Summary
As the time in Kyiv approaches 9pm, here’s a summary of today’s news and latest developments.
The Kremlin has said it will rejoin the UN-administered grain export corridor from Ukraine. Russia pulled out over the weekend following a drone attack on Russian warships in the port of Sevastopol.
Moscow’s humiliating climbdown came two days after a large convoy of ships moved a record amount of grain in defiance of Russia’s warnings that it would be unsafe without its participation, and after high-level diplomatic contacts between Turkey – one of the guarantors of the scheme with the UN – and Russia.
The Russian defence ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be seen as having successfully called the Russians’ bluff to blockade Ukrainian ports or even sink civilian cargo ships carrying grain abroad. The Turkish leader had said exports of grain from Ukraine would continue with or without Russian approval and appears to have brokered the Russian climbdown.
In a phone conversation, Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Erdoğan for his role in restoring the deal.
Meanwhile Russia has said it is fully committed to preventing nuclear war, and that avoiding a clash among countries that have nuclear weapons is its highest priority.
Moscow said it would summon the UK ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnert, over its accusation, that is unsubstantiated, that “British specialists” were involved in the Sevastopol attack.
Details have been published of the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipeline by explosions at the end of September. Nord Stream AG said that about 250 metres (820 feet) of the pipeline in the Baltic Sea was “destroyed”.
The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said that it is once again becoming an “outpost” in Russia’s strategy to target the capital.
Two Russian oligarchs and business partners of Roman Abramovich have been added to the UK government’s sanctions list in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, whom the UK government said were “known to be business associates” of the former Chelsea FC owner, were on Wednesday among four new Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons added to the sanctions list.
Passenger numbers on Russian airlines were down 20% in September compared to last year, as the impact of western sanctions continues to weigh on the industry.
That’s all for today. Thank you for following along.
A readout from Istanbul after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier on Wednesday.
He told Zelenskiy by phone that the ability of Ukraine and Russia to sell grain was of critical importance for the whole world, Erdoğan’s office said.
Speaking after Russia said it would resume its participation in a deal freeing up grain exports from war-torn Ukraine, Erdoğan said diplomatic efforts should be increased to end the war with a just solution, according to Reuters.
This tweet is from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy after speaking to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who helped broker the deal for Russia to restart its role in the Black Sea grain deal. He thanks him for his role.
I thanked 🇹🇷 President @RTErdogan for his active participation in preserving the grain deal, for his steadfast support of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We discussed further steps to return 🇺🇦 POWs and political prisoners. I also count on support of 🇹🇷.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 2, 2022
Details have been published of the damage caused to the Nord Stream gas pipeline by explosions at the end of September.
Nord Stream AG said that about 250 metres (820 feet) of the pipeline in the Baltic Sea was “destroyed”, according to Agence French-Presse (AFP).
Four leaks emerged on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 after what seismic experts suggested were underwater explosions.
Swedish inspectors found evidence of sabotage during their investigation, which Russia has attempted to blame on the UK in recent days.
The pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany, have been at the centre of geopolitical tensions as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation to Western sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Hromadske International news organisation in Ukraine has reported that police have uncovered 34 torture chambers and prisons in the Sumy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson regions.
All of the areas whether the chambers have been found, were at one point occupied by Russian forces.
Law enforcement officers have already found 34 torture chambers and prisons arranged by the Russian occupiers in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine, according to the infographic from the National Police.
— Hromadske Int. (@Hromadske) November 2, 2022
The places where Russians illegally detained and tortured Ukrainians were found in the de-occupied districts of Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson oblasts. All the premises have already been inspected by the National Police investigators.
— Hromadske Int. (@Hromadske) November 2, 2022
While the air raid sirens continue to be a fixture of life in Kyiv, life is continuing, including rehearsals and performances at theatres in the city.
A reporter for Al Jazeera has spoken to actors at the Theatre on Podil in the Ukrainian capital, as they ran through their lines before the curtain gets raised.
“In one moment,” actor Mykhailo Kryshtal said, “a rocket could land near you and everything could come to an end. These factors aren’t helping.”
“The fact that we are still performing for our audience is resistance itself,” says Kryshtal. “Because we are not afraid. We didn’t run away.”
The theatre shut as the invasion began, and only reopened in June. The production is of The Emigrants, a 1970s Polish drama. Productions often get interrupted by air raid sirens, causing performers and the audience to gather in the lobby.
Director Volodymyr Kudlinsky said: “We were surprised that the audiences who stayed in Kyiv started to buy tickets and came to the performances for the same prices as before the war,” he says.
“People were ready. Through buying tickets, they supported us and theatre itself, the city and the country.”
Authorities in Kyiv have begun shutting down the Ukrainian capital’s power network, after a supply in consumption, Reuters reports.
The administration said in a statement that the move was necessary to “avoid major accidents with power equipment”.
Russian drone and missile attacks have badly damaged the electricity grid in and around the capital.
