After eight rounds, is there space for further EU sanctions on Russia?

Baltic states and Poland have a long shopping list, but host of others seen as cautious of new measures

Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been subjected to the heaviest sanctions of any country in the world.

A fossil fuel superpower, Russia is no longer able to export coal to the European Union and will soon lose 90% of its oil sales to the bloc. In the other direction, the EU has banned the export of hundreds of goods to Russia, from hi-tech military kit and semiconductors that could aid Russia’s military, to makeup, handbags and clothes that may turn a handsome profit for Russian entrepreneurs.

Continue reading...

Zelenskiy accuses Russia of plotting to blow up Ukrainian dam

President says destruction of Nova Kakhovka dam would mean large-scale disaster for towns and cities

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused Russia of plotting to blow up the two-mile Nova Kakhovka dam in the south of the country, warning its destruction would cause “a large-scale disaster” affecting towns and cities.

The 30 metre-high dam, which holds back 18m cubic metres of water, straddles the Dnieper River upstream from Russian-held Kherson and is about 20 miles from advancing Ukrainian forces hoping to recapture both it and the occupied city.

Continue reading...

In Kyiv, the home front is back and winter is looming

Russian attacks and the prospect of power cuts have made people nervous and politicians angry

Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

For some it was a rude awakening. Those arriving into Kyiv’s busy central station on Monday morning suddenly found themselves in the middle of an unexpected and unwanted drone war; hammered by the sounds of panicked last-ditch gunfire from the ground that failed to stop five terrifying explosions in two hours.

It was the second Monday in a row the centre of Kyiv had been targeted, and the first time the capital had been hit by Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. The Russians had been aiming for a power plant a block from the station, but instead hit buildings and people elsewhere. Five died, including a pregnant woman, when a civilian apartment building was hit.

Continue reading...

Iran provides ‘technical support’ for Russian drones killing civilians, says US

Iranians brought trainers and technical support to Crimea to help Russians use drones ‘with better lethality’, White House says

Iran has significantly deepened its involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by providing technical support for Russian pilots flying Iranian-made drones to bomb civilian targets, the White House has confirmed.

The national security council lead spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday that it was the US’s understanding that the Iranian advisers were in Crimea to provide training and maintenance – but not to actually pilot the drones – after Russian forces experienced difficulties in operating the unmanned flying bombs.

Continue reading...

Ukraine plans power cuts after Russian strikes on plants

Local ‘stabilisation blackouts’ will take place around country at times between 7am and 10pm

Ukraine has introduced an emergency schedule of power cuts to help stabilise the country’s energy supply, which has been badly damaged by more than 300 Russian drone and missile attacks over the past 10 days as the weather turns cooler.

The country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said people needed to be “especially conscious of electricity consumption” from 7am and avoid using unnecessary appliances as he warned of local “stabilisation blackouts”.

Continue reading...

Russia threatens to ‘reassess collaboration’ with UN chief over drone inspection

Ambassador denies drones fired on Ukraine are supplied by Iran and calls UN investigation ‘illegitimate’

Russia has threatened that it will reassess cooperation with the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, if he sends United Nations experts to Ukraine to inspect drones that western powers say were made in Iran and used by Moscow in violation of a UN resolution.

Speaking after a closed-door UN security council meeting on Moscow’s use of drones, Russia’s deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, called on Guterres and his staff to “abstain from engaging in any illegitimate investigation”. He also threatened Russia would withdraw from the grain deal that has allowed Ukrainian grain to be transported out of Black Sea ports.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: UK sanctions Iran over drones used in Russian attacks in Ukraine; Kyiv restricts power use – as it happened

UK implements new sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with drones; Ukrainians prepare for hours-long power outages. This live blog is now closed

Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has posted a status update for Thursday which says that yesterday two people died and four more were injured when “a car with employees of the state emergency service was blown up by a mine” in the Izium district.

He also said “a 78-year-old resident of Izium district was hospitalised with injuries during the day”.

It is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com

It likely indicates that the Russian authorities are seriously considering a major withdrawal of their forces from the area west of the Dnipro river.

A key challenge of any Russian withdrawal operation would be extracting troops and their equipment across the 1000m wide river in good order.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian people win European parliament’s Sakharov prize

Annual prize awarded to Ukraine’s citizens to honour their fight against Russia’s invasion

The European parliament has awarded the people of Ukraine its annual Sakharov prize for freedom of thought to honour their fight against Russia’s invasion.

“They are standing up for what they believe in. Fighting for our values. Protecting democracy, freedom and rule of law. Risking their lives for us,” the European parliament president, Roberta Metsola, said when she announced the winner.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: hundreds of thousands without water or power; Russia warns of battle for Kherson in ‘very near future’

Russian president says four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia will be put under martial law

If you look hard enough, you’ll spot faded yellow signs proclaiming “fallout shelter” around New York City. They are remnants of a cold war programme that signalled spaces within ordinary buildings – from schools to banks to the Brooklyn Bridge – with adequate supplies and walls thick enough for riding out a nuclear blast safely.

