recent news on ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war

Featured content, us and eu strug­gle to agree on fund­ing for ukraine.

Con­cern is grow­ing over Ukraine’s abil­i­ty to con­tin­ue de­fence against Rus­sia should de­lays of West­ern funds per­sist.

Rus­sia boosts size of armed forces by 170,000 troops

Pres­i­dent Putin’s de­cree takes num­ber of Russ­ian ser­vice per­son­nel to 1.32 mil­lion amid con­tin­u­ing Ukraine war.

Lula faces nu­mer­ous chal­lenges as Brazil as­sumes G20 pres­i­den­cy

Lula also takes over at a time of bit­ter in­ter­nal di­vi­sions in the group, lega­cy of out­go­ing pres­i­dent Naren­dra Modi.

Moscow ac­cus­es Russ­ian-Ital­ian na­tion­al of Ukrain­ian-or­dered bomb at­tacks

The FSB said that the sus­pect was trained by spe­cial forces of NATO mem­ber Latvia to bomb a rail­way and mil­i­tary base.

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A hard, bloody win­ter awaits ukrain­ian and russ­ian sol­diers, say ex­perts.

Nei­ther side is ready to give up, and nei­ther can win in the medi­um term, but ne­go­ti­a­tions could come next year.

Russ­ian air strikes in­jure 10 in Donet­sk, Ukraine says

The strikes come as Rus­sia in­ten­si­fies its at­tacks in the east and claims to cap­ture the con­test­ed vil­lage of Khro­move.

Rus­sia to re­quire for­eign­ers to sign ‘loy­al­ty agree­ment’

Vis­i­tors would be re­quired to re­spect Russ­ian val­ues and laws that en­sure the coun­try’s na­tion­al in­ter­est.

Ukraine ‘will not back down’ against Rus­sia as it urges West­ern sup­port

‘Ukraine is not go­ing to back down’, of­fi­cial says as Kyiv seeks to keep Rus­sia con­flict on agen­da amid Is­rael-Gaza war.

Rus­sia un­leash­es as­sault waves on Ukraine’s Avdi­iv­ka, refugees on Nordics

Rus­sia is los­ing man­pow­er at pace, says Ukraine, whose army has been most­ly on the de­fen­sive in re­cent days.

Rus­sia-Ukraine war up­dates: Kyiv vows it ‘won’t back down’

Here are all the de­vel­op­ments in the Rus­sia-Ukraine war from Wednes­day No­vem­ber 29, 2023.

Ukraine says wife of mil­i­tary spy chief was poi­soned

Ukrain­ian of­fi­cials say Mar­i­an­na Bu­dano­va, wife of Kyry­lo Bu­danov, has been hos­pi­talised due to heavy met­als poi­son­ing.

Baltic for­eign min­is­ters pull out of OSCE sum­mit over Rus­sia in­vite

Min­is­ters of Es­to­nia, Latvia, and Lithua­nia say pres­ence of Sergey Lavrov risks le­git­imis­ing Russ­ian war in Ukraine.

NATO chief urges al­lies to ‘stay the course’ in sup­port­ing Ukraine

Jens Stoltenberg meets al­liance’s top diplo­mats amid some re­sis­tance in US, Eu­rope to keep fund­ing war against Rus­sia.

Ukraine storm death toll ris­es to 10, thou­sands res­cued in the south

Wors­en­ing weath­er in Ode­sa, Kharkiv, Myko­laiv and Kyiv puts pres­sure on emer­gency ser­vices, al­ready stretched by war.

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Russia-Ukraine war

China’s Xi welcomes President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus to Beijing

The US is out of money for Ukraine, which could hinder the fight against Russia, White House warns

Ukrainian diplomats negotiate both climate change and Russia’s war on their nation at COP28 in Dubai

Watchdog: Western arms companies failed to ramp up production capacity in 2022 due to Ukraine war

Kyiv investigates allegations Russian forces shot surrendering Ukrainian soldiers

Defense head calls out those who advocate isolationism and ‘an American retreat from responsibility’

Ex-president barred from leaving Ukraine amid alleged plan to meet with Hungary’s Viktor Orban

Ukrainian spy agency stages train explosions on a Russian railroad in Siberia, Ukrainian media say

Ruling in Russian Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva’s doping case could be delayed to February

Russia’s foreign minister faces Western critics at security meeting and walks out after speech

Russian missile strikes in eastern Ukraine rip through buildings, kill 2 and bury families in rubble

Top diplomats arrive in North Macedonia for security meeting as some boycott Russia’s participation

Ukraine insists it sees no sign of NATO war fatigue even as fighting and weapons supplies stall

Putin accuses the West of trying to ‘dismember and plunder’ Russia in a ranting speech

