© ICEYE
Russia wants America and China to decide Ukraine’s future without Kyiv. Europe must challenge this dangerous return to diplomacy of the strong for the strong
Does Vladimir Putin know exactly how to play Donald Trump? The history of chummy phone calls, high-profile meetings and attempts to bring Russia in from the cold certainly suggests that Moscow’s thuggish ruler has a hold on this American president. If Mr Trump agrees to negotiate Ukraine’s future with Mr Putin and China’s Xi Jinping without Ukraine at the table, he will have handed the Russian leader a victory before talks begin. The message will be that strongmen are ruling the world and determining the fate of weaker nations.
Ukraine has the right to determine its future. That right cannot be waved away by a self-serving Russian proposal, however much it indulges Mr Trump’s belief that world affairs should be settled by powerful men. The scales are falling from European eyes. Trumpian America is raising doubts about whether it will help deter aggression or even honour its Nato commitments. If Washington now rewards Moscow and pressures Ukraine to accept a raw deal, it would be a betrayal. European governments would wonder where America might be in the future when their own security is threatened.
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© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP
© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP
© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP
Ukrainian president accuses Washington of ‘denial of reality’ in ongoing row with Trump over apparent support for Moscow
Ukraine did not receive a warning from the US about an impending Russian missile attack on Sunday evening, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said, reviving concerns that Washington is withholding intelligence in order to bully Kyiv into capitulating to Moscow.
Yuri Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, said on television on Monday morning that Ukraine had not received a warning before a Russian missile barrage hit power plants in Kyiv at about 11pm. Earlier, a Ukrainian government official had told the Guardian the US had not warned the capital about the impending missile strike.
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© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
© Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Curfews to apply to parts of cities including Paris, Nice and Lyon after days of violence on French streets
French PM Lecornu says he has asked prefects to implement “a number of partial curfews” in certain “localised” urban areas to stop further disorder, which he attributes to “the extreme-left” and some criminal elements.
We will no doubt hear more on this from local authorities, as in the example of Marseille (10:32).
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© Photograph: Guillaume Saligot/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Guillaume Saligot/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Guillaume Saligot/AFP/Getty Images
Trump defends decision to waive some sanctions on Russia; Lithuania foils attack on Starlink site; Kyiv hits another oil terminal. What we know on day 1,699
Donald Trump has defended his decision to waive some sanctions on Russia, while once again accusing Volodymyr Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war. “My decision on Russia is a very simple one. I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don’t want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table,” the US president wrote on Truth Social. “Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him … he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” he added. Trump’s remarks come after he signed an executive order on Friday putting on hold a sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy.
Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskyy had thanked the Trump administration for resuming intelligence sharing between the two countries, but maintained the US had intentionally throttled its Starlink satellite internet access to send a “message” to Kyiv, write Andrew Roth and Sam Jones.
Lithuania said Russia was likely behind an attempted arson attack on a company hosting communication hardware for Starlink satellites. Prime minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius made the claim on broadcaster LRT after authorities discovered flammable liquids at the company in question. Sinkevicius said the firm, whose location he did not mention, houses “nine satellite antennas to guarantee the Starlink connection, which of course supports and assists Ukraine”. He added: “It is obvious this is part of the hybrid war being waged by Russia, involving acts of sabotage.”
In September, a satellite station belonging to the network located in central Poland was set ablaze with Warsaw claiming sabotage. In Bulgaria, an investigation is under way amid claims that antennas linked to the Starlink satellite network were set on fire.
Shipping Russian diesel to the US market will take 15 to 20 days once contracts are signed, a senior Russian official said on Sunday, though a date for signing has yet to be announced. Trump announced the controversial agreement with Moscow last week, seen as a way to try to lower fuel prices for American consumers ahead of crucial midterm elections. “Negotiations are currently under way regarding the commercial terms – that is, on finalisation of the contracts,” Russian deputy prime minister for energy Alexander Novak said in an interview with state media. “Once the contracts are signed, the fuel will reach the markets – in this case, the US markets – within 15 to 20 days.”
Ukrainian strikes set an oil export terminal and a depot ablaze in St Petersburg on Sunday as Kyiv launched more than 1,000 drones at Russia in one of its largest aerial attacks of the war. One person was killed and five others were wounded in the attack, which sparked fires at the Petersburg oil terminal and the city’s Ruchi oil depot, officials said. A logistics centre belonging to Russian retailer Ozon and a datacentre operated by Russian tech company VK were also targeted, the companies confirmed. Russia’s defence ministry said Sunday that its forces had destroyed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over 15 Russian regions, the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and the Black Sea.
