Closing summary...
The US army has said it would need Congress to approve additional funding to ensure the Pentagon’s munitions production and acquisition plans can potentially meet the needs of both Israel and Ukraine simultaneously.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will visit neighbouring Romania on Tuesday, his first trip to the Nato member country since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the Romanian presidency has said.
Russian lawmakers have been given 10 days to study the possibility of revoking Moscow’s ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said in a statement. The chamber’s international affairs committee will need to conclude its work by 18 October, the statement said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has replaced the commander of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces, which have played an important role in helping defend the country since Russia’s invasion. A presidential order published on Monday announced the appointment of Maj Gen Anatoliy Barhylevych as the new commander.
The UN rights office warned that it was concerned there was no system to return Ukrainian children taken to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of the country last year, and that some of those who did come back had reported mistreatment.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed at the Nato parliamentary assembly for the international rule of law to unite and deal with terrorism, comparing the attack by what he called a “terrorist organisation” on Israel with the similar tactics used by Russia, which he said was a “terrorist state”.
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Robert Floyd also said he had been in touch with senior Russian officials to make the case for continued ratification, something he said was in the interests of humanity as a whole.
In his statement, the head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization said:
The CTBTO operates a global monitoring system which can detect a nuclear test explosion anytime, anywhere.
Banning nuclear testing remains essential to preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and to safeguarding current and future generations from the harmful effects of explosive nuclear testing.
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The head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization has expressed concern at Russian lawmakers having been given 10 days to consider revoking Moscow’s ratification of the treaty to prohibit testing nuclear bombs (see earlier post at 15.12).
In a statement, Robert Floyd said:
I am concerned that the Russian Federation is taking steps towards revoking its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
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US army chief says Congress must act to ensure arms to both Israel and Ukraine
The US army has said it would need Congress to approve additional funding to ensure the Pentagon’s munitions production and acquisition plans can potentially meet the needs of both Israel and Ukraine simultaneously.
Army secretary Christine Wormuth made the comments as the US House of Representatives is effectively paralysed as Republicans work to select a new speaker.
She said the army was still reviewing Israeli requests for support, according to Reuters.
Palestinian militants are believed to have abducted more than 100 people during a surprise multi-front attack in which they killed more than 700 – making Saturday the deadliest day in Israel’s history.
In response, Israel has launched strikes from the air and sea, which medics said had killed more than 560 Palestinians in Gaza, an area home to 2.3 million people with nowhere to flee.
Speaking to reporters at an army event, Wormuth said:
One thing that is really important in terms of the munitions in particular and our ability to support both potentially the Israelis and the Ukrainians simultaneously is additional funding from Congress to be able to increase our capacity, in terms of our capacity to expand production and then to also pay for the munitions themselves.
We need additional support from Congress. So I hope we’ll see that soon.
You can read the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war here:
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Ukraine’s parliament registered a draft law on Monday that would allow a ban on activities of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Reuters reports:
The church has been accused by Kyiv of undermining Ukraine’s unity and collaborating with Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, charges that it denies.
The bill proposes amendments envisaging a court ban on religious organisations that include members convicted of war propaganda, violate an article that forbids what is described as justification of Russian aggression against Ukraine, or violate citizens’ equal rights based on religious beliefs.
Registration of the draft bill is a first step in the process of becoming law.
The bill now requires the approval of a parliamentary committee before it can be submitted for consideration by parliament.
Residents of the Ukrainian village of Hroza wept beside coffins on Monday as they buried relatives and neighbours killed in one of the deadliest attacks in nearly 20 months of war.
The small community has been devastated by Thursday’s attack, in which Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile struck a cafe in Hroza as people gathered to mourn a Ukrainian soldier.
“As of this morning, 49 people had been identified with the help of external features and express DNA tests,” a spokesperson for Kharkiv regional prosecutors was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
After the DNA tests, 11 bodies were returned to family members on Monday, a Reuters reporter on the scene said (see post at 14.17 for some images taken in Hroza today).
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A Stockholm court has ordered a Russian-Swedish citizen accused of passing western technology to Russia to be released from custody ahead of its verdict on 26 October.
Sergei Skvortsov has been held in detention since his arrest in a dawn raid on his Stockholm home in November 2022.
He faces up to five years in prison for alleged “unlawful intelligence activities” if convicted.
