Here is a summary of today's main developments
US president, Joe Biden, warns there’s “not much time” to keep US money flowing to Ukraine and has urged Congress to “stop the games, get to work”. In remarks broadcast online, he told Ukrainians his message on future aid was, “we’re going to get it done.”
The absence of provisions for aid to Ukraine in a recent US stopgap bill should not be construed as a change in the nation’s support for Ukraine, multiple Ukrainian officials have said.
Britain wants to move more training and production of military equipment into Ukraine, the UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, told the Sunday Telegraph.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former leader, responded to Shapps’ comments by saying that moving training and production into Ukrainian territory would “turn your instructors into legal targets for our armed forces.
Around Russia, mourners gathered to pay respects to the Wagner mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in an unexplained plane crash 40 days ago.
Ukraine’s foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said Russia makes a mistake if it thinks it can “wait out” military aid for Ukraine.
Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “Ukraine will only get stronger, and Russian aggression will fail.
“We are not just bringing weapons to Ukraine. We are ramping up domestic production and co-production with partners in Nato and beyond.”
Russia makes a mistake if it thinks it can “wait out” military aid for Ukraine. Ukraine will only get stronger, and Russian aggression will fail. We are not just bringing weapons to Ukraine. We are ramping up domestic production and co-production with partners in NATO and beyond. pic.twitter.com/mljxtPNKX6
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 1, 2023
Updated
Slovakia’s populist former prime minister, Robert Fico, who campaigned on a pledge to end military aid to Ukraine, has said his position “has not changed” after his party’s clear election win made him favourite to lead the country for a fourth time.
Fico told reporters he was waiting for Slovakia’s president to give him a mandate to start forming a government – expected on Monday – after officials said on Sunday that Smer-SD had scored 22.9% in Saturday’s vote with 99.98% of ballots counted.
Read more here:
European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said on Sunday the bloc would increase military support to Ukraine after the US Congress passed a stopgap funding bill late on Saturday that omitted aid to Ukraine.
Borrell told a news conference during a visit to Kyiv that in the face of an “existential threat for Europe,” the “proposition on the table” showed the EU wanted to increase military aid to Ukraine.
He was speaking after his first in-person meeting with Ukrainian defence minister, Rustem Umerov, who was appointed last month.
“Let’s see what will happen in the US but from our side, we will continue supporting and increasing our support,” Borrell saidwhen asked about the vote in Washington.
“Ukrainians are fighting with all their courage and capacities,” he said. If the EU wants them to be more successful, he added, “we have to provide them with better arms, and bigger”.
Updated
President Joe Biden on Sunday suggested that Democrats have made a deal with Republicans on support for Ukraine after the US Congress left aid for Kyiv out of a stopgap government spending bill that averted a shutdown.
Biden, asked at a press conference if he could trust Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, in future deals, responded: “We just made one about Ukraine, so we’ll find out.”
Updated
Biden says US 'will not walk away' from Ukraine despite shutdown deal
US president, Joe Biden, warns there’s “not much time” to keep US money flowing to Ukraine and has urged Congress to “stop the games, get to work”.
“I want to assure our American allies, the American people and the people in Ukraine that you can count on our support. We will not walk away,” Biden said in an address from the White House.
Biden said on Sunday he was “sick and tired of the brinkmanship” after a partial shutdown of the federal government was narrowly averted.
In remarks broadcast online, he told Ukrainians his message on future aid was, “we’re going to get it done.”
Last night, Congress passed a spending bill that will keep the government open until just before Thanksgiving.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 1, 2023
While this is good news, I strongly urge Republicans in Congress to pass a year-long budget agreement and avoid another crisis.
Tune in. https://t.co/7esmPV8I1T
Updated
US support for Ukraine remains “unwaveringly strong” despite news that the stopgap budget Congress passed to avert a federal government shutdown will not include new financial support for Kyiv, another Ukrainian official said.
Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said a shutdown could have affected ongoing aid programmes but that the temporary budget would not affect the billions of dollars of financial assistance already pledged by lawmakers in Washington.
“Support for Ukraine remains unwaveringly strong both in the US administration, in both parties, in the houses of the US Congress and most importantly, among the American people,” Nikolenko wrote on social media.
The omission of additional Ukrainian aid from the short-term funding bill, which aims to keep the federal government running until 17 November, has raised concerns for a country that relies heavily on western support in its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.
Updated
'No changes' in US support for Ukraine as funding for aid absent from stopgap bill
The absence of provisions for aid to Ukraine in a recent US stopgap bill should not be construed as a change in the nation’s support for Ukraine, a Ukrainian official has said.
Joe Biden signed the bill on Saturday to extend government funding for 45 days, averting a federal shutdown with just an hour to spare.
The bill did not include additional funding for Ukraine, but Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s office head, said today: “There are no changes regarding support for Ukraine.”
Posting on Telegram, he said: “All key partners of Ukraine are determined to support our country until its victory in this war.
”In particular, the Ukrainian delegation returned from the United States of America with clear confidence that there are no changes in our support.
“During Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit, it was announced that the US would allocate a new package of defense support. There are also very important agreements regarding joint work on the creation of weapons production facilities in Ukraine.”
He added that Ukrainian state leadership regularly meets representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties. Funding of aid to Ukraine has become a source of outrage among hard-right lawmakers in the US
Updated
European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell said during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Ukraine needed more military aid and he promised ongoing EU support, Reuters reports.
“Ukraine needs more capabilities & needs them faster,” he said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he had discussed “continuous EU military assistance” during his first in-person meeting with defence minister, Rustem Umerov.
“We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine,” Borrell added.
This week the European Defence Agency said in response to questions from Reuters that seven EU countries had ordered ammunition under a procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted western stocks.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Britain wants to move more training and production of military equipment into Ukraine, the UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, told the Sunday Telegraph. “Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country’, and not just training, but also we’re seeing [UK defence firm] BAE, for example, move into manufacturing in country,” he said. “I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country,” Shapps said.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former leader, responded to Shapps’ comments by saying that moving training and production into Ukrainian territory would “turn your instructors into legal targets for our armed forces. Knowing full well that they will be mercilessly destroyed. And no longer as mercenaries, but precisely as British Nato specialists.” “These idiots are actively pushing us towards a third world war,” Medvedev said.
Today is Defenders Day in Ukraine, a day to honour veterans and fallen soldiers. The country commemorated the day by remembering loved ones who were killed in Russia’s war. “Tough times have made us strong. And the strong bring the times of victory closer. Step by step. Today, tomorrow, every day, every minute,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a brief address on Telegram.
Around Russia, mourners gathered to pay respects to the Wagner mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in an unexplained plane crash 40 days ago. Prigozhin’s private plane crashed two months after his attempted mutiny, when he and his mercenaries took control of the southern city of Rostov, shot down a number of Russian aircraft and advanced towards Moscow, before turning back 125 miles (200km) from the capital.
Two purported Ukrainian drones struck Russian territory today, with social media video showing one hitting a helicopter base in Sochi and another an aircraft factory in Smolensk. Possibly related to these attacks, Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan called today for “a nuclear ultimatum” after a drone fell right in front of her family home in Adler – Adler is about 38km (23.6 miles) from Sochi.
Russian documents indicating a surge in military spending in 2024 suggest Moscow is preparing for “multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine”, the UK Ministry of Defence says. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said papers apparently leaked from Russia’s finance ministry suggested the country’s defence spending was likely to rise to about 30% of total public expenditure in 2024.
Nato has deployed Airborne Warning and Control System (Awacs) surveillance planes to Šiauliai, Lithuania “to monitor Russian military activity near the alliance’s borders”. The first two aircraft arrived on Thursday.
