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10m ago
(13:24 GMT)Russia issues rare denial of ‘pointless losses’ by brigade in Ukraine
Russia’s defence ministry has taken the unusual step of denying reports by Russian military bloggers that a naval infantry unit had lost hundreds of men in a fruitless offensive in eastern Ukraine, according to a report by the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.
RIA reported the ministry had rejected the bloggers’ assertions that the 155th marine brigade of the Pacific Fleet had suffered “high, pointless losses in people and equipment”.
On the contrary, in the course of 10 days the unit had advanced 5km (over 3 miles) into Ukrainian defensive positions southwest of Donetsk, RIA quoted the ministry as saying. It specifically denied that the brigade’s commanders had shown incompetence.
Russian military bloggers, some of whom command audiences of half a million or more on social media, have become increasingly critical of the failings of Moscow’s generals since Ukraine recaptured large parts of the northeast of the country in September.
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40m ago
(12:53 GMT)Russia’s Prigozhin admits to meddling in US elections
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted to interfering in US elections and said he would continue doing so in the future, the first such admission from a figure who has been formally implicated by Washington in efforts to influence American politics.
In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia’s Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said: “We have interfered (in US elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do.”
The remark was posted on the eve of the US midterm elections in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site.
“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” Prigozhin said. He did not elaborate on the cryptic comment.
Prigozhin, who is often referred to as “Putin’s chef” because his catering company operates Kremlin contracts, has been formally accused of sponsoring Russia-based “troll farms” that seek to influence US politics. In September he admitted to founding the Kremlin-aligned Wagner Group mercenary group, which is active in Ukraine, Syria and several African countries.
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50m ago
(12:43 GMT)Austria stress test shows little risk of blackouts this winter: Environment minister
Austria is not expected to suffer electricity shortages or blackouts this winter, the country’s environment minister has said, citing the results of a recent stress test.
The stress test, conducted by national grid operator APG, found that the most realistic scenario did not present a single hour of so-called load shortfall in Austria, during which supply would not be able to cover demand, Leonore Gewessler said.
“The electricity stress test shows us two things: Austria has a good and secure energy supply, and we are facing a challenging winter that we can nevertheless manage well in a realistic scenario,” he said.
In a “very critical scenario”, Austrians could be asked to curb usage due to insufficient power supply, but a high risk of blackouts was not present in any of the scenarios, the minister added.
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1h ago
(12:10 GMT)Ukraine receives first delivery of NASAMS air defence systems
Ukraine has received its first delivery of NASAMS and Apside air defence systems from Norway, Spain and the United States, the country’s defence minister has said.
“We will continue to shoot down the enemy targets attacking us. Thank you to our partners: Norway, Spain and the US,” Oleksii Reznikov tweeted.
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1h ago
(12:01 GMT)Germany says Ukraine should decide when to hold peace talks
A German government spokesperson has said it is up to Ukraine to decide when to hold peace talks with Russia, adding that Moscow has also been reluctant to participate in them.
The spokesperson’s remarks came after The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the United States has been privately encouraging Ukraine to signal it is open to talks with Russia.
Ukraine’s president has ruled out negotiations with Moscow while Russian President Vladimir Putin is in power.
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2h ago
(10:57 GMT)Ukraine grain exports down more than 30 percent: Agriculture ministry
Ukraine has exported almost 14.3 million tonnes of grain so far in the 2022-23 season, down 30.7 percent from the 20.6 million tonnes exported by the same stage of the previous season, data collated by the country’s agriculture ministry shows.
The data showed that exports so far in the July 2022 to June 2023 season included 5.4 million tonnes of wheat, 7.7 million tonnes of corn and 1.2 million tonnes of barley.
The government has said Ukraine’s farmers could harvest 50-52 million tonnes of grain this year, down from the record 86 million tonnes in 2021, because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower yields.
Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since Russia invaded in late February [File: Igor Tkachenko/Reuters] -
2h ago
(10:35 GMT)Chinese exports to Russia surged in October: Report
China’s exports to Russia grew at a faster pace in October despite the ongoing war in Russia, according to calculations made by the Reuters news agency based on Chinese customs data.
Shipments of Chinese goods to Russia rose 34.6 percent from a year earlier in dollar terms, quickening from a 21.2 percent gain in September and marking the fourth monthly double-digit growth in a row, Reuters reported.
That is in contrast to the falling demand for Chinese goods in Europe and the United States as surging inflation, sweeping increases in interest rates worldwide and a global economic slowdown dented demand from major trading partners.
Moscow and Beijing signed a no-limits partnership just days before the invasion of Ukraine in late February, and Russia has sought to forge closer political and economic ties with China in the face of Western sanctions over the war.
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3h ago
(10:12 GMT)Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 257
Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 257 of the war in Ukraine.
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3h ago
(09:54 GMT)Kremlin declines to comment on reported talks with US
The Kremlin has declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Washington held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials about avoiding further escalation in the Ukraine war.
