US President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday about efforts to increase security assistance to Ukraine and announced a new $425m military aid package, said the White House.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend a Nato defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday, according to Nato’s revised agenda published late on Wednesday.
The European Union (EU) held its first summit with the Gulf states on Wednesday, part of EU diplomatic courting of less familiar friends as it seeks new economic allies and enlists international support to isolate Russia.
Biden announces $425m in military aid for Ukraine
US President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday about efforts to increase security assistance to Ukraine and announced a new $425-million military aid package, said the White House.
The security package includes air defence capability, air-to-ground munitions, armoured vehicles and critical munitions, said the White House.
Zelensky, writing on Telegram, expressed gratitude to Biden, both parties of Congress and the American people for the new package and said he spoke to Biden about Kyiv’s five-point “victory plan”, which he presented to parliament on Wednesday.
“I proposed considering the possibility of joint weapons production,” he said. “We also discussed the importance of additional training for Ukrainian soldiers.”
Ukraine, he said, thanked the US “for its readiness to help Ukraine strengthen its positions to compel Russia towards honest diplomacy”.
Zelensky to attend Nato defence ministers’ meeting
Zelensky will attend a Nato defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday, according to Nato’s revised agenda published late on Wednesday.
Zelensky unveiled his “victory plan” on Wednesday, calling on allies to take urgent steps to bolster Kyiv at a precarious moment in a bid to end the war with Russia next year.
Earlier on Wednesday, Nato chief Mark Rutte told reporters he was aware of the details of Zelensky’s plan and that he was in touch with the alliance’s member countries on the next steps.
“The victory plan, of course, we are very much debating with them and using every opportunity to take that one step-by-step further,” said Rutte.
EU, seeking allies, holds first summit with Gulf states
The European Union (EU) held its first summit with the Gulf states on Wednesday, part of EU diplomatic courting of less familiar friends as it seeks new economic allies and enlists international support to isolate Russia.
Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the 27-member EU has reached out to other regional blocs, holding its first summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its first in eight years with the Community of Caribbean and Latin American Countries.
Its aim in meeting the six wealthy Arab states in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was to deepen cooperation and recognise those countries’ influence, particularly in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
In a joint statement at the end of the summit, the two sides said they would revive talks launched 35 years ago on a free trade agreement but suspended in 2008. They will also hold biennial summits, the next in Saudi Arabia in 2026.
The EU partnership with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would seek to boost cooperation in clean tech, critical minerals needed in the green transition, renewable energy and hydrogen production.
Brussels had wanted the GCC partners to agree on strong language on Russia’s military assault on Ukraine. The final statement affirmed the sovereignty of states, condemned attacks against civilians and critical infrastructure and deplored the “prolonged war”.
Zelensky sets out ‘victory plan’ as Kyiv faces precarious moment
Zelensky unveiled his much anticipated “victory plan” on Wednesday, calling on his allies to take urgent steps to bolster Kyiv at a precarious moment in a bid to end the war with Russia next year.
As Moscow’s forces advance in the east and a bleak winter of power cuts looms, he told parliament his plan contained five main points that were in the hands of his allies, including an unconditional invite to join Nato now and weapons support.
In return, he offered a Western role in developing Ukraine’s natural mineral resources and said Ukrainian troops could enhance the security of Nato and replace some of the US forces in Europe.
“Together with our partners, we must change the circumstances so that the war ends, regardless of what Putin wants. We must all change the circumstances so that Russia is forced to peace,” he told legislators and top officials.
Zelensky, who has unrelentingly called for a “fair” end to the war, said his plan was needed to force the Kremlin to negotiate in good faith, though he appeared to acknowledge in his speech that some allies see the war’s end game differently.
“We hear the word ‘negotiations’ from partners and the word ‘justice’ much less often. Ukraine is open to diplomacy, but honest [diplomacy],” he said.
His plan proposed establishing a “comprehensive non-nuclear strategic deterrence package” inside Ukraine to protect against threats from Russia and to destroy its military power. He did not elaborate, but said there was an additional secret addendum that he could not disclose.
The plan, he added, also envisaged a Western role investing in and jointly protecting Ukraine’s natural mineral resources from Russian attacks as well as post-war reconstruction pledges.
The plan is a major test of the political will of Kyiv’s key allies, who have poured in many billions of dollars of weapons to support Ukraine, while navigating fears of an “escalation” in a war against a nation with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
Outnumbered by Russian forces, Ukraine’s weary military has struggled to find a way to stop Moscow’s troops inching forward in the east, seizing devastated village after village and threatening the logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
The deep uncertainty from the looming change of power in the US has made the situation harder still and November’s election could propel Donald Trump, who has been consistently sceptical of Ukraine aid, back to the White House.
