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Summary
It’s 9pm in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy met today with Kadri Simson, European Union commissioner for energy affairs, and told her that Russian forces have “seriously damaged” about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, in particular thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants. Because of the ongoing attacks, Ukraine has been forced to stop exporting electricity to Europe – a practice the country began after accession. “I am sure that we will restore everything, and in a calmer time, when the situation in our energy system will be stabilised, we will continue exporting electricity to Europe,” Zelenskiy said.
In an interview with Sky News, Boris Johnson said that he does not think Vladimir Putin will use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and that doing so “would immediately tender Russia’s resignation from the club of civilised nations”.
With Russia continuing to attack Ukraine’s critical infrastructure as the country heads into what is predicted to be a very cold and hard winter, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, is getting ready to open around 1,000 public points of heating for city residents.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, took a strong stance in describing Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, going so far as to call it “genocide”.
The Russian occupying government in the Kherson oblast has moved its administration further south to Skadovsk, said the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. This comes as Russian authorities forcibly relocate 70,000 civilians from the left bank of the Dnipro river, one week after relocating them there from the right bank. The general staff described these tactics as “intimidation of civilian residents”.
Russian forces launched four missile and 26 air strikes, and carried out 27 multiple launch rocket system attacks on more than 20 settlements today, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said.
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces today confirmed the destruction wrought by their attack on Russian ammunition depots in the Zaporizhzhia oblast on 29 October. Ukrainian forces destroyed five units of military equipment, killed 30 Russian personnel and wounded at least 100.
The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, gave evidence to the international relations and defence committee in the UK’s parliament, addressing why he thinks Russia’s plans for a swift invasion failed. He also spoke of future Nato deployments.
The Ukrainian government has accepted the resignation of Yuriy Vitrenko as chief executive of the state energy company Naftogaz. In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, Naftogaz said Vitrenko would remain in the role until 3 November, but gave no further details.
Updated
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces today confirmed the destruction wrought by their attack on Russian ammunition depots in the Zaporizhzhia oblast on 29 October.
Ukrainian forces destroyed five units of military equipment, killed 30 Russian personnel and wounded at least 100.
Russian forces launched four missile and 26 air strikes, and carried out 27 multiple launch rocket system attacks on more than 20 settlements today, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said.
“The threat of new strikes and the use of attack drones remains, in particular, from the territory of the republic of Belarus,” the general staff said.
Updated
Russia moves Kherson government further south
The Russian-occupying government in the Kherson oblast has moved its administration further south to Skadovsk, said the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces.
This comes as Russian authorities relocate 70,000 civilians from the left bank of the Dnipro river – one week after relocating them there from the right bank. The general staff described these tactics as “intimidation of civilian residents”.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, described Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure as “genocide”.
⚡️Kuleba: Russia's attacks on Ukraine's critical infrastructure part of genocide effort.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) November 1, 2022
"The deliberate influence on the living conditions of a certain group with the aim of its physical destruction, in part or in whole, is genocide," FM Kuleba cited the Genocide Convention.
Kyiv is preparing for a hard winter ahead, with Russia continuing to target Ukraine’s energy and water infrastructure. In case of emergency, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, is getting ready to open around 1,000 public points of heating for city residents.
In case of emergency, Kyiv is getting ready to open around 1000 public points of heating for the city residents, — @Klitschko, the Mayor of Ukraine’s capital.
— Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) November 1, 2022
🧵 pic.twitter.com/3LYVay2tKg
“Due to the russian missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities, we are considering various scenarios of the development of events. The worst is when there will be no electricity, water and heat supply at all. In this case, we are preparing >1000 heating points.”
— Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) November 1, 2022
“The city purchased electric generators, stocked up on water and everything necessary for these heating points to be used by people. You will be able to warm up, drink tea, recharge your phones, and get the necessary help.”
— Saint Javelin (@saintjavelin) November 1, 2022
Updated
In an interview with Sky News, Boris Johnson said that he does not think Vladimir Putin will use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
Doing so “would immediately tender Russia’s resignation from the club of civilised nations”, Johnson said. It would be a “total disaster” for Russia, which would be put into a “cryogenic economic freeze” and Putin would “lose a lot of the middle ground of global tacit acquiescence that he’s had”.
