Summary
That’s it for our Ukraine coverage today. Here is a summary of the main events:
Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson overnight killed at least two people and injured more than 10, including two children and a police officer, the regional governor said on Monday. Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours that were “aimed at the residential districts” as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added. Authorities put out a fire caused by shelling early on Monday, he said.
The Kremlin said on Monday it believed that fatigue with the Ukraine war would grow in the US and Europe, but that Washington would continue to be directly involved in the conflict. The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was commenting on a US Congress decision to pass a stopgap funding bill that omitted aid for Kyiv.
A Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia depends on cooperation with the EU, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told EU foreign ministers gathered in Kyiv on Monday. Zelenskiy, who was speaking after the US Congress left Ukraine war aid out of a spending bill, also underlined the importance of “defence support” for Ukraine during the war, Reuters reports.
The EU has proposed a “bilateral envelope” worth €5bn for Ukraine’s defence as part of the existing European peace facility, its chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said at a press conference in Kyiv after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, Lisa O’Carroll reports.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan is “the only game in town” the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said at a press conference of EU-Ukraine foreign ministers’ meeting in Kyiv today. The meeting of the EU foreign ministers was “sending a strong message to Russia that we are not intimidated by your missiles or your drones”.
Ukraine is hoping for membership of the EU within two years but the EU must also take some big decisions before it is ready to accept any new country. The biggest decision, EU diplomats say, will relate to the budget – allowing a country of Ukraine’s size into the bloc will require a vastly increased budget with many member states expected to go from net beneficiaries to net contributors.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament and its speaker taunted Elon Musk on Monday after the billionaire businessman posted a meme on his social media platform mocking the president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s pleas for wartime assistance from the west.
The EU’s chief diplomat has rejected suggestions that Ukraine’s membership of the bloc could be phased in over a number of years. Speaking in Kyiv after a surprise meeting of the EU foreign ministers Josep Borrell said membership of the EU was all or nothing, reflecting a growing school of thought among diplomats.
The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on Monday panned US military spending on Ukraine as “irrational”, stepping up criticism of the war effort as he urged Washington to devote more resources to helping Latin American countries.
The White House has been in touch with allies and partners about continued funding for Ukraine and those conversations will continue, the White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday. Congress passed a stopgap bill on Saturday that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a government shutdown but did not contain any new aid for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Thanks for following the blog. You can read more of our coverage of the war here.
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The White House has been in touch with allies and partners about continued funding for Ukraine and those conversations will continue, the White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.
Congress passed a stopgap bill on Saturday that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a government shutdown but did not contain any new aid for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
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The Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on Monday panned US military spending on Ukraine as “irrational”, stepping up criticism of the war effort as he urged Washington to devote more resources to helping Latin American countries.
López Obrador has long called on the US to devote more funds to helping economic development in Central America and the Caribbean in order to ease migratory pressures.
During his regular daily press conference, López Obrador criticised the US Congress for not freeing up money for the region, before making reference to wrangling last week on a stopgap funding bill that stripped out further aid for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
He said:
I was just looking at how now they’re not authorising aid for the war in Ukraine.
But how much have they destined for the Ukraine war? $30-50bn for the war. Which is the most irrational thing you can have. And damaging.
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The Ukrainian foreign minister said the Kremlin was funnelling resources towards creating divisions among Kyiv’s allies and urged them to unite in the face of pressure from Russia.
Dmytro Kuleba spoke after a historic first meeting of EU foreign ministers beyond the bloc’s borders, as disagreements over support for Ukraine have grown.
During a press conference with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Kuleba said:
[Vladimir] Putin’s greatest expectation is precisely that the West and the world will tire of standing on the side of Ukraine in this war. Russia is directing huge resources to this.
We should not play along with them.
Today’s visit is not about symbolism … it is a concrete tool to counter narratives about a so-called lack of unity,” he added.
Kuleba also called on the EU’s support to resume regular exports through the Black Sea.
