Russia Ukraine war live: Putin ‘rehearses massive nuclear strike’

Thyroid cancer, Parkinson’s disease, leprosy or declining in the aftermath of a stroke – just a few of the many unproven ailments rumoured to have afflicted the Russian leader in recent years.

Just this week, the Kremlin were forced to deny rumours that Vladimir Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest in his bedroom, months after they were forced to deny that he had soiled himself.

Since gripping the reins of power in 1999, Putin has established himself as one of the most infamous politicians in modern history, with a vicelike grip over Russia.

Kirby pointed to the information as he renewed a plea for Congress to pass a nearly $106 billion supplemental funding request that Biden unveiled last week. The funding request includes more than $61 billion for Ukraine.

“President Putin is not giving up on his aspirations to take all of Ukraine and as long as Russia continues its brutal assault we have to continue to support the Ukrainian people and their self defence, because his intentions are clear,” Kirby said.

Putin “basically said that if Western weapons to Ukraine stop, Ukraine would have a week to live. So to ensure that we can continue to do that it’s critical that Congress step up and pass the supplemental requests that the president put forward last week.”

Kirby did not provide any details on how many Russian troops have been executed for failing to follow orders or any specific examples of units threatened with execution for retreating from Ukrainian fire.

The Wagner Group military contractor was reported to have had a practice of executing those who fled. The contract soldiers were pulled out of Ukraine after their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, mounted an armed rebellion in June.

There also have been reports, including from the British Defence Ministry, that the regular Russian military has deployed “barrier troops” that threaten to shoot any deserters.

“They are in such desperate need to make some kind of progress, particularly in the Donbas, the Donetsk areas, that they are literally throwing young men into the fight who haven’t been properly trained, haven’t been properly equipped, and certainly are not being properly led,” Kirby said.

The White House on Thursday said Russia is executing soldiers who have failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.

It’s a development that U.S. national security officials believe reflects Russia’s morale problems 20 months into its grinding invasion of Ukraine, said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric,” Kirby told reporters. “But I think it’s a symptom of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective.”

The White House has downgraded and released intelligence findings about Russian action over the course of the war. In the past, the administration has said it has acted to disclose the intelligence to highlight plans for Russian misinformation and other activity so allies remain clear-eyed about Moscow’s intent and Russia thinks twice before carrying out an operation.

This latest unveiling of intelligence about Russia’s struggles comes as President Joe Biden is pressing the Republican-controlled House to go along with providing more funding for Ukraine as Kyiv tries to repel Russia in a war that has no end in sight.

Ukraine launched a “humanitarian corridor” for ships bound for African and Asian markets in August to try to circumvent a de facto blockade in the Black Sea after Russia quit the deal that had guaranteed Kyiv’s seaborne exports during the war.

Later, a senior agricultural official said the route – which runs along Ukraine‘s southwest Black Sea coast, into Romanian territorial waters and onwards to Turkey, would also be used for grain shipments.

About 700,000 tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports via the new route since it began operating in August. Ukraine shipped up to six million tons of grain a month from its Black Sea ports before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Kubrakov said 23 ships were loading in the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

“A total of 51 vessels used the entrance corridor. 33 vessels exported more than 1.3 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products and other cargo,” he said.

Wheat futures had been pressured this week by hopes that Ukraine would expand grain exports, as well as rain relief in dry crop belts worldwide.

Barva Invest, which specialises in Ukraine‘s agriculture sector, said a de facto suspension had already been in place for two days at the behest of Kyiv’s military, which had cited a threat from increased Russian air force activity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that he had ordered Russian warplanes armed with Kinzhal missiles to patrol the Black Sea.

British maritime security company Ambrey said in a report that the Ukrainian Seaport Authority issued a communique late on Wednesday, saying: “There would be no vessel movement along the corridor for entry and exit on 26th of October, 2023.”

The suspension was prompted by Russian Air Force operations in the region, it said.

“On October 25th, Ambrey informed its clients that the Russian Air Force had dropped at least four objects, likely acoustic and/or magnetic sea mines, into the Ukrainian grain corridor transit area near Snake Island, Ukraine,” it said.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov denied on Thursday reports by Ukrainian and British firms that the new Black Sea export corridor had been suspended.

