Russia seeks return to UN human rights councilGood morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Russia will seek to return to the UN human rights council on Tuesday, just days after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian village of Hroza killed more than 50 people.
Moscow was booted from the Geneva-based body after it invaded Ukraine last year but will be considered in a vote by the general assembly for a new seat for the 2024-26 term.
The vote will take place by secret ballot, testing Russia’s contention that it has private support in developing countries weary of the west’s billions of dollars in support to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused Moscow of wanting to trigger war in the Middle East to undermine world unity and “thus help Russia destroy freedom in Europe”.
In other developments:
The US army said Congress needed to approve additional funding quickly to ensure the Pentagon’s munitions production and acquisition plans can meet the needs of Israel and Ukraine simultaneously. The army secretary, Christine Wormuth, made the comments as the US House of Representatives is in effect paralysed as Republicans work to select a new speaker.
At the White House, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the national security council, emphasised that the US government had existing funding to support Israel for the time being. “If we need – and it’s an ‘if’, but – if we need to go back to Capitol Hill for additional funding support for Israel, we will absolutely do that,” Kirby said. “We are a large enough, big enough, economically viable and vibrant enough country to be able to support both [Israel and Ukraine].”
Zelenskiy said it was in Russia’s interests to stoke war in the Middle East “to create a new source of pain and suffering that would weaken global unity, create divisions and help Russia in undermining freedom in Europe”. In his nightly video address, he added that Russian propagandists were “gloating” at developments.
Grieving families have begun burying their loved ones in the eastern Ukraine village of Hroza, which was targeted by Russian missiles in an attack that killed more than 50 people last week. About 30 graves have been dug for burial at the cemetery in the small village, which now numbers about 330 inhabitants, down from 500 when the conflict began.
The top UN trade official, Rebeca Grynspan, met Russian officials in Moscow on Monday for talks aimed at enabling the “unimpeded access” to global markets for grain and fertiliser from Russia and Ukraine, a UN spokesperson said.
Zelenskiy will visit neighbouring Romania on Tuesday, his first trip to the Nato member country since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Romanian presidency has said.
Russian lawmakers have been given 10 days to study the possibility of revoking Moscow’s ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests, the state Duma, the lower house of parliament, said in a statement. The chamber’s international affairs committee will need to conclude its work by 18 October, the statement said.
Zelenskiy has replaced the commander of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces, which have played an important role in helping defend the country since Russia’s invasion. A presidential order published on Monday announced the appointment of Maj Gen Anatoliy Barhylevych as the new commander.
The UN rights office warned that there is no system to return Ukrainian children taken to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of the country last year, and that some of those who did come back had reported mistreatment. Ukrainian authorities say they have identified and verified almost 20,000 children who have been taken to Russia during the war.
Zelenskiy has appealed at the Nato parliamentary assembly for the international rule of law to unite and deal with terrorism, comparing the attack by what he called a “terrorist organisation” on Israel with the similar tactics used by Russia, which he said was a “terrorist state”.
Ukraine’s parliament registered a draft law on Monday that would allow a ban on activities of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The church has been accused by Kyiv of undermining Ukraine’s unity and collaborating with Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, charges that it denies.
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Three civilians have been injured in a Russian strike on the north-eastern village of Velikiy Burluk, the head of Kharkiv region has said.
Writing on Telegram, Oleg Sinegubov said the strike occurred on Tuesday morning and that two 45-year-old women and a 34-year-old man had been injured.
He added that all three were receiving medical treatment and emergency services were working at the scene.
Who decides who joins the UN human rights council?Russia hopes to be re-elected to the UN human rights council, from which it was expelled after the invasion of Ukraine, at a vote of the UN general assembly today.
The council has 47 seats distributed geographically, with 13 going to Africa, 13 to Asia-Pacific states, eight to Latin America and the Caribbean, seven to western European and other states, and six to eastern Europe.
Members serve for three years and a maximum of two consecutive terms. Today’s vote will decide which countries will make up the council in the period 2024-26.
The UN says when deciding how to cast their vote, members of the general assembly consider “the candidate states’ contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights, as well as their voluntary pledges and commitments in this regard”.
