Russian President Vladimir Putin met Andrei Troshev, formerly a top Wagner mercenary commander, to discuss how voluntary fighting units are used in the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said on Friday. The meeting underscored the Kremlin’s attempt to show that the state had now gained control over the mercenary group after a failed June mutiny by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash in August.
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Friday that “very difficult questions” would need to be answered before the EU could start membership talks with Ukraine. In comments likely to anger Kyiv, which is adamant that the territorial makeup of Ukraine is non-negotiable, Orbán said: “We don’t know how big the territory of this country is, as the war is still ongoing, we don’t know how big its population is as they are fleeing. To admit a country to the EU without knowing its parameters, this would be unprecedented. So I think we need to answer very long and difficult questions until we get to actually deciding about the start of accession talks,” he said.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it was positive “that the Hungarian prime minister is concerned about Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. We would like to inform that Ukraine has not changed its territory within its internationally recognised borders,” the ministry added.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has expressed thanks to Switzerland for assistance in demining, with the country promising to contribute 100m CHF (£89m / $109m / €103.5m) to humanitarian mine clearance between 2024 and 2027.
Switzerland also announced “further sanctions in connection with the supply of Iranian drones to Russia” in a statement from the government. The measure brings it in-line with EU sanctions.
Romania is moving air defences closer to its Danube villages across the river from Ukraine where Russian drones have been attacking grain facilities, and is adding more military observation posts and patrols to the area, two senior defence sources have told Reuters.
Ukraine’s emergency service reports that its workers attended a fire in Kherson which broke out at dawn after Russian shelling earlier today.
Tass reports that Russian security services claim to have arrested a man in Kerch accused of passing information to Ukrainian authorities.
A Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on a substation in a Russian village close to the border in Kursk region on Friday, cutting off the power supply to a hospital, the regional governor said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday accompanied Ukraine’s chief rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman, to Babyn Yar to pay respects on the anniversary of the massacre there in the second world war.
Russia’s central bank has extended restrictions on transferring funds abroad for another six months.
An official of the Russian armed forces has said that those conscripted during the autumn campaign will not be sent to fight in Ukraine.
Russia said Thursday that it plans to raise defence spending by almost 70% next year, funnelling massive resources into its Ukraine offensive to fight what it calls a “hybrid war” unleashed by the west. With Moscow’s “special military operation” now approaching another winter, both sides have been digging deep and procuring weapons from allies in preparation for a protracted conflict.
The announcement came as Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg and the defence ministers of Britain and France visited Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lobbied for more air defence systems. Their visits came in advance of Kyiv’s first Defence Industries Forum, where Ukrainian officials were to meet representatives from more than 160 defence firms and 26 countries.
International regulators are incapable of properly monitoring safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to a critical dossier compiled by Greenpeace that has been sent to western governments. The environmental campaign group concludes the International Atomic Energy Agency has too few inspectors at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – four – and that there are too many restrictions placed on their access.
Brussels warned European companies and governments that it could ban the sale of certain components to Turkey and other countries from where Iran and Russia are sourcing parts for drones and other weapons striking Ukrainian cities. The comments from the European Commission follows a leak to the Guardian of a document in which Kyiv detailed the use of western technology in Russian and Iranian drones.
Belarus claimed on Thursday that a Polish helicopter had twice violated its airspace as tensions escalate between the two countries amid the conflict in Ukraine. The defence ministry said it had scrambled aircraft but provided no further details. In a separate statement, the Belarusian foreign ministry said it had summoned the Polish charge d’affaires and demanded that “an objective investigation be carried out immediately.
The EU has extended the right of refugees from Ukraine to stay in the bloc by a year to March 2025, as Russia’s war against their country continues. The EU triggered its temporary protection directive days after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion to allow the millions of people fleeing Ukraine to remain.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said an escalating grain exports dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw was detrimental to both countries. Poland has extended an embargo on Ukrainian grain, going against a European Commission decision to end the restrictions and triggering a diplomatic spat between the allies.
