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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.
11 p.m.: President Vladimir Putin said Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure and a decision to freeze participation in a Black Sea grain export program were responses to a drone attack on Moscow's fleet in Crimea that he blamed on Ukraine. Reuters reported.
Putin told a news conference on Monday that Ukrainian drones had used the same marine corridors that grain ships transited under the U.N.-brokered deal.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denies using the grain program's security corridor for military purposes. The United Nations said no grain ships were using the Black Sea route on Saturday when Russia said its vessels in Crimea were attacked.
10:30 p.m.: Ukraine suffered sweeping blackouts and water supplies were cut to large parts of Kyiv on Monday after another wave of Russian missile strikes on key infrastructure, Agence France-Presse reported.
The Ukrainian army said "more than 50" cruise missiles were launched at targets across the country, days after Russia blamed Ukraine for drone attacks on its fleet in the Black Sea.
The army said many missiles were shot down by air defenses, but Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said they had caused power cuts in "hundreds" of areas across seven Ukrainian regions.
Several blasts were heard in the capital Kyiv.
After the strikes, "80% of consumers" were without water in the capital, the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram, while "350,000 homes" were left without electricity.
Later on Monday, the respective figures had fallen to 40% and "270,000" homes, according to the mayor.
10 p.m.: Addressing a meeting of the International Bar Association on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that it will be lawyers who put an end to the war in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.
Speaking via video-link from Kyiv, Zelenskyy said that lawyers "will ensure that all those guilty of terror are brought to justice."
"We have already begun to create a compensation mechanism that will ensure the confiscation and diversion of Russian assets to compensate for the losses caused by this war," Zelenskyy added.
9:20 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hopes for "normalisation" of ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan after he hosted talks with the rivals on Monday, reasserting Moscow's role as Caucasus powerbroker, Agence France-Presse reported.
The talks were held as Western engagement grows in the volatile Caucasus region, where Russia -- distracted by its war in Ukraine -- is palpably losing influence after decades of domination.
The initiative comes a month after the worst clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan since their war in 2020.
8:15 p.m.:
7:05 p.m.: Moldova declared a Russian embassy employee in the capital Chisinau persona non grata on Monday, and Russian news agencies quoted Moscow as saying it would respond to the decision, Reuters reported.
The Moldovan Foreign Ministry did not identify the employee in a statement issued after the Russian ambassador was summoned and informed that the employee must leave Moldova.
Relations between Chisinau and Moscow are strained by the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops in Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region, and have risen further during the war in neighboring Ukraine.
6:06 p.m.: Liberated territories in eastern Ukraine are undergoing a massive demining effort by crews from Ukraine's State Emergency Service. They claim to have found thousands of Russian explosives -- including land mines, improvised explosive devices, and ammunition -- during the cleanup. It will likely take years to remove the mines and explosive ordnance left behind during Russia's war on Ukraine. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report.
5:27 p.m.: Belarus plans to create joint military training centres with Russia, a Telegram channel close to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday, according to Reuters.
The move could bolster Russia’s struggling war effort in Ukraine by providing training grounds in Belarus for newly mobilized soldiers, something Western analysts have flagged as a logical step for Moscow at a time when its army is stretched and depleted.
Lukashenko allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin, his close ally, to use Belarusian territory as a platform for the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. But he has refrained from committing his army to fight alongside Russia’s in the eight-month-old war.
Lukashenko has said he expects 9,000 Russian troops to be deployed in Belarus as part of a joint military grouping he announced on Oct. 10.
4:44 p.m.: Afghan special forces soldiers who fought alongside American troops and then fled to Iran after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal last year are now being recruited by the Russian military to fight in Ukraine, three former Afghan generals told The Associated Press.
They said the Russians want to attract thousands of the former elite Afghan commandos into a “foreign legion” with offers of steady, $1,500-a-month payments and promises of safe havens for themselves and their families so they can avoid deportation home to what many assume would be death at the hands of the Taliban.
“They don’t want to go fight — but they have no choice,” said one of the generals, Abdul Raof Arghandiwal, adding that the dozen or so commandos in Iran with whom he has texted fear deportation most. “They ask me, ‘Give me a solution. What should we do? If we go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us.’”
Arghandiwal said the recruiting is led by the Russian mercenary force Wagner Group. Another general, Hibatullah Alizai, the last Afghan army chief before the Taliban took over, said the effort is also being helped by a former Afghan special forces commander who lived in Russia and speaks the language.
4:07 p.m.:
3:17 p.m.: The U.N. atomic watchdog has started its inspections of two nuclear sites in Ukraine being carried out at Kyiv's request to address Russian accusations that it is working on a so-called 'dirty bomb', the watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi said, according to Reuters.
