Comments are strongest yet against allowing Ukraine to launch long-range missiles into Russian territory
Vladimir Putin has escalated his nuclear rhetoric, telling a group of senior officials that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if it was attacked by any state with conventional weapons.
His remarks on Wednesday came during a meeting with Russia’s powerful security council where he also announced changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine.
Continue reading...Ukraine president made forceful call for ‘just peace’ at UN, but winning more US support and fending off Russia are both uphill battles
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has come to the US with a mission: to sell his vision for a Ukrainian victory despite the growing odds against Kyiv in its war with Russia.
The Ukrainan president spoke out forcefully on Tuesday and Wednesday in the security council and then at the general assembly of the United Nations, calling on other countries to back Ukraine’s proposal for a “just peace” and refrain from holding alternative talks with Vladimir Putin.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president urges world leaders to back peace plan in general assembly speech ahead of Biden meeting
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the United Nations that Russia is planning to attack Ukrainian nuclear power plants as he repeated his calls for unity from world leaders in order to force Russia to the negotiating table to conclude a “just peace”.
His comments came as Vladimir Putin on Wednesday escalated his nuclear rhetoric, telling a group of senior officials that Russia would consider using nuclear weapons if it was attacked by any state with conventional weapons.
Continue reading...PM hopes to meet both candidates on US trip but attempt to see Trump undermined by Home Office minister saying he had emboldened racists in UK
Keir Starmer has said he wants to meet Kamala Harris and Donald Trump before the US election, as he declined to back one of his ministers who said the Republican candidate had contributed to racist rhetoric in the UK.
The prime minister said he was hoping to find time with both candidates as he travelled to New York for the United Nations general assembly – his third trip to the US since taking office.
Continue reading...PM to give speech on international issues as team hopes to set up talks with both presidential candidates
Keir Starmer is heading to the US for his third trip in three months, with aides pressing for meetings with the presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Fresh from his speech at the Labour conference, the prime minister headed to the United Nations general assembly in New York where the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will be pushing for a deal on the use of Storm Shadow missiles against Russia.
Continue reading...US president assumes mantle of elder statesman, defending his foreign policy record and urging Gaza deal
Joe Biden has sought to defend his foreign policy achievements on the world stage with an address to the United Nations general assembly against a backdrop of three brutal, intractable wars that have stymied world diplomats seeking an end to the bloodshed.
Addressing the assembly hall in New York on Tuesday, Biden took on the mantle of elder statesman as he alternated between a message of hope and a full-throated defense of his record on foreign policy.
Continue reading...Ukraine president expected to reiterate plea to use western weapons deep inside Russia when he meets Joe Biden. This live blog is closed
Russia plans to maintain defence spending at an historic high in 2025, Bloomberg News reports, suggesting that the Kremlin intend to continue its invasion of Ukraine for the foreseeable future.
The Kremlin is increasing up the spending as its forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine. The Russian government has raised personal and corporate taxes to plug holes in the budget.
Draft three-year budget proposals seen by Bloomberg News show the government intends to increase defense spending to 13.2tn rubles ($142bn) in 2025 from 10.4tn rubles projected for this year, putting it at 6.2% of gross domestic product.
Military expenditure is planned to decline to 5.6% of GDP in 2026 and 5.1% in 2027, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the draft data.
Continue reading...Supporters say UN mediation has prevented even worse outcomes, but security council is stuck in vicious circle
As diplomats from nearly 200 member states gather in New York this week for the United Nations general assembly against the backdrop of a massive Israeli bombing campaign in southern Lebanon, a nagging question to be addressed is whether the UN is too broken to be fixed.
UN officials are facing three intractable conflicts, in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan. While it remains one of the most important humanitarian organisations on Earth, organising relief efforts for refugees, natural disaster victims and others in dire need, the UN’s principal security body appears to be powerless to intervene in some of the world’s most grinding conflicts.
Continue reading...Expert analysis shows crater about 60 metres wide at launch silo for Sarmat missile test
Relations with Russia should be reconsidered after its war in Ukraine is over, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday. He was speaking in Paris during a meeting for peace organised by the Catholic community of Sant’Egidio. You can watch the video here. The Kyiv Independent has the following report containing Macron’s translated remarks:
Speaking at an event in Paris, the French president urged people to imagine “tomorrow’s peace” in Europe in a new form, and in a new reality.
“We will have to think about a new form of organisation of Europe and rethink our relations with Russia after the war in Ukraine,” Macron said.
Peskov said he had no information about a test of Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, after arms experts said on the basis of satellite imagery that it appeared to have failed in a test this month.
When asked about international chess governing body FIDE’s ban on Russian and Belarusian players ,the Kremlin said that Ukraine and the west had put pressure on FIDE.
Vladimir Putin will meet Mikhail Kovalchuk, the head of the Kurchatov nuclear research institute, on Monday.
The Kremlin said it will study Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s so-called “victory plan” if it sees official information on it. Details of the plan have not yet been released to the public.
Continue reading...Suspected Russian propaganda operation prompts calls to force UK-registered news sites to reveal ownership
Fake news websites registered in the UK and made to resemble trusted British outlets are allegedly spreading disinformation about western companies operating in Ukraine.
