Closing summary
Russia claims it has tested its ability to deliver a retaliatory nuclear strike in an exercise involving the launch of missiles by land, sea and air. News of the exercise was delivered on Russian state TV by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu.
The exercise followed Russia’s parliament completing the passing of a law that withdraws Moscow’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Russia’s upper house, the Federation Council, approved the law by 156 votes to zero earlier today after the lower house, the Duma, had also passed it unanimously. Russia says it is revoking its withdrawal of the treaty only to bring itself in line with the US, which signed but never ratified the same document.
An overnight drone attack by Russia near Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant temporarily cut power to some off-site radiation monitoring stations, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. “This incident again underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety situation in Ukraine,” said the IAEA’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi.
In his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of targeting the power plant. “It is most likely that the target for these drones was the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power station. The shock wave from the explosion shattered windows, including on the nuclear power station’s premises,” he said.
The attack involved 11 Shahed drones and injured 16 people according to local authorities. Power lines were also damaged, with two towns close to the nuclear power plant, Netishyn and Slavuta, facing power cuts. Ukraine’s air force said it stopped all the drones that were launched.
Earlier today Ukraine said it was aiming to up domestic manufacture of its own drones, producing tens of thousands every month by the end of the year. Kyiv has relied heavily on foreign-made drones in the war so far, but is looking to ramp up its output despite the challenge posed by Russia’s invasion.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said a Russian drone attack in western Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi region last night was likely targeting the area’s nuclear power station, evidence that tougher sanctions on Russia were needed, Reuters reports.
“It is most likely that the target for these drones was the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power station. The shock wave from the explosion shattered windows, including on the nuclear power station’s premises,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Zelenskiy said every Russian strike, “especially those daring enough to target nuclear power stations and other critical facilities, serves as an argument that pressure on the terrorist state is insufficient”.
The drone attack did not hit the power plant or affect its function, but it did temporarily cut power to some off-site radiation monitoring stations in the area. It also wounded 16 people.
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More from the Kremlin statement after Russia claimed to have tested its ability to deliver a “massive retaliatory nuclear strike” by land, sea and air earlier today.
“Practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place during the training,” the statement said.
“In the course of the events, the level of preparedness of the military command authorities and the skills of the senior and operational staff in organising subordinate troops (forces) were tested,” it continued.
“The tasks planned in the course of the training exercise were fully accomplished.”
The statement said a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from a test site at a target in Russia’s far east, a nuclear-powered submarine launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea, and Tu-95MS long-range bombers test-fired air-launched cruise missiles.
Russia has said that despite its withdrawal from the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests earlier today, it has no plans to abandon a 1992 moratorium on nuclear test blasts.
Moscow said it would only resume such testing – a move that western military experts believe it might be tempted to do to signal intent and evoke fear in any standoff with the west – if the US did so first.
The only reason Russia says it is revoking its withdrawal of the test treaty is to bring itself in line with Washington – which signed but never ratified the same document.
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Russia’s attacks near Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant last night temporarily cut power to some off-site radiation monitoring stations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said.
“This incident again underlines the extremely precarious nuclear safety situation in Ukraine, which will continue as long as this tragic war goes on. The fact that numerous windows at the site were destroyed shows just how close it was. Next time, we may not be so fortunate,” the IAEA’s director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said. “Hitting a nuclear power plant must be avoided at all costs.”
The IAEA statement said that although the attack did not affect the power plant’s operations or its connection to the national electricity grid, shock waves damaged the windows of several buildings at the site.
A power outage in the nearby region of Slavuta forced two of the plant’s 11 off-site radiation monitoring stations to temporarily rely on back-up power supplies before external electricity was restored in the afternoon.
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Russia says it has rehearsed delivering retaliatory nuclear strike
Russia has tested its ability to deliver a retaliatory nuclear strike in an exercise that follows the news earlier today of its withdrawal from the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. News of the exercise was delivered on Russian state TV by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, Reuters reports.
“Practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place during the training,” a Kremlin statement said.