Ukraine has been pushing for support for a naval route since Moscow scrapped a deal in July guaranteeing safe passage of grain exports in the Black Sea, AFP reports.
If the EU and Ukraine join forces to guarantee the security of this corridor, then this corridor will be able to work at full capacity.
He did not specify what support he was seeking from Brussels.
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, spoke at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv, where Borrell reiterated the EU’s continuing support for Ukraine.
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The EU’s chief diplomat has rejected suggestions that Ukraine’s membership of the bloc could be phased in over a number of years.
Speaking in Kyiv after a surprise meeting of the EU foreign ministers Josep Borrell said membership of the EU was all or nothing, reflecting a growing school of thought among diplomats.
Some, including the president of the European parliament, Roberta Metsola, have suggested that one option would be to allow Ukraine entry to the single market before full membership, which can take years to achieve.
“What is this talk about partial membership? Half membership 25% membership? Membership is membership. Full stop. Do you want me to repeat it? Membership is membership full stop,” he said.
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Borrell added that he proposed to Ukraine a new bilateral multi-annual envelope of the European peace facility of up to €5bn ($5.26bn) for the next year.
“I hope we can reach an agreement before the end of the year,” he also said at a joint press briefing in Kyiv, Ukraine, with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kaluba, Reuters reports.
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At least two people were killed and 10 wounded in the latest Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson, according to regional officials, as the death and casualty toll rise.
The Regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram that Russian forces overnight had pounded residential areas, shops, medical infrastructure and other infrastructure, Reuters reports.
One of the dead was a police officer killed in shelling on Monday morning, and children were among those wounded in overnight attacks on the regional capital, Kherson, he said.
These claims have not been independently verified.
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Ukraine is hoping for membership of the EU within two years but the EU must also take some big decisions before it is ready to accept any new country.
The biggest decision, EU diplomats say, will relate to the budget – allowing a country of Ukraine’s size into the bloc – will require a vastly increased budget with many member states expected to go from net beneficiaries to net contributors.
The EU is expected to publish its first year report on Ukraine and Moldova’s process in early November, ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in December.
The EU remains united in its support for Ukraine, the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said at a press conference of EU-Ukraine foreign ministers’ meeting in Kyiv today.
Indicating the EU does not expect Slovakia or Poland to stop supporting the defence contribution to Ukraine, Borrell said:
I don’t see any member state faltering.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan is “the only game in town” the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said at a press conference of EU-Ukraine foreign ministers’ meeting in Kyiv today.
The meeting of the EU foreign ministers was “sending a strong message to Russia that we are not intimidated by your missiles or your drones”.
Zelenskiy’s plan involves no concession of Ukrainian territory to Russia.
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Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament and its speaker taunted Elon Musk on Monday after the billionaire businessman posted a meme on his social media platform mocking the president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s pleas for wartime assistance from the west.
Musk owns SpaceX, which provides Starlink satellite communication services that are vital for Ukraine’s defence effort, but his statements have sometimes angered Kyiv since the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February last year, according to Reuters.
Early on Monday, Musk posted a meme on his platform X, formerly known as Twitter, showing Zelenskiy and the caption:
When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t asked for a billion dollars in aid.
The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, hit out at Musk’s jibe with his own post on X.
In an apparent reference to SpaceX’s failed rocket launch in April, he said:
The case when … [Elon Musk] tried to conquer space, but something went wrong and in 5 minutes he was up to his eyeballs in shit.
Ukraine’s parliament, on its official page on X, accused Musk of spreading Russian propaganda, posting its own version of the meme with a picture of Musk and the caption:
When it’s been 5 minutes and you haven’t spread Russian propaganda.
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The EU has proposed a “bilateral envelope” worth €5bn for Ukraine’s defence as part of the existing European peace facility, its chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said at a press conference in Kyiv after an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.
It would be in addition to funds EU countries are poised to discuss as part of the wider talks on the overall budget from now until 2027.