Switzerland has introduced sanctions against an Iranian firm and three army members after the country sold drones to Russia as part of its war effort in Ukraine.
It follows the European Union taking similar steps in October. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian government claimed that Iran was due to send another 200 combat drones in addition to those that have already been provided.
Shahed Aviation Industries, along with three men, Maj Gen Mohammed Hossein Bagheri, Gen Syed Hojatollah Qureishi and Brig Gen Syed Aghajani have been given travel bans and had their assets frozen.
The Swiss government has so far refused to follow the EU line on sanctions with Iran. It has not introduced them in response to the Iranian government’s handling of protests after the death of Mahsa Amini.
Updated
Passenger numbers on Russian airlines were down 20% in September compared to last year, as the impact of western sanctions continues to weigh on the industry.
Russian airlines carried 9.87 million passengers in September, Russia’s statistics agency Rosstat said on Wednesday, down a fifth from September 2021.
Western countries banned Russian airlines from using their airspace in response to Moscow sending its armed forces into Ukraine in February, cutting them off from lucrative routes to Europe and the United States.
Aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing have also stopped selling planes, parts and equipment to Russian airlines, forcing some companies to cannibalise existing jets to get hold of spare parts, Reuters reports.
Traffic for the entire first nine months of the year was down 13.1% to 72.6 million passengers, Rosstat said.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
As it has just gone 6pm in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, here is a roundup of today’s news so far.
The Kremlin has said it will rejoin the UN-administered grain export corridor from Ukraine, after pulling out over the weekend following a drone attack on Russian warships in the port of Sevastopol.
Moscow’s humiliating climbdown came two days after a large convoy of ships moved a record amount of grain in defiance of Russia’s warnings that it would be unsafe without its participation, and after high-level diplomatic contacts between Turkey – one of the guarantors of the scheme with the UN – and Russia.
The Russian defence ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia. “The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the ministry statement said.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be seen as having successfully called the Russians’ bluff to blockade Ukrainian ports or even sink civilian cargo ships carrying grain abroad. The Turkish leader had said exports of grain from Ukraine would continue with or without Russian approval and appears to have brokered the Russian climbdown.
Separately, Moscow said it would summon the UK ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnert, over its accusation that “British specialists” were involved in the Sevastopol attack. Russia has, without providing evidence, repeatedly blamed the UK for Saturday’s audacious attack, in which a swarm of drones attacked Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, told Ukraine’s Hromadske TV that Kyiv region is once again becoming an “outpost” in Russia’s strategy to target the capital. Earlier Kuleba gave an update on the energy situation in the region on the Telegram messaging service, saying 16,000 homes remain without electricity.
Russian security services in Crimea claim to have foiled a plot to sabotage energy supplies in the region by Ukraine’s security service and have detained a man over it.
Russia has said it is fully committed to preventing nuclear war, and that avoiding a clash among countries that have nuclear weapons is its highest priority. In a statement, the country’s foreign ministry said: “In implementing its policy on nuclear deterrence Russia is strictly and consistently guided by the tenet that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”
Poland will build a razor-wire fence on its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, its defence minister said on Wednesday. Construction of the temporary 2.5-metre (8ft) high and 3-metre deep barrier will start immediately, Mariusz Błaszczak told a news conference.
Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, said he was counting on Hungary to ratify the Nordic country’s Nato application after he had talked on the phone with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
Two Russian oligarchs and business partners of Roman Abramovich have been added to the UK government’s sanctions list in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, whom the UK government said were “known to be business associates” of the former Chelsea FC owner, were on Wednesday among four new Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons added to the sanctions list.
Updated
The US has information that indicates North Korea is secretly supplying Russia with artillery shells, according to the White House spokesperson, John Kirby.
Kirby, who specialises in national security, told a virtual briefing that North Korea was trying to hide the shipments by funnelling them through the Middle East and North Africa.
“Our indications are that the DPRK is covertly supplying and we are going to monitor to see whether the shipments are received,” Kirby said, according to Reuters, adding that Washington would consult with the United Nations on accountability issues over the shipments.
“It is not an insignificant number of shells, but we don’t believe they are in such a quantity that they would change the momentum of the war,” he said.
“And it’s certainly not going to change our calculus ... or with so many of our allies and partners about the kinds of capabilities we’re going to continue to provide the Ukrainians.”
North Korea said in September it had never supplied weapons or ammunition to Russia and has no plans to do so, while warning the US to “keep its mouth shut” and stop circulating rumours aimed at “tarnishing” the country’s image.
Updated
Putin: Russia reserves right to withdraw from grain deal again if Kyiv breaks guarantees
The Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken about the resumption of his nation’s participation in the Black Sea grain deal, saying Russia reserved the right to withdraw again if guarantees they had received were not kept.
The Russian Interfax news agency quotes Putin saying:
We demanded assurances and guarantees from the Ukrainian side that nothing like [the Sevastopol attack] will happen in the future, that humanitarian corridors will not be used for military purposes.