"Director General Grossi said IAEA inspectors had begun – and would soon complete – verification activities at (the) two locations in Ukraine," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement, adding that Grossi would "later this week provide his initial conclusions" about the inspections.
2:30 p.m.: Nikolai Storonsky, the billionaire head of the London-based financial technology firm Revolut, has renounced his Russian citizenship in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the country where his father was born, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
International media reported on October 30 that Storonsky, who also holds a British passport, made the decision.
Storonsky, 38, has been a critic of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying it was "not just horrifying, it is almost impossible to believe."
"I would like to make clear, publicly, what I've felt privately from day one: War is never the answer," he wrote in a blog post at the start of March, only a few days after Russia initiated the conflict.
"This war is wrong and totally abhorrent. I am horrified and appalled at its impact, and I add my voice to those around the world calling for an immediate end to the fighting, and a commitment to diplomatic solutions. Not one more person should die in this needless conflict," he added.
2:05 p.m.:
1:50 p.m.: The United Nations on Monday said no ships involved in a U.N.-brokered Ukraine Black Sea grain export deal were transiting a maritime humanitarian corridor on the night of October 29, when Russia says its vessels in Crimea were attacked, Reuters reported.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using air and maritime drones to target vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol early on Saturday. Russia's defense ministry suggested one of the drones may have been launched from a civilian vessel chartered by Ukraine or a Western country to export food from Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied it was behind the attack, but says Russia's navy is a legitimate military target.
Responding to Russia's accusation about possible misuse of cargo ships, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths told the U.N. Security Council on Monday: "None were in the corridor on the night of the 29th of October when the reported attacks took place, and no vessel reported an incident over the weekend."
"Today 12 ships sailed out from Ukrainian ports and two headed in to load food," Griffiths told the 15-member council.
"We're very encouraged by Russia's assurance ... that it is not pulling out of the initiative ... it is only temporarily suspending activities in the implementation of the initiative," he said, adding that the U.N. understand was that the deal and "commitments remain in force even during the suspension."
1:35 p.m.:
1:20 p.m.: The U.N. labor agency warned Monday that job vacancies and employment growth are expected to decline worldwide in the fourth quarter as the war in Ukraine and “multiple and overlapping crises” have led to shrinking wages, higher debt and yawning inequality, The Associated Press reported.
Gilbert Houngbo, the new director-general of the International Labor Organization, called on governments to intervene to help set prices for goods, redirect “windfall profits” and boost income support and social protections.
Houngbo said a quick end to the war in Ukraine “would further contribute to improving the global employment situation.”
1:05 p.m.:
12:50 p.m.: An international climate summit starting next week in Egypt will test the resolve of nations to combat global warming, even as many of the biggest players are distracted by urgent crises ranging from war in Europe to rampant consumer inflation, Reuters reported.
More than 30,000 delegates, including representatives from some 200 countries, will gather Nov. 6-18 in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to hash out details around how to slow climate change and help those already feeling its impacts.
But with nations dealing with the fallout of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with soaring food and fuel prices and stuttering economic growth, questions loom over whether they will act quickly and ambitiously enough to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
12:10 p.m.:
11:40 a.m.: Russian strikes on Ukraine’s capital city occurred just before Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and many top members of his government, including the foreign, defense and interior ministers, arrived in Kyiv in the latest show of support from European leaders for Ukraine, The Associated Press reported Monday.
“The Ukrainians are fighting not only for their country but also for the whole of Europe. Our support must continue,” Fiala tweeted from Kyiv.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal welcomed the Czech government representatives in Kyiv, saying on Twitter the two countries’ representatives held a joint consultation. He thanked the Czechs for their “support and solidarity with Ukraine.”
Shmyhal tweeted after the meeting that the Czech and Ukrainian governments signed agreements that will support Ukraine’s economy.
11:05 a.m.: Aside from gutted buildings and twisted scraps of military hardware, the liberated village of Shevchenkove, like others in northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region, now lives with an intangible but harrowing reminder of more than six months under Russian occupation -- the stories of those who resisted the invaders and those who cooperated.
In the still-turbulent wake of the Russian withdrawal, reporting by Schemes, the investigative unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian Service, reveals how survival of the occupation often came down to a stark personal choice in the face of factors as dire as torture and intimidation and as mundane and meaningful as family ties.
10:40 a.m.:
10:25 a.m.: Norway will put its military on a raised level of alert from Tuesday, moving more personnel onto operational duties and enhancing the role of a rapid mobilization force in response to the war in Ukraine, the government said on Monday, according to Reuters.
Norway will also seek to bring its new fleet of U.S. made P-8 Poseidon submarine-hunting maritime patrol aircraft into regular operation at a faster pace than originally planned, the chief of defense, General Eirik Kristoffersen, said.
"The government has decided that the Armed Forces will raise its level of alert and move to a new phase from Nov. 1," the government said in a statement.
