Latest news from Russia and the war in Ukraine

The organization overseeing the export of grain from Ukraine said that there are 21 vessels awaiting to leave the besieged country.

The Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which oversees the export of agricultural products from Ukraine, said that the ships have a capacity of more than 700,000 metric tons. One ship is chartered by the World Food Program and is carrying 30,000 metric tons of wheat destined for the Horn of Africa.

Before the war, Ukraine and Russia accounted for almost a quarter of global grain exports until those shipments came to a severe halt for nearly six months.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a United Nations-backed deal brokered in July, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw the reopening of three key Ukrainian ports. The first vessel left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Aug. 1 carrying more than 26,000 metric tons of corn. Since then, nearly 400 ships carrying a total of 9 million metric tons have departed Ukraine’s ports.

On Saturday, Moscow suspended its participation citing retaliation for Kyiv’s “act of terrorism” against Russian warships.

— Amanda Macias

Norway will put its military on a raised level of alert from Tuesday as it sharpens security in response to the war in Ukraine, the Nordic country’s prime minister said, Reuters reported.

Norway is now the biggest exporter of natural gas to the European Union, accounting for around a quarter of all EU imports after a drop in Russian flows.

“This is the most severe security situation in several decades,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference.

“There are no indications that Russia is expanding its warfare to other countries, but the increased tensions make us more exposed to threats, intelligence operations and influence campaigns.”

The armed forces will spend less time training and more time on operational duties, and the Home Guard, a rapid mobilization force, will play a more active role, Defense Minister Bjoern Arild Gram said.

— Reuters

The United Nations has confirmed 6,430 civilian deaths and 9,865 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor on Feb. 24.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because armed conflict can delay fatality reports.

The international organization said most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as missiles and airstrikes.

— Amanda Macias

Intense fighting is taking place in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine with the country’s armed forces fighting to liberate 24 settlements, and facing active Russian resistance in the process.

“Our Armed Forces are actively fighting for the liberation of our territories. We still have an average of 24 settlements under occupation. I say ‘on average’ because the situation is really changing at the front,” Oleg Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said during a nationwide telethon, news agency Ukrinform reported Monday.

Synehubov said Ukraine’s forces were “making every effort to completely liberate the region as soon as possible” but that Russian units were “actively resisting and were not going to leave.”

“The situation is really tense there,” he added with both sides looking to reinforce their positions.

“Defense and fortification structures are being built. Let me remind you that we have a 315km border with the Russian Federation. The Russians are also reinforcing the positions from their territory. Indeed, construction is underway on fortified areas, concrete structures,” Synehubov said.

—Holly Ellyatt

Twelve ships carrying grain have left Ukraine’s ports, despite Moscow’s announcement that it would suspend its participation in the United Nations-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative.

A record 354,500 tons of grain were carried on the vessels leaving Ukrainian ports as part of the Black Sea grain deal, a spokesperson for Odesa’s military administration said, according to Reuters.

In response to Russia’s decision to halt participation in the deal, the U.N., Turkey and Ukraine reached an agreement on Sunday to unblock 16 grain ships in Turkish waters. This agreement resolves the Russian-imposed inspection backlog and helps stave off fears of a global food crisis.

The UN and Turkish delegations provided 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 ️ships, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure, said in a tweet. The Russian delegation is aware of the new inspection plan, he added.

— Rocio Fabbro

Russian reservists deployed to fight in Ukraine are likely to be using weapons that are in a “barely usable condition” according to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.

Russia has deployed several thousand newly mobilized reservists to the frontline in Ukraine since mid-October, the ministry noted, and “in many cases they are poorly equipped.”

“In September, Russian officers were concerned that some recently mobilised reservists were arriving in Ukraine without weapons,” the ministry said in an intelligence update posted on Twitter.

“Open source images suggest that those rifles which have been issued to mobilised reservists are typically AKMs, a weapon first introduced in 1959. Many are likely in barely usable condition following poor storage.”

The AKM is an assault rifle that fires 7.62mm ammunition while Russia’s regular combat units are mostly armed with 5.45mm AK-74M or AK-12 rifles, the ministry noted.

“The integration of reservists with contract soldiers and combat veterans in Ukraine will mean Russian logisticians will have to push two types of small arms ammunition to front line positions, rather than one. This will likely further complicate Russia’s already strained logistics systems,” the ministry noted.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia said that it would be risky for Ukraine to continue exporting grain via the Black Sea now that Moscow had suspended its participation in a U.N.-brokered deal to facilitate shipments.

“In conditions when Russia is talking about the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of shipping in these areas, such a deal is hardly feasible, and it takes on a different character – much more risky, dangerous and unguaranteed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov blamed the actions of the Ukrainian side for disrupting the deal. Russia said on Saturday it was suspending its participation after an attack on its Black Sea fleet.

Kyiv has accused Moscow of “blackmailing the world with hunger.”

— Reuters

As many as 80% of Kyiv’s residents have been left without water following missile strikes on the city’s energy infrastructure, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko and the city’s water supplier.

Klitschko said this was “due to the damage to a power facility” near the city by Russian missile strikes on Monday morning.

Utilities company Kyivvodokanal, which supplies water to Kyiv, said it was working to restore water supply stations as soon as possible.

