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The Interpreter

Putin’s Case for War, Annotated

For the second time in days, President Vladimir V. Putin addressed Russians about his aims in Ukraine. A close look at his speech offers hints to what may lie ahead.

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By Max Fisher

When Vladimir V. Putin announced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a televised address on Thursday, he articulated aims far beyond those of Russia’s prior assaults on its Ukrainian neighbor.

In a sweeping and angry address, Mr. Putin portrayed the conflict as one waged against the West as a whole. In a falsehood-filled narrative too detailed to be dismissed as mere nationalist fervor, Mr. Putin argued that the West aimed to use Ukraine as a springboard to invade and destroy Russia.

Unlike his speech earlier in the week , Mr. Putin spent relatively little time rehashing false stories of Ukrainian atrocities against the country’s Russian-speaking minority. Those claims had served as justification for his decision to recognize Russian-backed separatist forces, which have held parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014, as independent states that he was intervening to protect.

Rather, he portrayed the war as a pre-emptive strike against Western aggression and a decisive battle to protect Russia’s rightful imperial hold over Europe’s east.

What follows is a concise annotation of several key passages from his address.

The Case for War

It is a fact that over the past 30 years we have been patiently trying to come to an agreement with the leading NATO countries regarding the principles of equal and indivisible security in Europe. In response to our proposals, we invariably faced either cynical deception and lies or attempts at pressure and blackmail, while the North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns.

Mr. Putin framed his decision to invade Ukraine as a last-ditch effort to halt the West’s hostile expansion ever closer to Russia’s borders.

Since the end of the Cold War, a number of countries in Eastern Europe have chosen to join NATO, making them military allies of Moscow’s former adversaries in the West. In 2008, Washington pushed NATO to announc e that it might one day consider membership for Ukraine, though Western leaders have insisted ever since that they see little prospect of this coming about any time soon.

Especially in recent weeks, Mr. Putin has called NATO’s expansion a plot to destroy Russia.

He has portrayed the flurry of diplomacy that began after Russia started massing troops on Ukraine’s border late last year as his effort to secure a stable European balance short of war. In reality, Russian diplomats have issued demands so extreme that they are widely seen as poison-pill provisions meant to derail talks. Western intelligence agencies say Mr. Putin appears to have decided on the invasion weeks or months ago.

We cannot stay idle and passively observe these developments. This would be an absolutely irresponsible thing to do for us. For our country, it is a matter of life and death, a matter of our historical future as a nation. … It is not only a very real threat to our interests but to the very existence of our state and to its sovereignty. It is the red line which we have spoken about on numerous occasions. They have crossed it.

Mr. Putin asserts that, with diplomacy having failed, he has no choice but to save Russia by resolving through violence an existential conflict with the West that has been building since the Cold War’s end.

He draws on a nationalist narrative of lost imperial glory, a mostly false historical account of a duplicitous West forcing its will on Eastern Europe, and a long-mounting paranoia that Russia scholars consider to very possibly be sincere.

The collapse of the Soviet Union led to a redivision of the world. … This array includes promises not to expand NATO eastward even by an inch. To reiterate: They have deceived us, or, to put it simply, they have played us.

Mr. Putin spends a substantial portion of his speech retelling the past 30 years as a history of false Western promises to divide Europe in a stable balance between American and Russian spheres of influence. He implies that this proves that the West is implacably bent on encircling and destroying Russia, and so can only be turned back with force.

Yet contrary to Mr. Putin’s claims, Europe’s security order has been continually negotiated between Moscow and Washington, including in formal agreements over diplomatic and military arrangements.

Mr. Putin’s assertion of a Russian right to dictate those countries’ alliances amounts to a demand that the world jettison principles of international law and sovereignty in favor of old-style imperial spheres of influence.

His claim to this Russian right is new, despite his implication that Washington had in fact agreed to such an arrangement, the betrayal of which is, in his telling, just one of many Western acts of aggression.

There are many examples of this. First a bloody military operation was waged against Belgrade, without the U.N. Security Council’s sanction but with combat aircraft and missiles used in the heart of Europe.

Mr. Putin begins his long recitation of Western aggression with an episode that has obsessed Moscow ever since it occurred: NATO’s 1999 intervention in Serbia, where Serbian forces were accused of massacring civilians in the breakaway region of Kosovo. Washington later supported Kosovo’s independence.

Moscow has long seen that 1999 war as a shocking assault on the fellow Slavic peoples of Serbia and an implied threat to dismember Russia as well.

Mr. Putin also cited the American-led invasion of Iraq and Western interventions in Libya and Syria as proof of the West’s aggression.

This is how it was in the 1990s and the early 2000s, when the so-called collective West was actively supporting separatism and gangs of mercenaries in southern Russia. What victims, what losses we had to sustain and what trials we had to go through at that time before we broke the back of international terrorism in the Caucasus! We remember this and will never forget.

Mr. Putin is referring to a series of bitter internal wars fought in Russia’s North Caucasus region, particularly in Chechnya. Separatists in those regions had sought independence after the Soviet Union’s fall.

His claim that the West sponsored these conflicts to weaken Russia is fiction. But it is a concerning one, given fears that Mr. Putin may see Russia’s wars there as a possible scenario for Ukraine. The wars in Chechnya, which included a yearslong military occupation, saw much of the region obliterated and ended with Moscow installing a brutal dictator there.

They sought to destroy our traditional values and force on us their false values that would erode us, our people from within, the attitudes they have been aggressively imposing on their countries, attitudes that are directly leading to degradation and degeneration, because they are contrary to human nature. This is not going to happen.

Mr. Putin is referring to the extension of legal rights and cultural acceptance to L.G.B.T. peoples in Western countries. He has long portrayed this as evidence of Western cultural decadence and an assault on right-thinking Christian values of which he is, in his telling, the defender.

What next, what are we to expect? If history is any guide, we know that in 1940 and early 1941 the Soviet Union went to great lengths to prevent war or at least delay its outbreak. … The attempt to appease the aggressor ahead of the Great Patriotic War proved to be a mistake which came at a high cost for our people. … We will not make this mistake the second time. We have no right to do so.

In a chilling culmination of Mr. Putin’s primary case for war, he compares expanding Western influence in Europe to Nazi machinations on the eve of World War II.

The Kremlin has increasingly emphasized a Russian identity centered on World War II. This appears aimed at justifying Mr. Putin’s authoritarian rule and Russia’s stagnating economy as wartime necessities, while rallying citizens around another glorious national struggle.

Still, Mr. Putin is unusually explicit in portraying the West as the next Nazi Germany, arguing that Moscow must learn from World War II, when the Nazi occupation of Soviet lands brought years of suffering, and strike first in Ukraine.

‘Genocide’ in eastern Ukraine

This brings me to the situation in Donbass. We can see that the forces that staged the coup in Ukraine in 2014 have seized power, are keeping it with the help of ornamental election procedures and have abandoned the path of a peaceful conflict settlement. We had to stop that atrocity, that genocide of the millions of people who live there and who pinned their hopes on Russia, on all of us.

Unlike in his speech on Monday, which centered on mostly fictitious Ukrainian crimes against its Russian-speaking minority, Ukraine itself is almost an afterthought in Mr. Putin’s latest address.

Mr. Putin recites his earlier justification for recognizing as independent states Russian-backed separatist forces, which have controlled parts of eastern Ukraine since 2014. That was the year that Ukrainians revolted to topple their pro-Moscow president.

The Kremlin has claimed ever since that the 2014 uprising was in fact a coup and that the government in Kyiv has sought to outright exterminate the country’s Russian-speaking minority, whom Mr. Putin portrays as crying out for Russian liberation.

In reality, Ukraine’s current government was democratically elected, the separatist forces in Ukraine’s east rule it through violence, and Ukrainians, including those who natively speak Russian, express overwhelming distrust of Russia.

The leading NATO countries are supporting the far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis in Ukraine, those who will never forgive the people of Crimea and Sevastopol for freely making a choice to reunite with Russia.

Mr. Putin has long painted Ukraine’s government as neo-Nazis, in another attempt to portray Russia’s aggression toward the country as defensive, akin to its battle against Germany in World War II.

They will undoubtedly try to bring war to Crimea just as they have done in Donbass, to kill innocent people just as members of the punitive units of Ukrainian nationalists and Hitler’s accomplices did during the Great Patriotic War. They have also openly laid claim to several other Russian regions.

Mr. Putin’s repeated claims of genocidal Ukrainian persecution against Russian-speaking civilians in Donbass, the region in Ukraine’s east, are false.

In reality, Russian-backed separatists seized those territories by force, setting off a now eight-year war that has claimed thousands of lives. Mr. Putin has falsely claimed ever since that the separatists are merely defending local civilians from the threat of extermination.

If we look at the sequence of events and the incoming reports, the showdown between Russia and these forces cannot be avoided. It is only a matter of time. They are getting ready and waiting for the right moment. Moreover, they went as far as aspire to acquire nuclear weapons. They did not leave us any other option for defending Russia and our people, other than the one we are forced to use today. In these circumstances, we have to take bold and immediate action.

This is the culmination of Mr. Putin’s up-is-down narrative portraying Ukraine, the country that his forces have repeatedly carved up through occupations and annexations, as a terrifying threat to Russia.

Ukraine, he argues, was not only plotting to attack Russia, but seeking nuclear weapons to do so. There is no evidence for either claim .

The Aims of the War

The purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.

Despite Mr. Putin’s long case for war as necessary to turn back encroaching Western influence by reimposing Russian influence in Ukraine, he ultimately declares his intentions to be more modest: protecting civilians in eastern Ukraine who have supposedly cried out for his help.

There is little reason to see this as an accurate description of Mr. Putin’s aims, given that he himself, in this same speech, emphasized far more sweeping goals — and that Russian forces are already launching attacks across Ukraine, far beyond the country’s separatist-held east.

Rather, this narrow goal may be intended to serve as an official casus belli, giving Russian diplomats something to cite, however implausible, particularly at the United Nations.

To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation.

This may be the most important line of Mr. Putin’s speech, as a seeming statement of war aims far beyond his superficial claim of humanitarian intervention.

His reference to “demilitarize” is being widely read as a threat to subjugate the Ukrainian state as a whole, neutering its ability to defend itself and therefore its sovereign autonomy. Russian forces have already struck at Ukrainian military installations across the country.

And Mr. Putin’s use of “denazify,” in context with his false claim that Ukraine’s democratic government is a neo-Nazi dictatorship, is seen as a threat to topple that government outright. Western intelligence agencies have warned for weeks that Moscow may be plotting to install a pliant dictatorship in Kyiv.

Still, it is possible that these references are bluster, meant to intimidate Ukraine into accepting some accommodation short of full Russian subjugation.

Girding for Conflict

I urge you to immediately lay down arms and go home. I will explain what this means: The military personnel of the Ukrainian army who do this will be able to freely leave the zone of hostilities and return to their families. … I want to emphasize again that all responsibility for the possible bloodshed will lie fully and wholly with the ruling Ukrainian regime.

