Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s troops ‘trying to regroup’ for attacks on besieged town after heavy losses
Russian forces are trying to regroup and recover their losses near the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, where heavy fighting has been ongoing since mid-October.
This comes after Putin’s troops bombarded 118 Ukrainian towns and villages over the course of 24 hours, the most intense day of shelling this year, Kyiv said.
Communities near the front lines in the east and south were targeted, with 10 out of 27 of Ukraine’s regions coming under attack.
Vladimir Putin’s warplanes have dropped “explosive objects” into the paths of civilian shipping lanes in the Black Sea, the region’s military command said.
“The occupiers are continuing to terrorise the paths of civilian shipping in the Black Sea with tactical aviation, dropping explosive objects into the likely paths of civilian vessel traffic,” it said.
“There were three such drops registered in the last 24 hours. However, the navigation corridor continues to function under the watch of the defence forces.”
Ukraine is trying to build up a new shipping lane without Russian approval to revive its vital seaborne exports. But Russia said it would consider any vessel a potential military target after it quit UN-brokered deal allowing Ukrainian goods to pass through.
Key Points
Ukraine suffers most intense bombardment of shelling in a single day this year
Russia ‘regrouping for new attacks at Avdiivka’
Russia attacks oil refinery, Kyiv says
Ukraine ‘successfully’ hits Russia’s air defence system in Crimea
Belarus leader Lukashenko says Ukraine and Russia are locked in a ‘stalemate’
Russian forces hit civilian targets near Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials say
05:46 , Shweta Sharma
Russian drones reportedly struck civilian targets, sparking a fire in and around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukrainian officials said.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov, in a Telegram message, revealed that the attacks specifically targeted civilian infrastructure in the city’s northeast and also affected a nearby locality.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov indicated that efforts were underway to control the fire but did not provide further details.
Ninety minutes after the initial reports, the air raid alert in Kharkiv and other central regions was lifted, and there have been no subsequent updates on the situation on the ground.
Meanwhile, alerts remain in place in western regions, with the Ukrainian air force reporting the presence of Russian drones in three different areas.
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of the Lviv region near the Polish border, noted the activation of anti-aircraft units in response to the situation.
The attacks came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Moscow was losing control of Black Sea.
He expressed gratitude for efforts to maintain Ukraine’s maritime export corridor, which has yielded positive results following a conference with military, intelligence, security forces, and government officials
He said it suggested that Russia’s influence in the Black Sea is diminishing, with a plan to pursue them further in the eastern waters.
Zelensky considering ‘pros and cons’ of holding presidential elections in the spring
12:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is considering the “pros and cons” of holding presidential elections next spring, his foreign minister said on Friday.
“We are not closing this page. The president of Ukraine is considering and weighing the different pros and cons,” Dmytro Kuleba told a briefing, adding that holding elections during the war with Russia would entail “unprecedented” challenges.
Ukraine braces for infrastructure attacks
11:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia has unleashed a wave of night-time drone and missile attacks across 10 of Ukraine‘s 24 regions, Ukrainian authorities said as they prepare for another winter of infrastructure bombardment by the Kremlin’s forces.
Ukraine‘s air force said it intercepted 24 of 38 Shahed drones and one Kh-59 cruise missile launched by Russia.
The attacks caused fires in homes and public buildings, especially in the southern region of Kherson which Moscow has increasingly targeted in recent weeks, emergency services said.
Authorities reported that two people were injured.
“We understand that as winter approaches, Russian terrorists will attempt to cause more harm,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram after the attacks, employing his usual choice of words for the enemy’s forces.
Last winter, Russia took aim at Ukraine‘s power grid in an effort to deny civilians light and heating and chip away at the country’s appetite for war. Ukrainian officials accused the Kremlin of weaponising winter.
Kremlin, commenting on new U.S. sanctions, says Russia has adapted to such restrictions
11:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia had learnt to adapt to Western sanctions imposed on it over Ukraine but that such measures did cause extra problems.
It was commenting after the United States on Thursday imposed sweeping new measures.
“We have learnt to overcome them,” Peskov said, referring to Western sanctions.
More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials
10:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
In case you missed it...
At least 930 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Kyiv’s officials claimed.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its battlefield update on Thursday morning also claimed Vladimir Putin has lost approximately 302,420 military personnel since the invasion began on 24 February last year.
The Independent has not been able to verify claims of the battlefield casualties.
More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters posing as diplomats of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war
09:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told Russian pranksters posing as African diplomats that there is “a lot of fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.
In a 13-minute recording released by pranksters “Vova and Lexus”, Ms Meloni claimed that Kyiv’s counteroffensive “didn’t change the destiny of the conflict” and that the time is approaching when Europe will “need a way out”.
The Italian PM believed she was speaking to senior African Union officials in the call on 18 September, a day before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but her office later admitted that she “had been deceived”.
