Russia has ‘no other options’ but to win in Ukraine, defence minister says

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday that his forces were maintaining “active defence” in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and that Moscow had no choice but to win.

Shoigu said the autumn campaign was now under way and acknowledged in comments to a reporter for Rossiya-1 state TV that the situation on the front was difficult in places.

He said:

The forces are maintaining active defence on the necessary, essential fronts. In some places it’s harder, in others simpler.

But I can say that the lads and the commander are performing confidently, and reliably defending what we need to defend at the moment – those places, obviously, where the Ukrainian armed forces are trying to break through.

The main task was to knock out enemy weaponry, he added.

Russia controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory after more than 18 months of war, but has been forced to pull back from large areas it seized in its initial invasion near the capital Kyiv and in the south and east.

Ukraine launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive in June that has recaptured more than a dozen villages but has been complicated by vast minefields and heavily entrenched Russian forces.

Asked if Russia would win, Shoigu replied: “We have no other options”.

Putin claims Ukrainian counter-offensive ‘has not made progress’

Vladimir Putin has directly addressed the war in Ukraine during the Q&A session at the eastern economic forum in Vladivostok. He has said that the Ukrainian counter-offensive has not made any progress. He accused British secret services of being involved in training Ukrainian saboteurs to launch attacks on Russian infrastructure. He said the deployment of cluster munitions and armaments that utilise depleted uranium by Ukrainian forces is a crime. He said that he believed Ukraine would eventually seek peace talks when it was close to running out of resources.

King Jong-un will visit Russia and meet with Vladimir Putin in coming days, Kremlin and North Korean state news say

The Kremlin has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will visit Russia in the coming days at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, Reuters reports.

North Korean state news KCNA reports that Kim will meet and have a talk with Putin during his trip.

‘Too early to say’ whether Ukraine’s summer offensive has failed, says head of US military

It is too early to say whether Ukraine’s summer offensive has failed, the head of the US military has said.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Gen Mark Milley said:

That offensive kicked off about 90 days ago. It has gone slower than the planners anticipated. But that is a difference between what Clausewitz called war on paper and real war.

So these are real people in real vehicles that are fighting through real minefields, and there’s real death and destruction, and there’s real friction. And there’s still a reasonable amount of time, probably about 30 to 45 days, worth of fighting weather left.

So the Ukrainians aren’t done. This battle is not done. They haven’t finished the fighting part of what they’re trying to accomplish. So we’ll see, it’s too early to say how this is going to end. They at least have achieved partial success in what they set out to do, and that’s important. And then the rains will come in. It’ll become very muddy.

It’ll be very difficult to manoeuvre at that point, and then you’ll get the deep winter. And then at that point, we’ll see where things go. But right now, it is way too early to say that this offensive has failed or not failed.

G20 declaration: ‘Different views and assessments of the situation in Ukraine’

The G20 leaders’ declaration on Ukraine noted the “different views and assessments” on Russia’s war on the country, but underscored that all states must act in a manner “consistent with the purposes and principles of the UN charter in its entirety”, Reuters is reporting.

All states must refrain from threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state, the declaration states.

Russia has asserted from the beginning of the invasion that Ukraine, a recognised separate nation, is actually Russia. Ukraine has also already begun a widespread war crimes investigation into Russia’s actions in the country, some of which include the execution of civilians, rape and looting.

The declaration also states that G20 is not the platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues. However, it called for the “timely and effective” implementation to ensure “immediate and unimpeded” deliveries of grain, food stuff and fertilisers from Ukraine and Russia.

In July, Russia quit the Black Sea grain deal, which brokered by the UN and Turkey to ensure the safe transport of products from and to Ukraine – Ukraine is an agricultural hub known as the breadbasket of Europe.

The deal included an agreement to facilitate Russia’s own exports of food and fertiliser, but Moscow said this had not been fulfilled. Since quitting the grain deal, Russia has repeatedly bombed Ukrainian ports and grain stores.

Today, Russia said it was sticking to its conditions for a return to the Black Sea grain deal – in particular a state agricultural bank, not a subsidiary of the bank that was proposed by the UN, to be reconnected to the international SWIFT bank payments system.