Information has been received through the Ministry of Defence from the Turkish side that such assurances have been given by Ukraine that these humanitarian corridors will not be used for military purposes.
In this regard, I have given instructions to the Ministry of Defence to resume our full participation in this work.
At the same time, Russia reserves the right to withdraw from these agreements if these guarantees are violated by Ukraine.
Putin was speaking at a meeting with permanent members of the Russian security council.
Updated
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has welcomed Russia’s resumption of participation in the Ukraine Black Sea grain deal, a UN spokesperson said, and is continuing to push for a renewal of the pact that could still expire on 19 November.
“The secretary-general continues his engagement with all actors towards the renewal and full implementation of the initiative, and he also remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertiliser,” Reuters reports the UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, as saying.
Updated
Here are some pictures that have been sent today over the newswires from Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. They show civilians who have been moved from Kherson region to the town of Dzhankoi in Crimea, in what Russian-installed authorities in occupied Ukraine have described as “evacuations”, which have been deemed forced deportations by Ukrainian authorities in Kyiv.
Updated
Finland’s president, Sauli Niinisto, said he was counting on Hungary to ratify the Nordic country’s Nato application after he had talked on the phone with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán.
“Good that Finland can count on Hungary in our Nato ratification. I look forward to further strengthening our Finno-Ugric connection also as allies,” Niinisto said on Twitter, referring to the countries’ shared linguistic history.
The Hungarian government did not immediately reply to a request from Reuters for comment.
Updated
Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, has been in Kyiv today, where he met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba.
Albares said in a tweet upon his arrival: “Just arrived in Kyiv to convey Spain’s commitment and support to the people and government of Ukraine in defence of its sovereignty, peace and freedom; and support and thank the members of the embassy of Spain in Ukraine for their work.”
Acabo de llegar a Kyiv para trasladar el compromiso y apoyo de España al pueblo y al gobierno de Ucrania en la defensa de su soberanía, su paz y libertad; y respaldar y agradecer por su labor a los miembros de la Embajada de España en Ucrania @EmbEspKyiv. pic.twitter.com/0KT0ryAdKW
— José Manuel Albares (@jmalbares) November 2, 2022
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, commented on the visit, saying: “Our commitment to Ukraine is firm. Spain today sends new aid material to Kyiv. We will continue to support Ukrainian sovereignty in the face of Putin’s illegal aggression and to work for the reconstruction of the country.”
As part of its latest aid package, Spain is donating 30 ambulances to Ukraine.
Updated
Russia 'reaffirms commitment' to preventing nuclear war
Russia has said it is fully committed to preventing nuclear war, and that avoiding a clash among countries that have nuclear weapons is its highest priority.
In a statement, the country’s foreign ministry said: “In implementing its policy on nuclear deterrence Russia is strictly and consistently guided by the tenet that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Russian doctrinal approaches in this sphere are defined with utmost accuracy, pursue solely defensive goals and do not admit of expansive interpretation.
“We fully reaffirm our commitment to the joint statement of the five nuclear-weapon states leaders on the prevention of nuclear war and the avoidance of an arms race from 3 January.
“We are strongly convinced that in the current complicated and turbulent situation, caused by irresponsible and impudent actions aimed at undermining our national security, the most immediate task is to avoid any military clash of nuclear powers.”
It follows the permanent members of the UN’s security council, who have nuclear arsenals, releasing a joint-pledge at the turn of the year which agreed “a nuclear war cannot be won”.
On Wednesday the New York Times reported that senior Russian military leaders had discussed when and how Moscow might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, according to multiple senior US officials.
They said that the Biden administration was alarmed, as the news “showed how frustrated Russian generals were about their failures on the ground, and suggests that Mr Putin’s veiled threats to use nuclear weapons might not just be words”.
Updated
A Ukrainian presidential adviser has said that Russia has resumed its part in the Black Sea grain deal because its “blackmail” plan had failed.
Mykhailo Podolyak said in a written statement to Reuters that Moscow’s decision showed that “escalation and threats” fail when they meet a resolute response.
“One way or another, Russia, embarrassed, returned to the ‘grain initiative’ because it suddenly turned out that the grain corridor would work even without the Kremlin’s participation,” Podolyak said.
“This says only one thing: Russia is always inferior to those who are stronger, those who know how to take a blow, those who argue their position strongly.”
He suggested that Russia had miscalculated when it said it would withdraw from the deal after a drone attack on Russian warships in Sevastopol.
When you want to play blackmail, it is important not to outplay yourself,” Podolyak said.
“Russia is used to constantly playing on escalation and threats. But if there is a firm position on the part of the other parties, the mediators, the guarantors, then it quickly becomes clear the threats are just formidable international PR.”
An interesting insight into the dynamics inside the Kremlin by CNN, which reports that a US official has compared the competing parties to the TV drama House of Cards.