Mr. Putin’s offer of amnesty to Ukrainian soldiers who leave the battlefield is most likely intended to encourage desertion.

But it may also serve as a warning that Russian forces will accept heavy bloodshed in their invasion, which is already reaching into civilian areas, on the grounds that responsibility for loss of life ultimately rests on Ukrainian forces for not immediately surrendering.

I would now like to say something very important for those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside. No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.

This statement is widely seen as a threat of nuclear strikes against any Western country that might militarily intervene against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian threats of using nuclear weaponry to retaliate against an attack on Russia itself are nothing new. But Mr. Putin, in extending this nuclear umbrella to cover his invasion forces in Ukraine, has issued a major and potentially destabilizing threat. Russian forces have carried out nuclear exercises in recent days, likely intended as a signal of his sincerity.

Citizens of Russia … It is our strength and our readiness to fight that are the bedrock of independence and sovereignty and provide the necessary foundation for building a reliable future for your home, your family, and your Motherland.

Mr. Putin ends by appealing directly to Russian citizens to support his war in Ukraine as a necessary national struggle.

But there is every indication , including in opinion polls, that Russian citizens, as well as members of the country’s all-important elite, do not want a war with Ukraine and are deeply skeptical of Mr. Putin’s aggression. If Mr. Putin hopes to stave off public or political backlash as the war’s already-mounting political and economic toll on Russia rise, appeals to national struggle, such as this one, have so far proven severely insufficient.

Max Fisher is a New York-based international reporter and columnist. He has reported from five continents on conflict, diplomacy, social change and other topics. He writes  The Interpreter , a column exploring the ideas and context behind major world events. More about Max Fisher

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

Kyiv is aiming to build its own weapons to bring the fight to Russia, signaling a potential boom in domestic weapons production . Whether that can be done in time to alter the trajectory of a war that would be more tenuous without U.S. military aid remains to be seen.

Ukraine’s troop-starved brigades have started their own recruitment campaigns  to fill ranks depleted in the war with Russia.

The Czech Republic froze the assets of two men and a news website  it accused of running a “Russian influence operation” in Europe.

Symbolism or Strategy?: Ukrainians say that defending places with little strategic value is worth the cost in casualties and weapons , because the attacking Russians pay an even higher price. American officials aren’t so sure.

Elaborate Tales: As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online  to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West.

Targeting Russia’s Oil Industry: With its army short of ammunition and troops to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Kyiv has increasingly taken the fight beyond the Ukrainian border, attacking oil infrastructure deep in Russian territory .

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

Full transcript of Zelenskyy's emotional appeal to Russians

Here is the full transcript of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's video address early on Feb. 24 local time warning that a Russian invasion could cause tens of thousands of deaths .

“Today I initiated a phone call with the president of the Russian federation. The result was silence. Though the silence should be in Donbass. That’s why I want to address today the people of Russia. I am addressing you not as a president, I am addressing you as a citizen of Ukraine. More than 2,000 km of the common border is dividing us. Along this border your troops are stationed, almost 200,000 soldiers, thousands of military vehicles. Your leaders approved them to make a step forward, to the territory of another country. And this step can be the beginning of a big war on European continent.

We know for sure that we don’t need the war. Not a Cold War, not a hot war. Not a hybrid one. But if we’ll be attacked by the [enemy] troops, if they try to take our country away from us, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. Not attack, but defend ourselves. And when you will be attacking us, you will see our faces, not our backs, but our faces.

The war is a big disaster, and this disaster has a high price. With every meaning of this word. People lose money, reputation, quality of life, they lose freedom. But the main thing is that people lose their loved ones, they lose themselves.

They told you that Ukraine is posing a threat to Russia. It was not the case in the past, not in the present, it’s not going to be in the future. You are demanding security guarantees from NATO, but we also demand security guarantees. Security for Ukraine from you, from Russia and other guarantees of the Budapest memorandum.

But our main goal is peace in Ukraine and the safety of our people, Ukrainians. For that we are ready to have talks with anybody, including you, in any format, on any platform. The war will deprive [security] guarantees from everybody — nobody will have guarantees of security anymore. Who will suffer the most from it? The people. Who doesn’t want it the most? The people! Who can stop it? The people. But are there those people among you? I am sure.

I know that they [the Russian state] won’t show my address on Russian TV, but Russian people have to see it. They need to know the truth, and the truth is that it is time to stop now, before it is too late. And if the Russian leaders don’t want to sit with us behind the table for the sake of peace, maybe they will sit behind the table with you. Do Russians want the war? I would like to know the answer. But the answer depends only on you, citizens of the Russian Federation.”

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100 speeches in 100 days of war: Zelenskyy rallies Ukraine

This combination of images from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, in his video addresses from Feb. 24, 2022, to June 3, 2022. From the start of the war, Zelenskyy has spoken to the Ukrainian people at the conclusion of every day, rallying them to the fight, telling them of his efforts to get ever more Western weapons and sharing their pain. His actor-trained voice can be soothing, a deep, confidential whisper as he looks directly into the camera. Or forceful, rising in moral outrage as he condemns the most recent Russian atrocities and vows that those responsible will be punished.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022. The address came on the 1st day of the Russian invasion and war in Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, June 3, 2022. The address came on the 100th day of the Russian invasion and war in Ukraine. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

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As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells it, when Russia invaded 100 days ago , no one expected his country to survive . World leaders advised him to flee.

“But they didn’t know us,” he said in a late-night video address in April when the war hit its 50th day. “And they didn’t know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom.”

He could have been speaking about himself. No one knew how a 44-year-old man who had catapulted himself from the world of entertainment into the presidency would respond to an invasion by Russia’s giant army.

His response has been forceful — and compellingly public. Zelenskyy has led his country in mounting an unexpectedly fierce resistance . Every night, he rallies Ukrainians to the fight with a video address on social media. There have been 100 so far – one for each day of the war — in nightly reminders that he has not fled, that Ukraine has indeed survived.

His actor-trained voice can be soothing, a deep, confidential almost-whisper as he looks directly into the camera. Or forceful, rising in moral outrage as he condemns the most recent Russian atrocities and insists that those responsible will be punished.

As the days and weeks have ticked by, his unshaven face has grown a dark beard. He has lost his boyish looks. The puffiness from sleepless nights as Russian troops marched on the capital was replaced by new resolve when the invasion stalled.

From the start of the war he has dressed in various shades of army green, appearing most often in a simple T-shirt. The impression he leaves is clear: He’s fresh from the fight and about to get back to it.

A tireless and skilled communicator, Zelenskyy has spoken by video link to the United Nations , British Parliament , U.S. Congress and about two dozen other parliaments around the world, as well as to the Cannes Film Festival and America’s Grammy Awards . Rarely if ever has a man without a tie addressed so many VIPs. He also has given interviews to journalists. He held a news conference in the safety of the Kyiv subway.

But his nightly video address has been his favored channel for informing and inspiring his fellow citizens.

He often begins with an exuberant greeting to Ukrainians as “the free people of a brave country” or “the invincible people of our great country.” He invariably ends with a defiant “Glory to Ukraine.”

He tells them of the world leaders he has spoken with during the day and his efforts to get those leaders to send more and better weapons, to inflict ever more punishing sanctions on Russia.

He speaks to his fellow Ukrainians’ anger and pain from the devastation of the country, the untold deaths. “My heart breaks from what Russia is doing to our people,” he said on March 16 after Russian bombs killed hundreds sheltering in a theater in Mariupol.

He salutes their courage and says he never gets tired of thanking all those fighting to determine the future of Ukraine. That the country did not fall within days as Russia expected, he said on April 14, was because millions of Ukrainians “made the most important decision of their life – to fight.”

He also has tried to reach a Russian audience, as on April 1 when he switched from Ukrainian into Russian to urge Russians to keep their sons away from the war.

“We do not need new dead people here,” he said. “Take care of your children so they do not become villains, do not send them to the army. Do whatever you can to keep them alive. At home.”

In his video address Friday on the war’s 100th day, Zelenskyy said many words and numbers are now associated with the war, but “there are three words for which we have been fighting for 100 days after eight years: ‘peace,’ ‘victory,’ ‘Ukraine.’ Glory to Ukraine!”

In justifying the Feb. 24 invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was saving Ukraine from the “drug addicts and neo-Nazis” of Zelenskyy’s government. He has since ignored Zelenskyy’s calls for a meeting.

Back in June 2019, shortly after Zelenskyy was elected president, Putin was asked why he hadn’t congratulated the new Ukrainian leader. In a condescending response, Putin seemed to write off the actor-turned-president.

“Well, it’s one thing to play someone and another to be someone,” Putin said. “The important thing is to have the courage and the character to take responsibility. He hasn’t shown his character yet.”

For 100 nights, that character has been shown to Ukrainians and the world. And to Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Wartime Speeches Tell the Story of Ukraine

The Ukrainian president will publish a collection of 16 handpicked addresses later this year

Ella Feldman

Daily Correspondent

Since taking office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has delivered over 1,000 addresses. Soon, a selection of his wartime speeches will be published in a new book, A Message From Ukraine .

“Supporting Ukraine is not a trend, a meme or a viral challenge,” says Zelenskyy in a statement from  Crown Publishing , which will release the book on December 6. “It is not a force to rapidly spread across the planet and then just as rapidly disappear. If you want to understand who we are, where we are from, what we want and where we are going, you need to learn more about who we are.”

The book begins with an introduction from Zelenskyy and a preface by  Arkady Ostrovsky , who edits stories about Russia and Eastern Europe for the  Economist . Then, it launches into a collection of 16 speeches Zelenskyy gave between 2019 and 2022, handpicked by the man himself in order to recount the  Russia-Ukraine War from his eyes. 

A Message from Ukraine: Speeches, 2019-2022

Bringing together a new introduction by Volodymyr Zelensky with his most powerful war speeches, this book recounts Ukraine’s story through the words of its president.

“It is the story of a nation valiantly defending itself from Russian aggression. And it is the story of a people leading the world in the struggle for democracy,” the book’s  description states. “Above all, it is a battle cry for us all to stand up and fight for liberty.”

Proceeds from book sales will go to  United24 , the initiative Zelenskyy created in May in order to collect donations for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy, 44, was born in Ukraine’s industrial city Kryvyy Rih to Jewish parents. He studied law at the  Kryvyy Rih Economic Institute , but pursued an acting and comedy career during and after his studies. He founded Studio Kvartal 95 , which became a successful entertainment studio, and starred in a number of mainstream films.

Zelenskyy found his way from entertainment to politics. In 2015, his studio released the political satire  Servant of the People , which starred Zelenskyy as a high school teacher who delivers a tirade against corruption; the tirade goes viral, eventually landing him a gig as Ukraine’s president. The show resonated with Ukrainians, who rallied behind him when he announced a real life run for president against then-incumbent  Petro Poroshenko .

Zelenskyy was sworn in as Ukraine’s president in May 2019. Now, he is leading the country through a war with Russia , which invaded Ukraine in February. Zelenskyy’s leadership throughout the Russian invasion has earned him comparisons to notable wartime leaders throughout history such as  Winston Churchill . 

