Closing summary
Hungary will block the disbursement of the next tranche of military aid to Ukraine under the European Peace Facility until Kyiv provides “guarantees” that OTP bank or other Hungarian firms will not be blacklisted as “international sponsors of war”, the country’s foreign minister said.
Russian shelling on Monday damaged a hospital and homes in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, killing three people and injuring at least 12, local governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Germany’s aid for Ukraine will be “massively expanded” next year, the country’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has said. She said: “We will not only continue our support for Ukraine, we will continue to expand and increase it, especially on the part of the Federal Republic of Germany, not only with a view to the winter defence for the coming weeks and months, when it is clear that the Russian president will once again exploit the needs of the people in the cold winter. “Our support will also be massively expanded, especially for the coming year.”
At least three Russian officers were killed in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol in a blast Ukraine’s intelligence said was an “act of revenge” by local resistance groups.
Updated
Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, has said he had a “productive call” with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, in which they discussed Ukraine’s needs for winter, including air defence systems, artillery and more ammunition.
Held a productive call with my 🇦🇺 colleague @RichardMarlesMP.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) November 13, 2023
We discussed Ukraine’s critical needs for winter, mainly air defence systems, artillery and more ammo.
We paid attention to another crucial point – anti-UAV systems.
Grateful to Australia for the constant…
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The UK’s transport secretary, Mark Harper, who previously worked under the former Conservative prime minister David Cameron, was among those who praised his appointment as the new foreign secretary.
“Given the challenges facing us with the war in Ukraine (and) what’s going on in the Middle East, having a really experienced person coming in as foreign secretary, I think, is an excellent move,” Harper said.
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EU officials are finalising the “last details” of a proposed 12th package of sanctions on Russia that will include a diamond ban, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said.
Borrell said the European Commission, the EU executive, could approve the proposed package on Wednesday. It would then go to the Council of the EU, comprising the bloc’s 27 member countries, for discussion and approval.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has already applied 11 packages of sanctions against Moscow to diminish the Kremlin’s ability to finance the war.
The measures span across sectors and include about 1,800 individuals and entities.
According to Reuters, Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU foreign ministers:
This twelfth package will include … new export bans, among them … diamonds, actions to tighten the oil price cap, in order to decrease the revenue that Russia is getting from selling its oil – not to us but to others – (and) fighting against circumvention.
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The US is working hard to try to get a strong consensus leaders’ statement at this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) summit this week, the senior US official for APEC, Matt Murray, has told reporters.
Leaders from the 21-member APEC forum are due to gather in San Francisco from Wednesday until Friday.
The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have divided opinion among APEC members, making drafting a summit declaration difficult, Reuters reports.
“We’re certainly working toward having a strong consensus statement in APEC for the leaders to be able to release at the end of the week,” Murray said in a briefing call.
He acknowledged there had been “a lot of friction over the last couple of years over statements, primarily due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.”
Murray continued:
But last year Thailand hosted APEC and was able to announce a consensus leaders’ declaration, and we certainly want to try to do the same thing this year.
And we’re working very hard with all of our like-minded partners and economies, economic partners throughout APEC, to try to deliver that kind of result.
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Polish trucking representatives have said the latest talks with Ukrainian officials had failed to end a dispute over what they call unfair competition from the neighbouring country’s businesses, AFP reports.
The hauliers say the easing of EU access rules in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to an influx of Ukrainian competition, taking a serious toll on their earnings.
In response, Polish truckers began blockades last week of three major border crossings.
On Monday, some of the protesting truckers met with representatives of the Ukrainian and Polish governments.
“We have not reached an agreement. The Ukrainian side does not take our demands into account,” said Rafal Mekler, a leader of a protest in the border town of Dorohusk.
Polish transportation companies want to reinstate the use of EU entry permits for Ukrainian trucks, a system waived by the bloc following Russia’s invasion.