Borrell also announced:
Plans to train 40,000 people in the coming months, including fighter jet pilots.
An aim to increase resilience, cyber-defence and defence.
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A reminder that some of Europe’s top diplomats are gathered in Kyiv in a display of support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion as signs emerge of political strain in Europe and the US over the war.
EU foreign ministers converged on the Ukrainian capital for an unannounced informal meeting that officials said would review the bloc’s support for Ukraine and discuss a peace formula proposed by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the foreign ministers’ first joint meeting outside EU borders signalled that the 27-nation bloc’s support is “unwavering” and underscored the EU’s commitment to Ukraine.
The US, the EU and the UK have provided massive military and financial support to Ukraine, enabling it to stand up to the Kremlin’s attack. The assistance is crucial for Ukraine’s weakened economy and has so far been open-ended.
But uncertainty has set in over how long Kyiv’s allies will keep sending it aid worth billions of dollars and euros.
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Ukrainian victory depends on cooperation with Europe, Zelenskiy tells EU foreign ministers in Kyiv
A Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia depends on cooperation with the EU, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told EU foreign ministers gathered in Kyiv on Monday.
Zelenskiy, who was speaking after the US Congress left Ukraine war aid out of a spending bill, also underlined the importance of “defence support” for Ukraine during the war, Reuters reports.
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The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, called for the creation of a strategy to insulate Ukraine from the fallout of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid this winter.
Baerbock told reporters in Kyiv:
Ukraine needs a winter protection plan of air defence, generators and a strengthening of the energy supply.
We saw last winter the brutal way in which the Russian president wages this war, with targeted attacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants.
German exports of military equipment to Ukraine have grown more than fourfold so far this year, making Kyiv the main recipient of German arms, the economy ministry said on Monday.
Ukraine accounted for €3.3bn (£2.86.bn) of Germany’s total value of authorised military exports of €8.76bn in the first nine months of the year.
By contrast, for the same period last year, €775m worth of equipment had been approved for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
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Here are some images from the wires of health workers, volunteers and military personnel at a joint training for war zones in Aksaysky district in Rostov oblast, Russia.
The Kremlin said on Monday it believed that fatigue with the Ukraine war would grow in the US and Europe, but that Washington would continue to be directly involved in the conflict.
The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was commenting on a US Congress decision to pass a stopgap funding bill that omitted aid for Kyiv.
Peskov said Russia predicted that war fatigue in the west would lead to what he called a fragmentation of opinion on the conflict, Reuters reports.
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Ukraine’s foreign minister said it was too early to assess the impact on Ukraine from the victory of a pro-Russian candidate in Slovakia’s parliamentary election.
The populist Smer leader, Robert Fico, who is likely to be Slovakia’s new prime minister, campaigned on a pledge to end military aid to Ukraine. According to Reuters, Fico said his position “has not changed” after his party’s clear election win made him favourite to lead the country again.
Before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said:
Ukraine respects the choice that the people of Slovakia made.
I think it’s too early to judge how these elections will impact the support of Ukraine. We have to wait until the coalition is formed.
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Russia said on Monday that a US Congress decision to pass a stopgap funding bill that omitted aid for Kyiv did not indicate that Washington’s support for Ukraine would change anytime soon, Reuters reports.
According to state news agency Tass, the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said:
They will continue their support.
We should not think that anything has changed: it’s just a show for the public, it’s just noise.
Fundamentally, Washington’s focus on supporting its client in Kyiv is not changing.
Updated
Morning summary
Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson overnight killed at least one person and injured six, including two children, the regional governor said on Monday. Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours that were “aimed at the residential districts” as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments. Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added. Authorities put out a fire caused by shelling early on Monday, he said.
EU foreign ministers will consider Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s peace plan at a historic meeting in Kyiv this morning. The ministers, who rarely meet outside the confines of the territory of the EU, takes place amid concerns over cracks in US funding for the war and after a pro-Russian populist party won the most votes in an election in Slovakia on Saturday.
