Closing summary
A Russian missile struck a school in the town of Nikopol in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday, killing at least four people, Ukrainian officials said.
Nato has promised a “determined” response if damage to an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia proves deliberate.
An international team of prosecutors seeking to put Russia’s top officials on trial over the Ukraine invasion has already gathered “thousands” of pieces of evidence, the head of EU judicial agency, Eurojust, has told AFP.
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said the Russian military is facing a “mental health crisis”, with many personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ukraine’s security service said it had identified two suspected informers who allegedly helped Russia strike at a wake last week.
A former prime minister of Slovakia who plans to end the country’s military support for Ukraine is poised to return to office after his political party signed a deal with two other parties to form a coalition government.
Belgium will send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from 2025, its defence minister, Ludivine Dedonder, said.
Updated
Russian missile strike kills four in Ukrainian school, officials say
The death toll from the Russian missile strike on a school in the town of Nikopol in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk has been revised from three to four by Ukrainian officials.
“As a result of the Russian strike, four people died: a 72-year-old man and three women aged 69, 67 and 60,” the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said on Telegram.
Two people who were injured were receiving medical assistance, he added.
Klymenko said earlier that the victims were employees of the educational institution (see earlier post at 17.35).
Updated
Russia said its forces had strengthened their position on the frontline near the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, AFP reports.
Avdiivka is symbolically and strategically important to Kyiv, lying just north of the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk that was seized by separatist forces in 2014.
It has since become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance against Moscow, with Kyiv clinging on there despite relentless Russian attacks during the Kremlin’s almost 20-month long offensive.
“Actions from the southern group of forces supported by aviation, artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems, improved the situation along the front line in the vicinity of Avdiivka,” the Russian defence ministry said.
The Russia-installed head of the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, hailed some “progress toward the capture of positions.”
“We see trends that the enemy has been retreating … but it is a bit early to say that there is a full-scale withdrawal of the enemy from Avdiivka,” Pushilin told RIA Novosti.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
Local Ukrainian officials on Tuesday told AFP that Moscow’s forces had launched an artillery attack on the town in the morning and were firing incessantly.
Updated
Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s nuclear rhetoric throughout the war has been “reckless and dangerous” and that Vladimir Putin is trying to use “nuclear blackmail to intimidate and coerce”.
Russia must know that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.
Of course we continue to watch what Russia is doing very closely. So far, we have not seen any changes in their nuclear posture that require any changes in our nuclear posture.
But, of course, Russia’s announcement on revoking ratification of the comprehensive test ban treaty demonstrates Russia’s lack of respect and the continued disregard for its international commitments.
Updated
Nato will respond with ‘united response’ if undersea pipeline damage found to be deliberate, Stoltenberg says
Jens Stoltenberg said it is too early to determine what had caused the damage to the undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia, but said Nato would react with a “united and determined response” if it was found to be a deliberate attack.
Nato’s secretary general told reporters on Wednesday:
If it is proven that this is a deliberate attack on allies’ critical undersea infrastructure this would be a very serious incident.
And it would be met by a united and determined response from Nato.
But it remains to determine what caused the damage and therefore I think it is a bit too early to say exactly how Nato will respond – it depends on what the investigation will reveal.
Updated
Russian missile strike kills three in Ukrainian school, officials say
The Russian missile that struck a school in the town of Nikopol in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday killed at least three people, Ukrainian officials said (a previous death toll was reported to be two people – see post at 16:07).
The school was badly damaged, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said. He also said 50 private homes and two infrastructure facilities had been damaged.
“The body of a 60-year-old woman was pulled from under the rubble of the gutted gymnasium in Nikopol. Thus, this missile strike took the lives of three people,”he said on Telegram.
A 72-year-old man and a 70-year-old woman were also killed, Reuters reports.
Two people were injured and one may still be under the rubble, emergency services added. These claims are yet to be independently verified.
Updated
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is giving a summary briefing after the first day of the defence ministers meeting at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.
You can watch the live feed at the top of this blog.
Updated
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he fears that the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel, and US politics, could threaten military support for his country, as he made a surprise visit to Brussels where Nato defence ministers met earlier today.