Italy PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war
Russia dismisses new U.S. sanctions: 'You will never defeat Moscow'
09:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia on Friday dismissed new U.S. sanctions over the war in Ukraine, saying that the United States would never defeat Moscow, while the boss of Russia‘s fastest growing natural gas company quipped the sanctions were a badge of success.
The United States on Thursday targeted Russia‘s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities.
“This is a continuation of the policy of inflicting as they call it - a strategic defeat on us,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told Russian state television when asked about the new sanctions.
“They will have to wait in vain forever before that happens.”
The U.S., itself a large LNG producer that exports to Europe, is also trying to reduce Russia‘s LNG shipments to Europe, which has only banned Russian gas sent via pipeline.
The Arctic-2 LNG project - targeted by the new sanctions - had been expecting to start exporting soon and it is uncertain how much Russian LNG will now be blocked.
The largest Russian LNG producer Novatek NVTK.MM said in September it would start shipments from Arctic-2 LNG early next year.
Leonid Mikhelson, the head of Russian natural gas producer Novatek, told a conference in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that the U.S. sanctions were a badge “of our professionalism”.
Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war
09:09 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The timing could not be worse. Just as Ukraine is fighting to repel one of the fiercest Russian onslaughts since the war began, so fears emerge that US support to Kyiv could be severely undermined by Republicans loyal to the former president, says Askold Krushelnycky:
Ukraine is seeing some of the fiercest fighting since Moscow’s full-blown invasion began, with Russia going all-out to smash through several Ukrainian frontline positions despite sustaining enormous casualties.
Ukraine’s soldiers, also taking numerous casualties, have so far prevented any significant Russian breakthroughs.
The Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, has said the conflict has reached a stalemate which he compared to the bloody parity that obtained on the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War.
Read more:
Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war
Horror images emerge of fires after Russian drone strikes in Kharviv
08:43 , Barney Davis
New images have emerged of the devastation after Russian drones hit civilian targets and triggered a fire early on Friday in and near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on Telegram, said the attacks targeted civilian infrastructure after midnight in the city in Ukraine’s northeast and also struck a locality in the region.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the fire was being brought under control, without elaborating.
Russian shelling kills 81-year-old woman in her own Kherson garden
08:27 , Barney Davis
Russian shelling killed an 81-year-old woman in the backyard of her home and a 60-year-old man in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.
The deaths on Thursday night were the latest civilian casualties in Moscow’s recent ramped-up bombardment of the front-line area.
Kherson is a strategic military region located on the Dnieper River near the mouth of the Black Sea. Unconfirmed reports say attacking Ukrainian troops have gained a foothold on the Russian-held side of the river during Kyiv’s monthslong counteroffensive.
The two civilians died when Russian artillery targeted Kherson region villages, according to Oleksandr Prokudin. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged residential and public buildings, authorities said.
On Wednesday, one person died in Russian shelling that caused extensive damage in the Kherson region’s capital city of the same name. Prokudin called it “an apocalyptic scene.”
Wagner to back Hezbollah according to US intelligence
08:14 , Barney Davis
The United States has intelligence that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militia, an air defence system, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials.
The Journal said Wagner plans to supply the Pantsir-S1 system, known by NATO as the SA-22, which uses anti-aircraft missiles and air-defence guns to intercept aircraft.
Wagner Group, which was funded by the Russian state and has been brought firmly under Kremlin control since an aborted mutiny by its former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in June, did not reply to a request for comment from Reuters.
One unidentified U.S. official quoted by the Journal said that Washington had not confirmed that the system had been sent. But U.S. officials are monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah, the Journal said.
The Journal said that the Pantsir system would be provided to Hezbollah via Syria, where Russia propped up President Bashar al-Assad by entering the civil war there in 2015.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces across the border since its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza and Israel went to war on Oct. 7.
US launch new wave of sanctions on Russia
07:44 , Barney Davis
The United States has imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow targeting Russia’s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops.
The latest measures target a major entity involved in the development, operation and ownership of a massive project in Siberia known as Arctic-2 LNG, the State Department said in a statement. The project expected to ship chilled natural gas, known as liquefied natural gas to global markets.
Washington also targeted the KUB-BLA and Lancet suicide drones being used by the Russian military in Ukraine, designating a network it accused of procuring items in support of their production as well as the creator and designer of the drones.
The Biden administration on Thursday added a dozen Russian companies to a trade blacklist for supporting Russia’s military with drones that could be used to aid in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Commerce Department said in a statement.
Russia says Ukraine ‘playing with fire’ with drone attack near nuclear plant
07:00 , Lydia Patrick
Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster after nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe’s largest atomic power plant.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since early March 2022, has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235.
Four of the reactors are shut down while two of the reactors - No. 4 and No. 5 - are in so-called ‘hot shutdown’ mode, according to the Russian operator of the plant.
Russia’s defence ministry said air defences had shot down nine Ukrainian drones near the Russian-held city of Enerhodar, where many workers for the plant live, in an attempt to disrupt the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff.
“Kyiv is continuing to ‘play with fire’ and is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the drone attack.
