Key events
Nato’s press office has said that Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Jens Stoltenberg will make a joint appearance in Brussels shortly.
We are just beginning to get the first images through of people arriving at Nato headquarters in Brussels for today’s meeting of Nato defence ministers. The US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin III is one of the first to arrive.
Belgium to send Ukraine F-16 fighter jets by 2025
Belgium will send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from 2025, Belgian defence minister Ludivine Dedonder said on Bel RTL radio.
Reuters notes Dedonder didn’t say how many jets would be sent to Ukraine.
More details soon …
Reuters has a quick snap that Estonia’s defence minister Hanno Pevkur told it the damage to the Baltic Sea gas pipeline that burst on Sunday was caused by “quite heavy force”.
Belgian media has reported that Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in the country, where the meeting of Nato defence ministers is taking place. Earlier this week Ukraine’s president travelled to Bucharest, where he said he had received good news about artillery and air defence supplies.
Reuters reports that, while the main focus of this Nato meeting was intended to be Ukraine, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant is also expected to join via videoconference to discuss Hamas’ large-scale attack on Israel last weekend and Israel’s subsequent campaign. My colleague Helen Sullivan has our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war here.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg is shortly expected to give some remarks to the media ahead of the meeting.
AFP reports that the UK and other northern European allies announced a new £100m ($123m) military support package Wednesday for Ukraine, aimed at helping its armed forces clear minefields, maintain vehicles and protect key infrastructure.
The package, to be provided using money from the UK-administered International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), will provide equipment to help its soldiers cross minefields and bridge rivers and trenches, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said (MoD).
It will also comprise heavy duty plant vehicles to destroy Russian non-explosive obstacles and help Ukraine build defensive positions to protect critical national infrastructure, it added.
The new support comes as Kyiv’s western backers race to step up weapons deliveries ahead of winter after its summer offensive failed to deliver hoped-for gains on the battlefield, with both Russian and Ukrainian troops seemingly entrenched in their lines.
It also coincides with the final contracts having been signed from a previously announced IFU package that will see more than £70m of air defence capabilities dispatched to Ukraine, according to the MoD.
Britain’s recently appointed defence secretary Grant Shapps will jointly announce the support Wednesday alongside counterparts from IFU partner nations at a wider Ukraine-focused meeting at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
Vladimir Putin will visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the presidential office of the Central Asian country said, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Reuters reports that Putin has rarely travelled abroad since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and is not known to have left Russia since the ICC issued in March a warrant for him on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin denies those allegations.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Nato defence ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Wednesday, with Ukraine high on the agenda. Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant is also expected to take part via video conference after the deadly attack launched by Hamas militants on Israel at the weekend.
There have been fears that the conflict in Israel may distract Ukraine’s partners and in particular that the US may not be able to supply both with adequate munitions.
If “international attention risks turning away from Ukraine … that will have consequences,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in a French television interview on Tuesday.
The White House has dismissed such concerns however and the UK and other northern European nations are to officially announce a new £100 million ($123 million) military support package Wednesday for Ukraine, aimed at helping its armed forces clear minefields, maintain vehicles and protect key infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Russian air defences have shot down two Ukrainain drones over the Bryansk region overnight, governor Alexander Bogomaz has said on Telegram. No casualties or damage were reported.
In other key developments:
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Extensive damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia “could not have occurred by accident” and appears to be the result of a “deliberate … external act”, Finnish authorities said. Local media cited unnamed government sources as saying Russian sabotage was suspected, while regional security experts said a Russian survey vessel had recently been observed making repeated visits to the vicinity of the Balticconnector pipeline.
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Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Volodymyr Zelenskiy had promised him that Ukraine would not attack Europe’s biggest nuclear plant as part of its counteroffensive against Russia. In an interview with the Guardian, the nuclear watchdog chief said he was most concerned about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant becoming engulfed in fighting between the two sides, but insisted he had obtained a commitment from the Ukrainian president.
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Russia was defeated in its bid to return to the UN’s human rights council, with Albania and Bulgaria winning more votes at the general assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.
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Russian forces are closing in on Avdiivka, which has been hit by intense shelling since Tuesday morning, officials said. The eastern Ukrainian town is symbolically and strategically important to Kyiv, lying just north of the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk that was seized by separatist forces in 2014.
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Germany announced an additional €1bn ($1.1bn) in military aid for Ukraine, in a race to step up weapons deliveries ahead of winter. The “winter package” includes an extra Patriot air defence system, as well as two more Iris-T air defence missile systems this month capable of short- and medium-range protection.
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Zelenskiy called for steps to ensure Russia does not turn the Black Sea into a “dead zone” for shipping after Moscow quit a deal allowing safe Ukrainian grain exports. On his first trip to Romania since Russia’s invasion, Zelenskiy said after talks with his counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, that he had heard “good news” on artillery and air defence supplies from the Nato and EU member state.
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Zelenskiy also expressed his concern that the international community was turning away from the war in Ukraine in the face of the “tragedy” that has befallen Israel following the Hamas attacks. “I don’t wish to make any comparisons. There is a terrible war going on in our country. In Israel, many people have lost their loved ones. These tragedies are different, but both are immense,” he said in an interview with the France 2 television channel. He warned however, that if “international attention risks turning away from Ukraine, and that will have consequences”.
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Ukraine said on Tuesday that it was holding two senior defence ministry officials on suspicion of embezzling $7m (£5.7m) earmarked for buying bulletproof vests. The state bureau of investigation said the two officials, which it did not name, ordered “low-quality body armour” from abroad.
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A Russian court dismissed a complaint by the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pre-trial detention, more than six months after his arrest on spying charges. Judge Yuri Pasyunin at Moscow city court ruled to “keep the detention without changes” until 30 November, an Agence-France Presse reporter at the court said.
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The National Police of Ukraine has documented nearly 100,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, according to the head of the body. Speaking to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Ivan Vyhovsky said the evidence being gathered would form the basis of future attempts to prosecute the perpetrators.
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Russia is unlikely to launch an additional mobilisation drive before the presidential election next year, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said. In its daily intelligence update, the MoD said Vladimir Putin would “almost certainly” run for re-election in the vote, scheduled to take place on 17 March.
