Russia-Ukraine war live: UK’s plan to train service members in Ukraine makes them ‘legal targets’, says Medvedev

Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Bryansk oblast damaged two administrative buildings and several houses today, said regional governor Alexander Bogomaz.

The shelling occurred in the village of Lyubechane in the Klimovsky district, which is located near the northern border of Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former leader, has responded to comments made by UK defence secretary Grant Shapps today that the UK is in talks to move training and production of military equipment into Ukraine.

“The number of leading idiots in Nato countries is growing,” Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chair of Russia’s security council, said on Telegram.

Medvedev said that transferring English training courses for Ukrainian soldiers to the territory of Ukraine itself would “turn your instructors into legal targets for our armed forces. Knowing full well that they will be mercilessly destroyed. And no longer as mercenaries, but precisely as British Nato specialists.”

In the same Telegram post, Medvedev called out “the head of the German defence committee with an unpronounceable surname – Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann – who said yesterday that she believes that Ukraine has the right to use long-range missiles to attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation.

“They say this is in accordance with international law,” Medvedev said. “Well, in this case, attacks on German factories where these missiles are made will be fully consistent with international law.”

“These idiots are actively pushing us towards a third world war,” Medvedev said.

An International Monetary Fund team is set to kick off meetings in Ukraine today to discuss policy goals and challenges with government officials, Reuters is reporting.

“An IMF team, led by Uma Ramakrishnan, Deputy Director of the Fund’s European Department, starts meetings today in Kyiv with the Ukrainian authorities and other stakeholders,”the Fund’s country representative Vahram Stepanyan said in a statement on Sunday.

“The high-level engagement will focus on policy goals and challenges in the context of Ukraine’s program supported by the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Arrangement.”

Ukraine’s economy has suffered since Russia first invaded the country in February 2022, with Kyiv relying heavily on western aid to finance social and humanitarian payments. Last week, the IMF said it had begun its second review of a $15.6bn multi-year loan program for the country.

The four-year programme for Kyiv is part of a $115-billion global package to support country’s the economy during the war.

Meanwhile, Kyiv has said that businesses in Ukraine have adjusted to the new wartime reality and that the economy has been recovering faster than expected this year.

Here are some of the latest images coming in from Ukraine via news agency wires:

Britain is looking to move more training and production of military equipment into Ukraine, UK defence secretary Grant Shapps told the Sunday Telegraph.

“Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country,’ and not just training but also we’re seeing [UK defence firm] BAE, for example, move into manufacturing in country,” he said.

“I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country,” Shapps said.

This possibility is significant in that the UK and other Nato members have thus far avoided establishing a military presence in Ukraine to reduce the risk of a direct conflict with Russia.

More than 20,000 Ukrainian armed forces recruits have received training in the UK since the start of 2022.

“We’ve seen in the last month or so, developments, really the first since 2014, in the Black Sea, in Crimea, and Britain is a naval nation so we can help and we can advise, particularly since the water is international water,” Shapps said.

“It’s important that we don’t allow a situation to establish by default that somehow international shipping isn’t allowed in that water. So I think there’s a lot of places where Britain can help advise.”

Shapps said he discussed this in his meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week.

Vladimir Putin declared that yesterday was “Reunification Day” in commemoration of commemorating Russia’s illegal annexation of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, Celebrations drew crowds of people to Red Square in Moscow this weekend, but in the occupied regions where residents say they were forced under threats of violence to vote in the sham referendums making their homes part of the Russian Federation?

In the Luhansk oblast, a car rally in honour of the reunification brought in just 11 cars.

Russian air defence systems shot down two Ukrainian unmanned aerial drones this morning, the defence ministry of Russia said on Telegram.

Defence systems intercepted the two drones over Russia’s Smolensk oblast located outside Moscow and on the border of Belarus.

Today is Defenders Day in Ukraine, a day honouring veterans and fallen members of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy commemorated the day with a brief address on Telegram:

Tough times have made us strong. And the strong bring the times of victory closer. Step by step. Today, tomorrow, every day, every minute.

No one should or will be able to “turn off” our resilience, endurance, grit, and fortitude. Neither on a regular nor an emergency basis. None of them have an “expiration date”, an “end date” or a final point after which we would stop resisting and fighting. There is only one such point: our victory. As we bring it closer every day, we say, “We will fight for as long as it takes”.

We were doing it in the first minutes of February 24th; we have been doing it for all these 585 days, and we will keep doing it.

Glory to all those who are fighting and defending the homeland! Glory to our defenders! Glory to the Ukrainian people!

Glory to Ukraine!

A 61-year-old local resident was killed in the Russian shelling of Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, the head of the Zaporizhia regional military administration said on Telegram.

A 66-year-old woman was wounded in that same shelling, said Yuriy Malashko.

Nighttime Russian rocket attacks wounded seven. A 35-year-old was injured when fire caused by a rocket attack broke out at an infrastructure facility, and in the Matviyiv community, a 48-year-old woman and men ages 38, 50, 52, 55 and 61 were injured.

The regional military administration also received 16 reports about destruction of residential buildings and infrastructure facilities. Yesterday alone saw 127 Russian artillery shells, five airstrikes and six rocket attacks through the Zaporizhia region, Malashko said.

Russian forces launched eight missiles, 99 air strikes and 45 multiple launch rocket system attacks yesterday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 38 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in their morning briefing.

Air strikes hit Halahanivka in the Chernihiv oblast; Novoselivs’ke, Nevs’ke, Novolyubivka and Bilohorivka in the Luhansk oblast; Terny, Zarichne, Sivers’k, Spirne, Vesele, Kostyantynivka, Klishchiivka, Andriivka, New York, Avdiivka, Mar’inka, Novomykhailivka, Prechystivka, Urozhaine and Staromaiors’ke in the Donetsk oblast; Mala Tokmachka, Novodanylivka, Robotyne and Novoandriivka in the Zaporizhzhia oblast; and Mykolaivka in the Kherson oblast.

More than 120 settlements in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts came under artillery fire.

According to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, Russian forces lost 440 personnel yesterday.

Russian documents indicating a surge in military spending in 2024 suggest Moscow is preparing for “multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine”, the UK Ministry of Defence says.

In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said papers apparently leaked from Russia’s finance ministry suggested the country’s defence spending was set to rise to about 30% of total public expenditure in 2024.

The Russian ministry proposes a defence budget of 10.8tn roubles ($112bn/£92bn), equivalent to about 6% of GDP and a 68% increase over 2023, the UK MoD said in its update, posted on X/Twitter.

It is highly likely that Russia can support this level of defence spending through 2024, but only at the expense of the wider economy.

Full details on Russian defence spending are always classified, but these figures suggests that Russia is preparing for multiple further years of fighting in Ukraine.

Ukrainian industrial infrastructure in the central city of Uman was struck during a Russian attack overnight, the regional governor said.

The Ukrainian air force said air defence systems shot down 16 out of about 30 drones that Russia launched on Ukrainian territory overnight, Reuters reports.

The air force said on Telegram on Sunday that drones were launched from the southern, south-eastern and northern directions.

Authorities said the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy was under the attack.

Cherkasy’s governor, Ihor Taburets, said on Telegram:

At night, the enemy massively attacked our Cherkasy region with attack drones. Unfortunately, there were hits on industrial infrastructure in [the city of] Uman.

As a result, fires broke out in warehouses. In particular, where grain was stored.

One person was injured, Taburets said.

US senators from both major parties have issued a statement in support of Kyiv saying Washington will continue to provide critical support to Ukraine after aid to the country was left out of the Congress deal averting a US government shutdown.

The joint statement from six senators including Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer, among three from each side, said they welcomed the agreement but it left a “number of urgent priorities outstanding”.

Their statement said:

In the coming weeks, we expect the Senate will work to ensure the US government continues to provide critical and sustained security and economic support for Ukraine.

We support Ukraine’s efforts to defend its sovereignty against Putin’s brazen aggression, and we join a strong bipartisan majority of our colleagues in this essential work.

With the eyes of our partners, allies and adversaries upon us, we keenly understand the importance of American leadership and are committed to strengthening it from Europe to the Indo-Pacific.

US president Joe Biden has called on Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the deal that averted a US government shutdown on Saturday.

Agence France-Presse reports that Biden welcomed the agreement but said in a statement:

We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.

“I fully expect the speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment,” Biden added, referring to the Republican House leader, Kevin McCarthy.

Lawmakers must now wrangle on a separate bill on $24bn in military assistance to Ukraine that Biden wanted in the budget, with a vote possible early next week, US media reported.

Hard-right Republicans had strongly opposed the inclusion of Ukraine aid in the deal, despite support for it from moderate Republicans including McCarthy.

Hello and welcome back to our coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now at day 585. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a look at the latest developments.

US president Joe Biden has called on Congress to swiftly approve aid to Ukraine after it was left out of the deal that averted a US government shutdown on Saturday.

“We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said.

More on that soon. In other news:

• A Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday in the southern Russian region of Bryansk injured one person and damaged windows and the roof of an administrative building, the region’s governor said. Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram the incident occurred in Trubchevsk town. He earlier said a village in the region had been shelled by Ukrainian forces, damaging three homes.

• Ukraine signed 20 agreements and memorandums with foreign partners on the manufacture of drones and the repair and production of armoured vehicles and ammunition at the first international Defence Industries Forum, which Kyiv organised with international producers. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he wanted to turn Ukraine’s defence industry into a “large military hub”, also announcing the creation of the Defence Industries Alliance.

• The UK’s new defence secretary says he has held talks with army leaders about deploying British troops within Ukraine for the first time for a training program. Grant Shapps, who met Zelenskiy for talks in Kyiv this week, said the proposal being discussed would reduce the reliance on the UK and other Nato members’ bases.