The Ukrainian parliament today released a statement mourning a Ukrainian photographer who has been killed in action in the Donetsk oblast. Volodymyr Myroniuk, known by the call sign “John”, was thought to have been reporting on the Ukrainian infantry position near Kurdyumivka, which the Verkhovna Rada said Russia had been “attacking for several days”. “‘John’ became one of the human mascots at the front. He thanked every soldier he met with photos.”
US senators from both major parties have issued a statement in support of Kyiv saying Washington will continue to provide critical support to Ukraine after aid to the country was left out of the Congress deal averting a US government shutdown. The joint statement from six senators including Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell, and Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, among three from each side, said they welcomed the agreement but it left a “number of urgent priorities outstanding”.
US president, Joe Biden, has called on Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the deal. “We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said.
An International Monetary Fund team is to kick off meetings in Ukraine today to discuss policy goals and challenges with government officials. Ukraine’s economy has suffered since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022, with Kyiv relying heavily on western aid to finance social and humanitarian payments. Last week, the IMF said it had begun its second review of a $15.6bn multi-year loan programme for the country. The four-year programme for Kyiv is part of a $115-billion global package to support the country’s economy during the war.
Updated
A possible Ukrainian drone has struck a helicopter base in Sochi, Russia, according to media reports.
This strike came after social video showed a drone hitting an aircraft factory in Smolensk.
Ukraine typically will not claim responsibility when drones hit Russia.
⚡️Media: Drones strike Russian facilities in Sochi, Smolensk.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) October 1, 2023
Ukrainian drones successfully struck a helicopter base in Sochi and an aircraft factory in Smolensk on Oct. 1, according to reports by Russian Telegram channels and Ukrainska Pravda.
Russian Telegram channels report a drone attack near Sochi. There has been (unconfirmed so far) information that a helicopter parking lot in Adler area was hit. pic.twitter.com/qLhmV4FR6U
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 1, 2023
A 🇺🇦 drone struck the southern city of Sochi 🇷🇺.
— Jason Jay Smart (@officejjsmart) October 1, 2023
Flights are cancelled.
One more step to cancelling Russia 🇷🇺. pic.twitter.com/358e1JMaRx
Updated
Around Russia, mourners gathered to pay respects to the Wagner mercenary leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in an unexplained plane crash 40 days ago, Reuters reports.
In eastern Orthodoxy, it is believed that the soul makes its final journey to either heaven or hell on the 40th day after death. But while Wagner fighters and ordinary Russians quietly paid their respects in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities, Russian state television remained silent.
Prigozhin’s private jet crashed two months after his attempted mutiny, when he and his mercenaries took control of the southern city of Rostov, shot down a number of Russian aircraft and advanced towards Moscow, before turning back 125 miles (200km) from the capital. The Kremlin said in August that investigators were considering the possibility that the plane was downed on purpose.
“He can be criticised for certain events, but he was a patriot who defended the motherland’s interests on different continents,” Wagner’s recruitment arm said in a statement on Telegram.
“He was charismatic and importantly he was close to the fighters and to the people. And that’s why he became popular both in Russia and abroad,” it said.
At his St Petersburg grave, his mother, Violetta, and his son, Pavel, laid flowers while supporters waved the black flags of Wagner, which feature a skull and the motto “Blood, Honour, Motherland, Courage”.
“He was a real authority, a leader,” Mikhail, a serviceman in Russia’s armed forces who refused to give his second name, told Reuters.
Putin initially cast Prigozhin as a traitor, but later did a deal with him to defuse the crisis. Wagner mercenaries have since left their exile in Belarus and returned to the Ukrainian front in Donetsk oblast. Meanwhile, in the UK, Wagner group has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
Updated
Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan called for “a nuclear ultimatum” today after a drone fell right in front of the family home in Adler.
“Tonight, an attack drone fell right in front of our family home in Adler, where I and my mother grew up, and where my relatives and their small children still live,” the editor of the state news network RT said. “The goals are ever further away, the stakes are ever higher, the nuclear ultimatum becomes increasingly uncontested.”
