Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine can take back Crimea only through diplomatic means. “We cannot spend dozens of, thousands of our people so that they perish for the sake of Crimea coming back … we understand that Crimea can be brought back diplomatically,” the Ukrainian president told Fox News. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. “I was already mentioning that we are ready to bring Crimea back diplomatically,” Zelenskyy said.
Asked on Fox whether Ukraine might give up territory for peace, Zelenskyy said: “We cannot legally acknowledge any occupied territory of Ukraine as Russian. That is about those territories … occupied by Putin before the full-scale invasion, since 2014. Legally, we are not acknowledging that, we are not adopting that.”
Russia staged “a massive information-psychological attack” against Ukraine by spreading a fake warning, purportedly from Ukrainian military intelligence, about an imminent mass air attack, Kyiv’s Main Directorate of Intelligence said on Wednesday. “This message is a fake, it contains grammatical errors typical of Russian information and psychological operations.” Ukraine on Wednesday downplayed the threat of any imminent and large-scale missile threat after several foreign embassies in Kyiv closed for a day citing a “potential” strike. “We remind you that the threat of strikes by the aggressor state has unfortunately been a daily reality for Ukrainians for over 1,000 days,” said a foreign ministry statement.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, on a state visit in Brazil, said he wanted to see “more voices committed to peace to pave the way for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis”, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.
Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, the Guardian understands from multiple sources. Dan Sabbagh and Andrew Roth write that video circulated by pro-Russian war bloggers indicated that up to 12 missiles struck a target believed to be a command headquarters in the village of Maryno, in the Kursk region where Ukraine holds territory. Ukrainian media reported that the site may have been used by North Korean and Russian officers.
Zelenskyy thanked the US and Joe Biden for the provision of landmines to Ukrainian troops, calling it “essential … to stop Russian assaults” in a video address on Wednesday. In addition to the landmines, the latest $275m US aid package includes drones, Himars rockets and artillery.
The US decision to send anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine – criticised by rights groups – was triggered by a change in Russian battlefield tactics favouring infantry over mechanised units, said the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin. “They lead with dismounted forces who are able to close and do things to kind of pave the way for mechanised forces,” he said, adding that the Ukrainians “have a need for things that can help slow down that effort on the part of the Russians”.
US and Ukrainian officials confirmed Ukraine has used US-made Atacms missiles to strike targets within Russia. The Kremlin said six missiles were launched at the town of Karachev, with one reportedly causing a significant explosion.
The Netherlands has handed the final two of 18 promised F-16 fighter jets to a training facility in Romania, where Ukrainian pilots and ground staff are being taught to fly and maintain them in battle, the Dutch defence ministry said.
The Biden administration has moved to forgive about $4.7bn in US loans to Ukraine, state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday, as outgoing officials seek to do what they can before leaving office to bolster Ukraine in its war against Russia. A funding bill passed by Congress in April included just over $9.4bn of forgivable loans for economic and budgetary support, half of which the president could cancel after 15 November.
Italy will continue to provide support to Ukraine in its war against Russia, the defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday. “The government’s position has not changed, we believe it is necessary to continue providing support to Ukraine in line with what we have done so far in order to achieve … the conditions for a just and lasting peace,” Crosetto told parliament.