Sources say the meeting will focus on all aspects of “EU support to Ukraine, with particular focus on continued military assistance, peace efforts and EU accession”. Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan has been discussed by national security representatives twice in the past year, but not at this level. Joe Biden vowed to stand by Ukraine after the passing of a stopgap bill on Saturday. The bill extended government funding for 45 days in order to avert a US government shutdown, but did not include aid for Kyiv.
Joe Biden has called on congressional Republicans to back a deal to provide more aid to Ukraine, saying he was “sick and tired” of the political brinkmanship, and that US support for Ukraine could not be interrupted “under any circumstances”. A stopgap bill that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a shutdown did not include any aid for Kyiv. “We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” the US president said. “I fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment to secure the passage and support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality.”
Ukraine’s top diplomat said Washington’s support for Kyiv was not weakening, and played down the significance of a stopgap funding bill passed by US Congress that omitted aid to Ukraine. US and other western military assistance has been vital for Ukraine to fight back against the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Kyiv was in talks with Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress, and that the drama around the stopgap bill that averted a government shutdown on Saturday was an “incident” rather than something systemic.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, on Monday said a stopgap funding bill passed by the US Congress that omitted aid to Ukraine would change nothing, describing Washington’s decision as a “show for the public”, the RIA news agency reported. Ryabkov also said that US-produced missiles previously covered by the now defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty could appear in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Reuters reported.
Russia is increasingly using combat jets to assert power over the western Black Sea, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence briefing. The MoD said more of its fleet activities were relocating to Novorossiysk in Russia “in the face of threats” to its Black Sea headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea.
It seems likely that Moscow will launch a second missile campaign this winter, designed to cripple Ukraine’s energy grid again, the Guardian’s Luke Harding writes from Hostomel. Last Wednesday Ukrenergo, the state-owned electricity transmission system operator, said “enemy shelling” damaged a thermal power plant. More strikes are expected, after a summer in which Russia targeted Ukraine’s grain export facilities.
Serbia’s troop deployment on Kosovo’s border is similar to Russia’s behaviour towards Ukraine before its invasion, the Kosovan foreign minister said, urging the EU to take action against Belgrade such as freezing its candidacy status. The warning comes after the US said on Friday it was monitoring a troubling Serbian military buildup along the Kosovo frontier that was destabilising the area, and after Nato said it was authorising additional peacekeeping forces for Kosovo, Reuters reported.
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said there were no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine following comments by his defence minister, who had suggested troops could carry out training in the country. Rowing back on comments made by Grant Shapps, the prime minister said “there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict”.
Grant Shapps, Britain’s defence secretary, backed away from reports that the Royal Navy could help protect commercial ships carrying Ukrainian grain and other food exports in the Black Sea. Over the weekend, after an interview with the minister, the Sunday Telegraph reported that “British Royal Navy could play a role in defending commercial vessels from Russian attacks in the Black Sea”. This was picked up by some websites as a commitment the minister gave to Ukraine’s president Voldoymyr Zelenskiy when he visited Kyiv last week – but Shapps said on Monday this was not the case.
Slovakia’s populist likely new prime minister, Robert Fico, who campaigned on a pledge to end military aid to Ukraine, has said his position “has not changed” after his party’s clear election win made him favourite to lead the country again. “People in Slovakia have bigger problems than Ukraine,” the Smer party leader said.
Ukraine marked Defenders Day, honouring veterans and remembering soldiers killed in Russia’s invasion. “Tough times have made us strong. And the strong bring the times of victory closer. Step by step. Today, tomorrow, every day, every minute,” the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a brief address on Telegram.
Two purported Ukrainian drones struck Russian territory on Sunday, with social media footage showing one hitting a helicopter base in Sochi and another an aircraft factory in Smolensk. Possibly related to these attacks, Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan called today for “a nuclear ultimatum” after a drone fell right in front of her family home in Adler, about 38km from Sochi.