Back in March, Zelenskyy channeled Churchill directly , adapting one of his famous speeches to a new era: “We will fight till the end, at sea, in the air,” said Zelenskyy. “We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forests, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.”

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Ella Feldman | READ MORE

Ella Malena Feldman is a writer and editor based in Washington, D.C. She examines art, culture and gender in her work, which has appeared in Washington City Paper , DCist and the Austin American-Statesman .

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Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin to give shock G20 speech as Moscow troops desert Donetsk frontline

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Vladimir Putin will set out Russia ’s view of the “deeply unstable world situation” in a shock G20 speech this week, the Kremlin has said, as Ukraine claimed growing numbers of Moscow’s troops were deserting the frontline in Donetsk .

Ukraine’s military has been bracing for a “third wave” of Russian assaults on the key city of Avdiivka – but a spokesperson claimed Moscow was being forced to rely increasingly on penal recruits and reservists due to its soldiers refusing to take part in casualty-heavy assaults.

Further south, Kyiv ’s forces claimed to have pushed Mr Putin’s forces three to eight kilometres back on the banks of the Dnipro River , in what would mark the first significant advance by Kyiv’s forces months into a grindingly slow counteroffensive.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the vast waterway in Kherson for more than a year, until Kyiv claimed last week to have finally established multiple footholds on the river’s eastern bank.

Ukrainian army pushing Russian forces back at Dnipro river

Russia launches waves of drone strikes on Kyiv for second night

Cluster bombs in battle for Avdiivka fuelling stalemate on frontline, says UK

Ukraine establishes 'several bridgeheads' on eastern bank of Dnipro

Russian defence minister claims Ukraine failing to cross the Dnipro River

11:08 , Tom Watling

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has claimed that Ukraine have failed to carry out a landing operation in the Kherson region, the Interfax news agency reported.

The Russian politician, a senior figure involved in the “special military operation” and an integral member of Vladimir Putin’s siloviki (inner circle), was echoing dismissive claims made by the official channel of his own ministry earlier today.

Andriy Shevchenko urges the world not to forget Ukraine: ‘The cold is coming. Russia will try to hit our energy’

10:45 , Tom Watling

Almost two years into Russia’s devastating invasion, one of Ukraine’s most famous exports is desperate to keep shining a light on his country’s plight, writes Lawrence Ostlere , as global attention shifts to the Middle East.n

Andriy Shevchenko on Ukraine: ‘The cold is coming. Russia will try to hit our energy’

Russia says co-existence not possible with Ukraine's current 'regime'

10:20 , Tom Watling

Russia cannot co-exist with the current Ukrainian “regime” and will resist the might of the NATO military alliance for as long as Moscow needs to achieve its aims, a senior Russian foreign ministry diplomat said on Tuesday.

“The current regime is absolutely toxic, we do not see any options for co-existence with it at the moment,” Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told reporters in Moscow.

Miroshnik said Ukraine had carried out crimes against civilians and that NATO had supplied forbidden weapons to Ukraine but that the West would eventually lose interest in Ukraine.

“We can resist NATO just as much as we need to fulfill the tasks that the president has formulated,” Miroshnik said.

European Council president arrives in Kyiv to discuss ‘next steps’ of EU accession

09:54 , Tom Watling

Charles Michel, the European Council president, has also arrived in Kyiv ahead of talks about Ukrainian accession to the European Union.

Moldovan leader Maia Sandu arrived in the Ukrainian capital earlier this morning, as did German defence minister Boris Pistorius.

In a statement on X, Ms Sandu said that “discussing the next steps in EU accession of Moldova and Ukraine” was on the agenda for discussions.

She added that “enhancing regional security” as well as discussion on the “EU’s continued support of reforms and development in our countries” would also be a part of meetings today.

Mr Michel was greeted by the EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, at Kyiv’s railway station. She can be seen shaking Mr Michel’s hand below in a picture posted by the European Council chief to X. He captioned the photo: “Good to be back in Kyiv - among friends.”

Good to be back in Kyiv – among friends. pic.twitter.com/w9cAQzqYyo — Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) November 21, 2023

‘It’s like Covid’: Zelensky says Putin has made ‘five or six’ attempts on his life

09:48 , Tom Watling

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that at least “five or six” Russian attempts to assassinate him have been foiled by his security services.

The wartime leader, speaking from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, said the volume of attempts had turned him almost numb to the danger. He compared the later attempts to catching the Covid-19 infection.

“The first one is very interesting , when it is the first time, and after that it is just like Covid,” he said in a new interview.

You can read the full story here.

Ukraine air defence downs 9 out of 10 Russian drones

09:35 , Tom Watling

Ukraine air defence shot down one missile and 9 out of 10 drones in a Russian overnight strike, the nation’s air force has said.

The air force said in a statement the Russian forces launched Iranian-made drones from Russian territory on several directions.

US announce $100m aid package for Ukraine

09:17 , Tom Watling

The US have announced that they will send an additional $100 million in security aid to Ukraine.

The pledge follows US defence secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Kyiv yesterday, during which he promised American support “for the long haul”.

Included in the latest package is one High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and an unspecified number of shells.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence welcomed the package in a statement on X. The amount, however, is minimal to the point of nominal; Ukraine has been using billions of dollars worth of munitions and heavy weaponry every month.

While the US Congress remains frozen without a fiscal plan for next year, they are unable to send more significant packages to Ukraine.

🇺🇸 @DeptofDefense announced additional security assistance for Ukraine valued at up to $100 million. Thank you for supporting Ukraine in our struggle against russian aggression. The capabilities in this package include: ◾️1 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and… — Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) November 21, 2023

Moldova's president Maia Sandu arrives in Ukraine

09:09 , Tom Watling

Moldova’s President Maia Sandu have arrived in Kyiv, the Ukrainian presidential office said on Tuesday.

Sandu and Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy honoured the memory of people who died during the Revolution of Dignity 10 year ago, the office said on social media platform X.

German defence minister Boris Pistorius also arrived on Tuesday morning in Kyiv.

Today marks 10 years since the start of Euromaidan, a defining moment for Ukraine’s European path. Together with @ZelenskyyUa and @ZelenskaUA , I honoured all those who stood for freedom and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their legacy lives on. pic.twitter.com/2cti4oFGR2 — Maia Sandu (@sandumaiamd) November 21, 2023

Here are some of the latest pictures from Ukraine

08:30 , Tom Watling

Good morning. Below are some of the latest pictures from Ukraine as German defence minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv this morning for a secret visit.

His visit comes as snow has begun to fall in eastern Ukraine amid fears of a stalemate on the frontline.

General Valery Zaluzhny, the chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wrote an article earlier this month in which he said the battle had descended into “positional” warfare and that there would be no major breakthrough such as the one many had hoped the summer counteroffensive would achieve. He met with US defece secretary Lloyd Austin yesterday.

Russia says it scuppers more Ukrainian attempts to cross the Dnipro

07:53 , Tara Cobham

Russia said on Tuesday that marines, aviation and artillery had scuppered more Ukrainian attempts to gain a foothold on the eastern bank of the River Dnipro and on islands at the mouth of the river in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine said this month that its forces had crossed the Dnipro and established several bridgeheads on the eastern banks of the river, though Russia said it was pummelling the Ukrainian positions.

"Black Sea Fleet marines are stopping all attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to carry out amphibious landings on the Dnipro islands and the left bank of the Dnipro River," Russia's defence ministry said.

The Russian defence ministry published a video which it said showed marines from the 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade defeating Ukrainian forces. Soldiers were shown firing a variety of weapons, though the result of the fighting was unclear.

It said Ukrainian forces were suffering heavy casualties and losing equipment in unsuccessful attempts to land on islands in the Dnipro. Reuters was unable to immediately verify battlefield accounts from either side.

It is still unclear how significant the Ukrainian attempt to gain a foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro is. Crossing the Dnipro leaves Ukrainian units exposed between river and marshland on one side and heavily fortified Russian lines on the other.

Russian strikes kill two and wound six in eastern Ukraine, say officials

07:42 , Tara Cobham

Two people were killed and six were wounded in overnight Russian missile attacks and shelling in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

Missiles hit a hospital in the Donetsk town of Selydove and a coal mine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging service.

"Two buildings of the hospital were damaged, six civilians were injured. There may be victims under the rubble, search operations continue," Klymenko said.

One worker was killed in the attack on the coal mine, he said.

"Four buildings, 19 vehicles and a power line were damaged. 39 miners were trapped underground. As of now, all miners have been brought to the surface," he said.

Invading Russian forces have occupied much of Donetsk and Russia has said it intends to take over the whole region.

In Kharkiv, one person was killed in Russian shelling, the region's governor, Oleh Synehubov, said.

Bodies of Ukrainian and Russian troops exchanged

07:00 , Alexander Butler

The bodies of Ukrainian and Russian troops have been exchanged.

The Coordination Headquarters on the Treatment of Prisoners of War said around 94 Ukrainian troops were returned to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine said forensic examinations will now take place to identify the bodies.

The bodies of Russian troops were also handed over, in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Russia may begin full mobilisation after 2024 presidential election, says senior security official

06:00 , Alexander Butler

Russia may begin full mobilisation after the 2024 Russian presidential election on 17 March, the secretary of the national security and defence council of Ukraine, Oleksii Danilov, has suggested.

Danilov said in a speech to the International Security Forum in Halifax, Canada: “Russia has managed to adapt, and constantly injects funds into its defence sector. Russia proved to be more resilient to the west’s sanctions, as expected.

“Russia is increasingly putting its economy on a war footing. Total mobilisation may follow the 2024 presidential elections.”

Russia lodges protest against Finnish ambassador as country threatens more borders will close

04:00 , Alexander Butler

Russia’s foreign ministry has said it has lodged a formal protest with the Finnish ambassador in Moscow over the closure of four busy border crossings between Russia and Finland.

On Saturday, Finland closed crossings on the shared border in a bid to halt the flow of asylum seekers that it says was instigated by Moscow.

Only four crossing points remain open, which the Russian foreign ministry said has impacted tens of thousands of people in both countries.

Russian drones target Kyiv as UK Defense Ministry says little chance of front-line change

03:00 , Alexander Butler

Russian drones targeted Kyiv on Sunday as the British Defense Ministry said there were “few immediate prospects” for major change along the Ukrainian front line as the war enters its second winter.

Russia launched 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones overnight, targeting the Ukrainian capital and the Cherkasy and Poltava regions, according to a military statement. Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems shot down 15 of the drones.

The overnight strike on Kyiv is the second attack on the Ukrainian capital in 48 hours, said the city’s Military Administration spokesperson, Serhii Popko.

NATO committed to Bosnia's territorial integrity condemns 'malign' Russian influence

01:00 , Alexander Butler

NATO supports Bosnia‘s territorial integrity and is concerned by “malign foreign interference,” including by Russia, in the volatile Balkans region that went through a devastating war in the 1990s, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.

Sarajevo is the first stop on Stoltenberg’s tour of Western Balkan countries that will also include Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia.

