Volodymyr Zelensky has warned the situation on the battlefield against Russia is “very, very difficult” as Vladimir Putin’s invasion enters its third autumn.
“Reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: The situation is very, very difficult,” he said in his nightly video address.
“Everything that can be done this autumn, everything that we can achieve must be achieved,” he said.
Russia is ramping up its military recruitment before ground conditions deteriorate with the arrival of winter, ordering the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in an autumn draft campaign that starts today.
That figure is on top of the additional 180,000 active servicemen Putin ordered in an expansion of the regular Russian army last month.
Meanwhile, outgoing Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has said the alliance’s members should not be deterred from giving more military aid to Ukraine by “reckless Russian nuclear rhetoric”.
Frontline ‘very, very difficult,’ Zelensky warns
Putin seeks military draft of 133,000 servicemen in autumn
Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Putin: Russia will accomplish “all goals set” in Ukraine invasion
04:22 , Shweta Sharma
Britain said it sanctioned 16 members of the Russian cyber-crime gang Evil Corp, a group it said had been tasked by Russia to conduct operations against Nato allies.
Evil Corp was once believed to be the most significant cyber-crime threat in the world, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said after taking coordinated action with officials in the United States and Australia.
“Today’s sanctions send a clear message to the Kremlin that we will not tolerate Russian cyber-attacks – whether from the state itself or from its cyber-criminal ecosystem,” foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement.
In 2019, the US indicted and sanctioned Evil Corp’s alleged leader, the Lamborghini-driving Maksim Yakubets, and put a $5m bounty out for information leading to his arrest.
In its latest disclosure, the NCA said the group had been tasked by Russian intelligence services to conduct cyber-attacks and espionage operations against Nato allies, although it gave no further details.
Yakubets, it said, had worked with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and military intelligence unit GRU.
04:04 , Shweta Sharma
Ukraine said it had launched an investigation into what it said was an apparent shooting of 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian soldiers.
The soldiers who were allegedly killed had surrendered on the eastern Ukrainian frontline.
“This is the largest reported case of the execution of Ukrainian POWs on the front line and yet another indication that the killing and torture of prisoners of war are not isolated incidents,” Ukraine’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said on X.
“This is a deliberate policy of the Russian military and political leadership.”
Moscow did not immediately comment on the accusations. The Kremlin denies that Russia commits war crimes in Ukraine.
The Ukraine prosecutor general office said on the Telegram messaging app that it was looking into a video shared on social media showing the alleged killing.
A video with grainy drone footage purported to show a group of more than ten people leaving a trench. They are lined up and then fall down after being fired upon by other, indistinct figures.
Mr Kostin said the incident took place on the Pokrovsk front, an area of intensified Russian assaults.
03:00 , Alexander Butler
Russian troops have reached the centre of Vuhledar, a bastion on strategic high ground in eastern Ukraine that has resisted Russian assaults since Moscow’s full-scale invasion, the regional governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Tuesday.
Vadym Filashkin, the governor, said the situation in Vuhledar was extremely difficult.
“The enemy is already nearly in the centre of the city,” Filashkin told Ukrainian TV.
Russian forces reached the outskirts of the small mining town last week and intensified their offensive push in recent days.
Moscow’s troops in eastern Ukraine advanced at their fastest rate in two years in August, according to multiple open-source maps. Their relentless advance in the Ukrainian east comes despite Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region
02:00 , Alexander Butler
New Nato chief Mark Rutte has doubled down on his commitment to Ukraine as he takes charge at a critical time for the Western alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister replaced Jens Stoltenberg as Nato secretary general on Tuesday, where he pledged continued support for Kyiv’s fight against Russia.
Mr Rutte’s appointment comes just before a pivotal US presidential election in November, with Nato-sceptic Donald Trump, who declined to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war, on the Republican ticket.
“We have to make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation,” Mr Rutte said at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Speaking about the prospect of former US president Donald Trump’s re-election, Mr Rutte added: “I’m not worried.
“I worked for four years with Donald Trump. He was the one pushing us to spend more on defence and he achieved this.
“Because indeed, at the moment, we are now at a much higher spending level than we were when he took office.”
01:00 , Alexander Butler
Russia must prepare for a long confrontation with the United States and has sent repeated warnings to Washington over the crisis in relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned.
The Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The conflict is entering what Russian officials say is the most dangerous phase to date. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Kyiv’s allies for months to let Ukraine fire longer-range Western missiles deep into Russia to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks.
Mr Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and relations with Washington, said Moscow had no illusions about relations, given the “bipartisan anti-Russian consensus” in the United States.
“We must prepare for a long-term confrontation with this country. We are ready for this in every sense,” Mr Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 23:00 , Alexander Butler
Ukraine builds first undergound steel hospital near frontline
Tuesday 1 October 2024 22:00 , Alexander Butler
Shocking video shows Russian fighter jet just feet away from US plane in near miss
Tuesday 1 October 2024 21:00 , Alexander Butler
Navalny ally calls on West to invest in Russia’s next generation to beat Putin
Tuesday 1 October 2024 20:00 , Tom Watling
The fall of Putin is inevitable, says freed dissident Vladimir Kara Murza
Tuesday 1 October 2024 19:00 , Tom Watling
Vladimir Kara-Murza: How I survived 11 months of torture in Putin’s gulag
Tuesday 1 October 2024 18:00 , Alexander Butler
Ukraine will fight street to street to keep Russia out of key eastern city
Tuesday 1 October 2024 17:00 , Alexander Butler
Russia and China are engaged in a secret weapons programme to produce long-range drones against Ukraine, a report claims.
A subsidiary of Russian state-owned weapons company Almaz-Antey, IEMZ Kupol, have allegedly developed a new drone model called Garpiya-3 (G3) in China, according to documents seen by news agencyReuters and sources they have spoken to.
The documents are said to show Kupol told the Russian Defence Ministry that it was able to produce drones including the G3 at scale at a factory in China – with the help of local specialists.
Russia has secret war drone project in China, report alleges
Tuesday 1 October 2024 16:00 , Alexander Butler
Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Tuesday 1 October 2024 15:13 , Alexander Butler
Vuhledar – which means “gift of coal” – is a coal mining town in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region with a pre-war population of around 14,000 people, nearly all of whom have fled.
It was built by the Soviet Union in the mid 1960s around a mine. There are two mines there now with significant coal reserves.
Russians call the town, which sits on a flat plain and is comprised of high-rise apartment buildings and other structures, Ugledar.
Moscow says the Donetsk region is one of four Ukrainian regions it has annexed since 2022, a claim Kyiv rejects as illegal.
Moscow sees taking control of Vuhledar as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia.
Control of the town – which Russians long regarded as one of Ukraine’s toughest fortified positions to crack – is considered important by both sides because of its position on elevated ground and because it sits at the intersection of the eastern and southern battlefield fronts giving it added significance when it comes to supplying both sides’ forces.
While Ukrainian forces were in full control of Vuhledar, they were able to use the town as a platform to shell Russian military supply lines in the area.
The town sits close to a railway line from Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, to Ukraine’s industrialised Donbas region which comprises Donetsk and the eastern region of Luhansk, most of which Moscow controls.
Taking Vuhledar, which Russia portrays as one of the last Ukrainian strongholds in southern Donetsk, would open the way for Russian forces to advance on other places.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 13:58 , Alexander Butler
Russian troops have reached the centre of Vuhledar, a bastion on strategic high ground in eastern Ukraine that has resisted Russian assaults since Moscow’s full-scale invasion, the regional governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Tuesday.
Vadym Filashkin, the governor, said the situation in Vuhledar was extremely difficult.
“The enemy is already nearly in the centre of the city,” Filashkin told Ukrainian TV.
Russian forces reached the outskirts of the small mining town last week and intensified their offensive push in recent days.
Moscow’s troops in eastern Ukraine advanced at their fastest rate in two years in August, according to multiple open-source maps. Their relentless advance in the Ukrainian east comes despite Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region
Tuesday 1 October 2024 13:30 , Alexander Butler
Shocking video shows Russian fighter jet just feet away from US plane in near miss
Tuesday 1 October 2024 13:00 , Alexander Butler
Russia must prepare for a long confrontation with the United States and has sent repeated warnings to Washington over the crisis in relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned.
The Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
The conflict is entering what Russian officials say is the most dangerous phase to date. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Kyiv’s allies for months to let Ukraine fire longer-range Western missiles deep into Russia to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks.
Mr Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and relations with Washington, said Moscow had no illusions about relations, given the “bipartisan anti-Russian consensus” in the United States.