The article says that according to US officials, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who heads the Wagner paramilitary group, has confronted Vladimir Putin about the war and how it is being “mismanaged by top generals”. He is thought to prefer a more aggressive approach. Another Kremlin official has raised similar concerns about the war to Putin.
“US intelligence officials believe it is further evidence that Prigozhin, who is not part of the Russian government, is trying to assert his influence at a time when the US is closely watching the power structures inside the Kremlin,” the article adds.
“It is Russia – there are never ending court plots,” said one US military official.
Updated
Kremlin says it will rejoin UN grain deal in humiliating U-turn
Here’s the full write-up by my colleagues Peter Beaumont and Andrew Roth on Russia saying it will resume its part in the deal to allow grain to be shipped from Ukraine through the Black Sea.
The Kremlin has said it will rejoin the UN-administered grain export corridor from Ukraine after pulling out over the weekend after a drone attack on Russian warships in the port of Sevastopol.
Moscow’s humiliating climbdown came two days after a large convoy of ships moved a record amount of grain in defiance of Russia’s warnings that it would be “unsafe” without its participation, and after high-level diplomatic contacts between Turkey – one of the guarantors of the scheme with the UN – and Russia.
Russia’s withdrawal had reignited fears over global hunger and food prices that had been alleviated by the inauguration of the scheme earlier this year which allowed cargo ships to move Ukrainian gain without fear of being targeted.
Confirming Turkish reports that Moscow would be lifting its suspension, the Russian defence ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia.
“The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the ministry statement said.
Read more:
Updated
The Russian defence ministry has released a statement after the announcement that Russia would reengage with a deal to export grain from Ukraine through the Black Sea.
Russia’s participation in the deal was announced on Wednesday, days after it broke off involvement because of a drone attack on a Russian ship.
A statement on the ministry’s website said: “With the help of an international organisation and Turkey, the necessary written guarantees from Ukraine on the non-use of the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports designated for the export of agricultural products for military operations against the Russian Federation were obtained and submitted to the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) on 1 November 2022.
“The Ukrainian side, in particular, officially assured that ‘the maritime humanitarian corridor will be used only in accordance with the provisions of the Black Sea Initiative and the related JCC regulation’.
“The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees received at this time are adequate and resumes implementation of the agreement – the initiative for the safe transportation of grain and food from Ukrainian ports (the Black Sea Initiative) – which had been halted following the terrorist attack in Sevastopol.”
The Russian president Vladimir Putin has been weakened by what the west believes was his mistaken decision to invade Ukraine, but there’s unlikely to be any change in power at the top in Russia anytime soon, a western official told Reuters on Wednesday.
“He has been weakened by this really catastrophic error,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“We are seeing the Russian military humbled on the battlefield by Ukraine.
“People can see that he has made a big error,” said the same official.
“That has to mean that people are talking more about succession, they are talking more about what comes next, they are imagining a life beyond. But what I am not doing is suggesting that that’s anytime soon.”
Updated
'No signs Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons' says US
A White House official has said that the US has seen no indication that Russia is getting ready to use nuclear weapons in its ongoing war in Ukraine.
John Kirby, a spokesperson, said he had no comment on a New York Times article [paywall] that said there had been discussions between Russian military leaders about using them.
He told journalists: “We’ve been clear from the outset that Russia’s comments about the potential use of nuclear weapons are deeply concerning, and we take them seriously.
“We continue to monitor this as best we can, and we see no indications that Russia is making preparations for such use.”
Updated
The US ambassador to the United Nations has said that Russia cannot stand in the way of global food production.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield told CNN: “They can’t stand in the way of feeding the entire world,” adding that she was “delighted” Russia had returned to the agreement allowing Ukrainian grain exports on Wednesday (see 10:35am).
This tweet from Emine Dzheppar, Ukraine’s first deputy minister of foreign affairs, appears to show damage to a hospital in Toretsk, in the Donetsk region, from shelling overnight.
The hospital’s maternity ward and surgery have been damaged by the artillery. She adds that homes, high-rise blocks and administrative buildings were targeted in the attack.
#російські терористи продовжують руйнувати мирні міста #України. Цієї ночі була обстріляна #Торецька лікарня #Донецької області. Постраждали хірургічний корпус і пологове відділення.
— Emine Dzheppar (@EmineDzheppar) November 2, 2022
Крім того,🇷🇺терористи обстріляли приватні будинки, багатоповерхівки & адміністративні будівлі. pic.twitter.com/0Xy2ycyjNs
UK sanctions four more Russian oligarchs
The UK government has put sanctions on two business associates of Roman Abramovich, linked to the Russian steel manufacturer Evraz, as part of restrictions on four Russian oligarchs.
Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov have had their UK assets frozen for their role in “sectors of major significance” to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Abramov is thought to have a global net worth of £4.1bn and Frolov £1.7bn.