Zakharova said the IAEA should look at a Russian proposal to rotate its staff monitoring the plant only through Russian-held territory. The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine did not immediately comment.
The IAEA has repeatedly said that the world is fortunate that no nuclear accident has yet happened at the Zaporizhzhia plant where the Agency says nuclear safety remains extremely fragile.
Shortly after sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia station. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of attacking the station.
Putin ally warns ‘enemy’ Poland: you risk losing your statehood
06:00 , Lydia Patrick
A top ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Poland on Thursday that the NATO member state was now considered a “dangerous enemy” by Russia and could end up losing its statehood if it continued on its current course.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in an 8,000-word article on Russian-Polish relations, saying Moscow now had a “dangerous enemy” in Poland.
US senate looking at support deals for Ukraine and Israel
05:00 , Lydia Patrick
New US Speaker Mike Johnson has told Republican senators a fresh Ukraine aid package will come as soon as lawmakers wrap up the $14.5 billion Israel aid package that is heading for passage later this week.
Johnson, who has been on the job a week, made the trip across the Capitol to speak privately with GOP senators to outline the agenda ahead.
“Look, we all like the new speaker we want him to be successful,” said Senator JD Vance, Republican for Ohio, who opposes more aid to Ukraine.
Johnson was greeted with applause at the start of the lunch meeting, a get-to-know-you session for the new GOP speaker that many senators had never met — or even heard of — until he won a longshot race for House speaker to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy.
The new speaker told the senators Ukraine needs U.S. aid as it battles Russia, but that there was no way President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion supplemental funding request that included Israel could be passed through the House.
Italy's premier acknowledges 'fatigue' over Ukraine war in call with Russian pranksters
04:00 , Lydia Patrick
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office has expressed “regret” that she fell prey to a prank call that induced her to acknowledge “fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.
Meloni, believing she was speaking with officials of the African Union, told a pair of Russian pranksters that “there is a lot of fatigue, I have to say the truth, from all the sides.
We are near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out.”
“The problem is to find a way out which can be acceptable for both, without destroying the international law,” she said.
Audio of the call was released Wednesday and replayed by Italian media. The call by Russian comedians Vovan and Lexus was made in September.
The office of Meloni’s diplomatic advisor said it “regrets having been misled by an imposter who posed as the president of the African Union commission.”
The call occurred on Sept. 18, in the run-up to the U.N. General Assembly, where Meloni had meetings with African leaders.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a Meloni ally, said Thursday that such episodes cannot be repeated. “There was certainly superficiality by whoever organized the phone call,” Tajani told state RAI radio.
Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war
03:00 , Natalie Crockett
The timing could not be worse. Just as Ukraine is fighting to repel one of the fiercest Russian onslaughts since the war began, so fears emerge that US support to Kyiv could be severely undermined by Republicans loyal to the former president.
Read more from Askold Krushelnycky here:
Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war
Polish hauliers to block Ukraine border crossings in protest
02:00 , Lydia Patrick
Polish truckers will block several border crossings with Ukraine starting next week in protest at what they say is Ukrainian hauliers’ free rein in Poland that is hurting their business, a co-organiser of the protest told Reuters.
The protest, planned to start on Nov. 6, comes amid an economic slowdown in Europe and a relaxation of regulations for Ukrainian transport companies in 2022 by the European Union to ease the transport of goods to and out of the country invaded by Russia.
The protesters plan to stop trucks travelling at three border crossings, letting through one truck per hour, but exempting shipments of equipment for Ukraine‘s army and vehicles transporting livestock, according to a protest notification seen by Reuters.
Protesters’ demands include reimposing restrictions on the number of Ukraine-registered trucks entering Poland and a ban on transport companies with capital from outside the European Union, among others, according to the notification.
“Ukrainian transport companies are ... entering without restrictions and carrying out transport operations they have no right to perform,” said Jacek Sokol, protest co-organizer and deputy head of the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers.
He said the protest measures would affect traffic in both directions at crossings in Dorohusk and Hrebenne-Rawa Ruska, as well as outbound traffic through Korczowa.
US imposes new sanctions on companies they believe are linked to Russian war
01:00 , Lydia Patrick
The United States on Thursday imposed a new round of sanctions on 130 firms and people from Turkey, China and the United Arab Emirates in an effort to choke off Russia’s access to tools and equipment that support its invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control target third-party firms and people alleged to assist Moscow in procuring equipment needed on the battlefield, including suppliers and shippers.
In addition, the State Department imposed diplomatic sanctions targeting Russian energy production and its metals and mining sector.
Thursday’s sanctions targets include Turkish national Berk Turken and his firms, which are alleged to have ties to Russian intelligence.
The Treasury Department said Mr Turken’s network arranged payments and shipping details designed to bypass sanctions and move goods from Turkey to Russia.
A series of United Arab Emirates firms alleged to have shipped aviation equipment, machines for data reception and more also were sanctioned.
And UAE-based ARX Financial Engineering Ltd was sanctioned for allegedly being involved in finding ways for Russian rubles to be sent from sanctioned Russian bank VTB Bank and converted to US dollars.