“We must prepare for a long-term confrontation with this country. We are ready for this in every sense,” Mr Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 12:00 , Alexander Butler
Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Tuesday 1 October 2024 11:15 , Alexander Butler
New Nato chief Mark Rutte has doubled down on his commitment to Ukraine as he takes charge at a critical time for the Western alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister replaced Jens Stoltenberg as Nato secretary general on Tuesday, where he pledged continued support for Kyiv’s fight against Russia.
Mr Rutte’s appointment comes just before a pivotal US presidential election in November, with Nato-sceptic Donald Trump, who declined to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war, on the Republican ticket.
“We have to make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation,” Mr Rutte said at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Speaking about the prospect of former US president Donald Trump’s re-election, Mr Rutte added: “I’m not worried.
“I worked for four years with Donald Trump. He was the one pushing us to spend more on defence and he achieved this.
“Because indeed, at the moment, we are now at a much higher spending level than we were when he took office.”
Tuesday 1 October 2024 10:20 , Alexander Butler
Tuesday 1 October 2024 09:44 , Alexander Butler
New Nato chief Mark Rutte said he was determined to prepare the transatlantic alliance for the challenges of the future.
He added that the group must deliver on the promises it made to Ukraine to help the country in its war against Russia. The conflict in Ukraine is not contained to the front lines, Mr Rutte said.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 09:24 , Alexander Butler
Russia will not sign a new treaty with the United States to replace the agreement limiting each side’s strategic nuclear weapons that expires in 2026, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified senior Russian source.
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New Start, is the last remnant of efforts to slow the nuclear arms race between the former Cold War superpowers and increase transparency by imposing verifiable limits on the number of weapons.
President Vladimir Putin in 2023 suspended Russian participation in the treaty due to U.S. support for Ukraine, though Moscow has kept to the warhead, missile and bomber limits imposed by the agreement – as has the United States.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 08:30 , Alexander Butler
At least five people were killed when Russian forces struck a market in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday morning, the regional governor said.
Another three people were wounded in the attack, Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 07:50 , Alexander Butler
Russian president Vladimir Putin is waging war to try and wipe Ukraine off the map, the country’s top tennis player has warned.
Elina Svitolina, 30, accused Russia of genocide and urged the West to help bring back roughly 20,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russian camps since Putin’s invasion in February 2022.
More than 70 camps used to forcibly “re-educate” children have been found across Russia, Belarus and occupied Crimea, according to the Ukrainian government.
Svitolina stunned the sporting world in 2023 after she beat world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon quarter-finals just eight months after giving birth to her daughter.
Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Tuesday 1 October 2024 07:33 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said he has submitted to the government a request to dismiss three of his deputies in a new military shake-up.
Mr Umerov also added that he has requested the dismissal of Liudmyla Darahan, the state secretary of the defence ministry.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 07:22 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s military shot down 29 out of 32 drones launched by Russia during an overnight attack, Kyiv’s air force said today.
It added that the Iranian-made “Shahed-type” drones were downed over parts of central, southern and northeastern Ukraine.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 07:12 , Arpan Rai
Donald Trump has said he “likes” president Volodymyr Zelensky, a week after he called the war-time leader a “great salesman”.
The two met in New York on Friday as Mr Zelensky wrapped up his bilateral visit to the US, seeking a boost in support for fast military action from Kyiv’s most important ally.
Mr Trump did not meet with the Ukrainian leader till the last day of his trip and at one stage it looked like the meeting might not happen.
“I had a good relationship with Zelensky…I like him. Because during the impeachment hoax … he could have said he didn’t know the [conversation] was taped. … But instead of grandstanding and saying, ‘Yes, I felt threatened,’ he said, ‘He [Trump] did absolutely nothing wrong’,” the Republican presidential candidate told the Washington Post in an interview.
Mr Trump has been consistently critical of US spending on Ukraine since Vladimir Putin’s invasion. Two days before meeting Zelensky, he described Ukraine in bleak and mournful terms, referring to its people as “dead” and the country itself as “demolished”.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 07:00 , Alex Croft
Vladimir Putin has told the Russian people that its military will accomplish “all goals set” in Ukraine.
Putin was speaking in a video message to mark the second anniversary of “Reunification Day” – when Moscow officially claimed the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as its own.
