Closing summary
The heads of the US treasury, defence and state departments called on Congress to fund $11.8bn in Ukraine aid as part of President Joe Biden’s supplemental spending request, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Senate Democrats blocked a Republican effort to win quick approval for a bill providing emergency aid to Israel that passed the US House of Representatives last week, but that provides no assistance for Ukraine.
The US has accused Russia of financing a Latin America-wide disinformation campaign that feeds media contacts with propaganda aimed at weakening support for Ukraine and boosting anti-American and anti-Nato sentiments, Reuters reported.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has been quoted as saying that Ukraine had deployed more western air defence systems, as it braces for a second full winter of Russian attacks on energy facilities.
Ukraine is preparing for a renewed Russian assault on the eastern town of Avdiivka, after several recent unsuccessful attempts by Moscow’s forces to surround it, AFP reported. “The third wave will definitely happen. The enemy is regrouping after a second wave of unsuccessful attacks,” Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military administration, said.
The Netherlands sent its first five F-16 fighter jets to Romania on Tuesday for use in the training of Ukrainian pilots, Reuters reported.
Russia formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the US for undermining post-cold war security with the enlargement of the Nato military alliance. Nato allies said that, as a consequence, they intended to suspend the operation of the treaty as long as necessary.
G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, Japan said as the group’s foreign ministers prepared to hold virtual talks with Kyiv during a meeting in Tokyo.
Russia foiled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on Tuesday morning, shooting down drones over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula, Moscow’s defence ministry said.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has thanked the Netherlands for sending F-16 fighter jets to a Romanian airbase where the planes will be used to train Ukrainian and Romanian pilots, and said he hoped they will reach Ukraine “as soon as possible.”
“I am grateful to the Netherlands and prime minister Mark Rutte for leading the way in supporting Ukraine,” he said on social media.
He said the movement of the planes marked a “milestone”.
I’m grateful to the Netherlands and @MinPres Mark Rutte for leading the way in supporting Ukraine. Today marks a milestone: five Dutch F-16s have already arrived at the training center in Romania. We keep working together to welcome F-16s into Ukrainian skies as soon as possible.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 7, 2023
Senate Democrats block Republican bid to provide emergency aid to Israel and not Ukraine
Senate Democrats have blocked a Republican effort to win quick approval for a bill providing emergency aid to Israel that passed the US House of Representatives last week, but that provides no assistance for Ukraine.
“Time is of the essence and it’s imperative that the Senate not delay delivering this crucial aid to Israel another day,” Republican senator Roger Marshall said.
Democrats objected, stressing the importance of providing aid to Ukraine as well as Israel, in addition to humanitarian aid, border security funding and money to push back against China in the Indo-Pacific that was in a $106bn funding request Joe Biden sent to Congress last month.
“Our allies in Ukraine can no more afford a delay than our allies in Israel,” senator Patty Murray, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said.
US says Russia has funded Latin America-wide anti-Ukraine disinformation drive
The US has accused Russia of financing a Latin America-wide disinformation campaign that feeds media contacts with propaganda aimed at weakening support for Ukraine and boosting anti-American and anti-Nato sentiments, Reuters reports.
“The Kremlin’s ultimate goal appears to be to launder its propaganda and disinformation through local media in a way that feels organic to Latin American audiences,” the state department said in a statement.
On 20 October, the US released a declassified intelligence assessment, sent to more than 100 governments, that said Moscow is using spies, social media and Russian state-run media to erode public faith in the integrity of democratic elections.
Tuesday’s statement said Russia uses media contacts in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay to spread disinformation.
The “information manipulation campaign” has been coordinated by three Russian organizations, The Social Design Agency, the Institute for Internet Development, and Structura, said the statement.
It called them “influence-for-hire” firms that have co-opted local media and influencers in Latin America.
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Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that the EU commissioner for justice, Didier Reynders, “presented a vision for the establishment of the special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine” during their meeting earlier.
Kuleba said they discussed possible ways to use frozen Russian assets for reparations and the reconstruction of Ukraine.
