Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces hit civilian targets as ‘Russia losing control of Black Sea’

Russian drones hit civilian targets and triggered a fire near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, officials have said.

The attacks came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Moscow was losing control of the Black Sea.

Russia launched overnight drone attacks today in Kharkiv, with multiple explosions heard, hitting a civilian site, said Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov.

Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said the fire was being brought under control but did not confirm whether there were any casualties.

In his address, Mr Zelensky said: “Russia is gradually losing control of the Black Sea and retreating to the eastern part of the waters.

“I am confident that Ukraine will definitely win. Be confident in yourselves,” he said.

Vladimir Putin’s troops bombarded 118 Ukrainian towns and villages over the course of 24 hours on Thursday, the most intense day of shelling this year, Kyiv said.

Ukraine is trying to build up a new shipping lane without Russian approval to revive its vital seaborne exports. But Russia said it would consider any vessel a potential military target after it quit a UN-brokered deal allowing Ukrainian goods to pass through.

Key Points

• Russian forces hit civilian targets near Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials say

• Ukraine suffers most intense bombardment of shelling in a single day this year

• Russia ‘regrouping for new attacks at Avdiivka’

• Russia attacks oil refinery, Kyiv says

• Ukraine ‘successfully’ hits Russia’s air defence system in Crimea

Ukrainian soldiers seen only 700m from Russian troops in Avdiivka

15:43 , Tom Watling

Ukrainian soldiers have been geolocated to positions just 700 metres from their Russian counterparts in the eastern city of Avdiivka, footage has shown.

The Ukrainians were seen in the city’s coke plant a day after the local mayor claimed Russia was focusing their efforts on taking that plant.

Mayor Vitaliy Barabash, speaking on national television, said audio transmission intercepts had revealed that Moscow was now seeking to secure the town’s giant coking plant.

“They have a new aim and that’s the coking plant. They have to take it. Period,” Mr Barabash said.

“We understand that a (new) third wave of attacks is bound to start any day once the ground dries out and they can move forward. They are engaged in a build-up. We see and hear that.”

Avdiivka has become the latest flashpoint along the frontline over the past month. Ukraine’s General Staff, in a Friday evening report, said its forces had repelled 17 attacks on and around the city.

Ukrainian is ‘not in a stalemate’, says Zelensky

15:21 , Tom Watling

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that the situation on the frontline has become a stalemate despite relatively minimal gains during Kyiv’s counteroffensive.

He made these comments while speaking alongside the president of the European Commision, Ursula von der Leyen.

“Remember, on the 24th, everyone told us how much we had left. And not all leaders communicated with us... We were in a more difficult situation than Ukraine has been in since the beginning of independence,” he said.

“But we believed very much and fought and won. Today, time has passed and people are getting tired.

“There are different opinions. All people, regardless of their status. But this is not a stalemate. I emphasise this once again.”

President Zelensky welcomes Chair of the EU commission

15:20 , Maira Butt

President Zelensky welcomed Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv as Ukraine proceeded on its path to opening EU accession talks.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, the Ukraine President said:

“Even in the midst of a total war, Ukraine is committed to reform. We clearly understand that every country’s EU membership is a recognition of its institutional progress.

This is why Ukraine is not asking for discounts on its path to the EU and is fulfilling all the recommendations issued by the European Commission for opening accession talks. We have made progress in the rule of law, the protection of human rights and freedom for national communities, the increased transparency of state institutions, and the strengthening of the anti-corruption system.

And Ukraine is not stopping on its transformation path. Reforms will continue. We have prepared legislation that will provide the anti-corruption system with more opportunities to work effectively. A draft law on Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecution has already been registered in the parliament. We are also working on a lobbying law that will increase openness in political processes and protect the state from the damaging influence of oligarchs and other persons who seek to circumvent the rule of law.

We are also continuing to work on building digital public services and digitalizing the functioning of state institutions; this is the way to maximum transparency and efficacy for the state. Ukraine will be fully prepared both for the start of EU accession talks and, later, full-fledged EU membership.”

UAE adviser says US stronger after Ukraine

15:00 , Maira Butt

UAE presidential adviser, Anwar Gargash has said that the United States is “coming out stronger” after the war in Ukraine.

He also reported that his discussions with Iran had led him to know that “Iran is interested in regional prosperity”.

ICYMI: Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

14:40 , Matt Mathers

The timing could not be worse. Just as Ukraine is fighting to repel one of the fiercest Russian onslaughts since the war began, so fears emerge that US support to Kyiv could be severely undermined by Republicans loyal to the former president, says Askold Krushelnycky.

Read Askold’s full piece here:

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

Ukraine minister says he wants to turn his country into a weapons production hub for the West

14:07 , Matt Mathers

Ukraine’s newly appointed head of defense industry says he is working tirelessly to ramp up local arms production and wants to turn the country into a weapons production hub for the West.

Oleksandr Kamysyhin, the minister for strategic industries of Ukraine, said that Russia’s invasion of his country and the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Middle East have highlighted the need for countries to spend on their defense systems.

Full report:

Ukraine minister says he wants to turn his country into a weapons production hub for the West

Western officials discuss with Kyiv issue of possible peace talks with Moscow - NBC

13:29 , Matt Mathers

US and European officials have spoken to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, NBC quoted an unidentified senior US official and one former US official as saying.

The war in Ukraine, now in its 21st month, has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands and destroyed swathes of the country. It has also triggered the deepest crisis in Moscow’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

NBC said the conversations had included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal with Russia.