Emmanuel Macron, president of France, had a phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskiy this morning, where he confirmed France’s military support for Ukraine.
As I confirmed this morning to President Zelensky, we are fully mobilised to increase our military support for Ukraine, particularly with regard to its anti-air defences.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 1, 2022
Ukraine’s water supply and electricity infrastructure have suffered significant damage in the Russian attacks. Action is needed before winter. We shall swiftly mobilise both the international community and the private sector.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 1, 2022
Zelenskiy: Russia has seriously damaged about 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure
Volodymyr Zelenskiy met today with Kadri Simson, European Union commissioner for energy affairs, where they discussed how Ukraine was forced to stop exporting electricity to Europe – a practice the country began after accession – “due to the strikes of missiles and kamikaze drones by the Russian Federation”.
“I am sure that we will restore everything, and in a calmer time, when the situation in our energy system will be stabilized, we will continue exporting electricity to Europe,” Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy told Simson that Russian forces have “seriously damaged” about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, in particular thermal power plants, thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants.
More than 30% of the energy infrastructure in #Ukraine has been affected by 🇷🇺’s targeted attacks.
— Kadri Simson (@KadriSimson) November 1, 2022
To repair & replace this, 🇺🇦 needs specific equipment & tools.
I assured to President @ZelenskyyUa that we are reaching out to partners to help with the dedicated support needed. pic.twitter.com/AG4GuN9f0S
Updated
Mykolaiv oblast was hit hard last night after four Russian missiles struck the city, killing an elderly woman who had been sheltering from the bombings in her bathroom, said Vitaly Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv oblast.
The missiles partially destroyed the buildings of educational institutions and completely destroyed a two-storey building, the governor said. Private houses were damaged, and a fire broke out in a five-storey residential building.
The blast wave and debris knocked out the OSB plates at a nearby medical facility, which construction crews had put in front of the windows after a previous shelling, Kim said.
Updated
The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has been giving evidence to the international relations and defence committee in the UK’s parliament. He has addressed why he thinks Russia’s plans for a swift invasion failed, and future Nato deployments. He told lawmakers:
The Russians have demonstrated their failures by having lots of numbers. They could boast about how many BMPs and tanks they had, but they had no proper integrated air defence, no proper communications, no proper protective armour on their actual armoured vehicles that the javelins just took them apart. And for all of their mass, they couldn’t proceed.
On the way that the war in Ukraine has changed Nato planning, Wallace said:
For those you who remember, in the cold war, we each had our locations assigned, we all knew which part of the German border we deployed to. In fact, it went down to the detail that pilots even knew targets for a sort of D-Day.
[Of the news plans] I don’t expect us to have that much granularity, but it means that Nato is going to be very clear and indicating how its overall military plan is constructed, and what role [the UK has] in it.
General Cavoli is the new Supreme Allied Commander Europe. And he is busy writing and authoring those plans as we speak. But of course by then, we’ll probably have two new members, Sweden and Finland, which means an elongated Russian border that we haven’t been used to, which will change potentially how Britain sits in Nato insofar as the high north and its role there.
Updated
Reuters is reporting that the Ukrainian government has accepted the resignation of Yuriy Vitrenko as chief executive of the state energy company Naftogaz.
In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, Naftogaz said Vitrenko would remain in the role until 3 November, but gave no further details.
“By a decision dated 1 November, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the resignation of the chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko,” Naftogaz said in the statement, posted under a photograph of Vitrenko.
“Yuriy Vitrenko will continue to hold the position of head of the national company until 3 November inclusive,” it said, promising a more detailed communication on his last day in the role.
Approached by Reuters for comment, neither Vitrenko or the Ukrainian government were willing to provide further details.
Updated
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, following a telephone call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said France would help Ukraine get through the winter and would help repair water and energy infrastructure damaged by Russian strikes.
France will also help boost Ukraine’s anti-air defences, Macron said he and Zelenskiy had agreed to hold an international conference in Paris on 13 December to support Ukraine civilians in winter.