During our meeting today, EU Commissioner for Justice @DReynders presented a vision for the establishment of the Special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) November 7, 2023
We agreed that it will be discussed with members of the Core Group during their meeting in November.
We… pic.twitter.com/zHrE6LFxtt
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Shelling by Ukrainian forces killed six people in the city of Donetsk on Tuesday, a Russian-installed official in the eastern region of Ukraine said.
Eleven people were injured, according to preliminary data, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the region, wrote on Telegram.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and his counterpart from Burkina Faso, Kassoum Coulibaly, have agreed to strengthen defence ties, Moscow said.
Burkina’s military rulers have deepened cooperation with Moscow as the country looks to diversify its international allies after a coup last year.
Russia, which has grown more isolated since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February, has in recent months discussed greater military cooperation with Burkina Faso.
Moscow has also pledged to deliver free grain to the African country, which is one of the world’s poorest, AFP reports.
“Russian-Burkinabé relations are based solely on the principles of mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests, and in recent years they have gained positive dynamics,” Shoigu said, according to the ministry.
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Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy has told Reuters he will make non-interventionist foreign policy a central plank of his pitch to voters in the coming weeks.
Reuters reports:
In an interview, Ramaswamy said he would formally introduce a pledge on Tuesday in Miami, on the eve of the third Republican primary date, laying out non-interventionist foreign policy principles.
If he does win the Republican nomination and later the 2024 general election against Democratic President Joe Biden, Ramaswamy said, he would require all political appointees to sign the pledge, and he would eventually ask other elected officials to sign on as well.
“This will be specifically … a litmus test for anybody who is an appointee in my administration and a clear signal to our own supporters,” said Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old tech entrepreneur who is polling a distant fourth in the Republican primary.
Ramaswamy’s introduction of the pledge comes after weeks of sparring with fellow Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley, a former US ambassador to the UN, over foreign policy.
Ramaswamy has said Haley, who ranks third in most Republican primary polls, risks dragging America into a bloody conflict thanks to her aggressive foreign policy stances.
Haley favours sending military aid to Ukraine and Israel, positions which Ramaswamy opposes.
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Poland has signed a deal worth more than £4bn with defence firm MBDA for a ground-based air defence system, the British government has said.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the partnership would help bolster European security amid the war in Ukraine.
The air defence system would be able to launch missiles at air threats such as cruise missiles and fighter jets at ranges of more than 40 kilometres, the MoD said.
Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said:
This is another crucial step forward for our historic defence ties with Poland, supplying next generation air defence capabilities to act as a clear deterrent to our adversaries.
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Ukrainian Premier League’s Dnipro-1 and FC Oleksandriya played the longest match in the league’s history on Monday night, with the game ending four hours and 36 minutes after kick-off after multiple air raid warnings.
The match on Monday evening, played at the Dnipro Arena in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, kicked off 15 minutes late because of an air raid siren.
The home side took the lead in the 34th minute but the players were marched off the pitch again early in the second half.
Oleksandriya scored soon after the restart – only for it to be chalked off by VAR after an hour’s delay caused by another siren.
With one minute left of normal time, the match was postponed for a further hour and a half following another air raid warning.
The 1-0 win in the game, which kicked off at 17:15 local time and ended close to 22:00, leaves Dnipro-1 in second place in the Ukrainian Premier League.
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Here are some of the latest images from the newswires:
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We have more on the news that the Netherlands has sent its first five F-16 fighter jets to a Romanian airbase, where the planes will be used to train Ukrainian and Romanian pilots (see earlier post at 11.41).
In a statement, the Dutch defence ministry said “the planes will only fly in Nato airspace”.
“The Romanian training centre will first use the planes for a refresher course for hired instructors. This will be followed pilot training,” it said.
The planes will be maintained by its US-based manufacturer Lockheed Martin, who will also provide the training, AFP reports.
Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday it was planning to launch a digital platform aimed at providing Russian speakers with access to independent news.
After invading Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has intensified a historic crackdown on dissenting voices and ramped up propaganda. All the main independent media outlets, including Dozhd TV, have been shut down or suspended their operations in Russia.