Mr Turken and a representative from ARX were not available for comment on Thursday.
Ukraine says more than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines since beginning of Russian invasion
Thursday 2 November 2023 23:55 , Sam Rkaina
Extensive mines and explosives in Ukraine have killed more than 260 civilians and injured another 571 during Russia’s 20-month-old invasion, Kyiv’s military officials have said.
Around 174,000sq km of Ukraine, making up about a third of its territory, has been potentially strewn with mines or dangerous war detritus, estimates from Kyiv officials showed.
The 571 injuries have occurred in more than 560 incidents that involve mines or explosive objects left behind in the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops, the country’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said on its official Telegram channel on Wednesday.
Almost a quarter of these incidents have happened in fields, the military official said.
Two killed as Russian artillery keeps on battering southern Ukraine’s Kherson region
Thursday 2 November 2023 23:00 , Sam Rkaina
Russian shelling killed an 81-year-old woman in the yard of her home and a 60-year-old man in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region Thursday, local authorities said. The deaths were the latest civilian casualties in Moscow’s recent ramped-up bombardment of the front-line area.
Kherson is a strategic military region located on the Dnieper River near the mouth of the Black Sea. Unconfirmed reports say attacking Ukrainian troops have gained a foothold on the Russian-held side of the river during Kyiv’s monthslong counteroffensive.
The two civilians died when Russian artillery targeted Kherson region villages, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged residential and public buildings, authorities said.
On Wednesday, one person died in Russian shelling that caused extensive damage in the Kherson region’s capital city of the same name. Prokudin called it “an apocalyptic scene.”
A 91-year-old local woman was killed in her apartment last weekend in what Prokudin described as a “terrifying” nighttime barrage.
The Kherson region is a key gateway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and is now home to a lot of Moscow’s war logistics operations and rear supply depots.
Russia says Ukraine 'playing with fire' with drone attack near nuclear plant
Thursday 2 November 2023 22:00 , Sam Rkaina
Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster after nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe’s largest atomic power plant.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since early March 2022, has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235.
Four of the reactors are shut down while two of the reactors - No. 4 and No. 5 - are in so-called ‘hot shutdown’ mode, according to the Russian operator of the plant.
Russia’s defence ministry said air defences had shot down nine Ukrainian drones near the Russian-held city of Enerhodar, where many workers for the plant live, in an attempt to disrupt the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff.
“Kyiv is continuing to ‘play with fire’ and is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the drone attack.
Zakharova said the IAEA should look at a Russian proposal to rotate its staff monitoring the plant only through Russian-held territory. The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine did not immediately comment.
The IAEA has repeatedly said that the world is fortunate that no nuclear accident has yet happened at the Zaporizhzhia plant where the Agency says nuclear safety remains extremely fragile.
Shortly after sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia station. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of attacking the station.
US concerned by withdrawal of Russia’s ratification of global nuclear test ban
Thursday 2 November 2023 21:00 , Sam Rkaina
The withdrawal of Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests is a step in the wrong direction and will serve to set back confidence in the international arms control regime, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
“We are deeply concerned by Russia’s planned action to withdraw its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT),” Blinken said in a statement released by the State Department.
“Unfortunately, it represents a significant step in the wrong direction, taking us further from, not closer to, entry into force,” Blinken said.
US senate looking at support deals for Ukraine and Israel
Thursday 2 November 2023 20:00 , Sam Rkaina
New US Speaker Mike Johnson has told Republican senators a fresh Ukraine aid package will come as soon as lawmakers wrap up the $14.5 billion Israel aid package that is heading for passage later this week.
Johnson, who has been on the job a week, made the trip across the Capitol to speak privately with GOP senators to outline the agenda ahead.
“Look, we all like the new speaker we want him to be successful,” said Senator JD Vance, Republican for Ohio, who opposes more aid to Ukraine.
Johnson was greeted with applause at the start of the lunch meeting, a get-to-know-you session for the new GOP speaker that many senators had never met — or even heard of — until he won a longshot race for House speaker to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy.
The new speaker told the senators Ukraine needs U.S. aid as it battles Russia, but that there was no way President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion supplemental funding request that included Israel could be passed through the House.
“‘We want to take up Ukraine,’” was his message, said Senator Josh Hawley, Republican for Missouri, who opposes more funding for the overseas war.
Hawley said Johnson told the Republican senators the “next order of business” after the Israel package would be the Ukraine-U.S. border package.
The Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the House’s Israel-only approach was dead on arrival in the Senate.
Putin ally warns 'enemy' Poland: you risk losing your statehood
Thursday 2 November 2023 19:30 , Holly Evans
A top ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Poland on Thursday that the NATO member state was now considered a “dangerous enemy” by Russia and could end up losing its statehood if it continued on its current course.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in an 8,000-word article on Russian-Polish relations, saying Moscow now had a “dangerous enemy” in Poland.
