The day so far
Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces had captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, their latest gain in what defence minister Andrei Belousov described as an accelerated advance. Ukraine’s military made no mention of the village, north of the key town of Kurakhove, Reuters reported. But in a late night report, the general staff noted it was among eight villages where Russian forces were engaged in fighting and trying to advance. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.
Vladimir Putin has vowed to launch more strikes using an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile as Ukraine decried the testing of the nuclear-capable weapon on its territory as an “international crime”. Speaking at a defence conference on Friday, Putin contested US claims that Russia possessed only a “handful” of the high-speed ballistic missiles, saying that the military had enough to continue to test them in “combat conditions” and would put them into serial production. “The tests [of the missile system] have passed successfully, and I congratulate you all on that,” Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source told Reuters. The source, who is on Ukraine’s general staff, said Russia had deployed about 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared two-and-a-half years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres (531 square miles), now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.
US president-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans. Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post. While there is currently no special envoy dedicated solely to resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump is considering creating the role, according to the four sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Russia has included the territories it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, drawing protests from Ukrainian officials and activists at the Cop29 climate summit this week. The move by Moscow comes as Russian president Vladimir Putin eyes potential peace deal negotiations with incoming US president Donald Trump that could decide the fate of vast swathes of territory, Reuters reported. “We see that Russia is using international platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their occupation of our territory,” Ukraine’s deputy environment minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters.
The US expects thousands of North Korean troops massing in Russia will “soon” enter combat against Ukraine, the secretary of defence said on Saturday. About 10,000 North Korean soldiers were believed to be based in the Russian border region of Kursk, Lloyd Austin said, where they were being “integrated into the Russian formations”. “Based upon what they’ve been trained on, the way they’ve been integrated into the Russian formations, I fully expect to see them engaged in combat soon,” the Pentagon chief said. He had “not seen significant reporting” of North Korean troops being “actively engaged in combat” to date, he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged world leaders to “respond firmly and decisively” after the Russian missile strike on Thursday. The Ukrainian president said his country was working on developing new types of air defence to counter “new risks” following Russia’s deployment of a new ballistic missile.
Ukraine’s parliament cancelled Friday’s session, legislators said, citing the risk of a Russian missile attack on the district of Kyiv where government buildings are located. “The hour of questions to the government has been cancelled,” said Yevgenia Kravchuk, an MP from the ruling party. “There are signals of an increased risk of attacks on the government district in the coming days.”
Russia sent air defence missiles and other military technology to North Korea in return for the deployment of troops from the North to support its war in Ukraine, intelligence officials in South Korea said. Experts believe North Korea’s dispatch of troops to fight against Ukraine and weapons from its vast stockpiles have been repaid with Russian oil and advanced military technology, Justin McCurry and Emma Graham-Harrison report.
Russia said Ukraine had returned 46 Russian citizens who were taken there after Ukrainian forces seized a chunk of Russia’s Kursk region in August. “The painstaking and lengthy negotiations for the return of our fellow countrymen to their homeland have brought results,” Kursk’s regional governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Telegram on Friday. “They are receiving all necessary assistance.” There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defences destroyed 64 out of 114 drones launched by Russia during its latest mass airstrike, Kyiv’s military said on Friday. It added that another 41 drones had been “locationally lost”, most likely as a result of Ukrainian signal jamming.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of executing five Ukrainian prisoners of war during a single incident in eastern Ukraine last month. The prosecutor general’s office claimed Russian troops shot and killed the five unarmed Ukrainian soldiers after capturing them during an assault on their position on 2 October on the outskirts of Vuhledar town in the country’s east.
Ukraine 'has lost over 40% of Russia's Kursk region to counter-attacks', senior Kyiv military source says
Ukraine has lost over 40% of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it rapidly seized in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces have mounted waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source told Reuters.
The source, who is on Ukraine’s general staff, said Russia had deployed about 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared two-and-a-half years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres (531 square miles), now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.
“Now we control approximately 800 square kilometres (309 square miles). We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”
The Kursk offensive was the first ground invasion of Russia by a foreign power since the second world war and caught Moscow unprepared, Reuters reported.
With the thrust into Kursk, Kyiv aimed to stem Russian attacks in eastern and northeastern Ukraine, force Russia to pull back forces gradually advancing in the east and give Kyiv extra leverage in any future peace negotiations.