Zelensky says Ukraine to press on with reforms, including anti-corruption

12:47 , Matt Mathers

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine was committed to pressing on with reforms, including strengthening anti-corruption practices.

He spoke at a joint news conference with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv.

The EU next week is expected to present a report on Ukraine’s progress in its bid to join the bloc.

At least 14 wounded in Russian attacks across Ukraine

11:48 , Matt Mathers

Russian attacks in Ukraine wounded at least 14 civilians over the past day, officials said Saturday, as the president of the European Commission returned to the Ukrainian capital to meet with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yurii Malashko, said nine people were injured in a Russian rocket strike on the village of Zarichne. Overall, 26 cities and settlements in the region came under attack over the past day, he said.

In the Kherson region, five people were injured, said governorOleksandr Prokudin. He said attacks in the region came from artillery, mortars, drones, warplanes and tanks.

Nikopol, a city of the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, came under fire but no injuries were immediately reported, according to Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhii Lysak.

Von der Leyen: EU will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes

10:36 , Matt Mathers

The EU will stand by Ukraine for as “long as it takes,” Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said.

Ms von der Leyen made the comment while on her sixth wartime visit to Kyiv, where she was due to hold talks with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

The pair were expected to discuss progress on Ukraine joining the bloc.

“I’m here to discuss Ukraine’s accession path to the EU. The EU’s financial support to rebuild Ukraine as a modern, prosperous democracy, ” she wrote on X.

“Of course the enlargement topic will be at the top of the agenda but also our financial and military support,” she later told reporters.

“The most important message is reassuring that we stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

‘Large-scale’ Russian assault on Donas town ‘flounders’ - MoD

10:25 , Matt Mathers

A large-scale Russian assault on a town in the Donbas region has “floundered” after coming up against “strong” Ukrainian defence, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.

The MoD said the Kremlin has lost around 200 armoured vehicles during its attacks on Avdiika over the past three weeks.

“In the south, the Ukrainian advance remains relatively static between the two main lines of Russia’s well prepared defensive positions,” the MoD said in a statement.

“Around the Donbas town of Avdiivka, a large-scale Russian assault has floundered on strong Ukrainian defences.”

EU’s von der Leyen visits Kyiv ahead of report on accession progress

08:21 , Matt Mathers

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Saturday ahead of a report the European Union is expected to present next week about Ukraine’s progress in its membership bid, a Ukrainian lawmaker said.

Parliamentary deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on his Telegram channel that von der Leyen was expected to speak in the Ukrainian parliament.

The EU assessment due on Wednesday is expected to detail how far Ukraine has advanced in fulfilling various economic, legal, and other criteria to clear the way for accession talks to be launched in December.

Ukraine, which applied to join the European Union days after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, sees joining the trade bloc as a top priority.

The EU’s 27 members are due at a summit in December to decide whether to allow Kyiv to begin accession negotiations, a move requiring the unanimous backing of all the bloc’s members.

Home-made weapons to reach front line more quickly, says Kyiv

07:00 , Lydia Patrick

Ukraine’s defence ministry says it will relax testing processes for home-produced weapons, allowing them to reach the front faster, the Kyiv Independent reports.

Requirements such as a six-month minimum climatisation test are unnecessary in times of war, the ministry said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is prioritising domestic arms manufacturing, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says more than 200 Ukrainian companies have begun developing drones.

ICYMI - Italian PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters posing as diplomats of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war

06:00 , Lydia Patrick

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told Russian pranksters posing as African diplomats that there is “a lot of fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.

In a 13-minute recording released by pranksters “Vova and Lexus”, Ms Meloni claimed that Kyiv’s counteroffensive “didn’t change the destiny of the conflict” and that the time is approaching when Europe will “need a way out”.

The Italian PM believed she was speaking to senior African Union officials in the call on 18 September, a day before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but her office later admitted that she “had been deceived”.

They also confirmed the authenticity of the audio published by Vova and Lexus, whose real names are Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, on Wednesday.

Italy PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war

More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials

05:00 , Lydia Patrick

At least 930 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Kyiv’s officials claimed.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its battlefield update on Thursday morning also claimed Vladimir Putin has lost approximately 302,420 military personnel since the invasion began on 24 February last year.

The Independent has not been able to verify claims of the battlefield casualties.

Kyiv claimed that in addition to the casualties, 43 armoured vehicles, 42 artillery systems, 18 of Russia’s tanks and one aircraft had also been damaged in the same period.

More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials

Pictured - The Ukraine - Russia war today

04:00 , Lydia Patrick

ICYMI - North Korea likely sent more than million artillery shells to Russia, says South Korea’s spy agency

03:00 , Lydia Patrick

North Korea has shipped more than a million artillery shells to Russia since August to aid Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, according to a lawmaker in South Korea.

The artillery shells were sent to Russia through ships and other transport means since early August, said lawmaker Yoo Sang-bum, citing an intelligence briefing.

The short-range arms will last for about two months, he said.

The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), which held the briefing, also believes the Kim Jong-un regime is operating its munitions factories at full capacity to meet Moscow’s arms demands.

The hermit kingdom is also mobilising its citizens to increase production, the South Korean lawmaker said.

North Korea may have sent more than a million artillery shells to Russia

ICYMI- Ukraine says more than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines since beginning of Russian invasion

02:00 , Lydia Patrick

Extensive mines and explosives in Ukraine have killed more than 260 civilians and injured another 571 during Russia’s 20-month-old invasion, Kyiv’s military officials have said.

