Ukraine says it ‘successfully hit’ part of Russia’s air defence system in CrimeaUkraine’s army said it had overnight “successfully hit” part of Russia’s air defence system located in annexed Crimea, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The armed forces successfully hit a strategic object of the air defence system on the western coast of occupied Crimea,” the army’s strategic communications unit said on social media. It gave no further details and Russia gave no official comment.
But the influential Rybar Telegram channel – which is close to the Russian army – alleged Ukraine had launched two US ATACMS missiles that fell near the village of Olenivka, on the western coast of Crimea.
Rybar said Russian forces were not able to down the missiles “but thanks to measures taken earlier there was no serious damage”.
The social media account alleged that “half an hour later” Black Sea fleet sailors found three Ukrainian naval drones near Sevastopol.
Rybar said one of them was “destroyed”, while another two tried to enter the Bay of Khersones before being shot at and sunk by Russian forces.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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Ukrainian officials say Russian shelling killed a 91-year-old woman in KhersonRussian shells struck residential areas of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, killing a 91-year-old woman in what a local official described on Monday as a “terrifying night”, the Associated Press reports.
The overnight shelling set fire to a high-rise apartment building and reduced some apartments to rubble, according to video footage posted by Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
The woman died when an apartment wall fell on her, according to her daughter, who lived with her on the ninth floor.
The victim was one of three Ukrainian civilians killed in the east and south of the country over the previous 24 hours, with at least five people injured, Ukraine’s presidential office reported on Monday.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
The UK government said it has re-examined the “extent and scale” of its intelligence work on the Wagner group, after a critical report by MPs, PA media reports.
The Foreign Office also said that the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin may offer “new opportunities” to tackle the group.
The private military firm, whose former leader was killed in a plane crash over the summer, was proscribed as a terrorist group in September after the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee warned that ministers were not doing enough to counter the threat it posed.
In a response to the committee’s report, published on Monday, ministers backed or partially agreed with the vast majority of MPs’ recommendations.
It confirmed that a cross-government taskforce on the group had been created and told MPs:
We agree with the committee that intelligence gathering on Wagner’s activities is a priority and have re-examined the extent and scale of our effort.
We believe that we have sufficient resources in place to track Wagner. Wagner is multi-layered, complex and dynamic. We regularly assess the group and its impact.
The Foreign Office also said it had “dedicated new resource to containing and countering Wagner” and other Russian private military companies, while also working with allies to “maximise our collective impact”.
A view shows a fragment of a makeshift memorial for Yevgeny Prigozhin, in Moscow, Russia, on 1 October 2023. Photograph: Evgenia Novozhenina/ReutersUkraine says it ‘successfully hit’ part of Russia’s air defence system in CrimeaUkraine’s army said it had overnight “successfully hit” part of Russia’s air defence system located in annexed Crimea, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The armed forces successfully hit a strategic object of the air defence system on the western coast of occupied Crimea,” the army’s strategic communications unit said on social media. It gave no further details and Russia gave no official comment.
But the influential Rybar Telegram channel – which is close to the Russian army – alleged Ukraine had launched two US ATACMS missiles that fell near the village of Olenivka, on the western coast of Crimea.
Rybar said Russian forces were not able to down the missiles “but thanks to measures taken earlier there was no serious damage”.
The social media account alleged that “half an hour later” Black Sea fleet sailors found three Ukrainian naval drones near Sevastopol.
Rybar said one of them was “destroyed”, while another two tried to enter the Bay of Khersones before being shot at and sunk by Russian forces.
These claims are yet to be independently verified.
Russian state-backed military company recruiting women into combat roles in Ukraine for first time, says MoDIn its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said a Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time.
Posting to X, formerly Twitter, the MoD wrote:
Recent social media adverts have appealed for female recruits to join Borz Battalion, a part of Russian PMC Redut, to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators. Redut is likely directly sponsored by the Russian main directorate of intelligence.
In March 2023, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which would equate to only around 0.3 per cent of its force. As Redut’s advert points out, they currently serve in mostly medical support and food service roles.
It remains unclear whether official Russian defence forces will seek to follow suit and open more combat roles to women.