“All our conditions are perfectly well known. They do not need interpretation, they are absolutely concrete and all this is absolutely achievable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Killing of Prigozhin speaks to Putin’s rationality and weakness, says Zelenskiy

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Friday the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is responsible for mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death.

Prigozhin died in a plane crash with his top lieutenants last month. Zelenskiy, who provided no evidence to back up his assertion, made the comment in passing at a conference in Kyiv as he was asked a question about Putin, Reuters reports.

He said:

The fact that he [Putin] killed Prigozhin – at least that’s the information we all have, not any other kind – that also speaks to his rationality, and about the fact that he is weak.

US to supply depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine

The US will give Ukraine depleted uranium anti-tank shells as part of a new military aid package worth up to $175m, the Pentagon announced during a visit to Kyiv by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.

The $175m is part of more than $1bn in assistance that Blinken announced in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, the first day of his two-day visit.

It is the first time the US is sending the armour-piercing munitions to Ukraine, although Britain has already done so. The US shells will arm the Abrams tanks that the US is also set to supply in the coming months.

The Russian embassy in Washington denounced the decision as “an indicator of inhumanity”, adding that “the United States is deluding itself by refusing to accept the failure of the Ukrainian military’s so-called counteroffensive”.

In a social media post on Telegram, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also slammed the US decision, writing: “What is this: a lie or stupidity?” She claimed an increase in cancer had been noted in places where ammunition with depleted uranium was used.

Ukraine’s parliament approves Rustem Umerov as new defence minister

Ukraine’s parliament voted on Wednesday to approve the appointment of Rustem Umerov as the country’s new defence minister, a lawmaker said.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram that an overwhelming majority had supported Umerov after he was put forward for the role by Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Ukraine’s biggest wartime shake-up of the defence sector so far.

Umerov is a leading member of the Crimean Tatar community who has represented his country in sensitive negotiations with Russia.

In a video address on Sunday night, Zelenskiy named Umerov as the successor to Oleksii Reznikov, who was stepping down after 22 months in the job.

His appointment is a clear signal that Kyiv is determined to expel Russia and its occupying forces from Crimea, defence ministry sources suggest. Some of Ukraine’s western allies including the US are privately sceptical about the feasibility of this ambition.

Rustem Umerov in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. Photograph: State Property Fund of Ukraine/AFP/Getty Images

Footage appears to show first time British Challenger 2 tank destroyed in combat

A battlefield video circulated overnight on social media appears to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 in Ukraine, which would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat.

Visible at the beginning of the video, filmed from a car trying to flee the fighting, the Challenger 2 is shrouded in thick grey smoke with its distinctive gun barrel, though it is unclear what has caused the explosion to knock it out.

Though experts confirmed the identity of the tank from the video, it is unclear exactly when and where it was filmed, though the voices are speaking (and swearing) in Ukrainian, when they see a second immobilised tank.

No Challenger 2 has been lost in combat since it was first deployed in 1994, although one was destroyed in a friendly fire incident in Iraq in 2003, although the record is partly due to the relatively small numbers built and its infrequent deployment.

Britain gave 14 of the tanks to Ukraine earlier this year, as part of a European effort to provide western heavy armour, but until now it was not clear they had been heavily used in the frontline.

They were attached to Ukraine’s 82nd Air Assault Brigade, with Kyiv hoping to keep them in reserve to exploit any frontline breakthrough. But the brigade was thrown into battle on the key Zaporizhzhia front around Robotyne in August, where Ukraine said over the weekend it had breached the first Russian defensive line.

Britain has 213 Challenger 2 tanks remaining, after donating the 14 to Ukraine, although MPs were told in March that 157 were available for operations. The only other country to use the tanks is Oman.

Romania denies Ukraine reports that Russian drones were detonated on its territory

Russia’s overnight attack on Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube River on Monday did not generate direct military threats to neighbouring Nato state Romania’s territory, Romania’s defence ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said drones had detonated on Romanian territory.

The Romanian defence ministry’s statement “categorically denied” the reports while condemning the Russian attack, Reuters reported.