Ukraine's intelligence services has obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a "new doctrine" of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries in response to a new policy of airstrikes by Moscow designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but will not target civilians, he said.
"We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals," Zelensky told Reuters in an interview.
The Kremlin was not available to comment. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to systematically hit targets in what it said were retaliatory strikes for Ukrainian attacks on Russia in recent months.
Earlier, the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro river in the capital Kyiv was hit during a Russian air attack, mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Emergency services were deployed to the scene and traffic across the bridge from the east to the west bank was suspended following damage to the road surface and the overhead trolleybus cables.
Key Points
- Putin has issued 'new doctrine' of striking civilian targets in Ukraine, Zelensky says
- German chancellor arrives in Kyiv
- Ukraine describes India's proposal for possible ceasefire with Russia as the 'broadest'
- Zelensky says 'not fair to normalise' ties with Russia before return to peace
- Russia has stockpiled ballistic missiles ahead of winter onslaught, officials warn
Germany's Merz visits Kyiv as Russia steps up attacks on Ukrainian cities
09:02 , Rituparna Chatterjee
German chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv Sunday in a show of support as Russia intensifies its attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The aerial war has intensified, with Moscow menacing cities across Ukraine with hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones, while Kyiv has been striking Russia’s oil industry and businesses.
“Ukraine is facing decisive weeks. That is why I traveled to Kyiv today with the message: You can rely on us,” Merz wrote on X, noting that Germany’s own security “also depends on the outcome of this war”.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Merz would hold talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Writing on X, Sybiha said the agenda would focus on "strengthening Ukraine, our defence and resilience, and our shared European security.”
Ukraine describes India's proposal for possible ceasefire with Russia as the 'broadest'
08:30 , Rituparna Chatterjee
Ukraine has described India's proposal for a possible ceasefire with Russia as the "broadest" among four offers received by Kyiv, according to reports.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said: “We have four proposals. The broadest one is India’s proposal. We are ready for an energy and Black Sea ceasefire, but only in this combination.”
Sybiha was speaking to reporters in Kyiv, according to European Pravda newspaper.
The other proposals were from Turkey, Egypt and the US.
Russia has stockpiled ballistic missiles ahead of winter onslaught, officials warn
07:30 , Rituparna Chatterjee
Ukrainian officials warn Russia has stockpiled hundreds of ballistic missiles ahead of an expected winter onslaught against electricity and water infrastructure.
Last winter, the worst of the war, Russian strikes left swathes of the country without electricity and heating for days at a time.
Since the summer, Moscow has also begun launching dozens of fast and relatively cheap jet-powered Shahed drones a day at Ukraine, whose air defence teams have struggled to cope because their interceptor drones were too slow to catch them.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had been forced to rely heavily on its fighter aircraft – F-16s and MiGs – to down around 60 per cent of the Russian jet-powered drones, but supplies of 20mm ammunition for the planes were running low.
Kyiv was urgently working on other solutions – including boosting its electronic jamming capabilities, he said. In the second half of October, it would receive the first shipment of small, cheap air defence missiles capable of hitting the new Shaheds.
Last week, Zelensky said Ukraine was developing five models of new interceptor drones capable of downing the jet Shaheds.
Fresh from a meeting with his defence chiefs, he said tests on two of those models showed a modest success rate of around 30 per cent.
"We'll have to scale it," he said. "I hope that with all these things, with all these elements, we'll find a way."
Zelensky says 'not fair to normalise' ties with Russia before return to peace
06:30 , Rituparna Chatterjee
After the Trump administration invited Vladimir Putin to attend a G20 summit in Miami in December and discussed business deals with Russian envoys, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged Washington not to normalise relations with Russia before ensuring a return to peace.
Zelensky said he would be happy to meet Putin for peace talks at the G20, but he warned the US not to believe in "illusions" that Russia would simply end hostilities if it gained control of Donbas.
"It's not fair just to normalise," said Zelensky, dressed in his trademark black T-shirt and military-style jacket.
Any resumption of economic and diplomatic ties with the West had to be in return for Russia ending hostilities, he said: "Because peace is more important than any kind of economy."
While the US has proposed a resumption of trilateral talks in the coming weeks in the UAE, Zelensky noted that an exact date and location for the technical-level conversations had still not been set.
German chancellor arrives in Kyiv
05:35 , Vishwam Sankaran
Germany's chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv today, pledging support for Ukraine.
Merz arrived along with the chiefs of German defence companies, in a show of support for president Volodymyr Zelensky amid escalating Russian attacks.
