Closing summary
Moldova has blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country. A decree published online by Moldova’s intelligence and security service listed 31 websites to be blocked immediately for “online content used in the war of information against the Republic of Moldova”.
The first US-made F-16 combat aircraft that the Netherlands is donating to Ukraine will arrive in Romania’s training centre within two weeks, outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.
Russian shelling hit the frontline region of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Monday, killing two civilians, local authorities said earlier.
Russia has significantly bulked up its forces around the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with its soldiers switching from a defensive posture to taking “active actions”, a Ukrainian military commander said.
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said a Russian state-backed private military company was specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.
Russia’s federal security service said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency.
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Russia has blamed Ukraine for the antisemitic riot in the mostly Muslim region of Dagestan on Sunday in which an angry mob stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Monday that the riot was the result of a “provocation” orchestrated from outside Russia, with Ukraine playing a “direct and key role”.
Earlier in the day, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, claimed the unrest was “the result of external intervention, including external information influence”.
Neither Zakharova or Peskov provided evidence to support their claims of outside interference.
You can read the full story here:
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Here are some of the latest images coming out from the newswires:
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that during the call with outgoing Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, he urged the EU “to speed up work” on the 12th package of sanctions against Russia and discussed Ukraine’s defence, among other topics.
During our call, @MinPres Mark Rutte and I focused on strengthening Ukraine’s defense, European security, and the situation in the Middle East.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 30, 2023
Our previous agreements are being implemented. Additional Patriot missiles, F-16 transfer preparations, patrol boats, and long-term… pic.twitter.com/rdSqFPVVto
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Moldova blocks access to Russia’s main news agencies
Moldova has blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country.
Moldova, a small country located between Ukraine and the Nato member Romania, has accused Russia of trying to overthrow its pro-western government since it invaded Ukraine in 2022. Moldova holds local elections later this week.
A decree published online by Moldova’s intelligence and security service listed 31 websites to be blocked immediately for “online content used in the war of information against the Republic of Moldova”, adding to 22 blocked earlier this month.
The new list included 14 Russian news sources, including prominent newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and website Lenta.ru, as well as Tass and Interfax, Reuters reports.
In a separate decree, Moldova also suspended the licences of six domestic TV channels.
Russian troops occupy a small, mainly Russian-speaking breakaway region, and Moldova’s main opposition parties have long had close ties to Moscow.
Russia denies meddling in Moldova’s affairs and accuses Maia Sandu, the president, of promoting animosity.
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Dutch F-16s for Ukraine to arrive in Romania within two weeks, says Netherlands' PM
The first US-made F-16 combat aircraft that the Netherlands is donating to Ukraine will arrive in Romania’s training centre within two weeks, outgoing Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said on Monday.
“I expect the Patriot missiles to be delivered shortly, to aid Ukraine in the upcoming winter. And the same speed applies to the F-16s,” Rutte said during a video conference with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, that was posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“The first ones will be shipped to the training centre in Romania within the next two weeks so that day we will get ready for further training,” he said.
Denmark, Norway and Belgium have also announced they will give F-16 jets to Ukraine.
The Netherlands will continue to support Ukraine in the face of continued Russian aggression, as much and for as long as necessary. The devastating situation in Israel and Gaza will not divert our attention away from Ukraine. The existential need to push back against Russian… pic.twitter.com/o1CCW3gKQp
— Mark Rutte (@MinPres) October 30, 2023
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One person killed from shelling in cemetery, says Kherson's regional governor
Kherson’s regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, has said that a cemetery in the village of Kindiyka has been shelled by Russia, killing one person and injuring a 62-year-old man.
He said on Telegram that the 62-year-old man was hospitalised in a “moderate condition” and was receiving medical attention.
Prokudin also said on Monday that seven people – two men and five women – were known to have been injured as a result of the shelling of a shuttle taxi in Kherson.
Separately, Prokudin said Russia attacked an unspecified critical infrastructure facility in the region, leaving the residents of four small settlements without electricity.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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Ukrainian air defences intercepted all 12 Shahed drones that Russia fired at several regions overnight and two Kh-59 guided missiles, according to the country’s air force.
The success of Ukraine’s new Black Sea export corridor has led to a sharp increase in the number of rail wagons heading to ports in the Odesa region, a senior railway official has said.
Valeriy Tkachov, deputy director of the commercial department at Ukrainian Railways, said on Facebook that over the last week the number of grain wagons heading to Odesa ports increased by more than 50% to 4,032 from 2,676.
