Ukraine updates: Germany's Baerbock visits Kyiv

The UK government says Russia's military targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea last month.

"Multiple missiles" launched by Russian forces were successfully intercepted by Ukraine, London said.

The British government cited declassified intelligence as saying that the intended target of the missiles was a Liberian-flagged cargo ship berthed in the southwestern port city of Odesa.

"Despite its failure, this is a clear demonstration of Russia's continuing attempts to choke Ukraine's economy," Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to allow the children abducted from Ukraine to return home.

"This is the first step towards peace," Baerbock said during her visit to Kyiv on Monday.

After talks with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, Baerbock said Ukrainian children had been abducted and brainwashed in an inhumane way, "with the aim of turning them against their own homeland, Ukraine."

Addressing nations and people who maintain a neutral stance on the Russian war, she said: "That is why I appeal to those who quibble to clearly name the aggressor and his crimes: Look at these children." 

The issue of the abducted children is one that Baerbock is expected to amplify on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week in New York.

Kyiv says Moscow has taken a total of around 20,000 Ukrainian children from occupied areas. 

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued arrest warrants over the abductions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.

The Russian military presence at Ukraine's occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and fighting near the facility pose a security risk, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi has told the organization's board of governors.

Grossi referred to his recent Ukraine report, in which he spoke of a "continued, significant military presence" at the nuclear site and of several military trucks in one of the turbine halls.

In his report, he also referred again to the mines observed between the outer and inner perimeter of the plant. Heavy military equipment, on the other hand, has not been discovered at the nuclear power plant so far, Grossi told a press conference.

A team of IAEA observers has been permanently at the nuclear power plant near the front for a year. So far, the experts have not been given unhindered access to all areas by the Russian occupiers.

Russia announced the capture of the Zaporizhzhya power station in early March 2022. Damage to buildings and power lines in the course of the war has fuelled concerns about a nuclear accident at Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has qualified his statement at the G20 summit in India that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be detained if he visits Brazil for the G20 summit next year.

"I don't know if Brazil's judiciary will arrest him. It is the judiciary that decides that, not the government or parliament," Lula said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Lula had said in an interview with Indian news portal Firstpost at the weekend that Putin could travel to Brazil for next year's G20 summit regardless of an international arrest warrant. The summit will take place in Rio de Janeiro in July 2024.

The Russian president is under an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine. At this year's G20 meeting in the Indian capital New Delhi, Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Brazil — unlike India — is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is therefore bound to act on its arrest warrants.

Germany will provide an additional 20 million euros ($21.44 million) in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during a visit to Kyiv. The additional aid will bring Germany's total to €380 million this year, the minister said.

Baerbock also warned that Russia would again target Ukraine's energy facilities this autumn and winter: "Russia's perfidious goal is to starve the people again this winter and to let them freeze to death."

However, Baerbock gave Ukraine no hope of a quick decision by the German government on a delivery of Taurus cruise missiles. "We are more than aware of the situation," the minister said after talks with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

"At the same time, it is not sufficient to just promise things," she said. As with the Iris-T air defence system and other German arms deliveries, "all questions must first be clarified."

Kuleba reacted in no uncertain terms to the German government's continued hesitation regarding Kyiv's request for the long-range cruise missiles, sought in order to hit targets behind the large Russian minefields.

"I don't understand why we are wasting time," the diplomat said. Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were being killed because of the hesitation, he said. "There is not a single objective argument that speaks against it."

At the same time, Kuleba thanked Germany for the weapons it had already delivered. In particular, he highlighted the effectiveness of the Gepard anti-aircraft tanks.

The European Union warned Russia that there would be "consequences" for those involved in staging elections in Ukrainian regions seized by the Kremlin. 

Moscow claimed Sunday that the United Russia party, which staunchly backs President Vladimir Putin, had won local ballots in areas occupied by Russia.

"We strongly reject this further futile attempt by Russia to legitimise or normalise its illegal military control and attempted annexation of parts of Ukrainian territories," the EU said. "Russia's political leadership and those involved in organising them will face the consequences of these illegal actions."

Meanwhile, Germany did not rule out imposing sanctions against the organizers and candidates of the sham elections in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said such measures were "quite conceivable," pointing out that such sanctions are generally discussed "at the European level." The spokesman assured that Germany "will not recognize the results of such sham elections, nor Russia's legal annexations."

The Kremlin claimed to have annexed four eastern and southern Ukrainian regions last year despite not having full military control over them. Voting also took place in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014. The elections have been dismissed by Ukraine and its allies as a sham. 

The United Nations rights chief has blamed Russia's exit from the Black Sea grain deal as well as its attacks on agricultural sites for higher food prices that have been particularly damaging in the Horn of Africa.

"The Russian Federation's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, and attacks on grain facilities in Odesa and elsewhere, have again forced prices sky-high in many developing countries — taking the right to food far out of reach for many people," Volker Turk said at the opening of a Human Rights Council session in Geneva, referring specifically to high malnutrition rates in Somalia amid drought.

The UN-brokered grain deal, aimed at easing a global food crisis, allowed the safe passage of Ukrainian grain and other food exports through the Black Sea.

Russia backed out of the agreement in July. Since then, Ukraine has accused Moscow of intentionally striking grain terminals and infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Odesa and elsewhere.