Members are elected by a secret ballot, meaning many will view the vote as a test of Russia’s claim that it has the support of a silent majority of developing countries.
Zelenskiy visiting RomaniaPresident Zelenskiy has said he has travelled to Bucharest for talks with his Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Zelenskiy said the two would discuss security cooperation, measures to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences and relationships with other partners.
“Ukraine is grateful for Romania’s support, which strengthens our state, as well as its constructive solidarity, which enables our nations to be security donors for the world, notably in food security,” he said.
“Romania is a friend who came to our help on our darkest day and whose support gets stronger with time. I am certain this visit will be beneficial for both of our nations.”
In the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, more than 4.5 million people fled across the border to Romania. Of those, more than 220,000 have remained there and been granted refugee or temporary protection status, according to UN figures.
Speaking in May, Iohannis said his country’s support for Ukraine would not be “limited in time or otherwise”.
He added: “This support, this help, will be there as long as needed – which will take quite a while.”
I arrived in Bucharest, Romania, for talks with @KlausIohannis and to strengthen our good-neighborly relations.
Ukraine is grateful for Romania’s support, which strengthens our state, as well as its constructive solidarity, which enables our nations to be security donors for the…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 10, 2023Russia’s ambassador to the UN has claimed that “neo-Nazis” and men of military age were at the wake for a Ukrainian soldier that was hit by a missile strike on Thursday.
The strike hit a cafe in the village of Hroza, killing 52 people, including women, children, and in some cases whole families. The death toll amounted to 15% of the village’s population.
Speaking at a meeting of the UN security council called by Ukraine on Monday, Vassily Nebenzia said the soldier was “a high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist” and that the wake had “a lot of neo-Nazi accomplices attending”.
He added that “if the Kyiv regime concentrates soldiers in a given place they become a legitimate target for strikes”.
Russia has repeatedly sought to justify its invasion of Ukraine by saying the country needs to be “denazified”. At least one paramilitary regiment fighting Russian forces in Ukraine – the Azov Battalion – is known to have origins on the far-right. However, claims neo-Nazis have broader influence within the Ukrainian government or military have been widely discredited.
“Barentsburg welcomes you” read the white letters in Russian above the dock. From the moment visitors step off the boat, there is little doubt who is at least symbolically in charge of this small town of a few hundred in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.
Russian flags fly from buildings. The local pub, the Red Bear, charges punters in roubles. A bust of Lenin looks out across the fjord, behind it a monument declaring: “Our goal is communism!”
Yet this is not Russia, but Norway. The mining town may have been owned by the Soviet Union (and subsequently, Russia) since 1932, but it is located on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, which is resolutely Norwegian.
Until recently, the mostly Russian and Ukrainian residents of Barentsburg have had remarkably warm relations with their predominantly Norwegian Arctic neighbours along the coast in the settlement of Longyearbyen.
But since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the two communities have found themselves on the edge of the west’s last remaining interaction point with Russia. And the mood has turned decidedly icy.
Read Miranda Bryant’s full story here:
Russian casualties rise by 450, says UkraineThere have been 450 Russian casualties in the past day, bringing the total number since the start of the war to 283,080, according to the Ukrainian defence ministry.
In its daily update, the ministry said Russian forces had also lost six tanks and three armoured combat vehicles, bringing the total lost to 4,829 and 9,129 respectively.
The update was accompanied by a quote from the American women’s and civil rights campaigner Susan B Anthony that read: “Independence is happiness.”
Russia hopes to trigger a war in the Middle East in order to “undermine world unity” and help “destroy freedom in Europe”, President Zelenskiy has said.
It comes after Israel ramped up airstrikes in the Gaza Strip and cut off water, food and power supplies, after attacks by Hamas militants at the weekend left hundreds dead.
Russia has longstanding diplomatic ties with Israel but has become increasingly reliant on supplies from Iran, a big backer of Hamas, for its operations in Ukraine. The conflict comes at a time when the west is struggling to provide enough ammunition and money to supply Ukraine’s war effort.
