Ukraine-Russia war latest: UK condemns ‘depraved’ Putin’s nuclear shift

Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are eating into US stockpiles of air defences, the top US admiral overseeing American forces in the Asia-Pacific region has warned.

“With some of the Patriots that have been employed, some of the air-to-air missiles that have been employed, it’s now eating into stocks and to say otherwise would be dishonest,” said Admiral Sam Paparo.

“Inherently, it imposes costs on the readiness of America to respond in the Indo Pacific region, which is the most stressing theater for the quantity and quality of munitions, because the PRC is the most capable potential adversary in the world,” he said, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

Russian air defence units intercepted Ukrainian drones in six southern and central regions late on Monday, with some damage reported on the ground, but no casualties, officials claimed.

In Voronezh, a region bordering northeastern Ukraine, governor Aleksandr Gusev said drones had attacked a plant producing “strictly civilian” goods, triggering a fire. Staff were evacuated and there were no injuries.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed that an unspecified number of drones had been intercepted in the Bryansk and Kursk regions, also on the border. The ministry said air defences had intercepted drones in the Rostov region, on Ukraine’s eastern border and in Kaluga region, further north.

And in Belgorod Region, opposite northeastern Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said “several” drones had been downed, with no casualties.

Gladkov said falling debris from a drone had damaged an industrial plant, infrastructure sites and power lines in the town of Alekseyevka, north of the border.

Electricity was temporarily cut to some districts and emergency crews were on site repairing damage.

Video posted on both Russian and Ukrainian military blogs showed explosions and a fire breaking out in Alekseyevka. One Ukrainian site posted a video of blasts in Voronezh region.

Downing Street has condemned Vladimir Putin’s decision to lower the threshold for nuclear weapons as the “latest example of irresponsibility” from the “depraved Russian government”.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, which marked 1,000 days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a No 10 spokesperson said: “Our focus remains on supporting Ukraine … we’re very clear that Vladimir Putin could end this war tomorrow.

“He could remove his troops, roll back his tanks and end the onslaught and needless bloodshed in both Ukraine and Russia. That is entirely within his gift. We would urge him to do so.”

Asked whether the Russian leader was behaving irresponsibly, the spokesperson said: “It would be fair to say it’s the latest example of irresponsibility that we’ve seen from the depraved Russian government.

“We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine and the defence of an illegal invasion, and we’ve always said that the defence of the UK starts in Ukraine.”

Denmark is making a new donation of €130m to develop Ukraine’s arms industry, prime minister Mette Frederiksen has said.

“Today I’m pleased to announce a new Danish donation to Ukraine. More than €130m directly to Ukraine’s defence industry because we know now what your industry is capable of,” Ms Frederiksen told reporters alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“Because we know that these investments make a real difference on the battlefield. And make no mistake, our support is long-term.”

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine and Denmark had created a “special model” to bring in investments from other countries.

“All the Nordic nations have already joined, more than $1bn have been invested by partners into our industries,” Mr Zelensky said, adding that the programme extended to drones, missiles and artillery production.

The son of Donald Trump has claimed the US president-elect can end the war in Ukraine in “one day” because “Putin respects him”.

Speaking to the PA news agency at the Trump International golf course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Eric Trump said he believes his father – who has said several times he could resolve the conflict in a day.

Asked how that could happen, Eric Trump replied: “Because Putin actually respects him. He’s not going to send $200bn over to see young boys blow each other’s heads off in dirty trenches, broadcast to the world on YouTube every night.

“He will end that conflict. You mark my words. He will end that conflict.”

Washington has not seen any reason to adjust its nuclear posture, the US State Department has said, after Moscow lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike.

Calling on Russia to stop irresponsible rhetoric, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington was generally “incredibly” concerned about hybrid warfare conducted by Russia and remains in close touch with European partners about the issue.

The damage of two undersea internet cables in the Baltic sea must be seen as an act of sabotage, German defence minister Boris Pistorius has said.

A pair of fibre-optic communications cables were severed on Sunday and Monday, in an incident which “immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage”, Finland and Germany said in a joint statement.

A 745-mile (1,200 kilometre) cable linking Helsinki to the German port of Rostock stopped working at 2am on Monday, according to Finnish state-controlled cyber security and telecoms company Cinia.

Another cable linking Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island went out of service at 8am on Monday, according to a Lithuanian communications firm.

My colleague Alex Croft has the full report:

Asked about Joe Biden’s decision on using US long-range missiles, a Ukrainian colonel – with close links to the army’s top brass – told The Independent: “Hopefully we will be able to upset Russia’s plans by inflicting a lot of damage on troop concentrations and arms depots.”

He added: “It’s better late than never and a positive development.

“But a key issue is how many ATACMS will the US provide? The US can [also] programme the range the missiles can fly – so another important step is what distance they will allow the missiles to strike.”

Askold Krushelnycky has more details:

The Associated Press has quoted one anonymous US official as saying that Washington is seeing no indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, as Moscow warns that Ukraine’s alleged use of US-made long-range weapons could trigger a strong response.

Asked on Tuesday whether a Ukrainian attack with longer-range US missiles could potentially trigger use of nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov answered affirmatively.