Russia has detained an Uzbek citizen who investigators believe placed the bomb which killed Lt Gen Igor Kirillov on the instructions of Ukraine’s security service, the country’s investigative committee has said. The 29-year-old had been recruited by Ukrainian special services and promised $100,000 and travel to the European Union, the news agency Tass reported, citing the country’s domestic spy agency, the FSB. The man was arrested in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha district of Moscow, the news agency Ria reported, citing interior ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk.
The Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Russia will raise the assassination in Moscow of top Russian general Igor Kirillov by Ukraine at the UN security council on 20 December. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said everyone involved in the killing would be found and punished.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine had repeatedly dropped white phosphorus munitions from drones in September. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said law enforcement agencies had evidence of the use of such munitions by Ukraine, but she did not provide details of the evidence.
Ukraine on Wednesday dismissed a Russian allegation that its drones repeatedly dropped white phosphorus in September as “false and nonsensical”, saying that Kyiv was fully compliant with its international arms control obligations. “We are confident that by making such false accusations, Moscow seeks to shift blame for its own actions and deceive foreign audiences,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters in a written statement.
The Ukrainian air force said on Wednesday that Russia launched 81 drones to attack Ukraine overnight of which 30 “imitator drones” did not reach their targets and 51 were shot down.
Russian chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday that arms control was now a thing of the past due to the lack of trust between Russia and the West. Gerasimov said Russia had seen increased activity by the US-led Nato military alliance near Russia’s borders.
Russian forces took control of the villages of Trudove and Stari Terny in eastern Ukraine, the Russian state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing the defence ministry. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield reports.
North Korean forces have suffered “several hundred” casualties fighting against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, according to a senior US military official. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s war effort, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year. “Several hundred casualties is our latest estimate that the DPRK has suffered,” the official said on condition of anonymity, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
Slovak prime minister Robert Fico will meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to discuss continuation of gas transit through Ukraine, Fico said on Wednesday. Fico told a parliamentary committee that while the Ukrainian government rejected extending a transit contract with Russia’s Gazprom, alternative solutions were possible to keep the transit next year.
Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy, retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, will travel to Kyivand several other European capitals in early January on a fact-finding trip, according to two sources with knowledge of planning. They said he would visit senior leaders in Kyiv, and his team was working to set up meetings with leaders in other European capitals, such as Rome and Paris, though plans could change.
Nato has taken over as planned from the US in coordinating western military aid to Ukraine, a source said on Tuesday, in a move widely seen as aiming tosafeguard the support mechanism against Donald Trump. Nato’s military headquarters, Shape, confirmed its Ukraine mission was assuming responsibilities from the US and international organisations.
The headquarters of Nato’s new Ukraine mission, dubbed Nato Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), is located at Clay Barracks, a US base in the German town of Wiesbaden. It takes over from the US-led Ramstein group. NSATU is set to have a total strength of about 700 personnel, including troops stationed at Shape in Belgium and logistics hubs in Poland and Romania.
Britain on Tuesday sanctioned 20 ships it said had been carrying illicit Russian oil. “As [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s oil revenues continue to fuel the fires of his illegal war, Ukrainian families are enduring cold, dark nights, often without heating, light or electricity, targeted by Russia’s relentless missile attacks,” said Keir Starmer, the British prime minister.
Russia has detained an Uzbek citizen who investigators believe placed the bomb which killed Lt Gen Igor Kirillov on the instructions of Ukraine’s security service, the country’s investigative committee has said. The 29-year-old had been recruited by Ukrainian special services and promised $100,000 and travel to the European Union, the news agency Tass reported, citing the country’s domestic spy agency, the FSB. The man was arrested in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha district of Moscow, the news agency Ria reported, citing interior ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk.
The Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Russia will raise the assassination in Moscow of top Russian general Igor Kirillov by Ukraine at the UN security council on 20 December. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said everyone involved in the killing would be found and punished.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine had repeatedly dropped white phosphorus munitions from drones in September. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said law enforcement agencies had evidence of the use of such munitions by Ukraine, but she did not provide details of the evidence.
Ukraine on Wednesday dismissed a Russian allegation that its drones repeatedly dropped white phosphorus in September as “false and nonsensical”, saying that Kyiv was fully compliant with its international arms control obligations. “We are confident that by making such false accusations, Moscow seeks to shift blame for its own actions and deceive foreign audiences,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters in a written statement.
