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The war in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022 with Russia's invasion of its neighbor, shows no sign of ending as both sides intensify attacks to gain control of contested regions.
Read our latest updates here. For all our coverage, visit our Ukraine war page.
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Special report: Russia buying civilian drones from China for war effort
Note: Nikkei Asia decided in March 2022 to suspend its reporting from Russia until further information becomes available regarding the scope of the revised criminal code. Entries include material from wire services and other sources.
Here are the latest developments:
Monday, Nov. 13 (Tokyo time)
9:00 a.m. Lawyers for a Russian artist and musician who replaced supermarket price tags with demands for an end to Moscow's war in Ukraine will urge a judge to free her after a state prosecutor sought an eight-year jail term, according to a Reuters report. Alexandra Skochilenko, known to her friends as Sasha, has spent over a year and a half in prison in St. Petersburg as the Russian legal system deals with her case. Critics say it is part of a crackdown on anyone who speaks out against Moscow's "special military operation." According to the Russian-language Mediazona outlet, the 33-year-old artist told the court on Nov. 3: "I just wanted to stop the war -- that was my motivation. Not hatred, but compassion. I am sure that every person in this room does not want there to be a war. Even you, your honor (the judge), even you, the state prosecutor, you also don't want people to die prematurely, for young soldiers to lie in the fields, for civilians to die."
6:45 a.m. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns Ukrainians to prepare for new waves of Russian attacks on infrastructure as winter approaches, saying troops anticipate an onslaught in the eastern theatre of the war. The warning came during Zelenskyy's nightly video address: "We are almost halfway through November and must be prepared for the fact that the enemy may increase the number of drone or missile strikes on our infrastructure. ... Russia is preparing for Ukraine. And here, in Ukraine, all attention should be focused on defense, on responding to terrorists on everything that Ukraine can do to get through the winter and improve our soldiers' capabilities."
3:17 a.m. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's governing coalition agrees in principle to double the country's military aid for Ukraine next year to 8 billion euros ($8.54 billion), Reuters reports, citing a political source in Berlin.
If approved by parliament, where Scholz's parties hold a majority, the boost would lift Germany's defense spending to 2.1% of its gross domestic product target, beyond the 2% pledged by all North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, the source added.
Lawmakers from Scholz's Social Democrats, the Free Democrats and the Green Party agreed on the increase in negotiations over the proposed 2024 federal budget ahead of a formal parliamentary budget meeting set for Thursday, the source said.
Saturday, Nov. 11
3:36 p.m. Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, came under air attack and big explosions were heard, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said. There was no immediate information on casualties. The attack is the first on Kyiv since late September. "Strong explosions were heard on in the left bank of the capital," Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app, referring to the left bank of the Dnipro River.
8:40 a.m. The International Monetary Fund announced a staff-level agreement with Ukraine on updated economic and financial policies, paving the way for a $900 million disbursement from its $15.6 billion lending program once it is approved by the board. The global lender said its executive board was expected to consider the agreement in the coming weeks. The IMF said the Ukrainian economy continued to show "remarkable resilience" despite Russia's invasion in February 2022, and said recent economic developments pointed to a stronger-than-expected economic recovery in 2023 and continued growth in 2024, as well as substantial disinflation.
Friday, Nov. 10
1:00 p.m. Japan has expressed disappointment over Russia's withdrawal from an agreement on denuclearization.
The pact dated back to the 1990s, when Japan agreed to provide support to Russia and other former Soviet republics for dismantling nuclear weapons.
"It is regrettable that [Russia's withdrawal] was announced unilaterally without any prior notice," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno tells reporters.
Russian media reported the move, citing a government document, but gave no reason for the decision. Moscow has accused Tokyo of "openly hostile" policies toward Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Thursday, Nov. 9
11:55 p.m. The leaders of Russia and Kazakhstan have agreed to build up cross-border infrastructure as part of efforts to deepen their economic partnerships.
Russia is one of the biggest investors in Kazakhstan, President Vladimir Putin told Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on a visit to Astana, according to the Kremlin.
A joint statement after the meeting said the two countries will build pipelines and reconstruct existing pipelines to better transport natural gas and oil for export. They will also expand cargo transport between the countries.
As Russia's war with Ukraine has dragged on, Central Asian countries have begun to distance themselves from Moscow. Putin's visit to Kazakhstan -- one of his few trips abroad since the 2022 invasion -- is seen as an attempt to keep Astana on Moscow's side.
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russian-led military alliance of six post-Soviet states. Putin says the two leaders discussed strengthening military and military-technical cooperation, according to the Kremlin.
11:10 a.m. Myanmar and Russia have kicked off their first joint naval exercise, deepening security cooperation as they grow increasingly isolated from the rest of the international community.
Their forces are holding air combat and live-fire drills in the Andaman Sea, to the south of Yangon, Myanmar state media report. The exercise runs through Thursday. Read more.
7:40 a.m. North Korea could face "consequences" from the European Union for supplying arms to Russia, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says, hinting at possible action such as sanctions against Pyongyang.
Japan, the U.S. and South Korea recently issued a joint statement saying they had confirmed that North Korea supplied military equipment and ammunition to Russia several times.