Updated
A mother, her two children and her four-month-old baby were rescued today from a fire sparked by a Russian drone attack in the Kherson oblast, the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram.
The drone struck a residential building and the subsequent fire trapped the mother, the baby and the three-year-old and five-year-old children inside the structure. Firefighters were able to successfully rescue them.
Updated
Satellite imagery shows Russia is painting the silhouettes of bombers on the tarmac an airbase, according to The War Zone.
Two-dimensional decoy Tu-95MS ‘Bear H’ planes have been seen at the Engels Air Base, thought to be painted directly onto the airstrip or otherwise made of a low profile material such as tarpaulin.
It is not known why Russia has done this but it is speculated that the false Bears will fool satellites and confuse drone operators. However, in both cases it would be unlikely to work as opposing forces have access to modern radar equipment that can distinguish between a 2D and a 3D object.
This is particularly why there have always been so many jokes about the Soviet military: pic.twitter.com/YvXBiuaj5u
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 1, 2023
In Slovakia, the Smer party, led by the populist former prime minister Robert Fico, is on course to win the country’s election, garnering more support than its rival Progressive Slovakia in a dramatic knife-edge race, reports my Guardian colleague Lili Bayer.
Fico, 59, has promised to stop military aid to Ukraine, criticised sanctions targeting Russia and campaigned against LGBTQ+ rights.
Slovakia election: pro-Moscow former PM on course to win with almost all votes counted
Ukrainian photographer killed on the frontline in Donetsk
Robyn Vinter here, temporarily taking over the Ukraine liveblog.
A Ukrainian photographer has been killed in Donetsk, on the frontline, according to the country’s parliament.
Volodymyr Myroniuk, known by the call sign “John”, was thought to have been reporting on the Ukrainian infantry position near Kurdyumivka, which the Verkhovna Rada said Russia had been “attacking for several days”.
Myroniuk, who was also a US citizen, was 59 years old and had worked as a truck driver in the US.
In a Telegram post, the Ukrainian parliament said: “‘John’ became one of the human mascots at the front. He thanked every soldier he met with photos.
“The Committee on Freedom of Speech expresses its sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.”
Photographer Volodymyr Myroniuk, call sign "John", died at the front near Kurdyumivka, Donetsk region.
— Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine - Ukrainian Parliament (@ua_parliament) October 1, 2023
The Committee on Freedom of Speech expresses its sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased!https://t.co/ejcTb0cHCA pic.twitter.com/XLFTrEha43
Russian air defences intercepted five US-made HIMARS shells, an air-launched JDAM bomb and 37 Ukrainian drones over Ukrainian territory in the last 24 hours, Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday.
These interceptions took place on the territory where Russia is fighting a “special military operation”, the ministry said.
Updated
Nato deploys surveillance jets to Lithuania
Nato has deployed Airborne Warning and Control System (Awacs) surveillance planes to Šiauliai, Lithuania “to monitor Russian military activity near the alliance’s borders”.
The first two aircrafts arrived Thursday.
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has increased our focus on the security environment in the Baltic Sea region,” said acting NATO Spokesperson Dylan White. “Our Awacs can detect aircraft and missiles hundreds of kilometres away, making them a key early warning capability for Nato.”
NATO deploys surveillance jets to Lithuania 🇱🇹
— NATO (@NATO) October 1, 2023
The AWACS surveillance jets will fly missions to monitor Russian military activity near the Alliance’s borders and can detect aircraft and missiles hundreds of kilometres away, making them a key early warning capability for NATO
Summary of the day so far
Britain is looking to move more training and production of military equipment into Ukraine, UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, told the Sunday Telegraph. “Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country,’ and not just training but also we’re seeing [UK defence firm] BAE, for example, move into manufacturing in country,” he said. “I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country,” Shapps said.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former leader, responded to Shapps’ comments by saying that moving training and production into Ukrainian territory would “turn your instructors into legal targets for our armed forces. Knowing full well that they will be mercilessly destroyed. And no longer as mercenaries, but precisely as British Nato specialists.” “These idiots are actively pushing us towards a third world war,” Medvedev said.