The scale of alert on which the military operates is classified, however, and the government declined to give details of the level.
NATO member Norway shares a nearly 200 km (125 mile) land border with Russia in the Arctic as well as a vast maritime border.
10:05 a.m.:
9:50 a.m.: Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out “strikes with long-range high-precision air and sea-based weapons against the military command and energy systems of Ukraine,” The Associated Press reported Monday.
“The goals of the strikes were achieved. All designated targets were hit,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Russian missiles and drones hit 10 Ukrainian regions and damaged 18 sites, mostly energy facilities.
Hundreds of localities in seven Ukrainian regions were left without power, he said in a Facebook post, adding that “the consequences could have been much worse” if the Ukrainian forces hadn’t shot down most of the Russian missiles.
Shmyhal said that in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, emergency power shutdowns were underway. “Today, just like in previous weeks, it is important that Ukrainians consume energy mindfully and reduce the load on the grid,” the official said.
Thirteen people were wounded as a result of morning attacks, the head of National Police Ihor Klymenko said on national television.
“The Kremlin is taking revenge for military failures on peaceful people who are left without electricity and heat before the winter,” Kyiv region Gov. Oleksii Kuleba said.
9:35 a.m.:
9:10 a.m.: Russia's Foreign Ministry says it summoned the ambassador from the Netherlands to protest what it alleges was an attempt by British intelligence to recruit the Russian military attache at the Russian embassy in The Hague, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on October 31 called on Dutch authorities to prevent "countries that the Netherlands calls its allies" from taking such "unfriendly" actions.
It also warned that failing to take action could lead "to a further degradation of bilateral relations."
8:45 a.m.:
8:30 a.m.: Inflation hit a new record in the 19 countries that use the euro currency, fueled by out-of-control prices for natural gas and electricity due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, The Associated Press reported Monday.
Economic growth also slowed ahead of what economists fear is a looming recession, largely as a result of those higher prices sapping Europeans’ ability to spend.
Inflation figures varied widely by country, from 7.1% in France to 16.8% in the Netherlands among the biggest member economies, while the highest were in the three Baltic countries: Estonia at 22.4%, Latvia at 21.8%, and Lithuania at 22%.
Natural gas prices skyrocketed in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine as Russia throttled back pipeline supplies to a trickle of what they were before the war. Europe has had to resort to expensive shipments of liquefied gas that come by ship from the U.S. and Qatar to keep generating electricity and heating homes.
The inflation outbreak has been an international phenomenon, sending price increases to near 40-year highs in the U.S. as well.
8:15 a.m.:
7:50 a.m.: Russian oil production and exports have declined slightly in October, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday, saying output is poised to fall further owing to an EU embargo expected in early December, Reuters reported.
Russian oil production has proven resilient so far in the face of Western sanctions over Ukraine, but European Union countries that have been primary consumers of Russian crude for decades will stop buying it from December 5 under an embargo imposed by the bloc.
7:35 a.m.:
7:25 a.m.: The Moldovan government said a Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defenses fell on a village in northern Moldova on Monday, but without causing any injuries, Agence France-Presse reported.
The country's interior ministry said the missile fell on the village of Naslavcea close to the Ukrainian border, destroying the windows of several homes, but that "no casualties" were recorded.
7:15 a.m.:
7 a.m.: Russia fired dozens of missiles at Ukrainian energy facilities including hydroelectric power stations on Monday, causing widespread blackouts, mobile phone outages and reductions in water supplies, Reuters reported.
Explosions rocked Kyiv and thick black smoke billowed over the capital in a wave of attacks on Monday morning that Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said targeted 10 Ukrainian regions and damaged 18 mostly energy-related facilities.
6:40 a.m.:
6:14 a.m.: Japanese tiremaker Bridgestone said Monday it was seeking a local buyer for its business in Russia due to "general uncertainty and the ongoing supply issues" in that country, Agence France-Presse reported.
6:05 a.m.: The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) on Monday said it has reached millions of Ukrainians with humanitarian assistance ahead of the coming winter season.
The company suspended manufacturing activities in Russia and exports to the country in March — shortly after Moscow invaded Ukraine — while freezing new investments, it said.
5:50 a.m.: Turkey will continue its efforts for the Black Sea grain export deal despite Russian hesitancy, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after Russia suspended its participation in the initiative at the weekend, Reuters reported.
"Even if Russia behaves hesitantly because it didn't receive the same benefits, we will continue decisively our efforts to serve humanity," Erdogan said in a speech.
Separately, a U.N. spokesperson said the first of 40 planned ship inspections on Monday had been completed in Istanbul waters with a team of just U.N. and Turkish members, rather than the previous four-member teams including Russians and Ukrainians before Moscow's suspension.
