Ukraine war latest: MI6 uncovers 'staggeringly reckless' Russian sabotage in Europe; Ukraine hits oil depot (2024)

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasappointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new commander of Ukraine's land forces.

"The Ukrainian army needs internal changes to achieve our
state's goals in full," he said in a statement on Telegram.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 Drapatyi was chief of the Kharkiv Operational Strategic Group, before being transferred to the same role in Luhansk.

He holds several military accolades, including the full Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, which he was awarded between 2016 and 2022.

Ukraine has responded to the decision by Georgia's government to push back talks on its bid for EU membership until 2028.

Violent protests have broken out in the capital of Tbilisi (see 9am post) in response to the government's relationship with Vladimir Putin's regime.

Georgia, like Ukraine, has long been hoping to join the bloc, but Prime Minister Iraki Kobakhidze's decision has increased fears it would rather build a relationship with Moscow than Brussels.

In a statement today, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said: "Ukraine is disappointed by the decision of the Georgian government to suspend EU accession negotiations until 2028.

"This decision, as well as the use of force against a peaceful protest, is evidence of the curtailment of democratic processes in the country to please Moscow."

We can now bring you some footage of Russian defence ministerAndrei Belousov's visit to North Korea today.

Belousov said that "trustworthy contacts between the leaders of our countries play a key role in strengthening Russian-Korean relations".

He praised the "historic" meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in June and how it demonstrated the "high level of mutual trust" between their two nations.

And he reinforced the "mutual desire of our countries to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation in a complex international environment".

North Korea has this year dispatched thousands of troops to help Russia fight in Ukraine.

It has also been accused of supplying artillery systems, missiles, and other military equipment to Putin's forces.

Western analysts have repeatedly warned of the dangers of a closer relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang.

"The Russian defence minister doesn't visit North Korea just to celebrate bilateral ties," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, South Korea.

"This visit indicates Putin and Kim's military co-operation in violation of international law is about to increase further."

ByDeborah Haynes, security and defence editor

Security in the United States will be at risk if Vladimir Putin succeeds in Ukraine, the head of Britain's secret intelligence service has said in a warning for Donald Trump.

Sir Richard Moore said that Russia would not stop at Ukraine's borders and that China would "weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous".

The spy chief offered warm words to the incoming US administration, though, using an annual public speech to say he had worked successfully with the first Trump White House and "I… looking forward to doing so again".

As well as talking about Ukraine, the head of MI6 – or Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) – also raised the alarm about:

• A "staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage" in Europe;
• The potential for terrorism in the UK and across the continent inspired by the loss of innocent life in Gaza and Lebanon;
• Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions and its desire to "eliminate dissidents, home and abroad".

Sir Richard said: "In 37 years in the intelligence profession, I've never seen the world in a more dangerous state."

Appearing at the British embassy in Paris with Nicholas Lerner, the head of France's foreign intelligence agency, the DGSE, the British spy chief touched on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

"Nicholas and I are in no doubt about the stakes in Ukraine: if Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state he will not stop there," he said.

"Our security – British, French, European and transatlantic – will be jeopardised.

"The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known, but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher. If Putin succeeds, China would weigh the implications North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous."

Trump, who will return to the White House in January, has promised to end the war "quickly", though he has not explained how.

This week, though, the president-elect revealed he planned to appoint Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, 80, a retired senior commander who served in the last Trump administration, as his Ukraine envoy to Ukraine and Russia.

General Kellogg co-wrote a paper in April that said the US should negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine. One part of the plan was to make the continuation of US weapons to support Kyiv contingent upon the Ukrainian government participating in peace talks.

Sir Richard again highlighted the danger posed by Russian sabotage operations across Europe, strengthening his language even further from previous public remarks made in September alongside the head of the CIA when he called the activity "reckless" and "feral".

This time, he said: "We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear sabre rattling to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine and challenge western resolve in doing so.

"Such activity and rhetoric is dangerous and beyond irresponsible."

The spymaster offered a sense of how British and French intelligence is helping to inform their respective governments to deal with the Russian threat.

"SIS and DGSE intelligence has been critical to calibrating risk and informing the decisions of our respective governments so they can navigate successfully Putin’s mix of bluster and aggression."