The commander of Russia’s airborne forces, Col Gen Mikhail Teplinsky, has been named as the new commander of Russia’s Dnipro military group in Ukraine, the state-run Tass news agency has reported, citing a source.
Teplinsky replaces Col Gen Oleg Makarevich, who will be moved to other duties, the newspaper Izvestiya reported separately, according to Reuters.
Russia’s armed forces are divided into about half a dozen groups.
Morning summary Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency. In a statement quoted by RIA, the FSB said the unnamed man had “collected and transmitted information about specified sites with reference to geographic coordinates to a representative of the Ukrainian military”.
The governor of Ukraine’s southern Odesa region said two people were wounded and buildings were damaged in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard on Monday. “In the morning, Russian terrorists attacked Odesa district with rockets. The enemy targeted a shipyard,” Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian prime minister said the government would create a simplified procedure for citizens and companies from “friendly” countries to invest there. Mikhail Mishustin said entities from a list of 25 countries would be allowed to open bank accounts in Russia and make deposits via a simplified procedure, Reuters reported. “Creating more convenient conditions for foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs is an important part of the government’s systemic efforts to achieve financial sovereignty as part of the implementation of the national goals set by our president,” he said.
Russia’s defence minister has accused the US of fuelling geopolitical tensions to uphold its “global dominance by any means” and warned of the risk of confrontation between nuclear-armed countries. Speaking at a defence forum in Beijing, Sergei Shoigu also accused Nato of trying to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific under the pretence of seeking dialogue and collaboration with regional countries, AP reported.
Russian police have taken over an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region and arrested 60 people after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the facility on Sunday when a plane from Israel arrived, the interior ministry said. Videos obtained by Reuters from the airport at Makhachkala, the regional capital, showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport on Sunday evening shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest”. Another group was seen trying to topple over a patrol truck.
Russia says it has shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. There were claims in local media outlets that a fire at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone. Ukraine has said it shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched from Russia overnight.
State media in Russia reported that more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Yuzhno-Donetsk over the past 24 hours. The 58th motorised infantry, 79th air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 128th territorial defence brigade were reportedly involved in the attack by Russian troops.
Russian forces are believed to have suffered some of the country’s biggest casualty rates so far this year as a result of continued “heavy but inconclusive” fighting around the Donetsk oblast town of Avdiivka, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Russia would confiscate assets belonging to EU states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of Vladimir Putin said. The comments were made after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its postwar reconstruction.
Ukraine and Russia are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president, said. Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, described the current state of the conflict as “head to head, to the death, entrenched … seriously stalemate.”
Four Ukrainian police officers were wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk oblast.
A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opened in Malta, but without Moscow. In a statement, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said 66 countries had taken part, proof that his plan “has gradually become global”. Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Mykola Tochytskyi has said his country aims to hold a global “peace summit” of world leaders this year.
About 2,000 Ukrainians ran a 1km race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number. Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbours and colleagues ran for someone they knew who had been killed, taken captive or injured during the war.
Russia’s defence minister has accused the US of fuelling geopolitical tensions to uphold its “global dominance by any means” and warned of the risk of confrontation between nuclear-armed countries.
Speaking at a defence forum in Beijing, Sergei Shoigu also accused Nato of trying to expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific under the pretence of seeking dialogue and collaboration with regional countries, AP reported.
“Washington for years has deliberately undermined and destroyed the foundations of international security and strategic stability, including the system of arms control agreements,” Shoigu said at the Xiangshan Forum, China’s biggest annual event centred on military diplomacy.
He said the US and its western allies were threatening Russia through Nato’s expansion “to the east”.
Mob storms Russian airport in search of passengers from Israel – videoThe Russian prime minister has said the government would create a simplified procedure for citizens and companies from “friendly” countries to invest there.
Mikhail Mishustin said entities from a list of 25 countries would be allowed to open bank accounts in Russia and make deposits via a simplified procedure, Reuters reported.
“Creating more convenient conditions for foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs is an important part of the government’s systemic efforts to achieve financial sovereignty as part of the implementation of the national goals set by our president,” he said.
