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UK, France ‘re-announce’ anti-missile technology for Ukraine: ‘None will be online for years’
Annette Young is pleased to welcome Dr. Frank Ledwidge, former military intelligence officer and Senior Lecturer in Strategy at Portsmouth University. According to Dr. Ledwidge, the latest European commitments to Ukraine are merely politically symbolic. He warns that the coalition is failing to address Kyiv's most urgent problem: air defence. Ukraine needs interceptors capable of defeating Russian ballistic and hypersonic missiles, The war-torn country remains exposed to attacks on its defence industry and Russia’s ruthless campaign against civil energy infrastructure as winter approaches.
Ukraine to give Britain battlefield data in AI deal
Ukraine will give Britain access to an AI dataset containing millions of battlefield images, the UK government said Monday, in a deal London said would help it protect military bases and other sites.
The dataset, known as "Avengers", is currently used to train autonomous Ukrainian drones.
Describing the data as a "goldmine", London said it could eventually use the dataset to "protect airports, prisons and even railways and energy plants", without elaborating.
Signed by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Monday, the deal offers Ukraine expertise from British researchers and universities in return.
The partnership will "bring together Ukraine's unrivalled operational experience with Britain's world-class AI ecosystem," Burnham said in a statement.
Russia says it struck cargo vessel in Ukraine's Odesa port
Russian forces struck a cargo vessel in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Monday, Russia's Defence
Ministry said.
The ministry did not identify the vessel but said it had delivered what it described as a military cargo.
The claim could not be independently verified.
Ukraine showing ‘remarkable innovation’: Kyiv ‘holding front line’ while striking Russia’s economy
Genie Godula is pleased to welcome Samantha de Bendern, Associate Fellow at Chatham House. Europe is taking increasingly consequential steps to support Ukraine, but de Bendern warns that they remain insufficient to address the country's fundamental vulnerability. Are Ukraine's allies prepared to actively help protect Ukrainian airspace? That debate reaches back to the earliest weeks of the full-scale invasion: even after president Biden warned in 2022 of an imminent Russian attack, Kyiv's allies ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone, fearing that direct NATO engagement could escalate into a wider war with Moscow.
Russia's Perm oil refinery halted operations after August 21 drone attack, sources say
The Perm oil refinery, Russia's seventh-largest oil processing plant by volumes, stopped operations following a Ukrainian drone attack, which caused fire and damage to technological units on August 21, two industry sources said on Monday.
Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure, including oil refineries, in recent months to undermine Moscow's war efforts and cut its financial income.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Ukraine's military hit a Russian oil refinery in the city of Perm.
Numerous Russian regions have reported fuel shortages due to the strikes on the refineries and a robust seasonal demand.
Sources said that the primary CDU-4 unit, which accounts for almost 40% of the plant's capacity, was halted on August 21. It is able to process 14,000 metric tons of oil per day.
According to preliminary estimates, the repair works could take between one and two weeks.
Romania defence ministry says drone fragments found likely from earlier UAV breach
Romania's Defence Ministry said on Monday that drone fragments found on a property in Galați County most likely came from a drone detected earlier in the day and contained no explosive charge.
The ministry earlier said radar systems tracked intermittent aerial signals over Moldova before they appeared in the Târgu Bujor area of eastern Romania, prompting the scrambling of two F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter.
NATO member Romania shares a 614 km (381 miles) land border with Ukraine and has reported repeated breaches of its airspace by Russian drones over the past four years.
EU accelerates rollout of Ukraine loan, Costa says
The EU is "accelerating" the rollout of its €90 billion ($105 billion) loan to Ukraine to support the
country's air defence and energy infrastructure, EU Council President Antonio Costa said on Monday.
"We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as necessary and provide Ukraine with security guarantees once this terrible war ends, so that it never happens again," Costa said in a post on X following a visit to Kyiv.
UK's Burnham urges allies to do 'everything' to support Ukraine's skies
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged allies on Monday to "do everything we can" and
"dig into our own stocks of air defence" to protect Ukraine against Russian attacks at his first meeting co-chairing the so-called Coalition of the Willing.
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is now hoping he can win through a campaign of terror using ballistic missiles against Ukrainian civilians... This can never be the route to victory, and we need to be clear in sending that message," Burnham said at the start of the meeting.
"It means doing everything we can all do, and working with our allies as well, beyond this coalition, to dig into our own stocks of air defence... to protect Ukraine from the missiles that are falling now."
He also said there was a need for more sanctions on Russian oil and LNG exports to ramp up the pressure on Moscow.
Zelensky urges allies to cover €27 billion gap for defence needs
President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Ukraine's allies to deliver an air defence package ahead of the
winter, with Russia expected to renew its strikes on his country's energy infrastructure.
Addressing a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Kyiv, Zelensky also asked Ukraine's partners to help cover a funding gap of €27 billion for its defence sector needs in 2026. In this context, the president reminded his allies of the Russian assets held frozen across European jurisdictions.