A Russian air strike killed one person and injured two in Kyiv overnight, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram early on Monday. A medical facility and a non-residential building were damaged in the attack, he said.
A suspected drone exploded over Lithuania after triggering an alert that forced residents in northern and central areas to seek shelter for an hour on Sunday, officials said. Ukraine’s foreign ministry said later it regretted the incident in Lithuania’s airspace, adding that it may have resulted from Russian electronic warfare diverting drones off course. The object flew into Lithuania’s airspace from Poland, Lithuanian defence minister Robertas Kaunas told reporters.
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© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters
© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters
© Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters
Two people killed and at least 17 injured as Russia and Ukraine continue to trade strikes on power infrastructure
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday thanked the Trump administration for resuming intelligence sharing between the two countries, but maintained the US had intentionally throttled its Starlink satellite internet access so that Donald Trump could send a “message” in his ongoing feud with the Ukrainian president.
In an interview on NBC, Zelenskyy said the US had “unblocked” intelligence on impending Russian ballistic missile strikes, which have pounded the country’s energy infrastructure as winter draws in.
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© Photograph: Omar Havana/AP
© Photograph: Omar Havana/AP
© Photograph: Omar Havana/AP
George Graham of Save the Children UK says the government has a clear opportunity to act and ensure that victims of conflict are helped
Amid allegations about advisers dealing with Roman Abramovich’s business affairs (Roman Abramovich aides falsified paperwork to disguise assets and dodge tax, records suggest, 12 October), another issue demands urgent government action – the £2.5bn from the sale of Chelsea FC, which has remained stuck in a Barclays bank account since May 2022.
The money was originally pledged to help victims of the war in Ukraine, no matter where they are in the world. Yet for over four years this huge sum of money has sat in limbo, accruing interest while victims of conflict go without desperately needed support. At a time of global aid cuts, rising food insecurity and growing humanitarian needs, the £2.5bn could make a transformative difference to the children and families we serve around the world.
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© Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
© Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
© Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
Six attacks in 10 days by suspected Russian drones mark dramatic escalation in maritime conflict
The first the crew of the Bulgarian ferry Dioscuria knew of an attack on a cargo ship in their country’s exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea in the early hours of 6 October was a distant explosion 70 miles off the coastal town of Byala.
The Turkish-owned Alfa Watan, heading for the Romanian port of Sulina, had been struck by suspected Russian air and naval drones. Arriving on the scene, Dioscuria found an overturned lifeboat and lifejackets in the water. There was no sign, however, of Alfa Watan’s crew of 10.
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© Photograph: ARSVOM/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: ARSVOM/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: ARSVOM/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian president warns it will embolden Russian leader and intensify war as Moscow hits country’s power plants
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described Donald Trump’s decision to roll back sanctions on Russia as a “reward” for Vladimir Putin and warned it will embolden the Russian leader and intensify the Kremlin’s war, as Moscow launched one of its worst strikes yet on Ukraine’s power plants in an attempt to black out the country’s cities before winter.
The Ukrainian president also said he expected the Trump administration to lift more sanctions against Russia in the future and called for Europe to establish its own negotiations with Moscow as the US has sought better ties and business deals with the Kremlin.
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© Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/AP
© Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/AP
© Photograph: Kateryna Klochko/AP
President signed the legislation championed by late senator Lindsey Graham last month but has waived the restrictions as they were due to come into effect
Donald Trump has put on hold a sweeping new sanctions package targeting the Russian economy, telling Congress the pause on the legislation passed by both chambers was in the national interest.
In an executive order on Friday, the US president said he was waiving many sanctions, restrictions and duties on Russia, in a move that comes as he has been publicly criticising Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including suggesting that Ukraine needs a new leader.
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© Photograph: Eric Lee/Getty Images
© Photograph: Eric Lee/Getty Images
© Photograph: Eric Lee/Getty Images
Ukrainian president says US limiting access was a ‘dangerous and unpleasant surprise’, amid reports the order came from inside White House
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Ukrainian military’s access to the Starlink satellite internet service has not yet been fully restored, as media reports suggested the order to throttle the service had come from within the White House.
Zelenskyy met European leaders on Friday in Brussels, where he asked the EU for another €70bn (£60bn) next year to fund Ukraine’s defence against Russia.
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© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
The old certainties have gone. We will have to spend whatever it takes to protect ourselves in this new and dangerous world
Donald Trump must find it oddly frustrating. He keeps showing the world exactly who he is, and yet the world keeps refusing to believe it. As clearly as he can, he is announcing that he is not the leader of the free world, that he is not even a reliable member of the democratic west, that he is in fact an ally of its enemies – but the west, including Britain, either doesn’t fully get the message or can’t quite bring itself to draw the obvious conclusion.
