Key events
Hanna Arhirova is in Kherson for Agence France-Presse, and she has spoken to 73-year-old Yevhen Teliezhenko. He and his wife have been driving around the city, flying their Ukrainian flag and asking the soldiers who liberated them to autograph it.
“They were fighting for us. We knew we were not alone,” he said. “Finally freedom!” said 61-year-old Tetiana Hitina, Teliezhenko’s wife. “The city was dead.”
Karina Zaikina, 24, said that in the final days before they finished their pullout last week, Russian troops grew increasingly nervous and rumours flew around the city
“They were stealing and morally pressuring us,” she said. “It was clear that they were scared because they all walked only in groups.”
“I woke up calm today,” she added. “For the first time in many months, I wasn’t scared to go to the city.”
The UK’s foreign secretary, James Cleverly, interviewed on Sky News, has absolutely ruled out normalising the country’s relationship with Russia during the course of the G20 summit.
Winter to bring new challenges to conflict conditions: UK MoD
Winter will bring a change in conflict conditions, including fewer offensives and more static defensive frontlines and a greater risk of weapon malfunctions, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
Changes to daylight hours, temperature and weather will present unique challenges for fighting soldiers. A reduction in daylight hours will result in fewer offensives and more static defensive frontlines, the latest British intelligence report suggests.
Night vision capability will also be a precious commodity, further exacerbating the unwillingness to fight at night.
As temperatures drop, forces lacking in winter weather clothing and accommodation are highly likely to suffer from non-freezing cold injuries, the ministry adds.
Additionally, the “golden hour” window in which to save a critically wounded soldier is reduced by approximately half, making the risk of contact with the enemy much greater.
An increase in rainfall, wind speed and snowfall will provide additional challenges to the already low morale of Russian forces and also present problems for kit maintenance.
Basic drills such as weapon cleaning must be adjusted to the conditions and the risk of weapon malfunctions increase.
New Zealand will send a further 66 defence force personnel to the UK to help train Ukrainian soldiers.
New Zealand has a team of 120 defence force (NZDF) personnel training Ukrainians in the UK but this deployment was due to end. The deployment will run from 30 November until July 2023, a government statement said.
“I am pleased the NZDF infantry can offer the skills and experience for further training. This deployment also provides an opportunity for NZDF personnel to gain valuable experience,” said Peeni Henare, minister of defence, on Monday.
The New Zealand government has also said it would extend the NZDF’s existing intelligence contribution, redeploy four NZDF staff to help with the logistics hub in Europe and provide eight people to support those deployed in the region. No NZDF staff will be sent into Ukraine.
The government said it will donate NZ$1.85m ($1.13m) to the World Food Programme to help address global food security and NZ$1.85m to the Nato Trust fund.
Images of local residents embracing returning Ukrainian soldiers as they celebrated the liberation of towns and villages throughout Kherson have emerged on our newswires today.
Many were reunited for the first time since Russian troops occupied the region in southern Ukraine.
US to apply sanctions to military procurement network aiding Russia
The US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said the US will impose fresh sanctions on a transnational network of individuals and companies that have been working to procure military technologies for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.
Yellen told reporters on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali the sanctions would target 14 individuals and 28 entities, including financial facilitators, but she declined to provide details on where they were located. She said the announcement was scheduled for later on Monday, according to Reuters.
This is part of our larger effort to disrupt Russia’s war effort and deny equipment it needs through sanctions and export controls,” Yellen told reporters.
She declined to provide details on which technologies the sanctions would target in an effort to cut off Russian purchases.
The US Treasury has sanctioned major military industrial firms in Russia and the Commerce Department has cut off exports of American-made components and US technologies that have been used in some of Russia’s military hardware.
Landmine kills family of four in Kherson – reports
A family of four, including an 11-year-old child, has reportedly been killed after the car they were travelling in run over a landmine in the Kherson region.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, reported the deaths on Sunday evening in a post on his Telegram channel.
Tymoshenko said the family hit a landmine in the village of Novoraisk on Sunday, resulting in the fatal explosion.
Russian forces destroy key infrastructure before Kherson retreat
Ukrainian authorities are scrambling to return basic services to those living in Kherson after the retreating Russian army blew up all major infrastructure, leaving residents without electricity and water.
Russian troops “destroyed all the critical infrastructure: communications, water, heat, electricity” president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest national address.
Kherson’s mayor said the humanitarian situation was “severe” because of a lack of water, medicine and bread while Zelenskiy said authorities were dealing with thousands of mines, tripwires and unexploded shells left by Russian troops.
