Russia preparing to retaliate after it says Ukraine hit it with US-made Atacms twice in last three days
The Kremlin has said it is preparing retaliatory measures after Ukraine twice fired US-made Atacms missiles into Russia in the last three days.
Moscow said both strikes targeted air defence positions in the Kursk region and claimed on both occasions either one or two missiles reached their targets, while most were shot down.
Key events
Russia’s firing last week of an experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine is evidence of its “reckless and escalatory behaviour”, G7 foreign ministers said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
They also condemned “in the strongest possible terms Russia’s irresponsible and threatening nuclear rhetoric as well as its posture of strategic intimidation”, adding that “support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence will remain unwavering”.
Last week, Russia fired a new ballistic missile (called Oreshnik) at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, prompting Volodymyr Zelenskyy to urge world leaders to give a “serious response” so that Vladimir Putin “feels the real consequences of his actions”. The new missile was experimental and Russia likely possessed only a handful of them, officials said. The Pentagon said the missile was fired with a conventional warhead but that Moscow could modify it if it wanted.
Germany is drawing up a list of bunkers that could provide emergency shelter for civilians, the interior ministry has said, at a time of rising tensions with Russia.
The list would include underground train stations and car parks as well as state buildings and private properties, a ministry spokesperson said.
A digital directory of bunkers and emergency shelters will be drawn up so people can find them quickly using a planned phone app. People would also be encouraged to create protective shelters in their homes by converting basements and garages, the spokesperson told a press briefing.
He declined to give a timetable, saying it was a big project that would take some time, involving the Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance and other authorities.
The country of 84 million people has 579 bunkers, mostly from the second world war and the cold war era, which can provide shelter for 480,000 people, down from about 2,000 bunkers previously.
The spokesperson said the key points of the plan were agreed at a conference of senior officials in June and a special group was looking into it.
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Soldiers of the state border guard service of Ukraine destroyed a Russian Orlan-10 drone in the Odesa region earlier, the service reported in a Telegram post.
The Ukrainian defence ministry has said an interdepartmental commission is to investigate the supply of faulty mortar shells given to Ukrainian forces following reports of them misfiring. The Kyiv Independent has this report:
The statement comes following complaints and videos shared on social media that show the mortar shells not exploding or failing to hit their targets.
The ministry said it had withdrawn the batches of ammunition in question and would instead provide Ukrainian forces with imported shells.
The Dzerkalo Tyzhnia news outlet reported in its investigation that this concerns 100,000 shells that would last for six months of front-line use, causing delays before the imported shells arrive.
Artillery and mortar shells are crucial items on the front as Ukraine already struggles to match up with the better-stocked Russian forces.
According to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, the supply of the shells in question was a result of a deal between the defence ministry and the strategic industries ministry to purchase ammunition from a domestic producer and thus decrease dependence on foreign supplies.
There is some more detail on the Kremlin’s claim that Ukraine launched US-made Atacms into Russia twice in the past three days (see earlier post).
Russia defence ministry said both strikes targeted its forces’ positions in the Kursk region. The first one took place on 23 November, and two out of five missiles launched at a Russian S-400 air defence system hit the target, damaging its radar system.
In the second attack, on 25 November, eight missiles were aimed at the Kursk-Vostochny airport, which also hosts a military airbase. One missile reached the target, wounding two soldiers, the ministry said in a statement.
“The ministry… is in control of the situation, and retaliatory measures are being prepared,” it said.
Germany will deliver two more Iris-T air defence systems to Ukraine before the end of the year to aid in its self-defence, the German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has announced.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Germany has offered over €37bn ($38.85bn, £30.89bn) in support, said Baerbock, which is meant not only to protect Ukraine, “but also for our own protection and our peace.”
Norway has agreed to raise its planned fiscal support for Ukraine next year to 30 billion crowns ($2.7bn) from 27 billion crowns this year, the country’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said, reversing an earlier proposal to cut the spending. The minority centre-left government had last month proposed allocating just 15 billion crowns to Ukraine in 2025, triggering criticism from opposition parties.
There has been no contact between Donald Trump or his team and Vladimir Putin since the US election, according to a senior Kremlin aide.
Putin has publicly congratulated Trump on defeating Kamala Harris and has said he is willing to talk to him. Trump told NBC on 7 November: “I think we’ll speak”.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in comments picked up by Reuters: “There are no contacts going on with Trump’s team yet, as far as I know.”
Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign that he could bring a swift end to the Ukraine war, but without saying how. Putin said on 7 November that what Trump had said “deserves attention, at least”.
Russia preparing to retaliate after it says Ukraine hit it with US-made Atacms twice in last three days
The Kremlin has said it is preparing retaliatory measures after Ukraine twice fired US-made Atacms missiles into Russia in the last three days.
Moscow said both strikes targeted air defence positions in the Kursk region and claimed on both occasions either one or two missiles reached their targets, while most were shot down.