Trump had another go this week, finding multiple ways to declare that in the war between Russia and Ukraine, he is no mediator or peace broker but a partner of Vladimir Putin. In fairness to him, the US president had loudly issued that declaration within weeks of his return to the White House when, in February 2025, he delivered an on-camera dressing down of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, seeking to humiliate the Ukrainian leader by telling him “you don’t have the cards”, even as JD Vance demanded their visitor show gratitude. That should have made Trump’s position sufficiently plain, but in the past few days he has all but put it up in lights.
Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist
US midterms: Trump, war and America’s future
On Thursday, 5 November join Jonathan Freedland, Devika Bhat, Professor Adam Smith in London and David Smith and leading US commentator Tara Setmayer live from the US to discuss the results and their implications for the future of Trump, the US and global politics.
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© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Kremlin turning to punishment of Ukraine’s population in major cities as frontlines remain frozen
As Russian missiles and drones have systematically slammed into power plants in Kyiv and Kharkiv this week, the rolling blackouts and water outages have increasingly resembled a supposed Russian blueprint to destroy life in major Ukrainian cities seen by the Guardian.
Even as Donald Trump unilaterally declared an “energy ceasefire” last week between Moscow and Kyiv, Russia continued with its methodical and devastating strikes on Ukraine’s power grid, in particular in Kyiv, in a strategy meant to punish Ukraine’s population and drive the country to capitulation.
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© Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
© Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
© Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Ukraine president also says Starlink speeds not fully restored and Kyiv working with France on other options
Several leaders offered Zelenskyy very friendly welcome or, in some cases, simply a big hug as he walked into the room before the formal part of the meeting got under way.
Speaking to Newsmax last night, Donald Trump repeated his views of the two leaders involved in the conflict.
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© Photograph: dts News Agency Germany Michael Kappeler Pool/Shutterstock
© Photograph: dts News Agency Germany Michael Kappeler Pool/Shutterstock
© Photograph: dts News Agency Germany Michael Kappeler Pool/Shutterstock
Russian drones are suspected of sinking a cargo ship and leaving chemical tankers ablaze near the Black Sea coasts of Bulgaria and Romania, respectively. The latest attacks mean that at least seven ships have been attacked in the exclusive economic zones of NATO member countries—and even within Romania's territorial waters if Russian involvement is confirmed in the case of the chemical tankers.
Such attacks have spurred requests for NATO to redeploy counter-drone systems to provide more protection. In a social media post on October 15, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated that NATO had increased "counter-drone capabilities" along the alliance's eastern flank after meeting with the leaders of Bulgaria and Romania.
The latest attacks this week occurred within 24 hours between October 14 and October 15, when the two chemical tankers were set afire after Russian drones were detected in Romanian airspace, according to Deutsche Welle. Both ships were sitting at anchor near the mouth of the Sulina canal that connects the Black Sea to the Danube River, which has become a crucial shipping export route for Ukraine, Reuters reported.
© Hristo Rusev/Getty Images
UK defence secretary says he has been ‘reassured directly’ counterpart Pete Hegseth that Starlink system has been restored as he seeks to cool tensions
Wes Streeting urged the US to stand by Ukraine on his visit to the American capital and sought to cool tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Starlink row that is threatening to set back Kyiv’s war effort.
The British defence secretary, giving a speech before a meeting with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, argued that supporting Ukraine was in the long-term interests of Washington, and a business opportunity.
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© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
© Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Moscow sends swarms of drones to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine as Zelenskyy says Kyiv will restart strikes on Russian oil refineries
The White House’s unilateral effort to negotiate an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine has collapsed as Moscow sent a record swarm of drones overnight to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine and Kyiv appeared to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries – despite warnings from Donald Trump.
Moscow accused Ukraine of launching a strike against a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region, its first since Trump abruptly declared an “energy ceasefire” that neither Russia nor Ukraine said they had agreed to.
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© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
Zelenskyy said he felt ‘betrayed’ by the US after Trump’s diesel deal with Russia and the Starlink restrictions
EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas acknowledged that the EU and the US had “definitely different approach to this war,” as she said Europeans believe “we should squeeze Russia, not Ukraine, to surrender and end this war.”
Responding to the US diesel deal with Russia, she said:
“The majority of Russia’s funding for the war comes from oil revenues. Clearly, Ukraine wants this war to stop, and that’s why … cutting off the funding for the war is the way to do it.
We see that we should squeeze … Russia, not Ukraine, to surrender to end this war.”