Around 174,000sq km of Ukraine, making up about a third of its territory, has been potentially strewn with mines or dangerous war detritus, estimates from Kyiv officials showed.

The 571 injuries have occurred in more than 560 incidents that involve mines or explosive objects left behind in the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops, the country’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said on its official Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Almost a quarter of these incidents have happened in fields, the military official said.

Ukraine says more than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines and explosives

Italy PM's diplomatic adviser resigns over prank call fiasco

01:00 , Lydia Patrick

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday that her chief diplomatic adviser had resigned, carrying the can for a prank call fiasco that led to the release of unfiltered remarks on Ukraine and migration.

“This matter was not handled well, we are all sorry, Ambassador (Francesco) Talo took responsibility for it,” Meloni said, announcing that her aide had quit.

Talo, a 65-year-old career diplomat who previously served as Italian ambassador to NATO and Israel and as envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was due to retire by the end of the year.

Meloni’s office confirmed on Wednesday that she had a phone conversation with a Russian comedian who successfully posed as a high-ranking African Union official.

During the English-language call which took place in September but was released online only this week, Meloni spoke of international “fatigue” with the war in Ukraine and complained that Italy had little support from European partners in dealing with migration.

On Friday, she said she had “a doubt” about her interlocutor but “no certainty” that he was an impostor, and blamed her diplomatic staff for not properly screening the caller.

Belarus summons Polish charge d'affaires over airspace violation

00:00 , Lydia Patrick

The Belarus foreign ministry has summoned the Polish charge d’affaires Marcin Wojciechowski over a violation of its airspace on Nov. 2, it said in a statement on social media platform X, without providing details of the incident.

“The Polish side was asked to thoroughly investigate the incident and take effective actions to prevent similar incidents in the future,” it said.

A spokesperson for the Polish army’s operational command said the information provided by Belarus was being subjected to “detailed analysis”.

“We are checking records from our radar systems and aircraft systems to see if any such violation had occurred, the spokesperson said.

In late September Belarus also summoned Wojciechowski after saying a Polish helicopter had violated its airspace but Warsaw said none of its helicopters had crossed the border between the two countries.

Tense relations between the neighbours have been further strained by Belarusian ally Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

US unveils $425 mln in arms for Kyiv, including anti-drone rockets

Friday 3 November 2023 23:00 , Lydia Patrick

The United States will provide $425 million worth of additional arms and equipment to Ukraine for its ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion, the Biden administration announced on Friday.

The package uses the last of the funds in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a more than $18 billion fund that allowed the Biden administration to buy weapons from industry, rather than pull from U.S. weapons stocks.

The USAI funds will be put toward $300 million worth of laser-guided munitions to shoot down Russian drones, which will include some for the Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE) kit made by L3Harris Technologies , a U.S. official and a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The administration also announced $125 million worth of weapons pledges made possible by utilizing the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes President Joe Biden to transfer excess articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency.

Moldova bars pro-Russian party from taking part in local elections

Friday 3 November 2023 22:00 , Lydia Patrick

Authorities in Moldova on Friday barred a pro-Russian party from taking part in local elections on the grounds it endangers national security -- two days before the vote viewed as a litmus test of President Maia Sandu’s campaign to join the European Union.

Prime Minister Dorin Recean announced the bar on candidates from the Chance Party linked to fugitive business magnate Ilan Shor - jailed in absentia earlier this year on fraud charges.

The ban was imposed hours after Moldova’s national security service accused Shor of helping funnel 1 billion lei (50 million euros) into the country to stage anti-government protests during the war in Ukraine and to “buy” voters in Sunday’s elections.

Recean told a briefing that Moldova’s Commission for Emergency Situations introduced the bar “for reasons of state security” because of a “hybrid war” waged against Moldova by Russia, which the Moldovan government says is funding and backing Shor.

“Russia cannot invade Moldova with tanks like in Ukraine, instead it invades using criminal groups,” he said.

Alexei Lungu, Chance’s leader and one of the candidates sidelined by the ban, said the party was instructing voters to back alternative independent candidates still permitted to run.

“Nothing dreadful has happened. They are just afraid of us,” Lungu wrote on Telegram. “What Dorin Recean said today amounts to nothing other than the murder of our people.”

Some 600 candidates in Sunday’s election are set to be affected by the ban. Voters in Moldova, a former Soviet Union country that lies between Ukraine and Romania, will elect 12,000 officials, including the mayor of capital Chisinau.

ICYMI - Beloved Russian singer who criticized Ukraine war returns home. The church calls for her apology

Friday 3 November 2023 20:59 , Lydia Patrick

The Russian Orthodox Church on Friday called for an apology from Alla Pugacheva, the country’s most renowned pop singer who returned home this week, over her criticism of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Pugacheva, for decades hugely popular in Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union, left the country for Israel along with her husband several weeks after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

In September of that year, she sparked widespread attention by both supporters and opponents of the conflict by saying that Russian soldiers were dying for “illusory goals” and that the country had become “a pariah.”

She also provocatively suggested that authorities should name her a “foreign agent” — a status already applied to her husband Maxim Galkin, an actor and comedian.

Beloved Russian singer who criticized Ukraine war returns home. The church calls for her apology

US sent to give Kyiv more weapons

Friday 3 November 2023 18:50 , Jane Dalton

The United States will provide additional arms and equipment to Ukraine for its ongoing fight against Russia’s invasion, US Secretary of Staten Antony Blinken has said.