Today is Defenders Day in Ukraine, a day to honour veterans and fallen soldiers. The country commemorated the day by remembering loved ones who were killed in Russia’s war. “Tough times have made us strong. And the strong bring the times of victory closer. Step by step. Today, tomorrow, every day, every minute,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a brief address on Telegram.
Russian documents indicating a surge in military spending in 2024 suggest Moscow is preparing for “multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine”, the UK Ministry of Defence says. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said papers apparently leaked from Russia’s finance ministry suggested the country’s defence spending was set to rise to about 30% of total public expenditure in 2024.
US senators from both major parties have issued a statement in support of Kyiv saying Washington will continue to provide critical support to Ukraine after aid to the country was left out of the Congress deal averting a US government shutdown. The joint statement from six senators including Republican minority leader, Mitch McConnell, and Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer,, among three from each side, said they welcomed the agreement but it left a “number of urgent priorities outstanding”.
US president, Joe Biden, has called on Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the deal that averted a US government shutdown on Saturday. “We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said.
An International Monetary Fund team is to kick off meetings in Ukraine today to discuss policy goals and challenges with government officials. Ukraine’s economy has suffered since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022, with Kyiv relying heavily on western aid to finance social and humanitarian payments. Last week, the IMF said it had begun its second review of a $15.6bn multi-year loan programme for the country. The four-year programme for Kyiv is part of a $115-billion global package to support the country’s economy during the war.
A 61-year-old local resident was killed in the Russian shelling of Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, the head of the Zaporizhia regional military administration said on Telegram. A 66-year-old woman was wounded in that same shelling. Night-time Russian rocket attacks wounded seven. A 35-year-old was injured when fire caused by a rocket attack broke out at an infrastructure facility, and in the Matviyiv community, a 48-year-old woman and men ages 38, 50, 52, 55 and 61 were injured.
A huge fire erupted at an oil pipeline in the western Ukrainian region of Ivano-Frankivsk on Saturday, injuring nine people, five of them critically, authorities said. The blaze near the village of Strymba caused an oil spill spanning 100 sq metres before it was extinguished. Footage shared on social media showed thick clouds of black smoke billowing out over the village. The cause of the rupture was not immediately clear, but local media outlets reported there had been a powerful explosion. The regional governor, Svitlana Onyshchuk, said two children and three adults were in critical condition with numerous burns.
Updated
A drone struck an aircraft plant in Russia’s Smolensk oblast this morning.
Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defence said air defence systems shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial drones – but made no reference to the drones making any contact or causing any damages.
In the morning, a drone attacked the #Smolensk aircraft plant, which is part of the Tactical Missiles state corporation. Local authorities lied about all the drones being suppressed.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 1, 2023
The mayor of Smolensk, Alexander Novikov, appealed to city residents with a request not to leave… https://t.co/oPbRnxJQP6 pic.twitter.com/XjUJVIFOdR
Updated
One person killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv oblast
One person was killed this morning when Russian forces shelled a central square in Vovchansk in the Kharkiv oblast, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said on Telegram.
The 63-year-old local resident was riding a bicycle at the time, and died on the scene.
Elsewhere in the Kharkiv oblast, a 52-year-old local resident was hospitalised today after stepping on a Russian-planted anti-personnel mine in a forest in Oskil in the Izyum district, said Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration.
Russian forces spent yesterday shelling the settlements of Kharkiv, Bogodukhiv, Chuguyiv, Kupyan and Izyum districts with artillery, mortars and other weapons, damaging two farm buildings, a barn, a fence, a civilian home and commercial building, Synegubov said.
Overnight, Russian forces also launched three missiles at the city of Kharkiv, resulting in a fire.
One person was injured in an overnight drone attack on the Cherkasy oblast, regional governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.
