Russia Ukraine war: Zelensky admits Kremlin ‘onslaught’ is ‘extremely difficult’

Following the German defence minister’s claim that the goal to supply Ukraine with one million rounds of ammunition will not be reached, the EU commissioner for industry insisted they would.

At a summit of defence in Brussels, Thierry Breton told reporters that the target would be reached,

“I’m responsible for ammunition production capacity so I can confirm that the target of producing more than a million rounds of ammunition a year, which we set ourselves and which they hope to achieve from spring onwards, will be met,” he said.

One of five men convicted of killing a Russian journalist critical of the Kremlin has been pardoned halfway through his 20-year sentence after a stint fighting in the “special military operation” in Ukraine.

She was shot and killed in the elevator of her Moscow apartment block, triggering outrage at home and in the West.

Her death on 7 October, which is Putin’s birthday, led to suggestions the shooting was done to please the president.

Germany‘s aid for Ukraine will be “massively expanded” next year, the foreign minister said Monday as Kyiv heads into its second winter since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Germany has become one of Ukraine’s top military suppliers since the war started in February 2022, sending material that includes tanks, armored personnel carriers, air defense systems and Patriot missile systems.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said as she arrived Monday at a meeting with European Union counterparts that, even as Europe grapples with the war between Israel and Hamas, it’s still important to “face the geopolitical challenge here.”

The former prime minister is re-entering frontline politics during a tumultuous time. Chris Stevenson looks at what he will need to tackle first and where his instincts may take him.

Western countries on Monday repeatedly called on Russia to end domestic repression of dissident voices and end its war in Ukraine — and human rights violations related to it — as Russia came under a regular review at the U.N.’s top rights body.

A delegation from Moscow, led by State Secretary and Deputy Justice Minister Andrei Loginov, defended Russia’s right to ensure law and order by restricting some forms of protest or voices that might threaten domestic security. He also said Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine had “no relation to the subject matter” at issue in the review.

Monday’s 3 1/2-hour hearing in Geneva was part of an exercise known as the universal periodic review, or UPR, which all U.N. member states face about every four or five years in connection with the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council.

European Union nations acknowledged on Tuesday that they risk failing to provide Ukraine with the ammunition they pledged to help Kyiv stave off the Russian invasion and win back its territory.

Early this year, EU leaders promised to provide 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine’s front line by spring next year in what would have amounted to a serious ramp-up of production. But the 27-nation bloc, for over half a century steeped in a “peace, not war” message and sheltering under a U.S. military umbrella, is finding it tough to come up with the goods.

“The 1 million will not be reached, you have to assume that,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, ahead of a meeting of EU defense and foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.

The potentially significant bulletins were available for about 10 minutes, after which two state news outlets withdrew them without any follow-up.

The agencies – TASS and RIA Novosti – said that the Russian Ministry of Defence had announced relocations of troops to an unspecified “more advantageous positions” east of the Dnipro river.

A Russian court on Tuesday fined Google for failing to store personal data on its Russian users, the latest in a series of fines on the tech giant amid tensions between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine.

A magistrate at Moscow‘s Tagansky district court fined Google 15 million rubles (around $164,200) after the IT company repeatedly refused to store personal data on Russian citizens in Russia.

Google was previously fined over the same charges in August 2021 and June 2022 under a Russian law that obliges foreign entities to localize the personal data of their Russian users.

Ukrainian forces repelled a total of eight attacks on the battered, strategic city of Avdiivka by Vladimir Putin’s troops in the past 24 hours, said Ukraine’s military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun.

“Fighting is still going on. Over the last two days, the occupiers have increased the number of air strikes using guided bombs from Su-35 aircraft,” said Mr Shtupun.

“The enemy is also bringing in more and more infantry. But when they tried to deploy armoured vehicles the day before yesterday two tanks and 14 other vehicles were burned out,” he said.