Reporters Without Borders said it had signed a contract with global satellite operator Eutelsat to launch a digital platform called Svoboda, which means freedom in Russian, AFP reports.
The platform, which is expected to be launched in the coming weeks, will feature “news programs to offer a comprehensive and objective view of global events”, said the Paris-based media watchdog, known by its French acronym RSF.
Christophe Deloire, the secretary general of RSF, called the project “an ambitious initiative that intends to reverse the logic of propaganda”.
“It will allow independent media outlets to broadcast toward human beings that do not enjoy their right to information,” Deloire added.
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As reported earlier, Nato allies have condemned a decision by Russia on Tuesday to withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, a key post-cold war agreement, and said they would suspend its operation in response.
The United States said it would suspend treaty obligations as from December.
Russia’s war against Ukraine and its withdrawal from the treaty “fundamentally altered” circumstances related to it and transformed participants’ obligations, the White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said.
Russia suspended participation in the treaty in 2007 and halted active participation in 2015.
Sullivan said that despite Moscow’s continued disregard for arms control, the US and its allies would remain committed to effective conventional arms control.
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Top US officials press Congress to pass Ukraine aid
The heads of the US treasury, defence and state departments called on Congress to fund $11.8bn in Ukraine aid as part of President Joe Biden’s supplemental spending request, according to a letter released on Tuesday.
“This funding benefits from an unprecedented level of robust oversight and transparency, and is bolstered by significant budget support from the European Union, other G7 partners, and the International Monetary Fund,” the secretaries, along with the USAid administrator, wrote to congressional leaders.
In October, the Biden administration submitted a $106bn request to Congress for military and humanitarian aid for Israel and Ukraine and humanitarian assistance for Gaza, insisting lawmakers had an obligation to support US allies standing up to tyranny and aggression worldwide.
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Summary of the day so far...
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has been quoted as saying that Ukraine had deployed more western air defence systems, as it braces for a second full winter of Russian attacks on energy facilities.
Ukraine is preparing for a renewed Russian assault on the eastern town of Avdiivka, after several recent unsuccessful attempts by Moscow’s forces to surround it, AFP reported. “The third wave will definitely happen. The enemy is regrouping after a second wave of unsuccessful attacks,” Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military administration, said.
The Netherlands sent its first five F-16 fighter jets to Romania on Tuesday for use in the training of Ukrainian pilots, Reuters reported.
Russia formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the US for undermining post-cold war security with the enlargement of the Nato military alliance. Nato allies said that, as a consequence, they intended to suspend the operation of the treaty as long as necessary.
G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, Japan said as the group’s foreign ministers prepared to hold virtual talks with Kyiv during a meeting in Tokyo.
Russia foiled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on Tuesday morning, shooting down drones over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula, Moscow’s defence ministry said.
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Ukraine bolstering defences as it braces for winter attacks on energy facilities
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that Ukraine had deployed more western air defence systems, as it braces for a second full winter of Russian attacks on energy facilities, AFP reports.
Kyiv has said it is bolstering defences to protect key infrastructure ahead of winter.
Systematic strikes by Moscow’s forces last year targeted Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving thousands without heating or electricity in freezing temperatures for long periods.
“I received reports on the receipt of ammunition, hardware and equipment over the past day,” Zelenskiy said on social media.
“Additional Nasams (national advanced surface-to-air missile systems) systems from partners have been put on combat duty. Timely reinforcement of our air defence before winter,” he added.
As Antony Blinken and his G7 counterparts began two days of talks in Japan, the US secretary of state said it was vital for the group to show unity over Gaza, as it has over Russia’s war in Ukraine, and prevent existing differences from deepening, the Associated Press reports.
“This is a very important moment as well for the G7 to come together in the face of this crisis and to speak, as we do, with one clear voice,” Blinken told Japan’s foreign minister, Yōko Kamikawa, shortly after talks with the prime minister, Fumio Kishida.
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Russia likely ready to launch new assault on Avdiivka, says head of town's military administration
Ukraine is bracing for a renewed Russian assault on the eastern town of Avdiivka, after several recent unsuccessful attempts by Moscow’s forces to surround it, AFP reports.