The Republican former president has pledged to rapidly end the war before entering office if he is re-elected, an idea that Kyiv’s supporters fear could involve crushing concessions in the name of a quick deal.
Zelenskiy said it was imperative Kyiv’s partners remained united.
He reiterated his months-old request for Western backing to conduct longer-range strikes into Russia, spoke of a “clear list of weapons” and air defences that were needed and the importance of continuing its operations in Russia, a reference to Kyiv’s surprise incursion in Russia’s Kursk region in August.
“If we start moving on this victory plan now, we may be able to end the war by next year at the latest,” he said.
Russia denounces Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’
Russia on Wednesday denounced Zelensky’s “victory plan”, saying he was trying to push Nato into a direct conflict with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters the plan Zelenskiy unveiled to his parliament would lead to disaster for the Ukrainian people.
“He is pushing Nato into direct conflict with our country," Zakharova said, adding that Zelensky could not rely on his Western partners.
“I can simply tell Zelensky, if he is not aware... The partners of the Kyiv regime have already demonstrated how they see Ukraine in the security architecture: they see Ukraine in a coffin and Ukrainian citizens in the grave as well.”
Russia has long accused the West of exploiting Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Moscow. The US and its Nato allies say they are helping Ukraine defend itself against an unjustified colonial-style land grab.
The Kremlin said earlier on Wednesday that it was too early to comment in detail on the plan but that Kyiv needed to “sober up” and realise the futility of the policies it was pursuing.
Ukraine calls for new sanctions on North Korea
Ukraine called on its allies on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Pyongyang after it said North Korea had become a de facto participant in the war in Ukraine on Russia’s side.
Zelensky told parliament in a speech to outline his victory plan that his spy services had confirmed North Korea’s supply of both weapons and people to Russia, echoing similar comments in recent days.
“These are workers for Russian factories to replace Russians killed in the war. And personnel for the Russian army. In fact, this is the participation of a second state in the war against Ukraine on the side of Russia,” said Zelensky.
The Kremlin has denied the allegation of North Korea sending people as “fake news”. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have said they will boost military ties, possibly including joint drills.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv’s allies should respond firmly, including by imposing new sanctions and further isolating Pyongyang, whose relations with Russia have grown closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Nato to make fresh push for common arms standards
Nato would make a fresh push for common munitions standards, said Secretary-General Rutte on Wednesday, aiming to drive down costs and improve ease of use on the battlefield as the alliance draws lessons from Russia’s war with Ukraine.
“This is not easy but it’s quite crucial,” Rutte told reporters in Brussels ahead of a two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers on Thursday and Friday.
He added that defence production needed to be further increased to enable Nato’s deterrence and defence.
“Standardisation will help here, also, of course, in a situation in which Nato countries have to really go to war ... that you know you’re totally interoperable and that the standards are there,” he said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Nato official said battle-decisive ammunition would be the priority as the new initiative kicks off, to be followed by other equipment.
Senior military officials have deplored Nato’s backsliding on standardisation in past decades and have attributed it to a defence market that has shrunk drastically since the end of the Cold War when Nato countries spent 3%-6% of GDP on the military.
Russia vows retaliation against Norway over diplomatic staff cut
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Moscow would retaliate against Norway over Oslo’s decision to cut Russian diplomatic staff.
Russia’s embassy in Norway said on Monday it was reducing its consular staff to two in accordance with a demand submitted by Norwegian authorities.
“We will take this latest unfriendly step into account when drawing up our future line towards Norway. We promise that our response will definitely be sensitive, we promise that, for the Norwegian side,” said Zakharova.
Norway’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday there had been a dialogue with Russia over time to ensure a diplomatic presence in both countries.
“We continue this dialogue. It is in Norway’s interest,” said a foreign ministry spokesperson in a written statement to Reuters. It added that, despite being neighbours, Russia and Norway had “little contact” due to “Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine”.
Russian military officer killed in ‘hit’ in Moscow region
A Russian military officer who had recently returned from fighting in Ukraine has been assassinated in what looked like an organised hit in a village in the Moscow region, the Tass state news agency reported on Wednesday.
Tass said law enforcement sources believed the killer had waited for the serviceman’s car before striking.
Russian media named the victim as Nikita Klenkov, whom the independent news outlet Important Stories named as a high-ranking officer in the GRU military intelligence service. There was no official confirmation of his identity.
Tass said at least three shots were fired into the side window of the victim’s car as he was driving, and the vehicle kept moving until it ran into the fence of a house.
Russia ‘using generative AI to ramp up disinformation’ - Kyiv
Russia was using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to ramp up disinformation campaigns against Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters on Wednesday on the sidelines of a cyber conference, branding them a global danger.
“This year, we see the density of cyber attacks [from Russia] continue, but there is more of an accent on disinformation,” Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister Anton Demokhin told Reuters.