The Russian state-owned news agency Tass has reported that the command and control exercise involved the launch of ballistic and cruise missiles: “A Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome and a Sineva ballistic missile from the Barents Sea at the Kura test site in Kamchatka. Two Tu-95MS long-range planes were involved in the exercise. Both fired cruise missiles.”
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Ukraine is aiming to up its domestic manufacture of drones, producing tens of thousands every month by the end of the year, Reuters reports.
Drones have played a central role in the Russia-Ukraine war so far, used by both sides for surveillance and attack.
Kyiv has relied heavily on foreign-made drones, but is looking to ramp up its output despite the challenge posed by Russia’s invasion.
Speaking at a Nato industry forum in Stockholm, Oleksandr Kamyshin, the minister who oversees Ukraine’s defence industry, did not disclose detailed current drone production figures, but put the number in the thousands per month.
“By the end of this year, it would be dozens of thousands a month. And that’s something we grow even faster than conventional warfare ammunition and warfare weapons,” he said.
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The Associated Press has some additional reporting on Reuters’ earlier report on a drone attack near a nuclear plant in the west of Ukraine.
AP reports that Russia launched almost a dozen Shahed drones against Ukrainian targets and falling debris from an intercepted drone damaged power lines near a nuclear plant in the country’s west, knocking out electricity to hundreds of people.
Ukraine’s air force said it stopped all the drones that were launched.
For the fourth day in a row, the Kremlin’s forces took aim at the Ukrainian region of Khmelnytskyi, injuring 16 people, according to local authorities.
Ukraine’s ministry of energy infrastructure said falling drone wreckage in Khmelnytskyi broke windows in the administrative building and the laboratory of the local nuclear plant and knocked out electricity to more than 1,800 customers.
The plant is about 200km (120 miles) east of the border with Poland.
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Here are some of the latest images coming through from photographers in Ukraine:
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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will strike back against Russia and not only be on the defensive if Moscow launches another winter air campaign aimed at crippling the national power grid, Reuters reports.
Millions of Ukrainians experienced power cuts last winter after Russia attacked key infrastructure with missiles and drones and Ukraine fears another Russia assault on energy facilities with the aim of demoralising the population this year.
“We’re preparing for the terrorists to strike energy infrastructure. This year we will not only defend ourselves, but we will also respond,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
Russia has called energy infrastructure a legitimate target. It conducted regular long-range strikes using strategic bombers and warships last winter, with Ukraine largely unable to respond.
Though it still does not have such long-range armaments at its disposal, Ukraine has increased its strike capabilities significantly, producing drones and obtaining western weapons such as Storm Shadow cruise missiles and long-range ballistic missiles known as ATACMS.
Russian officials have also accused Ukraine over the past month of attacking an electricity substation and other energy infrastructure, causing power cuts in western Russian regions that border Ukraine.
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In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence highlighted Russia’s capability to strike targets near the Dnipro River with artillery.
“As in most sectors, a decisive factor is almost certainly the combatants’ ability to bring accurate, intense artillery fire to bear. Initial indication suggests that Russia has maintained a significant artillery capability within range of the river,” it stated.
Fighting has escalated around the lower reaches of the Dnipro River over the past week as Ukraine launched a new offensive in the area.
Russia has most likely been alert to the possibly of attacks in the area since it withdrew its forces from the city of Kherson and the western bank of the river nearly 12 months ago, according to the MoD release.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 25 October 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 25, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/rKPs31cagm
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/DJBh7eyvMI
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A Russian drone attack has damaged buildings near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in western Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday, wounding 20 people, Reuters reports.
Ukraine officials said its air force destroyed all 11 Russian drones launched in the overnight attacks. Damage was caused by blast waves and falling debris, according to the interior minister.
“At night, the enemy struck territory near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant. As a result of the explosion, windows in administrative and laboratory buildings have been damaged,” the energy ministry said on Telegram.
Power lines were also damaged, it added, with two towns close to the nuclear power plant, Netishyn and Slavuta, facing power cuts.
