12 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: Russia unleashes attack on energy infrastructure, triggering power cuts

Ukrainian minister says Moscow is ‘massively attacking’ grid; Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian troops gathering near north-eastern city. What we know on day 1,354See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverage Continue reading...

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36 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: Ukrainian court jails Russian soldier for killing PoW in landmark sentence

The soldier is the first to be jailed for such a crime after being found guilty of shooting dead a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in Zaporizhzhia region. What we know on day 1,353See all our Russia-Ukraine war coverageA Ukrainian court has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison after finding him guilty of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war – the first time Ukraine has jailed a suspect on such charges. The court in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia found Dmitry Kurashov, 27, guilty of shooting dead Vitalii Hodniuk, a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in January 2024 when his dugout was captured by Russian forces. Kurashov, who was taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces along with other Russian troops soon after and pleaded guilty in court, although he later told reporters he was innocent and wanted to be exchanged in a prisoner swap. He told Reuters after the ruling on Thursday that he did not plan to appeal. The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said criminal...

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60 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: Bulgaria moves to seize Russian refinery while Poland seeks to be US gas conduit

Lukoil’s Burgas plant is Bulgaria’s only refinery; Slovakia running out of reasons to buy Russian gas as US import deal takes shape. What we know on day 1,352Bulgaria is preparing to seize control of Lukoil’s Burgas oil refinery and sell it to a new owner after the Russian oil company came under US sanctions, according to Bulgarian media reports. Burgas is Bulgaria’s only oil refinery and as part of Lukoil is at risk of having to shut down because of the sanctions. The US joined Britain last month in imposing sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Legislation was being drafted to allow the seizure, Bulgarian outlet Mediapool reported on Wednesday. Lukoil said last week that it was moving to sell foreign assets because of the sanctions.With international action progressively choking off Russia’s petroleum exports, Poland said on Wednesday that it was working on a deal to import liquefied natural gas from the US to su...

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3 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy visits troops near embattled Pokrovsk

Deep Ukrainian drone strikes hit petrochemical plant 1,300km inside Russia and Lukoil refinery east of Moscow. What we know on day 1,351 Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited troops in the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk oblast on Tuesday. “I met with our warriors at the command post of the 1st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine Azov, which is conducting a defensive operation in the Dobropillya sector,” said the Ukrainian president, referring to a town about 20km (12 miles) from Pokrovsk.Russian forces had pushed further into Pokrovsk and its environs, though much of it remained beyond firm control of either side, mapping by the Ukrainian project DeepState indicated on Tuesday. “The situation remains critical,” said Deepstate, adding that in some districts Russian forces were digging in and building up positions.The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its most recent assessment at time of writing, posted on 3 November: “Russian forces continue to advance in the Pokrovsk direction and ap...

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5 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Trump ‘not really’ considering supplying Tomahawks

Turkish refineries cut back on Russian oil in response to sanctions; Ukrainian special forces join defence of embattled Pokrovsk. What we know on day 1,349Donald Trump said on Sunday he was not really considering supplying Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles. Asked about it by a reporter aboard Air Force One, Trump responded: “No, not really.” Reports in recent days said the Pentagon had told the White House that the US stockpile of Tomahawks was sufficient to be able to supply them to Ukraine.Ukraine has been seeking the Tomahawk missiles to carry out long-range strikes against Russia, but without them has still been able to wage a successful campaign using its own drones and missiles against Russian military and strategic targets such as oil depots and refineries. A Ukrainian drone attack struck Russia’s Tuapse oil port on the Black Sea on Sunday, causing a fire and damaging two ships, according to Russian authorities. Russian airports in nearby regions also had to be...

Politics

6 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Ukraine says its troops still holding out in embattled Pokrovsk

Ukraine military says it has improved positions in several districts, while Moscow says its troops are enclosing in on Ukrainian forces. What we know on day 1,348Ukraine’s top military commander said his troops were still holding out in the embattled eastern city of Pokrovsk, which Moscow said its forces were at last enclosing in a pincer movement after more than a year of fighting. “We are holding Pokrovsk,” Ukraine’s army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Facebook on Saturday. “A comprehensive operation to destroy and dislodge enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing.” Ukraine’s military said that it had improved its positions in some districts. Kyiv is raising the number of its assault troops in the area, the 7th Rapid Response Corps said on Facebook, adding that the situation remained “difficult and dynamic”. Capturing Pokrovsk, dubbed “the gateway to Donetsk”, would be the most important Russian territorial gain inside Ukraine since Moscow took the ruined city of Avdiivka in early 2...

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7 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Russian attacks on substations are ‘nuclear terrorism’, says Ukraine

Ukrainian foreign ministry says deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities violate international law as fears of a winter crisis grow. What we know on day 1,347Ukraine’s foreign ministry has denounced what it described as Russian attacks on substations critical to supplying external power for Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Russia has carried out “targeted strikes on such substations”, a ministry statement issued late on Friday said. “Deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities that directly affect the safe operation of nuclear installations bear the hallmarks of nuclear terrorism and constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” it added.The foreign ministry referred to a statement issued on Thursday by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reporting military activity “that has led to damage to substations critical to nuclear safety and security in Ukraine”. The IAEA statement reported incidents near two nuclear plants – So...