“I want to be honest with you, of course it is a dangerous situation for people in Ukraine,” he said on his first visit to Nato headquarters since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Zelenskiy told reporters at the Belgian parliament:
If there are other tragedies in the world, there is only a certain amount of military support to share, and Russia hopes that support will be divided.
There will be challenges with the American elections, and I talked to our partners and they said the support will stay, but who can tell that the support will stay, nobody knows.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming from the newswires:
Updated
'Thousands' of pieces of evidence against Russia in Ukraine, says head of EU judicial agency
An international team of prosecutors seeking to put Russia’s top officials on trial over the Ukraine invasion has already gathered “thousands” of pieces of evidence, the head of EU judicial agency, Eurojust, has told AFP.
Prosecutors are sifting through wiretaps, videos, satellite imagery and witness testimony, building a mountain of evidence that could eventually run into the “hundreds of thousands”, Ladislav Hamran said.
Hamran’s Eurojust agency is coordinating an unprecedented team from several European countries, Ukraine, the US and the international criminal court (ICC) seeking to bring the Kremlin’s senior leadership to justice over the invasion of Ukraine.
Set up just three months ago, the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) aims to plug a hole in international law laid bare by Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
Sometimes described as “Nuremberg 2.0”, the ICPA is the first attempt since the Nazi war crimes tribunals to build a case against the top leadership of a country for the crime of aggression.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for the alleged abduction of children, but cannot prosecute Kremlin leaders for the specific crime of aggression, as Moscow is not an ICC member.
“We are speaking about an unprecedented amount of evidence,” said Hamran, 50.
He added:
We are now speaking about thousands of pieces of evidence. But this is something which is changing on a daily basis.
More submissions are coming to Eurojust from different countries so I understand that at the end we will be speaking about hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence.
Updated
Russian missile strike kills at least two people in Ukrainian school, say officials
A Russian missile struck a school in the town of Nikopol in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday, killing at least two people, Ukrainian officials said.
The school was badly damaged and rescuers were still searching for people under the rubble, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said.
“It has been established that the victims were employees of the educational institution,” interior minister Ihor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram.
Lysak said more than 40 private homes and an infrastructure facility had been damaged in the attack, and that two men of 24 and 71 had been injured, according to Reuters.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
Western countries are “very close” to finalising a ban on Russian diamonds from retail markets in countries that are already imposing sanctions against Kremlin assets, the Belgian prime minister has said.
In a move that will cut off another vital source of revenue for Vladimir Putin in his war against Ukraine, Alexander de Croo said a year-long attempt by the European Union and G7 countries to reliably trace diamonds coming from Russia was almost complete.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who made a surprise visit to the Nato headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, De Croo said the aim was for the ban on “blood diamonds” to come into force on 1 January 2024.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
The veteran rights activist, Oleg Orlov, has been found guilty of discrediting Russia’s armed forces in an article in which he said the country had descended into fascism.
He has been ordered to pay a fine of 150,000 roubles ($1,500), Reuters reports.
Orlov, 70, had faced a possible three-year jail term, but the prosecution said earlier it would seek to have him fined instead because of his age and state of health (see post at 13.10).
Vladimir Putin said that Germany’s refusal to certify the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and buy Russian gas from it did not make economic sense for Berlin, which was instead paying much more for US liquefied natural gas.
Putin told an energy conference in Moscow he could not understand why Germany was still ready to buy Russian gas pumped via Ukraine but not to buy gas piped via Nord Stream 2.
“It’s some kind of nonsense,” Reuters quoted the Russian president as saying.
The rights activist Oleg Orlov told a Moscow court on Wednesday that Russia had descended into a totalitarian state resembling George Orwell’s 1984 as he asked a judge to acquit him of discrediting the armed forces by condemning the war in Ukraine.
Reuters reports Orlov, 70, said it was “obvious” that Russians were living in the world of the dystopian novelist, as their country waged war on its neighbour while claiming to support freedom, peace and security.
“There is still no concept of ‘thought crime’ in the Russian criminal code; citizens are not yet punished for doubting the correctness of state policy if it was expressed in a whisper in their own apartment; they are not punished for an incorrect facial expression. Yet,” he said.
“But if someone expresses such doubt outside his apartment, denunciation and punishment may follow.”