Vatican's top diplomat visits Moscow
The Vatican's most senior diplomat begins a visit to Russia on Monday, aimed at maintaining dialogue with Moscow against a background of particularly tense international relations.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States, is the most senior Vatican official to visit the country since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Gallagher will hold talks on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The programme for his visit, which is due to last until Thursday, includes meetings with representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and with the small, local Catholic community.
This visit, his first since November 2021, is in keeping with the Vatican's diplomatic tradition, which emphasises active neutrality and a refusal to break contact with parties to a conflict.
The Holy See is promoting humanitarian moves from the two sides such as prisoner exchanges or the repatriation of Ukrainian children while exploring opportunities for peace negotiations.
However, bilateral ties are delicate, particularly due to the alignment of the Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kirill with the Kremlin.
Putin hands Russian state right to take control of badly protected infrastructure objects
President Vladimir Putin on Monday handed the Russian state the authority to take control of critically-important infrastructure facilities if they are deemed to be poorly protected from Ukrainian drone attacks and other threats.
The special powers, set out in a presidential decree, will allow the state to take over temporary administration of such facilities at a time when Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on oil refineries and retail warehouses.
The state will be able to take control of physical and financial assets and formal ownership rights if the entities responsible for such facilities are judged to have failed in their duty to protect them and are too slow to repair them after any attack, according to the decree.
It listed fuel, energy, industrial, communications, transport and logistics facilities and other objects regarded as critically-important for ensuring the security and economic stability of the state and the population as falling within the new decree's scope.
Putin last week ordered the government to launch a programme to rebuild commercial warehouses damaged or destroyed by Ukraine in recent weeks.
Kyiv has attacked at least two dozen warehouses belonging to Russia's top online retailer Wildberries since July 18, destroying a large chunk of its storage capacity.
Ukraine, Russia release 10 captives in prisoner swap
Ten Ukrainian prisoners of war who were thought to be missing in action have been released in a prisoner exchange, said President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He did not mention Russia in his statement, saying only that the prisoners had been released via Belarus, one of Moscow's closest allies.
"We are bringing back 10 of our warriors -- through Belarus. Servicemen of the Armed Forces and the National Guard of Ukraine. They defended the country in the Donetsk sector," Zelensky said in a post on X.
"All of them had been considered missing in action," he said, without giving further details.
Europe ramps up support to Ukraine as its US-dependent air defence runs low
European leaders are meeting in Kyiv as Ukraine holds celebrations for its 35th Independence Day.
The Coalition of the Willing is set to hold talks regarding support to the country, four-and-a-half years after the Russian invasion started, with the European Union having announced it was releasing over €6 billion in aid. But US support to Kyiv regarding critical air defence is still missing.
the broadcaster's Kethevane Gorjestani tells us more.
Burnham says UK will continue aiding Ukraine despite Russia's 'outrageous threats'
The United Kingdom will continue providing defence aid to war-torn Ukraine despite Russia's "outrageous threats", UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on a visit to Kyiv.
"Despite Russia's outrageous threats to my country, we will continue our support for Ukraine's defence," Burnham said in a speech delivered on the country's Independence Day and ahead of a meeting of its international backers.
Ukraine celebrates resilience on anniversary of its independence
Ukraine strikes Russian military plant in Rostov region
Ukraine's military struck a Russian military plant in the Rostov region overnight, causing a fire, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
The General Staff said on the Telegram messaging app that the Kamensky plant is producing rocket fuel ammunition and missile systems.
European leaders rally in Kyiv to celebrate Ukraine's Independence Day
European leaders joined President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv for official celebrations marking Ukraine’s Independence Day as Russia pushes on with its four-year-old invasion of the country.
Among the guests is new UK prime minister Andy Burnham, his first overseas trip since taking office in July.
the broadcaster's Emmanuelle Chaze tells us more from Kyiv.
Russia says it has taken control of three more Ukrainian villages
Russia's Defence Ministry said that its forces have captured three more eastern Ukrainian villages.
In its daily briefing, the ministry named the villages as Kucheriv Yar in the Donetsk region, Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Novokostiantynivka in the Sumy region.
Kremlin says new UK missile help for Ukraine 'adds fuel to the fire'
The Kremlin said that Britain's decision to hand Ukraine classified information on British-made components used to make SCALP long-range cruise missiles would "add fuel to the fire" and was regarded by Moscow extremely negatively.
Asked about UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's visit to Kyiv and the new British missile support, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Britain was a participant in the war on Ukraine's side and accused London of doing everything it could to prevent any progress towards an eventual peace deal.
The Kremlin says it is working on support for businesses after Ozon warehouse strikes
The Kremlin, asked about the possibility of state support for online retailer Ozon, whose warehouses have been targeted by Ukrainian drones, said that the government is working with businesses on support in "a difficult situation".
(the broadcaster with AFP, AP and Reuters)