A government statement said that combined, both have UK property investments worth £100m. They are both banned from entering or staying in the UK, have restrictions on planes or boats they own from landing in the UK, or docking at UK ports, and have had their assets frozen.
Abramov has already faced sanctions in Australia and is taking the country’s minister for foreign affairs to court over the order.
They are facing sanctions alongside Airat Shaimiev and Albert Shigabutdinov.
Shaimiev is the CEO of OAO Tatatodor, a state-owned transport and constructions company, which is involved in the building and maintenance of roads in Russia.
Meanwhile, Shigabutdinov is the general director and CEO of the AO Taif group of companies, which operate in energy, financial services and information communication sectors.
The UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said: “Putin continues to rely on his cabal of selected elite to maintain control of his industrial complex and fuel his illegal invasion of Ukraine. Today we are sanctioning an additional four oligarchs who rely on Putin for their positions of authority and in turn fund his military machine.
“By targeting these individuals, we are ramping up the economic pressure on Putin and will continue to do so until Ukraine prevails.”
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Russia’s ministry of defence confirmed on Wednesday it would rejoin the Black Sea grain deal just days after it cut its participation due to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet. In remarks reported by Russian state media, the Russian defence ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not “use the grain corridor for combat actions against Russia”.
The decision is a dramatic about-face from the Kremlin in which Russia will return to the grain export deal with little to show in terms of concessions from Kyiv and the west. The move was announced first by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, told Ukraine’s Hromadske TV that Kyiv region is once again becoming an “outpost” in Russia’s strategy to target the capital. Earlier Kuleba gave an update on the energy situation in the region on the Telegram messaging service, saying 16,000 homes remain without electricity.
Kuleba also warned that the attacks could cut the heating supply as it too relies on electricity. He said there are 750 points in the Kyiv region to which residents can go to get warm, be fed and access water. He said they were also preparing 425 underground shelters in case of a nuclear attack and they would be ready by mid-November.
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region that borders Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine’s east, has posted a status update to Telegram saying five people were injured this morning in the city of Vovchansk after Russian shelling.
Denis Pushilin, the self-styled leader of the chiefly unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has been quoted by Russia’s RIA Novosti agency as saying that pro-Russian forces in occupied Donetsk are making some territorial gains in the Vuhledar direction.
Moscow will “shortly” summon the UK ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnert, over its unsupported accusation that British specialists had been involved in a Ukrainian drone attack over the weekend on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Russia has repeatedly blamed the UK for the attack and said a Royal Navy unit masterminded operations from the southern Ukrainian port of Ochakiv. The UK government has dismissed this.
Russian security services in Crimea claim to have foiled a plot to sabotage energy supplies in the region by Ukraine’s security service and have detained a man over it.
Poland will build a razor-wire fence on its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, its defence minister said on Wednesday. Construction of the temporary 2.5-metre (8ft) high and 3-metre deep barrier will start immediately, Mariusz Błaszczak told a news conference.
Updated
The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth offers this analysis of Russia’s decision to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal:
Russia’s ministry of defence confirmed on Wednesday it would rejoin the grain deal just days after it cut its participation due to the Ukrainian attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
In remarks reported by Russian state media, the Russian defence ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not “use the grain corridor for combat actions against Russia.”
The decision is a dramatic about-face from the Kremlin that sees Russia return to the grain export deal with little to show in terms of concessions from Kyiv and the west.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will be seen as having successfully called the Russian bluff to blockade Ukrainian ports or even sink civilian cargo ships carrying grain abroad. The Turkish leader had said that exports of grain from Ukraine would continue with or without Russian approval and appears to have brokered the Russian climbdown.
Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of using the “grain corridor” to prepare attacks on Russia, including the bombing of the Crimean Bridge last month, where the explosives used in the attack were allegedly shipped from Odesa.
Following its diplomatic retreat, Russia’s future threats to hold the deal hostage will probably be taken less seriously by the international community.
Russia may have balked because the grain deal was also popular with other countries in Africa and the Middle East facing shortages of food imports. Moscow has sought to curry favour with those countries to provide diplomatic support for its invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
Henry Foy, the FT’s European diplomatic correspondent, makes the point that Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, would appear to be the only diplomatic-broker in town when it comes to Vladimir Putin. Foy suggests it is “increasingly likely that any settlement to end the war in Ukraine is struck at [Erdoğan’s] table”.
Erdogan, once again stating his credentials as the only potential dealmaker in the Ukraine war, announces that Russia has agreed to resume participation in the UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal, four days after it withdrew.
— Henry Foy (@HenryJFoy) November 2, 2022
Erdogan spoke with Putin yesterday.
Love him or hate him, there's no-one else right now with the connections he has. Increasingly likely that any settlement to end the war in Ukraine is struck at his table.
— Henry Foy (@HenryJFoy) November 2, 2022
Updated
Russia to resume participation in Black Sea grain deal – Erdoğan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Russian participation in a UN-brokered Ukrainian grain export deal was to resume on Wednesday.