Russia is ready to consider any proposals from the United States to bring mutual relations back to “normality”, Russian state agency TASS cited Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday. Moscow has not yet received a response to its request asking Washington to approve Russia’s new ambassador to the United States, Ryabkov added.
Finland is considering pulling out of an international agreement banning anti-personnel landmines because of Russia’s use of such weapons in Ukraine, Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said. Leaving the 1997 Ottawa Treaty prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines would require majority backing by Finland’s parliament.
The Ukrainian air force said on Wednesday that Russia launched 81 drones to attack Ukraine overnight of which 30 “imitator drones” did not reach their targets and 51 were shot down.
Russian chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday that arms control was now a thing of the past due to the lack of trust between Russia and the West. Gerasimov said Russia had seen increased activity by the US-led Nato military alliance near Russia’s borders.
Russian air defence systems are repelling a Ukrainian missile attack in the Rostov region of southern Russia, local governor Yuri Slyusar said on Wednesday. Three out of four missiles fired were shot down, and according to preliminary data there were no casualties, Slyusar said on Telegram.
Two Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber planes carried out patrol flights over neutral waters of the Bering and Chukchi Seas, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the defence ministry. Russia, since the start of the war in Ukraine, has stepped up the frequency of such flights, as well as other military exercises, in order to project a show of strength beyond its borders.
Russian forces took control of the villages of Trudove and Stari Terny in eastern Ukraine, the Russian state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing the defence ministry. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield reports.
North Korean forces have suffered “several hundred” casualties fighting against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, according to a senior US military official. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s war effort, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year. “Several hundred casualties is our latest estimate that the DPRK has suffered,” the official said on condition of anonymity, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
Slovak prime minister Robert Fico will meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to discuss continuation of gas transit through Ukraine, Fico said on Wednesday. Fico told a parliamentary committee that while the Ukrainian government rejected extending a transit contract with Russia’s Gazprom, alternative solutions were possible to keep the transit next year.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and the Ukraine live blog for today.
For more, see our latest story on the killing of a Russian general here:
Russian air defence systems are repelling a Ukrainian missile attack in the Rostov region of southern Russia, local governor Yuri Slyusar said on Wednesday.
Three out of four missiles fired were shot down, and according to preliminary data there were no casualties, Slyusar said on Telegram.
Two Russian Tu-95 strategic bomber planes carried out patrol flights over neutral waters of the Bering and Chukchi Seas, Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the defence ministry.
Russia, since the start of the war in Ukraine, has stepped up the frequency of such flights, as well as other military exercises, in order to project a show of strength beyond its borders.
The flights were carried out in strict accordance with international rules, the ministry said.
A woman walks past a building damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine 12 December 2024. Photograph: Inna Varenytsia/Reuters
Russia is ready to consider any proposals from the United States to bring mutual relations back to “normality”, Russian state agency TASS cited Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Wednesday.
Moscow has not yet received a response to its request asking Washington to approve Russia’s new ambassador to the United States, Ryabkov added.
Finland is considering pulling out of an international agreement banning anti-personnel landmines because of Russia’s use of such weapons in Ukraine, Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said.
Leaving the 1997 Ottawa Treaty prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines would require majority backing by Finland’s parliament.
Quitting the agreement would enable Finland’s military to start stockpiling mines again for the first time since the Nordic country, which is now a member of both NATO and the European Union, signed the treaty in 2012.
Hakkanen told Reuters:
I have commissioned an evaluation of whether the use of anti-personnel mines is a strengthening factor for Finland’s defence and whether we should have the ability to use them. And this is from a defensive premise.
Russia has detained an Uzbek citizen who investigators believe placed the bomb which killed Lt Gen Igor Kirillov on the instructions of Ukraine’s security service, the country’s investigative committee has said. The 29-year-old had been recruited by Ukrainian special services and promised $100,000 and travel to the European Union, the news agency Tass reported, citing the country’s domestic spy agency, the FSB. The man was arrested in the village of Chernoye in the Balashikha district of Moscow, the news agency Ria reported, citing interior ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk.
The Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Russia will raise the assassination in Moscow of top Russian general Igor Kirillov by Ukraine at the UN security council on 20 December. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said everyone involved in the killing would be found and punished.
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Ukraine had repeatedly dropped white phosphorus munitions from drones in September. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said law enforcement agencies had evidence of the use of such munitions by Ukraine, but she did not provide details of the evidence.