“The third wave will definitely happen. The enemy is regrouping after a second wave of unsuccessful attacks,” Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military administration, said on Tuesday.
Barabash said Russia was likely “ready” to launch its next full-scale assault on the city, but weather conditions were currently unfavourable.
Despite coming under daily artillery fire, about 1,500 of the city’s 30,000 pre-war residents remain, living mainly in basements converted into bomb shelters.
Russia’s military has focused on the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after abandoning the initial aim of capturing Kyiv in the early days of the February 2022 invasion.
Russian forces captured the devastated town of Bakhmut in May after months of battles and since mid-October have focused their assaults on Avdiivka, a potential gateway to Donetsk, held by Russian forces and their allies since 2014.
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Italy will struggle to meet a Nato target of spending at least 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence by 2028, Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, has said.
At a summit in 2014, Nato leaders agreed to move towards spending at least 2% of GDP on defence within a decade, but Italy’s previous administration, led by Mario Draghi, postponed the objective by four years.
“We are indeed far from 2%, very far,” Crosetto told the defence and foreign affairs committees of Italy’s two houses of parliament.
“An impossible target for 2024 but, if I am honest with you ... difficult for 2028 as well,” he said.
Italy is expected to spend 1.46% of GDP on defence this year, Nato estimates showed in July, while other European members of the alliance, including Poland, Britain, Greece and the Baltic countries, were above target.
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First Dutch F-16s sent to Romania for training Ukrainian pilots
The Netherlands sent its first five F-16 fighter jets to Romania on Tuesday for use in the training of Ukrainian pilots, Reuters reports.
The Netherlands will deliver between 12 and 18 F-16s for use in the new European F-16 training centre in Romania, which will be opened soon, its defence ministry said.
The Dutch have also promised to deliver F-16s to Ukraine to use in battle, alongside similar pledges from Denmark, Norway and Belgium.
Five Dutch F-16s are departing for Fetești airbase in Romania today. The #F16 training centre to train pilots from both NATO countries and Ukraine will open soon.
— Kajsa Ollongren (@DefensieMin) November 7, 2023
🇺🇦🇷🇴 pic.twitter.com/ltD2ZHayA0
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Nato allies condemn Russia's withdrawal from key cold war-era security treaty
Nato allies have condemned a decision by Russia to withdraw from a key cold war-era security treaty (see earlier post at 08.22), saying they now intend to suspend its operation for “as long as necessary”.
Most of Nato’s 31 allies have signed the treaty of conventional armed forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing cold war rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders.
It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later.
In a statement, Nato said:
Allies condemn Russia’s decision to withdraw from the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE), and its war of aggression against Ukraine which is contrary to the treaty’s objectives.
Russia’s withdrawal is the latest in a series of actions that systematically undermines Euro-Atlantic security.
Therefore, as a consequence, allied states parties intend to suspend the operation of the CFE Treaty for as long as necessary, in accordance with their rights under international law.
This is a decision fully supported by all Nato allies.
Russia’s foreign ministry announced earlier on Tuesday that Moscow had finalised its withdrawal.
Russia said the US push for enlargement of Nato had led to alliance countries “openly circumventing” the treaty’s group restrictions, and added that the admission of Finland into Nato and Sweden’s application meant the treaty was dead.
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A 42-year-old civilian was injured after a mine detonated in the village of Rubizhne in Kharkiv oblast, the regional administration reported on Tuesday.
The man stepped on a mine and suffered shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs i the explosion, the Kyiv Independent cited the Kharkiv oblast authorities as having said.
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‘Nothing can sway us’: inside Shakhtar’s quest for glory in wartime
The Ukrainian champions face Barcelona on Tuesday at a time when, as one staff member puts it, ‘nothing is OK really’
It is unseasonably warm but the leaves cloaking Sviatoshyn Olympic Centre are turning the same hue as Shakhtar Donetsk’s orange shirts. The sky is clear and the two training pitches pristine. A radiant, textured scene tucked away far from the city’s noise feels ideal for conditioning Champions League footballers, especially when they are sandwiched between two encounters with Barcelona. The only reminders that nothing here is ordinary come upon arriving and leaving. At the entrance to the facility, soldiers carry out checks on every vehicle.
