Russia-Ukraine war: Putin says ‘agreement will have to be reached’ to end conflict – as it happened

It’s almost 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Vladimir Putin mentioned a potential settlement to end his war in Ukraine on Friday while still claiming that his “special military operation” was going to plan. Putin also discussed the potential for a nuclear war in his remarks on Friday, saying that Russian nuclear doctrine doesn’t allow for a preventive strike and that in the case of all-out war, strikes against Russia would be “inevitable”.

0:56

• Putin’s remarks came a day after he appeared to revel in recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Drinking what appeared to be sparkling wine, Putin vowed to keep battering Ukraine’s energy grid despite an outcry against the systematic attacks that have plunged millions into cold and darkness as winter sets in.

• Putin also said Russia may cut oil production and will refuse to sell oil to any country that imposes the G7’s price cap on its oil. His comments came after the G7, the EU and Australia announced a $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil last week.

• Russian forces have shelled the “entire frontline” in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the region’s governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, has said. The fiercest fighting was near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, he said, adding that Russian troops were also trying to advance near Lyman, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November.

• The UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles. Moscow is offering Tehran an “unprecedented level” of military and technical support in return for it supplying weapons for the war in Ukraine, Woodward told reporters. Meanwhile, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, warned that Russia is “expanding and modernising its nuclear arsenal”.

• Ukraine’s state-run power agency has accused Russian forces of abducting two senior Ukrainian staff at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Energoatom said the two abducted members of staff were beaten before being driven off in an “unknown direction” on Thursday. A third worker, who was detained, was responsible for safety at the plant, it said.

• Russian forces have installed multiple rocket launchers at Ukraine’s shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to Ukrainian officials. Energoatom said Russian forces occupying the plant have placed several Grad multiple rocket launchers near one of its six nuclear reactors, raising fears that Europe’s largest atomic power station could be used as a base to fire on Ukrainian territory and heightening radiation dangers.

• The UK Ministry of Defence has said Russia has likely received a resupply of Iranian Shahed-131 and 136 loitering munitions. Friday’s intelligence update comes following new reports over the past three weeks of attacks involving these devices. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian general staff reported shooting down at least 14 Shahed-136s.

• Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed the latest Russian attacks on the country’s infrastructure in a phone call on Friday. Sunak said “more anti-air guns and further short-range air defence missiles would arrive in the coming weeks”, Downing Street said.

• A Russian court has sentenced the opposition politician Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in prison on charges of spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army. The verdict marks the most high-profile case to date of a Russian dissident being jailed for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.

• Representatives from Russia and the US met in Istanbul on Friday to discuss “difficult questions”, Russian state media reported. A US embassy spokesperson confirmed that a senior State department official met with Russian interlocutors to discuss “a narrow set of bilateral issues” that did not involve the war in Ukraine.

• Russian athletes have been offered a path to compete at the Paris 2024 Games even if the war in Ukraine continues to rage for another 18 months. It comes after a proposal was made by the Olympic Council of Asia to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in its qualifying competitions for 2024 – even though they are still banned by most sports.

• The American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the US early on Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange from nearly 10 months in detention in Russia. Griner was seen getting off a plane at joint base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, after she was swapped for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

• Following his release from US detention, the notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout, told RT that it was difficult to find the words to describe his feelings after being freed. Nicknamed the “Merchant of Death”, Bout is a former Soviet lieutenant colonel who was serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons US officials said were to be used against Americans.

• The prisoner exchange of Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner should not be seen as a step towards improving US-Russia bilateral relations, the Kremlin said. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s comments came as Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said 30 more embassy staff would have to leave in the new year because of visa restrictions, according to state-owned news agency Ria.

• The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has announced in today’s Guardian that he will place new sanctions on 2,000 individuals and 400 entities across the world with connections to the Kremlin. “We are right to express our horror and revulsion, but our words will always count for more when they are backed by action,” Cleverly wrote. “I will ensure this remains the theme of British diplomacy. We are not passive observers and we should not merely voice our feelings: we will use our country’s leverage to make a difference.”

• The US has announced fresh sanctions on dozens of people and entities over alleged human rights abuse or corruption across nine countries, including Russia, China and Iran. The latest sanctions list includes Russia’s Central Election Commission, which Washington accused of helping to oversee and monitor what the US said are “sham referendums” held in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, as well as 15 of its members.

• President Joe Biden has authorised $275m in military aid for Ukraine, the White House said. The new package will include weapons and artillery rounds, as well as equipment to help Ukraine boost its air defences, according to a statement by the US defence department.

My colleagues Andrew Roth, Pjotr Sauer and Helen Sullivan have the full story on the comments made earlier today by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on a potential settlement to end the war in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin mentioned a potential settlement to end his war in Ukraine on Friday while still claiming that his “special military operation” was going to plan.

The Russian president said during remarks at a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan:

The settlement process as a whole, yes, it will probably be difficult and will take some time. But one way or another, all participants in this process will have to agree with the realities that are taking shape on the ground.

The remarks came just days after Putin appeared to be girding Russians for a protracted war in Ukraine, saying that his military operation could be a “long-term process”. Initially, Russian commanders expected the war would last just a matter of weeks before a Russian victory, according to plans captured at the beginning of the war. It is now in its 10th month and Russia has been forced to retreat for several months.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Putin claimed that his military operation was going to plan. “Everything is stable. There are no questions or problems there,” he said, adding that information was being given to the public transparently.