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Russia has jailed an ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny while she is being tried for alleged “extremism”, her associates have said, AFP reports.
Ksenia Fadeyeva, who led Navalny’s now-banned Anti-Corruption Foundation group in the Siberian city of Tomsk, faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
Fadeyeva had been under house arrest; she was added to Russia’s list of “terrorists” in January 2022 and went on trial in August.
Moscow has used laws on so-called “terrorist” and “extremist” bodies to hand out years-long jail sentences to critics, including Navalny and his top allies.
“Ksenia Fadeyeva was sent to jail,” Navalny’s team wrote on social media.
Navalny’s team said Fadeyeva had led investigations into corruption in the region, shone a light on societal problems and “engaged in legal political activities”.
“Ksenia should be free,” it said in a post on social media.
Updated
The number of people injured by Russian shelling in Kherson is at least 12, local governor Oleksandr Prokudin said (see earlier post at 14.23 for other details).
Two people were killed and 10 more injured in an afternoon combined attack in the central part of the city, Prokudin said, Reuters reports.
“Eight vehicles, including one ambulance, an administrative building, a hospital, and at least 15 houses were destroyed or damaged,” he added.
These claims could not be independently verified.
Updated
Posting to X, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has just congratulated David Cameron on being appointed the UK’s new foreign secretary, replacing James Cleverly, whom Kuleba said he appreciated for his “tireless efforts to mobilise worldwide support for Ukraine”.
Congratulations to @David_Cameron on his appointment as Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom. I am looking forward to working side by side to advance the Ukrainian-UK partnership, bring Ukraine’s victory closer, and restore peace and security on the European continent.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) November 13, 2023
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Save Ukraine, an organisation which focuses on rescuing Ukraine’s most vulnerable people, has said its rescuers have evacuated over 108,880 people from the frontlines since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
It said its rescue network provided humanitarian assistance to over 186,450 people, with its hotline operators fielding over 161,425 calls from Ukrainians in urgent need of assistance.
“Additionally, we have returned 204 children who were deported to Russia or remained in peril in the temporarily occupied territories,” Save Ukraine posted to X.
Save Ukraine's rescuers have successfully evacuated over 108,880 people from the frontlines since the onset of the full-scale invasion.
— Save Ukraine (@SaveukraineUs) November 13, 2023
Starting from February 24, 2022, our extensive rescue network has provided #humanitarianassistance to more than 186,450 people, with our… pic.twitter.com/2fhibTGQss
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Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has called for an increase in military aid to Ukraine, decisions to be made in December on the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU, and to speed up work on the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, the ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine has said.
It said Kuleba had taken part in the council of foreign ministers of the EU on Monday.
Kuleba said:
We must always remember who is the main actor in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Whose actions set the direction of European history. Whose success will ensure the victory of Ukraine and the whole of Europe. This is a Ukrainian infantryman.
All types of troops are important, but only when an infantryman takes another landing or enters a village, they are considered released, and this, in the end, changes the situation on the frontline, then media headlines, and later political decisions.
David Cameron began his tenure as the UK’s new foreign secretary by meeting India’s external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
The Indian minister, who had been scheduled to see James Cleverly, said it was a “pleasure” to meet Lord Cameron on his first day in office.
He said they discussed the war in Ukraine, among other topics.
A pleasure to meet UK Foreign Secretary @David_Cameron this afternoon on his first day in office. Congratulated him on his appointment.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) November 13, 2023
Held a detailed discussion on realizing the full potential of our strategic partnership.
Also exchanged views on the situation in West Asia,… pic.twitter.com/guxyCxLuRM
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The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, has congratulated the former UK prime minister David Cameron on his return to government as UK foreign secretary (see earlier post at 11.09).
Cameron stood down in 2016 after losing the Brexit referendum, but reportedly told friends in 2018 he wanted to return to frontline politics, preferably as foreign secretary.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Borrell said:
I look forward to working together to strengthen EU-UK cooperation on foreign & security policy. At a time of profound global change, we need to stand together defending shared values & rules-based order.