The Shakhtar team bus is among those to have made it inside. “Beyond boundaries” reads the italicised white writing on its side. Nobody can put a number on the hours it has spent shuttling Shakhtar to Poland and back since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Less than a week earlier, it took them 450 miles from Rzeszów airport after their narrow defeat in Catalonia; in a couple of days it will bring them back there before the return match in Hamburg, where Shakhtar hosts continental fixtures this season. To earn the riches of a top club, Shakhtar must work harder than anybody.
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Ukraine said Tuesday it had not received any official demands from Polish transport companies, which have blocked three major border crossings to protest what they say is unfair competition from their war-torn neighbour.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU waived a system of permits for Ukrainian transport companies to enter the bloc. Carrier companies in Poland, an EU member which borders Ukraine, said the liberalisation of the rules triggered an influx of competitors, hitting their revenue.
“As of today, official demands from Polish carriers have not been handed over to any representative of the Ukrainian side,” Ukraine’s ministry for reconstruction said, according to AFP.
The ministry said it understood that Polish carriers wanted to return to a system of separate permits for Ukrainian trucks, but had only gathered this “from information available in the media and social media networks”.
“In the presence of an official and reasoned position from the Polish partners, we are open to a constructive dialogue,” it added.
Apart from calling for EU entry permits to be reinstated, Polish truckers have also criticised the lengthy procedures upon returning to Poland from Ukraine. Ukraine said the protest was damaging to both countries.
Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers in the war, providing it with weapons and welcoming refugees, but several disputes have strained the relationships in recent months, including a spat about Ukrainian grain exports.
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The European Union on Tuesday condemned the fatal shooting of a Georgian civilian by Russian troops near the breakaway South Ossetia region, controlled by Moscow since its 2008 invasion.
“The EU strongly condemns the killing of a Georgian citizen and the detention of another one by the Russian border guards in Kirbali. We call for an immediate release,” Josep Borrell, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission, posted on social media.
The EU strongly condemns the killing of a Georgian citizen and the detention of another one by the Russian border guards in Kirbali. We call for an immediate release.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 7, 2023
Russian military presence in the Georgian occupied breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is illegal.
Georgia said Monday that Russian troops had killed the civilian and abducted a second, in an incident confirmed by an EU monitoring mission on the ground, AFP reports.
Since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Georgia has stepped up its bid to become a member of the EU. The country is hoping the bloc’s executive will recommend making it an official candidate to join in a report to be released by Brussels on Wednesday.
People in Kirbali told the independent Pirveli TV station that the victim was a 58-year-old man who was shot at by Russian soldiers when he and several other villagers went to pray in a church to which Russian soldiers had denied Georgians access this year.
Asked about the incident, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Tuesday: “I do not have any information about that.”
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Life on the frontline in Kherson: dodging shells, facing death and refusing to leave
Amid ceaseless bombardment, Kherson residents shop at the market, clean their homes, and document the horrors of war
On the Saturday, the Russians hit a school and a grain store.
On the Sunday, the ceaseless bombardment of Kherson from across the river struck a medical facility. An artillery round landed near a middle-aged man. The doctors did their best but the shrapnel had pierced his brain.
On the Monday, a bus, a library and a graveyard. On the Tuesday, a warehouse and two cars. The occupants of the car hit by a kamikaze drone were concussed. The other car caught fire when a shell smashed into it. After firefighters put out the flames, they found what remained of the owner inside.
On the Wednesday, a round landed just after breakfast in the middle of town, between a block of flats and a florist. Three council employees were walking along, the working day ahead of them. Shards from the blast wounded two. The third died on the kerbside. A blue plastic sheet was laid over her body. All around, glass from blown-out windows crunched underfoot.