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Summary
Here is a round-up of the key events of the day so far:
Russia’s parliament passed a law this morning withdrawing Moscow’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests. Russia says it will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, but arms control experts are concerned it may be inching towards a test that the west would perceive as a threatening escalation in the context of the Ukraine war. Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up “nuclear blackmail”.
Moscow has received proposals from Washington on nuclear arms control and is studying them, state news agency RIA quoted the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, as saying. RIA cited Ryabkov as saying that Russia was not ready to resume dialogue on strategic stability with the US, but was prepared to consider new proposals from Washington on prisoner exchanges.
One person was killed in an early morning air attack on Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, has said. Prokudin said Russian forces had carried out 35 aerial attacks on the Kherson region over the past 24 hours.
Ukraine’s economy ministry said GDP grew by 9.1% year on year in September. The ministry also said GDP over the first nine months of 2023 rose by 5.3% compared with last year when Russia launched its invasion. It described the figures as positive.
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Ukraine’s gross domestic product grew by about 9.1% year on year in September, Reuters reports Ukraine’s economy ministry website as saying.
After being devastated by Russia’s full-scale invasion last year, Ukraine’s economic recovery appears to be gathering pace.
The ministry also said GDP over the first nine months of 2023 rose by 5.3% compared with last year when Russia launched its invasion. It described the figures as positive.
“In addition to the low statistical basis of comparison, this is also explained by the high capability of business to adapt to new challenges, as well as assistance from the state and international partners,” it said.
Despite the positive figures, continued fighting, disrupted logistics and attacks on the energy system still present large barriers to growth.
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Reuters reports that the Kremlin has said it is not concerned by China increasing the capabilities of its nuclear arsenal, pointing to Moscow’s “advanced strategic partnership” with Beijing and China’s sovereign right to ensure its own security.
China has launched its first nuclear-powered guided missile submarines, according to the Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military, giving it land and sea attack options that were once the sole province of US and Russian vessels.
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Russian parliament passes withdrawal from global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests
Russia’s parliament has completed the passage of a law that withdraws Moscow’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, Reuters reports.
The upper house, the Federation Council, approved the law by 156 votes to zero today after the lower house, the Duma, had also passed it unanimously. It will now go to Vladimir Putin for signing.
The Russian president had urged lawmakers to make the change to “mirror” the position of the US, which signed but never ratified the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT).
Russia says it will not resume nuclear testing unless Washington does, but arms control experts are concerned it may be inching towards a test that the west would perceive as a threatening escalation in the context of the Ukraine war. Ukraine has accused Russia of stepping up “nuclear blackmail”.
Though it has never formally come into force, the CTBT has made nuclear testing a taboo – no country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century.
Arms control experts say a test by either Russia or the US could trigger a new arms race at a moment of acute international tension, with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East. They say if one country tested, the other would probably do the same and others such as China, India and Pakistan could follow.
CNN published satellite images last month showing Russia, the US and China have built new facilities at their nuclear test sites in recent years.
The US energy department said last week it conducted a
chemical explosion at its nuclear test site in Nevada “to improve the US’s ability to detect low-yield nuclear explosions around the world”.
Speaking to Russian lawmakers before Wednesday’s vote, the deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said the Nevada blast was “undoubtedly a political signal”.
“As our president said, we must be on alert, and if the US moves towards the start of nuclear tests, we will have to respond here in the same way,” he added.
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Reuters reports that one person was killed in an early morning air attack on Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the governor has said.
“At about 07:20, the enemy dropped a guided aerial bomb on a residential area of the city (of Beryslav). It hit a house. Unfortunately, a 42-year-old man was fatally wounded,” Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Kyiv drove Russian forces out of part of the Kherson region in November after several months of occupation – but Russian troops have continued shelling the regional capital and surrounding areas from across the Dnipro River.
Prokudin said over the past 24 hours, Russian forces had carried out 35 aerial attacks on the Kherson region.
This week, local authorities ruled on the mandatory evacuation of families with children from the three districts of the Kherson region amid ongoing bomb attacks. The authorities said 802 children and their families from 23 settlements must be moved.