Ukraine on Wednesday dismissed a Russian allegation that its drones repeatedly dropped white phosphorus in September as “false and nonsensical”, saying that Kyiv was fully compliant with its international arms control obligations. “We are confident that by making such false accusations, Moscow seeks to shift blame for its own actions and deceive foreign audiences,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters in a written statement.
The Ukrainian air force said on Wednesday that Russia launched 81 drones to attack Ukraine overnight of which 30 “imitator drones” did not reach their targets and 51 were shot down.
Russian chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday that arms control was now a thing of the past due to the lack of trust between Russia and the West. Gerasimov said Russia had seen increased activity by the US-led Nato military alliance near Russia’s borders.
Russian forces took control of the villages of Trudove and Stari Terny in eastern Ukraine, the Russian state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday, citing the defence ministry. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield reports.
North Korean forces have suffered “several hundred” casualties fighting against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, according to a senior US military official. Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to reinforce Russia’s war effort, including to the Kursk border region, where Ukrainian forces seized territory earlier this year. “Several hundred casualties is our latest estimate that the DPRK has suffered,” the official said on condition of anonymity, using an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name.
Slovak prime minister Robert Fico will meet European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday to discuss continuation of gas transit through Ukraine, Fico said on Wednesday. Fico told a parliamentary committee that while the Ukrainian government rejected extending a transit contract with Russia’s Gazprom, alternative solutions were possible to keep the transit next year.
Donald Trump’s incoming Ukraine envoy, retired Lt Gen Keith Kellogg, will travel to Kyivand several other European capitals in early January on a fact-finding trip, according to two sources with knowledge of planning. They said he would visit senior leaders in Kyiv, and his team was working to set up meetings with leaders in other European capitals, such as Rome and Paris, though plans could change.
Nato has taken over as planned from the US in coordinating western military aid to Ukraine, a source said on Tuesday, in a move widely seen as aiming tosafeguard the support mechanism against Donald Trump. Nato’s military headquarters, Shape, confirmed its Ukraine mission was assuming responsibilities from the US and international organisations.
The headquarters of Nato’s new Ukraine mission, dubbed Nato Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), is located at Clay Barracks, a US base in the German town of Wiesbaden. It takes over from the US-led Ramstein group. NSATU is set to have a total strength of about 700 personnel, including troops stationed at Shape in Belgium and logistics hubs in Poland and Romania.
Britain on Tuesday sanctioned 20 ships it said had been carrying illicit Russian oil. “As [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s oil revenues continue to fuel the fires of his illegal war, Ukrainian families are enduring cold, dark nights, often without heating, light or electricity, targeted by Russia’s relentless missile attacks,” said Keir Starmer, the British prime minister.
Gasping, choking. On Ukraine’s frontline, the country’s soldiers report what statistics show: a persistent use of chemical weapons, mostly teargas, whose deployment on the battlefield is illegal. The US and UK go further in their accusations and say Russia is using another toxic agent, chloropicrin, first employed to gruesome effect in the trenches of the first world war.
Behind the effort are the radiological, chemical and biological defence troops of the Russian ministry of defence, known as RKhBZ. The US and UK say they are a specialised unit, responsible in part for the use of chemicals on the battlefield, and their head was Igor Kirillov, killed in Moscow by a bomb hidden in a scooter, in an attack that was carried out by Kyiv.
Ukraine says 4,800 uses of chemical weapons by Russia have been documented since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, and more than 2,000 people hospitalised. Multiple media reports, citing soldiers’ testimony, report that small first-person view (FPV) drones are used to drop gas grenades on Ukrainian positions, choking unprotected soldiers or forcing them into the open so they can be picked off.
In May, the US said Russia was using teargas and other riot control agents on the battlefield – and also chloropicrin. Banned by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the battlefield, chloropicrin is a faint yellow liquid that, when released near human beings, causes choking, dizziness, intense eye pain, skin irritation, vomiting and, in the most severe cases, death.
Ukraine dismisses 'false' Russian allegation of Kyiv's white phosphorus usage
Ukraine on Wednesday dismissed a Russian allegation that its drones repeatedly dropped white phosphorus in September as “false and nonsensical”, saying that Kyiv was fully compliant with its international arms control obligations.
“We are confident that by making such false accusations, Moscow seeks to shift blame for its own actions and deceive foreign audiences,” foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told Reuters in a written statement.