Orlov was defending himself in a case based on a November 2022 article in which he wrote that Russia under President Vladimir Putin had descended into fascism.
Updated
Reuters has a quick snap that repairing the damaged Balticconnector pipeline will take at least five months, and a restart of gas transport will at the earliest happen in April 2024, the operators Gasgrid Finland and Elering of Estonia have said.
Yesterday Finnish officials said that extensive damage to the undersea gas pipeline and a communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia “could not have occurred by accident” and appeared to be the result of a “deliberate … external act”.
Earlier today the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said: “If it is proven to be a deliberate attack on a Nato critical infrastructure, then this will be of course serious, but it will also be met by a united and determined that response from Nato.”
Updated
Vladimir Putin’s foreign intelligence chief has said the issue of support for Ukraine was becoming toxic in the US and that the divisions would deepen ahead of next year’s presidential election, Reuters reports.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the US and EU have made more than $160bn (£130bn) in commitments to Ukraine, including tens of billions of dollars in weapons.
However, Joe Biden last week expressed fears that US aid to Ukraine could be hurt by congressional chaos.
A small group of hard-right House Republicans last week managed to force out speaker and California Republican Kevin McCarthy, against the wishes of moderate colleagues, in an unprecedented move to punish him for allying with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown.
“The Ukrainian topic is becoming more and more toxic on the eve of the upcoming presidential election,” Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said during a visit to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.
“It is becoming a bone of contention,” he said.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has expressed his gratitude to his Belgian counterpart, Alexander De Croo, following a “fruitful meeting” between the two leaders.
Zelenskiy wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon:
I am grateful to Belgium for all the support. I especially appreciate its readiness to provide F-16s.
Belgium has become the first country to start using frozen Russian assets to support protection from Russian terror.
These funds will finance security assistance for Ukraine and fast recovery projects in our regions. First €1.7 billion will be used as soon as next year.
Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, has announced a €1.7bn (£1.5bn) fund that will use tax in Russian frozen assets, the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, Lisa O’Carroll, writes.
De Croo also confirmed that Belgium would send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from 2025 (see earlier post at 07.19).
Breaking; Belgian PM also announces a €1.7bn fund that will use tax in Russian frozen assets .
— Lisa O'Carroll (@lisaocarroll) October 11, 2023
Also announces supply of F16s from 2025 and supply of maintenance and maintenance training of F16s before then pic.twitter.com/XfCsvZay1p
Updated
The veteran rights campaigner Oleg Orlov has urged a Moscow court to acquit him of discrediting the armed forces by speaking out against the war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Orlov, 70, was defending himself in a case based on a November 2022 article in which he wrote that Russia under Vladimir Putin had descended into fascism.
Orlov said in his closing speech at a trial that began in June:
Where is it defined that our commander-in-chief (Putin) always rightly understands not only the interests of Russia, but the interests of its citizens?
And if the ideas of a part of Russia’s citizens about their own interests don’t match those of the commander-in-chief, don’t they have the right to talk about this?
But in that case, the president is no longer a president, but a spiritual and secular leader... Or are Russia’s top officials now infallible, like the pope?”
In its own summing-up, the prosecution said that citizens had duties as well as rights such as freedom of speech, and these included the duty to obey laws.
It said it was impermissible to carry out “provocations aimed at splitting civil society”.
Based on Orlov’s age and state of health, the prosecution said it was seeking a fine rather than the prison sentence of up to three years that it could have sought under laws passed soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February.
The judge was expected to pass sentence later on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Updated
Russian military facing a 'mental health crisis', says MoD
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said the Russian military is facing a “mental health crisis”, with many personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The ministry added that Russia’s combat effectiveness continued to operate at “sub-optimal levels”, in part due to the lack of care given to its soldiers’ mental health and their fitness to fight.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, the MoD wrote:
In December 2022, Russian psychologists identified approximately 100,000 military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
This number is almost certainly now higher as the Russian military fails to provide sufficient rotation and recuperation from the battlefield.
This was a problem highlighted by multiple commanders, including the former 58th Combined Arms Army’s General-Major Ivan Popov who was relieved of command in July 2023.
There are additional indications that doctors in Russia are sending military personnel who are unfit to fight to the front.