“We have nothing to say about this publication,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Once again I repeat that there are some truthful reports, but for the most part there are reports that are pure speculation,” he added, saying that while Russia remains “open” to talks, it is unable to negotiate with Kyiv due to its refusal to hold talks with Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that US NSA Jake Sullivan held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in the hope of reducing the risk the war in Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict.
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4h ago
(09:33 GMT)Russia’s Sberbank suing Glencore over oil supplies
Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, is suing global commodities trader Glencore for about 117 million euros ($116m) over unpaid oil supplies, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
Reuters cited the database of Moscow’s Arbitration Court as showing on Monday that Sberbank was seeking to recover debt and penalties from Glencore Energy UK Ltd over two agreements worth roughly 58 million euros ($57.9m) each.
One related to oil blend supplies to the border of Ukraine and Hungary in March, and the other to supplies to the border of Ukraine and Slovakia in the same month.
The database gave no further details on the agreements or the lawsuit. Hearings are scheduled to start in Moscow on December 6.
Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil producers [File: Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters] -
4h ago
(09:15 GMT)Is the war in Ukraine speeding Europe’s transition to renewable energy?
Renewable energy production in Europe reached record levels following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading some energy analysts to predict that Europe is poised to surge forward in creating clean energy.
Other analysts, however, forecast a cut in European emissions through a widely expected recession, energy austerity and de-industrialisation next year.
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4h ago
(08:40 GMT)Grid operator says Ukrainians need to brace for more blackouts
Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator has told consumers to brace for more blackouts in Kyiv and other regions as it seeks to reduce the strain on energy infrastructure damaged by Russian missile and drone attacks.
“The country’s power grid still cannot resume full operation after the Russian terrorist attacks. In some regions, we have to introduce blackouts to avoid overloading the high-voltage infrastructure,” Ukrenergo said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Scheduled shutdowns from 6am local time to the end of the day will affect Kyiv and the regions of Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava, it said in a statement.
Iren Rozdobudko, a 60-year-old writer and university lecturer, restoring a vintage doll by candlelight during a power cut in the building in the north of Kyiv [ Sergei Supinsky/AFP] -
5h ago
(07:45 GMT)Russia suffering ‘serious’ losses in the east: Zelenskyy
Russia is suffering heavy losses in continuing “fierce” attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and is preparing new assaults on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s president has said.
“Very fierce Russian attacks on Donetsk region are continuing. The enemy is suffering serious losses there,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
The Ukrainian leader also said he believed Russia was “concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure, energy in the first instance”.
Municipal workers remove debris outside a local railway administration headquarters damaged in shelling in Donetsk, in Russian-controlled Ukraine, November 7, 2022 [Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters] -
6h ago
(06:49 GMT)Zelenskyy accuses Iran of helping Russia ‘prolong’ war
Zelenskyy has accused Iran of helping Russia “prolong the war” by supplying it with arms.
“Iran supports Russia’s terrorist regime and helps prolong the war and therefore prolongs the threats to the world created by Russia’s war of aggression,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address.
Without Tehran’s support for Moscow, Ukraine “would already be closer to peace”, the Ukrainian leader said.
On Saturday, for the first time, Iran confirmed it sold drones to Russia but said it was “months” before the start of the war in Ukraine.
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6h ago
(06:41 GMT)Zelenskyy warns of more Russian attacks on infrastructure
Ukraine’s president has warned against more potential Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, while the mayor of Kyiv urged residents to consider preparing to leave temporarily if the capital lost water and power supplies.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Sunday that Russia was “concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure. First of all, energy.”
More than 4.5 million consumers were already without power, he added, amid concerns that support for Ukraine could waver as the war’s effect on energy and food prices persists into winter.
People walk on a dark street in the old town of Kyiv, Ukraine, November 6, 2022 [Murad Sezer/Reuters] Advertisement
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6h ago
(06:38 GMT)Russian media say Ukraine shelled dam near Kherson
Russian news agencies have claimed that Ukraine’s vast Russian-held Nova Kakhovka dam, upstream of Kherson on the Dnieper River, was damaged in shelling by Ukrainian forces. The reports provided no evidence to support the allegation.
State-owned TASS quoted an emergency services representative as saying that a rocket launched by a US-made HIMARS missile system had hit the dam’s lock and caused damage. The official quoted said it was an “attempt to create the conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe” by breaching the dam.
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6h ago
(06:37 GMT)US NSA spoke with Russian officials: Reports
The Wall Street Journal has reported that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held confidential conversations in recent months with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev that were not disclosed.
Few high-level contacts between US and Russian officials have been made public in recent months as Washington has insisted that any talks on ending the war in Ukraine be held between Moscow and Kyiv.
The White House declined to comment on the report, responding to questions about the story only with a statement attributed to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson: “People claim a lot of things.”
- A spokesperson for Germany’s government says Ukraine should decide when to hold peace talks with Russia, after reports suggested the United States had encouraged Kyiv to signal openness to discussions
- Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the mercenary Wagner group, has admitted to meddling in US elections.