In August, Ukraine launched a “humanitarian corridor” for ships bound for African and Asian markets to try to circumvent a de facto blockade in the Black Sea after Russia quit a deal that had guaranteed Kyiv’s seaborne exports during the war.
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The Ukrainian general staff has said Russian forces have continued trying to regain control over Andriivka to the south of Bakhmut, which Kyiv’s forces said they had retaken in September.
It said Ukraine’s troops continued to conduct assault operations south of Bakhmut and were inflicting losses in manpower and equipment, Reuters reports.
Russia has also been pushing in recent weeks to encircle and capture the eastern town of Avdiivka.
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Missiles have damaged an administrative building and equipment in a shipyard in the Black Sea region of Odesa this morning, local prosecutors have said, adding that four workers had been hurt (see update from earlier post at 08.28).
“The attack caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished by our rescuers,” Odesa regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said in a Telegram post.
Images published online by the Odesa prosecutor’s office showed a blast crater, buildings with shattered windows and two destroyed vehicles, Reuters reports.
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Russia bulks up forces near Bakhmut, says Ukrainian commander
Russia has significantly bulked up its forces around the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, with its soldiers switching from a defensive posture to taking “active actions”, a Ukrainian military commander has said.
Russia captured Bakhmut, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the 20-month war, in May. Ukraine has been on the counteroffensive since June to try to retake occupied land in the south and east, including the town.
“In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions,” Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the ground forces, wrote on Telegram.
He described the situation in the east as difficult, with Russian forces particularly active near the north-eastern Ukrainian-held town of Kupiansk, where he said Moscow’s troops were trying to advance simultaneously in several directions.
He said that Russian troops have suffered heavy losses, Reuters reports. These claims have not yet been independently verified.
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Mitch McConnell, the powerful Republican leader in the US Senate, is going “all out” in support of Kyiv despite a rift on the issue within his party, Politico reports.
McConnell is at odds with new Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, who wants to split off Israel aid from Ukraine funding rather than pass a sweeping national security package.
And the Senate GOP leader faces brewing discontent within his own conference, which is buzzing over whether to stick with McConnell or side with conservatives who want a strategy change on Ukraine.
McConnell’s public and private lobbying efforts to greenlight tens of billions of dollars in Ukraine assistance is a sharp deviation from his usual more reserved, consensus-building approach.
He’s going to significant lengths to win over reluctant GOP senators and is on a collision course with the new speaker.
On Monday, McConnell will appear alongside Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, at the University of Louisville to again publicly commit the United States to Kyiv’s defence against Russia, a striking move amid the intraparty tension.
Ukrainian officials say Russian shelling killed a 91-year-old woman in Kherson
Russian shells struck residential areas of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, killing a 91-year-old woman in what a local official described on Monday as a “terrifying night”, the Associated Press reports.
The overnight shelling set fire to a high-rise apartment building and reduced some apartments to rubble, according to footage posted by the Kherson governor, Oleksandr Prokudin.
The woman died when an apartment wall fell on her, according to her daughter, who lived with her on the ninth floor.
The victim was one of three Ukrainian civilians killed in the east and south of the country over the previous 24 hours, with at least five people injured, Ukraine’s presidential office reported on Monday.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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The UK government said it had re-examined the “extent and scale” of its intelligence work on the Wagner group, after a critical report by MPs, PA media reports.
The Foreign Office also said the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin may offer “new opportunities” to tackle the group.
The private military firm, whose former leader was killed in a plane crash over the summer, was proscribed as a terrorist group in September after the Commons foreign affairs committee said ministers were not doing enough to counter the threat it posed.
In a response to the committee’s report, published on Monday, ministers backed or partially agreed with the vast majority of MPs’ recommendations. It confirmed that a cross-government taskforce on the group had been created and told MPs:
We agree with the committee that intelligence gathering on Wagner’s activities is a priority and have re-examined the extent and scale of our effort.
We believe that we have sufficient resources in place to track Wagner. Wagner is multilayered, complex and dynamic. We regularly assess the group and its impact.
The Foreign Office also said it had “dedicated new resource to containing and countering Wagner” and other Russian private military companies, while also working with allies to “maximise our collective impact”.
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Ukraine says it ‘successfully hit’ part of Russia’s air defence system in Crimea
Ukraine’s army said it had overnight “successfully hit” part of Russia’s air defence system located in annexed Crimea, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The armed forces successfully hit a strategic object of the air defence system on the western coast of occupied Crimea,” the army’s strategic communications unit said on social media. It gave no further details and Russia gave no official comment.
