Ukrainian forces claim to have recaptured key frontline village of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut; Ukraine government dismisses six deputy defence ministers including Hanna Maliar
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Ukraine troops have recaptured key village of Klishchiivka near Bakhmut, says Zelenskiy
Ukrainian president praises soldiers as military says ‘powerful damage’ inflicted on Russian forces
Ukraine says its forces have recaptured the tactically important village of Klishchiivka in the west of the country, in what would mark Kyiv’s second notable counteroffensive victory in three days.
“Today I would like to particularly commend the soldiers who, step by step, are returning to Ukraine what belongs to it, namely in the area of Bakhmut,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 571 of the invasion
Kim Jong-un inspects strategic bombers in Russia; Moscow denies Ukraine’s claim to have seized village in Donetsk region
Continue reading...Daniel Burke: body found in Ukraine in search for missing British man
Relatives of Manchester man, 36, receive support as UK and Ukraine officials work on identification
A body has been found in Ukraine in the search for a British man who was reported missing a month ago.
Relatives of Daniel Burke lost contact with him in mid-August while he was on his most recent visit to Ukraine.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow disputes Kyiv’s claim about captured territory in Donetsk – as it happened
Ukraine claimed to have recaptured the devastated eastern village of Andriivka, near Bakhmut.
Here are some of the latest images coming through from photographers in Ukraine:
In case you missed it, Alexander Lukashenko has expressed interest in creating a trilateral partnership with Russia and North Korea amid rumours that Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un were negotiating an arms deal to sustain Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 570 of the invasion
Ukraine claims to have seized village from Russian forces in Donetsk region; Zelenskiy to meet Biden in Washington next week
Continue reading...‘The show must go on’: 35,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews travel to Ukraine for Rosh Hashanah
The annual pilgrimage brings both prayers and partying to Uman. Many have been undeterred by official pleas to stay away this year
Unfazed by the bombs, undeterred by the warnings, and in the face of the raging conflict, more than 35,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews from across the world have journeyed to Uman, Ukraine, to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year.
“Going to celebrate in a war zone en masse is crazy,” said Azoulay Ruben, a 22-year-old trainee dentist from Paris. “But at the same time, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Continue reading...Belarus’s Lukashenko proposes ‘three-way cooperation’ with Putin and Kim Jong-un – as it happened
Belarusian president’s suggestion comes during a meeting with his Russian counterpart. This live blog is closed.
In its daily public intelligence briefing on the war in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence appears convinced of Ukrainian claims to have inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Citing satellite imagery, it writes:
Despite the Russian ministry of defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk [landing ship] has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov [submarine] has likely suffered catastrophic damage.
Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a realistic possibility that the complex task of removing the wreckage from the dry docks will place them out of use for many months. This would present the Black Sea fleet with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 569 of the invasion
Ukraine claims to have seized the village of Andriivka in Donetsk; Lukashenko says Belarus has been supplying Russia with fuel
Continue reading...Putin and Kim Jong-un exchange rifles as North Korean leader continues Russia tour
Russian president also gave Kim at meeting the gift of a ‘glove from a space suit that has been to space’ amid warnings from US and South Korea about any weapons deal
Kim Jong-un has visited a factory that builds advanced fighter jets, as his tour of Russia moves into its third day and the Kremlin revealed he and Vladimir Putin had exchanged gifts of rifles during their summit this week.
Two days after meeting Putin at a space base in Russia’s far east, where they discussed satellite technology and – possibly – a deal to provide North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine, Kim’s armoured train arrived in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he visited a factory that makes Russia’s most modern fighter jets, Russian news agencies reported.
Continue reading...Ukraine ‘holds initiative’ in counteroffensive, UK’s most senior military officer says – as it happened
Sir Tony Radakin says Kyiv is pushing Russia back” and has rejected claims Ukraine’s counteroffensive is struggling. This live blog is closed
The BBC is reporting this morning that what it calls a “rogue Russian pilot” tried to shoot down an RAF aircraft in 2022. It claims sources have shed new light on an incident that had already caused some controversy.
In October 2022 the then UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, revealed that a Russian fighter jet “released a missile” in the vicinity of a British aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea because of a technical malfunction.
Three senior western defence sources with knowledge of the incident have told the BBC that Russian communications intercepted by the RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft give a very different account from the official version.
The intercepted communications show that one of the Russian pilots thought he had been given permission to target the British aircraft, following an ambiguous command from a Russian ground station.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un invites Putin to North Korea after summit brings ties to ‘a new level’
North Korean media report that Kim was briefed on space vehicles during his meetings in Russia, though no specific detail of any deal has emerged
Kim Jong-un invited President Vladimir Putin to visit North Korea during their meeting in Russia on Wednesday, Pyongyang’s state media reported, amid warnings that Kim was poised to offer the Kremlin artillery shells and other munitions for the war in Ukraine.
Kim told Putin that their closely watched meeting had brought bilateral ties to a new level, and expressed his willingness to foster stable, future-oriented relations for the next 100 years, news agency KCNA said.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 568 of the invasion
Ukraine claims to have destroyed Russian air defence system in Crimea; Russia claims it repelled drone attack on Black Sea patrol ship
Continue reading...Boris Johnson attacks UK aid to Ukraine: ‘What the hell are we waiting for?’