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© Photograph: ABACA/Shutterstock
© Photograph: ABACA/Shutterstock
© Photograph: ABACA/Shutterstock
Zelenskyy frames sudden shift as a betrayal by Trump, as spotlight turns on how Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the Pentagon control the crucial service
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused SpaceX of restricting access to its military-grade Starlink service, in effect hobbling Ukrainian drone strike missions and crucial air defences with a flick of the switch.
The development – and its dire consequences for Ukraine – has put the spotlight on Starlink -SpaceX’s commercial satellite internet service – and Starshield, a powerful military version developed by Elon Musk’s company for the Pentagon.
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© Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
© Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
© Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters
Suspected Russian drone attacks sank a cargo ship and forced the evacuation of another vessel within two dozen miles of the coast of Bulgaria in the Black Sea on October 13. The latest attacks mean that five ships have been attacked in the exclusive economic zones of NATO member countries—spurring requests for NATO to redeploy counter-drone systems to provide more protection.
Although there is no hard proof that the drone attacks originated from Russia, one of the ships that came under attack was the Ukrainian-operated coastal freighter Chelsea 3, registered under the flag of Malta. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told the Russian ambassador in Sofia that “it makes no sense for Ukraine to destroy its own ships in the Black Sea, and the results of these strikes favor Russia’s interests,” according to The Associated Press.
All 15 members of the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3 were safely evacuated by Bulgarian rescue operations after the ship was reportedly struck by three aerial drones.
© Hristo Rusev/Getty Images
Ukrainian president accused US president of picking the other side after four years of war
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he feels personally betrayed by Donald Trump after it emerged that Ukraine’s military has had its access to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite squeezed, raising doubts about long-term US support for Kyiv.
The Ukrainian president, on a visit to London, accused Trump of picking the other side after more than four years of war, risking a breakdown in relations already strained by the US agreeing to buy diesel from Moscow.
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© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Pool/AP
© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Pool/AP
© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters Pool/AP
Throttling of mobile internet system will affect Kyiv’s air defences more than its strikes on oil refineries. Now Zelenskyy must be hoping that US intel holds
In Ukraine the situation was already jittery enough. Donald Trump has been inventing ceasefires and buying Russian diesel to shore up his flagging popularity, while a sinister new wave of faster, jet-powered drones are breaking through Kyiv’s stretched air defences. Casualties are rising as the weather turns.
Overnight, Russia bombed three power plants that supply Kyiv, aiming to cut off heating and electricity to the city. According to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for a second night in a row no warning came from Ukraine’s western allies of the incoming ballistic missiles – and so no air raid alert was issued.
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© Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
© Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
© Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
President Zelenskyy’s allies must show the Russian president that American perfidy won’t alter the course of a war the Kremlin is losing
When Donald Trump pledged to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of re-entering the White House last year, no one with any depth of insight into the conflict believed him. But Mr Trump took his own words seriously enough to feel the lack of a ceasefire as an affront to his self-image as a master dealmaker. After a period when it seemed that Kyiv’s European allies had steered the US president away from pro‑Kremlin partisanship, he has reverted to the grotesque view that Ukrainian capitulation is a necessary precondition for peace.
These are the perilous circumstances in which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Andy Burnham on Wednesday in Downing Street. In recent days, the US president has called for a change of government in Ukraine. He claimed that a partial ceasefire had been agreed, while Russia escalated its bombardments. According to Mr Zelenskyy, the latest missile strikes have come without the intelligence warnings from the US that have, in the past, facilitated self-defence. There have been reports of Ukrainian soldiers losing access to the Starlink satellite network, controlled by Elon Musk, the US tech oligarch. This raises suspicion of coordinated pressure to tip the scales in Russia’s favour after many months when Mr Putin’s forces have failed to deliver significant advances and his country’s economy has been suffering from the effect of Ukrainian missile and drone counterstrikes.
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© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
© Photograph: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
© Illustration: Nicola Jennings/The Guardian
© Illustration: Nicola Jennings/The Guardian
© Illustration: Nicola Jennings/The Guardian
The United Kingdom has issued economic sanctions against Cryptomus, a chameleonic cryptocurrency platform that experts say serves as a major conduit for payments related to ransomware, narcotics, darknet markets, fraud and cybercrime services that are helping Russia circumvent existing financial restrictions.
Heleket’s support agent on Telegram claims, despite all evidence to the contrary, that it is not affiliated with Cryptomus. Image: Richard Sanders.
On October 8, the U.K. issued sanctions (PDF) against Cryptomus — previously known as Certa Payments and Xeltox Enterprises — for processing payments that benefit the Russian government and its financial institutions. The sanctions freeze any Cryptomus assets at U.K. banks, and bar British companies from offering it any business, virtual or otherwise. Also targeted in these sanctions were the virtual payment platforms VexPay, TokenSpot, and the Tsunami Payments service.