The Stockholm district court said on Monday it had “decided that there is no longer reason to keep the defendant in custody”.
The 60-year-old has lived in Sweden since the 1990s, running import-export companies.
He is charged with two counts of “unlawful intelligence activities” against the US and Sweden for more than a decade until his arrest in November 2022, AFP reports.
Prosecutors have sought a sentence of up to five years for Skvortsov, arguing he was a “procurement agent” for a vast Russian organisation acquiring technology off-limits to Moscow due to sanctions.
Skvortsov maintains he is a legitimate businessman.
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Zelenskiy to visit Romania on Tuesday in first trip since Russian invasion
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will visit neighbouring Romania on Tuesday, his first trip to the Nato member country since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, the Romanian presidency has said.
Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanța is Kyiv’s main alternative export route for grain since Russia quit a safe passage deal in mid-July.
Romania has detected several drone fragments falling on its territory, prompting it to increase patrols and observation points, as well as expanding a no-fly zone along a section of the border with Ukraine.
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Committee given 10 days to study revoking Moscow's ratification of nuclear test ban treaty
Russian lawmakers have been given 10 days to study the possibility of revoking Moscow’s ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests, the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said in a statement.
The chamber’s international affairs committee will need to conclude its work by 18 October, the statement said.
Russia indicated on Friday that it was moving swiftly towards revoking its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) after Vladimir Putin held out the possibility of resuming nuclear testing.
Putin said on Thursday that Russia’s nuclear doctrine – which sets out the conditions under which he would press the nuclear button – did not need updating but that he was not yet ready to say whether or not Moscow needed to resume nuclear tests.
The CTBT was opened for signature in 1996 and since then has been signed by 187 countries, and ratified by 178.
For the test ban to enter into force, however, it requires ratification by 44 states who participated in negotiating the agreement and who had nuclear power or research reactors at the time. Of the 44, eight countries have yet to ratify the ban.
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Suspilne reports that in Odesa a court has fined a doctor for accepting a bribe to make a false certificate exempting a patient from conscription.
Here are some more pictures taken today at Hroza in Ukraine, where people are mourning those killed last week in a Russian strike.
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Russian wheat exports in October are falling below the level they were at last year due to weak demand from major importers and informal restrictions imposed by the Russian agriculture ministry, analysts say.
Russia has so far been exporting wheat at a record pace this year after a record harvest in 2022 of 104.2m tonnes, according to Reuters.
The Sovecon agriculture consultancy estimated Russian wheat exports in October at 3.9-4.4m tonnes. October exports last year stood at 4.5m tonnes.
Zelenskiy replaces Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces commander
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has replaced the commander of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces, which have played an important role in helping defend the country since Russia’s invasion.
A presidential order published on Monday announced the appointment of Maj Gen Anatoliy Barhylevych as the new commander.
A separate order announced the removal of Gen Ihor Tantsyura, who had been in the post since May 2022. No reason was given for the decisions.
Barhylevych, 54, had since last year been serving as chief of staff of troops in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has been heavy.
Part of the armed forces, the Territorial Defence Forces’ roles include protection of critical facilities, combating sabotage and enemy intelligence forces, and maintaining security in Ukraine.
They must also ensure defence while the full deployment of the main armed forces is under way.
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Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, has expressed his gratitude to his Dutch counterpart, Kajsa Ollongren, whom he had a phone call with earlier.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said Kyiv was grateful for the Netherlands’ leadership in the F-16 fighter jets coalition and for its readiness to provide aircrafts and pilot training.
The Netherlands and Denmark have led a push to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s and to later deliver fighter jets to Ukraine to help counter Russia’s air superiority.
Had a phone call with @DefensieMin, the Dutch Defence Minister.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) October 9, 2023
Grateful to 🇳🇱 for their leadership in the F16 Coalition, pilot training, readiness to provide aircrafts, and plans to establish the pilot training center for F16. pic.twitter.com/5igBrWz5o4
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The UN has voiced deep concern over Moscow’s “mass conferral” of Russian passports in Ukrainian territory it controls.
AFP reports:
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said residents who do not take up Russian citizenship were being denied access to essential public services and were at greater risk of arbitrary detention.
“One and a half years after the Russian Federation’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, we continue to bear witness to blatant and unabated violations of human rights,” said UN deputy human rights chief Nada Al-Nashif.
