Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv claims assassination of Putin’s nuclear general in Moscow scooter bomb attack

Home to one of the few crossing points into Russia, the city of Narva is seen by Estonian border force officials as “the end and the beginning of the free world”.

Located on Nato’s eastern border, the city has become the constant target of hybrid warfare tactics employed by Russia – with the Kremlin sending in surveillance blimps on an almost weekly basis and removing Estonian border infrastructure in the dead of night.

“Everything that is on the other side of the border, I wouldn’t use [the term] ‘free world’ to describe that,” says Egert Belitsev, director general of the Estonian border force.

But not everyone in Narva sees it as Belitsev does.

Political corresondent Millie Cooke reports:

Premier League and Ukrainian national team star Mykhailo Mudryk has been suspended after receiving a positive doping test.

The 23-year-old professed his innocence and said he is in “shock” at the findings, adding that he hopes to be “back on the pitch soon”.

Reports in Ukraine name the substance in question, though this has not been verified by either the FA or Mudryk’s club. It is not available in the UK but appears on Wada’s list of banned substances.

Mudryk is the most expensive Ukrainian footballer ever and the most expensive player ever signed from the Ukrainian Premier League, after Chelsea paid an initial £62 million for his services.

He has been capped for the Ukrainian national team 28 times.

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The Ukrainian air force downed 20 Russia-launched drones, it said on Tuesday.

Russia launched a total of 31 drones and 10 did not reach their targets, with one still in the air, the air force announced on the Telegram messenger.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has announced a new round of sanctions on Russia.

Fresh sanctions have been put in place on 20 Russian shadow fleet vessels carrying Russian oil - a collection of ships working illegally to evade sanctions and regulations. The UK government has also sanctioned energy companies 2Rivers DMCC and 2Rivers PTE LTD.

Sir Keir met with representatives of Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, and Estonia on Tuesday have agreed a new partnership to challenge suspected shadow vessels

It comes as Russian forces continue to attack Ukraine’s vital national infrastructure as looks to create bitter winter conditions for Kyiv’s defense.

Sir Keir also announced an added £35 million of emergency support for Ukraine.

"As (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's oil revenues continue to fuel the fires of his illegal war, Ukrainian families are enduring cold, dark nights, often without heating, light or electricity, targeted by Russia's relentless missile attacks," Sir Keir said.

"These sanctions will add further pressure to Putin's stalling war economy."

Russian prosecutors have demanded prison sentences of nearly six years each for three lawyers who represented late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, one of his allies said on Tuesday.

Vadim Kobzev, Igor Sergunin and Alexei Liptser have been accused of taking part in an extremist organisation by Russia, after their arrest in October 2023. The trio have been added to an official list of “terrorists and extremists”.

Mr Navalny, one of Russia’s most prominent opposition figures, was convicted of extremism and other charges, before he died suddenly in an Arctic penal colony in February. Prosecutors accuse his lawyers of passing information to and from Mr Navalny while he was imprisoned.

Ivan Zhdanov, Mr Navalny’s ally, said on the Telegram messaging app that prosecutors were seeking penal colony sentences of 5 years and 11 months for Kobsez, 5 years and 10 months for Liptser and five years and six months for Sergunin, Reuters news agency reported.

Russian forces claim to have taken control of the settlement of Hannivka in eastern Ukraine, according to Russia’s state RIA news agency.

The reports, which came from Russia’s Defence Ministry on Tuesday, have not been independently verified.

A defence expert has warned of major Russian retaliation after a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces died in Moscow on Tuesday (17 December).

Igor Kirillov was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt.

His assistant was also killed, a Russian investigative committee said.

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Watch as Sir Keir Starmer met leaders of Baltic states in Estonia for the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) conference on Tuesday, 17 December, before visiting British troops serving on Russia‘s border.

The Prime Minister will join leaders from the Nordics and Baltics to discuss support for Ukraine, the sustained threat posed by Russia, and wider European security.

Sir Keir will then visit British forces serving in the region to deter malign Russian threats.

When asked what else could be done to support Ukraine, Sir Keir said: “There is an ever-increasing demand for more capability. That is understandable, and Ukraine needs all the capability that it can get, so I think all of us have put in more capability into Ukraine by way of equipment.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the visit of a Pan-African delegation to the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.

Representatives for a dozen African countries in the Pan-African Parliament visited Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region to “find out the truth of the Russian people”.

The parliament is the legislative body of the African Union, which represents 55 counties in the African continent.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "Their statements during this visit about opposing colonialism, made on Ukrainian land illegally seized by Russia in the course of its neocolonial war of aggression against Ukraine, are completely absurd.

"Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry strongly protests the visit of the delegation of the Pan-African Parliament."

Two people have been injured after Russia struck a civilian car in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the region’s military administration said.

Russian forces dropped explosives on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), injuring a 51-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman.

The pair were both diagnosed with blast and craniocerebral injuries, concussion and shrapnel wounds. They have been taken to hospital for treatment, according to Ukrainska Pravda.