Updated
Ukraine identifies suspected informers in deadly wake strike in Hroza
Ukraine’s security service on Wednesday said it had identified two suspected informers who allegedly helped Russia strike at a wake last week, killing more than 50 people.
AFP reports:
The SBU named two local men now living in Russia, saying they were suspected of giving information that led to a missile attack on the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv region, one of the deadliest strikes of the war.
On 5 October, a missile hit a large gathering at a cafe for the wake of a Ukrainian soldier, killing 55.
The SBU said the suspects handed over details knowing that local civilians would “surely die” in an attack.
The SBU named the suspects as 30-year-old Volodymyr Mamon and his 23-year-old brother Dmytro Mamon, who have both fled to Russia.
Dmytro was a traffic policeman, while Volodymyr was a police escort driver under the occupying authorities, according to documents posted by the SBU.
The security service posted phone messages from Volodymyr Mamon asking about the wake’s location and the dead man’s military service.
Updated
Slovakia’s pro-Russia former PM Robert Fico signs a deal to form a new government
A former prime minister of Slovakia who plans to end the country’s military support for Ukraine is poised to return to office after his political party signed a deal with two other parties to form a coalition government, the Associated Press reports.
The leftist Smer, or Direction, party captured 22.9% of the vote in Slovakia’s 30 September parliamentary election.
The party’s leader, the populist former prime minister Robert Fico, needed to find coalition partners to rule with a majority in the country’s 150-seat parliament.
The memorandum signed today provides for a coalition of Smer, which holds 42 seats; the leftwing Hlas, or Voice, party, which placed third in the election and has 27 seats; and the ultra-nationalist and pro-Russia Slovak National party, which has 10 lawmakers in the new parliament.
Fico campaigned on pro-Moscow rhetoric that would shift Slovakia closer to Hungary in challenging the EU consensus on supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Fico has made it clear that he backed humanitarian and reconstruction aid for Ukraine but not sending more arms.
Updated
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said the US will provide a new $200m military assistance package for Ukraine, AFP reports.
“I’m proud that the United States will announce its latest security assistance package for Ukraine, valued at $200m,” Austin said alongside Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the opening of a meeting of Kyiv’s international supporters in Brussels.
The package included air defence munitions, artillery and rocket ammunition and anti-tank weapons, among other items, the US defence chief said (see earlier post at 10:46).
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has attended the meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, appearing before the media in a joint briefing with the alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
Zelenskiy cautioned that he expected Russia to use winter as a weapon and again target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and he asked for increased air defence. He appealed again for confiscated Russian assets to be released to pay for reconstruction in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said Nato would continue to support Ukraine, because “your fight is our fight”. He said support for Ukraine from Nato would be “about air defence. It’s about artillery, it’s about ammunition”. He added that Nato had ramped up production of armaments
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Wednesday Washington would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, even amid the unfolding political chaos in Congress and despite the escalating violence in the Middle East. “We’re here to dig deep to meet Ukraine’s most urgent needs – especially for air defence and ammunition,” he added.
Belgium will send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from 2025, Belgian defence minister Ludivine Dedonder said on Bel RTL radio.
The US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, on Wednesday said a G7-led price cap on Russian oil had sharply reduced Russian revenues over the past ten months, and that it was critical to keep imposing severe and increasing costs on Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Alexander Bogomaz, the Bryansk regional governor, has claimed that Russia has shot down at least three Ukrainian drones over his region in the last few hours.
Kajsa Ollongren, the defence secretary of the Netherlands, said outside the Nato headquarters in Brussels that Sweden should be admitted into the alliance as swiftly as possible. She said: “I’ve also talked about this issue to my Turkish colleague. I think it is vital for the strength of Nato, especially in north-eastern part of Nato. And I really hope that Turkey as soon as possible will take the right decision”. Turkey and Hungary remain the only two members of the alliance yet to ratify Sweden joining.
Vladimir Putin will visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the presidential office of the central Asian country said, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Extensive damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia “could not have occurred by accident” and appears to be the result of a “deliberate … external act”, Finnish authorities said Tuesday. Local media cited unnamed government sources as saying Russian sabotage was suspected, while regional security experts said a Russian survey vessel had recently been observed making repeated visits to the vicinity of the Balticconnector pipeline.