“We will treat it (Poland) precisely as a historical enemy,” Medvedev said. “If there is no hope for reconciliation with the enemy, Russia should have only one and a very tough attitude regarding its fate.”
“History has more than once delivered a merciless verdict to the presumptuous Poles: no matter how ambitious the revanchist plans may be, their collapse could lead to the death of Polish statehood in its entirety.”
There was no immediate response to his comments from Poland.
Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war
Thursday 2 November 2023 19:00 , Holly Evans
Ukraine is seeing some of the fiercest fighting since Moscow’s full-blown invasion began, with Russia going all-out to smash through several Ukrainian frontline positions despite sustaining enormous casualties.
Ukraine’s soldiers, also taking numerous casualties, have so far prevented any significant Russian breakthroughs.
The Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, has said the conflict has reached a stalemate which he compared to the bloody parity that obtained on the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War.
Read the full article from Askold Krushelnycky here
Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war
More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials
Thursday 2 November 2023 18:30 , Holly Evans
At least 930 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Kyiv’s officials claimed.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its battlefield update on Thursday morning also claimed Vladimir Putin has lost approximately 302,420 military personnel since the invasion began on 24 February last year.
The Independent has not been able to verify claims of the battlefield casualties.
Read the full article here
More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials
More on US sanctions against Russian individuals and companies
Thursday 2 November 2023 18:00 , Holly Evans
The U.S. also cracked down on sanctions evasion in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China, as the Treasury Department said companies based in the countries continue to send high priority dual-use goods to Russia, including components Moscow relies on for its weapons systems.
Seven Russia-based banks and dozens of industrial firms were also hit with sanctions by the Treasury Department, including Gazpromneft Catalytic Systems LLC, which Treasury said manufactures chemical agents for advanced oil refining in Russia.
The Kremlin said on Thursday ahead of the action that it expected the West to impose ever tougher sanctions on it over the war, but that there was a growing sense that such penalties hurt Western interests while Russia’s economy was adapting well.
Bill pairing Ukaine aid ‘will come next’, says US republican
Thursday 2 November 2023 17:30 , Holly Evans
Mike Johnson, the US Republican House of Representatives Speaker has said that a bill pairing Ukraine aid with border security “will come next” following the body’s vote on a standalone Israel aid measure.
Polish hauliers to block Ukraine border crossings in protest
Thursday 2 November 2023 16:45 , Holly Evans
Polish truckers will block several border crossings with Ukraine starting next week in protest at what they say is Ukrainian hauliers’ free rein in Poland that is hurting their business, a co-organiser of the protest told Reuters.
The protest, planned to start on Nov. 6, comes amid an economic slowdown in Europe and a relaxation of regulations for Ukrainian transport companies in 2022 by the European Union to ease the transport of goods to and out of the country invaded by Russia.
“Ukrainian transport companies are ... entering without restrictions and carrying out transport operations they have no right to perform,” said Jacek Sokol, protest co-organizer and deputy head of the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers.
According to Sokol, prior to Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian transport companies were granted 160,000-180,000 permits per year for specific shipments requiring entrance or transit through Poland, but not for shipments within the country.
“Now these companies are doing whatever they want. There is a complete, uncontrolled influx, just like with grain.”
Zelensky thanks those who care about the ‘interests of Ukraine'
Thursday 2 November 2023 16:20 , Holly Evans
Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked those who care about the interests of Ukraine and who have set out to “protect our country and people”.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, he wrote: “It is important to always remember how many people from all walks of life work to protect our country and people, preserve Ukraine, its resilience, society, and each and every one of us.
“I thank everyone who cares about the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians.”
It is important to always remember how many people from all walks of life work to protect our country and people, preserve Ukraine, its resilience, society, and each and every one of us. I thank everyone who cares about the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainians. pic.twitter.com/FQRLTdbKGX
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 2, 2023
Italian leader Giorgia Meloni expresses ‘regret’ over prank phone call
Thursday 2 November 2023 15:53 , Holly Evans
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office has expressed “regret” that she fell prey to a prank call that induced her to acknowledge “fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.
Meloni, believing she was speaking with officials of the African Union, told a pair of Russian pranksters that “there is a lot of fatigue, I have to say the truth, from all the sides. We are near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out.
“The problem is to find a way out which can be acceptable for both, without destroying the international law,” she said.
Audio of the call was released Wednesday and replayed by Italian media. The call by Russian comedians Vovan and Lexus was made in September. The office of Meloni’s diplomatic advisor said it “regrets having been misled by an imposter who posed as the president of the African Union commission.”
The call occurred on Sept. 18, in the run-up to the U.N. General Assembly, where Meloni had meetings with African leaders. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a Meloni ally, said Thursday that such episodes cannot be repeated.
“There was certainly superficiality by whoever organized the phone call,” Tajani told state RAI radio.
Russia says Ukraine 'playing with fire' with drone attack near nuclear plant
Thursday 2 November 2023 15:38 , Holly Evans
Russia has said Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster after nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe’s largest atomic power plant.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since early March 2022, has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235.