The drone struck an industrial infrastructure in Uman and sparked fires in warehouses where grain is stored, Taburets said. “Law enforcement officers are recording yet another crime committed by Russian terrorists,” he said.
Today is Defenders Day in Ukraine, a day to honour veterans and fallen soldiers. Here are some images of Ukrainians commemorating the day and remembering loved ones who were killed in Russia’s war on their country.
Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Bryansk oblast damaged two administrative buildings and several houses today, said regional governor Alexander Bogomaz.
The shelling occurred in the village of Lyubechane in the Klimovsky district, which is located near the northern border of Ukraine.
Medvedev: UK's plans to train service members in Ukraine makes them 'legal targets'
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former leader, has responded to comments made by UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, today that the UK is in talks to move training and production of military equipment into Ukraine.
“The number of leading idiots in Nato countries is growing,” Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of Russia’s security council, said on Telegram.
Medvedev said that transferring British training courses for Ukrainian soldiers to the territory of Ukraine itself would “turn your instructors into legal targets for our armed forces. Knowing full well that they will be mercilessly destroyed. And no longer as mercenaries, but precisely as British Nato specialists.”
In the same Telegram post, Medvedev called out “the head of the German defence committee with an unpronounceable surname – Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann – who said yesterday that she believes that Ukraine has the right to use long-range missiles to attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.
“They say this is in accordance with international law,” Medvedev said. “Well, in this case, attacks on German factories where these missiles are made will be fully consistent with international law.”
“These idiots are actively pushing us towards a third world war,” Medvedev said.
Updated
International Monetary Fund to begin meetings in Ukraine today
An International Monetary Fund team is set to kick off meetings in Ukraine today to discuss policy goals and challenges with government officials, Reuters is reporting.
“An IMF team, led by Uma Ramakrishnan, Deputy Director of the Fund’s European Department, starts meetings today in Kyiv with the Ukrainian authorities and other stakeholders,”the Fund’s country representative Vahram Stepanyan said in a statement on Sunday.
“The high-level engagement will focus on policy goals and challenges in the context of Ukraine’s program supported by the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement.”
Ukraine’s economy has suffered since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022, with Kyiv relying heavily on western aid to finance social and humanitarian payments. Last week, the IMF said it had begun its second review of a $15.6bn multi-year loan program for the country.
The four-year programme for Kyiv is part of a $115-billion global package to support country’s the economy during the war.
Meanwhile, Kyiv has said that businesses in Ukraine have adjusted to the new wartime reality and that the economy has been recovering faster than expected this year.
Here are some of the latest images coming in from Ukraine via news agency wires:
UK in talks to train more Ukrainian service members
Britain is looking to move more training and production of military equipment into Ukraine, UK defence secretary Grant Shapps told the Sunday Telegraph.
“Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country,’ and not just training but also we’re seeing [UK defence firm] BAE, for example, move into manufacturing in country,” he said.
“I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country,” Shapps said.
This possibility is significant in that the UK and other Nato members have thus far avoided establishing a military presence in Ukraine to reduce the risk of a direct conflict with Russia.
More than 20,000 Ukrainian armed forces recruits have received training in the UK since the start of 2022.
“We’ve seen in the last month or so, developments, really the first since 2014, in the Black Sea, in Crimea, and Britain is a naval nation so we can help and we can advise, particularly since the water is international water,” Shapps said.
“It’s important that we don’t allow a situation to establish by default that somehow international shipping isn’t allowed in that water. So I think there’s a lot of places where Britain can help advise.”
Shapps said he discussed this in his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week.
Vladimir Putin declared that yesterday was “Reunification Day” in commemoration of commemorating Russia’s illegal annexation of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, Celebrations drew crowds of people to Red Square in Moscow this weekend, but in the occupied regions where residents say they were forced under threats of violence to vote in the sham referendums making their homes part of the Russian Federation?
In the Luhansk oblast, a car rally in honour of the reunification brought in just 11 cars.