Stoltenberg said on Wednesday of the pipeline damage that “if it is proven to be a deliberate attack on a Nato critical infrastructure, then this will be of course serious, but it will also be met by a united and determined that response from Nato.”
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to social media to thank the US for its latest military aid package, having met the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and US chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Charles Brown.
I met with @SecDef and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Brown.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 11, 2023
I thanked the US for its unwavering support and the latest military aid package.
As winter approaches, it’s critical to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense to protect our military, people, and economy. pic.twitter.com/ROUyzXNPUi
Updated
The press are now departing and the video stream is ending as the meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Nato in Brussels moves behind closed doors.
Stoltenberg has repeated the phrase that Russia is intending to use winter as a weapon of war, and he says that “the stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield, the stronger they will be at the negotiating table”, and that this will bring a swifter end to the war. He is talking about how Nato has removed barriers to Ukraine joining Nato. “Your fight is our fight,” he repeats.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has specifically linked Russian president Vladimir Putin and Hamas as, he says, terrorists who use terror tactics, and who he says are trying to hold free and democratic nations hostage.
Jens Stoltenberg is speaking now.
Zelenskiy has spoken at some length about Ukraine’s requirement for more air defence in order to protect energy and power infrastructure during the winter, which he said he expects Russia to target again.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Wednesday the USs would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, even amid the unfolding political chaos in Congress and despite the escalating violence in the Middle East.
“The United States will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Austin said at the start of a meeting of Ukraine’s allies in Brussels.
“We’re here to dig deep to meet Ukraine’s most urgent needs – especially for air defence and ammunition,” Reuters reports Austin said, sitting alongside President Zelenskiy.
Updated
A Nato meeting has begun in Brussels, featuring Volodymyr Zelenskiy. I will bring you the key lines.
More details soon …
Updated
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has posted to social media about Volodymr Zelenskiy’s visit to Brussels. He said:
Honoured to welcome president Zelenskiy back to Nato. I thanked him for his leadership. As Russia prepares again to use winter as a weapon of war, we are committed to stepping up and sustaining our support for Ukraine.
Updated
Yellen: G7 price cap on oil has 'significantly reduced Russian revenue'
The US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, on Wednesday said a G7-led price cap on Russian oil had sharply reduced Russian revenues over the past 10 months, and that it was critical to keep imposing severe and increasing costs on Russia over its war in Ukraine.
Reuters reports she added that global energy prices have been largely unchanged while Russia has had to either sell oil at a significant discount or spend huge amounts on its alternative ecosystem.
“We cannot allow our support to Ukraine to be interrupted,” she said. “The Biden administration – with the support of a bipartisan majority of the US Congress and the American people – will work so that Ukraine receives the assistance it needs to win this war.”
Yellen, who was speaking at the annual meetings held by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech, said the Biden administration would also keep working to mitigate the impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including on food security, while working with a global coalition to deprive Russia of the funding it needs to wage the war.
Updated
Here is another image from the joint appearance by Jens Stoltenberg and Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Brussels this morning.
Updated
Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor, has messaged on Telegram again to say that the Bryansk region air defences have shot down another Ukrainian drone over Russia.
Overnight Tass reported in Russia that two aircraft-type Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region. It cited regional governor Alexander Bogomaz, who reported no casualties.
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, reports on Telegram that two houses were damaged overnight when a missile was fired at Borova in the region. He reported no casualties.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy have now finished their media appearance, and gone in to attend the Nato defence minister’s meeting in Brussels.
Updated
In his answer to one of the questions, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, again appealed for the release of confiscated Russian assets in the west to be used to fund projects in Ukraine. He said:
We also have to think how to live during the war. It means the reconstruction. And there are some voices in the world [saying] that we don’t have money to help Ukraine in reconstruction. The answer is very quick. You have assets. Russian. They destroyed us, we can use this money. Let’s find the key to have these Russian money and spend them on reconstruction of Ukraine.
Updated
Nato to support Ukraine with air defence, ammunition and artillery - Stoltenberg
Stoltenberg said support for Ukraine from Nato would be “about air defence. It’s about artillery, it’s about ammunition”. He added that Nato had ramped up production of armaments and portrayed providing support for Ukraine as a virtuous circle:
Air defence is critical to protect the cities, the economy, the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, and that helps them to help themselves, because then the economy can function. Then things can work in Ukraine. And that will help the Ukrainians to also produce, to trade, to function as a normal country. And that will increase their ability to finance and to provide also ammunition themselves for the war.