I congratulate new UK Foreign Secretary @David_Cameron on his appointment.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 13, 2023
I look forward to working together to strengthen EU-UK cooperation on foreign & security policy. At a time of profound global change, we need to stand together defending shared values & rules-based order.
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Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:
Updated
Hungary keeps block on disbursing military aid tranche to Ukraine, says minister
Hungary will block the disbursement of the next tranche of military aid to Ukraine under the European Peace Facility (EPF) until Kyiv provides “guarantees” that OTP bank or other Hungarian firms will not be blacklisted as “international sponsors of war”, the country’s foreign minister has said.
The EPF, created in 2021, is meant to finance actions that prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security.
The foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said Hungary had faced “pressure” at a meeting to support the payout of €500m, but he said Budapest could not give its backing without such guarantees, Reuters reports.
Updated
Three people killed in Russian shelling of Kherson, says governor
Three people were killed and six were injured during Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local governor Oleksandr Prokudin has said.
Russian troops abandoned Kherson and the western bank of the Dnipro River in the region late last year, but now reportedly regularly shell those areas from positions on the eastern bank.
Prokudin said on Telegram that two people were killed and four injured when the central part of the city had been shelled, Reuters reports.
In a separate message, the governor said that a hospital in the city was shelled by Russians, and earlier on Monday a car was shot at in a suburb of Kherson, killing one person and injuring a two-month-old baby and his mother.
These claims have not yet been independently verified.
Updated
The 100th ship has departed through the Black Sea humanitarian corridor since its opening in August 2023, the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, has said.
Today the 100th ship departed the Black Sea humanitarian corridor - an export lifeline for Ukraine that has delivered 3.7 million tons of food & goods to the world. pic.twitter.com/rL0Xv1rxQY
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) November 13, 2023
In August, Ukraine announced the corridor to release cargo ships trapped in its ports since the outbreak of war.
Updated
The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has said Ukraine is the bloc’s top priority and that there will be “no fatigue to our commitment” to supporting the country.
The EU’s 27 foreign ministers passed a united message of support for Ukraine on Monday after welcoming Ukraine’s minister for foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.
Today, the EU’s 27 foreign ministers passed a united message of support to Ukraine, as we welcomed FM @DmytroKuleba.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) November 13, 2023
Ukraine is EU’s top priority - there will be no fatigue to our commitment. I am working, following up to the #EUCO tasking, on our future security commitments. pic.twitter.com/bfHFitm5km
Updated
A two-month-old baby has been injured, with a 36-year-old woman suffering serious injuries, and a 64-year-old man killed after a car was struck by a shell on the outskirts of the city of Kherson.
The Ukraine interior minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram that Russian forces fired artillery at the car as its occupants returned from a medical appointment. He said the woman, thought to be the baby’s mother, was fighting for her life. The man is thought to be the baby’s grandfather. The baby is in “moderate” condition, he said.
A centre to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 jets has opened in Romania. Five Dutch F-16s have already been delivered, Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced last week, with another seven due to arrive.
“The centre will be an international hub for F-16 pilot training and will facilitate increased interoperability between allies,” Romania’s defence minister Angel Tîlvar said.
His message was endorsed by the Dutch defence minister Kajsa Ollongren, who urged European countries to “work together” on international security.
Zelenskiy said on X, formerly Twitter, last week that he was grateful to the Netherlands for “leading the way” in supporting Ukraine and hoped the F-16s would be in Ukrainian skies “as soon as possible”. However, it is not expected Ukrainian pilots will be ready to fly the fighter jets until summer 2024.
Updated
Poland’s parliament meets for the first time on Monday since an election in which an alliance of pro-EU parties won a majority.
President Andrzej Duda has asked prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki to form a new government, but he has almost no chance of doing so as his nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) lost its majority in last month’s election and all other parties ruled out working with them.