Reuters reports that in a speech in parliament, Erdogan said that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart that the deal would resume.
State-owned Russian news agency Tass carried a statement from Russia’s defence ministry which said:
It was possible to obtain the necessary written guarantees from Ukraine on the non-use of the humanitarian corridor and Ukrainian ports, determined in the interests of exporting agricultural products, for conducting military operations against the Russian Federation. The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees received at the moment appear to be sufficient and resumes the implementation of the agreement.
Earlier the Kremlin had only confirmed that Russia was still in contact with Turkey over the deal. Russia has summoned the British ambassador in Moscow to protest what it claims is British involvement in an attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol at the weekend.
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region which borders both Luhansk and Donetsk in Ukraine’s east, has posted a status update to Telegram saying five people were injured this morning in the city of Vovchansk following Russian shelling.
He also cautioned residents over mines, saying “Once again, we urge you to be vigilant and careful. Don’t ignore the warning signs. Mine danger in Kharkiv oblast also persists,” after reporting a 37-year-old agricultural worker was injured by a mine in the region.
Updated
Russia to summon British ambassador over Sevastopol drone strike
Moscow will “shortly” summon the UK ambassador to Russia Deborah Bronnert over its unsupported accusation that British specialists had been involved in a Ukrainian drone attack over the weekend on the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
Russia has repeatedly blamed the UK for the attack and said a Royal Navy unit masterminded operations from the southern Ukrainian port of Ochakiv. The UK government has dismissed this.
“These actions were carried out under the guidance of British specialists,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said on Wednesday.
“In this regard, the British ambassador will shortly be summoned to the Russian foreign ministry.”
Updated
Denis Pushilin, the self-styled leader of the chiefly unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has been quoted by Russia’s RIA Novosti agency as saying that pro-Russian forces in occupied Donetsk are making some territorial gains in the Vuhledar direction, which is to the south-west of the oblast, approaching Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia has claimed to have annexed Donetsk, and installed Pushilin as leader. One of the DPR’s Telegram channels has quoted Pushilin saying “Allied forces are pushing back the line of contact, which deprives the Ukrainian military of the opportunity to shell DPR settlements with impunity.”
The claims have not been independently verified. Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states to have recognised the DPR as a legitimate authority.
Poland to build Kaliningrad border razor-wire fence
Poland will build a razor-wire fence on its border with Russia’s Kaliningrad, its defence minister said on Wednesday. Construction of the temporary 2.5-metre (8ft) high and 3-metre deep barrier will start immediately, Mariusz Błaszczak told a news conference.
With tensions rising due to the war in Ukraine, Reuters report Błaszczak cited security concerns and referred a crisis triggered last autumn when thousands of African and Middle-Eastern migrants tried to cross the Belarus border into Poland, some of whom died.
The European Union at the time accused Belarus – a close ally of Russia – of flying the migrants in as part of a “hybrid” warfare campaign to destabilise Europe. Minsk denied wrongdoing.
Błaszczak said the Kaliningrad barrier would be similar to the one Poland set up along the border with Belarus last year.
The Kaliningrad exclave, where Russia has a significant military presence, lies on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania and is separated from Belarus by a narrow border corridor.
You can read a background explainer on what happened last year on the Poland-Belarus border from Andrew Roth: Poland-Belarus border crisis November 2021: what is going on and who is to blame?
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Russia detains Ukrainian man for plot to sabotage Crimea power line, FSB claims
The Russian state-owned Tass agency is reporting that Russian security services in Crimea, which was occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014, claim to have foiled a plot to sabotage energy supplies in the region.
It quotes the Russian security forces saying: “The Federal Security Service prevented a sabotage planned by the Ukrainian special services at an energy infrastructure facility in the Republic of Crimea. A citizen of Ukraine born in 1978, recruited by the SBU [Ukraine’s security service], was detained.”
Tass reports that three high-explosive explosive devices, instructions for their use and a diagram of the location of power transmission towers in one of the Crimean regions were confiscated from him.
The FSB has produced no evidence to back up the claim, which has not been independently verified.
The claim that Ukrainian forces are attempting to disrupt power supplies in Crimea comes as at least 16,000 homes in Ukraine’s Kyiv region remain without power after repeated bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure by Russian armed forces.
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Viacheslav Chaus, the governor of Chernihiv, has posted to Telegram to say that the air alert that had been in force in his northern region of Ukraine is over.
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16,000 homes in Kyiv region still without power following Monday's Russian bombardment
Isobel Koshiw reports for the Guardian from Kyiv:
The head of Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, told Ukraine’s Hromadske TV that Kyiv region is once again becoming an “outpost” in Russia’s strategy to target the capital. In the first month of the war, Russian forces unsuccessfully attempted to capture the capital by occupying Kyiv region and laying siege to the city.
“They are hitting (us) directly so that there is no light in Kyiv itself,” said Kuleba of the recent attacks on power stations in the region.