Ukraine says spy chief’s wife is being treated for poisoning with heavy metals

Tornadoes forecast in the Black Sea region as storm reportedly impacts Russian military operations

Putin signs Russia’s largest national budget, bolstering military spending

Russian FM says he plans to attend OSCE meeting in North Macedonia

Powerful storm pounds the Black Sea region, leaving more than a half-million people without power

Ukraine has a new way to get its grain to the world despite Russia’s threat in the Black Sea

Russia says it downed dozens of Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow, following a mass strike on Kyiv

Intercepted calls from the front lines in Ukraine show a growing number of Russian soldiers want out

Ukraine’s military says Russia launched its largest drone attack since the start of the invasion

Slovak leader calls the war between Russia and Ukraine a frozen conflict

Ukraine aims a major drone attack at Crimea as Russia tries to capture a destroyed eastern city

French foreign minister says China’s cooperation is vital in ending Russia-Ukraine war

Hungary set to receive millions in EU money despite Orban’s threats to veto Ukraine aid

Ukraine says 3 civilians were killed in a daylight Russian cluster bomb attack

The White House is concerned Iran may provide ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine

Poland set to get more than 5 billion euros in EU money after commission approves recovery plan

Germany’s defense minister unveils more help for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion

10 years later, a war-weary Ukraine reflects on events that began its collision course with Russia

Defending champ Italy qualifies for Euro 2024 after tense draw with Ukraine

US Defense Secretary Austin meets with Zelenskyy in Kyiv to show steadfast support for Ukraine

An orphaned teenager who was taken to Russia early in the Ukraine war is back home with relatives

War in Ukraine

White House warns Congress that inaction on aid will 'kneecap' Ukraine

As its counteroffensive fizzles, Ukraine battles itself, Russia and a shift in the world’s attention

Latest stories.

Ukraine spy chief’s wife undergoes treatment for suspected poisoning with heavy metals

Russia launches largest drone attack of the war on Ukrainian capital

Ukraine aims a major drone attack at Crimea as Russia tries to capture a destroyed eastern city

Zelenskyy says he survived no fewer than 5 Russian assassination attempts

Editors' picks.

Inside Putin's push to rewrite Russian history in favor of his war in Ukraine

What might Kim have that Putin's military needs in Ukraine?

The man behind the battle to return Ukrainian children from Russia

Photos: 24 hours that took Russia to the brink of civil war

A new stove helps this elderly Ukrainian to face the winter despite war

NBC News NOW

Wife of ukraine spy chief hospitalized after allegedly being poisoned.

Ukraine says Kyiv hit by largest drone attack since war started

Dramatic battle video shows Ukrainian raid on Russian trenches near Bakhmut

Ukraine sacks top cyber defense officials amid graft probe.

Defense Secretary Austin makes unannounced visit to Ukraine

Russian artist who protested Ukraine war gets 7 years in prison in latest crackdown on free speech

Israel-Hamas war

Highlights: joe biden and xi jinping talk military cooperation, climate and tawain.

Alleged Russian smuggling network charged with sending weapons components from the U.S. to Ukraine

Russia says Ukrainian forces have crossed a key river but face 'hell fire' and death

Putin and top military leaders visit southern military headquarters to assess his war in Ukraine

Russian hackers cut power to some Ukrainians last year, government official says

Ukraine hails 'historic step' as European Union takes Kyiv closer to membership

Republicans threaten to nix Ukraine aid unless Democrats agree to tighten immigration laws

Zelenskyy invites Trump to Ukraine, says he needs just 24 minutes to explain to him why he ‘can’t bring peace’

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Ukraine war latest: Ukrainians 'losing trust' in Volodymyr Zelenskyy; Vladimir Putin to make rare trip abroad

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "paying for mistakes he has made", the mayor of Kyiv has said. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates this week. Ask our military analysts a question using the form below.

Monday 4 December 2023 20:27, UK

• Ukrainians 'losing trust in Zelenskyy', Kyiv mayor says
• Putin to make rare trip outside Russia
• Russian deputy commander killed in Ukraine
• Podcast : Why diplomats are turning attention back to Ukraine - as pressure mounts for Kyiv to negotiate
• Diana Magnay analysis: How Kremlin creates nation of patriots - and makes Russians ignore uncomfortable truths
• Explained: What is happening at key Avdiivka battleground?

Ask a question or make a comment

Over the coming weeks we're reviving our series in which Sky News military analysts and correspondents answer your questions about the war.

Among those on hand to answer are defence specialists  Michael Clarke  and  Sean Bell , who can inform on the military operations on the ground, and Moscow correspondent Diana Magnay , who offers insight from inside Russia.

Use the form above to submit a question.

A nuclear waste site in the UK was hacked into by cyber groups linked to Russia and China, The Guardian reports.