“The nation has done its job, and now its representatives must repair the Republic of Poland … repair democracy,” Donald Tusk, who could be the next prime minister, told lawmakers from his Civic Coalition (KO) grouping, Reuters reports.
The PiS government was one of the earliest and most vocal supporters of Ukraine, with fear of Russia and support for Kyiv one of the few issues that united most of Poland’s polarised society.
However, in recent months, PiS toughened its rhetoric, partly to avoid haemorrhaging support to the far-right Confederation, which was openly anti-Ukrainian.
This saw President Duda compare Ukraine to a “drowning person” in September, and the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, announced a halt to arms deliveries to Kyiv amid a spat over grain exports.
Civic Coalition has pledged to maintain support for Ukraine.
Updated
The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has described reports from September that up to 15% of Russian troops in Ukraine were using drugs as “credible”.
In its latest intelligence update, the MoD says:
In September 2023, independent Russian media outlet Vertska reported that up to 15% of Russian soldiers in Ukraine were using drugs, including amphetamines and cannabis, and that they were easy to obtain even on the frontline.
These reports are credible and follow numerous reports since the invasion of a high rate of disciplinary incidents, crimes and deaths related to alcohol abuse amongst the Russian force.
Russian commanders likely frequently punish drug and alcohol abusers by posting them to Storm-Z assault detachments, which have effectively become penal units.
One of the core drivers of poor Russian discipline and substance abuse likely remains the continued lack of opportunity for combat troops to rotate away from the frontline.
Updated
The Associated Press reports on how the training of Ukrainians by European countries is going:
France is on course to have trained 7,000 Ukrainians this year – some in Poland, others at French bases – as part of a European Union military assistance mission for Ukraine that launched a year ago this week.
The French army granted The Associated Press access to a training base in rural France last week to observe the latest class of Ukrainian infantrymen being put through its paces at the tail end of a four-week course.
The EU mission’s initial goal was to train 15,000 soldiers, but it has far exceeded that target and now expects to hit 35,000 by the end of this year.
All but three of the EU’s 27 member countries, plus non-member Norway, have provided training courses or instructors, the EU Commission says.
The United States has trained about 18,000, mostly in Germany, with an additional 1,000 in the pipeline, the Pentagon says.
In Britain, 30,000 have learned soldiering in the past 17 months, a training program the UK government says is unprecedented since the second world war.
Updated
The EU has already provided €27bn in military assistance to Ukraine and will continue to support the country as the war continues, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, has said, Ukrinform reported.
He also called on the international community not to forget about the war in Ukraine against the background of the Israel-Hamas war.
Updated
BAE Systems has issued a bright earnings outlook on its “increasing exposure to structurally growing defence markets” and “a time of heightening geopolitical risk,” AFP reports.
The group has ploughed more cash this year in “new investment in munitions manufacturing capacity”, it added.
In August, BAE announced a record order book and half-year surge in net profits of 57%, as defence spending among western governments jumped after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Asked on Monday about a report in Russia’s Kommersant newspaper that preparations were under way to nominate Vladimir Putin to run again in March’s presidential election, the Kremlin said no decisions had been made yet.
Updated
David Cameron has returned to government as UK foreign secretary, replacing James Cleverly, who has become the new home secretary.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, the former Conservative prime minster said:
We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more important for this country to stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard.
The Prime Minister has asked me to serve as his Foreign Secretary and I have gladly accepted.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) November 13, 2023
We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more…
Updated
The Kremlin said on Monday that a Washington Post report that a Ukrainian military officer coordinated the attack on Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines was especially alarming given the newspaper also said Ukraine’s president had not known about it.
No one has taken responsibility for the September 2022 blasts, which occurred off the Danish island of Bornholm and ruptured three out of four lines of the system that delivers Russian gas to Europe.