The EU had "concern" because North Korea appeared to be providing Russia with "a great amount of arms," Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs tells Nikkei in Tokyo. Read more.
3:10 a.m. Group of Seven foreign ministers have urged humanitarian pauses to the fighting in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, as the bloc seeks to present a united front on the conflict while also supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia and countering China's military ambitions.
Japan, which holds the G7 presidency this year, had expected this week's discussions in Tokyo to focus on aid to Ukraine and on recent activities by China.
But global attention has shifted following the Hamas attack. Japan on Tuesday hosted a working dinner on the Middle East to demonstrate unity within the G7 regarding developments there, instead of on the Indo-Pacific as originally planned. Read more.
Wednesday, Nov. 8
11:00 p.m. Military cooperation between Russia and China is increasingly important, Russian President Vladimir Putin tells the Chinese armed forces' second-in-command, Gen. Zhang Youxia, in talks near Moscow.
When it comes to military-technical partnerships, "our work in high-tech areas comes first," Putin tells the vice chair of China's Central Military Commission, according to a Kremlin readout of the meeting.
Modern weapons "will certainly ensure the strategic security of both Russia and the People's Republic of China," Putin says.
Putin also accuses the U.S. of "creating a tense situation in the Asia-Pacific region" with its allies.
Zhang reportedly expresses "respect" for Russia's resistance to harsh Western sanctions and says China seeks to further strengthen bilateral military cooperation. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also attended the meeting, according to the Kremlin.
Separately, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is seeking a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of a security forum in Indonesia next week.
9:40 a.m. Ukraine's military says its troops have repelled Russian assaults in widely separated sectors of the war and braced for a fresh attempt to capture the key front-line eastern town of Avdiivka. Russia is engaged in a slow-moving campaign in eastern areas of the 1,000-km front line after failing in its bid to march on Kyiv in the conflict's early days. Ukraine's General Staff, in its evening report, said its forces had beaten back 15 attacks near Kupiansk in the northeast and 18 attacks near Maryinka farther south, where battles have raged for months. Nine attacks were repelled in and near Avdiivka, where Moscow launched the latest of several drives in mid-October.
2:28 a.m. NATO allies condemn Russia's decision to withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe -- a key post-Cold War treaty -- adding that, as a consequence, they intend to suspend operation of the treaty as long as necessary.
NATO calls Moscow's war against Ukraine "contrary to the treaty's objectives" and claims Russia's withdrawal is the country's latest action that "systematically undermines Euro-Atlantic security."
Tuesday, Nov. 7
6:10 p.m. G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, Japan said, as the group's foreign ministers prepared to hold virtual talks with Kyiv during a meeting in Tokyo. The Group of Seven wealthy nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- as well as the European Union, meet in Tokyo on Nov. 7-8 to discuss issues including Russia's war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza crisis. "Our commitment to continue strict sanctions against Russia and strong support for Ukraine has not wavered at all, even as the situation in the Middle East intensifies," Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told a press conference.
5:30 p.m. Russia on Tuesday formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty which limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the United States for undermining post-Cold War security with the enlargement of the NATO military alliance. The 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), signed a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, placed verifiable limits on categories of conventional military equipment that NATO and the then-Warsaw Pact could deploy. The treaty was designed to prevent either side in the Cold War from amassing forces for a swift offensive against the other in Europe, but was unpopular in Moscow as it blunted the Soviet Union's advantage in conventional weapons.
Monday, Nov. 6
5:30 p.m. Russia has begun construction of a railway to connect Rostov-on-Don with Russian-occupied Crimea, Russian media report.
The railway will run through Russian-occupied areas of southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, RIA Novosti reports, citing the Moscow-installed head of the territory, Yevgeny Balitsky.
Balitsky is quoted as saying the railway would provide a supply route for the Russian military and could also be used to move grain, coal and other resources for export.
The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in an internationally condemned move in 2014, is connected to Russia by the Crimean Bridge over the Kerch Strait in the east as well as by roads leading south from Ukraine's Kherson. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on shipyards and other Russian military facilities in Crimea in recent weeks.
1:30 p.m. Russia and Ukraine gave clashing accounts over the weekend about what is going on along the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, with Moscow saying it has stopped Kyiv's counteroffensive and Ukraine's army saying it is still pressing on.
"The enemy has been stopped and their counteroffensive, which has been so hyped, has been completely halted," Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Moscow-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region, told the Russian state news agency in remarks published on Monday. Ukraine's General Staff said on Sunday evening that Russian forces made several unsuccessful assaults near Robotyne and Verbove, a village a few miles east of it.
12:30 a.m. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the U.S. to provide more funding to help his forces counter Russia, and invited former U.S. President Donald Trump to fly in to see the scale of the conflict for himself. According to a transcript of an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" airing on Sunday, Zelenskyy invited Trump to visit Ukraine and see the fallout of the conflict initiated by Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024 and is the leading candidate for his party's presidential nomination, has been sharply critical of U.S. support for Kyiv and has said he could end the war in 24 hours if reelected. "If he can come here, I will need ... 24 minutes to explain to President Trump that he can't manage this war," Zelenskyy said. "He can't bring peace because of Putin."
For earlier updates, click here.
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