Ukraine war live updates: Russia ramps up Kyiv bombardment; Putin congratulates ‘dear friend’ Erdogan on reelection

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that if any other country wanted to join a Russia-Belarus union there could be “nuclear weapons for everyone”.

Russia moved ahead last week with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in the Kremlin’s first deployment of such warheads outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, spurring concerns in the West.

In an interview on Russia’s state television late on Sunday, Lukashenko, President Vladimir Putin’s staunchest ally among Russia’s neighbors, said that it must be “strategically understood” that Minsk and Moscow have a unique chance to unite.

He added that it was his own view – not the view of Russia.

Russia and Belarus are formally part of a Union State, a borderless union and alliance between the two former Soviet republics.

— Reuters

Denmark plans to increase its spending on military aid to Ukraine by 17.9 billion crowns ($2.59 billion) over this year and next, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday, winning thanks for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Denmark, with a population of less than 6 million, in March established a $1 billion fund for military, civilian and business aid to Ukraine in 2023.

Frederiksen, seen as a possible contender to become new NATO chief, on Monday told Danish public radio the government planned to add another 7.5 billion crowns to the fund this year, and 10.4 billion next year.

— Reuters

The Kyiv metro on Sunday night hosted the month’s highest volume of people overnight, as Russia launched a particularly heavy bombardment of drone and missile attacks, Kyiv officials said.

“During the daytime shelling of the capital, more than 41,000 people were in the underground” and overnight “more than 9,000 citizens took refuge in subway stations, including 1,120 children,” Kyiv’s city administration wrote on its official Telegram account.

“This is the largest number of people who stayed at the stations at night during the current month,” it said.

The post added as a reminder that “during an alarm, you can get chairs and drinking water at the stations. Keep in mind that the stations are quite chilly, so take warm clothes with you.”

The Russian attacks have continued into the day Monday.

— Natasha Turak

Adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidency Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that as a requirement for any peace agreement with Russia, a demilitarized zone extending 100 to 120 kilometers (62 to 74 miles) into Russian territory from Ukraine’s borders should be established. This would be in addition to the complete restoration of Ukraine’s sovereign borders, he said.

“The key topic of the post-war settlement should be the establishment of safeguards to prevent a recurrence of aggression in the future,” Podolyak tweeted. “To ensure real security for residents of Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions and protect them from shelling, it will be necessary to introduce a demilitarization zone of 100-120 km on the territory of Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, and Rostov republics. Probably with a mandatory international control contingent at the first stage.”

— Natasha Turak

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska posted a video of schoolchildren running for shelter in Kyiv on Monday morning as explosions sound in the capital city.

“Kyiv. The morning after a sleepless night under fire. Anxiety again … Children screaming running for cover to the sounds of explosions is our reality,” she wrote on Twitter along with the video clip. “But it doesn’t have to be that way – anywhere, ever. Fear cannot be turned off – but we do not freeze, but act. Ukraine continues to fight.”

After a series of overnight bombardments, Russia ramped up its attacks on Kyiv with an unusual daytime barrage of missiles and drones.

— Natasha Turak

The foreign ministers of Sweden and Turkey will meet “soon” to discuss the former’s accession bid for NATO, despite the fact that Turkey’s top diplomat will not be attending a NATO ministers’ meeting in Oslo on Tuesday, the Swedish foreign ministry said.

“We have been informed that Turkey’s foreign minister is not coming, so there won’t be any meeting there,” a representative for Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billstrom said, according to Reuters. He added that the meeting would still take place “soon.”

“I look forward to being able to shift into a higher gear and speed things up now we know what the result is,” Billstrom added, referencing the result of the Turkish presidential election Sunday that saw incumbent leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan secure victory and a fresh five-year term in office after two decades in power.

Sweden and Finland both formally applied to join NATO in May of 2022, abandoning a historic policy of non-alignment in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey as a NATO member blocked both bids, eventually greenlighting Finland’s accession in March 2023. But Erdogan has remained opposed to Sweden’s membership over what he says is the country’s support of Kurdish groups that Ankara considers to be terrorists.

— Natasha Turak

The Black Sea grain deal will no longer be operational if its current state of implementation continues, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday, according to a Google translation of comments carried by Russian state news agency Tass.

Reuters reported that Lavrov added that less than 3% of the grain exported under the agreement had reached the world’s poorest countries.

The U.N.-brokered agreement was set up to allow Kyiv’s grains to be shipped through Black Sea ports, staving off the risk to global food security that was worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was extended for 60 days on May 17.

Moscow has repeatedly complained that restrictions imposed on Russia prevent it from fulfilling its agricultural and fertilizer exports.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Air attacks have resumed in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Ukrainian and British officials said, after an intense Russian air offensive overnight.

“It’s all kicked off again. Mid morning crashes and explosions outside. Air defence being tested again by cowardly Russians. Back in shelter,” British ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons said on Twitter.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko separately reported explosions in the city center Monday morning, in a Google translated Telegram post.

Ukrainian authorities said more than 40 air missiles and drones were shot down in Kyiv overnight, in what was at the time the 15th Russian attack against the Ukrainian capital this month.

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian troops have struck a military target at the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi, local government said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.

Authorities are currently working to contain fires in the wake of the overnight attack. Five aircraft were disabled as the result of the hostilities.

The damage to Khmelnytskyi comes after Russia carried out intense overnight air drone and missile hostilities against the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Russian interior ministry has placed U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on a wanted list, Russian state-run news agency Tass reported.

The designation follows Moscow’s criticism of Graham’s comments in an edited video released by the Ukrainian presidency’s office of the senator’s meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.

In the short and edited video clip, the U.S. senator appeared say “the Russians are dying,” followed by “the best money we’ve ever spent.” The footage prompted heavy Russian criticism.

According to Reuters, the release of Graham’s complete remarks by the Ukrainian president’s office showed there was no link between the senator’s two statements.

Russia previously added several U.S. offices to its stop lists, which prevent them from entering the country, but has fallen short of seeking their detainment.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Kyiv suffered its 15th air attack since the start of this month, with more than 40 missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones shot down over the Ukrainian capital early Monday, according to the Google translated comments of Serhii Popko, the head of the Kyiv’s city military administration.

Russian forces are “trying with all their might to destroy key targets for themselves and at the same time exhaust the resources of our air defense,” Popko said.

Ukrainian mayor Vitali Klitschko described that as “another difficult night for the capital,” saying no casualties or infrastructural damage were sustained, in Google translated comments on Telegram.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the electoral victory of his “dear friend” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who secured reelection in a runoff vote against Kemal Kilicdaroglu on Sunday.

“We highly value your personal contribution to the development of friendly Russian-Turkish relations, mutually beneficial cooperation in various spheres. I would like to reiterate our readiness to continue our constructive dialogue of the current issues on the bilateral, regional, and international agenda,” Putin said, according to comments reported by Russian state news agency Tass.

“We attach great significance to the implementation of our joint projects, first of all, for the construction of the Akkuyu NPP and the establishment of a gas hub in Turkey.”

Russia and Turkey have had a volatile relationship, previously locking horns in points of Middle Eastern and North African policy, such as in Syria and Libya. But Ankara has proven pivotal in negotiating the Black Sea corridor that facilitates the export of Ukrainian grain, while Turkey’s security concerns and Hungary’s objections are currently stalling Sweden’s accession to the NATO military alliance.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The United Nations condemned an early morning attack on a medical facility in Dnipro and said that its humanitarian partners were providing emergency assistance to survivors.   

“We, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to reach more people with assistance across the country,” United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a daily press briefing.

Dujarric told reporters that so far the U.N. has reached more than 5 million people in Ukraine with humanitarian aid.

According to data collected by the World Health Organization, there have been more than 870 attacks on healthcare facilities in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s war last February.

— Amanda Macias

Japan on Friday announced more sanctions on Russia, including the freezing of assets of 24 individuals and 78 organizations.

The curbs, approved by the government at a Cabinet meeting, target Russian military personnel and pro-Russian individuals in eastern and southern Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Tokyo will also ban exports to 80 Russian entities, such as military-related organizations, the ministry added.

The announcement comes after Group of Seven leaders pledged to maintain and strengthen sanctions against Russia at their summit in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima that ended Sunday.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russia’s Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev on Friday said that negotiations with Ukraine are “impossible” as long as the Kyiv administration of Volodomyr Zelenskyy stays in power, in comments reported by Russian state news agency Tass.

“Everything always ends with negotiations, and this is inevitable, but as long as these people are in power, the situation for Russia will not change in terms of negotiations,” he said, according to a Google translation.

Ukraine has, likewise, previously said negotiations were not possible as long as Vladimir Putin stays at the helm of Russian leadership. Zelenskyy nevertheless presented a 10-point peace plan proposal to G20 leaders on Nov. 15.

Global powers — including close Russia trade partner China — have vied for a chance to mediate in the conflict.