“The truth is on our side. All goals set will be achieved,” Putin said on Monday as he addressed the nation.
He said Ukraine’s western allies had “turned Ukraine into their colony, a military base aimed at Russia” and promoted “hate, radical nationalism” against Russia.
“Today we are fighting for a secure, prosperous future for our children and grandchildren,” Putin added.
Russia held sham referendums in the four regions on September 30, 2022, seven months after Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
Putin signed a document to unilaterally incorporate the occupied regions of Ukraine into the Russian Federation – a move which has not been recognised by any western countries.
Russia does not fully control the territories which it has laid claim to.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 06:55 , Arpan Rai
Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte takes over as Nato boss today, his immediate task being to support Ukraine at a critical time in its war with Russia.
Mr Rutte will take over as secretary-general from Jens Stoltenberg of Norway today at a ceremony at Nato headquarters in Brussels. Mr Stoltenberg has overseen the organisation during a turbulent decade marked above all by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Rutte, who stepped down as Dutch premier this year after a record 14 years in the job, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine. He has also urged Europeans to “stop whining” about former US president Donald Trump and get on with boosting the continent’s defences.
His key tasks are laid out – primary being pushing Nato nations to spend more on defence and keep the US engaged in European security.
However, uncertainty hangs over both – the conflict in Ukraine, which has turned into a grinding war of attrition, and future US support for Nato and Kyiv, with Nato-sceptic Trump in a close electoral contest with vice president Kamala Harris.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 06:29 , Arpan Rai
The US State Department has finally explained the delay in reaching a decision on whether to permit Ukraine to hit Russia with US-supplied long-range weapons.
Washington will assess how the move will impact the entire battlefield, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters yesterday.
“…we look at all of the capabilities and all the tactics and all the support that we provide Ukraine in totality, and look at how – when we approve any new weapon system or any new tactic, we look at how it’s going to affect the entire battlefield and Ukraine’s entire strategy. And that’s what we’ll continue to do,” Mr Miller said on being asked about why is the US not letting Ukraine hit Russia with American weapons.
He also said that the US does not view other weapons systems or tactics as “the one magic capability that would change the face of the conflict”.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 06:02 , Alex Croft
Kyiv went through multiple waves of drone attacks over Sunday night, the city’s authorities said.
An air raid alert was in place in the capital from 1am until just after 6am this morning, as Ukrainian air defense systems battled the drones.
Vitalii Klitschlo, the mayor of Kyiv, warned residents shortly before 5am to “stay in shelters” due to a wave of drones “over and near the capital”, The Kyiv Independent reported.
There have been no casualties or damage to the city reported.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian forces launched 73 Shahed-type drones across Ukraine overnight, with 67 intercepted.
Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said: “All Russian attack drones that threatened Kyiv were neutralized.” It is not clear how many drones attacked Kyiv.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 05:57 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine does not need the US’s permission to strike back on targets deep within Russia with its own weapons, the US State Department has said.
“Ukraine does not need our permission to strike back against Russian targets. They are a sovereign country and can use the weapons that they build on their own, of which [there] are many, if you look at the programs that they have put in place over the last year,” said US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller during a press briefing yesterday.
“And then when you look at the weapons that we have provided to them, we’ve made clear that they can use them to strike back against Russian targets across the border that are launching attacks,” he said.
The US official said Ukraine has an “enormous amount of material to defend itself” and the US always looks to provide the war-hit nation with additional tools.
“We always look at whether there are additional tools that we can provide them. If you notice the announcement that the president made on Thursday, we are providing them with an additional $8bn in security assistance, and we will continue to support them,” he said.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 05:46 , Arpan Rai
As Russia sent a barrage of 76 drones and missiles in an overnight attack yesterday, Ukraine’s air force swiftly moved to intercept the aerial munitions.
New photos show drones exploding as they are being destroyed by Ukrainian air defence during a strike on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 05:24 , Arpan Rai
The Russian government is rapidly pushing its defence spending for next year to a record high as it pursues victory in Ukraine.
Moscow wants to earmark 32.5 per cent of its spending next year for defence, a record amount and up from a reported 28.3 per cent this year, according to the draft budget released yesterday.
The government’s draft proposes spending just under 13.5 trillion roubles (over $145bn) on national defence. This is about 3 trillion roubles ($32bn) more than was set aside for defence this year – itself a record.