The announced $125m worth of weapons, authorised under previously allowed “drawdowns” for Ukraine, comes amid other expected defence aid for Kyiv that could include about $300m worth of laser-guided munitions to shoot down Russian drones, according to a document seen by Reuters and a US official.

That batch of weapons could be announced later.

Photos of bloodied Gaza children make you weep, says Putin

Friday 3 November 2023 17:59 , Jane Dalton

Any “normal person” would be outraged by images of “bloodied children” in the Gaza Strip, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

Mr Putin was commenting on a riot at Makhachkala airport in Russia’s Muslim-majority Dagestan region, when hundreds of people stormed the airport in search of Jewish people who had arrived on a flight from Tel-Aviv.

“As for these events in Makhachkala...it was easy to throw a spark, very easy. Against the background of the horrors taking place there (in Gaza), it is easy to do so, because...when you look at the suffering and bloodied children, you clench your fists and tears come to your eyes.”

Seven people killed by Ukrainian attack, Russian Kherson senator says

Friday 3 November 2023 17:17 , Jane Dalton

Seven people were killed and another seven wounded in an Ukrainian missile attack in the Russian-controlled part of Kherson region, the Russian senator for Kherson region Konstantin Basyuk wrote on his Telegram channel.

The Kherson region is a key gateway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and is now home to a lot of Moscow’s war logistics operations and rear supply depots.

Ukrainian forces recaptured the city of Kherson last November.

Home-made weapons to reach front line more quickly, says Kyiv

Friday 3 November 2023 16:45 , Jane Dalton

Ukraine’s defence ministry says it will relax testing processes for home-produced weapons, allowing them to reach the front faster, the Kyiv Independent reports.

Requirements such as a six-month minimum climatisation test are unnecessary in times of war, the ministry said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is prioritising domestic arms manufacturing, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says more than 200 Ukrainian companies have begun developing drones.

Western weapons sold to Taliban, Putin claims

Friday 3 November 2023 16:11 , Jane Dalton

Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed Western weapons supplied to Ukraine are finding their way to the Middle East through the illegal arms market and being sold to the Taliban.

“Now they say: weapons are getting into the Middle East from Ukraine. Well of course they are because they are being sold,” Mr Putin said. “And they are being sold to the Taliban and from there they go onto wherever.”

Ukraine says it keeps tight control over any weapons supplied to it, but some Western security officials have raised concerns and the United States has asked Ukraine to do more to tackle the broader issue of corruption.

In June last year, the head of Interpol, Jürgen Stock, warned that some of the advanced weapons sent to Ukraine would end up in the hands of organised crime groups.

A report about the Ukraine war and the illegal arms trade by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said in March that there was “currently no substantial outflow of weapons from the conflict zone.

“However, every precedent suggests that, especially if the threat is not addressed proactively and imaginatively, when the current war ends, Ukraine’s battlefields could and will become the new arsenal of anarchy, arming everyone from insurgents in Africa to gangsters in the streets of Europe,” the report said.

Russian tanks seen being blown up in Ukraine

Friday 3 November 2023 15:06 , Jane Dalton

Video clips from Ukraine’s defence ministry apparently show a column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles being destroyed.

Recap: What would happen if Putin died?

Friday 3 November 2023 14:35 , Jane Dalton

Vladimir Putin’s term as Russian president is set to expire next year, but under sweeping changes to the constitution introduced in 2020, he could rule Russia until 2036. Speculation about his health is constant, so here’s a look at who could succeed him if he died:

If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia

Lack of dentists leaves inmates toothless, says Russian opposition leader

Friday 3 November 2023 14:05 , Jane Dalton

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s jailed opposition leader, has revealed how he and fellow prisoners suffer from a dire lack of dental care.

On the rare occasions when a dentist visits, they pull teeth out because they do not have the equipment needed to treat people, he said.

“What unites prisoners is the fact that the majority of them have no teeth,” Mr Navalny wrote on social media.

“Poor nutrition, a lack of solid food, lots of sweet stuff (the most affordable food), a lot of strong tea, smoking, and a complete absence of dental care do for them.”

He said Russian prisoners brushed their teeth “like crazy” but that prisoners waited months to see a dentist.

“When the dentist eventually arrives, he or she simply pulls a tooth because there is no necessary equipment,” Mr Navalny said.

He said the prison had brought in an expert who said that while “air flow” hygiene was popular, teeth could be cleaned perfectly well with iron hooks.

Branded a dangerous extremist by authorities, Mr Navalny, 47, is serving jail terms that will keep him in prison until he is in his mid-70s.

He says his fraud and extremism-related convictions are trumped up to stop him from mounting a political challenge.

Orthodox Church calls for apology from pop star over attack on war

Friday 3 November 2023 13:31 , Jane Dalton

The Russian Orthodox Church is calling for an apology from Alla Pugacheva, the country’s most renowned pop singer who returned home this week, over her criticism of Russia’s war on Ukraine:

Beloved Russian singer who criticized Ukraine war returns home. The church calls for her apology

Putin says some Western weapons for Ukraine are ending up in the Taliban's hands

Friday 3 November 2023 12:53 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that some Western weapons supplied to Ukraine were finding their way to the Middle East and falling into the hands of the Taliban.

Ukraine says it keeps tight control over any weapons supplied to it.

Zelensky considering ‘pros and cons’ of holding presidential elections in the spring

Friday 3 November 2023 12:13 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is considering the “pros and cons” of holding presidential elections next spring, his foreign minister said on Friday.