As explained in our December 2024 investigation, “How Cryptocurrency Turns to Cash in Russian Banks,” Cryptomus has been a key payment processor for dozens of Russian cryptocurrency exchanges and websites hawking cybercrime services. The company has changed its name several times since emerging in 2022, most recently to “Heleket” last year after Canada levied a record CAD $176 million fine against the platform for anti-money laundering violations.
The blockchain data-crunching firm Chainalysis said the U.K. sanctions target the broader infrastructure supporting Russia’s wartime economy.
“Cryptomus and Heleket have emerged as major payment hubs for illicit activity,” Chainalysis wrote in an October 8 blog post. “Together, these services received more illicit funds across tracked categories than the mixers in our dataset and the number of illicit counterparties surged to more than 900 in a single month in late 2025.”
The Cryptomus support bot on Telegram, responding on Oct. 8 to an inquiry by saying the platform was suddenly unable to process transactions.
In April 2026, the blockchain analysis firm TRM Labs found Cryptomus had processed more than $7 billion in transactions since its inception in 2022, including transactions associated with child sexual abuse material vendors, terrorist financing networks, and human trafficking operations.
TRM noted that Cryptomus’s transaction volume cratered after the platform instituted new “know your customer” or KYC rules, and that the cryptocurrency platform responded to the Canadian fines by launching Heleket as a parallel service that continued to offer no-KYC payment processing.
Richard Sanders is a blockchain analyst and investigator who spent months mapping out Cryptomus’s payment infrastructure and transacting with its customers. Sanders said the U.K. sanctions on Cryptomus are important because Canada’s fine against the platform was ultimately unenforceable and uncollectible.
“A fine doesn’t stop a cryptocurrency payment processor from processing payments,” Sanders wrote on LinkedIn. “Sanctions kill the operation. The distinction matters.”
As our 2024 investigation noted, Cryptomus shared a Vancouver address with dozens of other foreign currency dealers and money transfer businesses — none of which appeared to be physically located there. Following the CAD $176 million fine for alleged money laundering violations, Cryptomus appealed the penalty, launched Heleket as a parallel service, and kept on processing large volumes of sketchy transactions, Sanders said.
Sanders said the sanctions also are notable because they are the first known instance of a “Five Eyes” country (referring to the Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.) sanctioning a cryptocurrency operation incorporated in another Five Eyes jurisdiction.
Where do entities like Cryptomus and Heleket derive their authority to offer international financial services? The answer appears to involve fake financial institutions overseen by a phony regulatory body positioned in a country that is not widely recognized as a sovereign nation.
Our 2024 investigation found the sole shareholder of Cryptomus’s parent company Certa Payments was a 25-year-old Ukrainian woman who also headed several other firms, including the WS Management and Advisory Corporation, which bills itself as the regulatory body that exclusively oversees licenses for cryptocurrency, foreign exchange and online gaming businesses incorporated in the disputed region in northwest Africa known as the Western Sahara.
That entity’s website — crasadr.com — says it assists applicants with bank setup and formation, online gaming licenses, and the creation and licensing of foreign exchange brokers. One of Certa Payments’ former sites — certa[.]website — also shared a server with 12 other domains, including rasd-state[.]ws, a website for the Central Reserve Authority of the Western Sahara.
The website crasadr dot com, the official website of the Central Reserve Authority of Western Sahara, which lists the entities awarded licenses for cryptocurrencies, gaming and foreign exchange services.
Outage of terminals managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX comes as Russia launches ballistic missiles at Ukraine without any advance warning from US
Ukraine’s military has suddenly had its access to Starlink satellite internet terminals restricted as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Ukraine to halt long-range strikes on Russia’s oil industry immediately.
The terminals, which are distributed and managed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are a key component of Ukraine’s military operations and the sudden restrictions on the terminals travelling at high speeds on Tuesday evening led to the failure of several combat missions, said an adviser on military technology to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
Prime minister tells PMQs that the Green party motion was ‘wrong’ and says no way Labour would make a deal
PMQs is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
After @genevieve_holl reported this last night, various sources in the Trump administration who are supportive of Farage said Badenoch was needlessly trying to cause a political row (per @katyballs @MrHarryCole) and accused her of undermining the Anglo-American relationship.
It is possible that these people are particularly sensitive about this topic because they are still considering buying the islands, as @connorstringer and I reported earlier in the year. Domestic opposition to the idea of the US running Chagos in the UK would be a problem for the White House.
Calamity Kemi Strikes Again.