The governor of Kherson region has beseeched civilians in this southern area of Ukraine to leave. He has offered free travel and help with accommodation. As well as shells to dodge, there has been a flood, unleashed, apparently by the Russians, when the Kakhovka dam was destroyed in June.
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The Kremlin called on Tuesday for “humanitarian pauses” during Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip and described the humanitarian situation there as “catastrophic”.
Russia will continue contacts with Israel, Egypt and the Palestinians to help ensure that humanitarian supplies can be delivered to Gaza, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told a regular briefing, Reuters reports.
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G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, says Japan
G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, Japan said on Tuesday as the group’s foreign ministers prepared to hold virtual talks with Kyiv during a meeting in Tokyo.
The Group of Seven (G7) wealthy nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – as well as the European Union will meet in Tokyo today and tomorrow to discuss issues including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza crisis.
“Our commitment to continue strict sanctions against Russia and strong support for Ukraine has not wavered at all, even as the situation in the Middle East intensifies,” Japan’s foreign minister, Yōko Kamikawa, told a press conference, Reuters reports.
Kamikawa said the G7 was arranging a virtual meeting with Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, to be held during the Tokyo talks.
After the bloc’s foreign ministers met in September, a senior US official said G7 countries recognised that Russia was settling into its war in Ukraine for the longer term and this required enduring military and economic support for Kyiv.
The group has been at the forefront of sanctions on Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, making a surprise appearance at the G7 leaders’ summit in Hiroshima in May.
In the latest move aimed at turning the economic screws on Russia, the group is weighing up proposals to impose sanctions on Russian diamonds.
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A Russian ship was “almost certainly” damaged after being struck in Crimea, says the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
In a defence intelligence update, the MoD said a newly built Russian naval corvette was damaged on 4 November, which was earlier reported by Ukrainian and Russian sources.
“Ukraine’s capability to hit Crimean shipbuilding infrastructure will likely cause Russia to consider relocating farther from the frontline, delaying the delivery of new vessels,” the update said.
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Ukraine fired 17 drones towards Crimea, Russia says
Russia foiled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack Tuesday morning, shooting down drones over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula, Moscow’s defence ministry said.
“On the morning of November 7, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using 17 unmanned aerial vehicles against buildings on Russian territory was stopped,” the defence ministry said, according to AFP.
“Anti-aircraft defences destroyed nine Ukrainian drones and eight others were intercepted over the Black Sea and the territory of Crimea,” it added.
Moscow and Kyiv have been launching overnight drone attacks at each other for months, with both sides typically claiming to have disabled or shot down dozens every week.
Falling debris injured one man, leaving him in a serious condition, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, said. There was no other serious damage, Razvozhayev said.
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Russia’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a statement by an Israeli junior minister who appeared to voice openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza had raised many questions.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday suspended the heritage minister, Amihay Eliyahu, from a far-right party in the coalition government, from cabinet meetings “until further notice”.
Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu had replied: “That’s one way.”
His remark drew swift condemnation from around the Arab world, scandalised mainstream Israeli broadcasters and was deemed “objectionable” by a US official.
“The UN security council and the International Atomic Energy Agency must take immediate and uninterrupted action to disarm this barbaric and apartheid regime. Tomorrow is late,” the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
“This has raised a huge number of questions,” Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Zakharova said the main issue was that Israel appeared to have admitted that it had nuclear weapons. Israel does not publicly acknowledge it has nuclear weapons though the Federation of American Scientists estimates Israel has about 90 nuclear warheads.
“Question number one – it turns out that we are hearing official statements about the presence of nuclear weapons?” Zakharova said. “If so, she said, then where are the International Atomic Energy Agency and international nuclear inspectors?”
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Russia on Tuesday formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the US for undermining post-cold war security with the enlargement of the Nato military alliance.
The 1990 treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe (CFE), signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, placed verifiable limits on categories of conventional military equipment that Nato and the then-Warsaw Pact could deploy.
The treaty was designed to prevent either side of the cold war from amassing forces for a swift offensive against the other in Europe, but was unpopular in Moscow as it blunted the Soviet Union’s advantage in conventional weapons.