A bilateral conference on 12 December will also aim at raising support for Ukraine from French companies, Reuters reports Macron said in a statement.
Macron has also previously promised to hold a conference in France in November in support of Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova.
Updated
Today so far
Kyiv continues to recover from yesterday’s barrage of Russian missile strikes on hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure. Crews were able to restore water and lights to the 270,000 homes in Kyiv today, but Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on Telegram that it might be a while longer before crews will be able to restore full electricity – they must wait for the stabilisation of the energy system. “I ask Kyiv residents to save electricity, especially during peak morning and evening hours,” Klitschko said. “It is very important. Because the deficit in the energy system of Ukraine is significant.”
With Russia continuously targeting Ukraine’s energy and water infrastructure, Ukrainians are looking ahead toward what will likely be a cold and difficult winter and asking for donations of autonomous electricity and heat sources.
One week after Russian authorities relocated 70,000 civilians from the right bank of the Dnipro River to the left bank, Russian authorities are moving 70,000 civilians from the left bank to be “temporarily resettled deep into the Kherson region, as well as to other regions of the Russian Federation”, said Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson oblast. This is concerning, as it’s considered a war crime under the Geneva conventions for an occupying force to move civilians from an occupied territory, and there have been reports from other occupied territories of Ukrainians being relocated into Russian territories with no return in mind. However, Saldo said the reason behind the relocation was “possible damage to the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which could cause flooding of the left bank of the Dnieper downstream”.
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces believe that about 650 Russian soldiers were killed in the country in the last day.
One person was killed and two were injured last night in Bakhmut, while “the shelling of Torskyi and Zarichnyi in the Lymansk community does not stop”, said Donetsk oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. “It is dangerous to stay in Donetsk region,” he warned. “Evacuate in time.”
Ukraine’s ministry of defence has intel that Iran plans on sending a batch of more than 200 combat drones to the Russian federation in early November, even though Iuriy Ihnat, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force command, said there has been a marked decrease in Russia’s use of Iranian kamikaze drones in recent days.
Updated
A grandmother tells a story of how her 14-year-old grandson went to get humanitarian aid from the Russians in the Kherson oblast – the only way for locals to get food at the time. Instead of helping him, she said, they shot him dead.
A 14 year old boy went to get humanitarian aid from the Russians in Kherson region (there was no opportunity for a lot of locals to get food any other way).
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 1, 2022
Russians shot him. His grandma tells of their tragedy.
📹: TikTok/ivanantypenko pic.twitter.com/7WOWqF5LoG
Iuriy Ihnat, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force command, said there has been a marked decrease in Russia’s use of Iranian kamikaze drones in recent days - with only five deployed in Monday’s devastating attack on the country’s energy infrastructure.
Ihnat said Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down another six drones overnight. Three were destroyed in the east and another three in the Poltava region, he added. The Kremlin has purchased 2,500 drones and so far deployed around 400 of them, with 300 intercepted.
The reason for the decrease was unclear but could be down to the weather – they need clear conditions to fly – and the rate at which they can be assembled, he suggested.
Ihnat said Ukraine was bracing itself for attacks from Iranian ballistic missiles, which Moscow appears to have purchased from Tehran to make up for a dwindling supply of its own short-range Iskander rocket. He says it was “pretty much impossible” for Kyiv to shoot down Iranian weapons “with what we have currently”. It is expecting attacks to be launched from the north and Belarus, he added.
Updated
Ukraine MoD: Iran to send more combat drones to Russia this month
Iran plans to send a batch of more than 200 combat drones to the Russian Federation in early November, Ukraine’s ministry of defence said in a statement.
According to the ministry of defence’s intel, the drones will include Shahed-136, Mohajer-6 and Arash-2 combat drones and “will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan”. The drones will arrive in a disassembled state, and Russian forces will reassemble and repaint them with applied Russian markings, in particular “Geranium-2”.
The discovery of Iranian kamikaze drones last month stirred huge outcry over Iran’s involvement in the conflict. Since 13 September, Ukrainian defence forces have shot down more than 300 Iranian combat drones, the ministry of defence said.