The Washington Post reported that Roman Chervinsky, a senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to Ukraine’s intelligence services, was the coordinator of the attack and cited unidentified people familiar with the operation as saying President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was kept out of the loop.
Chervinsky took orders from senior Ukrainian officials who ultimately reported to the commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, the Post said.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military told Reuters on Sunday he had “no information” about the report.
“Traces of Ukraine in this sabotage, this terrorist act, are increasingly appearing in reports, investigations and media reports,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“It says that President Zelenskiy may not have been aware of such actions by his subordinates from the security agencies. This is a very alarming signal not only for us, but also for the countries of the collective west,” Peskov said.
“If the Kyiv regime is no longer in control of the situation in its own country, then this is alarming and should also be taken into account.”
A sharp pressure drop on the pipelines under the Baltic Sea was registered on 26 September and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about who sabotaged the multibillion-dollar project that carried Russian gas to Germany.
Some US and European officials initially suggested, without evidence, that Russia had blown up its own pipelines, an assertion dismissed as idiotic by President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has repeatedly said, without providing evidence, that the west was behind the Nord Stream blasts – particularly the United States and Britain, which both deny involvement.
The New York Times and the Washington Post have reported that Ukraine – which has repeatedly denied involvement – was behind the attack.
Updated
Russia’s parliament may announce on 13 December that next year’s presidential election has been preliminarily scheduled for 17 March, the state news agency RIA reported on Monday, citing a source in parliament.
President Vladimir Putin has already decided to run in the election, Reuters reported last week, citing six sources, a move that will keep him in power until at least 2030 as he seeks to steer Russia through its most uncertain period in decades.
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Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Ukraine and elsewhere:
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A European Union plan to spend up to €20bn ($21.4bn/£17.5bn) on military aid for Ukraine is meeting resistance from EU countries and may not survive in its current form, diplomats say.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, proposed in July that the bloc create a fund with up to €5bn a year over four years as part of broader western security commitments to bolster Ukraine as it fights Russia’s invasion.
But as EU defence ministers prepare to discuss the plan in Brussels on Tuesday, diplomats say several countries – including EU heavyweight Germany – have voiced reservations about committing such large sums years in advance.
The EU and its members have been among the biggest donors of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, providing arms and equipment worth some €25bn, according to the bloc’s diplomatic service.
Borrell’s proposal was an effort to put support on a longer-term footing, by creating a cash pot for Ukraine aid inside a bigger fund, the European Peace Facility, used to reimburse EU members for military assistance to other countries.
“I’m not going to declare it dead at this point yet. But of course, improvements can always be made,” a senior EU diplomat said on Friday, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
“Germany has had a lot of questions … and rightfully so. We’re talking about a lot of money.”
The debate over military aid comes as EU nations are also in discussions over a proposal to give Ukraine €50bn in economic assistance.
The EU is also facing challenges over other aspects of its military aid to Ukraine. Many officials and diplomats say the bloc will struggle to meet a target of supplying Kyiv with 1m artillery shells and missiles by March next year.
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Since the start of 2023, a prolonged and bloody battle has been waged for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. In May Russian forces occupied the city, and during the height of fighting, Ukraine was suffering an estimated 100-200 casualties a day.
The Guardian’s Luke Harding was granted access to one of several Ukrainian medical stabilisation points close to the frontline near Bakhmut. Inside these medical points, frequently targeted with Russian drones and missile strikes, teams of doctors work in makeshift conditions to stabilise patients before they can be evacuated via ambulance to fully equipped hospitals
Russia’s defence ministry on Monday said the publication of what it called a “false report” about a regrouping of Russian troops in Ukraine was a provocation, the RBC news outlet reported.
Two Russian state news agencies had earlier published alerts saying Moscow was moving troops to “more favourable positions” east of the Dnipro River in Ukraine, only to withdraw the information minutes later, Reuters reports.