“The information regarding the cancellation or unscheduled stoppage of the temporary #Ukrainian_corridor for the movement of civilian vessels from and to the ports of the Big Odesa (region) is false,” Kubrakov said on X, formerly Twitter.

“All available routes established by the Ukrainian Navy are valid and being used by civilian vessels.”

The Kyiv-based Barva Invest consultancy, British security firm Ambrey and a specialised outlet, Ukrainian Ports, reported that Ukraine had suspended use of the corridor due to a possible threat from Russian warplanes and sea mines.

Ukraine has been using the corridor to try to revive its seaborne exports without Russian approval, defying threats from Moscow which quit a U.N.-brokered deal in July that had allowed some food exports to flow despite the war.

“We would like to inform you of a temporary suspension of vessel traffic to and from (the ports). The current ban is in force on Oct. 26, but it is possible that it will be extended,” the consultancy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Chicago wheat futures, a global price benchmark, turned higher on the news to recover from an earlier two-week low. They later traded up about 1%.

Sanctioned Russian-Israeli billionaire Mikhail Fridman has lost a High Court challenge that would have allowed him extra funds to pay for the upkeep of his mansion.

The Ukrainian-born businessman took legal action after the Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (Ofsi) denied permission for £30,000 monthly payments to cover the running costs of Athlone House, a multimillion-pound Victorian property in Highgate, north London.

Mr Fridman’s lawyers argued the decisions were unlawful, saying the 168-year-old property that he bought in 2016, and houses a £44 million art collection, faces “risks of neglect”.

Ofsi said it refused spending requests that would enable Mr Fridman to enjoy his pre-sanctions “lifestyle” and that it rejected payments to Athlone House Limited (AHL), a company maintaining the property, because its sole director, Nigina Zairova, is also subject to sanctions.

With the world’s attention fixed on the Middle East, officials in Ukraine say they are facing a new threat: crude Russian drones that appear to be launched with the sole intention of exhausting Ukrainian rockets fired to shoot them down.

According to Ukrainian national television, the small drones carry reflectors to ensure they are detected, sometimes taking pictures to identify the sites of anti-aircraft radars and missile systems. Built from cheap components readily available online, each drone is estimated to cost around $1,500, less than each of the sometimes multiple rockets fired to bring them down.

Russian television pundits have reacted to the unexpected Oct. 7 Hamas assault against Israel with barely concealed glee, predicting conflict in the Middle East will dramatically reduce Western support for Kyiv.

Many Ukrainian commentators offer the same analysis, worrying in particular that outrage at mounting Palestinian casualties in Gaza and at the Hamas attacks will devastate already fragile support for Ukraine among poorer “Global South” nations and divert military aid the Kyiv government badly needs.

Earlier this month, Russia announced its defence spending for 2024 would be almost $110 billion, three times the level before its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and almost 30% of government spending.

Ukraine intends to spend around $40 billion on defence next year, roughly half the government budget and 20% of the country’s entire economic output but it is also counting on tens of billions more in foreign military aid, as long as Western donors are still willing to provide it.

Russia sent up a MIG-31 fighter jet on Thursday to escort a Norwegian Poseidon patrol plane over the Barents Sea, state news agency RIA quoted the Russian defence ministry as saying.

There was no violation of the air border by the Norwegian patrol plane, the ministry said.

It was the latest of a series of recent incidents in which Russia sent fighter planes to intercept US, Norwegian or British military aircraft that it says came close to entering Russian airspace.

The incidents come at a time of high tension between Russia and NATO, which is arming Ukraine to defend against Russia’s invasion.

It comes as the Russian prison population has dropped from an estimated 420,000 to around 266,000, according to deputy minister Vsevolod Vukolov, who disclosed the figures earlier this month.

Russian state-controlled media reported that Storm-Z squads exist, that they took part in intense battles and some of their members received medals for bravery, but it has not disclosed how they are formed, or the losses they take.

While the Russian defence ministry has never acknowledged creating Storm-Z units, the first reports of their existence emerged in April when the Institute for the Study of War cited what it said appeared to be a leaked Russian military report on the formation of the squads.