Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s troops thwart cross-border attack as he warns against long-range weapons

Nato’s new chief Mark Rutte has warned that North Korean military units have been deployed to Russia’s Kursk region, parts of which are occupied by Ukraine following their incursion nearly three months ago.

“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Mr Rutte told reporters after Nato officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi could be a key broker in the end of the war in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested.

Speaking to the Times of India, two months after Mr Modi visited Kyiv and vowed to be “a friend” to Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said: “Modi is the prime minister of a really huge country from the perspective of population, economy, influence and impact.”

“Modi can influence the end of the Ukraine war. This is the huge value of him in any conflict, this is the huge value of India,” he added.

Parts of two Ukrainian regions have been left without power after Russian air strikes damaged local infrastructure, energy officials said.

National grid operator Ukrenergo said it was forced to implement emergency cuts in parts of the northeastern Sumy and central Poltava regions following overnight attacks by Russian forces.

Kyiv’s air force said it had destroyed 66 out of 100 drones launched by Russia, and that another 24 were “locationally lost”, but that “several” had struck civilian infrastructure. It offered no further details of damages.

Norway has agreed with US authorities to buy air defence missiles for more than 4 billion Norwegian crowns (£280m), the Norwegian military has said, as it ramps up defence spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“With more and newer missiles, the Norwegian Armed Forces will have a better ability to protect Norway against air attacks,” Nato member Norway’s defence minister Bjoern Arild Gram said.

The missiles – which mark one of the largest weapons procurements ever for Norway’s armed forces – are primarily intended for Norway’s ground-based air defence system, but can also be included in the weapons inventory of F-35A fighter aircraft, the agency said.

Russian forces are making swift and “significant tactical advances” into the eastern Ukrainian city of Selydove, war monitors have said.

Open source data suggests Russian forces advanced in September at their fastest rate since March 2022, despite Ukraine taking a part of Russia’s Kursk region.

Those rapid advances have continued in the past week as Russian forces appear to be charging towards – or even into – the city of Selydove, which is less than 10 miles south of its main target, the larger city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider Donetsk region’s defences.

Our foreign affairs reporter Tom Watling reports:

Russia’s defence ministry claims its forces have taken control of the village of Tsukuryne in the Pokrovsk district of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the RIA news agency reports.

It was not possible to verify the claims, however Russia has often claimed control of Ukrainian villages despite being yet to have actually done so.

At least 21 people including five children have been injured by Russian bombing in Kharkiv and the surrounding region, Ukrainian officials said.

Thirteen people were wounded in separate attacks on an apartment building and storage space in Kharkiv and another eight in the city of Chuhuiv just to the southeast, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

Regional prosecutors accused Russia of striking Kharkiv with guided bombs and Chuhuiv from a multiple rocket-launch system.

Two people were also killed in Kherson late on Sunday after Russian forces shelled the centre of the front-line city, regional officials said.

Ukrainian air defences destroyed 66 out 100 attack drones launched by Russia during an overnight strike, Kyiv’s air force said on Monday.

Another 24 were “locationally lost” but “several” others had struck civilian infrastructure, it added.

Ukrainian drones targeted ethanol plants in Russia’s southern Voronezh region, Russian Telegram channels have claimed, as the regional governor said the attack injured two people, sparked a fire and damaged two industrial enterprises.

Firefighters have doused the fire in the region’s Anninsky district that injured two workers, said governor Alexander Gusev, adding that around 10 Ukrainian drones were destroyed or intercepted over the region late on Sunday, with debris damaging several buildings.

The Russian defence ministry said only one Ukrainian drone was destroyed over the Voronezh region, however, from a total of 21 downed over its territory overnight.

Explosions were heard near an ethanol spirit plant in the village of Krasnoye in the Novokhopersky district, claimed the Baza Telegram news channel, which has close links to Russia’s security services, as well as several other news channels on the app.

The SHOT breaking news channel said the fire broke out at a distillery in the village of Anna in Anninsky. Videos on social media showed large blaze at a building lighting up the dark. It was not possible to onfirm the date, however Reuters reported that the video had indeed been taking in Anninsky.