Live blog: Zelenskyy vows more Ukrainian actions against Russia

Tuesday, 26 September, 2023

1824 GMT — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said sanctions on Russia were not sufficient to halt its "aggression" and vowed new Ukrainian action against the "terrorist state".

"We clearly see which directions of pressure on Russia need to be strengthened to prevent (its) terrorist capabilities from growing," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

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1910 GMT — Ship insurance facility set up for grain exports: broker Miller

A new marine insurance facility for Ukrainian grain exports using the country's sea corridor has been set up in conjunction with Ukraine's authorities, insurance broker Miller said.

Russia quit a UN-backed deal in July to enable exports from Ukraine to sail from three approved ports.

Since then, Kiev has launched what it calls a new temporary humanitarian corridor in an effort to break Russia's de-facto blockade. Two ships have sailed in recent days from the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk using the channel.

Securing insurance cover has been vital.

London-headquartered Miller said it had teamed up with British maritime technology company Clearwater Dynamics (CWD) to develop a war risks insurance facility for grains shipments via three ports including Chornomorsk as well as Odessa and Pivdennyi.

Miller declined to name the underwriters involved in the facility, which offered both cargo and hull insurance for a ship.

1840 GMT — Russia's Medvedev says visited troops in Ukraine

Russia's former leader Dmitry Medvedev has said he visited troops near the frontline in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, upon orders from President Vladimir Putin.

"On the instructions of the president, I visited a firing range near the contact line in the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic," said Medvedev, who formerly served as president and prime minister, referring to the region which Moscow said it annexed last year.

"The servicemen are demonstrating excellent combat qualities of will, firmness and a general attitude to victory," Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of the Kremlin's Security Council, said in a video posted on social media.

He added that "over 325,000 people" had been recruited into the Russian armed forces since the start of the year -- up from the figure of 280,000 he gave at the start of the month.

1546 GMT — Belarus won't join war in Ukraine alongside Russia: top diplomat

The foreign minister of Belarus, which has a strategic partnership with Russia, says he cannot envision a situation where his country would enter the war in Ukraine alongside Russian forces.

Sergei Aleinik said in an interview with The Associated Press that he also can’t imagine a situation where Russia would order his country to use the tactical nuclear weapons it recently deployed in Belarus.

“I don’t see such an option because it is an instrument of defence primarily,” he said of the missiles.

But if Belarus was invaded, “I will not exclude any instruments to be used to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country,” he said.

1019 GMT — Russia shows admiral claimed killed by Ukraine attending meeting

Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia's most senior navy officers, was pictured attending a video conference, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him.

In a photograph released by the Russian defence ministry, Sokolov was shown apparently taking part in a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top admirals and army chiefs.

Ukraine's special forces said on Monday they had killed Sokolov, Moscow's top admiral in Crimea, along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

1015 GMT — US tanks, missiles provided to Ukraine 'will burn'— Russia

The Kremlin has said that US supplies of long-range ATACMS missiles and Abrams tanks to Ukraine would not change the situation on the battlefield.

Asked about the issue at a regular news briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian armed forces were constantly adapting to the use of new types of weapons in what Moscow calls its special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine.

"All this can in no way affect the essence of the special military operation, its outcome. There is no panacea, no single weapon that can change the balance of power on the battlefield," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding: "They too will burn."

0646 GMT — Polish experts confirm Ukrainian missile hit grain facility

Polish experts have confirmed that the missile that killed two people at a grain facility in southern Poland in November was fired by Ukraine, Rzeczpospolita daily reported, citing sources.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation told Rzeczpospolita that Poland had established that the missile that landed in the village of Przewodow was an S-300 5-W-55 air-defence missile fired from Ukrainian territory.

"This rocket has a range of 75 km to 90 km," the newspaper cited a source as saying. "At that time, the Russian positions were in a place from which no Russian missile could reach Przewodow."

Kiev has denied that one of its missiles had landed in Poland as the explosion of the missile in the NATO member fuelled fears that the war in Ukraine could spiral into a wider conflict.

0617 GMT — Ukraine destroys 26 of 38 Russian drones

Russia attacked Ukraine with 38 drones overnight, Kiev's air force has said, saying it had destroyed 26 of them, but that the grain-exporting Danube river port of Izmail was hit again.

The drones that got through hit port infrastructure around Izmail, damaging more than 30 vehicles and injuring two drivers during the two-hour attack, Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

Since July, when Moscow pulled out of a Türkiye-brokered deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine's grain-exporting infrastructure in the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.

"The launches of 38 Shahed-136/131 strike unmanned aerial vehicles from the southeastern direction were recorded," the air force said on the messaging platform Telegram.

0004 GMT — Ukraine says Russia Black Sea Fleet commander killed

Ukraine's special forces said they had killed Moscow's top admiral in Crimea along with 33 other officers in last week's missile attack on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond when asked by Reuters to confirm or deny that Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia's most senior navy officers, had been killed.

Moscow-backed authorities in Sevastopol, however, were taking extra measures to address Ukraine's increased attacks on Crimea, a critical region providing a platform from which Russia has launched many of its air attacks on Ukraine in the 19-month-long war.

In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, a move widely viewed as illegal by the international community, including Türkiye, the EU, the US, the UK and the UN General Assembly.

2030 GMT — Russia says it downs Ukrainian drones over Belgorod, Kursk regions

Russian air defence units repelled several Ukraine drone attacks over the Belgorod and Kursk regions late on Monday, destroying at least 11 drones in total, Russia's defence ministry said.

The ministry in several separate statements on its Telegram messaging app said that seven drones were downed over the Belgorod region and four over the Kursk region.

The ministry provided no information on possible damage or injuries from the attacks. Moscow rarely discloses details, unless civilian or non-military infrastructure is damaged.

Both Belgorod and Kursk regions border Ukraine and have been subject to numerous drone attacks in the course of the war that Russia launched against its neighbour in February 2022.

For our live updates from Monday (September 25), click here.