Roman Golovnya, an adviser to the city’s local administration, said: “Russian occupying forces and collaborators did everything possible to make those people who remained in the city suffer as much as possible during these days, weeks and months of waiting.”
The head of Kherson’s regional state administration said everything was being done to “return normal life” to the area.
Speaking from Kherson city in a video poster to social media, Yaroslav Yanushevych said that while de-mining was carried out, a curfew had been put in place and movement in and out of the city had been limited.
Retreating Russian forces reportedly destroyed Kherson city’s communications, electricity, water, heat, a 100-metre-tall TV tower and at least four bridges.
Ukrainians also accused Russians of blowing up dozens of schools across the province, further damaging the prospects of children who have already missed nine months of lessons.
Zelenskiy added that 226 settlements in the Kherson region will be restored, encompassing more than 100,000 local residents.
Zelenskiy accuses Russia of Kherson war crimes
On Sunday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russian soldiers of war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson.
Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found. The Russian army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered,” he said.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.
Ukrainian authorities are scrambling to de-mine the strategic southern city of Kherson and restore power across the region after the retreating Russian army blew up all major infrastructure, leaving residents without electricity and water.
Kherson’s mayor said the humanitarian situation was “severe” because of a lack of water, medicine and bread while Zelenskiy said authorities were dealing with thousands of mines, tripwires and unexploded shells left by Russian troops.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy also accused Russian soldiers of war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson. “Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found. The Russian army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered,” the Ukrainian president said.
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If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:
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Russian forces destroyed key infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson before retreating, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. Russia troops “destroyed all the critical infrastructure: communications, water, heat, electricity”, he said in his latest national address. Kherson’s mayor said the humanitarian situation was “severe” because of a lack of water, medicine and bread. Zelenskiy said authorities had dealt with nearly 2,000 mines, tripwires and unexploded shells left by Russian troops.
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Ukrainians hailed Russia’s retreat from Kherson as Kyiv said it was working to de-mine the strategic southern city and restore power across the region. In the formerly occupied villages of Pravdyne and Snihurivka, outside Kherson, returning locals embraced returning troops and their neighbours, some unable to hold back tears. “Victory, finally!” one said.
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The head of Kherson’s regional state administration said everything was being done to “return normal life” to the area. Speaking from Kherson city in a video poster to social media, Yaroslav Yanushevych said that while de-mining was carried out, a curfew had been put in place and movement in and out of the city had been limited. Zelenskiy added that 226 settlements in the Kherson region will be restored, encompassing more than 100,000 local residents. Ukraine can “feel the approach of our victory”, he added in his latest national address.
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Zelenskiy accused Russian soldiers of war crimes and killing civilians in Kherson. “Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found. The Russian army left behind the same savagery it did in other regions of the country it entered,” he said on Sunday.
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Significant new damage to the major Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, which the Russians attempted to blow up during their withdrawal from nearby Kherson, was seen via satellite imagery from US company Maxar. Ukrainian authorities are trying to assess the damage and it is not clear if the structural integrity of the reservoir is at risk. With a water volume of 18.2 cubic km, the reservoir could flood a huge area, including the city of Kherson, if destroyed.
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Pro-Moscow forces are putting up a fierce fight in the eastern Donetsk region. “Battles in Donetsk region are just as intense as they have been in previous days,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “The level of Russian attacks has not declined. And the level of our resilience and courage is at its highest. We will not allow them through our defence.”
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The US Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said some sanctions on Russia could remain in place even after any peace agreement with Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported. Yellen said that any eventual peace agreement would involve a review of the penalties the US and its allies have imposed on Russia’s economy, according to the Journal. “I suppose in the context of some peace agreement, adjustment of sanctions is possible and could be appropriate,” Yellen said in an interview in Indonesia, where she is attending the G20 summit.
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Russia’s education minister, Sergey Kravstov, has said that military training will return to Russian schools next September, according to the latest update by the UK’s Ministry of Defence. The programme is supported by Russia’s Ministry of Defence, which states that no less than 140 hours per academic year should be devoted to this training.
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Ukraine will decide on the timing and contents of any negotiation framework with Russia, according to a readout of a meeting between the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, at the Asean summit in Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
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Vladimir Putin has spoken to his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, by phone and both leaders placed emphasis on deepening political, trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. The discussion of “a number of topical issues on the bilateral agenda” also including the transport and logistics sector, the Kremlin said. It did not say when the phone call took place and made no mention of Iranian arms supplies to Moscow.
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Russia said there was no agreement yet to extend a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, repeating its insistence on unhindered access to world markets for its own food and fertiliser exports, Reuters reported.