Former PM says west is dragging its feet in support for Ukraine and calls for urgent supply of weaponry in Spectator column
Boris Johnson has attacked the government over its policy on Ukraine, saying it should urgently provide more weaponry requested by Kyiv and asking the west: “What the hell are we waiting for?”
The former prime minister, who formed a close relationship with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy after the outbreak of the war with Russia, called on the UK to provide howitzers – an artillery weapon – Storm Shadow cruise missiles and “as much help as we can give them with drone technology”.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un offers Putin ‘full support’ in Russia’s ‘sacred fight’ with west
North Korean leader backs Moscow in ‘protecting its sovereignty and security against the hegemonic forces’ that oppose it
Kim Jong-un has offered Vladimir Putin his support for Russia’s “sacred fight” against the west during talks that also touched on possible Russian help with North Korea’s space programme.
The North Korean and Russian leaders met on Wednesday at a space base in the far east of Russia amid warnings that Kim was poised to offer the Kremlin artillery shells and other munitions for the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 567 of the invasion
Kim Jong-un pledged to support Russia’s ‘sacred’ fight against the west; attack on Sevastopol damages vessels in Russia’s Black Sea fleet
Continue reading...Record numbers expected as Europe’s biggest arms fair opens in London
Egypt, Vietnam and Indonesia among countries sending delegations to four-day DSEI at ExCeL
Europe’s biggest ever arms fair got under way in London on Tuesday with record numbers expected to attend, boosted by interest from countries with controversial human rights records.
Authoritarian Egypt and Vietnam are among those sending delegations, defence sources said, as well as Indonesia and India – all countries whose arms-buying strategies have been affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un arrives in Russia to meet Putin as US threatens sanctions
North Korean leader travels on armoured train for talks amid concerns Putin is seeking arms deal for Ukraine war
Kim Jong-un has arrived in Russia on his armoured train for a rare summit with Vladimir Putin to discuss a possible deal to supply North Korean arms for the war in Ukraine.
The train arrived at Khasan station, the main rail gateway to Russia’s far east from North Korea, where Kim was filmed alighting and meeting the Russian environment minister, before continuing to travel north.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: G7 condemns ‘sham elections’ held by Russia on Ukrainian territory – as it happened
Foreign ministers condemn ‘elections’ held in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts and Crimea, where electoral competition was limited
Russia has “recalibrated” its missile defences around Moscow as it faces near daily drone attacks, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update.
As well as being aimed at improving its defences, the changes are likely also meant as a “high-profile reassurance” to the public, the MoD said.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 566 of the invasion
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un set to meet Vladimir Putin; Ukraine recaptures gas and oil rigs in Black Sea
Vladimir Putin has declared that Ukraine’s counter-offensive has delivered no results. The Russian president gave a lengthy speech and participated in a Q&A session at an economic forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.
Putin appeared to rule out any further conscritpion or mobilisation to help the war effort, claiming that 1,000-1,500 Russians were signing voluntary contracts to join the military every day. He also said that over the past six or seven months, 270,000 people have signed voluntary contracts. That is a figure slightly lower than the 280,000 that former president Dmitry Medvedev stated earlier this month.
The Russian leader accused Ukraine and the west of a crime in deploying cluster munitions and utilising depleted uranium in armaments as it seeks to repel the invasion of Ukraine which Putin ordered in February of last year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived to Russia by armoured train to meet President Vladimir Putin, Pyongyang said, with face-to-face talks potentially focused on weapon sales. Experts suggest Putin is seeking artillery shells and anti-tank missiles from North Korea, while Kim is reportedly in search of advanced technology for satellites and nuclear-powered submarines, as well as food aid for his impoverished nation.
A US spokesman said the meeting indicated Putin was desperate over the Ukraine conflict and renewed warnings that any arms deal could trigger US sanctions. “Having to travel across the length of his own country to meet with an international pariah to ask for assistance in a war that he expected to win in the opening month, I would characterise it as him begging for assistance,” state department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Tuesday he had vetoed a parliamentary bill that sought to retain closed asset declarations for officials. Parliament voted last Tuesday to restore a declaration rule that was suspended after Russia’s 2022 invasion as a security precaution but, in an important loophole, to keep the disclosures closed to the public for another year.
The Ukrainian military said it had recaptured strategic Black Sea gas and oil drilling platforms, the so-called Boyko Towers, that were seized by Russia in 2015. “Russia has been deprived of the ability to fully control the waters of the Black Sea, and this makes Ukraine many steps closer to regaining Crimea,” the Main Intelligence Directorate said.
Ukraine said its troops had regained more territory on the eastern and southern fronts in the past week of its counteroffensive. Deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said in televised comments that Ukraine had retaken nearly 2 square km (0.77 square mile) of land around the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russia in May. She later added on the Telegram messaging app that the Ukrainian army had in the past week also recaptured 4.8 square km in the southern Tavria sector.
The Biden administration is close to approving the shipment of longer-range missiles packed with cluster bombs to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the ability to cause significant damage deeper within Russian-occupied territory, Reuters reported citing four US officials.
The “decision-making process in Germany is moving forward” regarding the supply of Taurus missiles to Kyiv, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after a meeting with the country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock. Earlier on Monday, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, had urged Berlin to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine as soon as possible.
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