“Now that generative AI came in, that allows disinformation narratives to be multiplied and distributed on a new more complex level.”
These new disinformation campaigns were hard to detect, he said, with extensive false activity on social media platforms to increase their credibility.
Ukrainian officials told Reuters in August that many Ukrainians were being targeted by online disinformation from Russia’s FSB security service and military intelligence agency.
Moscow in response has accused Ukraine and the West of unleashing a sophisticated information war against Russia.
On Monday US intelligence officials said that Russia was among countries using AI tools to attempt to sway American voters ahead of the November presidential election.
Demokhin, speaking on the sidelines of the Singapore International Cyber Week, said Ukraine had tracked Russian disinformation campaigns to countries across the world, and states needed to work together to manage disinformation.
He told Reuters that Ukraine itself was using generative AI to track disinformation campaigns but declined to comment on whether it was conducting its own cyber offensive attacks.
Ukraine requests monitoring mission at Odesa ports
Ukraine has asked the International Maritime Organization to send a monitoring mission to ports in the southern Odesa region amid intensified Russian attacks, said Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Wednesday.
In recent weeks, Russian troops have ramped up missile strikes on Ukraine’s southern port infrastructure and damaged a total of four foreign-flagged civilian vessels since 6 October.
“Amid increased Russian terror, Ukraine has officially appealed to the International Maritime Organization to immediately send an international monitoring mission to the ports,” Sybiha told a briefing in Odesa after meeting his counterparts from the Nordic-Baltic Eight group.
He stressed that Russian strikes on port infrastructure, grain storage facilities and civilian vessels threatened global food security.
Ukraine attacked by over 130 Russian drones in latest strike
Russia launched one of its largest drone salvos at Ukraine in recent months, targeting Kyiv and other cities and igniting a fire at an industrial facility in the western region of Ternopil, said officials on Wednesday.
Air defences shot down 68 of 136 drones used in the attack, the air force said in its readout. Two drones got back to Russia and 64 were unaccounted for, possibly after being intercepted by electronic warfare systems, it added.
Two drones hit unidentified targets, according to the report on the attack, which took place hours before Zelensky unveiled his plan to fend off Russia’s invasion.
Almost 50 firefighters put out a “large-scale fire” in the Ternopil region, the military administration wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“There were no injuries,” it said, declining to name the affected facility.
The air force said Russia also fired two missiles at the northern Chernihiv and eastern Donetsk regions, but did not say what happened to them. There was no immediate comment from Russia on its latest strike.
Police in neighbouring Moldova said that debris of what appeared to be a missile had been found to the country’s north, about 4km from its border with Ukraine’s central Vinnytsia region. It was not immediately clear if it related to the latest or a previous attack.
The drone attack caused a fire at a private residence in the region outside the capital and damaged several other buildings, according to Governor Ruslan Kravchenko.
The region was under air alert for more than 12 hours because of the attack. Kravchenko said there were no casualties.
All the drones that targeted Kyiv overnight were destroyed and there were no reports of damage or injuries, said Serhiy Popko, the city military administration’s chief.
Russian strikes have pounded Ukraine’s power facilities this year and long blackouts and other outages are almost certain to make the looming winter difficult for ordinary Ukrainians far from the frontline where Russian troops have been advancing.
Russia to push to end dollar dominance at BRICS summit
Russia is seeking to convince BRICS countries to build an alternative platform for international payments that would be immune to Western sanctions when it hosts the group’s leaders at a summit next week.
President Vladimir Putin is keen to build up BRICS — which has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — as a powerful counterweight to the West in global politics and trade.
The 22-24 October summit in the city of Kazan is being presented by Moscow as evidence that Western efforts to isolate Russia have failed. It wants other countries to work with it to overhaul the global financial system and end the dominance of the US dollar.
Central to that is the proposal for a new payments system based on a network of commercial banks linked to each other through the BRICS central banks, according to a document prepared by Russia’s finance ministry and central bank, distributed to journalists ahead of the summit.
The system would use blockchain technology to store and transfer digital tokens backed by national currencies. This, in turn, would then allow those currencies to be easily and securely exchanged, bypassing the need for dollar transactions.
Russia sees it as a way to resolve increasing problems in settling trade payments, even with friendly countries such as China, where local banks fear they could be hit by secondary sanctions by the US.
Yaroslav Lissovolik, founder of the BRICS+ Analytics think tank, said the creation of such a system was technically feasible but would take time.
“After the significant expansion of BRICS membership last year, the attainment of consensus is arguably harder,” he said.
For the summit itself, Russia says it expects to welcome leaders from all nine BRICS members and about 15 other countries keen to work as partners with the group, as well as the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, which has been invited to join. DM