Foreign Office minister tells MPs that FSB is ‘behind sustained effort to interfere in our democratic processes’
Russian spies have been targeting MPs, journalists and others with cyber hacking as part of a concerted attempt to meddle in British politics, a Foreign Office minister has said.
Leo Docherty, a minister under David Cameron, told the House of Commons that the Russian federal security service was using “cyber interference” to target politically connected people.
Continue reading...Russian president visits United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for talks. This live blog is closed
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians on Wednesday that Kyiv would defeat Russia and win a fair peace “against all odds” as the future of vital US military and financial aid hung in the balance.
Zelenskiy delivered his defiant message in an unusual early-morning video that showed him walking through Kyiv on his way to pay his respects to fallen soldiers on what Ukraine marks as Armed Forces Day, Reuters reported.
Continue reading...Four soldiers accused of kidnapping and torturing American from his home in Ukrainian village in 2022
The US justice department has filed war crime charges against four members of the Russian military accused of abducting and torturing an American during the invasion of Ukraine in a case that’s the first of its kind.
The four Russians are accused of kidnapping the American from his home in a Ukrainian village in 2022. The American man was beaten and interrogated while being held for 10 days at a Russian military compound, before eventually being evacuated with his wife, who is Ukrainian, US authorities said.
Continue reading...This live blog is now close, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
Vladimir Putin will make a one-day trip to both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia tomorrow, the Kremlin said.
The Russian president will hold talks focusing on bilateral relations, the war between Israel and Hamas and other international issues, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Issues related to oil price caps will also be on the agenda, Peskov said. The Cop28 climate summit is taking place in Dubai in the UAE, but the Kremlin did not specify whether Putin would attend any related events.
On a snowy road next to Poland, Ukrainian lorry driver Vitaliy Zemyenko pondered the long journey ahead. It would take him nine hours to get through the Medyka border crossing. Over on the other side he would drop off a consignment of vodka. The problem was getting back.
“At the moment it’s taking a minimum of eight days to re-enter Ukraine,” he said. “That’s the best case scenario. Worst case is two weeks. This is a terrible situation”. The Poles, he added, wanted to stop Ukrainian drivers from operating in the European Union. “They don’t want us,” he said.
Continue reading...East of country may fall to close to -50C, while Moscow has its third snowiest November this century
Temperatures across large parts of Russia are expected to plummet in the second half of this week. A large area of high pressure will sit over a large portion of the west of the country, introducing arctic air to the region, and keeping temperatures well below the seasonal average.
In Perm and Omsk, daytime temperatures are not forecast to rise above -25C later this week, which is about 20C below the seasonal norm. For the Perm region, this week is expected to be the coldest since 2016.
Continue reading...Polish prime minister says ‘we will strongly and unequivocally’ demand restoration of permits in de-escalation of border trade blockade
It is 2pm in Kyiv and here is a summary of today’s events so far:
Maj Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, the deputy commander of Russia’s 14th Army Corps, has been confirmed killed in Ukraine, said the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev. He said Zavadsky had died “at a combat post in the special operation zone”, but further details have not been released.
The US is running out of time and money to help Ukraine fight its war with Russia, say the White House. Its budget director, Shalanda Young, issued the warning in a letter to the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and other congressional leaders on Monday.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 18 Russian drones and one missile. It also added that a cultural centre and a shop were hit in Kherson.
Empty cargo trucks have crossed the border between Ukraine and Poland. In the first steps towards a de-escalation of a border blockade that has crippled Ukrainian trade. Estimates of the Ukrainian trade loss so far, exceed €400m ($440m). Processing of empty trucks began at the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv checkpoint by customs services at 1am (Kyiv time), in accordance with an agreement between Kyiv and Warsaw announced on Monday.
Ukraine’s forces attacked an oil depot in Russia-controlled Luhansk on Sunday night using combat drones. A fire that broke out after the attack was extinguished and there was no information about casualties.
Russia are opening new fronts in the battle for Avdiivka, say Ukrainian officials, who have accused Russian forces of assaulting the industrial town in the eastern Donetsk region from two new directions.
The Hungarian carrier Wizz Air has restarted inbound flights to Chisinau, Moldova, in eastern Europe, having suspended flights to the country in March due to tensions linked to Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Continue reading...Ukraine says Russian troops committed war crime as video appears to show two men surrendering before being shot
There it is, on a wintry morning: charred masonry, gnarled metal, glass shards, rubble and dust.
Yet another ravaged building in Ukraine: each has its own story, and this violation is against Kherson’s regional library for children, a place of effervescent creativity with a wonderful collection, named Dnipro Seagull library, after the birds that soar over the city’s mighty river – a symbol of the region.