Earlier Kuleba gave an update on the energy situation in the region on the Telegram messaging service, saying that 16,000 homes remain without electricity.
Kuleba said will be total power outages if the attacks continue and Ukraine’s air defence does not catch them. Asked how long they might last, he said it could be weeks in Kyiv region, depending on how long repairs take.
“There is a real threat that we may be without electricity for up to two weeks and we are already preparing for it,” said Kuleba. It is not clear the extent to which this will apply to the capital, Kyiv, but, according to its mayor, Vitaliy Klitschko, after Monday’s strikes on a power station near Kyiv, 80% of Kyiv city was left without water.
The head of Kyiv region also warned that the attacks could cut the heating supply as it too relies on electricity. He said there are 750 points in Kyiv region that residents can go to get warm, be fed and access water. He said they were also preparing 425 underground shelters in case of a nuclear attack and they would be ready by mid-November.
Planned outages, which last several hours, are already in place in Kyiv, Kyiv region and other regions across Ukraine.
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Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, has given an update on the situation in his western region of Ukraine. He said that aside from one air alert, the night was quiet. In the last 24 hours, he said that 100 people arrived in the region on evacuation trains from the east of the country, and that 544 people departed for Poland.
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The pro-Russian authorities in the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), one of the areas of occupied Ukraine that Russia has claimed to annex, have reported that two civilians were killed and two others injured overnight by shelling from Ukrainian forces. The claims have not been independently verified. The DPR is recognised as a legitimate authority by only three UN member states: Russia, Syria and North Korea.
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Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of Kyiv, has given an update on the energy situation in the region, saying that 16,000 homes remain without electricity.
In a message on Telegram, he told residents that “our power engineers have been working non-stop for the third day. During the day, we will restore electricity for all subscribers.”
He also asked that people prepared themselves for power outages as stabilisation shutdowns will take be taking place.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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A driving force behind the offensive in Bakhmut, the site of the fiercest fighting in the Donetsk region, is the Wagner mercenary group, say war observers and Ukraine troops.
The shadowy force was founded by the Kremlin-linked businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The 61-year-old has taken an increasingly prominent role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – leading some to question if he might harbour personal political ambitions.
Ukrainian officials say Prigozhin has been sending thousands of soldiers recruited in Russian prisons to the frontline, with the promise of a salary and an amnesty. Several Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut told AFP these alleged ex-convicts are used as a type of “human bait”.
“It starts at around 6pm, when it’s getting dark,” said Anton, a 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier from the 93th brigade who was resting after an injury. “These soldiers – with no experience – are sent towards our guns and stay there for a few minutes,” Anton, whose nickname is “Polyak”, told AFP.
He estimated seven or eight were sent every night.
“Their job is to advance towards us, forcing us to fire on them, to reveal our positions,” said Sergiy, a major in the 53rd brigade. “After that, they fire artillery or send more experienced commandos towards our positions.”
The Guardian’s Patrick Wintour reported this week that the leaders of the Wagner Group, the Russian mercenary group answerable to Vladimir Putin, now have as much political influence in the Kremlin as the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, according to a prominent Russian dissident and former political prisoner.
You can read more about Wagner here:
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BHP executive James Agar told a major mining summit in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday that the picture is mixed for the industry, with tight labour and energy markets the immediate challenge.
Like the broader economy, the mining industry has been experiencing a combination of “good” or demand-led inflation and rising costs from “bad” bottleneck inflation, AAP reports.
“The balance between the two has been skewed heavily towards the ‘bad’ since the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “The energy crisis in Europe is profound and will continue to drive volatility in energy markets.”
Australia is profiting from elevated prices for top commodities as war in Ukraine cuts Russian exports of gas, oil and critical minerals.
Investors already looking to replace China as a supplier are flocking to Australia. Saudi Arabia, one of more than 100 countries represented at the event, has sent its largest-ever delegation to the conference to tap local expertise.
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It had all the thrill of a daring commando raid, filmed live. But Saturday’s dawn raid on Russia’s Black Sea fleet at Sevastopol was not carried out by elite soldiers, but by 16 drones, nine in the air and seven at sea – prompting questions as to whether the attack represented a revolutionary moment in the history of warfare.
Three years ago, it was Dominic Cummings, before his eventful tenure at Downing Street, who wrote “a teenager will be able to deploy a drone from their smartphone to sink one of these multibillion-dollar platforms”, a reference to the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers, built at a total cost of £6.4bn. That time, he may have been right.
Certainly, as the war has run on Ukraine had found a way to threaten and even inflict serious damage on Russia’s Black Sea fleet – having already sunk its Moskva flagship by long-range missile in April. Now its attack craft appear to be ingenious, but ultimately simple suicide drones.
Of particular interest is the drone boat, which caused a buzz among naval analysts when one was found by the Russians washed up on Omega Bay, outside the entrance to Sevastopol harbour, last month. The same craft is thought to have been used at the weekend to ram into the Russian frigate seen briefly on the footage leaked to a Ukrainian journalist.
