Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s troops disguised as Ukrainians in assault on key city

Vladimir Putin is looking into slow speeds and mass outages on YouTube in Russia after the country’s top cinema official raised the matter with him, the Kremlin has claimed.

Critics have accused Russian authorities of deliberately disrupting YouTube to prevent Russians from viewing content which is critical of Mr Putin and his government. Moscow insists the issues are caused by Google’s failure to upgrade equipment – a charge disputed by the company and technology experts.

Karen Shakhnazarov, who has headed the state-owned giant of Soviet and Russian cinema, Mosfilm, for more than 25 years, said on Thursday he had met with Mr Putin and discussed the issue.

“Slowing down YouTube, in my view, is not very advisable today,” Mr Shakhnazarov said on state television. “To which the president said there are all sorts of nastiness on there.”

Mr Shakhnazarov said he agreed that there were some bad things on YouTube, but that those who wanted to access them were able to get around restrictions and many others simply use the platform to watch films and other content. “[Putin] listened and said ‘I’ll look into it’,” Mr Shakhnazarov said

After months spent occupying a swathe of territory in Russia in the wake of a daring summer assault, Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Ukraine is now engaged against a force of 50,000 troops amassed by Vladimir Putin in the border Kursk region.

However, Moscow is now pushing to retake the territory. Following reports that thousands of North Korean troops have been stationed in Kursk, Ukraine’s military has claimed that Russia has suffered two consecutive days of record losses – suggesting the fight is gaining a new intensity.

The Independent has spoken to analysts about how the situation may develop in the weeks and months to come:

Any further Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system could trigger another wave of mass displacement as winter approaches, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine has warned.

Civilians are now more vulnerable than at any other winter during the conflict due to Russian strikes on its energy system and donor fatigue, warned Matthias Schmale, who said that around two thirds of Ukraine’s domestic energy production is currently offline due to Russian strikes.

“The real concern is if they were to target the energy sector again, this could be a tipping point...for further mass movements, both inside the country and outside the country,” Mr Schmale told reporters in Geneva.

Any further displacement would add to the 3.6 million that are currently displaced within Ukraine and the more than 6 million who have fled across its borders to escape the conflict since February 2022.

Ukraine's military claims to have shot down 25 out of 29 Russian drones and one of two Kh-59/69 guided missiles during an overnight attack.

Ukrainians have been bracing for a major missile assault by Russia on civilian infrastructure ahead of the the looming winter, with Moscow attacking Kyiv for the first time since August this week and firing drones in large numbers each night.

Ukraine’s SBU security service has detained a special operations forces unit commander accused of disclosing plans of operations behind enemy lines to Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency.

“The aggressor was most interested in intelligence on sabotage and reconnaissance raids by Ukrainian special forces behind the front line in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimean directions,” the SBU said in a statement.

The alleged “mole”, whose rank corresponded to lieutenant colonel, had access to information on planned routes, weapons and targets, according to the statement. Russian forces planned to use the intelligence to eliminate special forces soldiers on the front line and in the Russian-occupied south.

The SBU said Russia’s military intelligence “activated” the unit commander in the spring of this year but that he was recruited prior to Moscow’s invasion in February 2022 through his acquaintances in Russia.

Ukraine’s top military leadership aided with the case and the suspect could face life in prison on treason charges, according to the SBU.

Ukraine is fighting to liberate all territory captured by Russia in the last decade, and any claim that Kyiv is shifting its focus in the war to prioritise security over land is false, the country’s defence minister has said.

“Territorial integrity is part of our values,” Rustem Umerov told a joint press conference with his Norwegian counterpart in Oslo.

When asked about reports that Ukraine is shifting its focus in the war, Mr Umerov said this was false and part of Russian propaganda efforts.

“Our priority is still to protect people, protect the nation, to liberate people from almost 10 years of temporary occupation, so Crimea and Donbas [are] part of Ukraine,” he said, adding that people living in territories held by Russia are all waiting to be liberated.

Wartime Ukraine could reopen its first airport in the western Lviv region next year, as it tries to restore air links suspended nationwide since Russia’s invasion, a senior partner at an insurance broker has said.

While Ukraine’s national flag carrier and several other companies have gone bankrupt due to the suspension of air travel, Kyiv has taken part in discussions with European aviation authorities and airlines on restoring some air travel for almost a year, Crispin Ellison of the firm Marsh McLennan said.

Marsh McLennan has been supporting the Ukrainian government to put together an insurance facility to cover commercial aviation, Mr Ellison said. The broker already runs an insurance programme for ships carrying all cargos via Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor. The aviation sector is involved in the talks, he said.

“National carriers, low-cost and Ukrainian airlines [are] all expressing an interest and looking at whether they do this,” he told Reuters.

“If regulators agree it is safe to open it and a political decision is made, the insurance industry is ready to support the recovery efforts,” said Mr Ellison, referring to 2025.

The State Aviation Service said in written comments it was considering the possibility of a phased and limited opening of airspace for civil aviation “provided the risks are assessed and reduced to an acceptable level, and additional security measures are implemented”. It did not provide any timeframe.

The Ukrainian government is also keen to reopen the country’s main airport just outside Kyiv but Mr Ellison believes the aviation market is waiting “until confidence has been gained that this can happen in a much lower-risk scenario”.

Russian forces hit the territory of the port of Odesa in southern Ukraine in a strike on Thursday evening, killing one person and injuring 10, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“Last night, Odesa suffered a combined massive attack involving missiles and drones,” Mr Zelensky said on Friday. “Residential buildings, a heating main, an educational institution, and a church were damaged. The port area was also hit.

“Tragically, one person died because of terror, and ten others were injured, including two children. Assistance is being provided to everyone in need. I am grateful to everyone involved in rescuing our people.”

Embattled German chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Tuesday while in Brazil for the G20 leaders’ meeting, Berlin has said.

The focus of the bilateral meeting will be Ukraine and economic themes, reporters were told.

Hungary’s Viktor Orban has claimed that the European Union needs to reconsider sanctions against Russia which are keeping energy prices elevated, hindering the bloc’s economic competitiveness.

European Union leaders signed a declaration on competitiveness at their informal summit last week.

But Mr Orban – the EU leader most closely aligned with Vladimir Putin, and a vocal critic of military aid to Kyiv – said US companies pay a quarter of the amount their European counterparts spend on gas and electricity, a disadvantage that he said could not be overcome by other means.

While countries in western Europe have made serious efforts to wean themselves off Russian energy, landlocked Hungary gets 80 to 85 per cent of its gas from Russia, with 80 per cent of its crude oil supplies also coming from its former communist ally.

“Energy prices need to be lowered by all means,” Mr Orban told Hungarian broadcasters. “This means that sanctions need to be reconsidered because under the current sanctions policy, energy prices will not go lower.”