Updated
Donetsk governor: one person killed in Bakhmut
One person was killed and two were injured last night in Bakhmut, a city under siege for its strategic location in Ukraine’s industrial heartland of Donbas, Donetsk oblast governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
Russian forces also launched two missile strikes on the city of Kramatorsk, with fourteen missiles total aimed at the industrial zone, Kyrylenko said. Information about victims and damaged infrastructure from Kramatorsk is still unavailable.
Shelling on the outskirts of the villages in the Ocheretyn community damaged power lines, while raids on the outskirts of the villages in Kurakhovo destroyed a private house.
Meanwhile, Russian forces destroyed four houses in Kurdyumiyka, damaged one more and killed cattle in Nelipiyka.
Kyrylenko made note that “the shelling of Torskyi and Zarichnyi in the Lymansk community does not stop”.
“It is dangerous to stay in Donetsk region,” he warned. “Evacuate in time.”
With Russia continually targeting Ukraine’s energy and water infrastructure, Ukrainians are looking ahead toward what will likely be a cold and difficult winter:
Best support for Ukraine today, besides weapons, are autonomous electricity & heat sources
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 1, 2022
If you have a generator you don't or rarely use - please consider gifting it to 🇺🇦. We have a difficult winter ahead but we will prevail
Please contact 🇺🇦 embassy in your country for this
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces believe that about 650 Russian soldiers were killed in the country in the last day.
Good day, more than 600 russian occupiers have been eliminated again. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Avdiivka and Bakhmut directions. pic.twitter.com/toAERyvhjK
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) November 1, 2022
Last week, the Russian-appointed governor of the Kherson oblast told Russian media that Russian authorities have relocated 70,000 civilians from the right bank of the Dnipro River to the left bank.
Today on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo announced that authorities would relocate “up to 70,000 residents of the left bank of the Kherson region”. He said the reason for the relocation was because of “possible damage to the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, which could cause flooding of the left bank of the Dnieper downstream”.
The estimated 70,000 will be “temporarily resettled deep into the Kherson region, as well as to other regions of the Russian Federation”.
Reminder: the act of an occupying force, relocating civilians from a territory that the force has occupied, is a violation of the Geneva conventions – whatever the purported reason behind it. There have also been reports of Russian forces relocating Ukrainian and Ukrainian children to Russian territories, with no discussion of eventual return. For this reason, media organisations such as the Kyiv Independent have been outspoken about not calling these relocations “evacuations”, as the Russian proxy government is calling them.
Updated
Crews were able to restore water and lights to the 270,000 homes in Kyiv today that had been without following a barrage of Russian missile strikes on hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine yesterday. But Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on Telegram that it might be a while longer before crews will be able to restore full electricity – they must wait for the stabilisation of the energy system.
“I ask Kyiv residents to save electricity, especially during peak morning and evening hours,” Klitschko said. “It is very important. Because the deficit in the energy system of Ukraine is significant.”
The day after a barrage of Russian missiles struck hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine, leaving large swaths of Kyiv were without power or water, Kadri Simson, the European Union energy commissioner, was in the capital “to help scale up support to the Ukraine energy sector”.
I am in Kyiv today to help scale up support to the #Ukraine energy sector.
— Kadri Simson (@KadriSimson) November 1, 2022
Ukrainian energy infrastructure is under targeted attack by Russia - a cruel & inhumane tactic to cause human suffering as the winter is approaching.
The 🇪🇺 stands by 🇺🇦 to help them until they prevail. pic.twitter.com/VQhAr7QWC2
I have witnessed the scale of destruction in #Ukraine 🇺🇦 first hand & am making all efforts to increase financial, technical & practical help.
— Kadri Simson (@KadriSimson) November 1, 2022
This has to come from the #EU 🇪🇺institutions, the Member States, our international partners & private donors. We have no time to waste!
Vladimir Putin will not be issuing an executive order ending Russia’s draft, his spokesperson said today.
"So that's that." After "consulting with the lawyers," Putin will *not* be issuing an executive order to end Russia's draft, says his spokesman. Obviously, this means that the military can just start drafting men again w/o the formal fuss. (And nobody has to be brought home.)