Kemi Badenoch has risked causing a diplomatic row with Britain’s allies, all because she cannot control the Tory spin doctors around her that oversaw the disastrous premierships of Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Theresa May, and even David Cameron.
Kemi and the Conservatives cannot be trusted by the Chagos people.
If they really have interest in the Chagos, why would you have started negotiating about things you already own?
We are confused at why @KemiBadenoch is attacking @Nigel_Farage …
We understood Nigel Farage’s comments to mean that we would get perpetual use of the base, which, frankly, we’ve always had.
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© Photograph: Parliament Live
© Photograph: Parliament Live
© Photograph: Parliament Live
Firms turning crude oil into the ‘workhorse’ fuel stand to gain most despite economic fallout from record prices
Days after Donald Trump announced a deal to import Russian diesel into the US in an effort to lower soaring pump prices, the world’s energy watchdog has warned that the global fuel shortage will drag into 2027.
Trump’s temporary sanctions reprieve was criticised for offering “too little, too late” to temper the sky high pump prices triggered by the shutdown of war-damaged refineries in the Middle East and Russia – once the world’s second-largest diesel exporter behind the US.
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© Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
© Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
© Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
With no ‘home’ games in Ukraine, Arda Turan’s side hit the road again, with Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge hosting their Champions League campaign
The morning has thinned out into low, wispy cloud. Beneath it, Shakhtar Donetsk’s players are going through their paces. It is a light session for those who did not start against Veres Rivne the previous day; that means Arda Turan observes from the side, watching with the director of football, Darijo Srna. A stray ball zips towards them and Srna, after juggling it up, bends it into the goal with a familiar right-footed arc. “Modric!” exclaims Turan. But the two men are football legends in their own right and, as they continue to joke before Srna dashes away to take another phone call, the thought occurs that this happy scene could be played out almost anywhere else. Nearby, just beyond the team’s accommodation, a lake shimmers under the emerging sun.
It masks the fact that, around dawn, air raid sirens disrupted the peace for everyone in view. Even here, in Shakhtar’s bucolic spa hotel base 15 minutes outside Lviv, nobody is safe from the threat of Russian rockets and drones. In Rivne, three hours’ drive to the north-east, another alarm had sent the players and staff down to the stadium’s shelter. The second half was delayed by 20 minutes and that, no matter the corner of the country or the vividness of the autumn colours, is a weekly reality.
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© Photograph: Courtesy of Shakhtar Donetsk
© Photograph: Courtesy of Shakhtar Donetsk
© Photograph: Courtesy of Shakhtar Donetsk
Special forces officer Serhii Kuznetsov denies involvement in the 2022 blasts that left pipelines badly damaged
A Ukrainian soldier led a team of divers that, acting on the order of state authorities, laid explosives on the bed of the Baltic Sea to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, a court has heard.
On the opening day of his trial in the German city of Hamburg, Serhii Kuznetsov, who was a special forces officer with the Ukrainian military at the time of the pipeline attacks in 2022, was accused by prosecutors of being an accomplice to war crimes by attacking civilian infrastructure, causing an explosion, damaging property and disrupting public services.
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© Photograph: Markus Scholz/Reuters
© Photograph: Markus Scholz/Reuters
© Photograph: Markus Scholz/Reuters
Faced with deadlier threats, demining groups are coming up with new ways of working using drones and AI
Crouched over on her hands and knees in a field of weeds, Olena Kabanova is digging into the ground. With a shovel and a steady hand, the 58-year-old digs out a neat square around the spot where a mine detector has sensed a suspicious object.
Four years ago, this field in eastern Ukraine was occupied by Russian soldiers. Now back under Ukrainian control, it is littered with landmines. Civilians such as Kabanova are trying to make the land usable again.
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© Photograph: Julia Kochetova/The Guardian
© Photograph: Julia Kochetova/The Guardian
© Photograph: Julia Kochetova/The Guardian
Prime minister reiterates UK backing after the Ukrainian president’s latest round of difficulties with Donald Trump
Andy Burnham will host Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Wednesday as the UK seeks to further underline its support for the Ukrainian president, in contrast to his difficulties with Donald Trump.
The UK prime minister said his message to Zelenskyy and his country would be: “We are with you for as long as it takes.”
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© Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images
© Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images
© Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images
Ukrainian president’s comments on ‘particularly vile’ strikes come after US threatened to halt intelligence sharing
Ukraine received no early warning from its partners about a second night of Russian ballistic missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Kyiv, including a critical power plant struck after dark, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian president had earlier described an attack involving five missiles on Monday as “particularly vile”. He emphasised that receiving intelligence from Ukraine’s western allies “helps saves lives, and this is one of the most critical issues”.