“We are not closing this page. The president of Ukraine is considering and weighing the different pros and cons,” Dmytro Kuleba told a briefing, adding that holding elections during the war with Russia would entail “unprecedented” challenges.

Ukraine braces for infrastructure attacks

Friday 3 November 2023 11:42 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia has unleashed a wave of night-time drone and missile attacks across 10 of Ukraine‘s 24 regions, Ukrainian authorities said as they prepare for another winter of infrastructure bombardment by the Kremlin’s forces.

Ukraine‘s air force said it intercepted 24 of 38 Shahed drones and one Kh-59 cruise missile launched by Russia.

The attacks caused fires in homes and public buildings, especially in the southern region of Kherson which Moscow has increasingly targeted in recent weeks, emergency services said.

Authorities reported that two people were injured.

“We understand that as winter approaches, Russian terrorists will attempt to cause more harm,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram after the attacks, employing his usual choice of words for the enemy’s forces.

Last winter, Russia took aim at Ukraine‘s power grid in an effort to deny civilians light and heating and chip away at the country’s appetite for war. Ukrainian officials accused the Kremlin of weaponising winter.

Kremlin, commenting on new U.S. sanctions, says Russia has adapted to such restrictions

Friday 3 November 2023 11:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia had learnt to adapt to Western sanctions imposed on it over Ukraine but that such measures did cause extra problems.

It was commenting after the United States on Thursday imposed sweeping new measures.

“We have learnt to overcome them,” Peskov said, referring to Western sanctions.

More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials

Friday 3 November 2023 10:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

At least 930 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Kyiv’s officials claimed.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its battlefield update on Thursday morning also claimed Vladimir Putin has lost approximately 302,420 military personnel since the invasion began on 24 February last year.

The Independent has not been able to verify claims of the battlefield casualties.

More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials

Italian PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters posing as diplomats of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war

Friday 3 November 2023 09:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni told Russian pranksters posing as African diplomats that there is “a lot of fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.

In a 13-minute recording released by pranksters “Vova and Lexus”, Ms Meloni claimed that Kyiv’s counteroffensive “didn’t change the destiny of the conflict” and that the time is approaching when Europe will “need a way out”.

The Italian PM believed she was speaking to senior African Union officials in the call on 18 September, a day before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, but her office later admitted that she “had been deceived”.

Italy PM Giorgia Meloni tells pranksters of ‘fatigue’ on all sides over Ukraine war

Russia dismisses new U.S. sanctions: 'You will never defeat Moscow'

Friday 3 November 2023 09:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia on Friday dismissed new U.S. sanctions over the war in Ukraine, saying that the United States would never defeat Moscow, while the boss of Russia‘s fastest growing natural gas company quipped the sanctions were a badge of success.

The United States on Thursday targeted Russia‘s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops and equipment, among others, in sanctions on hundreds of people and entities.

“This is a continuation of the policy of inflicting as they call it - a strategic defeat on us,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, told Russian state television when asked about the new sanctions.

“They will have to wait in vain forever before that happens.”

The U.S., itself a large LNG producer that exports to Europe, is also trying to reduce Russia‘s LNG shipments to Europe, which has only banned Russian gas sent via pipeline.

The Arctic-2 LNG project - targeted by the new sanctions - had been expecting to start exporting soon and it is uncertain how much Russian LNG will now be blocked.

The largest Russian LNG producer Novatek NVTK.MM said in September it would start shipments from Arctic-2 LNG early next year.

Leonid Mikhelson, the head of Russian natural gas producer Novatek, told a conference in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that the U.S. sanctions were a badge “of our professionalism”.

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

Friday 3 November 2023 09:09 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The timing could not be worse. Just as Ukraine is fighting to repel one of the fiercest Russian onslaughts since the war began, so fears emerge that US support to Kyiv could be severely undermined by Republicans loyal to the former president, says Askold Krushelnycky:

Ukraine is seeing some of the fiercest fighting since Moscow’s full-blown invasion began, with Russia going all-out to smash through several Ukrainian frontline positions despite sustaining enormous casualties.

Ukraine’s soldiers, also taking numerous casualties, have so far prevented any significant Russian breakthroughs.

The Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, has said the conflict has reached a stalemate which he compared to the bloody parity that obtained on the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War.

Read more:

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

Horror images emerge of fires after Russian drone strikes in Kharviv

Friday 3 November 2023 08:43 , Barney Davis

New images have emerged of the devastation after Russian drones hit civilian targets and triggered a fire early on Friday in and near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on Telegram, said the attacks targeted civilian infrastructure after midnight in the city in Ukraine’s northeast and also struck a locality in the region.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the fire was being brought under control, without elaborating.

Russian shelling kills 81-year-old woman in her own Kherson garden

Friday 3 November 2023 08:27 , Barney Davis

Russian shelling killed an 81-year-old woman in the backyard of her home and a 60-year-old man in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.

The deaths on Thursday night were the latest civilian casualties in Moscow’s recent ramped-up bombardment of the front-line area.

Kherson is a strategic military region located on the Dnieper River near the mouth of the Black Sea. Unconfirmed reports say attacking Ukrainian troops have gained a foothold on the Russian-held side of the river during Kyiv’s monthslong counteroffensive.

The two civilians died when Russian artillery targeted Kherson region villages, according to Oleksandr Prokudin. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged residential and public buildings, authorities said.

On Wednesday, one person died in Russian shelling that caused extensive damage in the Kherson region’s capital city of the same name. Prokudin called it “an apocalyptic scene.”

