Russia-Ukraine war live: Russians scavenge air defence from Kaliningrad, says UK MoD

A Ukrainian soldier prepares a mortar shell in Donetsk oblast.

LIVE – Updated at 09:32

Intelligence briefing underlines ‘overstretched’ Russian military; grain export routes need better protection from attack, says Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Exports of civilian goods used by military to Russia from Turkey increasing

09:32

Exports to Russia from Turkey of civilian goods used by the military such as microchips and telescopic sights are increasing, causing concern to the US and the EU, which seeks to prevent such items entering the country.

The Financial Times reports that over the first nine months of this year, Turkey reported $158m of exports of such “high-priority” goods to Russia and former Soviet countries suspected of being conduits to Moscow – far above 2022.

Brian Nelson, the US Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, is to visit Turkey this week to discuss “efforts to prevent, disrupt, and investigate trade and financial activity that benefit the Russian effort in its war against Ukraine”.

“With some of the third-party countries like Turkey, we’re really at a weaker enforcement position than we’d ultimately like to be,” Emily Kilcrease, a former deputy assistant US trade representative, told the FT. “We really have to lean on those countries to take enforcement actions in their own jurisdictions, to get at the specific entities that are facilitating the trans-shipment.”

Kilcrease added that if Turkey did not make changes, then “the US and its partners are going to have to take enforcement action”.

09:30

Yekaterina Duntsova, who wants to run for Russian president, said the Kremlin should end the conflict in Ukraine, free political prisoners and undertake major reform to halt the slide towards a new era of “barbed wire” division between Russia and the West.

Nearly 32 years since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union stoked hopes that Russia would blossom into an open democracy, Duntsova, 40, said she was afraid as she spoke to Reuters in Moscow.

“Fear is present but it is conscious,” said Duntsova, who this month announced she wanted to run for president in the March 2024 election. “Any sane person taking this step would be afraid – but fear must not win.”

She said she had to choose her words carefully given laws which can be used to prosecute those criticising what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”, and that she had been warned about speaking too much to foreign correspondents.

The divorced former regional TV journalist who has three children refused to use the word “war” to describe the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two due to Russian law. “Sooner or later every armed conflict ends, and I hope that it ends as soon as possible,” Duntsova said. “The people are very tired of what is going on. But that weariness is not voiced.”

Duntsova needs to collect 300,000 signatures to be allowed to stand. Russian state media ignore her.

Summary

08:52

Welcome, as we resume the Guardian’s coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine. Here are the developments making news this morning.

Russia is having to pull air defence systems out of Kaliningrad, its external province on the Baltic Sea, to replace those it has lost in the Ukraine war, according to an intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence. “This follows an increase in losses of SA-21 air defence systems in Russian-occupied Ukraine in late October 2023.”

The move shows that Russia is so overstretched by the conflict that it is having to accept additional risk to strategically important Kaliningrad, which is bordered on three sides by Nato member states, according to the MoD.

The Russian military death toll in Ukraine has reached 324,830, according to estimates provided by the Ukrainian military.

Russia sent waves of kamikaze drones into Ukraine on Saturday in what Kyiv said was the most intensive drone attack since the start of the war. Five people were wounded by falling debris, while several buildings were damaged as about 17,000 people in the Kyiv region were left without electricity, reports said. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 74 of the 75 drones.

In Russia, 24 drones reportedly attacked the Moscow region and three other provinces to the south and west, while two Ukrainian missiles were launched over the Azov Sea. One person was injured in the city of Tula, south of Moscow, when an intercepted drone hit an apartment building, it was reported.

Russian troops continue attempts to advance near Avdiivka with Ukrainian forces repelling attacks to its north-east, west and south-west. According to reports by the Ukrainian general staff, Russia has conducted airstrikes in support of ground operations geared toward encircling the city on the outskirts of Donetsk.

Russian soldiers “seek to reoccupy” the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, according to the spokesperson for Ukraine’s ground forces, Volodymyr Fitio. “The enemy intends to advance to the settlement of Sinkivka in order to develop their further success in the offensive on Kupiansk,” he said.

Ukraine’s arms industry minister has called for the country to turn itself into the “arsenal of the free world” and provide weapons for export. Oleksandr Kamyshin aims to revive the state sector and coordinate private enterprises to boost export of weapons.

Many of the countries that have sanctioned Russia over the war in Ukraine need to take urgent action to disrupt the supply of technology for its electronic warfare campaign, according to a report. It names companies whose parts have been found in Russian equipment.

Ukraine needs more air defences to protect grain export routes, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said at the Grain from Ukraine summit on food security in Kyiv, which was attended by leaders from European countries including Switzerland and Lithuania.

About 2,100 vehicles are unable to get into Ukraine because of a Polish blockade. According to an update by Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry reported by the Kyiv Independent, the flow of traffic at the Dorohusk-Yahodyn crossing – usually 680 lorries a day – is down to a few dozen every 24 hours.

08:50Jon Ungoed-Thomas

Many of the countries that have sanctioned Russia over the war in Ukraine need to take urgent action to disrupt the supply of technology for its electronic warfare campaign, according to a report.

The dossier compiled by Ukraine and circulated to the major countries which have imposed sanctions identifies key Russian firms involved in the development and production of electronic military equipment. It says the UK and other countries have not yet sanctioned some of the firms involved.

It identified what it claims is technology made by British firms in some of the advanced electronic equipment engaged in the conflict, and says more effective action is required to block the use of foreign components.

The report states:

The effectiveness of Russian electronic systems largely depends on access to imported components that are widely used in the production of such systems … Specific steps should be taken immediately to reduce the Russian military-industrial complex’s capability.

Senior military commanders in Ukraine are concerned at recent advances by Russia in the electronic warfare battle. In a recent article in the Economist, Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, wrote: “[Electronic warfare] is the key to victory in the drone war.

08:43Charlotte Higgins

Daniil Melnyk is one of up to 50,000 Ukrainians who have lost limbs during the Russian invasion. With photographer Marta Syrko, he is sharing his story to battle stigma around disability.

Official figures put the number of Ukrainians who have undergone amputations at 20,000 since the start of the full-scale invasion, though experts on the ground suspect the real figure is much higher, perhaps as many as 50,000.

The numbers are edging towards those of the first world war (historians estimate that 67,000 Germans and 41,000 Britons had amputations between 1914 and 1918). The scale of what is happening is obvious on the streets of Ukraine’s cities. And yet, Syrko noticed that this reality was not being reflected in the Ukrainian media.