Ukraine-Russia war latest: Moscow expels British diplomat for ‘spying’ and summons ambassador as row erupts

Europeans will step up military support for Ukraine, Germany’s defence minister pledged after talks with his British, French, Italian and Polish counterparts on how to foster defence efforts as Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

“Our target must be to enable Ukraine to act out of a position of strength,” Boris Pistorius told reporters in Berlin after hosting a meeting of the Group of Five leading nations in European defence.

His remarks were echoed by the Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz who vowed to pledge more aid for Kyiv.

“Europe must coordinate its efforts more, it must harmonise its actions, it must aim higher, in order also to be a good partner for the United States,” he said.

“We are obliged today to say it clearly – Europe must increase its efforts when it comes to helping Ukraine but above all... when it comes to its own security. Without higher spending, without awareness in every European society of the times we are living in, everything is nothing,” he said.

The election of Mr Trump – who is sceptical of US support for Ukraine – has added pressure on Europe to step up its role in arming Kyiv should Washington, the biggest donor so far, reduce its aid.

Kyiv is under a sustained Russian drone attack, mayor Vitali Klitschko said early today.

“The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack on the capital continues,” Mr Klitschko said on his Telegram channel. “Air defence forces are operating in different areas of the city. (Drones) are entering the capital from different directions.”

Witnesses described a series of explosions in what sounded like air defence systems in operation, reported Reuters.

Kyiv, its surrounding region and the vast majority of Ukrainian territory was under air raid alerts. In Kyiv, the air raid sirens started at around 7pm GMT.

Five people have been injured in a Russian drone attack while humanitarian aid was being distributed in the the village of Solonchaky, the governor of Mykolaiv has said.

Humanitarian workers and local residents were among those injured, all of whom were taken to hospital, said governor Vitalli Kim.

Two men were in a serious condition, while two men and a woman were in moderate condition, the governor said.

The UK has announced sanctions against 30 ships in Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” which officials say were responsible for transporting billions of pounds of oil and oil products in the last year.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said this is the largest UK package of its kind, and alleged that half of the ships transported some £3.4bn of oil and oil products in the last 12 months. Two insurance companies have also been targeted with sanctions.

The shadow fleet is made up of ships engaged in illegal operations to evade sanctions.

Satellite images show North Korea is expanding a key weapons manufacturing complex which assembles a type of short-range missile used by Russia in its war against Ukraine, researchers at a US-based think tank have said.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, said the Ryongsong Machine Complex in Hamhung was the only plant known to produce the Hwasong-11 class of solid-fuel ballistic missiles, which Ukrainian officials say have been used by Russia in the conflict.

The satellite images, taken in early October by the commercial satellite firm Planet Labs, show what appears to be an additional assembly building under construction as well as a new housing facility, likely intended for workers, according to the analysis by researchers at CNS.

“We see this as a suggestion that they’re massively increasing, or they’re trying to significantly increase, the throughput of this factory,” Mr Lair told Reuters.

Ukraine has lost over 40 per cent of the territory in Russia’s Kursk region that it captured in a surprise incursion in August as Russian forces amass tens of thousands of troops and mount waves of counter-assaults, a senior Ukrainian military source has told Reuters.

The source, who is on Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russia had deployed 59,000 troops to the Kursk region since Kyiv’s forces swept in and advanced swiftly, catching Moscow unprepared.

“At most, we controlled about 1,376 square kilometres, now of course this territory is smaller. The enemy is increasing its counterattacks,” the source said.

“Now we control approximately 800 square kilometres. We will hold this territory for as long as is militarily appropriate.”

Russia has removed a senior general in Ukraine for giving misleading reports about the progress of the war as defence minister Andrei Belousov tries to clear out poor commanders, pro-Russian war bloggers and state media said.

Ahead of winter, Russian forces advanced at the fastest rate in Ukraine since the start of the 2022 invasion, though progress was much slower in some areas - particularly around Siversk in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Russian media cited unidentified sources as saying that Colonel General Gennady Anashkin, the commander of the Southern Grouping, had been removed from his command, though there was no official confirmation.

“Only the lazy did not write about the problems there: overall, it took the system about two months to react properly,” Rybar, a pro-Russian blogger said on Telegram.

“Anashkin, was removed from office for false reports in the Seversk direction,” Rybar added.