Many of these windowless shelters housed little more than rats and sewage before the practice was terminated in 1979. In 2017, the city’s department of education ordered the “misleading” signs removed from its buildings, but many others remain – vestiges of nuclear fears that never materialised.

Continue reading...

EU plans to impose sanctions on Iran military leaders over drones

Measures will also target firm that develops drones believed to have been used in Russia’s attacks on Ukraine

The EU plans to impose sanctions on three senior Iranian military commanders and the company that develops drones believed to have been used in Russia’s attacks on Ukraine.

The draft sanctions list, seen by the Guardian, is expected to be agreed within days, indicating EU ministers do not believe Iran’s denials that it has supplied Russia with the low-flying lethal weapons.

Continue reading...

Russia’s new Ukraine commander signals civilian evacuation from ‘tense’ Kherson

Sergei Surovikin says Russia’s defence of occupied southern city ‘not easy’ as Ukraine introduces local news blackout

The new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine has announced that civilians were being “resettled” from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation as “tense”.

“The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Sergei Surovikin said in his first televised interview since being appointed earlier this month, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson.

Continue reading...

Berlusconi said he received vodka from Putin for birthday, reports say

La Presse agency publishes audio suggesting 20 bottles arrived for 86th birthday after pair ‘re-establish’ ties

Silvio Berlusconi has allegedly said Vladimir Putin gave him 20 bottles of vodka for his birthday after he “re-established” relations with the Russian president.

Berlusconi turned 86 on 29 September, four days after a coalition including his Forza Italia party won the general election.

Continue reading...

Iran agrees to supply missiles as well as drones to Russia

Defence secretary Ben Wallace flies to Washington to discuss dangerous new phase in invasion of Ukraine

Iran has deepened its commitment to supplying arms for Russia’s assault on Ukraine by agreeing to provide a batch of medium-range missiles, as well as large numbers of cheap but effective drones, according to US and Iranian security officials.

The surface-to-surface missiles are designed to supplement the severely run-down stock of Russian missiles, as part of a bid to systematically destroy Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure ahead of a brutal winter.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia evacuating citizens from Kherson as commander describes ‘tense’ situation

Sergei Surovikin says Ukraine forces ‘continually’ trying to take positions of Russian troops, particularly in Kupiansk, Lyman and Mykolaiv

A Russian missile struck an apartment building in the southern Ukrainian port city Mykolaiv, in one of three explosions heard there in the early hours of Tuesday, a Reuters witness said.

The missile completely destroyed one wing of the building in the downtown area, leaving a massive crater. A fire crew pulled the dead body of a man from the rubble, the witness said.

Continue reading...

What are European countries doing to cut power consumption?

Governments across the continent have announced a range of measures to tackle any energy shortages this winter

Paris is switching off the Eiffel Tower lights an hour early, Milan has turned off public fountains, and Hanover is offering gym users cold rather than hot showers in an effort to combat potential energy shortages this winter.

At the same time, the public are being encouraged to do their bit by avoiding using household appliances between 4pm and 7pm, stock up on blankets and slow down their driving.

Continue reading...

At least 13 reported dead in Russia after military plane hits building

Residential building in Yeysk, near the Ukraine border, hit by Su-34 fighter-bomber, says defence ministry

A Russian military jet has crashed into a residential building shortly after taking off near the border with Ukraine, sparking a major fire that has reportedly left at least 13 people dead, according to Russian news agency Interfax, citing a senior official.

Video and photographs uploaded to social media on Monday showed a residential building engulfed in flames in Yeysk, a port and resort town in Russia located just south of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol across the Sea of Azov.

Continue reading...

Fighter jet crashes in Russian city near Ukraine; Kyiv says 108 women freed in prisoner swap – as it happened

Fighter plane hits residential building in southern Russian city of Yeysk; Ukraine says it is first all-female exchange with Moscow. This blog is now closed

A large fire has broken out at an energy plant in Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth largest city, following strikes early on Monday morning, Reuters reports, citing the Dnipro mayor.

The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh is sheltering in an underpass at Kyiv station, near to where this morning’s attacks occurred:

Continue reading...

Iran breaching nuclear deal by providing Russia with armed drones, says UK

UK joins France in saying apparent drone supply for use in Ukraine leaves Iran in breach of 2015 JCPoA

Britain has joined France in viewing the Iranian supply of armed drones to Russia for devastating use in Ukraine as a breach of Iran’s obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The joint view comes as EU foreign affairs ministers slapped human rights sanctions on the Iranian morality police over their handling of street protests and treatment of women.

Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy publishes collection of war speeches as ‘battle cry for the world’

A Message from Ukraine includes 16 speeches selected by the president as well as an introduction setting out what he has learned since the start of the war with Russia

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is to publish a collection of his war speeches, which his publisher has described as “a battle cry for the world to speak out and fight for liberty”.

A Message from Ukraine will include 16 speeches personally selected by Zelenskiy, which will “explore Ukraine’s journey since 2019”, said publisher Penguin Random House.

Continue reading...