Nato secretary general says alliance needs ‘to go further to change trajectory’ of war in Ukraine
Helena Smith
Helena Smith is the Guardian’s correspondent in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte has underscored the need “to go further to change the trajectory of the conflict” in Ukraine.
Stopping over in Athens as he conducted his first regional tour of the eastern Mediterranean, the Nato leader said it was vital alliance members delivered on commitments made at Nato’s July Summit in the US.
“Our support for Ukraine has kept them in the fight, but we need to go further to change the trajectory of the conflict,” he said before holding a working lunch with the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “We need to provide critical air defences and deliver on the commitments made at the Nato summit in Washington. The new command, the Nato command to coordinate security assistance and training [NSATU], the financial pledge of 40 billion euros in 2024, and further measures to bring Ukraine closer to Nato.”
Highlighting the importance of strengthening the bloc’s “deterrence and defence,” Rutte said it was also critical that investment and production in the arms industry was boosted.
Greece, among the highest net contributors to the alliance – allocating 3 % of its GDP to defence – is also home to a growing defence industry, a reflection of the nation’s historic rivalry with Nato-member Turkey and the seriousness with which it takes its role on the Alliance’s “vulnerable” south eastern flank.
On Tuesday, Mitsotakis said he and Rutte saw eye to eye on the need for higher EU defense spending.
“We agreed on one of the fundamental priorities for all the allies, the need to boost our common defence, a target which requires a strong defence industry, significant investments,” he said.
Last month, Athens signed a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine with Rutte praising the country’s decision to “help accelerate F-16 training for Ukrainian pilots and technicians”. It was, he said, a move that would “strengthen their hands in this brutal war.”
“All of this is essential in an increasingly dangerous environment,” the Nato chief said. He added:
In pursuing its illegal war in Ukraine, Russia makes use of North Korean weapons and troops, Iranian drones and Chinese dual use goods for its defence industry.
This is a dangerous expansion of the war and a challenge to global peace and security … The good news is that we have in Nato the alliance we need to defend every inch of our territory.
Summary of the day so far…
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Russia said it was expelling a British diplomat that it accused of espionage and summoned London’s ambassador to the foreign ministry in Moscow. According to the FSB, Russia’s security service, the British diplomat replaced one of six diplomats expelled in August, also on espionage charges. It said the diplomat provided false information on his documents and carried out espionage and sabotage activities.
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Russian forces staged their largest ever drone attack on Ukraine overnight, cutting power to much of the western city of Ternopil and damaging residential buildings in Kyiv region, Ukraine’s officials said.
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The EU is proposing to sanction several Chinese technology firms for aiding Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to draft documents seen by the Guardian. The EU is targeting seven companies from China and Hong Kong, as well as firms based in Russia, Serbia, Iran, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, for “supporting Russia’s military industrial complex”.
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The UK government recently supplied Ukraine with dozens more Storm Shadow cruise missiles, sources have told Bloomberg. The deliveries were not publicly announced and took place several weeks ago, according to the report.
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Lt Gen Alexander Sanchik has reportedly been appointed acting commander of Russia’s so-called “south” group of forces, one of the large army units involved in Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
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Russian forces captured the village of Kopanky in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s defence ministry as saying.
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Russia confirmed it has detained a British man it captured fighting for Ukraine in Kyiv’s offensive into Russia’s western Kursk region. A court in the region said it had on Monday ordered James Scott Rhys Anderson be remanded in custody, alleging he had “participated in armed hostilities on the territory of the Kursk region”.
Russian drone attack cuts power to much of the western city of Ternopil
There are reports of an overnight Russia drone attack overnight cutting power to much of Ternopil, a major city in western Ukraine.
As well as damaging residential buildings in the Kyiv region, the attack damaged the power grid in Ternopil and cut power to around 70% of the region, governor Vyacheslav Nehoda said. Energy workers are gradually restoring Ternopil’s electricity supply.
Ternopil, about 220 km (134 miles) east of Nato-member Poland, and the surrounding region, had a population of more than a million before the war. “The consequences are bad because the facility was significantly affected and this will have impact on the power supply of the entire region for a long time,” Nehoda said.
We have some more information on reports that Moscow expelled a British diplomat over espionage allegations.
The Tass news agency cited Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as saying that the ministry had summoned the British ambassador.
According to the FSB, Russia’s security service, the British diplomat replaced one of six diplomats expelled in August, also on espionage charges. It said the diplomat appeared to have carried out “intelligence and subversive work” and had “deliberately provided false data when obtaining permission to enter our country, thus violating Russian law,” state news agencies reported.
There was no immediate comment from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office or from the British embassy in Moscow.
It comes after reports of the UK government recently supplying Ukraine with dozens more Storm Shadow cruise missiles, a move Moscow warned could escalate the conflict.
Russia expels British diplomat for espionage – report
Russia has expelled a British diplomat, accusing him of espionage, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s FSB security service as saying earlier today. We are not sure of who the diplomat is yet but will bring you the latest as details come to light.