"I travelled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks," the German chancellor said.
"If Russia is not stopped, sooner or later its war machine will turn against us,” he said, adding that Ukraine can “count on our help”.
Latvia's pro-Ukraine prime minister wins election
05:33 , Vishwam Sankaran
Latvia’s pro-Ukraine prime minister Andris Kulbergs' United List party has won the country’s parliamentary election held yesterday by a wide margin.
The election was held in the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine war, with many voters on edge amid warnings of potential Russian aggression.
Baltic countries have warned for months that Russia is mounting sabotage, cyber and other hybrid attacks across Europe to erode support for Ukraine and sow fear.
But Western officials dismiss concerns that Moscow is capable of launching a direct assault on Nato, of which Latvia is also a member.
Russia has dismissed such accusations as baseless and the result of anti-Russian hysteria.
Ukrainian counteroffensive 'Vivaldi' ongoing in Donbas
05:00 , Rituparna Chatterjee
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive, code-named "Vivaldi", had recaptured around 140sqkm (54sqm) of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region and was still ongoing.
Russia has said it must control Donbas in its entirety as a condition for any peace deal.
In recent weeks, US president Donald Trump's administration has sought to revive talks to end the four-year-old conflict – Europe's bloodiest since Second World War.
The US leader last month urged Ukraine to refrain from hitting Russian oil installations, saying that was sending global diesel prices surging.
But Zelensky, speaking as air raid sirens blared outside the gilded halls of the presidential offices, said he had received no indications from Russia that Putin was interested in peace talks, or discussing a ceasefire on energy infrastructure.
Putin has issued 'new doctrine' of striking civilian targets in Ukraine, Zelensky says
04:20 , Rituparna Chatterjee
Ukraine's intelligence services has obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a "new doctrine" of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Ukraine will double down on attacking Russian oil refineries in response to the new policy of airstrikes designed to force people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but will not target civilians, Zelensky said.
"We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals," Zelensky told Reuters in an interview.
"To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation."
The Kremlin was not available to comment on Saturday. But in a statement urging foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to systematically hit targets in what it said were retaliatory strikes for Ukrainian attacks on Russia in recent months.
EU warns situation in Russia-occupied Oleshky is 'appalling'
Saturday 3 October 2026 15:30 , Vishwam Sankaran
The situation of civilians in the Russia-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky is “appalling”, the European Union has warned.
"What is happening in Oleshky, Ukraine, is appalling. Civilians are trapped under siege by Russian forces without access to food, medicine, clean water and basic care,” EU commissioner Hadja Lahbib said yesterday.
“This is unacceptable...Russia, as occupying power, has clear obligations under international humanitarian law: civilians must be protected, and humanitarian assistance must be facilitated," she said.
Ukraine seeks missiles and ammunitions for its jets
Saturday 3 October 2026 14:30 , Vishwam Sankaran
Poland, Belgium and Spain have agreed to supply 20mm rounds for cannons on Ukraine's F-16 jet fighters, Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said.
Ukraine is anticipating a potential agreement on the supply of "several million" rounds of this ammunition in the near future, Sybiha said, adding that Kyiv also needed at least 300 Patriot interceptor missiles to bring down Russia's ballistic missiles.
The foreign minister said Moscow could be making 120 to 140 ballistic missiles each month, with 600 already in its stocks.
South Korea's Lee accuses Zelensky of making him look like a 'liar'
Saturday 3 October 2026 13:30 , Vishwam Sankaran
South Korean leader Lee has accused Ukraine of making him look like “a liar” by contradicting his earlier claim about a non-disclosure agreement with Kyiv.
Lee said on X that Seoul would take “additional measures” if Ukraine refused to admit the existence of the non-disclosure agreement and apologise publicly.
The diplomatic row between South Korea and Ukraine has emerged after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to reveal a secret deal in which Kyiv would transfer North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul.
“This is a matter concerning the honour of the Republic of Korea’s people and nation; we cannot overlook it,” Lee said.
Russia hits Liberian-flagged ship in Ukraine's Odesa port, kills one
Saturday 3 October 2026 13:00 , Maira Butt
Russia attacked a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in one of Ukraine's Black Sea ports in the Odesa region, killing one person and injuring three, the Ukrainian sea ports administration said on Saturday.
In a statement on the Telegram app it said that 13 other crew members were evacuated to safety.
As the war is in its fifth year, Russia effectively renewed its blockade of the Ukrainian Black Sea ports since the summer, disrupting trade routes, reducing grain and steel exports and dealing a heavy blow to the Ukrainian economy.