According to the draft budget, spending on defence should decline in 2026.
Vladimir Putin is also looking at how to sustain his war effort as military spending has placed a huge strain on the Russian economy.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 05:01 , Alex Croft
President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the “professional, brave and resilient” Ukrainian medics, who are central in helping the country “stand against Russian territory”.
He posted a handful of powerful pictures alongside the message on Monday.
Our combat medics and medical workers, like our warriors, help our state every day to stand against Russian terror and defend lives. They are professional, brave, and resilient.
No matter how difficult the conditions, they give their all, using every bit of strength and humanity… pic.twitter.com/onPcHt1n6l
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 30, 2024
Tuesday 1 October 2024 04:13 , Arpan Rai
Russian president Vladimir Putin is waging war to try and wipe Ukraine off the map, the country’s top tennis player has warned.
Elina Svitolina, 30, accused Russia of genocide and urged the West to help bring back roughly 20,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russian camps since Putin’s invasion in February 2022.
More than 70 camps used to forcibly “re-educate” children have been found across Russia, Belarus and occupied Crimea, according to the Ukrainian government.
Svitolina stunned the sporting world in 2023 after she beat world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon quarter-finals just eight months after giving birth to her daughter.
Svitolina tells Alexander Butler the West must act to get Ukraine’s stolen children back from Russia:
Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns
Tuesday 1 October 2024 04:05 , Alex Croft
Russian attacks on Ukraine killed three people and injured at least 45 more over the past day, regional authorities said on Sept 30.
Two people were killed in the villages of Lysivka and Shevchenko in the Donetsk region, with three injured across the region.
One person was killed and 12 injured in the Kherson region, where Russian forces targeted 17 towns and cities including Kherson city itself.
An air strike on Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine injured at least 16 people, including two boys aged 17 and eight, while damaging residential buildings and a railway.
Ten people were injured in the northeastern Sumy region as a result of guided aerial boom and FPV drone attacks, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 15:43 , Alexander Butler
Former Dutch PM takes over as Nato chief
Tuesday 1 October 2024 03:58 , Arpan Rai
Vladimir Putin has ordered the conscription of 133,000 new servicemen in Russia’s autumn draft that starts today, a Kremlin decree said.
The decree seeks to carry out the draft of citizens “aged 18 to 30 years, who are not in the reserve and are subject to conscription in accordance with the Federal Law… in the amount of 133,000 people.”
The mobilisation will go on until the end of the year, the decree published yesterday in Russian state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta read.
Vice admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, head of Russia’s conscription office, said the terms of conscript remain the same – 12-month service in military units in Russia.
“I would like to note that conscripts will not be called up to participate in the special military operation in the new regions,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta cited Tsimlyansky as claiming.
Last month, Putin had already ordered the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 troops to 1.5 million active servicemen as the invasion of Ukraine enters its third winter.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 03:50 , Arpan Rai
The situation on the frontline against Russia is “very, very difficult,” Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.
“Reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: The situation is very, very difficult,” he said in his nightly video address, referring to a more than two and a half hour meeting with top commanders.
“Everything that can be done this autumn, everything that we can achieve must be achieved,” he said.
It was the second time in less than a week that Mr Zelensky referred to the need to act quickly in the coming months in terms of military action.
Russian forces have been advancing on the hilltop town of Vuhledar in the south of the Donetsk region, Ukrainian military bloggers have reported in recent days.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 03:04 , Alex Croft
Lithuania has requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate their neighbours, Belarus, over alleged crimes against humanity.
The Lithuanian justice ministry said on Monday it was asking the ICC to open an investigation into alleged crimes committed by the regime of authoritarian leader and Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko.
Lithuania accuses Lukashenko and Belarus of “forced deportation, persecution of persons and other cruel behaviour which is contrary to the main norms of international law”, Reuters reported.
Lukashenko’s regime has ruled Belarus since 1994 and has long been an ally of Putin. Around 300,000 Belarusians have been forced to flee the country due to the nature of the regime.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled opposition leader who is recognised by Lithuania as the legitimate leader of Belarus, said: “The crimes committed by this regime, from forced deportations to illegal arrests and torture, cannot go unpunished. Lithuania’s courage gives us hope that the world is finally holding the regime accountable for its atrocities.”
Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election and was forced to flee the country after he was declared the winner.
