4 days ago
Moscow promises ‘palpable’ response if US missiles used in Russia as Ukraine marks 1,000 days of war
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine marks 1,000 days on Tuesday since Russia’s full-scale invasion – with weary troops battling on numerous fronts, Kyiv besieged by frequent drone and missile strikes, and officials preparing for Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
However, Joe Biden’s decision to give the green light for long-range Atacms missiles to be used against targets deeper inside Russia is seen as something of a boost, potentially constraining Moscow’s options to launch attacks and supply the front.
“The longer Ukraine can strike, the shorter the war will be,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiga said before a UN security council meeting to mark the 1,000-day milestone.
The shift in policy, however, may be reversed when Trump returns to the White House in January, and military experts cautioned that it would not be enough on its own to change the course of the war.
Russia accused Biden of fuelling tensions with the move, and promised an “appropriate and palpable” response if Ukraine attacked Russia with American long-range missiles.
In other headlines:
At least six people have been killed by a Russian drone strike in Sumy region. A child is reported to be among the victims.
Russian security services have made two arrests after last week’s car bomb killing of a senior naval officer. Valery Trankovsky was killed in the Russian-occupied port city of Sevastopol.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited the eastern frontline towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Monday. “We are holding our positions,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un met on Monday with Russia’s natural resources minister in Pyongyang, state media reported, as visiting delegations from Moscow highlighted deepening ties.
UN undersecretary general for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo denounced the rise in civilian casualties in Russia’s attack on Ukraine over the weekend, which involved 120 missiles and 90 drones, and caused significant damage to Ukraine’s power grid. “The targeted devastation of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure may make the coming winter the harshest since the start of the war,” she warned.
Britain is expected to clear Storm Shadow missiles for use by Ukraine on targets inside Russia, the Guardian reports, now that Joe Biden has agreed to do the same for the American long-range Atacms missiles.
The German tabloid Bild has reported on what it calls a “top secret” delivery to Ukraine of 4,000 strike drones, developed by the German artificial intelligence firm Helsing.
The Kremlin rejected a reported peace proposal from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to be put forward at the G20 summit in Brazil, to freeze hostilities at the current positions of both parties.
G20 leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Monday said in a joint statement that they “welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace” in Ukraine.
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In today’s First Edition newsletter, Nimo Omer has spoken to the Guardian’s defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh about the reported decision by the US to allow Ukraine to use longer-range missiles to strike inside Russia.
He told her:
Each time these discussions about an individual weapon type are considered, freighted with great significance, the reality has been they’ve only made an incremental difference in the battlefield. From Ukraine’s perspective, it is better to have them than not, but ultimately, no single weapon type is decisive in a complex war like this.
Each of these weapons comes along months, maybe years, after Ukrainians asked for them. It’s quite an agonising process. They are clearly military useful, they have a psychological and deterrent effect but in terms of an actual destructive effect, not so much.
Ukraine’s state emergency service now says that nine people have been killed by the Russian drone strike on Hlukhiv. Some media sources are reporting that people are still believed trapped under rubble.
Ukrainian media is reporting that overnight Ukraine’s air defence shot down 51 out of 87 drones aimed at the country by Russia.
Citing the air force, Suspilne writes that 30 drones evaded tracking.
The death toll from a Russian drone attack on the small town of Hlukhiv in Sumy region has risen to seven. One child is reported among the dead.
Posting pictures of rescue workers at the scene, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “Every new Russian strike only confirms Putin’s true intentions. He wants the war to continue, he is not interested in talking about peace.”
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, has reported on his official Telegram channel that two people have been injured in the occupied city of Horlivka.
In the post, he said “The Ukrainian armed forces continue attacks on the energy infrastructure of Horlivka. As a result, the situation has become more complicated.”
He reported that 80,000 people were without power.
Overnight Ukraine claims its forces struck a logistics centre near the city of Karachev in Russia’s Bryansk region.
Russia’s ministry of defence claims to have shot down four Ukrainian “aircraft-type” drones over the Bryansk region on Tuesday morning.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Russian security services make arrests over car bomb killing of senior naval officer
Russian media reports that two arrests have been made after the death of navy officer Valery Trankovsky in Sevastopol. The senior officer was killed by a car bomb last week.
An official in Ukraine’s security services told the Ukrainian Pravda outlet last week that the agency had orchestrated the car bomb attack in the Russian-controlled port city that killed the chief of staff of the 41st Missile Brigade of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet, accusing Trankovsky of being “a war criminal” who had ordered missile strikes from the Black Sea at civilian targets.
Tass reports today that a 38-year-old resident of Sevastopol and a 47-year-old resident of Yalta have been detained, with Russia’s security service, the FSB, saying they have confessed. “The defendants are cooperating with law enforcement agencies and giving confessions,” it quoted the agency saying.
One of those arrested was accused of conducting surveillance on the Russian officer, while the other is accused of making the improvised explosive device that killed him.
At least six killed, including a child, in Russian drone attack on Sumy region
At least six people were killed, including a child, in a Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s northeastern region of Sumy, regional officials said on Tuesday.
Reuters reports twelve people were injured in the drone attack on a residential dormitory in the small town of Hlukhiv, the military administration of the Sumy region, which borders Russia, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Moscow promises ‘palpable’ response if US missiles used in Russia as Ukraine marks 1,000 days of war
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine marks 1,000 days on Tuesday since Russia’s full-scale invasion – with weary troops battling on numerous fronts, Kyiv besieged by frequent drone and missile strikes, and officials preparing for Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
However, Joe Biden’s decision to give the green light for long-range Atacms missiles to be used against targets deeper inside Russia is seen as something of a boost, potentially constraining Moscow’s options to launch attacks and supply the front.
“The longer Ukraine can strike, the shorter the war will be,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiga said before a UN security council meeting to mark the 1,000-day milestone.
The shift in policy, however, may be reversed when Trump returns to the White House in January, and military experts cautioned that it would not be enough on its own to change the course of the war.
Russia accused Biden of fuelling tensions with the move, and promised an “appropriate and palpable” response if Ukraine attacked Russia with American long-range missiles.
In other headlines:
At least six people have been killed by a Russian drone strike in Sumy region. A child is reported to be among the victims.
Russian security services have made two arrests after last week’s car bomb killing of a senior naval officer. Valery Trankovsky was killed in the Russian-occupied port city of Sevastopol.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited the eastern frontline towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk on Monday. “We are holding our positions,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un met on Monday with Russia’s natural resources minister in Pyongyang, state media reported, as visiting delegations from Moscow highlighted deepening ties.
UN undersecretary general for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo denounced the rise in civilian casualties in Russia’s attack on Ukraine over the weekend, which involved 120 missiles and 90 drones, and caused significant damage to Ukraine’s power grid. “The targeted devastation of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure may make the coming winter the harshest since the start of the war,” she warned.
Britain is expected to clear Storm Shadow missiles for use by Ukraine on targets inside Russia, the Guardian reports, now that Joe Biden has agreed to do the same for the American long-range Atacms missiles.
The German tabloid Bild has reported on what it calls a “top secret” delivery to Ukraine of 4,000 strike drones, developed by the German artificial intelligence firm Helsing.
The Kremlin rejected a reported peace proposal from the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to be put forward at the G20 summit in Brazil, to freeze hostilities at the current positions of both parties.
G20 leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Monday said in a joint statement that they “welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace” in Ukraine.