Turning to other areas of concern, Sir Richard raised the prospect of Israel's war in Gaza and Lebanon against Hamas and Hezbollah respectively – in which many civilian lives have also been lost – triggering terrorist attacks in Europe.

"We have yet to have a full reckoning with the radicalising impact of the fighting and terrible loss of innocent life in the Middle East after the horrors of 7 October," he said.

He also spoke about the threat posed by Iran – the chief backer of Hezbollah and Hamas.

"Iran's allied militias across the Middle East have suffered serious blows but the regime's nuclear ambitions continue to threaten all of us, especially friends of France and the UK in the region and the Iranian regime maintains its efforts to eliminate dissidents home and abroad," he said.

The head of MI6 only gave brief and relatively mild remarks about China – which by stark contrast is viewed by the Trump regime as the primary global security threat.

"We must navigate the rise of an increasingly assertive China which sometimes competes with our interest and whose values often do not align with our own," Sir Richard said.

Two people have been injured in Kherson as a result of Russian strikes, Ukrainian media reports.

One of the wounded was a 57-year-old woman, who was taken to hospital, according to Suspline, Ukraine's state broadcaster.

There were no further details on the second person injured.

The strikes were on Daryiv in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, close to the Dnipro river.

Russia controls the southern part of the region.

We can now share pictures of the damage in Odesa, southern Ukraine, after Russian drone attacks overnight.

According to Ukraine's national police, seven people were injured and 13 residential properties damaged.

There was also one person injured in a drone attack on a children's medical facility in Dnipro district, Kyiv (see 7.55am post).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has posted details of his latest phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

He says he thanked him for Germany's "leadership in supporting Ukraine", particularly with bolstering its air defences.

Scholz, whose three-party coalition collapsed and is facing an election he will likely lose on 23 February, has recently refused Ukraine long-range missiles.

The chancellor tweeted to say Germany will "continue our military support for Ukraine in close coordination with our European and international partners" and he will "remain in contact".

Zelenskyy also said Scholz "shared details of his call with Putin" from two weeks ago.

Scholz's call with Putin sparked anger, with Zelenskyy previously claiming it breached Western solidarity with Ukraine.

But the German leader, who is currently polling third in the polls, defended the hour-long call – his first in two years – saying he sensed no change in Putin's stance on the war in Ukraine.

The head of MI6 has said UK security services have uncovered a "staggeringly reckless campaign" of Russian sabotage across Europe.

Richard Moore said in a visit to Paris today: "We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear saber-rattling, to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine."

Putin has threatened "all means of destruction" amid reports Ukraine could get hold of nuclear weapons.

Moore said his agency and its French counterpart were working together to prevent a dangerous escalation by "calibrating the risk and informing the decisions of our respective governments" in response to Putin's "mix of bluster and aggression."

He urged European leaders to continue their military support of Ukraine, adding: "If Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state, he will not stop there.

"Our security - British, French, European and transatlantic - will be jeopardized.

"The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known, but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher.

"If Putin succeeds, China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become yet more dangerous."

Russian defence minister Andrei Belousov is in North Korea today for talks.

Russia's economy minister has claimed that the rouble will recover – despite hitting its lowest level since the first months of the Ukraine war this week.

The Russian rouble fell to 100 against the US dollar yesterday after the United States imposed sanctions on Gazprombank, which handles payments for Russia's energy trade with Europe – and is a major supplier of Western currencies to the market.

But minister Maxim Reshetnikov said in a statement: "It is evident that adaptation to the new anti-Russian sanctions will be necessary, including changes to banking mechanisms and channels for currency inflows into the Russian market."

But he added: "We assume that once the market nervousness subsides, the exchange rate will return to its fundamental values."

It comes after a call from President Vladimir Putin not to panic over the fall – and a decision by Russia’s central bank not to buy foreign currency on the domestic market for the rest of the year.

The number of Russian soldiers to die in a single day in its fight against Ukraine has surpassed 2,000 for the first time, according to Ukrainian officials.

In a post on X, the Ukrainian defence ministry claims 2,030 personnel died in the 24 hours to Friday.

The figures have not been verified, but analysts estimate that roughly 1,600 Russian soldiers are dying in battle every day.

Estonian analyst Artur Rehi said yesterday: "Russia has turned into a huge conveyor belt of death, destroying Ukraine and devouring itself from the inside."

Reports claim young Russian recruits are being sent to Ukraine without training.