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) November 1, 2022
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
The state emergency service of Ukraine has confirmed that at least one person has been killed by a Russian strike on Mykolaiv overnight.
Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said on Monday evening they were extending an evacuation zone further from the Dnipro River. In a post on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of the region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces, said he was extending the area covered by an order for civilians to evacuate by an additional 15km (nine miles) to include another seven settlements.
A barrage of Russian missiles had struck hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine Monday morning. Russia said it hit military and energy infrastructure targets, but Ukraine said its military facilities were not targeted.
Large parts of Kyiv were left without power or water. The Ukrainian capital’s mayor said 40% of residents did not have water, with 270,000 apartments without power as of Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said: “Despite the damage to facilities, the region has already restored power supply by 90%. Planned stabilisation outages in the region are currently under way.”
A Russian court on Tuesday fined Wikipedia owner Wikimedia Foundation 2m rubles (£28,200/$32,600) over articles relating to the Ukraine war.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Tuesday Russia should be expelled from the Group of 20 major economies and President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to a G20 summit in Bali next month must be revoked.
Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, has urged Hungary and Turkey to swiftly approve the Swedish and Finnish applications for membership. They are the only two remaining Nato members not to have ratified the applications. “All eyes are now on Hungary and Turkey. We are waiting for these countries to ratify our applications. I think it would be important that this would happen preferably sooner than later,” Marin told a joint news conference with other Nordic leaders.
The Turkish defence minister, Hulusi Akar, has told Ukraine’s defence and infrastructure ministers that keeping the Black Sea grain export deal going is “of great importance” and that, as a humanitarian initiative, it should be kept separate from the conflict in Ukraine.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I shall be back later on. Vivian Ho will be here to guide you through the next few hours of our coverage.
Updated
The Kyiv regional governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, has given an update on the electricity situation in the region, saying that “despite the damage to facilities, the region has already restored power supply by 90%. Planned stabilisation outages in the region are currently under way.”
Updated
A Russian court on Tuesday fined Wikipedia owner Wikimedia Foundation 2m rubles (£28,200 / $32,600) over articles relating to the Ukraine war, the head of the foundation in Russia has told Reuters.
Stanislav Kozlovsky said the penalty was imposed for not deleting entries that Russia has demanded be removed. He said the foundation would appeal.
The two articles, in Russian, were titled “Non-violent resistance of Ukraine’s civilian population in the course of Russia’s invasion” and “Evaluations of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine”.
On 26 April, a Russian court fined Wikimedia Foundation a total of 5m roubles for similar offences.
Updated
Finland urges Hungary and Turkey to ratify its Nato membership 'sooner than later'
Nato’s general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, has tweeted to say that he has had constructive conversations today with the leaders of Finland and Sweden, who are bidding to join the military alliance.
Stoltenberg wrote:
Good calls with Finland’s PM Sanna Marin and Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson at this critical time. As Nato invitees, Finland and Sweden have proven that it is every country’s right to choose its own path. Russia must respect the rights of other countries and stop its war of aggression in Ukraine.
Good calls with PM @MarinSanna & @SwedishPM Ulf Kristersson at this critical time. As #NATO invitees #Finland & #Sweden have proven that it's every country's right to choose its own path. #Russia must respect the rights of other countries & stop its war of aggression in #Ukraine.
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) November 1, 2022
Earlier today, Reuters reported Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, had urged Hungary and Turkey to swiftly approve the Swedish and Finnish applications for membership. They are the only two remaining Nato members not to have ratified the applications.
“All eyes are now on Hungary and Turkey. We are waiting for these countries to ratify our applications. I think it would be important that this would happen preferably sooner than later,” Marin told a joint news conference with other Nordic leaders.
Finland and Sweden last week reiterated they intend to join Nato at the same time, presenting a united front to Turkey.
The Nordic neighbours asked to join the Nato alliance in May in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the bid ran into objections from Turkey, which has accused the two of harbouring groups it deems terrorists.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted to Telegram a video clip that purports to show scenes of destruction after an overnight Russian missile attack. He has accompanied it with the message:
What does the “Russian world” bring to Ukrainians – S-300 missiles into residential buildings, dormitories, universities. Pain, suffering and devastation.