An investigation by the paper found the IT systems at Sellafield in Cumbria were compromised by the cyber groups, with sources suggesting it was likely they accessed high level confidential material at the site.

It is unclear when the systems were hacked but sources said breaches were first detected in 2015.

"Sources suggest it is likely foreign hackers have accessed the highest echelons of confidential material at the site," the newspaper said.

What do we know about the site?

The Magnox Swarf Storage Silo at Sellafield has been described as the most hazardous building in western Europe.

It was built in the late 1950s to receive waste from the UK's growing fleet of nuclear reactors.

For decades the waste has been dissolving into an intensely radioactive sludge releasing hydrogen gas into the air above it - a potentially explosive mix that has to be constantly ventilated.

The Hungarian prime minister has demanded that Ukraine's membership in the EU and billions of euros in funding meant for the country be taken off the agenda at a summit of the bloc's leaders next week.

In a letter to European Council president Charles Michel, who will chair the 14-15 December summit in Brussels, Viktor Orban insists a "strategic discussion" is needed first about Ukraine's European future and warns that forcing a decision could destroy EU unity.

Decisions on the EU's enlargement and a review of its long-term budget, which includes £42.8bn in aid for Kyiv, can only be taken unanimously by all 27 member countries.

"I respectfully urge you not to invite the European Council to decide on these matters in December as the obvious lack of consensus would inevitably lead to failure," Mr Orban wrote in the letter, dated 4 December and seen by the Associated Press.

EU leaders, he writes, "must avoid this counterproductive scenario for the sake of unity, our most important asset".

He does not explicitly say that Hungary would veto any moves to open membership talks with Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has today been touring an exhibition of Russian achievements.

The Russian leader was given an explanation of a Soviet nuclear bomb design and shown a mock control panel for launching a nuclear test, before observing images of a blast and mushroom cloud through a viewing window.

Since the start of the Ukraine war, Mr Putin has frequently reminded the West of the size and capabilities of Russia's nuclear arsenal.

He has deployed tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus and shifted Russia's stance on two major arms treaties, while insisting that Moscow is not recklessly "brandishing" atomic weapons or changing its doctrine on their use.

Mr Putin is expected this month to confirm that he will run for another six-year term in March.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "paying for mistakes he has made" and the Ukrainian people are wondering why the country was not better prepared, the mayor of Kyiv has said in interviews with various news outlets.

Vitali Klitschko said Ukrainians were losing trust in the wartime leader's handling of the crisis. 

"People wonder why we weren't better prepared for this war, why Zelenskyy denied until the end that it would come to this," Mr Klitschko told the Swiss media outlet 20 Minuten .

"People see who's effective and who’s not. And there were and still are a lot of expectations. Zelenskyy is paying for mistakes he has made."

Asked what mistakes Mr Zelenskyy had made, the mayor said: "People wonder why we weren't better prepared for this war.

"Or why it was possible that the Russians were able to reach Kyiv so quickly.

"There was too much information that didn't match reality. But still, the president has an important function today and we must support him until the end of the war.

"But at the end of this war, every politician will pay for his successes or failures."

The former boxing champion also claimed the Ukrainian leader had authoritarian tendencies.

He told the German news magazine  Der Spiegel , in a separate interview: "At some point we will no longer be any different from Russia, where everything depends on the whim of one man."

The comments come as Ukraine presses on with its counteroffensive, which has made small gains but is not moving at the speed they had hoped.

Vladimir Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week, according to the Russian news outlet Shot reports, which cited the president's aide Yury Ushakov.

The visit comes after the OPEC+ group of oil producers, which includes all three countries, agreed last Thursday to voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels a day.

Mr Putin has rarely travelled abroad in recent years, and mostly to states of the former Soviet Union. 

His last trip beyond those countries was to China in October.

Diplomatic envoys of the EU's 27 member countries will meet tomorrow to start debating a sensitive proposal to launch membership talks with Ukraine, officials and diplomats have said.

The meeting marks the start of preparations among the 27 for a December summit of the bloc's leaders that is due to assess and decide on EU integration prospects for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Bosnia and others.

Specifically, the Tuesday meeting will start debating a draft agreement of the leaders' summit. 

EU diplomats and officials said the first draft prepared for discussion was bound to change.

The initial draft reads: "The European Council decides to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and with Moldova."

For Georgia, it said the country would get EU candidate status "on the understanding" that Tbilisi implements outstanding conditions.

For Bosnia, the initial draft stated the bloc was "ready to open EU accession negotiations... once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved".

Ukrainian operatives used two drones to destroy Russian ammunition and equipment depots near the occupied city of Svatove in the eastern Luhansk region, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said.

In a statement on Facebook the SBU said it gathered intelligence about the depots' locations and carried out overnight strikes.

"We continue to work until complete victory," they added.

What do we know about Svatove?