But the influential Rybar Telegram channel – which is close to the Russian army – alleged Ukraine had launched two US ATACMS missiles that fell near the village of Olenivka, on the western coast of Crimea.
Rybar said Russian forces were not able to down the missiles “but thanks to measures taken earlier there was no serious damage”.
The social media account alleged that “half an hour later” Black Sea fleet sailors found three Ukrainian naval drones near Sevastopol.
Rybar said one of them was “destroyed”, while another two tried to enter the Bay of Khersones before being shot at and sunk by Russian forces.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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Russian state-backed military company recruiting women into combat roles in Ukraine for first time, says MoD
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said a Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.
Posting to X, formerly Twitter, the MoD wrote:
Recent social media adverts have appealed for female recruits to join Borz Battalion, a part of Russian PMC Redut, to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators. Redut is likely directly sponsored by the Russian main directorate of intelligence.
In March 2023, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which would equate to only around 0.3 per cent of its force. As Redut’s advert points out, they currently serve in mostly medical support and food service roles.
It remains unclear whether official Russian defence forces will seek to follow suit and open more combat roles to women.
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The commander of Russia’s airborne forces, Col Gen Mikhail Teplinsky, has been named as the new commander of Russia’s Dnipro military group in Ukraine, the state-run Tass news agency has reported, citing a source.
Teplinsky replaces Col Gen Oleg Makarevich, who will be moved to other duties, the newspaper Izvestiya reported separately, according to Reuters.
Russia’s armed forces are divided into about half a dozen groups.
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Morning summary
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency. In a statement quoted by RIA, the FSB said the unnamed man had “collected and transmitted information about specified sites with reference to geographic coordinates to a representative of the Ukrainian military”.
The governor of Ukraine’s southern Odesa region said two people were wounded and buildings were damaged in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard on Monday. “In the morning, Russian terrorists attacked Odesa district with rockets. The enemy targeted a shipyard,” Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian prime minister said the government would create a simplified procedure for citizens and companies from “friendly” countries to invest there. Mikhail Mishustin said entities from a list of 25 countries would be allowed to open bank accounts in Russia and make deposits via a simplified procedure, Reuters reported. “Creating more convenient conditions for foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs is an important part of the government’s systemic efforts to achieve financial sovereignty as part of the implementation of the national goals set by our president,” he said.
Russia’s defence minister has accused the US of fuelling geopolitical tensions to uphold its “global dominance by any means” and warned of the risk of confrontation between nuclear-armed countries. Speaking at a defence forum in Beijing, Sergei Shoigu also accused Nato of trying to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific under the pretence of seeking dialogue and collaboration with regional countries, AP reported.
Russian police have taken over an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region and arrested 60 people after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the facility on Sunday when a plane from Israel arrived, the interior ministry said. Videos obtained by Reuters from the airport at Makhachkala, the regional capital, showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport on Sunday evening shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest”. Another group was seen trying to topple over a patrol truck.
Russia says it has shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. There were claims in local media outlets that a fire at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone. Ukraine has said it shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched from Russia overnight.
State media in Russia reported that more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Yuzhno-Donetsk over the past 24 hours. The 58th motorised infantry, 79th air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 128th territorial defence brigade were reportedly involved in the attack by Russian troops.
Russian forces are believed to have suffered some of the country’s biggest casualty rates so far this year as a result of continued “heavy but inconclusive” fighting around the Donetsk oblast town of Avdiivka, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Russia would confiscate assets belonging to EU states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of Vladimir Putin said. The comments were made after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its postwar reconstruction.
Ukraine and Russia are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president, said. Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, described the current state of the conflict as “head to head, to the death, entrenched … seriously stalemate.”
Four Ukrainian police officers were wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk oblast.
A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opened in Malta, but without Moscow. In a statement, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said 66 countries had taken part, proof that his plan “has gradually become global”. Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Mykola Tochytskyi has said his country aims to hold a global “peace summit” of world leaders this year.
About 2,000 Ukrainians ran a 1km race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number. Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbours and colleagues ran for someone they knew who had been killed, taken captive or injured during the war.
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Russia’s defence minister has accused the US of fuelling geopolitical tensions to uphold its “global dominance by any means” and warned of the risk of confrontation between nuclear-armed countries.
Speaking at a defence forum in Beijing, Sergei Shoigu also accused Nato of trying to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific under the pretence of seeking dialogue and collaboration with regional countries, AP reported.
“Washington for years has deliberately undermined and destroyed the foundations of international security and strategic stability, including the system of arms control agreements,” Shoigu said at the Xiangshan Forum, China’s biggest annual event centred on military diplomacy.
