Russia-Ukraine war live: Ex-Russian officer says Putin’s forces ‘deteriorating’

An ex-Russian officer has said Vladimir Putin’s forces are ‘deteriorating’ in Ukraine as the Crimea was hit by up to 17 drones.

Igor Girkin, an imprisoned Russian nationalist, said Putin’s forces would be “even less capable of offensive operations than they are now” by spring 2024, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

In a letter published by his wife, Girkin claimed that the situation for Russian forces was “gradually deteriorating” and that Russian forces are showcasing “growing weakness compared to Ukraine’s capabilities.”

He added that the Avdiivka offensive, where thousands of troops are said to have died, demonstrated the Russian Army’s inability “to achieve superiority on a very narrow sector of the front”, the ISW said.

A Russian ship was “almost certainly” damaged after being struck in Crimea, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence.

In a defence intelligence update, the MoD said a newly built Russian naval corvette was damaged on 4 November, earlier reported by Ukrainian and Russian sources.

“Ukraine’s capability to hit Crimean shipbuilding infrastructure will likely cause Russia to consider relocating farther from the front line, delaying the delivery of new vessels,” the update said.

Moscow has claimed it destroyed and intercepted drones used in a Ukrainian attack on the Black Sea and Crimea early this morning.

A total of 17 drones were launched by Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry said. Nine drones were destroyed by air defence systems and eight were intercepted by electronic warfare, it added.

Explosions were heard near the towns of Novofedorivka and Saky, a Russian air base, just after 4am, according to local reports.

Russia’s foreign ministry said a statement by an Israeli junior minister who appeared to voice openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza had raised many questions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended Heritage Minister Amihay Eliyahu, from a far-right party in the coalition government, from cabinet meetings “until further notice”.

Asked in a radio interview about a hypothetical nuclear option, Eliyahu had replied: “That’s one way”.

His remark drew swift condemnation from around the Arab world, scandalised mainstream Israeli broadcasters and was deemed “objectionable” by a US official.

Russia has formally withdrawn from a landmark security treaty which limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the United States for undermining post-Cold War security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 of 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.

But Russia’s foreign ministry said it had formally withdrawn from the pact and that the treaty, signed in an era when “cooperation seemed possible”, was now “history”.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that the war in Israel and Gaza is “taking away the focus” from Russia’s full-scale invasion as he denied suggestions that the conflict in eastern Europe had reached a stalemate.

Speaking at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday alongside European commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Zelensky said Russia wanted the focus on Ukraine to be “weakened” but added that “everything is [still] in our power”.

Mr Zelensky has offered to visit Israel, though he has admitted it is “difficult” because it depends on “what’s happening on the battlefield” in Ukraine, which he said remains “hot”.

My colleague Tom Watling has more here:

A 124-year-old art museum was damaged as Russia launched a barrage of drone attacks in Ukraine’s port city of Odesa, injuring at least five people and setting trucks with grain on fire, my colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.

“On November 6, the Odesa National Art Museum turns 124 years old,” said Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region. “On the eve of November 6, the Russians ‘congratulated’ our architectural monument with a missile that hit nearby,” he added.

The walls of the building were damaged while some windows and glass were broken, according to the governor.

The drones reportedly damaged port infrastructure, including warehouses and loading equipment, before Ukraine downed 15 Russian drones over the city, the authorities said.

A large group of Russia’s former Wagner mercenaries has started training with special forces from the southern Russian region of Chechnya, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Monday.

Wagner played a prominent role in some of the fiercest fighting of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but its future was thrown into question when its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in August, two months after leading a brief mutiny against the Russian defence establishment.

Kadyrov said in a message on Telegram that a big group of ex-Wagner fighters was undergoing intensive training with his own Akhmat special forces.

“I am glad that today the ranks of the famous (Akhmat) unit have been joined by fighters who have excellent combat experience and have proven themselves as brave and efficient warriors,” he said.

“I am confident that in the upcoming battles they will fully live up to their reputation.”

He published a video, accompanied by stirring music, showing soldiers in combat training, including some wearing Wagner insignia on their uniforms and masks over their faces. Kadyrov said the drills included shooting, field medicine and training for snipers, machine gunners, sappers and artillerymen.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky says his troops have “eliminated” a Russian warship housed in a shipyard at the Crimean city of Kerch.

“I thank everyone who ensured the successful targeting of the Russian warship at the Kerch shipyard. This is significant – another source of Russian terror against Ukraine has been eliminated,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly address.

It follows an admission by Russia’s defence ministry that Ukraine had targeted the shipyard with 15 cruise missiles on Saturday, 13 of which were shot down in an attack which damaged a ship.