In Russian-controlled territory, “we have observed with deep concern a policy of mass conferral of Russian citizenship on residents”, she told the Human Rights Council in a debate on OHCHR’s latest report on rights in Ukraine.
“Individuals who opt not to accept Russian passports find themselves ensnared in a web of exclusion, denied access to essential public services such as social security and healthcare,” she said.
“This also heightens the risk of arbitrary detention for those who resist.”
Russia had for years been issuing passports to Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas areas held by pro-Moscow separatists as well as annexed Crimea.
But since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, the passport drive has become more aggressive.
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The Kremlin reportedly believes Russia’s presidential and parliamentary elections should be held on schedule, irrespective of the war in Ukraine.
Interfax news agency quoted presidential spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, as saying:
We proceed from President (Vladimir) Putin’s statement … (where he) emphasised the need to comply with all the requirements of democracy, the constitution and, accordingly, to hold these elections.
Peskov was responding to comments by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Putin ally who was quoted on Saturday as saying that Russia should either postpone the presidential election due to the war in Ukraine or allow only one candidate – Putin.
Russia is scheduled to hold the next presidential election in 2024 and the next parliamentary election in 2026.
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More US senators are welcome to visit China and it is hoped the legislatures of the two countries will have more exchanges, Chinese state media reported China’s president, Xi Jinping, as saying on Monday.
Xi made the remarks during a meeting with a US congressional delegation led by the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, in Beijing, Reuters reports.
China and the US economies are deeply integrated and can benefit from each other’s development, Xi said.
On Friday, Biden said it is possible that he may meet with Xi next month in San Francisco, though nothing had been officially set up.
Washington has provided over $40bn to supply Kyiv with dozens of tanks, thousands of rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition that Ukraine has used to defend itself since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Beijing, meanwhile, has maintained close economic and diplomatic ties with Russia since the invasion.
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Poland is to hold crucial elections this week. Experts say they are set to be won by the governing populists, putting the country on a potential collision course with Ukraine and the EU.
The latest polls show the Law and Justice (PiS) party at 32 to 34 percent, a few points ahead of the Civic Coalition (KO) led by former EU chief Donald Tusk.
But the ultimate result is likely to hinge on which of the two can build a governing coalition.
While Law and Justice is set to get the most votes in the parliamentary elections for the third time in a row, it appears set to fall short of a majority, AFP reports.
The most obvious partner is the far-right Confederation party, which wants Poland to stop aid to Ukraine and has criticised the rights of Ukrainian refugees.
But the opposition’s ratings have been going up in the most recent polls and a coalition of three opposition parties may have more chance of forming a government.
You can read more about the key players in the upcoming Polish elections here:
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Summary of the day so far …
The UN rights office said on Monday it was concerned there was no system to return Ukrainian children taken to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of the country last year and that some of those who did come back had reported mistreatment. Ukrainian authorities say they have identified and verified almost 20,000 children who have been taken to Russia during the war. Ukraine has repatriated more than 400 children so far but says it does not know exactly how many more there are because it does not have access to Russia or swathes of occupied territory in the south and east.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed at the Nato parliamentary assembly for the international rule of law to unite and deal with terrorism, comparing the attack by what he called a “terrorist organisation” on Israel with the similar tactics used by Russia, which he said was a “terrorist state”. Speaking via video link he said that Hamas and Russia had used the same tactics, and that Israeli journalists who had been in Ukraine and witnessed the aftermath of atrocities there were now seeing the same thing happen in their home nation.
In what might be considered coded criticism aimed at Republicans in the US Congress, Zelenskiy said: “This is not the time to withdraw from the international arena into internal disputes. This is not the time to stay silent”. Ulraine’s president added that people should not pretend that terrorism on one continent would not affect the rest of the world.
Speaking at the same event, Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, made an appeal to the west not to get “war fatigue”, saying: “Brave Ukrainian men and women are fighting on the battlefield. They are the face of right against wrong, of good against evil. We must be with Ukraine to the bitter end. None of us can claim war fatigue while Ukraine continues its tireless fight.”
Russia has claimed to have thwarted five attacks by Ukrainian armed forces near Lyman and Torske. Russian forces in occupied Luhansk claim to have killed 50 members of Ukrainian service personnel in the process.