5:41 a.m.: Twelve vessels embarked from Ukrainian ports on Monday under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Reuters reported citing Ukrainian Infrastructure Minster Oleksandr Kubrakov.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, halted its role in the Black Sea deal on Saturday for an "indefinite term" because it said it could not "guarantee safety of civilian ships" traveling under the pact after an attack on its Black Sea fleet.
"Today 12 ships left Ukrainian ports. @UN & Turkish delegations provide 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 ships aiming to fulfill the #BlackSeaGrainInitiative. This inspection plan has been accepted by the Ukrainian delegation. The Russian delegation has been informed," Kubrakov wrote on Twitter.
4:28 a.m.: France is working toward allowing Ukraine to export food supplies via land routes rather than by the Black Sea through Poland or Romania, Reuters reported Monday citing the French farming minister, after Russia withdrew from a crucial export deal amid its war with Ukraine.
"We are looking to see whether, if it cannot pass through the Black Sea, if it can instead pass through overland routes, (...) in particular by looking at land routes through Romania and Poland," Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau told RMC Radio.
"We will continue to work towards a system which does not put us in the hands and the good will, or in this case the bad will, of Vladimir Putin," said Fesneau, referring to the Russian president.
On Saturday, Russia suspended its participation in the U.N. grain deal for an "indefinite term," after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
The United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine pressed ahead to implement a Black Sea grain deal and agreed on a transit plan for Monday for 16 vessels to move forward, despite Russia's withdrawal from the pact that has allowed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets.
Russia's decision is likely to hit shipments to import-dependent countries. Prices of wheat and corn both rose on Monday following Russia's withdrawal from the agreement.
Fesneau on Monday said there would be "no direct consequence" for French consumers.
4 a.m.: Two cargo ships loaded with grain and other agricultural products on Monday left Ukrainian ports, Agence France-Presse reported citing a marine traffic website.
The ships, Admiral de Ribas and Mount Baker, left port days after Russia suspended its participation in an agreement that allowed vital grain shipments to pass through the Black Sea. Twelve ships are due to leave Ukrainian ports on Monday according to the Joint Coordination Center, or the JCC, that has been overseeing the agreement brokered by Turkey and the U.N.
3:45 a.m.: Ukrainian officials reported a massive barrage of Russian strikes on Monday morning targeting critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, The Associated Press confirmed.
3:18 a.m.: Russia's Gazprom said on Monday that it would ship 42.5 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine today, Reuters reported, in line with recent days.
3 a.m.:
2:40 a.m.: The U.N. Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative said on Monday that civilian cargo ships can never be a military target or held hostage, and that "the food must flow" under the deal from which Russia withdrew at the weekend.
Amir Abdulla's comment on Twitter came after the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine pressed ahead with a transit plan. Russia had withdrawn saying it could not "guarantee safety of civilian ships" after an attack on its Black Sea fleet.
2:28 a.m.: A series of blasts were heard in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Monday morning, according to Reuters witnesses in the city, while regional authorities in northern, eastern and central Ukraine also reported missile strikes.
Russia has stepped up missile attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks after blaming Kyiv for the explosion which damaged the Crimea bridge.
Smoke could be seen rising above Kyiv after about 10 explosions, witnesses said.
Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv, said the city has been struck by two missiles which targeted "a critical infrastructure facility."
Agence France-Presse journalists also reported that blasts were heard in Ukraine's Kyiv on Monday.
1:30 a.m.: Russia's weekend backtrack from a U.N.-brokered deal to export Black Sea grains is likely to hit shipments to import-dependent countries, deepening a global food crisis and sparking gains in prices, Reuters reported.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat booked for delivery to Africa and the Middle East are at risk following Russia's withdrawal, while Ukrainian corn exports to Europe will take a hit, two Singapore-based traders said.
Russia on Saturday suspended participation in the U.N. grain deal for an "indefinite term," after what it said was a major Ukrainian drone attack on its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
"If I have to replace a vessel which was due to come from Ukraine, what are the options? Not much really," a Singapore-based grains trader who supplies wheat to buyers in Asia and the Middle East told Reuters.
12:53 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin will host talks with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan Monday, a month after the worst clashes erupted between the Caucasus foes since they went to war in 2020, Agence France-Presse reported.
The summit with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev also comes eight months into Putin's Ukraine offensive that has made some of Russia's allies nervous.
The trio will meet on Putin's initiative in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Kremlin said they will focus on discussing the implementation of agreements reached in talks under Russia's mediation last year and "further steps to strengthen stability and security" in the region.
Putin will also hold talks with each leader alone, Moscow said.
12:25 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a call on Sunday and discussed Russia's war against Ukraine and the threats it poses to global security and economic stability, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement.
Blinken also discussed with his Chinese counterpart on the need to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage U.S.-China relations, the statement said.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