A car rally in honor of “reunification” with Russia was held in the occupied Luhansk region.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) October 1, 2023
Judging by the video, this event has "enormous" support: 11 cars took part in the rally. pic.twitter.com/BXwvwK2ycW
Russian air defence systems shot down two Ukrainian unmanned aerial drones this morning, the defence ministry of Russia said on Telegram.
Defence systems intercepted the two drones over Russia’s Smolensk oblast located outside Moscow and on the border of Belarus.
Today is Defenders Day in Ukraine, a day honouring veterans and fallen members of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy commemorated the day with a brief address on Telegram:
Tough times have made us strong. And the strong bring the times of victory closer. Step by step. Today, tomorrow, every day, every minute.
No one should or will be able to “turn off” our resilience, endurance, grit, and fortitude. Neither on a regular nor an emergency basis. None of them have an “expiration date”, an “end date” or a final point after which we would stop resisting and fighting. There is only one such point: our victory. As we bring it closer every day, we say, “We will fight for as long as it takes”.
We were doing it in the first minutes of February 24th; we have been doing it for all these 585 days, and we will keep doing it.
Glory to all those who are fighting and defending the homeland! Glory to our defenders! Glory to the Ukrainian people!
Glory to Ukraine!
One killed in Russian shelling of Zaporizhzhia oblast
A 61-year-old local resident was killed in the Russian shelling of Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, the head of the Zaporizhia regional military administration said on Telegram.
A 66-year-old woman was wounded in that same shelling, said Yuriy Malashko.
Nighttime Russian rocket attacks wounded seven. A 35-year-old was injured when fire caused by a rocket attack broke out at an infrastructure facility, and in the Matviyiv community, a 48-year-old woman and men ages 38, 50, 52, 55 and 61 were injured.
The regional military administration also received 16 reports about destruction of residential buildings and infrastructure facilities. Yesterday alone saw 127 Russian artillery shells, five airstrikes and six rocket attacks through the Zaporizhia region, Malashko said.
Russian forces launched eight missiles, 99 air strikes and 45 multiple launch rocket system attacks yesterday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 38 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in their morning briefing.
Air strikes hit Halahanivka in the Chernihiv oblast; Novoselivs’ke, Nevs’ke, Novolyubivka and Bilohorivka in the Luhansk oblast; Terny, Zarichne, Sivers’k, Spirne, Vesele, Kostyantynivka, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, New York, Avdiivka, Mar’inka, Novomykhailivka, Prechystivka, Urozhaine and Staromaiors’ke in the Donetsk oblast; Mala Tokmachka, Novodanylivka, Robotyne and Novoandriivka in the Zaporizhzhia oblast; and Mykolaivka in the Kherson oblast.
More than 120 settlements in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts came under artillery fire.
According to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian forces lost 440 personnel yesterday.
Updated
Moscow apparently readying for 'multiple years' more fighting, UK MoD says
Russian documents indicating a surge in military spending in 2024 suggest Moscow is preparing for “multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine”, the UK Ministry of Defence says.
In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said papers apparently leaked from Russia’s finance ministry suggested the country’s defence spending was set to rise to about 30% of total public expenditure in 2024.
The Russian ministry proposes a defence budget of 10.8tn roubles ($112bn/£92bn), equivalent to about 6% of GDP and a 68% increase over 2023, the UK MoD said in its update, posted on X/Twitter.
It is highly likely that Russia can support this level of defence spending through 2024, but only at the expense of the wider economy.
Full details on Russian defence spending are always classified, but these figures suggests that Russia is preparing for multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine.
This follows public comments by defence minister Sergei Shoigu on [Wednesday] suggesting he was prepared for the conflict to continue into 2025.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 01 October 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 1, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/lVRP9twVxh
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/W5mGtTkasa
Updated
Ukrainian industrial infrastructure in the central city of Uman was struck during a Russian attack overnight, the regional governor said.
The Ukrainian air force said air defence systems shot down 16 out of about 30 drones that Russia launched on Ukrainian territory overnight, Reuters reports.