Are these the kind of negotiations you propose? Terrorists. The only possible outcome of your cynical tactics will be defeat and just punishment for all crimes.
Updated
Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the president of Ukraine, has used the occasion of Israel’s fifth election in four years to have a sideswipe at the lack of democracy in Iran and the sham referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. He tweeted:
I congratulate the people of Israel on realising the right to freely choose their leaders. Unfortunately, residents of Iran, Russia, and citizens of Ukraine, who live in the territories of temporary Russian occupation, are deprived of this right, common to the civilised world.
Вітаю народ Ізраїлю з реалізацією права вільно обирати своїх лідерів. На жаль, жителі Ірану, Росії та громадяни України, які проживають на територіях тимчасової російської окупації, позбавлені цього звичного для цивілізованого світу права.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) November 1, 2022
Updated
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine, including from inside the occupied areas that the Russian Federation has claimed to annex.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday Russia should be expelled from the Group of 20 major economies and President Vladimir Putin’s invitation to a G20 summit in Bali next month must be revoked.
“Putin publicly acknowledged ordering missile strikes on Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure,” spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Twitter.
Reuters quotes the tweet, saying: “With his hands stained in blood, he must not be allowed to sit at the table with world leaders. Putin’s invitation to Bali summit must be revoked, and Russia expelled from G20.”
Updated
The city authority in Kyiv has posted to Telegram to say that the air siren all-clear has been given in Ukraine’s capital.
Updated
At least one killed in overnight Russian strike on Mykolaiv
The state emergency service of Ukraine has confirmed that at least one person has been killed by a Russian strike on Mykolaiv overnight.
In a message posted to Telegram, it said:
On 1 November, at 00:02, the enemy launched a rocket attack on Mykolaiv. As a result, two fires broke out in the Central district of the city and private residential buildings were destroyed.
[Firefighters] eliminated a fire in a warehouse with an area of 50 square metres.
Also, firefighters extinguished the fire on the first floor of a five-story residential building with an area of 50 square metres. Rescuers removed the body of a dead woman from under the rubble of one of the destroyed one-story residential buildings.
The Kyiv regional governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, has posted to Telegram to say that “about 20,000 subscribers” remain without electricity in the region, following yesterday’s Russian bombardment of critical infrastructure.
In the message, Kuleba says “I am grateful to the residents of the region for their understanding” about “planned stabilisation shutdowns”, and states that “our energy workers work round the clock” on repairs.
Updated
Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the governor of Sumy, has said that with the exception of one overflight at midnight, the night passed quietly in his region. However, he has posted to Telegram that an air alert is now in operation in the north-eastern Ukrainian oblast.
Updated
Every day, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) issues an operational briefing. Today, it claims that one person was killed and six people were injured on the Ukrainian territory that it occupies. It also claims that “three civilian infrastructure facilities” were damaged in shelling that affected eight areas it occupies. The claims have not been independently verified. The so-called DPR is one of the areas that the Russian Federation claims to have annexed. Russia, Syria and North Korea were the only UN member states to recognise the DPR as any sort of legitimate authority.
This is Martin Belam taking over the blog in London. I will be with you for the next few hours.
Updated
A quick snap here from the Russian embassy in Iran, which claims Russia’s ambassador to Iran, Alexei Dedov, met the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian.
The pair reportedly “expressed their mutual intention to further expand Russian-Iranian relations”, according to the embassy.
Russian Ambassador to Iran Alexei Dedov presented copies of credentials to Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian @Amirabdolahian
— Russian Embassy, IRI (@RusEmbIran) November 1, 2022
The parties expressed their mutual intention to further expand Russian-Iranian relations 🇷🇺🤝🇮🇷 pic.twitter.com/ghAVmPoRRj
Iran has significantly deepened its involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by agreeing to provide a batch of medium-range missiles, as well as large numbers of cheap but effective drones, US and Iranian security officials revealed last month.