The suspected Russian propaganda operation has prompted calls by parliamentarians for a change in the law to force UK-registered news websites to reveal their ownership, as happens in the EU.
Continue reading...Overnight attacks apparently show growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia
Ukraine said it hit two Russian munition depots overnight, in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia.
A statement by Ukraine’s military general staff said the munitions depots were at Tikhoretsk in southern Russia and Oktyabrsky in the western region of Tver.
Continue reading...In Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine, residents have clung on to hope until the bitter end. Now many are saying goodbye to their homes
Valeria Tanashchuk packed up a few last belongings from her home. Going in the evacuation van waiting outside: her daughter Nicole’s favourite bear, clothes, items of furniture and a microwave oven. Staying behind: her mother Marina’s collection of detective novels, a wall poster with the Ukrainian alphabet written on it, and a pair of furry slippers.
“We don’t want to leave. But would choice do we have?” Tanashchuk asked, as a thunderous boom echoed nearby. “The explosions get worse every day. They are louder and more frequent.” What would she do next? “I don’t have a concrete plan,” she said. “I will try and find work somewhere. We had hoped until the end that everything would be OK.”
Continue reading...Zelenskyy will present ‘victory plan’ to US president during trip to Washington next week, when he is also likely to hold talks with Trump
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes inside Russia with US-supplied weapons, and to earn “a place in history” by “strengthening Ukraine” before he leaves office.
Speaking before a crucial trip next week to Washington, where he will meet Biden and the US vice-president and presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and address the UN, Zelenskyy said he would present a “victory plan” to end the war.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president tells press conference with Ursula von der Leyen that Ukraine plans to use EU loan for air defence, energy and weapons purchases
Ukraine’s “victory plan” in the war against Russia depends on quick decisions being taken by allies this year, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday during a visit by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Zelenskyy told a joint press conference with von der Leyen that Ukraine planned to use a proposed multi-billion dollar European Union loan for air defence, energy and domestic weapons purchases.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Documents contain months of warnings about possible Ukrainian advance and also reveal concerns about morale
Russia’s military command had anticipated Ukraine’s incursion into its Kursk region and had been making plans to prevent it for several months, according to a cache of documents that the Ukrainian army said it had seized from abandoned Russian positions in the region.
The disclosure makes the disarray among Russian forces after Ukraine’s attack in early August all the more embarrassing. The documents, shared with the Guardian, also reveal Russian concerns about morale in the ranks in Kursk, which intensified after the suicide of a soldier at the front who had reportedly been in a “prolonged state of depression due to his service in the Russian army”.
Continue reading...International Energy Agency says coming winter will be hard as country has lost more than two-thirds of energy production capacity since Russian invasion
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Kyiv on Friday and meet president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as the bloc seeks to help Ukraine weather Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
“I will be travelling to Kyiv to discuss these matters in person with president Zelenskiy tomorrow in our efforts to help Ukraine,” von der Leyen told a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Continue reading...Trip to Moscow to review economy delayed indefinitely after protests it would ‘normalise relations with aggressor’
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has indefinitely postponed a staff mission to Moscow this week to review the Russian economy for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, after the move came under heavy criticism from several of Kyiv’s European allies.
After revelations in the Guardian of widespread condemnation, the IMF said it would spend more time gathering information for a “rigorous analysis”.
Continue reading...Ukrainian drone attack causes large explosion at arsenal in Toropets, more than 300 miles north of Ukraine
A Ukrainian drone attack on a large Russian weapons depot caused a blast that was picked up by earthquake monitoring stations, in one of the biggest strikes on Moscow’s military arsenal since the war began.
Pro-Russian military bloggers said Ukraine struck an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a historic town more than 300 miles north of Ukraine and about 230 miles west of Moscow.
Continue reading...Russian forces are gathering on Pokrovsk, a logistics base and transport hub, after months of slow, brutal advance
The Russian soldiers sent to storm Ukrainian positions arrived at a graveyard. Around them was the ruined village of Mykhailivka. From above, Ukrainian spy drones watched. One soldier vanished under a tree. Another jogged towards a shell-walloped cottage. Back at a control observation centre, Maj Oleksandr Fanagey muttered a few words.
Seconds later, a Ukrainian kamikaze drone hit a moving Russian. A live video stream showed that he survived but his left leg was injured. The soldier bottom-shuffled towards a patch of grass and tried to pull a bandage from a green backpack. “He will die for sure,” Fanagey predicted. “The enemy doesn’t bother evacuating its wounded.”
Continue reading...Baseless theories about suspect Ryan Wesley Routh and his alleged ties to US military spread online after his arrest
After a man who appears to be obsessive about the war in Ukraine was arrested for allegedly attempting to assassinate Donald Trump on Sunday, rumors and conspiracy theories have spread online attempting to tie Democrats to the two assassination attempts on the former president this election.
Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect charged with gun-related crimes on Monday, previously conducted media interviews about his efforts to recruit volunteer fighters, particularly from Afghanistan, to help Ukraine in its war against Russia. Routh also apparently self-published an e-book on Ukraine in which he said that Iran was “free to assassinate Trump as well as me”, according to media reports.
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