Updated
In Kyiv, as autumn turns fast turns to winter, Ukrainians in the government describe a vacuum before the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House on 20 January that will be filled by more war as both sides jockey for advantage. “Trump has said he wants to end the war within 24 hours. Nobody is more interested in this topic than Ukraine,” a senior official told the Guardian.
“But the problem is, for the moment, everything is just speculation. Will it be the first peace plan, the second plan, the first variant, the 10th variant?” they said. Ukraine is in “a difficult but not catastrophic position” and has little choice but to fight on and perhaps show Trump that backing Kyiv is not a losing bet.
What helped this week was an 11th hour change of heart by the current US president, Joe Biden, whose White House briefed on Sunday that the US would allow its Atacms missiles, with a range of 190 miles (306km), to be used on targets inside Russia. Ukraine had been asking for permission for years, arguing that it has been unable to hit barracks, airfields and logistics sites in the Russian rear.
Putin says Russia will use experimental missile again after Ukraine strike
Vladimir Putin has vowed to launch more strikes using an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile as Ukraine decried the testing of the nuclear-capable weapon on its territory as an “international crime”.
Speaking at a defence conference on Friday, Putin contested US claims that Russia possessed only a “handful” of the high-speed ballistic missiles, saying that the military had enough to continue to test them in “combat conditions” and would put them into serial production.
“The tests [of the missile system] have passed successfully, and I congratulate you all on that,” Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency. “As has been said already, we’ll be continuing these tests, including in combat conditions, depending on the situation and nature of threats being posed to Russia’s security, especially considering that we have enough of such items, such systems ready for use in stock.”
At the same conference, the Russian strategic missile forces commander Sergei Karakayev said that the missiles could strike targets throughout Europe.
“Depending on the objectives and the range of this weapon, it can strike targets on the entire territory of Europe, which sets it apart from other types of long-range precision-guided weapons,” Karakayev said.
Russia launched the experimental missile, which US officials described as a modified design based on Russia’s longer-range RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile, against a rocket factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Both Vladimir Putin and US officials have said the missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
US president-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans.
Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post.
While there is currently no special envoy dedicated solely to resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump is considering creating the role, according to the four sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
Trump could ultimately decide not to create a special envoy for the conflict in Ukraine, although he is strongly considering doing so, the sources said. If he does, he could ultimately select someone else for the role, and there is no guarantee Grenell would accept.
Trump vowed on the campaign trail to swiftly end the conflict, although he has not said how he will do it.
Russia has included the territories it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the United Nations, drawing protests from Ukrainian officials and activists at the Cop29 climate summit this week.
The move by Moscow comes as Russian president Vladimir Putin eyes potential peace deal negotiations with incoming US president Donald Trump that could decide the fate of vast swathes of territory, Reuters reported.
“We see that Russia is using international platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their occupation of our territory,” Ukraine’s deputy environment minister Olga Yukhymchuk told Reuters.
She said Ukraine is in touch with officials from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the U.N.’s main climate body, to ask it to resolve the dispute.
Officials representing the Russian foreign ministry and the UNFCCC did not respond to requests for comment sent on Thursday.
At issue is Russia’s National Inventory Report of greenhouse gas emissions for 2022, which Moscow submitted to the UNFCCC on 8 November. In the submission, reviewed by Reuters, Russia said it could only provide data for 85 out of 89 of its territories “due to the absence of baseline data on land use for the territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Luhansk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, annexed in September 2022.”
Russia had already included emissions from Ukraine’s Crimea region, annexed in 2014, in its last few reporting submissions to the UNFCCC. It also included Crimea’s land development plans in a report to the UN Global Biodiverity Framework in 2020.
Ukrainian environment minister Svitlana Grynchuk raised the issue in a speech to delegates at the Cop29 summit earlier this week, saying Russia’s reporting on Ukraine territories undermines the integrity of global climate efforts.
Yukhymchuk told Reuters this concern is based on the risk of double-counting of emissions over territories that together exceed the size of Portugal and Azerbaijan.
“It will bring us to a point that we do not achieve any of our goals if we don’t have proper reporting under the Paris Agreement,” she said.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Ukraine live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news throughout today.
We start with news that Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces had captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, their latest gain in what defence minister Andrei Belousov described as an accelerated advance.
Ukraine’s military made no mention of the village, north of the key town of Kurakhove, Reuters reported.
But in a late night report, the general staff noted it was among eight villages where Russian forces were engaged in fighting and trying to advance. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts from either side.
