Ukraine: Putin says Russia has never refused peace talks

Poland said it had charged 16 foreign individuals with spying for Russia, for allegedly preparing acts of sabotage and gathering information on military equipment deliveries to Ukraine.

The charges against the spy ring, which was dismantled in March, were announced by the office of the intelligence service coordinator Mariusz Kaminski. 

"Charges have been filed against 16 foreigners accused of conducting espionage activities on behalf of Russian intelligence services on Polish territory and participating in an organized criminal group," it said in a statement.

"Their assigned tasks included identifying military facilities and critical infrastructure, monitoring and documenting trains transporting military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and preparing for train derailments," it added. 

The office said all of the accused had confessed to committing the acts, which also included engaging in propaganda with the goal of turning Polish sentiment against neighboring Ukraine.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said on X, formerly Twitter, that each of the accused faces up to 10 years in prison. 

Poland has been one of the major donors of military equipment to Ukraine and served as a transport hub for arms coming from its Western allies.

Hungary's main border crossing with Ukraine saw long queues on Wednesday, the customs authority said, as trucks were re-routed from Poland and Slovakia.

The frontier at Zahony saw long lines of trucks waiting to enter the war-torn country.

Trucks at the Poland-Ukraine crossing have been backed up for miles after Polish truck drivers blocked roads, accusing their Ukrainian counterparts of undercutting them.

Truckers have sought to win restrictions on the number of Ukrainian trucks entering the European Union, as they have been exempt from seeking permits to cross since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In Slovakia, the main border crossing with Ukraine was also blocked on Tuesday, although the country's haulers' union called it the action of a single truck.

The group has still warned it could join Polish truckers in protest.

On Sunday, Ukrainian authorities said about 3,000 mostly Ukrainian trucks, including those carrying fuel and humanitarian aid, were stuck on the Polish side of the border.

Russia said it had destroyed four Ukrainian naval drones approaching Crimea in the Black Sea and downed three aerial unmanned vehicles over the annexed peninsula.

"Four unmanned Ukrainian Navy vessels were detected in the western part of the Black Sea heading towards the Crimean peninsula," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

In a separate statement, it said: "Three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed over the territory of the Republic of Crimea by air defense units on duty."

Both Kyiv and Moscow have ramped up military activity and attacks in the Black Sea since a UN-brokered deal guaranteeing safe passage for civilian ships collapsed in July.

Ukraine's air force said Wednesday that Russia had attacked Ukraine with more than a dozen attack drones and a cruise missile.

The air force said the barrage had been launched from southeast Russia and that a combination of air defense units in several central regions had "destroyed all 14 enemy Shahed-131/136 drones."

"The X-22 cruise missile failed to reach its target and landed in Zaporizhzhia region in an open area, and the blast wave damaged private homes. There were no casualties," it added in a statement.

Meanwhile, authorities in the southern region of Odesa announced they earlier shot down a rare Iranian-designed attack and reconnaissance drone, known as Mohajer-6.

The drone has a range of up to 200 kilometers over 12 hours, the statement added.

The Ukrainian government has been bracing for an increase in Russian attacks on critical infrastructure — particularly energy facilities — as sub-zero temperatures set in.

Last winter, Russian strikes left much of the population in the cold and dark for long periods, and Kyiv has since received more air defense systems from its allies.

Russia's parliament has approved a federal budget that increases spending by around 25% in 2024-2026 and devotes a record amount to defense.

The budget was passed unanimously by the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, and will be sent to President Vladimir Putin to sign it into law.

The budget for 2024-2026 was developed specifically to fund the Russian military and to mitigate the impact of sanctions on Russia in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Under the budget, the country's largest, defense expenditure is expected to overtake social spending next year for the first time in modern Russian history.

It comes as the Kremlin is eager to shore up support for President Vladimir Putin before a March presidential election.

Richard Connolly, an expert on Russia's military and economy at the Royal United Services Institute in London said the budget amounts to the "wholesale remilitarization of Russian society."