A wave of Russian missile strikes have hit Ukraine today following what Moscow alleges was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea fleet over the weekend.

Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Russia’s shelling of various regions in Ukraine on Monday morning has damaged civilian energy infrastructure.

“Missiles and drones hit 10 regions, where 18 objects [facilities] were damaged, most of which are energy-related,” he said on Telegram.

“Hundreds of settlements in seven regions of Ukraine were cut off. The consequences could have been much worse. But thanks to the heroic and professional work of the Air Defense Forces, 44 of the more than 50 missiles fired at our territory were shot down,” he added.

A series of missile strikes hit major Ukrainian cities on Monday morning, with the capital Kyiv and cities to the northeast and south being targeted. Much of Kyiv is without power and water following the attacks.

Kyivvodokanal, a utilities company supplying water for Kyiv, said Monday that 80% of the city’s residents are currently without a water supply.

— Holly Ellyatt

Dnipropetrovsk in southeastern Ukraine has come under attack from Russian missiles this morning with the head of the regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, saying there have been “several hits during the morning attack on the region.”

“The Russians targeted energy infrastructure facilities in Dnipro and Pavlohrad. Serious destruction is recorded. All services are working on site.”

Major cities, including Kyiv, have been hit by missile strikes Monday morning with critical energy infrastructure targeted again by Russian forces.

— Holly Ellyatt

A series of missile strikes hit major Ukrainian cities on Monday morning, with the capital Kyiv and cities to the northeast and south being targeted, according to regional officials.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that part of the capital had been “cut off” by the strikes, which he said had hit critical infrastructure facilities. “There is no water supply in some areas,” he said.

In his latest post he said engineers were working to restore electricity supply after damage to an energy facility that powers around 350,000 apartments in Kyiv. Local authorities have called on the city’s residents to stay in bomb shelters until the air raid alert ends.

An advisor to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the wave of missile strikes as “massive.”

Elsewhere, the Mayor of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, Igor Terekhov, said there had been two “arrivals” in the city that had hit critical infrastructure facilities in the city this morning.

Other strikes were reported in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the south of Ukraine, with the Secretary of the City Council Anatolii Kurtiev posting on Telegram that Russian forces had “attacked a critical infrastructure facility” causing power outages in the city. “Information about the victims and the extent of the damage is being clarified,” he said.

The wave of missile strikes comes after Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of carrying out a drone attack against its Black Sea Fleet off the coast of Crimea. Ukraine has not said whether it was responsible for the attack. 

— Holly Ellyatt

Global wheat prices have started to rise following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain export deal last weekend.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade jumped 5.8% to $8.77-1/2 a bushel around midnight London time, according to Reuters, after earlier hitting a high of $8.93 a bushel. Corn and soybean prices also rose.

The increases come after Russia announced Saturday that it was suspending its involvement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative that was brokered in July and which allowed vital agricultural products to be exported from several Ukrainian ports.

Russia announced Saturday that it was withdrawing from the deal for an indefinite period after it accused Ukraine of a “massive” drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in Crimea.

Ukraine has not said whether it was responsible for the attack. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative was “rather predictable” and the global food crisis would worsen.

Moscow’s move was “an absolutely transparent intention of Russia to return the threat of large-scale famine to Africa and Asia,” Zelenskyy said, adding that “access to food has actually worsened for more than 7 million consumers.”

The UN and Turkey, which helped Ukraine and Russia to reach the grain deal, have agreed a plan with Ukraine to help move 16 vessels (12 outbound and 4 inbound) that are stuck within the maritime corridor used to export grains.

The organization overseeing grain exports, the Joint Coordination Centre, said in a statement Sunday that “in order to continue fulfilling the Initiative, it was proposed that the Turkish and United Nations delegations provide tomorrow 10 inspection teams aiming to inspect 40 outbound vessels. This inspection plan has been accepted by the delegation of Ukraine. The Russian Federation delegation has been informed.”

— Holly Ellyatt

More than 30 buildings have been destroyed in the Donetsk region as a result of Russian shelling, Ukraine’s National Police said Monday.

Police in the Donetsk region said the destruction had occurred as a result of 24 attacks on the civilian population and that “there are killed and wounded.”

Sixteen settlements came under fire, including the towns of Avdiivka, Bakhmut and Lyman and other villages, with 22 residential buildings destroyed as well as city council premises, utility buildings, garages and cars, the police said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described in his nightly address how Ukrainian forces had repelled a “brutal” Russian assault in the Donetsk region. Bakhmut and Avdiivka have seen intense fighting in recent weeks.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that Ukrainian forces had repelled a “brutal” offensive by Russian troops in the eastern Donetsk region.

The president said a military unit from Chop in western Ukraine had fought off the offensive but did not say where fighting had took place. In recent weeks, however, intense fighting has centered around Avdiivka and the strategically-important town of Bakhmut.

“Today they stopped the enemy’s brutal assault” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. “The Russian attack was repulsed,” he said. He also alluded to the fact that Russian soldiers had been taken prisoner and could be used in future prisoner exchanges.

On Saturday, Russia announced it was suspending its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal struck in July to enable agricultural shipments from Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said 218 vessels were now “effectively blocked” as a result of the collapse of the initiative and that Moscow was “putting the world on the brink of a severe food crisis.”

— Holly Ellyatt