“The Allies strongly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina,” Stoltenberg told reporters. “We are concerned by the secessionist and divisive rhetoric as well as malign foreign interference, including Russia.”

At least 11,000 children in ‘re-education’ camps in Russia, UK ministry of defence says

00:01 , Alexander Butler

Russia is holding at least 11,000 Ukrainian children across 43 “re-education” camps, the UK ministry of defence said.

“At least 11,000 Ukrainian children are reportedly being detained at 43 re-education camps across Russia, thousands of miles from home. Their simple right to life and liberty is being impacted,” the ministry said on X.

At least 11,000 Ukrainian children are reportedly being detained at 43 re-education camps across Russia, thousands of miles from home. Their simple right to life and liberty is being impacted. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/Dk7Lh9E935 — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) November 20, 2023

Russia bars Moldovan nationals, summoning ambassador

Monday 20 November 2023 22:00 , Alexander Butler

Russia barred entry to a number of officials from Moldova on Monday and complained about moves by its pro-European government to block Russian media outlets ahead of local elections earlier this month.

The moves were the latest in a series of acerbic exchanges between the two sides and allegations by Moldova that Russia has been exerting pressure on the ex-Soviet state’s affairs and President Maia Sandu’s drive to join the European Union.

A Russian foreign ministry statement said Moldovan Ambassador Lilian Darie was summoned to be told of the decision.

“The Moldovan side was presented with a decisive protest in connection with the continuing politically motivated persecution of Russian media in Moldova, including the blocking of access to their Internet sites,” a ministry statement said.

The US is with Ukraine ‘for the long haul’, defence secretary tells Zelensky

Monday 20 November 2023 20:13 , Alexander Butler

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the country remains behind Ukraine as it continues its war with Russia. It comes after announcing a further package of defensive aid worth $100m.

“The message that I bring you today is that the United States of America is with you. We will remain with you for the long haul,” Mr Austin said.

He added: “I think they are prepared for combat in the winter. They did a great job last year. This year we expect them to be, just based on what President Zelensky has said, them to be even more aggressive.”

Ukrainian sniper ‘breaks world record after killing Russian solider nearly 2.5 miles away’

Monday 20 November 2023 18:12 , Alexander Butler

A Ukrainian sniper claims to have broken the world record by killing a Russian soldier almost 2.5 miles away, with a custom rifle called ‘Lord of the Horizon’, Holly Evans reports.

The previous record was held by a Canadian special operations sniper at a distance of 2.2 miles in Iraq in 2017.

In a press statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said: “The SBU sniper set a world record for a successful shot.

“He hit a Russian soldier from an incredible distance.

“SBU snipers are changing the rules of world sniping, demonstrating the ability to work effectively at fantastic distances.”

Ukrainian sniper ‘breaks world record after killing solider nearly 2.5 miles away’

Full report: Russia puts Ukrainian winner of Eurovision Song Contest on wanted list

Monday 20 November 2023 17:14 , Andy Gregory

Russia has placed a Ukrainian singer who won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on its wanted list, state news agencies reported Monday.

The independent news site Mediazona said singer Susana Jamaladinova was charged under a Russian law adopted last year which outlaws spreading so-called fake information about the war in Ukraine.

Russia puts Ukrainian winner of Eurovision Song Contest on wanted list

Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Lachlan Murdoch in Kyiv

Monday 20 November 2023 16:46 , Andy Gregory

Volodymyr Zelensky has met Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch in the Ukrainian capital, in what Kyiv described as a “very important signal” of support at a time when global media attention has shifted from the war in Ukraine.

“The Head of State thanked Lachlan Murdoch for his visit and emphasised that it is a very important signal of support at the time when the world’s attention is blurred by other events,” the Ukrainian president’s office said.

Mr Zelensky was quoted by his office as saying it was vital to keep the world’s attention focused on the war in Ukraine, adding: “For us, for our warriors, this is not a movie. These are our lives. This is daily hard work. And it will not be over as quickly as we would like, but we have no right to give up and we will not.”

Fox News journalist Benjamin Hall, who was badly wounded covering the war in Ukraine last year, and Sun journalist Jerome Starkey were also invited to the meeting with Rupert Murdoch’s eldest son, who was named the sole chair of News Corp in September.

ICYMI: Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine after claims he could stop war in 24 hours

Monday 20 November 2023 16:24 , Andy Gregory

Opinion | Ukrainian victory is all but certain – so long as its allies do not seek a ‘way out'

Monday 20 November 2023 16:03 , Andy Gregory

In this Independent Voices piece, James Nixey of Chatham House writes:

Calling the war a stalemate is an obvious example of self-defeat: if it is believed that Ukraine cannot win the war, then Ukraine will not be given weapons to win the war which, in turn, means … they will not win the war. It takes rare political courage to imagine Ukraine’s victory, although EU officials Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell have managed this.

Ukraine’s EU accession, likely and in progress, and Nato accession, less likely in times of war and very dependent on US backing, will be a hollow victory if its resources dry up. Russia has had a poor war – its Black Sea fleet has retreated from Crimea, meaning it will have problems defending the peninsula, and Ukraine’s counter-offensive at Avdiivka has been costly for Russia.

But Russia can absorb costs like no other. Its industry is war-mobilised and its soldiers are dispensable, replaceable commodities. Depopulation and brain drain are problems for another day and arguably affect Ukraine more. Nor should a bad plan be mistaken for a bad army that does not learn from its mistakes. Russia does. And it may have been forced to turn to North Korea to fill a “munitions gap”, but that too has worked.

Vladimir Putin’s ideology is delusional of course, but he remains deeply committed to seeing his war through to a successful conclusion: “all in” and long since recovered from the Prigozhin affair, he surely believes he can win.

But it also remains the case that a Ukrainian victory is possible – more than possible. In fact, it is all but certain; but only if Western countries do not “get tired”, do not look for a “way out”, and if Ukraine is given the tools to finish the job.

Russia’s plan B in Ukraine is working – the West must not turn away now

‘Double standards’ in Israel-Hamas conflict have ‘undermined fight' for Ukraine, says Varadkar

Monday 20 November 2023 15:38 , Andy Gregory

Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said there is “double standards” from the EU and some Western powers in relation to Israel and Palestine.

The Taoiseach said the stance of some Western countries in response to the Israel-Hamas war had “undermined the fight” to garner support for Ukraine as it battles against the ongoing Russian invasion.

Here is the full report:

Varadkar raises concerns about EU ‘double standards’ on Israel and Palestine

Kyiv hoping for Poland talks over lorry driver protests

Monday 20 November 2023 15:09 , Andy Gregory

Kyiv hopes to hold a new round of talks with Poland and the European Union this week to resolve an issue with Polish lorry drivers holding protests to block border crossings, a Ukrainian trade representative has said.

“This week we hope to have negotiations in a trilateral format,” Taras Kachka told broadcasters.

Yesterday, some 3,000 mostly Ukrainian lorries – including those carrying fuel and humanitarian aid – were caught on the Polish side of the border due to a more than 10-day blockade by Polish hauliers, Ukrainian officials said.

The hauliers are protesting against what they see as government inaction over a loss of business to foreign competitors since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

US defence secretary meets with Zelensky in Kyiv

Monday 20 November 2023 14:32 , Andy Gregory

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has said he was “honoured” to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky during a surprise visit to Kyiv today – his second since April 2022.

Washington will “continue to support Ukraine’s urgent battlefield needs and long-term defence requirements”, Mr Austin said.

I was honored to meet with President @ZelenskyyUa in Kyiv today to reaffirm the United States’ steadfast support for Ukraine. We, along with our allies and partners, will continue to support Ukraine’s urgent battlefield needs and long-term defense requirements. pic.twitter.com/Odv6ClgcrP — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) November 20, 2023

Russia places Eurovision winner on its wanted list

Monday 20 November 2023 14:03 , Andy Gregory

Russia has placed the 2016 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest on its wanted list.

An Interior Ministry database lists Ukrainian singer Susana Jamaladinova – who uses the stage name Jamala, and is of Crimean Tatar descent – as being sought for violating a criminal law, Russian state news agencies reported.

She won the Eurovision contest with the song “1944,” whose title refers to the year the Soviet Union deported Crimean Tatars en masse. Russia protested the song being allowed in the competition, saying it violated rules against political speech. But the song made no specific criticism of Russia or the Soviet Union.

The independent news site Mediazona said Ms Jamaladinova was charged under a Russian law adopted last year to outlaw the spread of so-called fake information about the Ukraine war.

Watch: Lazarus Project star says series predicted Russia-Ukraine war

Monday 20 November 2023 13:35 , Andy Gregory

Top Ukrainian cyber defence officials sacked amid corruption probe

Monday 20 November 2023 13:22 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine has sacked two high-ranking cyber defence officials amid a probe into alleged embezzlement, a senior government official said.

Yurii Shchyhol, head of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), and his deputy, Viktor Zhora, were dismissed by the government, cabinet chief Taras Melnychuk said on Monday.

The firings coincided with an announcement by anti-corruption prosecutors that they were investigating officials in cyber defence positions over their alleged roles in a six-person plot to embezzle 62 million Ukrainian hryvnia (£1.38m) in 2021.

Prosecutors did not identify either official by name, and the SSSCIP did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

Jailed Russian nationalist Girkin hopes to challenge Putin in presidential elections

Monday 20 November 2023 12:56 , Andy Gregory

Pro-war Russian nationalist Igor Girkin has announced that he wants to run for president – despite understanding the upcoming March election will be “sham” with the winner already clear.

Mr Girkin – who is in custody awaiting trial for inciting extremism – has repeatedly said Russia faces revolution and even civil war unless Vladimir Putin’s military top brass fight the war in Ukraine more effectively.

A former FSB officer who helped annex Crimea in 2014 and organise pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine, Mr Girkin said before his arrest that he and his supporters were entering politics.

“I understand perfectly well that in the current situation in Russia, participating in the presidential campaign is like sitting down at a table to play with card sharps,” he said in a letter published on Telegram entitled: “I am going to run.”

Mr Girkin said that he did not think that he would be allowed to take part in the election, but hoped that his attempt to unite patriotic forces would disrupt the Kremlin’s plan for a “sham election” in which “the only winner is known in advance”.

Analysis | Russia’s plan B in Ukraine is working – now is not the moment for the West to turn away

Monday 20 November 2023 12:27 , Andy Gregory

In this Independent Voices piece, James Nixey – director of Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme – writes:

When Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, was fooled recently by two well-known Russian “comics” – surely paid-up Kremlin agents – into saying she was “tired” of the war in Ukraine and that everyone would soon be looking for a “way out”, too many of her counterparts in the West would have tacitly agreed (and perhaps sympathised: she is hardly the first to be pranked by these two).

But Ms Meloni deserves no sympathy. She thought she was talking to the head of the African Union Commission so this should have been a chance to exercise statecraft and reason with the supposed representative from the Global South and argue that Russia’s war in Ukraine is nothing if not colonialist itself – a desperate attempt to maintain its empire.