Four of the reactors are shut down while two of the reactors - No. 4 and No. 5 - are in so-called ‘hot shutdown’ mode, according to the Russian operator of the plant.
“Kyiv is continuing to ‘play with fire’ and is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the drone attack.
The IAEA has repeatedly said that the world is fortunate that no nuclear accident has yet happened at the Zaporizhzhia plant where the Agency says nuclear safety remains extremely fragile.
US imposes sweeping new sanctions targeting Russia over war in Ukraine
Thursday 2 November 2023 15:02 , Holly Evans
The Biden administration today added 12 Russian companies to a trade blacklist for supporting Russia’s military with drones.
The United States has imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow over the war in Ukraine, targeting Russia’s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities.
The latest measures target a major entity involved in the development, operation and ownership of a massive project in Siberia known as Arctic-2 LNG, the State Department said in a statement. The project expected to ship chilled natural gas, known as liquefied natural gas to global markets.
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday added 13 entities in Russia and Uzbekistan to its export control list for acting contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.
German minister confident Ukraine’s bid to join EU will be advanced
Thursday 2 November 2023 14:30 , Holly Evans
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has said she is confident that the European Union next month would advance Ukraine’s bid to join the bloc at a summit seen as a key milestone in Kyiv’s efforts to integrate with the West.
Presenting EU enlargement as a geo-strategic necessity, Baerbock told a conference in Berlin that the 27-nation bloc also needed to plough ahead with “tedious” internal reforms to be able to function with 30-plus members.
“We want to see Ukraine a member of our European Union,” said Baerbock, who is from the Greens party that forms part of Germany’s ruling coalition. “The European Union has to be enlarged. That is the geo-political consequence of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
EU leaders will decide at a Dec. 14-15 summit whether to grant Ukraine the formal start of membership talks, which for Kyiv is a top priority on a par with Western military and financial support.
“I am convinced that the European Council in December is going to send out that signal,” said Baerbock.
“However, an enlarged EU will only be stronger if we do what we have been so hesitant to do for so long - review and rethink the way in which our union functions.”
Ukraine urges EU to find the ‘right balace’ as it pushes for membership
Thursday 2 November 2023 13:50 , Holly Evans
Ukraine has urged the EU to take a more flexible approach as it strives to quickly become a member of the 27-nation European Union.
The process however could take years as Kyiv must undertake a long list of reforms demanded by Brussels.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the EU on Thursday to adopt a more agile approach to admitting new members.
“Our main position that I brought from Kyiv is that EU reform should not take (the) enlargement process as a hostage,” Kuleba said as he arrived at a conference in Berlin on the bloc’s future expansion.
“We have to find the right balance between the process of reforming the European Union and continuing with enlargement,” he said.
Kremlin denies Ukraine war has reached a ‘stalemate’
Thursday 2 November 2023 13:30 , Holly Evans
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed claims by Ukraine’s commander-in-chief that the war had reached a stalemate.Russia is steadfastly pursuing its war goals, Peskov said.
“It’s absurd to talk about any prospect for the victory of the Kyiv regime on the battlefield,” he added.
“The sooner the Kyiv regime comes to realize that, the earlier some other perspectives will open up.” Russian authorities commonly use the term “Kyiv regime” when referring to Ukraine’s democratically elected government.
Russia says it downed nine Ukrainian drones near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Thursday 2 November 2023 13:10 , Holly Evans
The Russian Defence Ministry on Thursday accused Ukraine of posing a threat to security at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, and said that it had downed nine Ukrainian drones near the facility.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was seized by Russia in March 2022, shortly after it ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. It remains close to the frontline between the two sides.
Two civilians, including 81-year-old woman, killed in latest Russian shelling
Thursday 2 November 2023 12:46 , Holly Evans
Russian shelling killed an 81-year-old woman in the yard of her home and a 60-year-old man in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region Thursday, local authorities said.
The deaths were the latest civilian casualties in Moscow’s recent ramped-up bombardment of the front-line area.
The two civilians died when Russian artillery targeted Kherson region villages, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged residential and public buildings.
On Wednesday, one person died in Russian shelling that caused extensive damage in the Kherson region’s capital city of the same name. Prokudin called it “an apocalyptic scene.”A 91-year-old local woman was killed in her apartment last weekend in what Prokudin described as a “terrifying” nighttime barrage.The Kherson region is a key gateway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and is now home to a lot of Moscow’s war logistics operations and rear supply depots.
Situation in Kupyansk is ‘dire’ as evacuation orders issued
Thursday 2 November 2023 12:25 , Holly Evans
Responding to the compulsory evacuation of Ukrainian civilians from Kupyansk, the International Rescue Committee’s field manager in Kharkiv said the situation was “dire”.
Following the intensification of hostilities, evacuation orders are mandatory for the 275 children still living in the region, which is situated near the frontline.
In a statement, Igor Bodnia said: “The situation in Kupiansk is dire, and the impact on children is particularly devastating. Many of them have seen violence and displacement more than once, and they are in urgent need of protection and support.