Updated
Stoltenberg has said “we [Nato] need to sustain and step up support” and expects more announcements from allies during the course of this meeting.
Zelenskiy has made a joke during this press conference – the first question is from a journalist from the Kyiv Independent, and after she is introduced he immediately replied “It is true. Kyiv is independent”
Zelenskiy has spoken at some length with words of advice for Israel and world leaders, saying it is important for the people under attack not to feel alone when they are being targeted by terrorists.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy is speaking now, saying the coming winter will be a big challenge for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg has said of the pipeline damage between Finland and Estonia “If it is proven to be a deliberate attack on a Nato critical infrastructure, then this will be of course serious, but it will also be met by a united and determined that response from Nato.”
Stoltenberg has opened by saying Nato is inspired by Ukraine’s defence, and that Nato will continue its support, and that this meeting will help Ukraine towards its goal of Nato membership.
Secretary general of Nato Jens Stoltenberg is greeting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy outside Nato headquarters. They are expected to address the media. I will bring you any key quotes or lines that emerge.
Netherland’s defence secretary Kajsa Ollongren has said outside the Nato headquarters in Brussels that there is “no doubt” that the alliance “will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
Asked if conflict between Israel and Hamas might deflect western attention and resources from Ukraine, she said:
We will say today in presence of president Zelenskiy that the war in Ukraine, the Russian aggression in Ukraine, is not a regional conflict, is not just Ukraine’s problem. We feel it is also our responsibility to support Ukraine to withstand this aggression, to fight back against this aggression, and we are very much aware of the fact that they need us to do so. They need us for training, for capabilities, for ammunition. And we are steadfast in our support.
On the issue of Sweden being admitted to Nato, she said:
I think it is vital that Sweden can access Nato as soon as possible. I’ve also talked about this issue to my Turkish colleague. I think it is vital for the strength of Nato, especially in northeastern part of Nato. And I really hope that Turkey as soon as possible will take the right decision.
Turkey and Hungary remain the only two members of the alliance yet to ratify Sweden joining.
Nato’s press office has said that Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Jens Stoltenberg will make a joint appearance in Brussels shortly.
We are just beginning to get the first images through of people arriving at Nato headquarters in Brussels for today’s meeting of Nato defence ministers. The US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin III is one of the first to arrive.
Belgium to send Ukraine F-16 fighter jets by 2025
Belgium will send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from 2025, Belgian defence minister Ludivine Dedonder said on Bel RTL radio.
Reuters notes Dedonder didn’t say how many jets would be sent to Ukraine.
More details soon …
Reuters has a quick snap that Estonia’s defence minister Hanno Pevkur told it the damage to the Baltic Sea gas pipeline that burst on Sunday was caused by “quite heavy force”.
Belgian media has reported that Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in the country, where the meeting of Nato defence ministers is taking place. Earlier this week Ukraine’s president travelled to Bucharest, where he said he had received good news about artillery and air defence supplies.
Reuters reports that, while the main focus of this Nato meeting was intended to be Ukraine, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant is also expected to join via videoconference to discuss Hamas’ large-scale attack on Israel last weekend and Israel’s subsequent campaign. My colleague Helen Sullivan has our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is shortly expected to give some remarks to the media ahead of the meeting.
AFP reports that the UK and other northern European allies announced a new £100m ($123m) military support package Wednesday for Ukraine, aimed at helping its armed forces clear minefields, maintain vehicles and protect key infrastructure.
The package, to be provided using money from the UK-administered International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), will provide equipment to help its soldiers cross minefields and bridge rivers and trenches, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said (MoD).
It will also comprise heavy duty plant vehicles to destroy Russian non-explosive obstacles and help Ukraine build defensive positions to protect critical national infrastructure, it added.
The new support comes as Kyiv’s western backers race to step up weapons deliveries ahead of winter after its summer offensive failed to deliver hoped-for gains on the battlefield, with both Russian and Ukrainian troops seemingly entrenched in their lines.