Russian documents indicating a surge in military spending in 2024 suggest Moscow is preparing for “multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine”, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said papers apparently leaked from Russia’s finance ministry suggested the country’s defence spending was likely to rise to about 30% of total public expenditure in 2024.
My colleague Mabel Banfield-Nwachi will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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UK defence secretary backs away from reports that Royal Navy could protect grain ships in Black Sea
Grant Shapps, Britain’s defence secretary, backed away from reports that the UK Royal Navy could help protect commercial ships carrying Ukrainian grain and other food exports in the Black Sea.
Over the weekend, after an interview with the minister, the Sunday Telegraph reported that “British Royal Navy could play a role in defending commercial vessels from Russian attacks in the Black Sea”.
This was picked up by some websites as a commitment the minister gave to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, when he visited Kyiv last week – but Shapps said on Monday this was not the case.
“I don’t think that was a conversation I had with President Zelenskiy,” Shapps told a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference, run by the Royal United Services Institute thinktank.
He added that he did not expect the Royal Navy would engage in any patrol efforts in the Black Sea, although he said the UK and other nations could play an advisory role to help Ukraine open up food exports.
The minister also declined to say whether the UK would match the £2.3bn of military aid it gave to Ukraine this year in its next budget. It was “not time to jump ahead of budgetary processes,” he added.
But he stressed that Britain remained committed to the long-term support of Kyiv as the war headed into its second winter. “I don’t think [Ukraine’s leaders] doubt our commitment is ongoing,” he added.
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Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said the US support for his country has “not shattered” despite a knife-edge vote which saw further military funding excluded from a budget covering government finances for the next 45 days.
Speaking before a surprise meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv, Kuleba said:
The question is whether what happens in the US Congress last weekend is an incident or a system. I think it was an incident.
“We have a very in-depth discussion with those parts of the Congress, Republicans and Democrats and against the background of the potential shutdown in the United States. The decision was taken as was, but we are not working with both sides of the Congress to make sure that it does not repeat again under any circumstances.
So we don’t feel that the US support has been shattered … because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine, it’s about the stability and predictability of the world. And therefore I believe that we’ll be able to find the necessary solutions.
Some Republicans oppose further military aid for Ukraine, arguing that domestic needs are greater. But, on Sunday, Joe Biden reassured Ukraine that it could “count on” US support.
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Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, on Monday said a stopgap funding bill passed by the US Congress that omitted aid to Ukraine would change nothing, describing Washington’s decision as a “show for the public”, the RIA news agency reported.
Ryabkov also said that US-produced missiles previously covered by the now defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty could appear in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Reuters reported.
Washington withdrew from the treaty in 2019. Russia has since said it will not deploy such weapons provided that Washington does not.
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Serbia’s troop deployment on Kosovo’s border is similar to Russia’s behaviour towards Ukraine before its invasion, the Kosovan foreign minister said, urging the EU to take action against Belgrade such as freezing its candidacy status.
The warning comes after the US said on Friday it was monitoring a troubling Serbian military buildup along the Kosovo frontier that was destabilising the area, and after Nato said it was authorising additional peacekeeping forces for Kosovo, Reuters reported.
“There has never been this kind of concentration of troops in recent years,” the Kosovan foreign minister, Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz, told the German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk in an interview on Monday. “The weaponry they have there, the tanks … it gives us a bad feeling because we don’t know how the international community will respond.”
She said it was not just the concentration of troops on the edge of its former southern province – whose independence Belgrade does not recognise – but also Serbia’s rhetoric and its “methods” resembling Russian behaviour towards Ukraine.
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EU foreign ministers to consider Zelenskiy peace plan at Kyiv summit amid fears over US aid
EU foreign ministers will consider Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s peace plan at a historic meeting in Kyiv this morning.
The ministers, who rarely meet outside the confines of the territory of the EU, takes place amid concerns over cracks in US funding for the war and after a pro-Russian populist party won the most votes in an election in Slovakia on Saturday.