“The IRC is working in a reception hub and dormitories in Kharkiv, focusing on providing primary health care to evacuated families, as well as psychological first aid to children to help them cope with the trauma they have experienced.”
“Intensified hostilities in Kupiansk are part of the worrying trend of an increased number of attacks that we are witnessing in the lead-up to winter. Just as temperatures plummet, communities in Ukraine will suffer from even more widespread destruction of the infrastructure they need to cope with the cold season.
“The combination of freezing weather, ongoing shelling, destroyed critical facilities and homes will make life even tougher for the people in affected areas.”
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters posing as diplomats of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war
Thursday 2 November 2023 11:59 , Holly Evans
Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told Russian pranksters posing as African diplomats that there is “a lot of fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.
In a 13-minute recording released by pranksters “Vova and Lexus”, Ms Meloni claimed that Kyiv’s counteroffensive “didn’t change the destiny of the conflict” and that the time is approaching when Europe will “need a way out”.
The Italian PM believed she was speaking to senior African Union officials in the call on 18 September, a day before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but her office later admitted that she “had been deceived”.
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Italy PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war
Ukraine repels new Russian assault in Donetsk region, says Zelensky
Thursday 2 November 2023 11:46 , Holly Evans
Ukrainian forces repelled a new Russian assault near the town of Vuhledar in eastern Donetsk region and continued its attempt to press forward in the south, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Vuhledar, a Ukrainian-held bastion at a strategic intersection between the eastern and southern front lines, has seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the 20-month-old full-scale war.
“There was an attempt by the enemy to advance in the Vuhledar direction, but our soldiers stopped it, causing heavy losses to the enemy: dozens of pieces of equipment, many killed and wounded,” he said on Telegram messenger.
The Ukrainian military has said the fighting has escalated along the eastern front in recent weeks.
The military said Russia was trying to regroup and recover from its losses near the eastern city of Avdiivka before launching more attacks.
Israeli plea for citizens to leave Russian region is 'anti-Russian', official says
Thursday 2 November 2023 11:24 , Holly Evans
An Israeli recommnedation for its citizens to leave Russia’s North Caucasus region after a violent anti-Israeli protest in Dagestan on Sunday was “anti-Russian”, a spokesperson has said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that an Israeli warning against travel in the mostly Muslim regions of the North Caucasus bore “no relation to reality”.
Dozens were arrested after hundreds of protesters stormed Makhachkala airport in Dagestan on Sunday, looking for Jewish passengers on board a plane arriving from Tel Aviv.
Zakharova said that Russia’s traditionally strong relations with Israel were “resilient”.
Russia has repeatedly criticised Israel’s military actions around the Gaza Strip, restated its long-standing support for a Palestinian state, while also hosting a Hamas delegation in Moscow.
Russia promises Bulgaria it will retaliate over Russian journalist's expulsion
Thursday 2 November 2023 11:10 , Holly Evans
Russia has warned Bulgaria that it would retaliate against Sofia for its decision to expel a Russian journalist on national security grounds, something it called an “outrageous” attack on the media.
Alexander Gatsak, a correspondent for the state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta, was stripped of his accreditation and residency permit and expelled for what Bulgaria said was activity “posing a threat to national security”.
Gatsak sought refuge in the Russian embassy after being summoned by Bulgaria’s interior ministry and left Bulgaria on Nov. 1, according to the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, said the expulsion was an “outrageous attack” and cautioned that Moscow would take retaliatory measures.
She said that a Moscow correspondent for Bulgarian radio had been summoned by the foreign ministry.
Russia says Moldova's president is a 'disgrace'
Thursday 2 November 2023 10:51 , Holly Evans
Russia said on Thursday that Moldova’s pro-European president, Maia Sandu, was a disgrace and accused the Moldovan government of trying to distract from its own failings ahead of local elections by exaggerating the threat of Russia.
Sandu, who has denounced Russia’s war in Ukraine and accused Moscow of trying to topple her in a coup, said on Wednesday that Russia was trying to buy voters in this weekend’s local elections.
“Maia Sandu is a disgrace to the country and the main threat to the Moldovan people,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, told reporters.
Zakharova said that Moscow was monitoring the situation ahead of the elections and accused the Moldovan government of trying to use the exaggerated threat of Russia to distract from its own considerable shortcomings.
Kremlin says Ukraine are ‘absurd’ for talking about victory over Russia
Thursday 2 November 2023 10:22 , Holly Evans
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander Valery Zaluzhnyi was wrong to talk of the conflict in Ukraine moving towards a new stage of static fighting as Russia would achieve all of its aims.
Asked by reporters if Zaluzhnyi was right that the conflict was moving towards an impasse, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, it has not reached a stalemate.”
Peskov said that all of Russia’s aims would be achieved and said it was absurd for Kyiv to talk about victory over Russia on the battlefield.
“The Kyiv regime has long needed to understand that even talking about some sort of prospect of victory on the battlefield is absurd. The sooner the Kyiv regime understands this for itself, the sooner some prospects will open up,” he said.