Russia suspended participation in the treaty in 2007 and halted active participation in 2015. More than a year after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin in May signed a decree denouncing the pact.
Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow had formally withdrawn from the pact at midnight – and that the treaty was now “history”, according to Reuters.
“The CFE Treaty was concluded at the end of the cold war, when the formation of a new architecture of global and European security based on cooperation seemed possible, and appropriate attempts were made,” the ministry said.
Russia said the US push for enlargement of Nato had led to alliance countries “openly circumventing” the treaty’s group restrictions, and added that the admission of Finland into Nato and Sweden’s application meant the treaty was dead.
“Even the formal preservation of the CFE treaty has become unacceptable from the point of view of Russia’s fundamental security interests,” the ministry said, noting that the US and its allies did not ratify the updated 1999 CFE.
After Russia announced its intention to exit the treaty this year, Nato condemned the decision, saying it undermined Euro-Atlantic security.
“Russia has for many years not complied with its CFE obligations,” Nato said in June. “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and Belarus’s complicity, is contrary to the objectives of the CFE Treaty.”
The US and its allies had linked ratification of the adapted 1999 CFE to Russia fulfilling commitments on Georgia and Moldova. Russia said that linkage was wrong.
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Here are the latest images coming across the wires:
Russian strikes overnight in the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa left eight people wounded and damaged a historic art museum, Ukrainian officials said, in the latest barrage of drones and missiles.
Three more were injured in a Russian shelling attack on the southern city of Kherson on Monday, as Kyiv doubled down on its warnings that Russia was planning to pummel Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the winter, AFP reports.
Images released by officials from inside the Odesa Fine Arts Museum showed art ripped from the walls of the 19th-century building and windows blown out by the aerial bombardment.
Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzheppar, said Kyiv was “deeply outraged” by the attack on Odesa’s National Art Museum and urged the UN’s Paris-based heritage agency, Unesco, to condemn the strike.
Unesco said it “strongly condemns the attack” and that “cultural sites must be protected”.
The art museum is part of a Unesco World Heritage site. The governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said most of the collection had already been removed during the war. “Canvases and paintings from the current exhibition were not damaged,” he said on social media on Monday.
A woman who lived in a nearby building said she and her family were away during the strike but their home had been damaged. “God led us away. We’ll see what happens in the flat next. Out of five windows, I have none left,” the woman, who gave her name only as Svitlana, told AFP.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he did not believe it was the right time for elections as debate intensifies on holding a vote in 2024 while the country fought against Russia’s invasion.
All elections including the presidential vote set to take place next spring are technically cancelled under martial law that has been in effect since the conflict began last year.
“We must decide that now is the time of defence, the time of battle, on which the fate of the state and people depends,” Zelenskiy said in his daily address, according to AFP.
He said it was a time for the country to be united, not divided, adding: “I believe that now is not the (right) time for elections.”
The president, who was elected in 2019, said in September that he was ready to hold national elections next year if necessary, and was in favour of allowing international observers. Voting could be logistically difficult due to the large number of Ukrainians abroad and soldiers fighting on the front.
Zelensky’s approval rating skyrocketed after the war began, but the country’s political landscape has been fractious despite the unifying force of the war.
The former presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych has announced that he will run against his former boss, after criticising Zelenskiy over the slow pace of the counteroffensive.
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Loud explosions have been heard near the towns of Novofedorivka and Saky in Crimea, according to Shot, a Russian news outlet whose story was in turn reported by Reuters.
Saky is north of the Crimean port of Sevastopol, and home to a Russian air base.
It came as the Russian-installed governor of the Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said air defence systems destroyed five Ukraine-launched drones early on Tuesday over Sevastopol.
Russian officials regularly say most or all Ukrainian missiles were shot down, regardless of the actual outcome of an attack.
Debris fell on the roof of a private house in the village of Andriivka, in Sevastopol’s suburbs, setting it briefly on fire, Razvozhayev wrote online.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which has been attacking Russian military infrastructure on the illegally Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula.