Hungary welcomes Ukraine's bill strengthening Hungarian minority rights
Saturday 3 October 2026 12:30 , Vishwam Sankaran
Hungary has welcomed Ukraine’s decision to submit a draft law to parliament seeking to strengthen the education rights of its ethnic Hungarian minority.
"The (Ukrainian) bill strengthens the legal guarantees of education in the Hungarian language and the network of educational institutions," Hungarian prime minister Peter Magyar said in a Facebook post.
The move could help Kyiv get backing for its EU membership from Hungary, which had said that progress on boosting the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine is a prerequisite for Budapest's backing of Ukraine's EU accession.
US-Russia talks on Ukraine involve multi-billion dollar oil deal, NYT reports
Saturday 3 October 2026 12:00 , Rituparna Chatterjee
The Trump administration’s talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine have expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The deal, which is contingent on approval from the US government and the Kremlin, involves a sprawling set of oil fields, refineries and gas stations around the world owned by Lukoil, the NYT reported.
In Video: Russia intensifies strikes on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure
Saturday 3 October 2026 11:30 , Vishwam Sankaran
One killed in drone attack on Russian-controlled part of Zaporizhzhia region
Saturday 3 October 2026 11:00 , Rituparna Chatterjee
One person was killed following a drone attack in Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, the Moscow-installed governor of Russian-controlled parts of the region was cited as saying by the TASS news agency on Saturday.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Ten more were injured in the attack.
Second major bridge in Ukraine hit in Russian air attack
Saturday 3 October 2026 10:54 , Rituparna Chatterjee
The Northern Bridge across the Dnipro river in Kyiv was hit during a Russian air attack on Saturday, mayor Vitali Klitschko said, amid an escalation in strikes on infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital.
Emergency services were deployed to the scene, the mayor said, and traffic across the bridge from the east to the west bank was suspended following damage to the road surface and the overhead trolleybus cables.
There were no casualties reported.
In the past two days, the Southern Bridge has been struck several times by Russian drones, forcing the temporary suspension of traffic across it and two other bridges across the vast Dnipro river.
Over a third of the capital's three million residents lived on the east, or "left", bank of the Dnipro before Russia's 2022 invasion, but the vast majority work on the western, or "right", bank where most government institutions and companies are.
Memories of last winter, the worst of the war, are prominent in residents' minds after Russia launched last week what was seen in Ukraine as the first salvo of an expected winter bombing campaign against power facilities supplying the capital.
One killed in Ukrainian attack on Russia's Belgorod region
Saturday 3 October 2026 10:30 , Rituparna Chatterjee
One person was killed and two more suffered injuries in a Ukrainian attack on Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, the TASS state news agency reported on Saturday.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Zelensky urges countries to help stop Russian drone production
Saturday 3 October 2026 10:00 , Vishwam Sankaran
The Ukrainian president urged countries to strengthen sanctions that can help prevent the production of drones by Russia.
“No matter how hard Moscow tries to fully localise the production of its drones and missiles, its ability to escalate remains critically dependent on foreign components,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
“These are supply chains running from Europe, the US, China, Japan, and many other countries. Most of these companies are well-known manufacturers, but their components still make their way to Russia,” he said, adding that “sanctions must work and must be strengthened”.
“Every Russian drone can actually be stopped right at the production line. What is needed is the political will of these countries,” the Ukrainian president said.
Latvia goes to poll amid Ukraine war and drone incursions
Saturday 3 October 2026 09:30 , Vishwam Sankaran
Latvians vote today in parliamentary elections in the country amid potential Russian aggression across Europe, including the Baltics, and a growing number of airspace incursions related to Moscow's war in Ukraine.
Russia has denied accusations that it is planning to attack Nato, but security concerns have weighed heavily on the Latvian election campaign.
The election is likely to keep power in the hands of pro-Ukrainian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, according to opinion polls.
"We have to give Ukraine everything necessary right now (so) that they can have the upper hand and win", Kulbergs told Reuters last month.
Russia attacks key bridge in Kyiv for third straight day
Saturday 3 October 2026 09:00 , Vishwam Sankaran
Russian attacks struck the Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River in Kyiv early today, marking the third straight day of strikes targeting the bridge in the capital city.
The bridge's surface and overhead power lines have been damaged in the attack, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
Russian drones caused a large explosion on the bridge, which connects the right bank of the city with the left bank.
The full extent of the damage remains unclear.