Speaking on the way into the summit, the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, did not mention either issue but underlined the importance of solidarity in Europe.
“It is about [the] stability and predictability of the world. Because this war is having deep consequences for the whole world. But for us Europeans, it’s an existential threat. Maybe it’s not being seen like this for everybody around the world. But for us, Europeans, allow me to repeat it. It’s an existential threat,” he said.
Sources say the meeting will focus on all aspects of “EU support to Ukraine, with particular focus on continued military assistance, peace efforts and EU accession”.
Zelenskiy’s 10-point peace plan has been discussed by national security representatives twice in the past year, but not at this level.
Joe Biden vowed to stand by Ukraine after the passing of a stopgap bill on Saturday. The bill extended government funding for 45 days in order to avert a US government shutdown, but did not include aid for Kyiv.
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Ukraine foreign minister believes 'necessary solutions' can be found after aid for Kyiv omitted from US Congress bill
Ukraine’s top diplomat said Washington’s support for Kyiv was not weakening, and played down the significance of a stopgap funding bill passed by US Congress that omitted aid to Ukraine.
US and other western military assistance has been vital for Ukraine to fight back against the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Kyiv was in talks with Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress, and that the drama around the stopgap bill that averted a government shutdown on Saturday was an “incident” rather than something systemic.
“We don’t feel that the US support has been shattered … because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine,” he told reporters as he greeted the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv.
“It’s about the stability and predictability of the world, and therefore I believe we will be able to find necessary solutions.”
Kuleba said the question was whether what happened in the US Congress at the weekend was “an incident or a system”.
“I think it was an incident,” he said. “We have a very in-depth discussion with both parts of the Congress – Republicans and Democrats. And against the background of the potential shutdown, the decision was taken as it was.
“But we are now working with both sides of the Congress to make sure that it does not [get] repeat[ed] again under any circumstances,” he said.
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The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has arrived in Kyiv, a spokesperson for her ministry said.
The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, had said earlier on Monday he was convening a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Ukrainian capital.
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In case you missed it earlier, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said there are no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, rowing back from comments by his defence minister who had suggested troops could carry out training in the country.
To date, Britain and its allies have avoided a formal military presence in Ukraine to reduce the risk of a direct conflict with Russia.
The defence secretary, Grant Shapps, who was appointed to the role last month, said in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph that he wanted to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other western countries.
Hours after that interview was published, Sunak said there were no immediate plans to send British troops to Ukraine.
“What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine,” Sunak told reporters at the start of the Conservative party’s annual conference in Manchester.
“But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.”
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It seems likely that Moscow will launch a second missile campaign this winter, designed to cripple Ukraine’s energy grid again, the Guardian’s Luke Harding writes from Hostomel.
Last Wednesday Ukrenergo, the state-owned electricity transmission system operator, said “enemy shelling” damaged a thermal power plant. More strikes are expected, after a summer in which Russia targeted Ukraine’s grain export facilities.
This time round, however, engineers are optimistic. “In 2022 we had to improvise. Now we are better prepared,” said Oleksandr Danyliuk, an engineer with Ukraine’s largest private electricity company, DTEK.
Serhii Buriak, the head of the region’s electricity grid, said: “We have a lot of experience from last winter.
“In the past an attack would knock out power for an entire area. Now we can switch quickly from one electricity source to another.”
Read the full story here:
Here are some recent images documenting efforts to demine the Ukrainian countryside.
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One dead and six injured in Russian shelling of Kherson
Russian shelling of Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson overnight killed at least one person and injured six, including two children, the regional governor said on Monday.
Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram that Russian forces had launched 71 attacks in the past 24 hours that were “aimed at the residential districts” as well as shops and medical infrastructure, among other establishments.
