Ukraine-Russia war live: More than 1,000 people evacuated from Krasnodar amid Kyiv’s drone barrage

More than 70,000 Russian military personnel have died in Ukraine, with volunteers making up the largest group of casualties since the 2022 invasion for the first time, accounting for about 20 per cent of deaths.

Among the casualties, 13,781 were volunteers — making up the largest chunk of casualties for the first time since the war began, according to data from BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona.

For much of the first year of the conflict former prisoners made up the highest proportion of Russian casualties, but they now account for 19 per cent of all confirmed deaths. Citizens conscripted into joining the army – mobilised soldiers – account for 13 per cent.

Volunteers typically came from poorer parts of Russia and joined for better pay and benefits, often without realising their contracts were indefinite. The BBC noted that most of the volunteers seem to have signed up of their own free will, though there are reports from some in Chechnya who have described coercion and intimidation to join.

The Russian military is deploying these volunteers to the most challenging frontlines, contributing to high casualty rates, the outlet reported.

A senior Russian lawmaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, warned that if Ukraine were to strike deep into Russian territory using Western missiles, it could trigger a global conflict involving nuclear weapons.

He stated that Russia would respond forcefully with more powerful weapons. “Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons,” the speaker of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament said.

His remarks followed a European Parliament vote supporting Ukraine’s ability to target Russian sites with Western weapons.

Mr Volodin emphasised the historical sacrifices of the Soviet Union in World War II, urging Europeans to recognise the speed at which Russia could retaliate with its RS-28 Sarmat missile, which could reach Strasbourg in just over three minutes.

Need a reminder on the Ukraine’s Kursk incursion? Here is an explainer piece.

US officials at an economic working group meeting in Beijing expressed concern to their Chinese counterparts about signs of increasing overcapacity in some sectors of China’s economy, the US Treasury Department said on Friday.

They also discussed concerns over Chinese firms’ support for the Russian war in Ukraine, the department said in a statement. The two sides met on Sept 19 and 20.

On 16 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to increase the size of the Russian military with an additional 180,000 personnel to 1.5 million in total coming into effect from December 2024.

But despite the stated intent of Russia to expand its force, it is likely that this ambition will be hampered by continued heavy losses sustained in the war against Ukraine, in addition to recruitment challenges, the British Ministry of Defense has argued in its latest intelligence update.

Ukraine’s forces destroyed 61 out of 70 Russian attack drones and one out of four missiles launched overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Friday.

“The air defence system operated in Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Sumy, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions,” it said on the Telegram messenger.

Oleksandr Kamyshin spent more than a year as minister of strategic industries, overseeing Ukraine’s defence industry. He tells Askold Krushelnycky about his latest challenge.

NATO concluded a major anti-drone exercise this week, with Ukraine taking part for the first time as the Western alliance seeks to learn urgently from the rapid development and widespread use of unmanned systems in the war there.

The drills at a Dutch military base, involving more than 20 countries and some 50 companies, tested cutting-edge systems to detect and counter drones and assessed how they work together.

The 11-day exercise ended with a demonstration of jamming and hacking drones in a week when their critical role in the Ukraine war was demonstrated once again.

Residents in Kyiv have been urged by authorities to stay inside after air pollution caused by fires has blanketed the region.

The Ukrainian capital topped a list of the most polluted major cities early on Friday in a real-time Swiss database.

Ukraine's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources said the pollution was a result of the burning of peatlands and other wildfires in the region combined with autumn temperature fluctuations.

Fires have been reported in the Vyshhorod district, around 12 miles north of the capital. Officials warned about an increased concentration of suspended particles, such as dust, soot, and smoke, in the air. In some areas of the city, air pollution levels have reached the maximum of the 100-point scale.

Norway will extend its Ukraine aid programme by three years and add a total of 60 billion Norwegian crowns ($5.70 billion) as part of the expansion, the Nordic country’s government said on Friday.

Norway in 2023 allocated a total of 75 billion crowns split over five years to support the Ukrainian war effort and reconstruction, but said on Friday this would be raised to 135 billion and that the programme would run until 2030.