Wagner to back Hezbollah according to US intelligence

Friday 3 November 2023 08:14 , Barney Davis

The United States has intelligence that Russia’s Wagner mercenary group plans to provide Hezbollah, the Iranian backed Lebanese militia, an air defence system, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials.

The Journal said Wagner plans to supply the Pantsir-S1 system, known by NATO as the SA-22, which uses anti-aircraft missiles and air-defence guns to intercept aircraft.

Wagner Group, which was funded by the Russian state and has been brought firmly under Kremlin control since an aborted mutiny by its former leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in June, did not reply to a request for comment from Reuters.

One unidentified U.S. official quoted by the Journal said that Washington had not confirmed that the system had been sent. But U.S. officials are monitoring discussions involving Wagner and Hezbollah, the Journal said.

The Journal said that the Pantsir system would be provided to Hezbollah via Syria, where Russia propped up President Bashar al-Assad by entering the civil war there in 2015.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces across the border since its Palestinian ally Hamas in Gaza and Israel went to war on Oct. 7.

US launch new wave of sanctions on Russia

Friday 3 November 2023 07:44 , Barney Davis

The United States has imposed sweeping new measures against Moscow targeting Russia’s future energy capabilities, sanctions evasion and a suicide drone that has been a menace to Ukrainian troops.

The latest measures target a major entity involved in the development, operation and ownership of a massive project in Siberia known as Arctic-2 LNG, the State Department said in a statement. The project expected to ship chilled natural gas, known as liquefied natural gas to global markets.

Washington also targeted the KUB-BLA and Lancet suicide drones being used by the Russian military in Ukraine, designating a network it accused of procuring items in support of their production as well as the creator and designer of the drones.

The Biden administration on Thursday added a dozen Russian companies to a trade blacklist for supporting Russia’s military with drones that could be used to aid in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Commerce Department said in a statement.

Russia says Ukraine ‘playing with fire’ with drone attack near nuclear plant

Friday 3 November 2023 07:00 , Lydia Patrick

Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster after nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe’s largest atomic power plant.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since early March 2022, has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235.

Four of the reactors are shut down while two of the reactors - No. 4 and No. 5 - are in so-called ‘hot shutdown’ mode, according to the Russian operator of the plant.

Russia’s defence ministry said air defences had shot down nine Ukrainian drones near the Russian-held city of Enerhodar, where many workers for the plant live, in an attempt to disrupt the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff.

“Kyiv is continuing to ‘play with fire’ and is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the drone attack.

Zakharova said the IAEA should look at a Russian proposal to rotate its staff monitoring the plant only through Russian-held territory. The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine did not immediately comment.

The IAEA has repeatedly said that the world is fortunate that no nuclear accident has yet happened at the Zaporizhzhia plant where the Agency says nuclear safety remains extremely fragile.

Shortly after sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia station. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of attacking the station.

Putin ally warns ‘enemy’ Poland: you risk losing your statehood

Friday 3 November 2023 06:00 , Lydia Patrick

A top ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Poland on Thursday that the NATO member state was now considered a “dangerous enemy” by Russia and could end up losing its statehood if it continued on its current course.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in an 8,000-word article on Russian-Polish relations, saying Moscow now had a “dangerous enemy” in Poland.

Pinned post: Russian forces hit civilian targets near Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials say

Friday 3 November 2023 05:46 , Jane Dalton

Russian drones reportedly struck civilian targets, sparking a fire in and around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ukrainian officials said.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov, in a Telegram message, revealed that the attacks specifically targeted civilian infrastructure in the city’s northeast and also affected a nearby locality.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov indicated that efforts were underway to control the fire but did not provide further details.

Ninety minutes after the initial reports, the air raid alert in Kharkiv and other central regions was lifted, and there have been no subsequent updates on the situation on the ground.

Meanwhile, alerts remain in place in western regions, with the Ukrainian air force reporting the presence of Russian drones in three different areas.

Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of the Lviv region near the Polish border, noted the activation of anti-aircraft units in response to the situation.

The attacks came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Moscow was losing control of Black Sea.

He expressed gratitude for efforts to maintain Ukraine’s maritime export corridor, which has yielded positive results following a conference with military, intelligence, security forces, and government officials

He said it suggested that Russia’s influence in the Black Sea is diminishing, with a plan to pursue them further in the eastern waters.

US senate looking at support deals for Ukraine and Israel

Friday 3 November 2023 05:00 , Lydia Patrick

New US Speaker Mike Johnson has told Republican senators a fresh Ukraine aid package will come as soon as lawmakers wrap up the $14.5 billion Israel aid package that is heading for passage later this week.

Johnson, who has been on the job a week, made the trip across the Capitol to speak privately with GOP senators to outline the agenda ahead.

“Look, we all like the new speaker we want him to be successful,” said Senator JD Vance, Republican for Ohio, who opposes more aid to Ukraine.

Johnson was greeted with applause at the start of the lunch meeting, a get-to-know-you session for the new GOP speaker that many senators had never met — or even heard of — until he won a longshot race for House speaker to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy.

The new speaker told the senators Ukraine needs U.S. aid as it battles Russia, but that there was no way President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion supplemental funding request that included Israel could be passed through the House.

Italy's premier acknowledges 'fatigue' over Ukraine war in call with Russian pranksters

Friday 3 November 2023 04:00 , Lydia Patrick

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office has expressed “regret” that she fell prey to a prank call that induced her to acknowledge “fatigue” over the war in Ukraine.