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1 week ago How Russia is risking nuclear catastrophe with attempts to syphon power from Ukraine’s biggest plant

The exiled mayor of Enerhodar, close to Ukraine’s biggest nuclear power station fears tells Sam Kiley in Zaporizhzhia he is afraid of an ecological catastrophe

Events

1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Moscow under drone siege for third night running

EU edges towards using ‘reparations loan’ using Russian frozen assets; Kremlin pressing ahead with year-round conscription. What we know on day 1,344Ukraine sent drones towards Moscow for the third consecutive night, closing airports, Russian authorities said late on Tuesday. Rosaviatsiya, the air transport watchdog, said Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports had flights halted or restricted. Russia usually says all incoming drones were destroyed, regardless of the outcome, and typically gives limited details about the effects of Ukrainian strikes unless civilians or civilian infrastructure are hit. Over the previous two nights, Russia’s defence ministry said there were 35 Ukrainian drones destroyed over the Moscow region. Ukraine says its long-range drone strikes of recent months on Moscow and other Russian regions are aimed at hitting military and industrial assets, damaging Russia’s war economy and bringing the conflict home to Russians.Ukraine also launched se...

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1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Russian drones hunt civilians in crime against humanity, UN inquiry finds

Ukraine strengthens Pokrovsk positions amid infiltration by estimated 200 Russian troops; Lukoil selling overseas assets after US sanctions. What we know on day 1,343 Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine foiled plans to reconnect Zaporizhzhia power plant in time for Putin’s birthday

The power plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine was without external power for a month before repairs were made

Politics

2 w. ago Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reconnected to external power from Ukraine

Move ends month-long reliance on backup generators after power line was cut in SeptemberRussian engineers have reconnected the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to external electrical power from Ukraine, ending a month-long emergency that had plunged the future of the six-reactor site into doubt.Ukrainian sources told the Guardian that Russian technicians had hoped to connect Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – which had been relying on backup generators since its last external power line was cut in September – to power from the Russian grid on 7 October as a birthday present for Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy paints Trump meeting as ‘positive’, with Patriot missile deal in works

Zelenskyy’s comments are in contrast to reports that Trump berated the Ukrainian leader and pushed him to concede territory to Russia. What we know on day 1,336 Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Energy war continues with strikes on Russian oil and gas plants

Russian attacks hit coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region and Chernihiv power grid; Trump flips back to accommodating Putin. What we know on day 1,335 Continue reading...

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2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Repairs begin in bid to restore power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

UN watchdog says Russia and Ukraine have established special ceasefire zones to allow the repairs to be safely carried out. What we know on day 1,334Work has started to repair damaged power lines leading to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after a lengthy outage, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Saturday. The site, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, lost its connection to the grid on 23 September for the 10th time – the longest outage of external power supply to the facility since Russia invaded Ukraine.The repairs to the off-site power lines began after Russian and Ukrainian forces established “local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed”, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a post on X. “Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable the complex repair plan to proceed,” Grossi said. “Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security.” The agency said it expected the work to take about...

Events

3 w. ago Work begins to restore power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Work has begun to repair the damaged power supply to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said

Economics

3 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Poland minister shows Shahed drone and warns of ‘deep’ Russian threat

Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking in London, urges drone wall and three-year plan to back Ukraine; Odesa mayor’s ‘citizenship suspended’. What we know on day 1,330 Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Crimea oil refinery burns as Russia feels effects on fuel supply

Glide bombs knock out power supply and hit hospital in Kharkiv; Zelenskyy lining up Trump meeting with Tomahawks hot topic. What we know on day 1,329An oil terminal at Feodosia in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula was burning on Monday after an attack by Ukrainian drones. A Ukrainian security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the drones, launched by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service and military special forces, hit at least five reservoirs. The source said drones also hit at least two Russian electrical substations on the peninsula, which Russia took from Ukraine in 2014.Large heat signatures around the Feodosia terminal were visible on Nasa’s satellite fire monitoring service, Firms, and Crimea’s Moscow-installed governor confirmed the fire. The Feodosia terminal also came under attack last week. Ukraine has launched more than 30 strikes on Russian energy sites since the beginning of August, aiming to hamper funding of the Kremlin’s war machine and also tri...

Events

3 w. ago The UN nuclear watchdog seeks a local truce to restore power to the Zaporizhzhia plant

Diplomats say the U.N. nuclear watchdog is pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to local ceasefires so that external power can be restored to Ukraine’s huge nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia

Events

3 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Moscow voices ‘extreme concern’ at Trump threat to send Tomohawk missiles to Kyiv

US president says he may warn Russian counterpart ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’. What we know on day 1,328Donald Trump has threatened to send longe-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin does not end his invasion. “I might talk to him [Putin]. I might say, ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East. The US president said Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawks in a call on Saturday when they were discussing a fresh supply of weapons for Kyiv. “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” added Trump. “Do they [Russian forces] want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies ever since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal. Putin has pre...

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