Russian defence minister Belousov was shown in a video posted online visiting a command post in Ukraine manned by the Russian army grouping “North”, where he handed out medals for bravery.
“This work we have done here now has crushed the best [Ukrainian] units. Now the advance has accelerated. We have thwarted their entire 2025 campaign,” he said.
Ukraine’s general dtaff said the Kurakhove sector of the 1,000km (600 mile) front was gripped by heavy fighting. Ten of 35 armed clashes in the sector were still raging, it said.
In other developments:
The US expects thousands of North Korean troops massing in Russia will “soon” enter combat against Ukraine, the secretary of defence said on Saturday. About 10,000 North Korean soldiers were believed to be based in the Russian border region of Kursk, Lloyd Austin said, where they were being “integrated into the Russian formations”. “Based upon what they’ve been trained on, the way they’ve been integrated into the Russian formations, I fully expect to see them engaged in combat soon,” the Pentagon chief said. He had “not seen significant reporting” of North Korean troops being “actively engaged in combat” to date, he said.
Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia would carry out more tests of its new Oreshnik missile in combat and had a stock ready for use, a day after firing the experimental, nuclear-capable ballistic missile on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The Russian president described the missile’s first use as a successful test and said more would follow. The Kremlin said the strike on a Ukrainian military facility was designed to warn the west that Moscow would respond to moves by the US and the UK to allow Kyiv strike Russia with their missiles.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged world leaders to “respond firmly and decisively” after the Russian missile strike on Thursday. The Ukrainian president said his country was working on developing new types of air defence to counter “new risks” following Russia’s deployment of a new ballistic missile.
Ukraine’s parliament cancelled Friday’s session, legislators said, citing the risk of a Russian missile attack on the district of Kyiv where government buildings are located. “The hour of questions to the government has been cancelled,” said Yevgenia Kravchuk, an MP from the ruling party. “There are signals of an increased risk of attacks on the government district in the coming days.”
Russia sent air defence missiles and other military technology to North Korea in return for the deployment of troops from the North to support its war in Ukraine, intelligence officials in South Korea said. Experts believe North Korea’s dispatch of troops to fight against Ukraine and weapons from its vast stockpiles have been repaid with Russian oil and advanced military technology, Justin McCurry and Emma Graham-Harrison report.
Russia said Ukraine had returned 46 Russian citizens who were taken there after Ukrainian forces seized a chunk of Russia’s Kursk region in August. “The painstaking and lengthy negotiations for the return of our fellow countrymen to their homeland have brought results,” Kursk’s regional governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Telegram on Friday. “They are receiving all necessary assistance.” There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defences destroyed 64 out of 114 drones launched by Russia during its latest mass airstrike, Kyiv’s military said on Friday. It added that another 41 drones had been “locationally lost”, most likely as a result of Ukrainian signal jamming.
Ukraine accused Russian forces of executing five Ukrainian prisoners of war during a single incident in eastern Ukraine last month. The prosecutor general’s office claimed Russian troops shot and killed the five unarmed Ukrainian soldiers after capturing them during an assault on their position on 2 October on the outskirts of Vuhledar town in the country’s east.
Russia has included the territories it occupies in Ukraine in its recent greenhouse gas inventory report to the UN, drawing protests from Ukrainian officials and activists at the Cop29 climate summit. “Russia is using international platforms to legalise their actions, to legalise their occupation of our territory,” Ukraine’s deputy environment minister, Olga Yukhymchuk, told Reuters. She said Kyiv was in touch with officials from the UN’s main climate body to ask it to resolve the dispute.
The UK home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said Britain would continue to see “aggressive language” from Vladimir Putin after he threatened to strike the UK. Cooper told Sky News there had been an “aggressive, blustering tone” from the Russian president throughout the conflict and is was “completely unacceptable”. Meanwhile, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, vowed to continue to “do everything that is necessary” to help Ukraine combat Russia.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said supporting Ukraine’s self-defence was the “best protection” for peace in Europe. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, who held an hour-long call with Putin last week, has resisted calls to support Ukraine’s longer-range strike capabilities against Russia, after the UK and the US approved Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow missiles and similar American Atacms weapons inside Russia.
A British man has pleaded guilty to an arson attack on a Ukraine-linked business and accepting pay from a foreign intelligence agency. Jake Reeves, 23, admitted aggravated arson in relation to a fire in March at an east London warehouse belonging to a man only referred to in court as Mr X. He pleaded guilty to an offence under the National Security Act 2023 of obtaining a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service.