Ukraine has claimed its armed forces repelled a Russian attack in Novoprokopivka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and had “partial success” in nearby Verbove.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. I’m handing you over to my colleague Yohannes Lowe.
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UN concerned 'no established system' to return Ukrainian children from Russia
The UN rights office said on Monday it was concerned there was no system to return Ukrainian children taken to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of the country last year and that some of those who did come back reported mistreatment.
Ukrainian authorities say they have identified and verified almost 20,000 children who have been taken to Russia during the war.
Ukraine has repatriated more than 400 children so far but says it does not know exactly how many more there are because it does not have access to Russia or swathes of occupied territory in the south and east.
“OHCHR remains gravely concerned that there is no established system to return Ukrainian children who were transferred to other regions in Russian-occupied territory or to the Russian Federation,” Nada Al-Nashif, UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, told the UN human rights council in Geneva.
Reuters reports she added “Among the children who reunited with their family after relatives travelled to the Russian Federation to retrieve them, some described experiencing or witnessing psychological or physical violence by educational staff there.”
Moscow has repeatedly denied forcibly taking Ukrainian children, saying it moved children found in orphanages or without parental care to Russia for their own safety and placed as many of as possible with relatives there. Ukraine has accused Russia of abducting the children/
The international criminal court has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of illegally deporting Ukrainian children.
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Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires of Ukrainian service personnel at an undisclosed location in Donetsk.
Russia has claimed to have thwarted five attacks by Ukrainian armed forces, according to a report from Tass. It writes that the media officer for Russia’s central group of troops, who are positioned in occupied Luhansk, claimed Russia had repelled the attacks near Lyman and Torske, killing 50 members of Ukrainian armed forces in the process. The claims have not been independently verified.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appealed at the Nato parliamentary assembly for the international rule of law to unite and deal with terrorism, comparing the attack by what he called a “terrorist organisation” on Israel with the similar tactics used by Russia, which he said was a “terrorist state”.
Speaking via video link, he said the world could agree on a set of definitions of terrorism, saying that it was clear that: “Do not rape women. Do not kill. Do not consider children as trophies. Do not fill villages and towns with blood. Do not shoot civilians in cars” should be the basis.
He said that Hamas and Russia had used the same tactics, and that Israeli journalists who had been in Ukraine and witnessed the aftermath of atrocities there were now seeing the same thing happen in their home nation.
In what might be considered coded criticism aimed at Republicans in the US congress, Zelenskiy said: “This is not the time to withdraw from the international arena into internal disputes. This is not the time to stay silent,” adding that people should not pretend that terrorism on one continent would not affect the rest of the world.
Ukraine’s president linked Iran to the invasion of Ukraine and the attack on Israel, saying Iran “can’t say it has nothing to do with what is going in Ukraine” if it sells Shahed drones to Russian, and that it can’t claim “it has nothing to do with what is going in Israel” if its officials claim to support Hamas.
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Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, has made an appeal to the west not to get “war fatigue” over Ukraine.
Speaking at the Nato parliamentary assembly in Copenhagen, she said: “Brave Ukrainian men and women are fighting on the battlefield. They are the face of right against wrong, of good against evil. This [invasion] is a threat to the ideas our alliance is built on – freedom, democracy, the rule of law.”
She continued “We must be with Ukraine to the bitter end. None of us can claim war fatigue while Ukraine continues its tireless fight. Let us decide that war fatigue will not take place in our transatlantic community.”
In her speech, Frederiksen claimed the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had miscalculated, thinking that Nato’s words of support to Ukraine would “remain just that, words.”.
She said, instead, “Ukrainian soldiers are fighting with our weapons, our tanks, our missiles, and soon Ukraine will also fly our F-16s.”
Frederiksen also appealed to representatives of other Nato nations to broaden the coalition that is supplying fighter jets and the required training for pilots.
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Suspilne reports that explosions have been heard in Kherson. This is not unusual, as the city is opposite the Russian-occupied portion of Kherson region and is frequently under fire. There was an air alert in place in the region earlier this morning, but it was lifted about an hour ago.
The Nato parliamentary assembly is meeting in Copenhagen today. We are expecting the subject of Ukraine to be high on the agenda, with the session being addressed by Volodymyr Zelenskiy. As well as Ukraine’s president, the chair of Ukraine’s parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, is expected to speak, and it will also be addressed by Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark. We will bring you any key lines that emerge. Zelenskiy is due to speak in about an hour’s time.