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UN says no grain ships to depart Wednesday, will resume Thursday
Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal that ensures safe wartime passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger. But despite grain-laden ships leaving Ukraine this week, the UN announced that such vessels would not travel on Wednesday, raising fears about the future of the initiative.
Amir Abdulla, the agreement’s UN coordinator, later tweeted: “We expect loaded ships to sail on Thursday.”
Exports of grain and foodstuffs from #Ukraine️ need to continue. Although no movements of vessels are planned for 2 November under the #BlackSeaGrainInitiative, we expect loaded ships to sail on Thursday.
— Amir M. Abdulla (@AmirMAbdulla) November 1, 2022
Three ships carrying 84,490 metric tons of corn, wheat and sunflower meal left Ukraine through a humanitarian sea corridor set up in July, while 36 other vessels cleared inspections near Turkey to head to their final destinations, the UN said. The corridor, brokered by Turkey and UN, was seen as a breakthrough to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Russia cited allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in announcing over the weekend that it was suspending its part in the grain deal. The Russian defence ministry said on Monday that ship traffic from ports in southern Ukraine was halted, calling the movement “unacceptable”.
A total of 14 ships sailed that day, including one chartered by the UN World Food Programme to bring wheat to Ethiopia, which along with neighbouring Somalia and Kenya, is badly affected by the worst drought in decades. The UN has warned that parts of Somalia are facing famine and thousands of people have died there.
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Russia calls vote on unfounded Ukraine biological weapons claims
The UN Security Council scheduled a vote Wednesday on a resolution that would establish a commission to investigate unfounded Russian claims that Ukraine and the United States are carrying out “military biological” activities that violate the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons, the Associated press reports.
Russia circulated a 310-page document to council members last week alleging that this biological activity is taking place in Ukraine with support from the US Defence Department. The document included an official complaint to the Security Council, allowed under Article VI of the 1972 biological weapons convention, and a draft resolution that would authorise the Security Council to set up a commission comprising the 15 council members to investigate Russia’s claims.
Russia’s initial allegation of secret American biological warfare labs in Ukraine, made soon after its invasion, has been disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and officials at the White House and Pentagon.
An Associated Press investigation in March found the claim was taking root online, uniting Covid-19 conspiracy theorists, QAnon adherents and some supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Authorities in Kyiv preparing generator-powered ‘heating stations’
Authorities in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled by continued Russian attacks, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday.
Missile and drone attacks have damaged 40% of Ukraine‘s energy infrastructure and have already briefly left large parts of Kyiv without power and water, prompting power rationing.
On Wednesday, Klitschko wrote on messaging app Telegram that city authorities were considering different scenarios due to missile attacks.
“The worst one is where there will be no electric power, water or district heating at all,” he said. “For that case, we are preparing over 1,000 heating points in our city.”
The locations will be equipped by generators and have a stock of necessities such as water, he said.
While urging Ukrainians who have already left the country to stay abroad for the winter, the government has accused Russia of provoking a new humanitarian crisis by forcing even more people to flee, scared by the prospects of having to survive with no power or heating during the cold season.
Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be with you for the next while.
Authorities in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled by continued Russian attacks, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday. The locations will be equipped by generators and have a stock of necessities such as water.
More on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has met with Kadri Simson, European Union commissioner for energy affairs, telling her that Russian forces have “seriously damaged” about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, in particular thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants. Because of the attacks, Ukraine has been forced to stop exports of electricity to Europe.
A long-term defence is needed for Ukraine’s grain export corridor and the world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt it, Zelenskiy has said, as more ships loaded despite Moscow suspending its participation in the UN-brokered deal.
Zelenskiy said ships were moving out of Ukrainian ports with their cargo thanks to the work of Turkey and the UN, the two main brokers of the 22 July grain export agreement.
In an interview with Sky News, Boris Johnson said that he did not think Vladimir Putin would use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and doing so “would immediately tender Russia’s resignation from the club of civilised nations”.
The Russian occupying government in the Kherson oblast has moved its administration further south to Skadovsk, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces has said. Russia told civilians on Tuesday to leave an area along the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, a major extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory.
Russian forces launched four missile and 26 airstrikes, and carried out 27 multiple launch rocket system attacks on more than 20 settlements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said.
The Ukrainian armed forces said its attack on Russian ammunition depots in the Zaporizhzhia oblast on 29 October destroyed five units of military equipment, killed 30 Russian personnel and wounded at least 100.
The UK’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, gave evidence to the international relations and defence committee in the UK parliament, addressing why he thinks Russia’s plans for a swift invasion failed. He also spoke of future Nato deployments.
The Ukrainian government accepted the resignation of Yuriy Vitrenko as chief executive of the state energy company Naftogaz. In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, Naftogaz said Vitrenko would remain in the role until 3 November, but gave no further details.
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