He said the US and its western allies were threatening Russia through Nato’s expansion “to the east”.
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The Russian prime minister has said the government would create a simplified procedure for citizens and companies from “friendly” countries to invest there.
Mikhail Mishustin said entities from a list of 25 countries would be allowed to open bank accounts in Russia and make deposits via a simplified procedure, Reuters reported.
“Creating more convenient conditions for foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs is an important part of the government’s systemic efforts to achieve financial sovereignty as part of the implementation of the national goals set by our president,” he said.
China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Belarus are among the countries listed. Moscow defines “unfriendly” countries as those that have joined a barrage of western-led economic sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine.
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Two people injured and buildings damaged in missile attack in Odesa region, says governor
The governor of Ukraine’s southern Odesa region said two people were wounded and buildings damaged in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard on Monday.
“In the morning, Russian terrorists attacked Odesa district with rockets. The enemy targeted a shipyard,” Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.
“The attack caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished by our rescuers. The administrative building and equipment of the enterprise were damaged.”
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Russian man detained in Crimea on suspicion of treason, says Russia's federal security service
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency.
In a statement quoted by RIA, the FSB said that the unnamed man had “collected and transmitted information about specified sites with reference to geographic coordinates to a representative of the Ukrainian military”.
Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, has been under de facto Russian control since 2014.
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Russian police have taken over an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region and arrested 60 people after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the facility on Sunday when a plane from Israel arrived, the interior ministry said.
Videos obtained by Reuters from the airport at Makhachkala, the regional capital, showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport on Sunday evening shouting “Allahu Akbar” or “God is Greatest”. Another group was seen trying to topple over a patrol truck.
Twenty people were wounded at the airport before security forces contained the unrest, local authorities said. The passengers on the plane were safe, security forces told Reuters.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter:
Appalling videos from Makhachkala, Russia, where an angry mob broke into the airport searching for Israeli citizens on the flight from Tel-Aviv. This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala, but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities.
He added:
The Russian foreign minister has made a series of antisemitic remarks in the last year. The Russian President also used antisemitic slurs. For Russian propaganda talking heads on official television, hate rhetoric is routine. Even the most recent Middle East escalation prompted antisemitic statements from Russian ideologists.
Russian antisemitism and hatred toward other nations are systemic and deeply rooted. Hatred is what drives aggression and terror. We must all work together to oppose hatred.
The unrest followed several other anti-Israel incidents in recent days in Russia’s North Caucasus region in response to Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Opening summary
Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here is a summary of some of the latest developments.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has spoken at a Beijing defence forum on Monday, claiming that Moscow was ready for talks on the post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and on further “coexistence” with the west, but that western countries needed to stop seeking Russia’s strategic defeat. The conditions for talks had not yet been met, he said.
He accused the west of promoting an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian state media reported, saying the west’s “ostentatious desire for dialogue” was covering up a build-up of forces in that region.
Shoigu also appeared to play down Russia’s decision to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, claiming it did not mean the end of the agreement, and that Russia was not lowering its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
“We are only seeking to restore parity with the United States, who have not ratified this treaty,” Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Shoigu as saying. “We are not talking about its destruction.”
In other developments:
Russia says it has shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. There were claims in local media outlets that a fire at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone. Ukraine has said it shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched from Russia overnight.
State media in Russia has reported that more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Yuzhno-Donetsk over the past 24 hours. The 58th motorised infantry, 79th air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 128th territorial defence brigade were reportedly involved in the attack by Russian troops.
Russian forces are believed to have suffered some of the country’s biggest casualty rates so far this year as a result of continued “heavy but inconclusive” fighting around the Donetsk oblast town of Avdiivka, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Russia would confiscate assets belonging to EU states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of Vladimir Putin said. The comments were made after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its postwar reconstruction.
Ukraine and Russia are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president, said. Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, described the current state of the conflict as “head-to-head, to the death, entrenched … seriously stalemate.”
Four Ukrainian police officers were wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk oblast.
A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opened in Malta, but without Moscow. In a statement, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said 66 countries had taken part, proof that his plan “has gradually become global”. Ukraine’s deputy minister Mykola Tochytskyi has said his country aims to hold a global “peace summit” of world leaders this year.
A mob in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan has stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel, after reports emerged that a flight from Tel Aviv was arriving in the city. There were reports of some injuries at the airport, while some passengers were forced to take refuge in planes or hide in the airport for fear of being attacked.
About 2,000 Ukrainians ran a 1km race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number. Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbours, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during the war.
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