“The transmission of a false report about the ‘regrouping’ of troops in the Dnipro area, allegedly on behalf of the Russian defence ministry’s press centre, is a provocation,” RBC quoted the ministry as saying.
Germany's support for Ukraine is to be 'massively expanded' next year, says foreign minister
Ukraine will be top of the agenda alongside the Israel-Gaza war at the summit of EU ministers in Brussels today.
One of the issues is whether the EU can deliver its promise to supply quantities of ammunition.
Arriving at the summit Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said:
As strong as the current crisis is in the Middle East, it is also important to face up to the geopolitical challenges here on the ground … Putin is rejoicing in view of the dramatic situation worldwide.
“We will not only continue our support for Ukraine, we will continue to expand and increase it, especially on the part of the Federal Republic of Germany, not only with a view to the winter defence for the coming weeks and months, when it is clear that the Russian president will once again exploit the needs of the people in the cold winter.
“Our support will also be massively expanded, especially for the coming year.”
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Here are the latest images coming across the wires from Ukraine and elsewhere:
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Two Russian state news agencies published alerts on Monday saying Moscow was moving troops to “more favourable positions” east of the Dnipro River in Ukraine, only to withdraw the information minutes later.
The highly unusual incident suggested disarray in Russia’s military establishment and state media over how to report the battlefield situation in southern Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Russia’s military said on Friday that its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to forge a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Dnipro and on nearby islands.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War said last week that Ukraine appeared to have conducted assaults across the Dnipro in the Kherson region in mid-October, and noted that Russian military bloggers were reporting continued Ukrainian ground operations on the east bank.
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Large elements of the Wagner mercenary group have probably been assimilated into Russia’s Rosgvardiya national guard and resumed active treatment as of late October, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said on Sunday.
The latest intelligence briefing said Pavel Prigozhin, the son of the Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash in August, is likely to be leading the Wagner arm under Rosgvardiya.
“The Russian state is now exercising more direct control of Wagner group activities and former personnel following the mutiny in July 2023 and subsequent death of Wagner’s leadership in August 2023,” according to the MoD.
The briefing said other groups of Wagner fighters have “highly likely” joined another Russian PMC, Redut, and Wagner group medics had joined Chechen Akhmat special forces, according to the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
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‘We save 98% of our patients’: inside a frontline Ukrainian field hospital
Medics work in makeshift conditions, even while targeted by Russian bombs, to stabilise patients before they can be taken to hospitals
In a field hospital on the eastern front all was calm. And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. A casualty arrived. It was a badly wounded Ukrainian soldier. An enemy mortar had landed nearby, leaving him with shrapnel wounds. Within seconds a team of medics got to work. Their operating theatre was in a former apartment, now functioning as a clinic. Children’s drawings with patriotic messages – Glory to Ukraine! – hung on the wall.
The unconscious patient was transferred on to an operating table. He looked more dead than alive. Doctors gave emergency transfusions of blood and plasma. A paramedic cut away his uniform. Another bandaged his left leg. A third gave him a shot of fentanyl, a powerful painkiller. A heart monitor beeped. Outside were regular whumps from outgoing Ukrainian artillery. The frontline with the Russians was 5km away.
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At least three Russian officers killed in Melitopol by blast
At least three Russian officers were killed in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol in a blast Ukraine’s intelligence said on Sunday was an “act of revenge” by local resistance groups.
The blast occurred during a meeting on Saturday of Russian officers in Melitopol, a town in south-eastern Ukraine that has become a hub of Russian forces after they captured it in early days of the war.
“This act of revenge, carried out by representatives of the local resistance movement, took place in the (post) offices seized by the Russians,” the Ukrainian defence ministry’s intelligence department said online.
“The enemy does not learn anything and continues to organise its headquarters there,” Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, told Ukrainian public television.
Reuters could not independently verify the Ukrainian intelligence claim. Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately responded to Reuters’ request to comment.
The Ukraine intelligence statement said the Saturday meeting was attended by Russian National Guard and FSB intelligence service officers.