Adviser to Ukraine’s military chief died in explosion on his birthday
A close adviser to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army has been killed after a grenade amongst his birthday presents exploded, according to officials.
“Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed … on his birthday,” Gen Valery Zaluzhny posted on Telegram on Monday, saying that an “unknown explosive device detonated in one of his gifts”.
Chastiakov’s death was initially reported as a suspected assassination using a booby-trapped gift until further details emerged. Ukraine’s interior minister, Igor Klymenko, released a statement saying Chastiakov had been showing his son a box with grenades inside that he had received as a gift.
“At first, the son took the munition in his hands and began to turn the ring. Then the serviceman took the grenade away from the child and pulled the ring, causing a tragic explosion,” Klymenko said.
Police had identified a fellow soldier who gave the gift, said Klymenko, and seized two similar grenades. An investigation was underway.
Ukrainian police said the 13-year-old son was also seriously injured. Ukrainska Pravda reported Chastiakov’s wife as saying the grenade was in a gift bag her husband brought home. Some reports suggested the real grenade was amongst novelty gifts shaped to look like grenades.
The news of Maj Gennadiy Chastiakov’s death – in what is being reported as a bizarre birthday accident involving a grenade – comes after the Ukrainian military was rocked by the killing of at least 19 soldiers in a Russian attack during a medal ceremony.
There are tensions, too, between the military hierarchy and the government. Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied a suggestion from Ukraine’s military chief – Gen Valery Zaluzhny, to whom Chastiakov was an adviser – that the war with Russia has reached a stalemate.
Zaluzhny is said to have been rebuked over his assessment, which was published in the Economist.
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Summary
Hello and welcome to our daily restart of the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here is a summary to get you up to speed:
A close military adviser to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army has been killed after a grenade among birthday presents exploded. “Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and close friend, Major Gennadiy Chastiakov, was killed … on his birthday,” Gen Valery Zaluzhny wrote online. Chastiakov had left a wife and four children, he said.
The death was initially reported as a suspected assassination attempt, but details later emerged suggesting there was a mix-up and the grenade was amongst birthday presents and mistakenly set off. Chastiakov’s son, 13, was also reported to have been seriously injured.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said the deaths of at least 19 soldiers in a Russian missile strike on a military ceremony was a “tragedy that could’ve been avoided”. Other reports suggest the death toll could be much higher, while defence chiefs are under pressure over the staging of the event in a frontline village vulnerable to attack.
Zelenskiy has said it is irresponsible to talk of holding an election in Ukraine in wartime and called for unity to avoid pointless political discussions. “We need to recognise that this is a time for defence, a time for battle, upon which the fate of the state and its people depend … I believe that elections are not appropriate at this time.” Elections are banned under martial law in force in Ukraine, but Zelenskiy had been considering whether to invoke special provisions to stage them. He has said he would like to run for a second term if a vote took place.
In the US, some senate Republicans have released a sweeping set of US border security proposals as a condition for sending more aid to Ukraine, laying out a draft plan that includes resuming construction on parts of the Mexico border wall.
Vladimir Putin has decided to run in the March presidential election, a move that would keep him in power until least 2030, as he is said to feel he must steer Russia through its most perilous period in decades, sources told Reuters.
Radio Free Europe has said that it believes Russia may have taken one of its journalists “hostage” for a potential prisoner swap with the US and is appealing to Moscow not to treat her cruelly, the broadcaster’s acting president said.
Several dozen owners of transport companies blocked three Polish border crossings with Ukraine in protest at what they say is unfair competition from its businesses.
Ukraine’s grain exports have fallen by almost a third compared with last year, agriculture ministry data shows, to 9.8m tonnes so far in the July 2023-June 2024 season. The ministry said that by this point last year, Ukraine had exported 14.3m tonnes.
Odesa’s national art museum said seven exhibitions, most featuring the work of contemporary Ukrainian artists, were damaged by a Russian strike that left a large crater outside the museum, which is celebrating its 124th anniversary. Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzheppar, said Kyiv was “deeply outraged” by the attack and urged the UN’s Paris-based heritage agency, Unesco, to condemn it.
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