The air force said on Telegram on Sunday that drones were launched from the southern, south-eastern and northern directions.
Authorities said the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy was under the attack.
Cherkasy’s governor, Ihor Taburets, said on Telegram:
At night, the enemy massively attacked our Cherkasy region with attack drones. Unfortunately, there were hits on industrial infrastructure in [the city of] Uman.
As a result, fires broke out in warehouses. In particular, where grain was stored.
One person was injured, Taburets said.
Updated
US senators from both major parties have issued a statement in support of Kyiv saying Washington will continue to provide critical support to Ukraine after aid to the country was left out of the Congress deal averting a US government shutdown.
The joint statement from six senators including Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer, among three from each side, said they welcomed the agreement but it left a “number of urgent priorities outstanding”.
Their statement said:
In the coming weeks, we expect the Senate will work to ensure the US government continues to provide critical and sustained security and economic support for Ukraine.
We support Ukraine’s efforts to defend its sovereignty against Putin’s brazen aggression, and we join a strong bipartisan majority of our colleagues in this essential work.
With the eyes of our partners, allies and adversaries upon us, we keenly understand the importance of American leadership and are committed to strengthening it from Europe to the Indo-Pacific.
Updated
Biden urges US Congress to approve Ukraine aid left out of deal
US president Joe Biden has called on Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the deal that averted a US government shutdown on Saturday.
Agence France-Presse reports that Biden welcomed the agreement but said in a statement:
We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.
“I fully expect the speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment,” Biden added, referring to the Republican House leader, Kevin McCarthy.
Lawmakers must now wrangle on a separate bill on $24bn in military assistance to Ukraine that Biden wanted in the budget, with a vote possible early next week, US media reported.
Hard-right Republicans had strongly opposed the inclusion of Ukraine aid in the deal, despite support for it from moderate Republicans including McCarthy.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome back to our coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now at day 585. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a look at the latest developments.
US president Joe Biden has called on Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the deal that averted a US government shutdown on Saturday.
“We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said.
More on that soon. In other news:
A huge fire erupted at an oil pipeline in the western Ukrainian region of Ivano-Frankivsk on Saturday, injuring nine people, five of them critically, authorities said. The blaze near the village of Strymba caused an oil spill spanning 100 sq metres before it was extinguished. Footage shared on social media showed thick clouds of black smoke billowing out over the village. The cause of the rupture was not immediately clear, but local media outlets reported there had been a powerful explosion. The regional governor, Svitlana Onyshchuk, said two children and three adults were in critical condition with numerous burns.
A Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday in the southern Russian region of Bryansk injured one person and damaged windows and the roof of an administrative building, the region’s governor said. Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram the incident occurred in Trubchevsk town. He earlier said a village in the region had been shelled by Ukrainian forces, damaging three homes.
Ukraine signed 20 agreements and memorandums with foreign partners on the manufacture of drones and the repair and production of armoured vehicles and ammunition at the first international Defence Industries Forum, which Kyiv organised with international producers. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he wanted to turn Ukraine’s defence industry into a “large military hub”, also announcing the creation of the Defence Industries Alliance.
The UK’s new defence secretary says he has held talks with army leaders about deploying British troops within Ukraine for the first time for a training program. Grant Shapps, who met Zelenskiy for talks in Kyiv this week, said the proposal being discussed would reduce the reliance on the UK and other Nato members’ bases.
Nato member Romania reported possible violations of its airspace during overnight drone attacks by Russia on infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine. “Following the detection of groups of drones heading towards Ukrainian territory near the Romanian border,” residents in the Tulcea and Galati municipalities were alerted, the defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday. “The radar surveillance system … indicated possible unauthorised entry into national airspace.” The ministry said no objects so far appeared to have fallen on Romanian territory but the search would continue.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev marked the anniversary by suggesting Russia may annex more of Ukraine. “Victory will be ours. And there will be more new regions within Russia,” said Medvedev, who is now deputy chair of Russia’s security council.