China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Belarus are among the countries listed. Moscow defines “unfriendly” countries as those that have joined a barrage of western-led economic sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine.
Two people injured and buildings damaged in missile attack in Odesa region, says governorThe governor of Ukraine’s southern Odesa region said two people were wounded and buildings damaged in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard on Monday.
“In the morning, Russian terrorists attacked Odesa district with rockets. The enemy targeted a shipyard,” Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.
“The attack caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished by our rescuers. The administrative building and equipment of the enterprise were damaged.”
Russian man detained in Crimea on suspicion of treason, says Russia’s federal security serviceRussia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency.
In a statement quoted by RIA, the FSB said that the unnamed man had “collected and transmitted information about specified sites with reference to geographic coordinates to a representative of the Ukrainian military”.
Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, has been under de facto Russian control since 2014.
Russian police have taken over an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region and arrested 60 people after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the facility on Sunday when a plane from Israel arrived, the interior ministry said.
Videos obtained by Reuters from the airport at Makhachkala, the regional capital, showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport on Sunday evening shouting “Allahu Akbar” or “God is Greatest”. Another group was seen trying to topple over a patrol truck.
Twenty people were wounded at the airport before security forces contained the unrest, local authorities said. The passengers on the plane were safe, security forces told Reuters.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter:
Appalling videos from Makhachkala, Russia, where an angry mob broke into the airport searching for Israeli citizens on the flight from Tel-Aviv. This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala, but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities.
He added:
The Russian foreign minister has made a series of antisemitic remarks in the last year. The Russian President also used antisemitic slurs. For Russian propaganda talking heads on official television, hate rhetoric is routine. Even the most recent Middle East escalation prompted antisemitic statements from Russian ideologists.
Russian antisemitism and hatred toward other nations are systemic and deeply rooted. Hatred is what drives aggression and terror. We must all work together to oppose hatred.
The unrest followed several other anti-Israel incidents in recent days in Russia’s North Caucasus region in response to Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza.
Opening summaryWelcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here is a summary of some of the latest developments.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has spoken at a Beijing defence forum on Monday, claiming that Moscow was ready for talks on the post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine crisis, and on further “coexistence” with the west, but that western countries needed to stop seeking Russia’s strategic defeat. The conditions for talks had not yet been met, he said.
He accused the west of promoting an arms race in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian state media reported, saying the west’s “ostentatious desire for dialogue” was covering up a build-up of forces in that region.
Shoigu also appeared to play down Russia’s decision to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, claiming it did not mean the end of the agreement, and that Russia was not lowering its threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
“We are only seeking to restore parity with the United States, who have not ratified this treaty,” Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Shoigu as saying. “We are not talking about its destruction.”
In other developments:
Russia says it has shot down 36 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula. There were claims in local media outlets that a fire at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone. Ukraine has said it shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched from Russia overnight.
State media in Russia has reported that more than 100 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Yuzhno-Donetsk over the past 24 hours. The 58th motorised infantry, 79th air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 128th territorial defence brigade were reportedly involved in the attack by Russian troops.
Russian forces are believed to have suffered some of the country’s biggest casualty rates so far this year as a result of continued “heavy but inconclusive” fighting around the Donetsk oblast town of Avdiivka, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Russia would confiscate assets belonging to EU states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of Vladimir Putin said. The comments were made after Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said that the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its postwar reconstruction.
Ukraine and Russia are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict, Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarus president, said. Lukashenko, a key Putin ally, described the current state of the conflict as “head-to-head, to the death, entrenched … seriously stalemate.”
Four Ukrainian police officers were wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk oblast.
A third round of Ukrainian-backed peace talks opened in Malta, but without Moscow. In a statement, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said 66 countries had taken part, proof that his plan “has gradually become global”. Ukraine’s deputy minister Mykola Tochytskyi has said his country aims to hold a global “peace summit” of world leaders this year.
A mob in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan has stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel, after reports emerged that a flight from Tel Aviv was arriving in the city. There were reports of some injuries at the airport, while some passengers were forced to take refuge in planes or hide in the airport for fear of being attacked.
About 2,000 Ukrainians ran a 1km race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number. Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbours, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during the war.