But Ms Meloni’s admission was worse than just not showing moral leadership. She was also playing into Russia’s hands by parroting its narrative: being tired and looking for a way out of the war is precisely what Vladimir Putin now wants from the Western world.

Nato concerned by secessionist rhetoric and Russian influence in Bosnia

Monday 20 November 2023 11:58 , Andy Gregory

Jens Stoltenberg has said Nato is concerned by secessionist rhetoric and Russian influence in Bosnia, after months of Serb leaders increasingly saying they want to split and join Serbia.

Bosnia emerged from civil war in 1995 with a federal structure uniting a Serb-dominated republic and a federation of Croats and Bosniak Muslims. But the leader of Serbian entity, Milorad Dodik, has increasingly said in recent months that he aims to secede and join neighbouring Serbia.

“We are concerned by secessionist and divisive rhetoric as well as ... foreign interference including Russia,” the Nato chief told reporters in Sarajevo, during a tour of the western Balkans region.

“This undermines the stability and hampers reform,” Mr Stoltenberg said, adding that all political leaders must work to preserve unity, build national institutions and achieve reconciliation.

Nato had deployed about 60,000 troops in Bosnia after the war, which were replaced by an EU peacekeeping force in 2004. Last year, the EU almost doubled its size to 1,100 troops, amid fears that instability from the Ukraine war could spill over to the western Balkans.

Putin to address G20 summit this week, Kremlin says

Monday 20 November 2023 11:15 , Andy Gregory

Vladimir Putin will set out Russia’s view of what it sees as the “deeply unstable world situation” when he addresses an upcoming virtual G20 summit, the Kremlin has said.

Russian state TV presenter Pavel Zarubin said on his Telegram channel on Sunday that it would be the “first event in a long time” including both the Russian president and Western leaders.

According to the state RIA news agency, the G20 virtual summit will be held on Wednesday.

Russia relying on penal recruits to stem increase in deserters on Donetsk frontline, Ukraine claims

Monday 20 November 2023 11:06 , Andy Gregory

Growing numbers of Russian soldiers are deserting the frontline in Donetsk, Ukraine’s military has claimed as it braces for a long-awaited “third wave” of attacks by Moscow’s forces in Avdiivka.

The Institute for Study of War think-tank cited Ukrainian Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun as saying that Russia may soon intensify artillery preparations for the new wave of assaults on the strategically key city.

Moscow’s forces have not actively used heavy military equipment Avdiivka in recent days, have decreased aviation use in the area, and are increasingly using infantry, he said, claiming that Russia’s significant losses mean only 10 to 15 percent of some detachments’ original personnel remain.

In remarks on Sunday, Mr Shtupun claimed there were growing numbers of Russian deserters and personnel who refuse to conduct offensive operations, leading Russian commanders to use physical force and barrier troops to push Russian forces to fight, with an increased reliance on mobilised reservists and penal recruits.

EU sanctions tend to have ‘boomerang effect’, Russia claims

Monday 20 November 2023 10:54 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has claimed that European Union sanctions tend to have a “boomerang effect”, as Moscow faces the prospect of an EU ban on imports of Russian diamonds.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that such a move had been anticipated for a long time, but was likely to backfire.

“As a rule, it turns out that a boomerang effect is partially triggered: the interests of the Europeans themselves suffer. So far, we have been able to find ways to minimise the negative consequences of sanctions,” he claimed.

EU diplomatic sources told Reuters last week that the proposal under discussion was to ban direct diamond imports from Russia from 1 January, and to implement a traceability mechanism by March which would prevent imports of Russian gems processed in third countries.

Exclusive: Andriy Shevchenko urges the world not to forget Ukraine

Monday 20 November 2023 10:29 , Andy Gregory

On the morning of 24 February 2022 – a date etched in every Ukrainian’s mind – Andriy Shevchenko was woken by a phone call from his mother. She told him through tears that Russia was invading. Shevchenko was in London, where he lives with his wife and four sons; his mother and wider family were in Ukraine, under attack.

Shevchenko has barely slept since. “It’s almost impossible,” he says. “It’s going to be almost two years since the full war started, and every day I wake up, check the phone – what’s the news? Are we going to be attacked in Kyiv? Are we going to be attacked in a different city? How many drones? How many rockets? Where have the rockets hit? And then, talking to my friends – who’s dead? It’s a normal day for us.”

Shevchenko is using his platform as one of Europe’s greatest footballers, a Ballon d’Or winner and a Chelsea cult hero to keep the spotlight on Ukraine at a time when the world’s attention has turned to the Middle East. In the West, the initial shock caused by Russia’s invasion has subsided, and a sense of normalisation has crept in. He is understandably worried that Ukraine’s cause might be forgotten.

“I hope not,” he says. “Because for us, it’s everything. For us, it’s exist or not exist.”

Our senior sports writer Lawrence Ostlere has the full exclusive interview here:

Andriy Shevchenko on Ukraine: ‘Every day I wake up, check the phone. Who’s dead?’

Kremlin ‘deeply regrets’ Finland’s border closures

Monday 20 November 2023 10:08 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has said it deeply regrets Finland’s decision to close crossings along the two countries’ vast border on Saturday.

Finland closed four crossings on Saturday in a bid to halt the flow of asylum-seekers, having accused Moscow of funnelling migrants to the frontier in retaliation for Helsinki’s ascension to Nato and increased Western military cooperation since the invasion of Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied Finland’s accusation on Monday and insisted that Russian border guards were carrying out their duties in line with the rules.

Asked about the closure of the four crossings, Mr Peskov told reporters: “This causes nothing but deep regret, because we had long-standing, very good relations with Finland, pragmatic, based on mutual respect.

“And of course, we regret that these relations were replaced by such an exclusively Russophobic position, which the leaders of this country began to espouse,” he said.

Moscow protest shows lengthy Russian deployments to frontline ‘unsustainable’, says UK

Monday 20 November 2023 09:44 , Andy Gregory

Protests in Moscow by the wives of Russian soldiers show that their lengthy deployments to the front line are increasingly viewed as unsustainable, Britain’s Ministry of Defence suggested.

Russian wives and mothers have been making daily online appeals protesting against the conditions of their loved ones’ service since the invasion of Ukraine last February.

“However, Russia’s draconian legislation has so far prevented troops’ relatives from coalescing into an influential lobbying force, as soldiers’ mothers did during the Afghan-Soviet War of the 1980s,” said the ministry”.

But on 7 November, they held a rare street protest in Moscow’s central Teatralnya Square, unfurling banners demanding the rotation of their partners away from the frontline.

Police broke up the protest within minutes, according to the ministry, which added: “However, the protestors’ immediate demand is notable.

“The apparently indefinitely extended combat deployments of personnel without rotation is increasingly seen as unsustainable by both the troops themselves and by their relatives.”

US defence secretary’s visit to Kyiv is his first since early months of war

Monday 20 November 2023 09:21 , Andy Gregory

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has made an unannounced visit to Kyiv today, as he pushes to keep money and weapons flowing to Ukraine.

Mr Austin travelled by train from Poland, and is scheduled to meet with senior Ukrainian officials.

It marks his second trip to Kyiv – with his first having taken place in April 2022, just two months after Russia’s invasion.

Two killed in Kherson after Russia shells parking lot, officials say

Monday 20 November 2023 08:55 , Andy Gregory

Two people have been killed this morning after Russian forces shelled a parking lot in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to officials.

Regional prosecutors said they had opened a war-crimes investigation into the artillery strike, which occurred at around 9am and injured one other person.

Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the two dead were drivers for “a private transport business”.

Images posted on Telegram showed firefighters dousing cars that had been blasted apart, one day after a separate strike on the city wounded five people, including a 3-year-old girl.

Russian forces have regularly shelled Kherson from across the Dnipro River since the city was liberated last November by Ukrainian troops – who are now seeking to push Moscow’s troops away from the river after establishing a foothold on the opposite bank.

Second drone in as many days shot down near Moscow as Russia and Ukraine exchange attacks on capitals

Monday 20 November 2023 08:29 , Andy Gregory

Russia and Ukraine sent drones targeting each other’s capital cities over the weekend in signs of renewed intensity for their aerial warfare, my colleague Arpan Rai reports.

Drones were shot down on both Saturday and Sunday in areas around Kyiv and Moscow. Air defence systems for both sides intercepted attacks and no casualties were reported.

Multiple drones that were heading for Moscow and Russia’s border areas on Sunday were downed by Russian air defence systems over the weekend, officials said.

Kyiv has promised to wage a major drone campaign against Russia this winter, as bad weather conditions make it difficult to conduct operations on the ground.

Russia under Ukraine’s drone attack for two nights in row as Moscow remains on target

Zelensky dismisses Ukraine’s military medical chief

Monday 20 November 2023 08:11 , Andy Gregory

Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Major General Tetiana Ostashchenko as the commander of Ukraine’s medical forces, as he demanded rapid changes in the operations of the country’s military medical system.

“In today’s meeting with defence minister [Rustem] Umerov, priorities were set,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address on Sunday. “There is little time left to wait for results. Quick action is needed for forthcoming changes.”

He added: “The task is clear, as has been repeatedly stressed in society, particularly among combat medics, we need a fundamentally new level of medical support for our soldiers.”

A wide range of improvements are needed, Mr Zelensky said – from better tourniquets, to improvements in digitalisation and communication.

Ms Ostashchenko was replaced by Major General Anatoliy Kazmirchuk, head of a military clinic in Kyiv.

US defence secretary arrives in Kyiv

Monday 20 November 2023 07:45 , Andy Gregory

US secretary of defence Lloyd Austin has arrived for a visit in Kyiv.

I just arrived in Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders. I’m here today to deliver an important message – the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine in their fight for freedom against Russia’s aggression, both now and into the future. pic.twitter.com/1D96aeeACl — Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) November 20, 2023

Two killed as grenade explodes in Kyiv apartment

Monday 20 November 2023 07:26 , Andy Gregory

A Ukrainian soldier and a woman died when a grenade exploded in an apartment in Kyiv, injuring a second man, police said.

Explosives technicians and investigators were working at the scene of Sunday’s explosion in the Dniprovskiy district, Kyiv police said in a statement.

“A citizen contacted the police with a report that an explosion rang out in a neighbouring apartment,” they added.

Earlier this month, an aide to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, died when a grenade given to him as a birthday gift blew up.

An orphaned teenager who was taken to Russia early in the Ukraine war is back home with relatives

Monday 20 November 2023 07:00 , Holly Evans

An orphaned Ukrainian teenager who was taken to Russia last year during the war in his country returned home after being reunited with relatives in Belarus on his 18th birthday Sunday.

Bohdan Yermokhin was pictured embracing family members in Minsk in photographs shared on social media by Russia’s children’s rights ombudswoman, Maria Lvova-Belova.

Andrii Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, confirmed that Yermokhin had arrived back in Ukraine and shared a photo of him with a Ukrainian flag. Yermak thanked UNICEF and Qatari negotiators for facilitating Yermokhin’s return.