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© Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
© Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
© Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
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© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
© Illustration: Ben Jennings/The Guardian
Russian meddling probably didn’t affect the referendum result – but the Kremlin’s motives for wanting to undermine the EU still matter
Russian territorial aggression against Ukraine didn’t feature much in the Brexit referendum campaign. It made headlines briefly when Boris Johnson blamed Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea on the European Union.
According to the Vote Leave frontman, Vladimir Putin’s land grab was a consequence of Brussels making foreign policy “on the hoof” and having “pretensions to running a defence policy”.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
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© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/Reuters/EPA
© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/Reuters/EPA
© Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images/Reuters/EPA
While some viral online graphs suggest less bot activity, Zelenskyy’s claims of improved social media discourse do not entirely pass muster
Over the weekend, Ukraine carried out at least three airstrikes on datacentres belonging to the Russian search engine company Yandex. Reports suggest at least two of these datacentres took significant damage, with Telegram footage appearing to show one on fire. Yandex acknowledged the strikes, and Russian media reported that several websites appeared affected by the downed datacentres.
On Monday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested the strikes had dampened Russia’s massive disinformation operation, saying: “It suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms. There was less hate, less division and fewer provocations.”
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© Photograph: Attila Husejnow/AP
© Photograph: Attila Husejnow/AP
© Photograph: Attila Husejnow/AP
Ukraine’s president says his country has halted strikes on Russian oil refineries for two days after Trump’s energy ceasefire announcement
On frozen Russian assets, Poland’s Sikorski says the use of frozen Russian assets is “a complicated issue,” but takes a very clear stance in response to any suggestion of releasing them back to Russia.
“We are working on it, but there is also some rumours that some people are expecting these assets to be released back to Russia.
I don’t think I’m speaking just for myself in saying: over our dead bodies.”
“Russia right now is not ready for ceasefire, but still, this only can encourage us to stay with Ukraine and to, strengthen, the pressure on Russia and always be ready for conversations, but and also especially for, for ceasefire negotiations.
But, until this doesn’t happen, we are with Ukraine. We are with the president the German government is is backing the Ukrainian government and the president, completely. He is the person to lead Ukraine, and we are with him.”
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© Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA
© Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA
© Photograph: Sergey Kozlov/EPA
Donald Trump’s deal to buy Russian diesel has been met with fury from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said it was ‘a weak decision’ and would generate ‘billions’ in extra revenue for Putin’s war effort. The Ukrainian president has also rejected US calls for an ‘energy ceasefire’, which would require Kyiv to stop striking oil refineries, saying Moscow must first end its attacks on energy infrastructure. Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, Luke Harding – watch on YouTube
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© Photograph: Image credits: AP Photo/Dan Bashakov AP Photo/Alex Brandon Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
© Photograph: Image credits: AP Photo/Dan Bashakov AP Photo/Alex Brandon Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
© Photograph: Image credits: AP Photo/Dan Bashakov AP Photo/Alex Brandon Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Ukrainian leader says he was surprised by Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ announcement, posted as Russian drones hit Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rally around Kyiv amid a feud with Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries.
Speaking to a gathering of European security officials in Warsaw on Monday, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would retaliate if strikes on its power grid continued: “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, we will respond.”
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© Photograph: Andrii Marienko/AP
© Photograph: Andrii Marienko/AP
© Photograph: Andrii Marienko/AP
When Russia began attacking Ukrainian data centers and telecommunication infrastructure, it apparently failed to prepare for possible retaliation. Now Russia’s digital services are facing widespread outages after Ukrainian drone strikes knocked out three of the largest data centers owned by Russian tech giant Yandex within several days.
Pro-Kremlin bloggers are warning that Russia’s centralized digital economy could collapse because the country is not prepared for the “data center war” it started, according to posts translated by the pseudonymous independent researcher ChrisO_wiki. The Russian commentators also suggested that Ukraine’s decentralized digital services could prove more resilient than Russia’s system if the countries continue trading such blows.
Russia initially launched a drone strike campaign targeting Ukrainian data centers and mobile phone networks in late September. The attacks temporarily disrupted Internet and cell phone service for up to 100,000 households in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and came as part of a broader long-range strike campaign that has involved Russian missiles and jet-powered drones hitting Ukraine’s power grid infrastructure, transportation hubs, and even residential apartment building blocks.
© Igor IVANKO / AFP via Getty Images
Energy minister says ‘fear has no place in the Saudi lexicon’ as paramilitary group again breaches stretched defences
Saudi Arabia has been forced to suspend all flights to and from its main international airport in Riyadh until next Saturday after a further round of Houthi missile attacks caused more damage and left one person dead. Some airlines, including Gulf Air and Bahrain Air, had already said they were cancelling flights until next Saturday. More missiles were fired at Saudi Arabian cities by the Houthis on Monday, Saudi Arabian’s military spokesperson said.