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In Ukraine, Suspilne is reporting that armed forces repelled a Russian attack in Novoprokopivka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and had “partial success” in nearby Verbove. It cited the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Monday’s intelligence briefing from the UK’s Ministry of Defence has its focus on Russia’s relationship with Iran.
It claims “international isolation has forced Russia to redirect its foreign policy efforts towards previously less-desirable partnerships to gain diplomatic, economic and military support”, asserting that Russia is now producing Iranian-designed drones in Russia under licence.
It adds “Iran recently claimed that Russia had invested $2.76bn (£2.26bn / €2.61bn) into Iran in 2022-23. Economic ties are highly likely to deepen as Russia seeks to mitigate sanctions.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 09 October 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 9, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/qbY4QemQKu
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/EyoKLkdYCW
This is Martin belam with you in London on the live blog. You can contact me on martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Russian shelling kills two in southern Ukraine
Russian forces shelled southern Kherson region and other parts of Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring a dozen more, Ukrainian officials said.
Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of Kherson region, said a man had died in Russian shelling in the northern part of the region. Prokudin had earlier reported that a dozen people were wounded in attacks on different localities.
Russian troops abandoned the city of Kherson and the western bank of the Dnipro River in the region late last year but now regularly shell those areas from positions on the eastern bank.
In northeastern Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Synehubov said a man had died in shelling near the Russian border.
Russia's Duma Council to discuss Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
After the Kremlin said last week that Russia could look into revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), Russia’s Duma council will meet today to discuss this very matter.
Last week, Moscow signalled it may revoke the treaty – noting that the US has signed the treaty but not ratified it – further fuelling concerns that Moscow might resume nuclear tests.
By revoking the ratification, the US said, Moscow wants to increase pressure on Washington and its allies to halt arms supplies and other aid to Ukraine.
The CTBT has been signed by 187 countries and ratified by 178 but it cannot go into force until eight specific holdouts have signed and ratified it. China, Egypt, Iran, and Israel have signed but not ratified it. North Korea, India and Pakistan have not signed.
Although the US signed but did not ratify the treaty, it has observed a moratorium on nuclear weapons test explosions since 1992 that it says it has no plans to abandon.
On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin held out the possibility of resuming nuclear testing, raising concerns of a new nuclear arms race among Russia, the US and China.
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Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s Duma Council is set to meet today to look at revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), further fuelling concerns that Moscow might resume nuclear tests.
Elsewhere, Russian forces shelled southern Kherson region and other parts of Ukraine, killing at least two people and injuring a dozen more, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
More on both of those stories shortly – first, here are the other major developments today:
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has expressed his “solidarity” with Israel in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. “I spoke with Netanyahu to affirm Ukraine’s solidarity with Israel, which suffers from a brazen large-scale attack, and to express condolences for the multiple victims,” Zelenskiy said on social media.
Zelenskiy drew parallels between Israel and the war in Ukraine by stating that “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable”. He said his government had set up an operational headquarters to aid any Ukrainians in Israel. Officials have estimated that about 15,000 Ukrainian refugees have fled to Israel. While having sent tons of humanitarian aid, Netanyahu has consistently refused to supply weapons to Kyiv.
Over the summer, Ukraine has “almost certainly liberated at least 125 sq km of territory” in an eastern area of the country, according to a British intelligence update by the Ministry of Defence. The Velyka Novosilka sector west of the Donetsk oblast town of Vuhledar has “become relatively quiet over the last four weeks” the MoD said.
Ukraine’s air force expects a record number of Russian drone attacks on its soil this winter, its spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Sunday, as Kyiv girds for a second winter of mass bombardment of its energy facilities. Ihnat said that data for September showed the use by Russia of Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones would smash last year’s figure.
UN and local investigators are searching for answers in the village of Hroza in Kharkiv after one of the deadliest airstrikes of the war. The strike on Thursday turned the sole cafe and store in the village to rubble and killed nearly 52 people gathered for a dead soldier’s wake, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other top officials in Kyiv. Only six people in the cafe survived.
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, says that current violence between Hamas and Israel is useful for Russia in diverting the world’s attention and works in their favour. Duda argued in an interview with private broadcaster Polsat News on Sunday that conflict in the Middle East distracts international scrutiny away from Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine and may result in new migration pressures on Europe.
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