Read the full article here

Putin could face new war crime case as evidence suggests starvation of Ukraine was pre-planned

Monday 20 November 2023 05:30 , Holly Evans

Russia was actively preparing to steal grain supplies and starve the Ukrainian population of food for months before Vladimir Putin ordered last year’s invasion, according to new evidence compiled by human rights experts.

When Russian tanks did roll across the border on 24 February 2022 they deliberately targeted grain-rich areas and food production infrastructure first, the new report by international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance found.

GRC found that Russia’s defence contractor began purchasing trucks to transport grain, as well as three new 170-metre bulk carrier cargo ships, as early as December 2021, evidence of advance planning for the pillage of Ukrainian food resources “on an unprecedented scale”.

Putin could face new war crime case over ‘planned’ starvation of Ukraine

Wife of twice-poisoned Briton held in Kremlin prison fears ‘time is running out’

Monday 20 November 2023 04:30 , Holly Evans

The wife of a British-Russian national held in a Krelimn prison says she fears time is running out, and has called for the UK to take more urgent action to free him.

Vladimir Kara-Murza survived two near-fatal poisonings, in 2015 and 2017, which resulted in organ failure and polyneuropathy, a condition that causes nerve damage.

The Vladimir Putin critic was jailed for 25 years in April this year on charges of treason and spreading “false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine .

Zelensky calls for rapid operation changes and sacks commander

Monday 20 November 2023 03:30 , Holly Evans

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday demanded rapid changes in the operations of Ukraine’s military and announced the dismissal of the commander of the military’s medical forces.

Zelensky’s move was announced as he met Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, and coincided with debate over the conduct of the 20-month-old war against Russia, with questions over how quickly a counteroffensive in the east and south is proceeding.

“In today’s meeting with Defence Minister Umerov, priorities were set,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address. “There is little time left to wait for results. Quick action is needed for forthcoming changes.”

Zelensky said he had replaced Major-General Tetiana Ostashchenko as commander of the Armed Forces Medical Forces.

“The task is clear, as has been repeatedly stressed in society, particularly among combat medics, we need a fundamentally new level of medical support for our soldiers,” he said.

This, he said, included a range of issues -- better tourniquets, digitalisation and better communication.

Umerov acknowledged the change on the Telegram messaging app and set as top priorities digitalisation, “tactical medicine” and rotation of servicemen.

Plight of one Ukraine village illustrates toll of Russia’s invasion

Monday 20 November 2023 02:30 , Holly Evans

Kamianka lies in a charming valley of bright flowers and lush trees. It used to be portrayed as a model village for a contented life in rural idyll. It was also a place of archaeological and geological lure, with its rare bronze age and Scythian sites and Jurassic limestone cliffs attracting visitors from afar.

The settlement , set in a sleepy hollow, was established in the 18th century by a count from the Tsar of Russia ’s court who had returned from Britain with new methods of farming and an English bride. Keen to put his new knowledge into practice, he allocated land, built a mill, constructed roads and funded a church and a school.

But Kamianka, in eastern Ukraine , also has a dark history of violence.

Read the full article from Kim Sengupta here

Russia’s plan B in Ukraine is working – now is not the moment for the West to turn away

Monday 20 November 2023 01:30 , Holly Evans

hen Italy ’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni , was fooled recently by two well-known Russian “comics” – surely paid-up Kremlin agents – into saying she was “tired” of the war in Ukraine and that everyone would soon be looking for a “way out”, too many of her counterparts in the West would have tacitly agreed (and perhaps sympathised: she is hardly the first to be pranked by these two).

But Ms Meloni deserves no sympathy. She thought she was talking to the head of the African Union Commission so this should have been a chance to exercise statecraft and reason with the supposed representative from the Global South and argue that Russia ’s war in Ukraine is nothing if not colonialist itself – a desperate attempt to maintain its empire.

Russia, with an abundance of chutzpah and an absence of shame, claims that it is the West that is being colonialist in forcing its designs on Kyiv (even supposedly “Nazi-ruled Kyiv”). You have to apply to join Nato and the EU, of course, but facts like these are irrelevant.

Read the full article from James Nixey here

Moscow mayor says air defence units intercept drone targeting city

Monday 20 November 2023 00:30 , Holly Evans

Air defence units in Moscow intercepted a drone targeting the city on Sunday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

Sobyanin, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said units in the Elektrostal district in the capital’s east had intercepted the drone.

According to preliminary information, falling debris resulting from the operation had caused no casualties or damage, Sobyanin said.

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As Trump blasts NATO allies for not paying for defense, these front-line countries are readying for war

• Trump continued his tirade against NATO members he says aren't paying their "fair share."
• As Russia's war in Ukraine threatens NATO, the Baltic states say they're investing in defense more than ever.
• The efforts include increased spending, buying new weapons, and reinstating conscription.

Former President Donald Trump has long expressed his vitriolic opinions on NATO, often suggesting some European members don't pay their "fair share" and take advantage of the US.

But as Russia's bloody war in Ukraine enters its third year, and the threat to NATO countries , particularly those on Russia's borders, grows, the Baltic states are investing in their defense more than ever.

At a Hudson Institute event in Washington DC on Monday morning, days before the 20th anniversary of their countries' ascensions into NATO, the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia explained the gravity of the current war in Ukraine and what it could mean for future Russian aggression, particularly towards NATO members.

"We have no other options" besides supporting Ukraine and ensuring it wins, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said, highlighting that NATO and the West "would pay" heavily should Russia win and expand its ambitions to conquering other neighbors.

Experts and officials have long suggested that should Russia be successful in beating Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin would feel emboldened to continue his conquest , which could even involve invading NATO members, triggering full-scale war between the nuclear-armed adversaries.

During the talk, the three ministers also spoke to the US' shaky involvement in supporting Ukraine, with the latest aid package stuck in congressional limbo. Many countries, including China, are watching what will happen at the end of the war, Tsahkna said, "So, I think that [the] US must wake up as well, showing the leadership more because Europe is doing more right now."

The talk came just on the heels of Trump's most recent attack on NATO members who he deems aren't paying their 'fair share." Last week, the former president said that he would keep the US in NATO should European countries pay and "play fair." He said the US "was paying 90% of NATO," and that without the US, NATO "literally doesn't even exist."

"It's more important for [European countries] than it is to us. We have an ocean in between [us and] some problems," Trump said. "They took advantage of us on trade."

The NATO alliance benefits from the US's vast nuclear arsenal and roughly 100,000 US troops in Europe. The alliance has set guidelines for each ally to spend at least 2% of its GDP on its military; 18 of the 32 member states are expected to meet this goal this year.

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This is far from the first Trump has complained about US involvement in NATO or made erroneous claims about the alliance. Last month, Trump's comments at a campaign rally that he would "encourage" Russia 'to do whatever the hell they want" to NATO allies who aren't hitting the spending target received widespread criticism.

During his first term as president, Trump often bashed NATO, raising anxieties that the US would either pull out of the alliance or not respond to an Article 5 situation , when an ally is attacked and the rest of the alliance comes to its defense. Now, if Trump were to be reelected this year, he'd have a much harder time with that, as Congress passed a bill in December that prevents a president from withdrawing from NATO without Congressional approval .

Trump's comments have often missed the point on the progress made across NATO to both deter Russia and boost defenses . Many European states, the Baltics included, have long sent military aid to Ukraine and recently upped their assistance packages. Just last week, France and Germany agreed to co-produce military equipment for Ukraine on Ukrainian soil, a major step to getting troops spare parts, munitions, and complete weapons systems.

Germany also agreed to send a hefty aid package, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz is still refusing to send long-range Taurus missiles after months of debate.

And earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron refused to rule out sending troops to Ukraine . While his stance isn't held by many other European leaders, it does indicate a growing view that the war in Ukraine is becoming, as Macron said, "existential" to Europe.

The Baltics understand that sentiment well; the threat of Putin's aggression is right on their doorstep. While talking about how NATO's military spending compared to Russia's, Latvia Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš emphasized how the Baltic countries are preparing to deter and counter Russia.

"So in Latvia, and in my neighbors, we go full out," Kariņš said. "We invest in our own defense, budgeted 2.4% this year, it looks like we're going to hit 3% this year, and we will be going beyond that in the future as well."

Many NATO members — 18, according to projections from earlier this year — are spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense, while the remaining members are being urged to swiftly meet that target. That's seven more than 2023. In 2014, only three NATO allies met that threshold.

Last year's numbers indicated Poland spent 3.90% of its GDP, just above the US at 3.49% and Greece at 3.01%. Many nations bordering Russia or Belarus also increased their spending. Estonia spent 2.73%, Lithuania 2.54%, and Latvia 2.07%. Finland, Romania, and Hungary also spent over the 2% threshold.

Kariņš also said there were other major steps being taken to prepare defenses for Russia . "We've reinstated conscription, so we're building up our armed forces," an unpopular move that Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs is pushing other NATO members to do, too. "Nobody wants to fight," Rinkēvičs told The Financial Times. "But the problem is nobody wants to be invaded as well. And nobody wants to see Ukraine happening here."

Kariņš also said Latvia and the other Baltic states were purchasing more weapons systems and increasing NATO's military presence in the Baltics. Just last month, Germany announced plans to deploy two combat battalions, or around 5,000 troops, to Lithuania, the first such move for the country since World War II. The goal is to deter Russian aggression against the country, as well as reinforce Lithuania's defenses.

And this past weekend, the US approved a total $228 aid package to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which will go towards fast-tracking military infrastructure and development projects involving air and maritime defenses, as well as land forces.

Watch: Ukrainian army tests new Western weapons as NATO boosts supplies

• Main content

Russia-Ukraine war updates: Russia says NATO is preparing allies for war

These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war for Thursday, March 28, 2024.

This live page is now closed.

• Russia’s Foreign Ministry says NATO activity in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea area is aimed at preparing the allies for conflict, which creates additional risks for Russia’s security.
• Russia attacked Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv with aerial bombs on Wednesday for the first time since 2022, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, local officials have said.
• The governments of Poland and Ukraine are meeting in Warsaw for talks they hope will help defuse a dispute over grain imports that has caused mass protests by farmers, but a top Polish official said a breakthrough was unlikely.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says he arrived in New Delhi to advance Kyiv’s vision of a path to peace in Ukraine and strengthen ties with India.

Thanks for joining us

You can stay updated on all of our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here .

You can also read our weekly military wrap-up of the war here .

Here’s what happened today

We’re closing this blog soon, but before we do, here is some of what happened today:

• Russia’s Investigative Committee claims it has uncovered evidence that the Crocus concert hall  gunmen were linked to “Ukrainian nationalists”.
• The White House has described Russia’s allegation as “nonsense”, reiterating that it was clear that ISIL was “solely responsible” for the attack in Moscow.

One person has died during a Russian attack in Kherson, the Ukrainian governor of the region said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says he discussed arms supplies to Ukraine during his meeting with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed combat General Oleh Ivashchenko as the new head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
• Kyiv has asked its Western allies for air defence supplies at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council following a series of Russian missile attacks on critical infrastructure.

What’s behind Macron’s ‘hardened stance’ on the Russia-Ukraine war?

Soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron sought to help resolve the conflict diplomatically.

During the war’s first summer, Macron said it was important that Moscow was not humiliated and that a European security order including Russia should be established.

But since last year, Macron has been drastically shifting towards what has been described as a hawkish foreign policy.

At a conference in Paris last month, the French president said a deployment of Western troops to fight Russia on the ground in Ukraine should not be ruled out, a suggestion that  angered Russian President Vladimir Putin  and was  dismissed  by Ukraine’s main backers.

While speaking in Prague on March 5, Macron declared that Europeans can’t be “cowards” when countering Moscow.

What explains Macron’s shifting posture?

Read our full piece here .

Ukraine’s SBU arrests two for allegedly attempting to send information to Russia

Ukraine’s intelligence agency (SBU) says it has arrested two people who were allegedly trying to provide information to Russia to support its attacks on Ukrainian military and energy targets.

It said it foiled someone from attempting to join the paratroopers unit as a chaplain, where he hoped “to collect data on weapons, work plans and combat operations” to send to Russia.

In a separate statement on Telegram, the agency also said it had arrested a 22-year-old who had been recruited to undertake reconnaissance on an army hospital and power plant in the Dnipro region.

Both face life in prison under Ukrainian laws against treason and collaborating with the enemy.

Russian military plane crashes into Crimean port

A Russian military aircraft crashed into the sea off the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the Russian-installed governor of the region said.

Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said the pilot ejected his seat and was picked up by rescuers.

Earlier, Russian Telegram channels reported that a Russian Su-35 fighter jet had crashed near Sevastopol, but it remains unclear what caused the incident.

Russia’s accusation is ‘nonsense’, says White House

The White House has described Russia’s allegation that Ukraine was involved in the attack on a Moscow concert hall as “nonsense”, reiterating that it was clear that ISIL was “solely responsible.”

In a briefing to reporters, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US had passed a written warning of an attack to Russian security services, one of many provided in advance to Moscow.

One person killed in attack in Kherson, governor says

“In Kherson, the Russian occupiers fired at a taxi. Unfortunately, the driver of the car died from his injuries on the spot. My condolences to family and friends,” Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

He added that two passengers, a 36-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman, were injured in the attack and were taken to the hospital.

Russia says it has found evidence linking Moscow attack to Ukraine

Russia’s Investigative Committee says it has uncovered evidence that the gunmen who killed more than 140 people in an attack on Crocus concert hall last week were linked to “Ukrainian nationalists”.

In a statement, it said the attackers had received significant amounts of cash and cryptocurrency from Ukraine.

“As a result of work with the detained terrorists, an examination of technical devices seized from them and analysis of financial transactions, evidence of their links with Ukrainian nationalists has been obtained,” the committee said in a statement.

This comes after the Russian Security Service (FSB) director Alexander Bortnikov said Kyiv was directly connected to the attack.

Ukraine has strongly denied it had anything to do with the attack.

Russia vetoes renewal of UN sanctions on N Korea

Russia has vetoed the annual renewal of a panel of experts monitoring the enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

China abstained from the vote, while the remaining 13 council members voted in favour.

But the move comes amid US-led accusations that North Korea has transferred weapons to Russia to use in its war in Ukraine.

Moscow and Pyongyang denied the accusations but committed to deepen military relations last year.

Ukraine, Poland discuss arms supplies and border issues

“Today we spoke with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk about arms supplies to Ukraine, border issues, trade liberalisation, infrastructure development, energy, the restoration of Ukraine and European integration,” Shmyhal wrote on X.

“We signed a joint statement outlining current bilateral relations and future plans. We value our cooperation and Poland’s support.”

🇺🇦 🇵🇱 Today we spoke with Polish Prime Minister @donaldtusk about arms supplies to Ukraine, border issues, trade liberalisation, infrastructure development, energy, the restoration of #Ukraine and European integration. We signed a joint statement outlining current bilateral… pic.twitter.com/NNDAt4GPT4 — Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) March 28, 2024

EU duty will hit European countries, not just Russia: Report

An EU plan to impose a duty on Russian wheat supplies will hit the European market, Sergey Dankvert, head of Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, was quoted as saying by state-owned news agency TASS.

He added that the imposition of duties could lead to a loss of grain handling capacity, while Russia could divert to other markets the 2.5-3 million tonnes of grain it had been shipping to the EU.

In case you’re just joining us

Let’s bring you up to speed.

• Ukrainian forces have shot down 26 out of 28 attack drones launched overnight by Russia, Kyiv’s military said.
• The governments of Poland and Ukraine are meeting in Warsaw to defuse tensions over the continuing  farmers’ protests  against Ukrainian grain.
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has arrived in New Delhi to discuss Kyiv’s vision of the path to peace in Ukraine.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin says there are no plans to attack  NATO countries , but if the West supplies F-16 fighters to Ukraine, they will be shot down.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov says Russian air defences have shot down two Ukrainian drones over the region bordering Ukraine.

France blocks fake Ukraine war recruitment website

French authorities have uncovered a website containing a fake recruitment drive for French volunteers to join the war in Ukraine, the defence ministry said.

The site has now been taken down by French services, a government source, who asked not to be named, told AFP without giving further details on the nature of the operation.

The site, which is now inaccessible, said 200,000 French people were invited to “enlist in Ukraine”, with immigrants given priority.

A link to the site – which resembled the French army’s genuine recruitment portal – had been posted on X, the French defence ministry said.

“The site is a fake government site,” the ministry said, also on X, “and has been reposted by malevolent accounts as part of a disinformation campaign”.

$10bn jet dispute to be heard in London, rules British court

The British High Court ruled that a $10bn battle between reinsurers and aircraft leasing companies seeking payouts for more than 200 jets stuck in Russia should be heard in London rather than Moscow.

Aircraft lessors, including Ireland’s AerCap AER N and US-listed Carlyle Aviation Partners CG O, are pursuing insurers for financial losses after the war in Ukraine grounded their jets in Russia.

Judge Andrew Henshaw ruled the cases should continue in London, saying that “the claimants are very unlikely to obtain a fair trial in Russia”.

Ukraine reiterates need for more air defences at NATO meeting

Ukraine has asked its Western allies for air defence supplies at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council following a series of Russian missile attacks on critical infrastructure.

The mission said Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov had briefed partners on the aftermath of the attacks and urged them to provide more equipment to block incoming barrages.

Moscow has previously described its recent attacks as part of a series of “revenge” raids in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian regions.

Today an extraordinary meeting of the #NATO – #Ukraine Council was convened at the initiative of Ukraine in response to Russia's missile attacks on 🇺🇦 critical infrastructure. The meeting was held at NATO HQ at the level of Ambassadors. pic.twitter.com/h9LzUzmCwP — UKR Mission to NATO (@UKRinNATO) March 28, 2024

Kremlin says Russia will ‘punish’ Kyiv’s government: Report

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says Russia will punish all those responsible in Kyiv’s government for the actions taken against Russian soldiers, the state news agency TASS reported.

“All war crimes [committed] by the Kyiv regime are thoroughly documented,” Peskov said.

“We were well aware of these crimes. And, of course, we will make sure that those behind these crimes are duly punished”.

Earlier, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report about the treatment of prisoners during the Ukraine war.

The report found that at least 25 Russian servicemen had been executed away from the battlefield in 2022 and 2023. Additionally, the report found “621 cases of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention of (Ukrainian) civilians by Russian armed forces”.

Polish security agency investigating Russian espionage

Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) says it has carried out searches as part of an investigation into alleged Russian espionage with other European security services.

Poland says it has become a major target of Russian spies due to it being a hub for Western military supplies to Ukraine.

“Actions aimed at organising pro-Russian initiatives and media campaigns in EU countries have been documented,” ABW said in a statement, mentioning the website voice-of-Europe.eu, which it says published pro-Russian material.

It said searches were made in Warsaw and Tychy in western Poland on Tuesday, without elaborating.

‘We are close to a solution’, says Polish PM Tusk

Poland’s PM says Warsaw and Ukraine are closer to reaching an agreement regarding agricultural imports following intergovernmental talks.

“We are close to a solution,” Donald Tusk told a news conference.

“This applies to the amount of products that can flow into Poland, once we determine it, we are close to ensuring that transit does not disturb the Polish market.”

Kyiv targets Russia’s navy as Moscow’s forces inch ahead in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine launched a devastating missile strike against Russian military targets in the Crimean port of Sevastopol late on Saturday, further debilitating Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The combination of a reported 40 Storm Shadow missiles, decoy missiles and drones damaged a communications centre, the Yamal and the Azov, two Ropucha-class landing ships, and other infrastructure, possibly including an oil depot.

The Yamal was especially badly damaged. Ukrainian military intelligence said it was listing to starboard with a large hole in its top deck two days later, and Russian crews had to keep pumping its bilges to keep the ship afloat.

The damage to the Yamal and the Azov reportedly left Russia with just three of its landing ships operational from an original fleet of 13 at the start of the war.

Read our piece on Ukraine’s military in full here .

Estonian official says defence spending must increase to counter Russia

The head of Estonia’s military says his country needs to double defence spending over the next two years to stockpile enough munitions to counter any possible Russian invasion force.

General Martin Herem said neither the threat of a nuclear response nor the prospect of significant casualties would deter Putin if he chose to attack.

“If you show your face over my border, the decisive victory must come very quickly: not by months and years, but days and weeks,” Herem said in an interview in Japan, where he met defence officials.

“If we really believe that it may come in three years, then we have to make decisions today.”

Earlier, Putin denied that Russia had any plans to invade a NATO member.

Russia, South Africa discuss Ukraine

Putin briefed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa by phone on the situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

The Kremlin added the two leaders also discussed cooperation in energy and trade.

Russian air defences down drones over Belgorod, governor says

“In the Belgorodsky district, an air defence system shot down two aircraft-type UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] as they approached the city. No one was injured in the attack, according to preliminary data,” the governor said.

He added that a fragment of a drone damaged a shed in Tavrovo.

Russia says NATO is preparing allies for conflict

NATO activity in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea area is aimed at preparing its allies for conflict with Moscow, which creates additional risks for Russia’s security, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said, the RIA news agency reported.

The ministry was commenting on Romania’s plans to expand a military airbase in Constanta.

Key events on day 763 of the war

It’s day 763 of the war, and here are some of the key developments:

• At least one person was killed and 19 injured after Russia attacked Kharkiv with what officials said could have been a new type of guided bomb.
• Ukraine’s air force chief Mykola Oleshchuk said Russia launched 13 Iranian-designed Shahed drones, 10 of which were brought down in Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv regions.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops in the northeastern Sumy region.
• Lyusya Shtein, a member of Pussy Riot and a former municipal deputy in Moscow, was sentenced to six years in prison in absentia after criticising the war.
• Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s allies to speed up deliveries of warplanes and air defence systems following Wednesday’s Russian attacks.

Read our full list here .