Continue reading...Video shows two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers being shot dead as they emerged from dugout near Avdiivka
Ukraine is investigating the “execution” by Russian forces of two Ukrainian soldiers who emerged from their trench near the town of Avdiivka and were shot dead as they surrendered.
The public prosecutor’s office said it had launched an inquiry into the gruesome incident. Video showed the Ukrainian soldiers’ last moments. One raised his arms in the air. Next, Russian service personnel gunned both men down at point-blank range.
Continue reading...Russia attempting to quell dissent from wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine; former Ukraine president Poroshenko prevented from leaving the country
Russian authorities are attempting to quell dissent from the wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing that some were being paid off while others have been discredited online.
Russian shelling killed one civilian and destroyed two houses in the eastern town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said. Chasiv Yar is less than 5km west of the frontline city of Bakhmut, which Russia claimed to have captured in May after a devastating, months-long assault.
Ukrainian border guards prevented the ex-president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on Friday because he planned to meet the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, Kyiv’s security services said. Ukraine’s SBU security services said the former leader – who was in power from 2014 to 2019 – was turned back due to his planned meeting with Orban, an EU leader chided by Kyiv for his pro-Russian stance.
Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak said.
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost its power supply after the last remaining line to it from Ukrainian-controlled territory was disrupted, but it has since been repaired. Ukraine’s energy ministry said.
OSCE Conference participants have accused Moscow of undermining the Vienna-based organisation. Latvia’s representative, Katrina Kaktina, accused Russia of obstructing the OSCE agenda and of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Ukraine is developing plans to allow spectators to attend sports stadiums. Its sports ministry is developing a system that will allow fans to attend stadiums and watch games which have been off limits to the public since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here
Associated Press have provided a little more detail of the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s earlier comments in which he said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution.
Speaking at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in North Macedonia, Lavrov also said Russia was not prepared to “review its goals” in Ukraine.
Russian authorities are attempting to quell dissent from the wives of soldiers deployed in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said. The MoD said in its daily intelligence briefing that some were being paid off while others have been discredited online.
Ukraine has become progressively stronger over the past year and will soon be able to reopen Kyiv’s international airport, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff said.
Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by nearly 170,000, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine needs to improve its mobilisation system, with the issue of recruitment under public discussion for some time. Questions of corruption in the military, particularly in procurement and recruiting, have periodically seized public attention as Ukraine tries to press on with a counteroffensive that has so far produced only incremental gains.
Continue reading...Russia’s armed forces set to total 1.32 million after latest increase amid the continued invasion of Ukraine
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million, as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.
Putin’s decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops.
Continue reading...Russia to increase size of armed forces by 170,000; Zelenskiy admits counteroffensive did not achieve ‘desired results’
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Associated Press that “winter as a whole is a new phase of war” and acknowledged that “we did not achieve the desired results” with the summer counteroffensive. The Ukrainian leader also said that “we already can see the consequences of the international community shifting [attention] because of the tragedy in the Middle East”.
Zelenskiy later said that changes were needed to improve Ukraine’s system of mobilisation as part of an overall strategy to improve the country’s military position. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said a meeting of the military command had discussed scenarios to produce “concrete results” for 2024 in conditions of war.
Russia said its troops were advancing in every section of the Ukrainian front, despite observers seeing little movement. The frontlines have barely shifted this year but fighting has remained intense. “Our servicemen are acting competently and decisively, occupying a more favourable position and expanding their zones of control in all directions,” Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the maximum number of servicemen in the Russian armed forces by 170,000, the Kremlin and the defence ministry said. The regular strength of the armed forces is now set at 1,320,000 servicemen, according to the document.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow saw no signs that Kyiv was ready to move towards a political resolution and that there was no reason for Russia to change the goals of its “special military operation”.
The situation on the Polish-Ukrainian border remained tense, with Ukrainian truckers stuck on the border saying they planned to launch a hunger strike if their demands were not met. Polish and Ukrainian officials agreed on measures designed to help ease the situation at border crossings blocked by Polish truckers, but did not address the protesting Polish truckers’ main demands. Slovak truckers said they would start blocking a border crossing with Ukraine.
A court in Russia has extended the detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until 5 February.
Continue reading...Star conductor becomes latest Kremlin supporter to lead a major Russian cultural institution
Valery Gergiev, the star Russian conductor and prominent supporter of Vladimir Putin, has been installed as general director of Moscow’s Bolshoi theatre, in the latest appointment of a Kremlin loyalist to a leading cultural institution.