Peskov was responding to an essay by Zaluzhnyi in the Economist in which he said the war was moving towards a new stage of static and attritional fighting, a phase that could allow Moscow to rebuild its military power.
Putin signs law to deratify nuclear test ban treaty
Thursday 2 November 2023 10:08 , Holly Evans
President Vladimir Putin has signed off on a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons test, a move he says is designed to bring Moscow into line with the United States.
Russia says that it will not resume testing unless Washington does and that its de-ratification does not change its nuclear posture or the way it shares information about its nuclear activities.
Washington had signed but never ratified the 1996 treaty and Putin had said he wanted Russia, which had signed and ratified the pact, to adopt the same stance on the treaty as the United States.
Some Western arms control experts are concerned that Russia may be inching towards a test to intimidate and evoke fear amid the Ukraine war, an idea Russian officials have played down.
The upper house of Russia’s parliament voted to rescind the country’s ratification of the test ban last week - and hours later, Russia’s military conducted a simulated nuclear strike in a drill overseen by Mr Putin.
Top Ukrainian military figure warns a significant breakthrough is unlikely
Thursday 2 November 2023 09:56 , Holly Evans
A top Ukrainian commander said there is unlikely to be a “deep and beautiful breakthrough” in the war against Russia.
Commander-in-Chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said that the months-long counteroffensive is “gradually moving to a positional form” and acknowledged the two had reached to a type of “stalemate” similar to that seen in the First World War.
Commander-in-Chief General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in an essay and interview with The Economist that despite previous Ukrainian victories in counteroffensive operations last year, the war is moving “to a new stage: what we in the military call ‘positional’ warfare of static and attritional fighting”.
“There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough,” he told the magazine, and warned “positional warfare” could end up benefitting Moscow.
More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials
Thursday 2 November 2023 09:36 , Holly Evans
At least 930 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Kyiv’s officials claimed.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its battlefield update on Thursday morning also claimed Vladimir Putin has lost approximately 302,420 military personnel since the invasion began on 24 February last year.
The Independent has not been able to verify claims of the battlefield casualties.
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More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials
Ukraine says more than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines and explosives
Thursday 2 November 2023 09:28 , Holly Evans
Extensive mines and explosives in Ukraine have killed more than 260 civilians and injured another 571 during Russia’s 20-month-old invasion, Kyiv’s military officials have said.
Around 174,000sq km of Ukraine, making up about a third of its territory, has been potentially strewn with mines or dangerous war detritus, estimates from Kyiv officials showed.
The 571 injuries have occurred in more than 560 incidents that involve mines or explosive objects left behind in the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops, the country’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said on its official Telegram channel on Wednesday.
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Ukraine says more than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines and explosives
Kremlin says they expect more Western sanctions in future
Thursday 2 November 2023 09:24 , Holly Evans
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine hurt those who imposed them and that it expected more to be introduced in future.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was answering a question about a fresh packet of U.S. sanctions on Russia, the details of which are expected to be unveiled later on Thursday.
Russia likely lost four SAM launchers in past week, says latest MoD update
Thursday 2 November 2023 09:11 , Holly Evans
Russia has likely lost at least four long range Surface-to-Air Missiles to Ukrainian strikes in the last week, the Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 02 November 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/M81EEqaamH
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/2rCvub7o8d— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) November 2, 2023
Russia claims to have shot down five Ukrainian drones
Thursday 2 November 2023 08:50 , Holly Evans
Russian media has reported that their troops shot down five Ukraine drones over Crimea and one over the Black Sea overnight.
The TASS news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying its air defences destroyed the drones.
Russia ‘regrouping for new attacks at Avdiivka’
Thursday 2 November 2023 08:34 , Holly Evans
Russian forces are trying to regroup and recover their losses near the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka before trying to press on with attacks to try to encircle the besieged settlement, Ukraine’s military said on Thursday.
“The enemy continues to try to encircle Avdiivka, but now not so actively - the enemy is trying to regroup and recover losses in order to attack further,” said Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesman for Ukraine’s Tavria military command.
Russia renewed a push to encircle the embattled town in mid-October, trying to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with constant barrages of artillery and waves of troops and fighting vehicles, according to local and military authorities in Ukraine.
North Korea has sent unspecified number of missiles to Russia
Thursday 2 November 2023 08:25 , Holly Evans
North Korea has likely supplied several types of missiles to Russia to support its war in Ukraine, along with its widely reported shipments of ammunition and shells, South Korea’s military said Thursday.
In a background briefing for local journalists, South Korea’s military said that North Korea is suspected of sending an unspecified number of short-range ballistic missiles, anti-tank missiles and portable anti-air missiles to Russia, in addition to rifles, rocket launchers, mortars and shells.
North Korea has been pushing to expand cooperation with Russia and China in the face of protracted security tensions with the United States and pandemic-caused domestic hardships. In an apparent sign of its economic troubles, the country is moving to close some of its overseas diplomatic missions.
