Ukraine-Russia latest: Brazil urged to arrest Putin as Zelensky issues new North Korea warning

A Russian Tu-134 military plane was set on fire at a military airfield in the Orenburg region overnight between Saturday anf Sunday, Ukraine said.

The aircraft is used to “transport the leadership of the Russian defence ministry”, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR).

The plane burned to the ground at the Orenburg-2 military airfield, around 1,250 kilometres (780 miles) from the front line in Ukraine.

HUR has not claimed responsibility for the incident, but in sharing footage of the fire it said: “Every crime against the Ukrainian people will be duly punished,” the Kyiv Independent reported.

Ukraine has previously carried out strikes against airbases belonging to Russia’s air force.

A French citizen was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted in a Russian court of collecting military information.

Laurent Vinatier was arrested in Moscow in June and previously admitted failing to register as a “foreign agent” before gathering information on the Russian army.

In his remarks, Vinatier stated that he recognised guilt and asked the judge for clemency, saying in Russian: “I’m asking the Russian Federation to forgive me for failing to observe Russian laws.”

His lawyers asked the court to sentence him to a fine in the trial, which was fast-tracked following Vinatier’s guilty plea.

Vinatier’s arrest came as tensions rose between Paris and Moscow, after French president Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of deploying French troops in Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil next month, Ukraine’s top prosecutor has said.

Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin told Reuters he had called on Brazilian authorities to carry out Putin’s arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court if he landed on South American soil.

The arrest warrant was issued for Putin in March 2023, around a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He is accused of the war crime of deporting children.

Russia has dismissed the warrant as “null and void”, denying allegations of war crimes.

Kostin said he had  "information that Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil” and reminded Brazil “it’s an obligation for the Brazilian authorities as a state party of the Rome Statute to arrest him if he dares to visit”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked on Monday whether a decision had been made on whether Putin would attend the meeting of the world’s leading 20 economies. He said: "No. When a decision is made, we will let you know."

A Russian first-person view (FPV) drone attack in the Kherson region has killed two women in their car, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.

The strike hit near the town of Beryslav, 75 kilometres east of Kherson city, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Kherson was freed from Russian occupation in November 2022, and has since been the subject of sustained and regular attacks from Russian troops.

Residents of the southern city have reported an increase in indiscriminate Rusian attacks with FPV drones on civilian targets in the city. They refer th the new strategy as “human safari”, The Kyiv Independent reported.

Ukrainian soldiers crossed into Russia’s Kursk region two days before Kyiv launched a larger operation across the border, a commander has said.

The cross-border incursion into Kursk was launched on August 6, claiming to have seized 1,300 square kilometres (500 square miles).

But it has recently come under increasing pressure as Russia has brought in reinforcements.

Pavlo Rozlach, commander of Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade, said in an interview on Sunday that one company of the brigade sneaked into Kursk in groups of six and hid in the forest.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces helped them to cross the border, before the company attacked a Russian stronghold near the border and paved the way for the entry of Ukrainian vehicles.

Last week Russia’s air force was forced to shoot down one of its newest and most advanced models of attack drone, in an incident that is being seen as one of the biggest embarrassments ever suffered by the Russian Air Force.

On 5 October, videos showed a drone flying near Kostyantynivka in eastern Ukraine before it was shot down by another jet briefly flying alongside it. Initial reports suggested it was either a Russian jet taken down by the Ukrainian air force or a Russian jet losing control and being shot down by Moscow.

However, the drone that fell down was no ordinary weapon. It was later identified as a stealth S-70 Okhotnik-B, also known as “Hunter”, one of Russia’s most advanced stealth drones, designed to accompany an Su-57 fighter jet.

Read the full report by Stuti Mishra:

The EU agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on Iranian-linked people and organisations for their material support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Iran Air has been sanctioned for its links to Iranian transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia, Reuters reported.

Saha Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran’s deputy defence minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari were also on the sanctions list.

US officials said last month that Russia had received ballistic missiles for its war in Ukraine. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said no such transfer had taken place since his government took office in August.

Officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard and managing directors of Aerospace Industries Organization and Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries were also sanctioned.

The sanctions include asset freezes and a travel ban to the EU.

A Ukrainian refugee says she is living in a “surreal nightmare” after she was refused permission to bring her two children to the UK.

Pressure is mounting on ministers to open a family reunion pathway for Ukrainians with temporary immigration status, after the rules were changed without warning in February. Charities say that the Home Office’s “restrictive rules and poor decision-making” are “tearing families apart”.

Read Andy Gregory’s exclusive report here:

Laurent Vinatier was arrested in June after Russia accused him of failing to register as a “foreign agent” before gathering information on the Russian army.

The 48-year-old previously admitted the charges and is appearing in court today (Monday).

Ruyssia’s Defence Ministry says its forces have taken control of the village of Levadne, around 125 kilometres west of the eastern city of Donetsk, Russian state-owned news agency Interfax reported.

The village, in the region of Zaporizhzhia, was captured early on in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, before it was retaken by Ukrainien forces during the 2023 summer counteroffensive.

The battlefield report has not been independent verified.