The Russians are trying to dig in at Svatove, east of the Oskil River.

The region is important to them because Svatove controls the last good supply route from Belgorod in Russia to their forces further south.

The first 30 empty lorries have driven through a newly opened Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv crossing on the Ukrainian-Polish border, which Kyiv hopes will offer relief as Polish driver protests have blocked other land corridors.

Ukraine's border service said today four border crossings were now under blockade by Polish hauliers, whose protests have paralysed traffic for weeks.

Polish hauliers' main demand is to stop Ukrainian truckers having permit-free access to the EU, something that Kyiv and Brussels say is impossible.

For context : Polish drivers have been blocking several border crossings to Ukraine for nearly a month in protest.

Drivers from Poland and Slovakia both complain that their Ukrainian peers offer cheaper prices for their services and also transport goods within the EU, rather than just between the bloc and Ukraine.

They demand the EU reinstate a system of granting a limited number of permits to Ukrainian companies to operate in the bloc and for European truckers to enter Ukraine.

We reported earlier that Kyiv officials had accused Russia of a war crime after footage emerged on social media appearing to show two uniformed Ukrainian soldiers being shot while surrendering (see post at 8.07am).

Now, Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military grouping that is fighting near the eastern town of Avdiivka, has said the "group of Russian occupiers who committed this crime ceased to exist".

The Ukrainska Pravda reports that he made the comments on air during a news broadcast.

He added that criminal proceedings have been initiated and the investigation is ongoing.

"Then these materials will be handed over to international institutions dealing with war crimes," he added.

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Outnumbered and outgunned by Russians in brutal riverside battle

A Ukrainian soldier on the east side of the Dnipro river tells the BBC about life on the front line.

Russia accused of killing unarmed Ukrainian POWs

Kyiv investigates a video said to show two surrendering Ukrainian soldiers being shot by Russians.

Ukraine spy chief's wife poisoned, says Kyiv

Heavy metals were used to poison Kyrylo Budanov's wife, Marianna, an intelligence official tells the BBC.

Ancient treasures back in Ukraine after court battle

Golden helmets and precious gems are sent to Kyiv after a 10-year row with Russia over their ownership.

Zelensky is up for re-election. But can Ukraine vote?

Some right-wing US politicians want Ukraine to vote as scheduled next year. Ukrainians don't.

White House warns of urgent need for Ukraine aid deal

Experts say only the US can supply enough weapons for Kyiv to keep fighting, but Congress is sceptical.

Ukraine must speed up fortifying front - Zelensky

Ukraine's president meets frontline commanders and says winter is a new phase of the war with Russia.

Russian general killed in Ukraine, official confirms

A regional governor confirms the death in action of Maj Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, reported last week.

The war explained

War in maps: Ukraine claims foothold across key river

Ukraine's counter-offensive may have achieved a breakthrough ahead of the expected harsh winter months.

Rich nations say Ukraine support 'will never waver'

G7 bloc insists that the Israel-Gaza war will not weaken its resolve to back Kyiv.

Ukrainecast: What’s life like inside Russian-occupied Mariupol?

Inside Mariupol

Russia likely targeted Ukraine nuclear plant - Zelensky

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the plant's operations were unaffected.

Russia goes back to prisons to feed its war machine

Russia's defence ministry has taken over from Wagner in recruiting inmates to fight in Ukraine.

On the ground

'Denied medicine until they take a Russian passport'

Ukrainians in occupied territories are being forced to take Russian citizenship, a report finds.

The children forced from home by Russian attacks

Mandatory evacuations from the frontlines are swelling the ranks of Ukraine's displaced millions.

The last residents of a bitterly contested Ukrainian town

Just over 1,000 civilians remain in Avdiivka, focus of a bloody Russian assault in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine troop build-up reported across Dnipro river

Ukraine appears to be expanding its forces on the Russian-occupied left or eastern bank of the river.

Rebuilding shattered lives after Ukraine’s dam collapse

Despite water shortages, losing loved ones, homes and crops, people affected by the collapse of Ukraine's Kakhovka dam are determined to rebuild.

Latest updates

Volunteers wrap 7,200 gifts for Ukrainian children

Children in schools, hospitals and orphanages will receive the gifts in the lead up to Christmas.

'He died protecting people who needed protecting'

Former British Army sniper Christopher Perryman was killed while fighting in Ukraine.

Glasgow to twin with war-torn Ukrainian city

The southern port city of Mykolaiv was chosen to replace Rostov-On-Don in Russia as a twin city.

Putin to boost Russian troop numbers to 1.3m

Russia's president signs a decree aimed at increasing numbers of serving military personnel by 170,000.

Putin's favourite conductor to run Bolshoi

Russia's best-known conductor is appointed head of the Bolshoi as well as the Mariinsky Theatre.