The Gulf nation announced it was suspending flights from Riyadh, its second busiest airport, after Houthi missiles killed 13 people on Saturday and left more than 300 injured. Saudi state TV broadcast CCTV footage that showed passengers deluged in smoke and falling masonry as they queued at the airport terminal to board a plane just as the Houthi missile struck.
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© Photograph: Saudi Media Ministry/AP
© Photograph: Saudi Media Ministry/AP
© Photograph: Saudi Media Ministry/AP
Zelenskyy had proposed a 60-day total ceasefire to allow Ukraine to hold presidential elections
Addressing the conference virtually, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Trump’s “sudden but very important” energy ceasefire declaration over the weekend.
He said it is clear that Putin “does not read Truth social”, the site that the US president posted his ceasefire declaration on.
Russia wants to ruin the existing security architecture in Europe to make sure that Russian domination comes back to where it was before 1989. We have no doubt about it.
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© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
© Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters
The prime minister tells MPs the next summit with the EU will be held on 20 November
Burnham to urge MPs to embrace closer ties with EU
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, is speaking now. He started his speech with an account of a 73-year-old woman dying in North Wales after having to wait 23 hours for an ambulance, and he sought to link this to immigration.
He said:
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that 15,000 people across Britain died last year due to excess wait times for emergency treatment. That’s 300 people a week, 300 lives destroyed, 300 families devastated.
And that number has increased tenfold over the last decade. This is a moral outrage, and it is a direct result of decisions made by Tory and Labour governments.
I don’t think that’s because he wants to have a fight over the European Union. I think that’s because he knows what we’re talking about today impacts hard in what is known as the red wall.
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© Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images
Russia’s latest weapons have left Ukraine’s civilian air defence teams frantically trying to adapt as winter approaches
Several hours into Kyiv’s nightly curfew, much of the capital lay dark and quiet. High above, on the roof of a grey tower block on the city’s outskirts, a small group of men in uniform stood beside two heavy machine guns, scanning the horizon. Soon, a drone appeared.
Once, its unmistakable buzz would have sent the men scrambling towards their weapons. Now, the air defence unit will check speed and altitude on a monitor before taking a decision.
The Mriya air defence crew on a rooftop in Kyiv.
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© Photograph: Julia Kochetova
© Photograph: Julia Kochetova
© Photograph: Julia Kochetova
Ukrainian president earlier rejected US call for Kyiv to stop bombing oil refineries, saying Moscow must first end attacks on energy infrastructure
Donald Trump has announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, apparently without consulting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the deal to stop long-range attacks was “news to me”.
In a social media post, the US president claimed the two sides had reached an agreement. “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” he wrote on Truth Social.
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© Photograph: Volodymyr Pavlov/Reuters
© Photograph: Volodymyr Pavlov/Reuters
© Photograph: Volodymyr Pavlov/Reuters
A fuel deal with Vladimir Putin, and sanctions against the legal institution, ram home the president’s belief that might is right
On Friday, Donald Trump drove home his belief that might is right and the rule of law is an obstacle rather than an essential foundation stone of international order. First came the escalated assault on the international criminal court (ICC), sanctioning the body itself. Then he announced a deal with Russia to buy diesel.
The US has long chafed at the notion of being bound by the rule of law that it espoused publicly. That hypocrisy now appears as a lesser vice. The president has declared that “my own morality” is all that constrains him. His brazen flouting of the law, embrace of dictators and rhetorical attacks all undermine global standards.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
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© Photograph: Daryna Naumova/EPA
© Photograph: Daryna Naumova/EPA
© Photograph: Daryna Naumova/EPA
Ukraine’s president reportedly says Kyiv would accept a deal if Moscow does after US president posts announcement with no detail on social media
A senior Ukrainian official has also reportedly told the FT that Ukraine had no information about Trump’s proclaimed ceasefire deal.
The official was quoted as saying: “Just now our repair teams are restoring electricity and water supplies in Kyiv” following Russian strikes. “Nobody has heard [of the ceasefire].”
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© Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/AFP/Getty Images
© Illustration: Pete Songi/The Guardian
© Illustration: Pete Songi/The Guardian
© Illustration: Pete Songi/The Guardian
US president suggests Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not done enough to end war
Donald Trump has said Ukraine needs “a new leader”, a day after making a deal with Vladimir Putin to buy large quantities of Russian diesel.
The US president suggested Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war with Russia and blamed him for high diesel prices in the US.
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© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
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