Iran also providing technical support for Russian pilots flying Iranian-made drones to bomb civilian targets, the White House confirmed.
Updated
The Turkish defence minister, Hulusi Akar, has told Ukraine’s defence and infrastructure ministers that keeping the Black Sea grain export deal going is “of great importance” and that, as a humanitarian initiative, it should be kept separate from the conflict in Ukraine.
A statement released by his ministry on Tuesday said 10m tons of grain had already been shipped to those in need and “all problems can be resolved through cooperation and dialogue”. It added:
The Black Sea corridor is much faster and more convenient for grain transportation than the land route.
The enterprise of grain shipment, which is a purely human activity, should be separated from conflict conditions.”
1⃣ Millî Savunma Bakanı Hulusi Akar, Ukrayna Savunma Bakanı Oleksii Reznikov ve Ukrayna Altyapı Bakanı Oleksandr Kubrakov ile görüştü. Görüşmede tahıl sevkiyatına ilişkin son durum ele alındı. https://t.co/7gYqAPAmqZ#MSB #HulusiAkar pic.twitter.com/KMb53ezOkB
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) November 1, 2022
The statement follows Russia’s suspension of its participation in the deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July and aimed at keeping food commodities flowing to world markets
Akar also told his Russian counterpart on Monday that Moscow should re-evaluate its decision.
Updated
Russian-installed officials extend evacuation zone in Kherson
Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said on Monday evening they were extending an evacuation zone further from the Dnipro River.
In a post on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of the region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces, said he was extending the area covered by an order for civilians to evacuate by an additional 15km (nine miles) to include another seven settlements.
Updated
Saudi Aramco posts 39% jump in profits
Saudi Aramco on Tuesday posted a 39% jump in third-quarter profits year on year, the latest financial results boosted by higher oil prices resulting largely from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, AFP reports.
The announcement came as the OPEC+ cartel of oil producers was set to implement production cuts that have drawn the ire of the US, which says the move – approved at a meeting last month – amounts to “aligning with Russia” in the conflict.
The energy giant’s net income totalled $42.4bn – up from $30.4bn during the same period last year – and was “primarily driven by higher crude oil prices and volumes sold”, it said in a filing with the Saudi stock exchange.
Updated
Asia’s factory output weakened in October as global recession fears and China’s zero-Covid policy hurt demand, business surveys showed on Tuesday, adding to persistent supply disruptions and darkening recovery prospects.
Further US interest rate hikes are also expected to force most Asian central banks to prevent sharp capital outflows by tightening their own monetary policies, even if it means cooling already soft economies, analysts say.
The International Monetary Fund cut Asia’s economic forecasts as global monetary tightening, rising inflation blamed on the war in Ukraine, and China’s sharp slowdown dampened the region’s recovery prospects.
Grain was flowing out of Ukraine at a record pace on Monday under an initiative led by the United Nations aimed at easing global food shortages despite Russia warning it was risky to continue after it pulled out of the pact.
Russia said on Monday that the deal was hardly feasible as it was impossible to guarantee the safety of shipping after its withdrawal over the weekend following what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its fleet in Crimea.
Three days after a Russian S-300 missile slammed into the roof of her apartment block in the small hours of Sunday morning, Iryna Davydiuk was improbably hanging out the washing on what was left of the balcony of her apartment. It was a generously warm late October afternoon in the southern port city of Mykolaiv, but on the terrace below her lay a large concrete block and copious amounts of rubble.
Fortunately, Davydiuk, 48, had decided to shelter with relatives in the countryside over the weekend and so avoided the night-time impact. When she returned on Monday morning, she was stunned to find the widespread damage to her family home. “I couldn’t understand why, what for,” she said. “Why did they do this? We were just peacefully living our lives. Why did this happen?”
At 1.40am on 23 October, two S-300 missiles landed on Davydiuk’s estate a couple of minutes apart. One hit her block, and the other blew up a shop, blasting rubble all over a children’s playground. Olena Izotova, 46, said she was woken up by the first bomb, while the shock wave from the second “blew her into the other room”. Miraculously, nobody was killed, because the strike happened at night – and so many people have already moved away.
