Live blog: Specialists to arrive in Ukraine to plan air defence production

Friday, September 29, 2023

1607 GMT — Specialists will arrive in Ukraine in the near future to draw up plans to establish production of military equipment including air defences, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff has told reporters.

"I think very soon specialists will arrive here who will make a plan for our own production of everything that we need. First and foremost, this relates to air defences," Andriy Yermak said.

Yermak talked more broadly about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to the United States last week, but it was not clear whether the specialists and the systems he was referring to would be American.

More updates: 👇

1806 GMT — Ukraine slams decision to allow Russians in Paralympics, will 'prolong war'

Ukraine has criticised the International Paralympic Committee's decision to allow Russian athletes to compete at the Paris 2024 Games, arguing this would "prolong the war".

Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said in a post on social media that the decision "prolongs the war, and secondly, provokes Russia to increase the levels of mass violence in Ukraine."

1627 GMT — Poland and Slovakia will still back Ukraine after elections: Stoltenberg

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said he was confident that both Poland and Slovakia would continue to support Ukraine in its war with Russia after imminent elections, despite recent harsh rhetoric towards Kiev.

Poland, which elects a new parliament on October 15, said last week it would no longer agree to new arms deliveries to Ukraine but instead focus on rebuilding its own stocks.

Poland, a NATO member, had until recently been seen as one of Ukraine's staunchest allies in its war with Russia, but relations have soured since Poland's decision to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports.

NATO-member Slovakia has also been a staunch ally of Ukraine, sending its eastern neighbour military equipment including MiG-29 fighter jets and an S-300 air defence system.

But opposition leader and former prime minister Robert Fico, who leads polls ahead of Saturday's election, has pledged to end that military support.

1432 GMT — Several countries order ammunition under EU plan to aid Ukraine

Seven EU countries have ordered ammunition under a landmark European Union procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks, according to the EU agency in charge.

The orders - placed under contracts negotiated by the European Defence Agency (EDA) - are for 155mm artillery rounds, one of the most important munitions in the war of attrition between Ukraine and Russia.

The scheme was set up as part of a plan worth at least 2 billion euros, launched in March with the aim of getting a million shells and missiles to Ukraine within a year.

The EDA declined to name the countries or state the size of the orders, saying much of the information was confidential.

1405 GMT — Russia's Putin signs decree on autumn military conscription

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine autumn conscription campaign, calling up 130,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the government website has shown.

All men in Russia are required to do a year-long military service between the ages of 18 and 27, or equivalent training while in higher education.

Putin's move comes as Russia's armed forces press on with their "special military operation" in Ukraine, now in its 20th month.

The president, who signed an order in March calling up 147,000 people for the spring campaign, said this month he was bracing for a long war in Ukraine.

1208 GMT — Swiss approve $100M package to demine Ukraine

Switzerland's Federal Council has approved a $109.57 million (100 million Swiss franc) package to demine parts of Ukraine, the government has said.

"A total of CHF 100 million will be earmarked for humanitarian demining between 2024 and 2027, funded in equal parts by the Department of Defence, Civil Protection, and Sport (DDPS) and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)," the government said.

Switzerland is already involved in demining work in Ukraine and allocated 15.2 million Swiss francs in 2022 and 2023.

The additional amount will enable Switzerland to provide equipment and training for Ukrainian deminers and support the government in its efforts to coordinate the "herculean undertaking," the Swiss government said.

1107 GMT — US House of Representatives greenlights fresh aid to Ukraine

The US House of Representatives has approved a bill for $300 million in new aid to Ukraine.

The house voted on a bill that was separated from the Pentagon budget and turned into a new proposal, outlining $300 million in new aid to Ukraine.

In a late-night vote, the bill was approved with 311 "yes" votes against 117 "no" votes.

The inclusion of aid to Ukraine in the 2024 Pentagon budget has caused tension between Republicans and Democrats.

1032 GMT — UK sanctions officials linked to elections in annexed regions of Ukraine

The British government has imposed an asset freeze and travel bans on officials linked to elections in the annexed Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Crimea.

The government said the sanctioned officials had been involved in recent "sham elections" in the regions.

"The UK will never recognise Russia’s claims to Ukrainian territory - Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson are Ukraine," Britain's foreign minister James Cleverly said in a statement.

Britain also added Russia's emergencies minister Alexander Kurenkov and the secretary of the Russian Central Election Commission Natalya Budarina to the sanctions list.

0929 GMT — Putin says convicts killed in Ukraine paid debt to society

President Vladimir Putin has said that Russian prisoners who died in Ukraine had redeemed themselves in the eyes of society.