Meloni, believing she was speaking with officials of the African Union, told a pair of Russian pranksters that “there is a lot of fatigue, I have to say the truth, from all the sides.

We are near the moment in which everybody understands that we need a way out.”

“The problem is to find a way out which can be acceptable for both, without destroying the international law,” she said.

Audio of the call was released Wednesday and replayed by Italian media. The call by Russian comedians Vovan and Lexus was made in September.

The office of Meloni’s diplomatic advisor said it “regrets having been misled by an imposter who posed as the president of the African Union commission.”

The call occurred on Sept. 18, in the run-up to the U.N. General Assembly, where Meloni had meetings with African leaders.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, a Meloni ally, said Thursday that such episodes cannot be repeated. “There was certainly superficiality by whoever organized the phone call,” Tajani told state RAI radio.

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

Friday 3 November 2023 03:00 , Natalie Crockett

The timing could not be worse. Just as Ukraine is fighting to repel one of the fiercest Russian onslaughts since the war began, so fears emerge that US support to Kyiv could be severely undermined by Republicans loyal to the former president.

Read more from Askold Krushelnycky here:

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

Polish hauliers to block Ukraine border crossings in protest

Friday 3 November 2023 02:00 , Lydia Patrick

Polish truckers will block several border crossings with Ukraine starting next week in protest at what they say is Ukrainian hauliers’ free rein in Poland that is hurting their business, a co-organiser of the protest told Reuters.

The protest, planned to start on Nov. 6, comes amid an economic slowdown in Europe and a relaxation of regulations for Ukrainian transport companies in 2022 by the European Union to ease the transport of goods to and out of the country invaded by Russia.

The protesters plan to stop trucks travelling at three border crossings, letting through one truck per hour, but exempting shipments of equipment for Ukraine‘s army and vehicles transporting livestock, according to a protest notification seen by Reuters.

Protesters’ demands include reimposing restrictions on the number of Ukraine-registered trucks entering Poland and a ban on transport companies with capital from outside the European Union, among others, according to the notification.

“Ukrainian transport companies are ... entering without restrictions and carrying out transport operations they have no right to perform,” said Jacek Sokol, protest co-organizer and deputy head of the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers.

He said the protest measures would affect traffic in both directions at crossings in Dorohusk and Hrebenne-Rawa Ruska, as well as outbound traffic through Korczowa.

US imposes new sanctions on companies they believe are linked to Russian war

Friday 3 November 2023 01:00 , Lydia Patrick

The United States on Thursday imposed a new round of sanctions on 130 firms and people from Turkey, China and the United Arab Emirates in an effort to choke off Russia’s access to tools and equipment that support its invasion of Ukraine.

The sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control target third-party firms and people alleged to assist Moscow in procuring equipment needed on the battlefield, including suppliers and shippers.

In addition, the State Department imposed diplomatic sanctions targeting Russian energy production and its metals and mining sector.

Thursday’s sanctions targets include Turkish national Berk Turken and his firms, which are alleged to have ties to Russian intelligence.

The Treasury Department said Mr Turken’s network arranged payments and shipping details designed to bypass sanctions and move goods from Turkey to Russia.

A series of United Arab Emirates firms alleged to have shipped aviation equipment, machines for data reception and more also were sanctioned.

And UAE-based ARX Financial Engineering Ltd was sanctioned for allegedly being involved in finding ways for Russian rubles to be sent from sanctioned Russian bank VTB Bank and converted to US dollars.

Mr Turken and a representative from ARX were not available for comment on Thursday.

Ukraine says more than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines since beginning of Russian invasion

Thursday 2 November 2023 23:55 , Sam Rkaina

Extensive mines and explosives in Ukraine have killed more than 260 civilians and injured another 571 during Russia’s 20-month-old invasion, Kyiv’s military officials have said.

Around 174,000sq km of Ukraine, making up about a third of its territory, has been potentially strewn with mines or dangerous war detritus, estimates from Kyiv officials showed.

The 571 injuries have occurred in more than 560 incidents that involve mines or explosive objects left behind in the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops, the country’s General Staff of the Armed Forces said on its official Telegram channel on Wednesday.

Almost a quarter of these incidents have happened in fields, the military official said.

Two killed as Russian artillery keeps on battering southern Ukraine’s Kherson region

Thursday 2 November 2023 23:00 , Sam Rkaina

Russian shelling killed an 81-year-old woman in the yard of her home and a 60-year-old man in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region Thursday, local authorities said. The deaths were the latest civilian casualties in Moscow’s recent ramped-up bombardment of the front-line area.

Kherson is a strategic military region located on the Dnieper River near the mouth of the Black Sea. Unconfirmed reports say attacking Ukrainian troops have gained a foothold on the Russian-held side of the river during Kyiv’s monthslong counteroffensive.

The two civilians died when Russian artillery targeted Kherson region villages, according to Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. Four others were injured in the strikes, which also damaged residential and public buildings, authorities said.

On Wednesday, one person died in Russian shelling that caused extensive damage in the Kherson region’s capital city of the same name. Prokudin called it “an apocalyptic scene.”

A 91-year-old local woman was killed in her apartment last weekend in what Prokudin described as a “terrifying” nighttime barrage.

The Kherson region is a key gateway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and is now home to a lot of Moscow’s war logistics operations and rear supply depots.