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Reuters reports that Moscow has received proposals from Washington on arms control and is currently studying them, state news agency RIA quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.
RIA cited Ryabkov as saying that Russia was not ready to resume dialogue on strategic stability with the US, but was prepared to consider new proposals from Washington on prisoner exchanges.
Breaking news from the Ukraine battlefront seems in short supply right now.
Online observers continue to focus on Avdiivka, in the Donesk region, where Russia has been mounting a bloody and costly Bakhmut-style campaign; and Kherson, where Ukrainian troops are persistently rumoured to be carrying out raids on the eastern, Russian-held side of the Dnipro river.
Here is an update from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
NEW: #Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in eastern and southern #Ukraine on October 24 and advanced south of #Bakhmut and in western #Zaporizhia Oblast. https://t.co/IjuIXquSLO pic.twitter.com/ttA12ENJWS
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) October 24, 2023
Some of the ISW’s key takeaways:
Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in eastern and southern Ukraine on 24 October and advanced south of Bakhmut and in western Zaporizhia oblast.
Russian forces conducted offensive operations near Avdiivka on 24 October and made confirmed advances north-east of Avdiivka.
Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces maintain some positions in Krynky (30km east of Kherson City and 2km from the Dnipro river) and continued limited attacks on the east (left) bank of the Dnipro river.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, highlighted diminishing Russian control over the Black Sea and Ukraine’s temporary grain corridors during a speech at the Crimean Platform summit on 24 October.
Ukraine vows to retake Crimea
Good morning, this is the Guardian’s live blog about the Russian war against Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has vowed to maintain military pressure on Russian-occupied Crimea.
“We have not yet gained full fire control over Crimea and surrounding waters, but we will,” Zelenskiy told a meeting of the Crimea Platform, a diplomatic initiative he launched in 2021.
“This is a question of time.”
In other developments:
Russian forces continued to pound the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials are quoted as saying. Heavy losses forced Russia to switch to air attacks instead of ground advances, they claimed.
Two civilians have been killed in an artillery strike on a village near Kupiansk, Kharkiv’s regional governor, Oleh Synehub, has said. Russian forces have reportedly been attacking further north in the area of Kupiansk – a town initially seized by Russia after the invasion but recaptured by Ukraine last year.
Russian has claimed successful artillery and air strikes near Bakhmut - a town to the north-east captured by Russian forces in May after months of battles. Reuters says it could not independently verify accounts of battlefield activity on either side.
Australia says it’s sending a 3D metal printer and anti-drone systems to Ukraine as part of a A$20m ($12.8m )military assistance package. Prime minister Anthony Albanese is quoted as saying “Australia remains steadfast in supporting Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion”. It takes the country’s total aid to about A$910m ($582m) since Russia invaded. It is understood the Australian Prime Minister will discuss the Ukraine confclit with Joe Biden during his state visit to the US.
Moldova blocked access to more than 20 Russian media websites on Tuesday, saying they had been used as part of an information war against the country. A decree published online by Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service listed 22 Russian news resources to be blocked, including prominent ones such as Russia Today, NTV, Ren TV, state media holding VGTRK and others. The Russian foreign ministry is quoted as saying the move is a “hostile step” aimed at denying Moldovans access to alternative news sources. Moldova restricted TV broadcasts of Russia-produced news, analytical and military-related content in June 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Joe Biden’s request for Ukraine aid remains in limbo, as US House Republicans continue to struggle to elect a speaker.
Ukraine has set up a joint defence venture with German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall AG to service and repair western weapons sent to help Kyiv against Russia’s full-scale invasion, officials said.
Ukraine expects Germany to provide it with an additional €1.4bn to enhance its air defences and help it get through a second winter at war with Russia, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said.
The EU is on track towards its goal of ending its reliance on Russian fossil fuels within this decade, the European Commission said.
Two people died and others were injured in Russian shelling of Kherson, the local governor claimed.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, met the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran earlier. Russia and Iran were firming up bilateral relations in a “trusting” atmosphere, Russia’s foreign ministry said early on Tuesday.
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