It also coincides with the final contracts having been signed from a previously announced IFU package that will see more than £70m of air defence capabilities dispatched to Ukraine, according to the MoD.
Britain’s recently appointed defence secretary Grant Shapps will jointly announce the support Wednesday alongside counterparts from IFU partner nations at a wider Ukraine-focused meeting at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
Vladimir Putin will visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the presidential office of the Central Asian country said, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Reuters reports that Putin has rarely travelled abroad since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and is not known to have left Russia since the ICC issued in March a warrant for him on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin denies those allegations.
This is Martin Belam in London with you. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Nato defence ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Wednesday, with Ukraine high on the agenda. Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant is also expected to take part via video conference after the deadly attack launched by Hamas militants on Israel at the weekend.
There have been fears that the conflict in Israel may distract Ukraine’s partners and in particular that the US may not be able to supply both with adequate munitions.
If “international attention risks turning away from Ukraine … that will have consequences,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in a French television interview on Tuesday.
The White House has dismissed such concerns however and the UK and other northern European nations are to officially announce a new £100 million ($123 million) military support package Wednesday for Ukraine, aimed at helping its armed forces clear minefields, maintain vehicles and protect key infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Russian air defences have shot down two Ukrainain drones over the Bryansk region overnight, governor Alexander Bogomaz has said on Telegram. No casualties or damage were reported.
In other key developments:
Extensive damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia “could not have occurred by accident” and appears to be the result of a “deliberate … external act”, Finnish authorities said. Local media cited unnamed government sources as saying Russian sabotage was suspected, while regional security experts said a Russian survey vessel had recently been observed making repeated visits to the vicinity of the Balticconnector pipeline.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Volodymyr Zelenskiy had promised him that Ukraine would not attack Europe’s biggest nuclear plant as part of its counteroffensive against Russia. In an interview with the Guardian, the nuclear watchdog chief said he was most concerned about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant becoming engulfed in fighting between the two sides, but insisted he had obtained a commitment from the Ukrainian president.
Russia was defeated in its bid to return to the UN’s human rights council, with Albania and Bulgaria winning more votes at the general assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian forces are closing in on Avdiivka, which has been hit by intense shelling since Tuesday morning, officials said. The eastern Ukrainian town is symbolically and strategically important to Kyiv, lying just north of the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk that was seized by separatist forces in 2014.
Germany announced an additional €1bn ($1.1bn) in military aid for Ukraine, in a race to step up weapons deliveries ahead of winter. The “winter package” includes an extra Patriot air defence system, as well as two more Iris-T air defence missile systems this month capable of short- and medium-range protection.
Zelenskiy called for steps to ensure Russia does not turn the Black Sea into a “dead zone” for shipping after Moscow quit a deal allowing safe Ukrainian grain exports. On his first trip to Romania since Russia’s invasion, Zelenskiy said after talks with his counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, that he had heard “good news” on artillery and air defence supplies from the Nato and EU member state.
Zelenskiy also expressed his concern that the international community was turning away from the war in Ukraine in the face of the “tragedy” that has befallen Israel following the Hamas attacks. “I don’t wish to make any comparisons. There is a terrible war going on in our country. In Israel, many people have lost their loved ones. These tragedies are different, but both are immense,” he said in an interview with the France 2 television channel. He warned however, that if “international attention risks turning away from Ukraine, and that will have consequences”.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that it was holding two senior defence ministry officials on suspicion of embezzling $7m (£5.7m) earmarked for buying bulletproof vests. The state bureau of investigation said the two officials, which it did not name, ordered “low-quality body armour” from abroad.
A Russian court dismissed a complaint by the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pre-trial detention, more than six months after his arrest on spying charges. Judge Yuri Pasyunin at Moscow city court ruled to “keep the detention without changes” until 30 November, an Agence-France Presse reporter at the court said.
The National Police of Ukraine has documented nearly 100,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, according to the head of the body. Speaking to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ivan Vyhovsky said the evidence being gathered would form the basis of future attempts to prosecute the perpetrators.
Russia is unlikely to launch an additional mobilisation drive before the presidential election next year, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said. In its daily intelligence update, the MoD said Vladimir Putin would “almost certainly” run for re-election in the vote, scheduled to take place on 17 March.