The appointment means that Gergiev, who also heads the rival Mariinsky theatre in St Petersburg, will have artistic control over the two crown jewels of the Russian ballet and opera.
Continue reading...Human rights activists say supreme court’s vague wording provides wide scope for persecution
Russia’s supreme court has outlawed what it called an “international LGBT public movement” as extremist, in a landmark ruling that representatives of gay and transgender people warn will lead to arrests and prosecutions of the already repressed LGBTQ+ community.
The ruling in effect outlaws LGBTQ+ activism in a country growing increasingly conservative since the start of the war in Ukraine. The “extremist” label could mean that gay, lesbian, transgender or queer people living in Russia could receive lengthy prison sentences if deemed by the authorities to be part of the so called “international LGBT public movement”.
Continue reading...Poisoning of Kyrylo Budanov’s wife, Marianna Budanova, suggests Moscow has undercover assets in Ukraine
The wife of Ukraine’s top spy chief is recovering in hospital after being poisoned, a spokesperson for the country’s military intelligence agency said on Tuesday, after apparently eating food laced with “heavy metals”.
Marianna Budanova is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency. It is unclear when the alleged poisoning happened. She complained of feeling unwell and was admitted to hospital for tests.
Continue reading...Temporary closure comes after Finnish intelligence suggested Russia was helping asylum seekers reach the border
Finland has announced it is temporarily closing its entire border with Russia after weeks of tensions between the countries over asylum seekers that Helsinki has labelled a “hybrid operation” by Moscow.
With just 24 hours’ notice, the Finnish government said on Tuesday it would close Raja-Jooseppi in Lapland, its last remaining border crossing point with Russia, on Wednesday night.
Continue reading...Russian businessman claims book defamed him, while authors say aim is to destroy their reputation
A Russian businessman has successfully taken legal action to ban a book in Germany about the Kremlin and its spy agencies, in a case that freedom of speech groups have described as an alarming attack on public interest reporting.
Two London-based Russian journalists, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, say they interviewed the businessman, Alexey Kozlov, for their 2019 book The Compatriots because of his family’s historical connections to Soviet intelligence. He has now won a court injunction against the book’s publisher.
Continue reading...Changes to include use of commercial recruitment firms to carry out more targeted conscription, say officials
The Ukrainian government is planning to change its conscription practices as it seeks to sustain fighting capacity after nearly two years of full-fledged war with Russia.
The changes, expected to be announced this week, will include the use of commercial recruitment companies to carry out more targeted conscription and to reassure conscripts they will be deployed in roles that match their skills and not simply sent to the front, according to one senior official.
Continue reading...Russia has conducted airstrikes in support of ground operations as it aims to surround city on outskirts of Donetsk. This live blog is closed
It’s just after 2.30pm in Kyiv. Here are the day’s main developments so far:
Russia has brought down at least 24 drones over the Moscow region and three other provinces to the south and west, the Russian defence ministry and the Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin have reported in a series of Telegram updates. One person was injured in Tula when an intercepted drone hit an apartment building, the region’s governor, Alexei Dyumin, said.
The spokesman for Ukraine’s ground forces, Volodymyr Fitio, has told the United News telethon that Russian soldiers “seek to reoccupy” the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region.
Russia has placed the Meta spokesperson Andy Stone on a wanted list, according to the state-run TASS news agency. TASS said the Russian interior ministry had opened a criminal investigation against Stone but had not disclosed the details of the investigation or charges.
The UK government has been urged to take immediate action to disrupt supply of technology used in electronic warfare. A dossier, compiled by Ukraine and circulated to the leading countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, identifies key Russian companies involved in the development and production of electronic military equipment. It says the UK and other countries have not yet imposed sanctions on some of the firms involved.
Indeed, Russian invaders have not abandoned their intentions to attack … to advance toward the town of Kupiansk. They seek to reoccupy it. In this area, Ukrainian defenders repelled four enemy attacks. It was near Usenkivka and Ivanivka. The enemy intends to advance to the settlement of Sinkivka in order to develop their further success in the offensive on Kupiansk.
Continue reading...Oleksandr Kamyshin aims to revive state sector and coordinate private enterprises to boost export of weapons
Oleksandr Kamyshin, the man tasked with reviving Ukraine’s domestic arms industry, has a dream for his country’s future. Even when the war with Russia is over, he believes, Ukraine should focus on arms production, turning itself into the “arsenal of the free world” and providing weapons for export.
“For the next decades, defence should be the major industry in Ukraine. After the war it should be our core export product,” said Kamyshin, in a recent interview at his office in an unmarked building in central Kyiv.
Continue reading...