Western governments denounced the result as fraudulent.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 02:00 , Alex Croft
Russia aims to draft 133,000 servicemen between October and January after a new decree signed by president Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Men aged 18 to 30 will be eligible for draft as part of the autumn conscription campaign, The Kyiv Independent reported.
In autumn 2023, the conscription campaign included people who lived in the annexed regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
Russia is likely recruiting around 30,000 people per month to the war effort, the UK defense ministry said in March.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 01:03 , Alex Croft
US citizen Stephen James Hubbard pleaded guilty to charges of mercenary activity in a Moscow court on Monday.
Mr Hubbard admitted to receiving money to fight for Ukraine against Russia, the RIA state news agency reported.
The 72-year-old was placed in pre-trial detention for six months last week, and faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted.
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Moscow said it was aware an American citizen had been detained but did not offer further comment.
Prosecutors claim he was promised $1,000 a month to fight with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit at the start of the war.
There has been no independent verification of Russia’s claims.
The Michigan native has worked as an English teacher abroad for decades, his sister Patricia Fox told Reuters.
Ms Fox denied he was a mercenary and said he had no interest in fighting war. “He is so non-military,” she told Reuters. “He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that…He’s more of a pacifist.”
Mr Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and survived on a small pension. Ms Fox last spoke with her brother in September 2021, when he split with his girlfriend and was living alone.
There are at least 10 American citizens behind bars in Russia, two months after a major prisoner swap in August.
Tuesday 1 October 2024 00:02 , Alex Croft
Some parts of president Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan” will remain secret, his office has confirmed.
The five-point victory plan was presented to president Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday (Sept 26), before he discussed it with presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The full details of the peace framework proposed in the plan has not yet been publicised, but its goal is to strengthen Ukraine’s future negotiating position and force Russia into accepting a just peace, Kyiv says.
It includes Ukraine’s invitation to join NATO, among other military and diplomatic components.
The head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak told the Ukrainian people on Sunday that the plan will be presented publicly bar some “sensitive” details, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Monday 30 September 2024 23:29 , Alex Croft
The Russian military has captured the village of Nelipivka in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, according to Russian-owned Interfax news agency.
The news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as making the claim on Monday (Sept 30), Reuters reported.
It was not possible for Reuters to independently verify the battle report, but it comes as Russian forces continue their progress in the Donetsk region where they are focussing much of their military firepower.
Monday 30 September 2024 23:00 , Alex Croft
Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories who were forced to obtain Russian passports will not be prosecuted, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.
The Ministry said in a statement that depriving a person of choice is a common tactic used by Russia to “influence a person’s behaviour”, so they act not of free will but out of “fear of repression or the imposition of illegal restrictions”.
It added: “One example is the forced passportisation in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT) of Ukraine, which is one of the numerous proofs of the violation of citizens’ rights.”
Such documents have no legal force and aren’t recognised anywhere other than the occupied territories, the ministry said.
It added that Russia’s forced passportisation is “illegal” and “contradicts the principles and norms of international law”.
Monday 30 September 2024 22:34 , Alex Croft
China and Russia got their turns at the U.N. General Assembly podium on Saturday, but — per usual — their top leaders didn’t speak. Instead, they turned to their foreign ministers, Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov.
Lavrov, meanwhile, waded into the topic of nukes three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin aired a shift in his country’s nuclear doctrine, “I’m not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is,” he said.
Read the full report byJennifer Peltz and Michael Weissenstein here:
What to know from the UN: China, Russia have their say, and a frog metaphor makes a cameo
Monday 30 September 2024 22:01 , Alex Croft
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says amendments to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have been prepared and are about to be formalised.
“The amendments have been prepared, and will now be formalised,” Mr Peskov told a Russian state TV reporter yesterday.
Last week, president Vladimir Putin warned the West that under proposed changes to the doctrine Russia could use nuclear arms if it was struck with conventional missiles and would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.
Mr Peskov cited the international situation, escalating tensions near Russia’s borders and the growing proximity of Nato infrastructure to them, and what he called the deeper involvement of Western nuclear powers’ in the Ukraine war on Kyiv’s side, as the backdrop for the changes to the doctrine.
He did not mention Russia’s arms imports from Iran and North Korea, including drones and ballistic missiles, which are widely reported to have been used to strike Ukrainian cities.
