Russia-Ukraine war live: Poland will demand EU restores permits for Ukrainian truckers as first vehicles cross border | Russia

Poland will demand that the European Union restore permits for Ukrainian truckers, Mateusz Morawiecki said today, Reuters reported.

The Polish prime minister’s comments come after empty cargo trucks crossed the border between Ukraine and Poland. Polish truckers have been blocking major crossings for cargo vehicles since early November.

Morawiecki said:

We will very strongly and unequivocally demand the restoration of transport permits for Ukrainian drivers.

It is 2pm in Kyiv and here is a summary of today’s events so far:

• Maj Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, the deputy commander of Russia’s 14th Army Corps, has been confirmed killed in Ukraine, said the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev. He said Zavadsky had died “at a combat post in the special operation zone”, but further details have not been released.

• The US is running out of time and money to help Ukraine fight its war with Russia, say the White House. Its budget director, Shalanda Young, issued the warning in a letter to the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and other congressional leaders on Monday.

• Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 18 Russian drones and one missile. It also added that a cultural centre and a shop were hit in Kherson.

• Empty cargo trucks have crossed the border between Ukraine and Poland. In the first steps towards a de-escalation of a border blockade that has crippled Ukrainian trade. Estimates of the Ukrainian trade loss so far, exceed €400m ($44m). Processing of empty trucks began at the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv checkpoint by customs services at 1am (Kyiv time), in accordance with an agreement between Kyiv and Warsaw announced on Monday.

• Ukraine’s forces attacked an oil depot in Russia-controlled Luhansk on Sunday night using combat drones. A fire that broke out after the attack was extinguished and there was no information about casualties.

• Russia are opening new fronts in the battle for Avdiivka, say Ukrainian officials, who have accused Russian forces of assaulting the industrial town in the eastern Donetsk region from two new directions.

• The Hungarian carrier Wizz Air has restarted inbound flights to Chisinau, Moldova, in eastern Europe, having suspended flights to the country in March due to tensions linked to Russia’s war with Ukraine.

In the first steps towards a de-escalation of a border blockade that has crippled Ukrainian trade, empty cargo trucks have crossed the border between Ukraine and Poland.

Polish lorry drivers have been blocking Ukrainian trucks at major crossing points for the past month, protesting at what they say is unfair competition and demanding the reintroduction of a permit system for goods entering the EU from Ukraine, said AFP. The EU entry permit system was scrapped after Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

The Federation of Employers of Ukraine, a major business association, had estimated that Ukraine faced a loss of “more than 400 million euros” ($44 million) due to the blockade, which has halted traffic on both sides of the border.

The crossing, which previously served only cars and buses, was opened for empty trucks travelling from Ukraine to Poland in the first stage of what Kyiv says is a list of measures agreed between the two sides. Previous talks between Kyiv, Warsaw and the protesting Polish lorry drivers had failed to reach a breakthrough.

The White House has warned that the US is running out of time and money to help Ukraine fight its war with Russia. The White House budget director, Shalanda Young, issued the warning in a letter to the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and other congressional leaders on Monday, according to Reuters.

In the letter, Young wrote:

I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from U.S. military stocks. There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money – and nearly out of time.

In October, the Biden administration submitted a $106bn request to Congress to fund plans for Ukraine, Israel and US border security. The urgency of the request was spelled out by White House officials in a televised address to the nation at the time.

Maj Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, the deputy commander of Russia’s 14th Army Corps, has been confirmed killed in Ukraine, said the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev. The update on reports of Zavadsky’s death last week was posted on Gusev’s Telegram channel on Monday. He described the death of the former tank commander as a heavy loss.

Gusev said Zavadsky had died “at a combat post in the special operation zone”, but further details have not been released, said Reuters. According to the investigative news outlet iStories, Zavadsky is the seventh major general whose death had been confirmed by Russia, and the 12th senior officer overall to be reported dead since the start of the war.

Ukraine’s air force has shot down 18 out of 23 Iranian-made Shahed drones and one missile that Russia fired at its territory overnight, according to a report by Agence France Presse. An update on social media by the Ukraine‘s air force said “combat operations” had resulted in 18 attack drones and one X-59 guided missile being destroyed. It also added that a cultural centre and a shop were hit in Kherson.

Local officials have also reported attempted attacks on the western regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Khmelnytskyi, as well as Mykolaiv and Kherson in the south.

Moscow typically fires dozens of drones at Ukraine every week in waves of overnight attacks targeting energy facilities and military sites deep behind the frontlines. Russia has also reported downing several attempted Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks, says AFP, including some launched at the capital, Moscow.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is a brief summary of the latest developments.

• Ukraine has launched an inquiry into what it said was an “execution” by Russian forces of two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers who were surrendering. Video appeared to show the Ukrainian soldiers’ last moments as they emerged from their trench near the town of Avdiivka. One raised his arms in the air before they were both shot at close range. Russia’s military command began a major offensive against Avdiivka in October, and has been trying for nearly two months to encircle the town. There has so far been no breakthrough, despite huge losses of infantry and armoured vehicles.

• Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, hailed his country’s “reliable” friendship with China on Monday as he held talks with counterpart Xi Jinping on his second trip to Beijing this year. Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Moscow, arrived in China on Sunday for a visit expected to last at least two days. He and Xi will discuss issues including “trade, the economy, investment and international cooperation”, his office said on Sunday. Lukashenko last came to China in February, a trip that drew scrutiny given Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “Belarus is, was and will be a reliable partner for China,” Lukashenko told Xi on Monday, according to a readout of the talks from the office of the Belarusian presidency.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported “intense battles” at dozens of frontline locations, with the most severe in the eastern towns of Maryinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, but also reported heavy fighting in Kharkiv region and in the south. “Brutal” shelling rained down on “buildings, streets, our hospitals” in Kherson, he said, and offered condolences to families of those killed, noting Kherson region alone had suffered 20 shelling incidents in one day.

• Russia launched 23 drones and a cruise missile against Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Monday, adding that its air defence systems destroyed 18 of the drones and the missile before they reached their targets.
  Anti-aircraft defences were deployed in at least nine regions of Ukraine, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

• Ukraine said at least three people were killed and four injured in the latest Russian shelling. In Donetsk region, the prosecutor general’s office said a 69-year-old woman was killed on the spot and a 70-year-old woman suffered gunshot wounds in the town of Kostyantynivka. In Kherson region, shelling in the village of Sadove killed a 78-year-old man in a private garage, the local military administration said, adding, “He died on the spot from the explosive injury.” Kherson region officials said on Sunday their air defences downed 10 Russian drones.

• The British foreign secretary, David Cameron, will travel to Washington DC on Wednesday, in his first visit to the US since taking up the position last month. Cameron will meet the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, among other officials, and will take part in discussions focusing on supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, a UK Foreign Office statement said.

• Ukraine and Poland will open an additional border crossing for empty trucks on Monday in order to open up a much-needed route for Kyiv, with some crossings blocked by weeks of protests by Polish drivers, Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday.

• Russia launched 12 drones and a cruise missile at Ukraine, Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday, with air defence systems destroying 10 drones before they reached their targets.