“As a result of the explosion at least three national guard officers were killed at the headquarters,” the statement said. “Information of other enemy losses is being clarified.”
Both Russia and Ukraine have often underestimated their military casualties in the 20-month-long war, while exaggerated the losses they claim to have inflicted upon each other.
Ukraine has carried out a number of attacks on Melitopol, a town in the Zaporizhzhia region which had a pre-war population of about 150,000 and has become key to Moscow’s defence of the lands it controls in Ukraine’s south.
Ukrainian media said an attack last week on the occupied town of Skadovsk in Kherson region also targeted Russian officers.
Updated
Summary
Welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine. Here are the top lines:
Three Russian FSB intelligence officers were killed in an explosion carried out as an “act of revenge’” by the local resistance in Russian-occupied Melitopol, Ukraine’s defence intelligence said. The three men were meeting at a post office used as a military headquarters, Ukrainian intelligence said.
Reports said Russians fighting on the side of Ukraine killed a colonel of Moscow’s FSB security service in an ambush in Russia’s Bryansk oblast. The Kyiv Post and Ukrainska Pravda cited Ukrainian intelligence sources, Russian Telegram channels and the pro-Ukraine Russian Volunteer Corps or RDK, which circulated a video that it said showed the surprise attack.
Russia has accused Kyiv of other attacks on border regions. On Sunday, Russia said there had been a series of attacks in Bryansk and Belgorod, damaging five train carriages and causing one injury. Russian investigators said a freight train derailment in Russia’s Ryazan oblast was caused by a homemade bomb on the line. Russian officials have previously blamed pro-Ukrainian saboteurs for several attacks on the country’s railway system.
The head of Ukraine’s ground forces said Russian troops had begun a push to regain territory near Bakhmut. A military spokesperson said Russian attacks on the shattered eastern town of Avdiivka had eased in the past day, but were likely to intensify again.
Ukraine presidential aide Andriy Yermak said on Sunday that he had arrived in the US with a delegation headed by the economy minister for talks on cooperation and support. “I will have meetings in the White House, Congress, thinktanks and with representatives of civil society organisations,” Yermak said.
Germany’s defence minister on Sunday announced Berlin would double its 2024 military aid for Ukraine to €8bn (US$8.5bn). “This is a strong signal to Ukraine, showing we are not giving up on it” when international attention is focused on the Israel-Hamas war, Boris Pistorius told television channel ARD.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Ukrainians to prepare for new waves of Russian attacks on infrastructure as winter approaches, saying that troops were anticipating an onslaught in the eastern theatre of the war.
The United States will treat Russia as a full participant in this week’s Asia-Pacific summit in San Francisco, despite US efforts to isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior official said Sunday. With a visit by President Vladimir Putin politically unthinkable, deputy prime minister Alexei Overchuk will represent Russia at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. “He’s being treated as the head of delegation, and he’ll have the opportunity to participate fully in the week’s events,” Matt Murray, the state department official in charge of Apec, told AFP.
In Kyiv, veterans and family of Ukrainian servicemen held a rally calling for legislation regulating the length of active military duty in Ukraine.
Large elements of the Wagner mercenary group have likely been assimilated into the command structure of Russian national guard (Rosgvardiya), the UK defence ministry said in an intelligence briefing. The Wagner arm in the Rosgvardiya is likely being led by Pavel Prigozhin, son of the late Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash shortly after Wagner fighters captured the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and marched on Moscow – acts that Vladimir Putin declared “treason”.
Three people were killed in Russian attacks on the Donetsk oblast, acting regional governor Ihor Moroz said on Telegram. Two people were killed in Toretsk, where 30 houses, an infrastructure facility and an administrative building were damaged in Russian attacks. One person was killed in Minkivka.
A 64-year-old man was killed and his wife hospitalised after the Russian shelling of Dnipro district of the city of Kherson, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