Monday 30 September 2024 21:33 , Alex Croft
A bipartisan committee which promotes human rights and democracy in post-Soviet states is urging the US to adjust its stance on Russia.
The Helsinki Commission, a US government agency, is calling for the US to officially recognise Moscow as a “persistent” threat to global security, and end its port-Cold War approach to the country.
A report issued by the commission and obtained by The Hill before its release has urged the US to adopt an approach more similar to its recent approach to China.
One part of the proposed strategy includes “massive” military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine in order to guarantee its victory in war, The Kyiv Independent reports.
It also calls for the US to allow Ukraine’s forces to strike deep inside Russia with American weapons – one of the key debates surrounding military aid for Ukraine.
The report said the US should be reasoned in its approach to the Russian nuclear threat, stating that while it “cannot simply be dismissed”, the US “can’t let fear dominate how we think about this kind of stuff”.
Monday 30 September 2024 21:01 , Alex Croft
Monday 30 September 2024 20:30 , Alex Croft
More on Russia’s Sunday night attacks on KyivA large-scale Russian drone attack on Kyiv was successfully defended by the capital city’s defence systems.
The attack caused fires and damage to a residential building but no casualties were reported, according to Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the military administration in the Kyiv region.
Authorities said every drone which attacked Kyiv was shot down, according to Serhii Popko, the head of the city’s military administration.
Kravchenko said: “The enemy assets have been destroyed. There were no casualties. There were no hits to critical or residential infrastructure.
Wreckage from the downed drones was found in six districts of the Kyiv region. Grass and rubble caught fire due to the fall of the wreckage.
The fire in a residential building was contained by firefighters, police in the district said.
Monday 30 September 2024 20:02 , Alex Croft
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha visited Budapest on Monday at the request of president Zelensky.
Syhbiha held talks with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó as Ukraine seeks to strengthen relations with its neighbour on the south west border.
The foreign minister, who replaced former foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba earlier this month, is continuing his regional tour after he visited Romania earlier this month.
The foreign ministry’s press office said: “Key topics for discussion will include the development of good neighbourly relations, the implementation of joint projects, particularly in the areas of economy and border infrastructure, the protection of national minorities’ rights, advancing Ukraine’s accession to the EU and NATO and the Peace Formula as a path to a just end to Russian aggression.”
Monday 30 September 2024 19:35 , Alex Croft
Kyiv went through multiple waves of drone attacks over Sunday night, the city’s authorities said.
An air raid alert was in place in the capital from 1am until just after 6am this morning, as Ukrainian air defense systems battled the drones.
Vitalii Klitschlo, the mayor of Kyiv, warned residents shortly before 5am to “stay in shelters” due to a wave of drones “over and near the capital”, The Kyiv Independent reported.
There have been no casualties or damage to the city reported.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian forces launched 73 Shahed-type drones across Ukraine overnight, with 67 intercepted.
Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said: “All Russian attack drones that threatened Kyiv were neutralized.” It is not clear how many drones attacked Kyiv.
Monday 30 September 2024 19:03 , Alex Croft
The Freedom Party (FPÖ) in Austria won a momentous general election yesterday.
Led by Herbert Kickl, the far-right party has voiced its opposition to aiding Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
It won 29.2 per cent of the vote over the centre-left Social Democrats and the ruling conservative Austrian People’s Party,The Kyiv Independent reported.
The FPÖ has failed to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, opposes EU sanctions on Russia, and many MPs walked out of a speech to the Austrian parliament by President Zelensky last year.
It comes as the far-right continues to succeed in European general elections, with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni leading a right-wing coalition in government while the AfD in Germany run high in the polls.
But Meloni, in contrast to Kickl, has given her full backing to EU support for Ukraine.
Monday 30 September 2024 18:35 , Alex Croft
Russia fired 76 drones and missiles in an overnight attack on Ukraine, the country’s air force said on Telegram Monday morning.
In the attack, Russia used 73 drones and three missiles, including one ballistic and one guided cruise missile, Ukraine’s air force said.
“One drone flew in the direction of Belarus, three more were lost in location in the northern regions of Ukraine as a result of countermeasures. One UAV remains in the airspace of Ukraine, combat work is underway,” it said in a statement.
It said the attack was repulsed by a combination of aviation, anti-aircraft missile forces, electronic warfare units and mobile fire groups of the air force and the wider Ukrainian military.