Speaking in his nightly address, Zelenskiy said the situation was of “fundamental importance for us, not only for Ukraine but also for the entire Europe”.
He added: “According to the available information – a very clear one – Russia is interested in triggering a war in the Middle East, so that a new source of pain and suffering could undermine world unity, increase discord and contradictions, and thus help Russia destroy freedom in Europe.
“We see Russian propagandists gloating. We see Moscow’s Iranian friends openly supporting those who attacked Israel.
“And all of this is a much greater threat than the world currently perceives. The world wars of the past started with local aggressions.
“We are preparing appropriate steps. And most importantly, we are defending the need for maximum unity in the world.
“Every state in the world must now choose how it will defend international law. Defend! Not stand aside when terror tries to take over, and when another region of the world may collapse before our eyes.”
Russia seeks return to UN human rights councilGood morning and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Russia will seek to return to the UN human rights council on Tuesday, just days after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian village of Hroza killed more than 50 people.
Moscow was booted from the Geneva-based body after it invaded Ukraine last year but will be considered in a vote by the general assembly for a new seat for the 2024-26 term.
The vote will take place by secret ballot, testing Russia’s contention that it has private support in developing countries weary of the west’s billions of dollars in support to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused Moscow of wanting to trigger war in the Middle East to undermine world unity and “thus help Russia destroy freedom in Europe”.
In other developments:
The US army said Congress needed to approve additional funding quickly to ensure the Pentagon’s munitions production and acquisition plans can meet the needs of Israel and Ukraine simultaneously. The army secretary, Christine Wormuth, made the comments as the US House of Representatives is in effect paralysed as Republicans work to select a new speaker.
At the White House, John Kirby, the spokesperson for the national security council, emphasised that the US government had existing funding to support Israel for the time being. “If we need – and it’s an ‘if’, but – if we need to go back to Capitol Hill for additional funding support for Israel, we will absolutely do that,” Kirby said. “We are a large enough, big enough, economically viable and vibrant enough country to be able to support both [Israel and Ukraine].”
Zelenskiy said it was in Russia’s interests to stoke war in the Middle East “to create a new source of pain and suffering that would weaken global unity, create divisions and help Russia in undermining freedom in Europe”. In his nightly video address, he added that Russian propagandists were “gloating” at developments.
Grieving families have begun burying their loved ones in the eastern Ukraine village of Hroza, which was targeted by Russian missiles in an attack that killed more than 50 people last week. About 30 graves have been dug for burial at the cemetery in the small village, which now numbers about 330 inhabitants, down from 500 when the conflict began.
The top UN trade official, Rebeca Grynspan, met Russian officials in Moscow on Monday for talks aimed at enabling the “unimpeded access” to global markets for grain and fertiliser from Russia and Ukraine, a UN spokesperson said.
Zelenskiy will visit neighbouring Romania on Tuesday, his first trip to the Nato member country since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Romanian presidency has said.
Russian lawmakers have been given 10 days to study the possibility of revoking Moscow’s ratification of a treaty banning nuclear tests, the state Duma, the lower house of parliament, said in a statement. The chamber’s international affairs committee will need to conclude its work by 18 October, the statement said.
Zelenskiy has replaced the commander of Ukraine’s Territorial Defence Forces, which have played an important role in helping defend the country since Russia’s invasion. A presidential order published on Monday announced the appointment of Maj Gen Anatoliy Barhylevych as the new commander.
The UN rights office warned that there is no system to return Ukrainian children taken to Russia since Moscow’s invasion of the country last year, and that some of those who did come back had reported mistreatment. Ukrainian authorities say they have identified and verified almost 20,000 children who have been taken to Russia during the war.
Zelenskiy has appealed at the Nato parliamentary assembly for the international rule of law to unite and deal with terrorism, comparing the attack by what he called a “terrorist organisation” on Israel with the similar tactics used by Russia, which he said was a “terrorist state”.
Ukraine’s parliament registered a draft law on Monday that would allow a ban on activities of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The church has been accused by Kyiv of undermining Ukraine’s unity and collaborating with Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, charges that it denies.