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Russia-Ukraine war: drones strike Russian factories more than 1,000km from Ukraine – as it happened

Kyiv officials say attack in Tatarstan was on a facility producing long-range drones

• 16h ago Summary of the day
• 17h ago Russia accuses International Olympic Committee President of “conspiracy” with Ukraine
• 17h ago France to propose EU-wide sanctions on Russian companies
• 17h ago UN high commissioner on civilian casualties: 'The conflict is becoming entrenched'
• 18h ago Russia announces wave of military appointments, urges increased security, in wake of March Moscow attack
• 19h ago Blinken: 'absolutely essential' that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences
• 20h ago ‘We will get those who ordered the attack on Moscow’, Putin says
• 20h ago Damage on Russia's oil refinery not critical, Reuters reports
• 20h ago US intelligence on Moscow attack was too general, Russian media reports
• 21h ago Ukrainian war damage claims system launches at The Hague
• 21h ago Ukrainian Intelligence says attacks will continue, to reduce Russia’s oil revenue
• 22h ago Russian MP says drone attacks will stop ‘when Kyiv is taken’
• 23h ago Ukrainian attack hit Russian facility producing long-range drones, says Kyiv
• 23h ago Belarus holds military drills near Ukraine border
• 23h ago Drones strike Russian factories more than 1,000km from Ukraine

Ukrainian attack hit Russian facility producing long-range drones, says Kyiv

We have more details to bring you on the Ukrainian drone attack which targeted a Russian region more than 1,000 km from Ukraine this morning, Ukraine’s deepest attack yet.

A Kyiv intelligence source said the attack on Tatarstan hit a facility where Russia produces Shahed drones, which are frequently used in assaults on Ukrainian territory. This comes after Ukraine’s military spy agency said “significant damage” had been caused to a military target.

Reuters analysis of photographs posted online suggests that one of the drones also hit a unit at Tatarstan’s Taneco oil refinery which accounts for roughly half of its annual production capacity.

Summary of the day

Here is a wrap-up of the day’s key events:

In their deepest attack into Russia yet, a Ukrainian drone struck the primary unit of the third largest Russian oil refinery in the Tatarstan region, more than 1,100 km (690 miles) from Ukraine . A Kyiv intelligence source said the attack on Tatarstan hit a facility where Russia produces Shahed drones, which are frequently used in assaults on Ukrainian territory. The strike caused a fire at the facility, the source said, adding that such attacks would continue in order to reduce Russia’s oil revenue. Tatarstan officials said earlier on Tuesday that the attack didn’t disrupt industrial production, while Nizhnekamsk’s mayor said the attempt to strike a refinery was thwarted by air defenses.

A senior Russian politician has said drone attacks on Russia will only stop ‘when Kyiv is taken’. A translation of Andrei Kartapolov’s remarks suggests he accused Ukraine of carrying out ‘despicable terrorist’ attacks, calling it a ‘vile enemy’ which is striking Russia ‘on the sly’. In response to the attack, the Kremlin said that it was working to minimise the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes.

The Register of Damages for Ukraine opened formally in The Hague , during a conference bringing together senior ministers and officials from Ukraine, the Netherlands and European institutions. Ukrainians can enter claims for damages to their property as a result of Russia’s invasion via a new mechanism launched on Tuesday, with officials expecting as many as 10 million requests overall. The initial launch focuses on claims of damage or destruction to residential property from the invasion. Between 300,000 and 600,000 claims are expected in this category.

President Vladimir Putin vowed to ‘get those who ordered the attack on Moscow’ and urged Russia’s law enforcement agencies to tighten security at mass gatherings. Putin said it is important to determine ‘not only the perpetrators of this outrage, but all links in the chain and its beneficiaries.’ He added: ‘Those who use this weapon against Russia should realise it’s a double-edged weapon.’ Previously, top Russian officials have accused Ukraine and the West of being involved, even though the attack has been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Russian spy service chief Sergei Narynshkin has also said on Tuesday that while the US did send Moscow intelligence ahead of the attack, it was ‘too general.’

Russia has announced new top brass in wake of March Moscow attack. The Russian defence ministry on Tuesday announced that it was appointing several officers to senior military positions. Adm Alexander Moiseev was appointed head of the navy, Vice Adm Konstantin Kabantsov was appointed as commander of the Northern Fleet, and Vice Adm Sergei Pinchuk was named as commander of the Black Sea fleet.

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said it is “absolutely essential” that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences , when speaking to media in France on Tuesday.

France announces plans to propose EU-wide level sanctions on Russain companies spreading ‘disinformation,’.

Pytor Verzilov, the unofficial spokesperson of the feminist opposition group Pussy Riot, has been sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to eight years and four months for social media posts criticising the war in Ukraine. He left Russia in 2020, and announced last spring that he had joined the Ukrainian army, although it is unclear if he is still there. Reuters reports he could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Russia has accused International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Tuesday of taking part in a “conspiracy” with Ukraine to exclude its strongest athletes from this year’s Paris Games. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram that Bach had ‘entered into a political-administrative and, apparently, criminal conspiracy with one specific party’ – meaning Ukraine – ‘to exclude strong sports competitors from international competitions’.

Russia accuses International Olympic Committee President of “conspiracy” with Ukraine

Russia accused International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Tuesday of taking part in a “conspiracy” with Ukraine to exclude its strongest athletes from this year’s Paris Games.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova made the allegation after two Russian pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus published a recording of a conversation with Bach in which he was falsely led to believe he was speaking to an African sports official.

Bach said in the call that the IOC had established a special panel to monitor the media and the internet and ensure that Russian athletes who had made political statements in support of their government could not take part in the Olympics.

“We have also offered to the Ukrainian side – not only offered, but asked them - to provide us with their knowledge of the behaviour of such (Russian) athletes or officials,” Bach could be heard saying in English on the recording. Zakharova posted on Telegram that Bach had ‘entered into a political-administrative and, apparently, criminal conspiracy with one specific party’ – meaning Ukraine – ‘to exclude strong sports competitors from international competitions’.

She added: ‘The relationship of IOC President Bach with the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine and its officials, and the admissions of a “request to monitor Russian athletes” should be the subject of a thorough investigation.’

Relations between Russia and the IOC have worsened sharply in the run-up to the Olympics, at which Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as neutrals, without their flags and anthems, because of the war in Ukraine. They have also been banned from taking part in the opening parade.

France to propose EU-wide sanctions on Russian companies

France will propose EU-wide level sanctions on Russain companies spreading ‘disinformation,’ said French foreign affairs minister, Stephane Sejourne , announced on Tuesday.

“I will propose putting forward a sanctions regime against those who support a regime of disinformation,” said Sejourne, as he held a news conference in Paris with US secretary of state Antony Blinken .

UN high commissioner on civilian casualties: 'The conflict is becoming entrenched'

Volker Türk , the UN High commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday that the war has killed more than 10,500 Ukrainian civilians and injured more than 20,000.

“The conflict increasingly is becoming entrenched and protracted, punctuated by recurring waves of attacks, as seen across the country last week,” he said in a speech.

Several people were injured in Ukraine’s attacks against the drone factory, region head Rustam Minnikhanov said. It was not immediately clear if they were workers involved with drone production.

A video posted online showed a fixed-wing aircraft diving toward the factory grounds in Yelabuga and setting off a large explosion as it slammed into one of the buildings. Onlookers, including police officers, could be seen diving to the ground as debris was thrown in the air.

Drones strike Yelabuga, Tatarstan: hitting the Elaz-Nefteproduct refinery and the Shahed drone factory. Yelabuga sits 1,200 km from Ukraine's border. pic.twitter.com/8AS1dtUCCW — Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) April 2, 2024

Journalists and online researchers have confirmed that the strikes appeared to have hit dormitories that previously housed the students at the factory site. Read more:

Russia announces wave of military appointments, urges increased security, in wake of March Moscow attack

The Russian defence ministry on Tuesday announced that it was appointing several officers to senior military positions. Adm Alexander Moiseev was appointed head of the navy.

During the conference call with the senior staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu also said that Vice Adm Konstantin Kabantsov was appointed as commander of the Northern Fleet, and Vice Adm Sergei Pinchuk was named as commander of the Black Sea fleet.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin vowed to track down the masterminds of the Moscow concert hall attack and urged the country’s law enforcement agencies to tighten security at mass gatherings.

Putin said it is important to determine “not only the perpetrators of this outrage, but all links in the chain and its beneficiaries.” He added: “Those who use this weapon against Russia should realise it’s a double-edged weapon.”

Putin said that the masterminds of the concert hall raid sought to “sow discord and panic, strife and hatred in our multi-ethnic country in order to break up Russia from within,” adding that “we mustn’t allow them to do that.”

“Some of them are trying to preserve their hegemony in today’s rapidly changing world at the expense of Russia,” he went on. “Some apparently saw our country as a weak link. They are mistaken.”

Blinken: 'absolutely essential' that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences

Speaking to the media in France, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken has said it is “absolutely essential” that Ukraine gets more munitions and air defences.

Reuters reports he told the media “It is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defences.”

In a dig at Republicans in the US house and senate holding up money for Ukraine, he added “It’s another reason why the supplementary budget request that President Biden has made to Congress must be fulfilled as quickly as possible.”

Blinken and French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu earlier visited a factory where arms producer Nexter says it is aiming to increase production.

Pytor Verzilov, the unofficial spokesperson of the feminist opposition group Pussy Riot, has been sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to eight years and four months for social media posts criticising the war in Ukraine .

Reuters reports the Ostorozhno Novosti Telegram channel said that Moscow’s Basmanny district court had found Verzilov guilty of spreading “deliberately false” information about the Russian military.

Verzilov has posted frequent criticism on social media of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including videos showing mass graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

He left Russia in 2020, and announced last spring that he had joined the Ukrainian army, although it is unclear if he is still there. Reuters reports he could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Last week, the same court sentenced another Pussy Riot activist, Lyusya Shtein , to six years also in absentia under wartime censorship laws.

Ukrinform reports that an intelligence source has told it that Ukrainian forces struck a power plant in Sevastopol in Crimea overnight. Russian unilaterally claimed to have annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014.

‘We will get those who ordered the attack on Moscow’, Putin says

On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin said that ‘We will definitely get to those who ultimately ordered it.’

Putin told a meeting of Interior Ministry officials, ‘We paid a very high price, and the entire analysis of the situation must be extremely objective and professional.’

The 22 March attack on a Moscow concert hall was the worst in Russia for years. More than 130 people were killed as gunmen stormed the complex, days after President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term of office. The Islamic State group (IS) has said four of its members carried out the attack.

Russia’s FSB Security Service said Monday that four people arrested over a foiled “terror” plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.

Previously, top Russian officials have accused Ukraine and the West of being involved in the deadly Moscow concert hall attack, after it was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Damage on Russia's oil refinery not critical, Reuters reports

An industry source has told Reuters that damage to Russia’s Taneco oil refinery, Russia’s third biggest refinery, is not critical and personnel is returning to the site. The drone attack has been Ukraine’s deepest since the war began in February 2022. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu also said on Tuesday that the army is pushing Ukrainian forces westwards. Shoigu said groups of Russian troops “continue to push back the Ukrainian formations” towards the west.

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