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has received another tank order for Ukraine, in the upper double digit million euro range, the company said.

Rheinmetall said it is to repair and modernize 40 old Marder infantry fighting vehicles and deliver them by the end of the year. The order is being paid for by the German government.

Previously, Rheinmetall had delivered 40 other Marder vehicles, and Germany's armed forces had also sent 20 from its own inventory to Ukraine. This would bring the total number of armoured personnel carriers committed this year to 100.

Supplies of other weapons from Germany's largest arms manufacturer are also important for Ukraine. For example, the company recently sent a first batch of urgently needed ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank.

Ukrainian forces have regained control from Russia of several offshore gas and oil drilling platforms in the Black Sea close to Crimea, Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.

According to GUR, Kyiv's forces retook the drilling platforms known as the "Boiko Towers" in a "unique operation." 

"For Ukraine, regaining control of the Boiko Towers was of strategic importance and, as a result, Russia lost the ability to use them for military purposes," GUR said.

The platforms had been occupied since 2015 by Russia, which seized and annexed Crimea in 2014, and had been used by Moscow for military purposes since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Before Russia seized the Crimean peninsula, Ukraine extracted a significant part of its natural gas from the Black Sea shelf, providing gas not only to Crimea but also to mainland regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said Ukrainian forces have liberated an additional 2 square kilometers (0.4 square miles) around eastern Bakhmut region.

"In total, 49 square kilometers have already been captured near Bakhmut" since the counteroffensive began, she said.

Ukrainian forces have also made their way into Opytne, also near Bakhmut, Malyar told state media.

"During the offensive, we had successes south of Robotyne and west of Verbove," Malyar said, referring to two villages in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukraine continues to make slow progress against Russia's forces since it launched an offensive in June.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to have departed for Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, South Korean broadcaster YTN reported, citing an unnamed senior government official.

The report said a special train presumably carrying Kim was heading to North Korea's northeastern border.

It added that the summit could be held as early as Tuesday. The broadcaster previously reported the meeting could take place on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Russian news agency Interfax reported that Kim was expected to visit Russia's far east in "the coming days."

The US last week said Kim was expected to hold a "leader-level diplomatic engagement" with Putin.

The White House said arms talks between Russia and North Korea were actively advancing.

It warned Pyongyang against supplying weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

The New York Times, citing government officials, reported last week that Kim would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armored train, to the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

The Russian military intends to recruit 420,000 personnel before the end of 2023, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest update.

So far, 280,000 people have been recruited for military service, according to Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev.

The numbers could not be independently verified.

But Russia's conscription campaign has been unpopular and has had a negative impact on its industry workforce, ministry's intelligence update said.

In contrast to conscription efforts elsewhere, Russia has taken steps to keep its IT sector workforce intact. That's because around 100,000 IT workers left Russia in 2022.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to increase the exemption age of military recruitment for IT professionals from 27 to 30.

The move to keep industry workers, the UK ministry update said, showed that "mobilization and conscription within Russia has worsened non-defense workforce shortages."

It said that Russia will likely avoid any unpopular campaigns to draft more people before presidential elections in March 2024. 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in the Ukrainian capital on an unannounced visit.

It is the Green party politician's fourth trip to Kyiv since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.

"With enormous courage and determination, Ukraine is also defending the freedom of all of us," Baerbock said.

Ukraine can "count on us" in return, she added. "We will not let up in our efforts to support Ukraine in its defense against Russia's aggression: economically, militarily, and in the humanitarian" sphere.

Ukraine's ambition to join the EU is expected to be one of the main items on Baerbock's agenda.

She said Kyiv could rely on Germany "to resolutely support Ukraine on its way into the European Union," and praised "good progress" made in areas such as judicial reform and media legislation.

But she stressed more measures were needed, for example, to tackle corruption. 

"And now we are preparing to take a decision on opening EU accession talks," Baerbock said.

Ukraine has been a candidate for EU membership since last year and has repeatedly called for rapid admission to the bloc. In order to become a member, however, it first needs to meet certain conditions outlined by the European Commission.

Russia said it has destroyed two Ukrainian drones in the Belgorod region, which is roughly 40 kilometers (24 miles) north of the border with Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense said on Telegram that the incident took place around 1:20 a.m. local time. No casualties were reported. 

"Air defense systems on duty destroyed two UAVs over the territory of Belgorod region," it said.

Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that the drones were shot down in the Yakovlevsky district, northwest of Belgorod city.

"Fragments of one of the drones fell on the roadway near a private residential building. All emergency services are on site," he posted on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pointed to progress achieved by Ukrainian troops at the front.

Speaking during his nightly address, Zelenskyy said there was "movement forward" in the past seven days.

He added the movement was taking place in southern Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region, as well as around the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine's armed forces have meanwhile announced further territorial gains in the country's east, where Russia has captured several areas since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops were holding their ground on several eastern fronts, including Avdiivka and Maryinka. The former has been under Russian attack nearly constantly since the invasion.

"In my opinion, this is very significant," Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the local military administration, told national television. "To be frank, the enemy overlooked this southern direction a bit."

Barabash called the advance a "thunderous assault operation" and said fighting was underway in the settlement.