Russia says Ukraine 'playing with fire' with drone attack near nuclear plant

Thursday 2 November 2023 22:00 , Sam Rkaina

Russia on Thursday said Ukraine was risking a nuclear disaster after nine Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian forces near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station, Europe’s largest atomic power plant.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under Russian control since early March 2022, has six Soviet-designed VVER-1000 V-320 water-cooled and water-moderated reactors containing Uranium 235.

Four of the reactors are shut down while two of the reactors - No. 4 and No. 5 - are in so-called ‘hot shutdown’ mode, according to the Russian operator of the plant.

Russia’s defence ministry said air defences had shot down nine Ukrainian drones near the Russian-held city of Enerhodar, where many workers for the plant live, in an attempt to disrupt the rotation of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) staff.

“Kyiv is continuing to ‘play with fire’ and is carrying out criminal and irresponsible provocations,” Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said of the drone attack.

Zakharova said the IAEA should look at a Russian proposal to rotate its staff monitoring the plant only through Russian-held territory. The IAEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine did not immediately comment.

The IAEA has repeatedly said that the world is fortunate that no nuclear accident has yet happened at the Zaporizhzhia plant where the Agency says nuclear safety remains extremely fragile.

Shortly after sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia station. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of attacking the station.

US concerned by withdrawal of Russia’s ratification of global nuclear test ban

Thursday 2 November 2023 21:00 , Sam Rkaina

The withdrawal of Russia’s ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests is a step in the wrong direction and will serve to set back confidence in the international arms control regime, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.

“We are deeply concerned by Russia’s planned action to withdraw its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT),” Blinken said in a statement released by the State Department.

“Unfortunately, it represents a significant step in the wrong direction, taking us further from, not closer to, entry into force,” Blinken said.

US senate looking at support deals for Ukraine and Israel

Thursday 2 November 2023 20:00 , Sam Rkaina

New US Speaker Mike Johnson has told Republican senators a fresh Ukraine aid package will come as soon as lawmakers wrap up the $14.5 billion Israel aid package that is heading for passage later this week.

Johnson, who has been on the job a week, made the trip across the Capitol to speak privately with GOP senators to outline the agenda ahead.

“Look, we all like the new speaker we want him to be successful,” said Senator JD Vance, Republican for Ohio, who opposes more aid to Ukraine.

Johnson was greeted with applause at the start of the lunch meeting, a get-to-know-you session for the new GOP speaker that many senators had never met — or even heard of — until he won a longshot race for House speaker to replace the ousted Kevin McCarthy.

The new speaker told the senators Ukraine needs U.S. aid as it battles Russia, but that there was no way President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion supplemental funding request that included Israel could be passed through the House.

“‘We want to take up Ukraine,’” was his message, said Senator Josh Hawley, Republican for Missouri, who opposes more funding for the overseas war.

Hawley said Johnson told the Republican senators the “next order of business” after the Israel package would be the Ukraine-U.S. border package.

The Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the House’s Israel-only approach was dead on arrival in the Senate.

Putin ally warns 'enemy' Poland: you risk losing your statehood

Thursday 2 November 2023 19:30 , Holly Evans

A top ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Poland on Thursday that the NATO member state was now considered a “dangerous enemy” by Russia and could end up losing its statehood if it continued on its current course.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the comments in an 8,000-word article on Russian-Polish relations, saying Moscow now had a “dangerous enemy” in Poland.

“We will treat it (Poland) precisely as a historical enemy,” Medvedev said. “If there is no hope for reconciliation with the enemy, Russia should have only one and a very tough attitude regarding its fate.”

“History has more than once delivered a merciless verdict to the presumptuous Poles: no matter how ambitious the revanchist plans may be, their collapse could lead to the death of Polish statehood in its entirety.”

There was no immediate response to his comments from Poland.

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

Thursday 2 November 2023 19:00 , Holly Evans

Ukraine is seeing some of the fiercest fighting since Moscow’s full-blown invasion began, with Russia going all-out to smash through several Ukrainian frontline positions despite sustaining enormous casualties.

Ukraine’s soldiers, also taking numerous casualties, have so far prevented any significant Russian breakthroughs.

The Ukrainian military’s commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhny, has said the conflict has reached a stalemate which he compared to the bloody parity that obtained on the trenches of the Western Front during the First World War.

Read the full article from Askold Krushelnycky here

Trump’s shadow looms large over Congress battle that could define Ukraine war

More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials

Thursday 2 November 2023 18:30 , Holly Evans

At least 930 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Kyiv’s officials claimed.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in its battlefield update on Thursday morning also claimed Vladimir Putin has lost approximately 302,420 military personnel since the invasion began on 24 February last year.

The Independent has not been able to verify claims of the battlefield casualties.

Read the full article here

More than 900 of Putin’s soldiers killed in past 24 hours, claim Ukraine officials

More on US sanctions against Russian individuals and companies

Thursday 2 November 2023 18:00 , Holly Evans

The U.S. also cracked down on sanctions evasion in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and China, as the Treasury Department said companies based in the countries continue to send high priority dual-use goods to Russia, including components Moscow relies on for its weapons systems.

Seven Russia-based banks and dozens of industrial firms were also hit with sanctions by the Treasury Department, including Gazpromneft Catalytic Systems LLC, which Treasury said manufactures chemical agents for advanced oil refining in Russia.

The Kremlin said on Thursday ahead of the action that it expected the West to impose ever tougher sanctions on it over the war, but that there was a growing sense that such penalties hurt Western interests while Russia’s economy was adapting well.