and Sloviansk in Donetsk.
A teenager was killed in Russian shelling of a hospital in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy, a presidential aide has said. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, said on the Telegram messaging app that Russian forces had pounded the region with artillery and mortar bombs over the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he did not believe Russian president Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons. He made the comment while speaking by video link at the New York Times ‘DealBook’ summit in New York City. It comes as Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said it was vital to avoid any kind of military confrontation between nuclear powers, even if it only involved conventional weapons, the TASS news agency reported.
Russia’s defence minister has said it will focus on nuclear arms infrastructure in 2023, including facilities to accommodate new missile systems. Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of the board of the department on Wednesday that it would be a priority for Russia next year. “When preparing the list of major construction facilities for 2023, special attention will be paid to construction in the interests of the strategic nuclear forces,” Shoigu was quoted by RIA news agency as saying.
The city council in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa has voted to remove and relocate a monument to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia that has been daubed with red paint at least twice. The statue to the city’s founder, which towers over a central square, has been vandalised repeatedly since the invasion of Ukraine that has prompted many Ukrainians to reject their country’s historical ties to Moscow, Reuters reported.
Updated