Despite differing views on military support for Kyiv, the presidents of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia agreed that it is in “our imminent interest that Ukraine succeeds” in its war with Russia.

At the annual meeting of the Visegrad Group of countries, Czech President Petr Pavel said: "We've agreed that we have to support Ukraine with all kinds of help,"

Polish President Duda echoed his comments, adding that: "Ukraine needs help and we should provide it."

The Czech Republic and Poland have been staunch supporters of Ukraine, opening their borders for refugees and donating arms.

But the new government of Slovakia, led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, has ended military aid for Ukraine, but the government said it was still ready to provide humanitarian and other aid.

Meanwhile, Hungary's government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons and has threatened to veto EU financial aid packages to Kyiv.

Orban on Wednesday wrote to European Council President Charles Michel to try to force a debate on the EU's Ukraine policy, which includes a plan to start EU accession negotiations with Kyiv and further financial support worth billions until the end of 2027.

The decision is due to be taken by EU leaders next month but needs to be unanimously approved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected criticism of his war against Ukraine at a virtual G20 summit. 

According to the Kremlin, Putin said that some participants had expressed their shock at Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine in their speeches.

"Yes, of course, acts of war are always a tragedy," he said, adding that from his point of view, Ukraine will not negotiate.

"Russia has never canceled peace talks with Ukraine," Putin added.

The Russian leader once again cited the change of power following pro-European protests in Kyiv in 2014, which he called a "bloody coup", as the trigger for the conflict. 

Putin also said Russia had sent the first vessels carrying grain to Africa free of charge.

The move follows Moscow's withdrawal from a UN-backed deal in July that had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.

Putin had recently avoided summit meetings of the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging nations.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov represented him at the last meeting in New Delhi in September.

The Indian G20 presidency convened the additional video summit due to the conflict in Gaza.

The Kremlin said it had not changed its policy of pardoning prisoners in exchange for fighting in Ukraine, after local media reported a "satanist" killer had been released.

Nikolai Ogolobyak, 33, was sentenced to 20 years for the ritualistic murder of four teenagers in 2008.

He was freed earlier this month after fighting in Ukraine, local media reported this week.

"Now everyone is studying the pardon lists very closely," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. "But I repeat once again, we are talking about certain conditions that are related to being on the front line," adding that no revisions have been made.

Ogolobyak and six other members of a self-proclaimed cult were handed lengthy jail terms for the gruesome murders, which took place in Russia's Yaroslavl region 15 years ago.

He would have been jailed until 2030 but was drafted into one of Russia's "Storm-Z" battalions for offenders and convicts after the conflict began, the 76.RU media outlet reported.

Russia has probably recruited 100,000 people from prisons to fight in the conflict, the head of an independent prisoners' rights group Olga Romanova has estimated.

Russia said that a Ukrainian drone struck a group of journalists in the frontline region of Zaporizhzhia, wounding a reporter from the Rossiya 24 state TV channel.

"As a result of a Ukrainian drone attack on a group of journalists, a correspondent of the Rossiya 24 TV channel, Boris Maksudov, was wounded by shrapnel," Moscow's Defense Ministry said.

The reporter was given medical assistance and is not believed to be in a life-threatening condition, it added.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Kyiv's army of attacking its reporters, including last month when three correspondents from the Izvestia news outlet were injured by shelling in the Donetsk region.

At least 15 media workers have been killed in Ukraine since Moscow launched its assault last February, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Russia has complained to Finland's government that a damaged Russian tank was put on display in front of the parliament building in Helsinki.

The Russian T-72B3 tank, which was shot up by Ukrainian fighters, was given a prominent placement at the weekend on the initiative of two pro-Ukrainian organizations in Finland.

The groups said the tank served as a reminder that the war in Ukraine continues to rage nearly 21 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an all-out invasion of the neighboring country.

The spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova,
called the installation inappropriate.

"Nobody seems to be able to explain to me why Finland is taking part in such actions," she said.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry confirmed receipt of a letter of protest and told broadcaster YLE: "In the note, Russia has expressed its indignation about the tank."

nm/jcg (Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa)