Russia-Ukraine war live: 437 Ukrainian children killed so far, says Kyiv; UK sending tech to counter Iranian drones

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is being shelled, according to the Russian state-owned news agency Tass, Reuters reports.

It added that “Ukraine-fired” shells had landed near a dry storage site and no radioactive emissions were being detected.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser from the Russian nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom, said 15 shells were fired at the plant’s facilities, according to Tass.

The plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear station, has been under Russian occupation since March but continues to be operated by Ukrainian staff.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for previous shelling at the site that has caused damage to buildings and threatened a nuclear accident.

Prior to Russia’s invasion, the facility provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity. It has been forced to operate on back-up generators a number of times since being occupied by Russian forces.

Russia has reached agreement with Iran to begin manufacturing hundreds of unmanned weaponised aircraft on Russian soil, the Washington Post reports.

Citing intelligence seen by US and other western security agencies, the newspaper said officials from Moscow and Tehran finalised the deal during a meeting in Iran earlier this month.

Russia and Iran are moving rapidly to transfer designs and key components that could allow production to begin within months, three officials familiar with the matter are reported to have said.

Russia’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment from the Post.

As what is expected to be Ukraine’s toughest winter begins, much of its energy system has been crippled by targeted Russian strikes.

It means that in recently liberated Kherson, those who live in houses have started to gather wood to burn.

But Ukrainian authorities have warned citizens that Russian troops may have left behind mines, tripwires and unexploded shells in the woods.

At the same time, those living in flats with old Soviet centralised heating systems have even fewer options.

In their latest dispatch from the city, my colleagues Lorenzo Tondo and Isobel Koshiw speak to residents facing more devastation after eight months of occupation.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has issued its daily intelligence update on the war in Ukraine.

It says that Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian port city of Kherson was “conducted in relatively good order” compared with previous major retreats from occupied areas.

It is likely Russia lost only tens, rather than hundreds, of vehicles during the retreat. Meanwhile, it “successfully” destroyed most of the kit that was left behind to prevent it from falling into Ukrainian hands.

This apparent improvement is likely due to a “more effective” single operational command under Gen Sergei Surovikin, the update says.

Surovikin was appointed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as overall commander of Russia’s “special military operation” in October.

A key adviser to the Ukrainian presidency has told the AFP news agency that the west’s attempts to persuade Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow, after a series of major military victories by Kyiv, are “bizarre” and amount to asking for capitulation.

“When you have the initiative on the battlefield, it’s slightly bizarre to receive proposals like: ‘you will not be able to do everything by military means anyway, you need to negotiate,” said Mykhaylo Podolyak.

US media recently reported that some senior officials were beginning to encourage Ukraine to consider talks, which Zelenskiy has so far rejected without a prior withdrawal of Russian forces from all Ukrainian territory.

According to Podolyak, Moscow has not made “any direct proposal” to Kyiv for peace talks, preferring to transmit them through intermediaries and even raising the possibility of a ceasefire.

Kyiv sees such talk as mere manoeuvring by the Kremlin to win some respite on the ground and prepare a new offensive.

New Zealand said on Sunday that its defence minister, Peeni Henare, had visited Kyiv to reaffirm support for Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion.

“We discussed New Zealand’s recent extension of the infantry training support mission in the UK for Ukrainian troops out to July 2023,” Henare said in a statement after holding bilateral talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov.

New Zealand last week said it would send a further 66 defence personnel to Britain to help train Ukrainian soldiers.

Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. Here’s a brief look at the latest developments as it approaches 9.15am in Kyiv.

• Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said at least 437 Ukrainian children have been killed and more than 837 injured as a result of Russia’s invasion.

• Five people were injured in a Russian strike on a humanitarian station in southern Ukraine, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior aide to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president.

• Around 60 Russian soldiers were killed this week in a long-range Ukrainian artillery attack on their positions in the town of Mykhailkva, 40km to the south of Kherson, Ukraine’s military said on Saturday.

• Rishi Sunak made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday to meet Zelenskiy – Sunak’s first visit to the country since taking office.

• Sunak announced that Britain will provide a £50m air defence package for Ukraine, including anti-aircraft guns and technology to counter Iranian-supplied drones.

• Ukrainian electricity supplies are under control despite Russian attacks on power-generating infrastructure and there is no need to panic, the energy ministry said a day after the government stated that almost half of Ukraine’s energy system had been crippled, and authorities in Kyiv warned that the capital could face a “complete shutdown” of the power grid as winter sets in.

• Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the supply problems were worst in and around Kyiv as well as in six other regions. “We are working throughout the country to stabilise the situation,” he said in a video address.

• Ukrainian forces could be in Crimea by the end of December, the country’s deputy defence minister, Volodymyr Havrylov, has said.

• Jubilant Ukrainians rolled into Kherson by train for the first time in more than eight months as residents of the newly liberated southern city greeted them on the platform with flowers and national flags. Citing damage done by Russian forces, deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced evacuations of people who want to leave Kherson and the surrounding areas would soon begin.

• The funeral took place on Saturday of a Polish man who was one of two victims killed when a missile crashed into a grain storage facility in the Polish village of Przewodow.

• Asia-Pacific leaders added their voices on Saturday to international pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, issuing a summit statement saying “most” of them condemned the war.

• The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin said China and Russia were seeking a world where force is used to resolve disputes and he vowed the United States would continue to defend humanitarian principles and international law.

• Peace in Ukraine will only be possible if the country’s 1991 borders are restored, a senior aide to Zelenskiy said.