Since March, Mykolaiv has been relentlessly and indiscriminately targeted by the Russian invaders, after their advance was halted a few miles away. Missiles and bombs land most days – there have been only 25 days without shelling, officials say, and 148 civilians have been killed, including, earlier this month, an 11-year-old boy:
Strikes cut power to 270,000 homes in Kyiv
Ukraine suffered sweeping blackouts and water supplies were cut to large parts of Kyiv on Monday after another wave of Russian missile strikes on key infrastructure.
The Ukrainian army’s commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Telegram that Russia had launched 55 cruise missiles and dozens of other munitions at “civilian targets” across the country, days after Russia blamed Ukraine for drone attacks on its fleet in the Black Sea.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich early Tuesday called the bombardment “one of the most massive shellings of our territory by the army of the Russian Federation”.
But he noted on the same platform that thanks to improved air defences, “the destruction is not as critical as it could be”.
Though the army said many of the missiles had been shot down, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the strikes had still caused power cuts in “hundreds” of areas across seven Ukrainian regions.
Several blasts were heard in the capital Kyiv.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Monday that 40% of the city’s residents had been left without water, while 270,000 homes had no electricity.
In the west of Kyiv, an AFP journalist saw more than 100 people with empty plastic bottles and containers waiting to collect water from a park fountain.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter: “Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia fights civilians.”
Ukraine’s battered energy infrastructure would be repaired with equipment from 12 countries, Kuleba said in a separate statement.
The Russian army confirmed it had carried out cruise missile strikes and said they had all reached their intended targets.
In Moldova, the government said a Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defences fell on the village of Naslavcea in the north of the country, but without causing any injuries.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be taking you through the latest for the next while.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Monday that 40% of the city’s residents had been left without water, while 270,000 homes had no electricity after Ukraine suffered another wave of Russian missile strikes on key infrastructure.
In the west of Kyiv, an AFP journalist saw more than 100 people with empty plastic bottles and containers waiting to collect water from a park fountain.
More on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:
A barrage of Russian missiles has struck hydroelectric plants and other critical energy and water infrastructure across Ukraine. Russia said it hit military and energy infrastructure targets, but Ukraine said its military facilities were not targeted.
Large parts of Kyiv were left without power or water. The Ukrainian capital’s mayor said 40% of residents did not have water, with 270,000 apartments without power as of Monday evening.
Twelve grain export ships left Ukraine despite Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea grain deal, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure said. The UN also confirmed the first of 40 planned ship inspections was completed in Istanbul waters.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, said the strikes and the decision to pull out of the Black Sea grain deal were responses to a drone attack on Moscow’s fleet in Crimea that he blamed on Ukraine. Putin told a news conference on Monday that Ukrainian drones had used the same marine corridors that grain ships transited under the UN-brokered deal.
Moscow called ship movements through the Black Sea security corridor “unacceptable”. In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said it wanted “commitments” from Ukraine not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military purposes, adding “there can be no question of guaranteeing the security of any object” in the area until then.
The UN disputed Moscow’s claim that a civilian cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain may have been involved in a drone strike against Russia. The UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said no such ships were in the Black Sea’s designated “safe zone” corridor at the time Russia said the attack had taken place.
France is working towards allowing Ukrainian food exports to go through land routes rather than the Black Sea.
Russia dismissed reports that its agents hacked Liz Truss’s phone and gained access to sensitive information.
Norway put its military on a raised level of alert to enhance its response to the war in Ukraine, though the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said no direct threat of invasion was detected from Russia.
Afghan special forces soldiers are being recruited by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine, three former Afghan generals have told the Associated Press. They said the Russians wanted to attract thousands of the former elite Afghan commandos into a “foreign legion” with offers of $1,500 a month and promises of safe havens for themselves and their families.
Also on Monday, the Russian defence ministry said Moscow had completed the partial military mobilisation announced by Putin in September and no further call-up notices would be issued.
A 40% cut in deliveries of Russian natural gas is hitting Moldova’s ability to provide sufficient electricity for its 2.5 million people, the deputy prime minister of the small ex-Soviet state has said.