Twenty of the air and land attacks targeted the city of Kherson, the region’s administrative district, the governor added. Authorities put out a fire caused by shelling early on Monday, he said.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Kyiv drove Russian forces out of part of the Kherson region last November after several months of occupation, but Russian troops have continued shelling the regional capital and areas around it from across the Dnipro River.
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Naval air power key to Russia in Black Sea – MoD
Russia is increasingly using combat jets to assert power over the western Black Sea, the UK Ministry of Defence has warned in its latest intelligence briefing.
The MoD said more of its fleet activities were relocating to Novorossiysk in Russia “in the face of threats” to its Black Sea headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea.
“In recent weeks, the naval aviation component of Russia’s Black Sea fleet has assumed a particularly important role in the fleet’s operations as it struggles to deal with concurrent threats on the southern flank of the Ukraine war,” the MoD tweeted.
“Russia is attempting to use naval air power to project force over the north-western Black Sea.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 02 October 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 2, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/YlymMMKcGU
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/a7EK91MKZd
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'No British soldiers' to be sent to fight in Ukraine, Sunak assures
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has said there are no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine following comments by his defence minister, who had suggested troops could carry out training in the country.
Rowing back on comments made by Grant Shapps, the prime minister said “there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict”.
Hours earlier, the Sunday Telegraph published an interview with Shapps, where the recently appointed defence minister said:
Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country’ – not just training, but also we’re seeing BAE [the UK defence firm], for example, move into manufacturing in country, for example. I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country.
However, speaking to reporters at the start of the Conservative party’s annual conference in Manchester, Sunak said:
What the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine. But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now.
Biden: US support for Ukraine cannot be interrupted
Joe Biden has called on congressional Republicans to back a deal to provide more aid to Ukraine, saying he was “sick and tired” of the political brinkmanship, and that US support for Ukraine could not be interrupted “under any circumstances”.
A stopgap bill that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a shutdown did not include any aid for Kyiv.
“We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” the US president said. “I fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment to secure the passage and support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality.”
Asked if he could trust the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, to honour deals, Biden said: “We just made one about Ukraine, so we’ll find out”, referring to Republican promises of passing a separate bill on the issue.
Biden urged Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible.
“The vast majority of both parties – Democrats and Republicans, Senate and House – support helping Ukraine and the brutal aggression that is being thrust upon them by Russia,” Biden said. “Stop playing games, get this done.”
Opening summary
Hello and welcome back to our coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I’m Mark Gerts and here’s a look at the latest developments.
Joe Biden has called on congressional Republicans to back a deal to provide more aid to Ukraine, saying he was “sick and tired” of the political brinkmanship, and that US support for Ukraine could not be interrupted “under any circumstances”.
A stopgap bill that extended government funding for more than a month and avoided a shutdown did not include any provisions for Kyiv.
More on that soon. In other news:
Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said there are no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, rowing back from comments made by his defence minister, Grant Shapps, who had suggested troops could carry out training in the country.
Slovakia’s populist likely new prime minister, Robert Fico, who campaigned on a pledge to end military aid to Ukraine, has said his position “has not changed” after his party’s clear election win made him favourite to lead the country again. “People in Slovakia have bigger problems than Ukraine,” the Smer leader said.
Ukraine marked Defenders Day, honouring veterans and remembering soldiers killed in Russia’s invasion. “Tough times have made us strong. And the strong bring the times of victory closer. Step by step. Today, tomorrow, every day, every minute,” the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a brief address on Telegram.
Two purported Ukrainian drones struck Russian territory on Sunday, with social media footage showing one hitting a helicopter base in Sochi and another an aircraft factory in Smolensk. Possibly related to these attacks, Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan called today for “a nuclear ultimatum” after a drone fell right in front of her family home in Adler, about 38km from Sochi.
Russian documents indicating a surge in military spending in 2024 suggest Moscow is preparing for “multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine”, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said papers apparently leaked from Russia’s finance ministry suggested the country’s defence spending was likely to rise to about 30% of total public expenditure in 2024.