To boost regular troops fighting in Ukraine, the army and mercenary group Wagner have extensively recruited from Russian penal colonies.

"They are dead," Putin said during a televised meeting, referring to prisoners who died in Ukraine.

"Everyone can make some mistakes, they once did. But they gave their lives for the Motherland, and fully redeemed themselves," Putin said at the meeting with servicemen who fought near Ukraine's Urozhaine on the southern front.

After a short discussion with the soldiers, Putin observed a minute of silence to honour the prisoners who died in combat.

0925 GMT — Romania bolsters defences to stop Ukraine war crossing NATO threshold

Romania is moving air defences closer to its Danube villages across the river from Ukraine, where Russian drones have been attacking grain facilities, and is adding more military observation posts and patrols to the area, two senior defence sources have said.

The measures, along with the deployment of four additional US F-16 fighter jets and an expanded no-fly zone, are a sign of growing concern in Romania and the broader NATO alliance that the Ukraine war could spill over into its territory.

Soon after pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal on July 17, Moscow began targeting Ukrainian ports and warehouses along the Danube, in an apparent attempt to choke off the main alternative route for Ukraine's agricultural exports.

Among the targets were the Ukrainian ports of Izmail and Reni, both of which lie across the Danube from Romanian soil.

Isolated incidents of drone parts landing in Romania underline the risk of a misunderstanding, or worse, between Russia and NATO, prompting Romanian armed forces to increase security in the area to protect civilians, the two sources said.

0550 GMT — Putin discusses Ukraine operations with ex-Wagner commander

Russian President Vladimir Putin was shown meeting one of the most senior former commanders of the Wagner mercenary group and discussing how best to use "volunteer units" in the Ukraine war.

Putin was shown on state television meeting at the Kremlin with Andrei Troshev, a former Wagner commander known by his nom de guerre "Sedoi" - or "grey hair".

Addressing Troshev, Putin said that they had spoken about how "volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of the special military operation."

"You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year," Putin said. "You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way."

The Kremlin said the meeting took place late on Thursday.

Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who has travelled over recent months to several countries where Wagner mercenaries have worked, was also present, sitting closest to Putin.

0548 GMT — Tough issues to clear for start of EU membership talks with Ukraine - PM Orban

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that several "very difficult questions" would need to be answered before the European Union could even start membership talks with Ukraine.

EU countries are due to decide in December whether to allow Ukraine to begin accession negotiations, which would require the unanimous backing of all 27 members.

Diplomats have said Hungary may be an obstacle.

0501 GMT — Russia: 11 Ukrainian drones destroyed overnight

Russia claimed that it had destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones overnight, though one UAV dropped explosives on a substation, cutting the local power supply, a regional governor said.

"Eleven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defence systems on duty, one of them over the territory of Kaluga region and 10 over Kursk region," Russia's defence ministry said.

Kursk governor Roman Starovoyt said that the region bordering eastern Ukraine was "massively attacked" by Ukrainian UAVs.

0329 GMT — Ukrainian drone hits Russian power substation: governor

A Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on a substation in a Russian village close to the border, cutting off the power supply to a hospital, the regional governor said.

In Belaya, less than 25 kilometres from the border, "a Ukrainian drone dropped two explosive devices on a substation", Kursk regional governor Roman Starovoyt said on the messaging platform Telegram.

"One of the transformers caught fire. Five settlements and a hospital were cut off from power supply. Fire crews rushed to the scene," he added.

"Power will be restored as soon as it is safe to do so."

"The Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle was destroyed over Belgorod region by air defence systems on duty," the ministry said on Telegram.

2000 GMT — Kiev will secure EU from Russian nuclear blackmail — Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that his country will do everything to liberate Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to secure Europe from Russian radiation blackmail.

"We will do everything to implement the first point of our Peace Formula – nuclear and radiation security. And to ensure the complete liberation of our Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from the Russian occupiers and to secure Ukraine and all of Europe from Russian radiation blackmail," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

Zelenskyy said they are preparing to yield more results for their international efforts to strengthen the country.

2103 GMT — Ukraine alleges Russian shelling kills five

Russian shelling has killed three women in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and two people in the eastern Donetsk region, local officials alleged.

Prosecutors said the three women were killed on a street in Kherson, a town abandoned by Russian troops late last year, along with other settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River.

Prosecutors in Donetsk region in the east said two people died when Russian forces shelled Krasnohorivka, west of the Russian-held city of Donetsk and near the long-contested town of Maryinka.

For our live updates from Thursday (September 28), click here.