Putin also discussed the potential for a nuclear war in his remarks on Friday, saying that Russian nuclear doctrine doesn’t allow for a preventive strike and that in the case of all-out war, strikes against Russia would be “inevitable”, adding:

However, nothing will remain of the enemy.

Read the full story here:

Relations between Moscow and Washington continue to remain “in a sorry state”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was cited by Russian state media as saying.

Russian state-run news agency Tass quoted him as saying that the prisoner exchange of Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner should not be seen as a step towards improving US-Russia bilateral relations.

Peskov was quoted as saying:

The talks were exclusively on the topic of the exchange. It’s probably wrong to draw any hypothetical conclusions that this may be a step towards overcoming the crisis in bilateral relations.

His comments came as Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said 30 more embassy staff would have to leave in the new year because of visa restrictions, according to state-owned news agency Ria.

Echoing Peskov’s earlier comments, Antonov was quoted as saying that he did not see anything positive about the current state of bilateral ties.

Russian diplomats spent months pushing for the release of a Russian assassin from German custody before finally agreeing to release the US basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for the arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to US officials.

Vadim Krasikov was sentenced to life in prison in Germany after being convicted of murdering the former Chechen fighter Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, in a park in Berlin in broad daylight in 2019.

The killing sparked outrage in Germany and prompted the government to expel two Russian diplomats at the start of legal proceedings in December 2019, leading to a reciprocal response by Moscow. German authorities have said the killing was committed at the behest of Russia’s intelligence services.

View image in fullscreen

US officials have told the New York Times that Russia wanted Krasikov “as part of the deal” in exchange for releasing Griner and Paul Whelan, who remains in Russian detention.

The paper writes that officials approached their German counterparts to see if they would consider freeing Krasikov, including exploring a sort of three-way deal that would give the Germans something in return.

Here’s some more detail about the US’s new $275m military aid package for Ukraine, announced by the White House earlier.

The new package will include weapons and artillery rounds, as well as equipment to help Ukraine boost its air defences, according to a statement by the US defence department.

It will also include rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars) launchers, 155mm ammunition, Humvee military vehicles and generators, according to a document seen by Reuters and people familiar with the package.

Here are some of the latest images we have received from the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

The UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said Russia is attempting to obtain more weapons from Iran, including hundreds of ballistic missiles.

Moscow is offering Tehran an “unprecedented level” of military and technical support in return for it supplying weapons for the war in Ukraine, Woodward told reporters.

Since August, Iran had transferred hundreds of drones – also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – to Russia, which had used them to “kill civilians and illegally target civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine, she said.

Woodward said:

Russia is now attempting to obtain more weapons, including hundreds of ballistic missiles. In return, Russia is offering Iran an unprecedented level of military and technical support.

We’re concerned that Russia intends to provide Iran with more advanced military components, which will allow Iran to strengthen their weapons capability.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the UN’s security council, she also said Britain was “almost certain that Russia is seeking to source weaponry from North Korea (and) other heavily sanctioned states, as their overstocks palpably dwindle”.

The relationship between Moscow and Tehran is transforming into “a full-fledged defence partnership” with weapons and military expertise flowing in both directions, senior Biden administration officials told NBC News.

The officials said Russia is looking to collaborate with Iran on weapons development, including possibly establishing a joint production line for drones in Russia. They added:

This partnership poses a threat not just to Ukraine, but to Iran’s neighbours in the region.

The US has announced fresh sanctions on dozens of people and entities over alleged human rights abuse or corruption across nine countries, including Russia, China and Iran.

The latest sanctions list includes Russia’s Central Election Commission, which Washington accused of helping to oversee and monitor what the US said are “sham referendums” held in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine, as well as 15 of its members.

The US treasury department also took action against four people it accused of being directly involved in Russia’s filtration operations.

The US state department designated two Russian nationals over alleged human rights abuse against Ukrainian civilians.

Meanwhile, the White House said President Joe Biden had authorised $275m in military aid for Ukraine.

Canada has imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, Iran and Myanmar over alleged human rights violations, its foreign ministry said.

The measures included sanctions against 33 current or former senior Russian officials and six entities involved in alleged “systematic human rights violations” against Russian citizens who protested against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it said in a statement.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 1,500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said:

There is more work to be done, but Canada will never stop standing up for human rights.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has warned that Russia is “expanding and modernising its nuclear arsenal” while President Vladimir Putin engages in “deeply irresponsible nuclear sabre-rattling”.

Speaking at a ceremony at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, Austin said:

As the Kremlin continues its cruel and unprovoked war of choice against Ukraine, the whole world has seen Putin engage in deeply irresponsible nuclear saber-rattling.

Here’s the official order President Joe Biden signed commuting the notorious arms trafficker, Viktor Bout, as shared by CNN’s Kevin Liptak.

The conditions of Bout’s commutation include that he not return to the US and not profit from any book or movie about his arrest or release.

Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed the latest Russian attacks on the country’s infrastructure in a phone call today, Downing Street said.

Zelenskiy thanked the UK “for its crucial support to help restore power through the supply of generators” during the call, a No 10 spokesperson said.

Sunak “paid tribute” to the success of Kyiv’s troops in “intercepting dozens of potentially devastating missiles” this week, they continued, and said the UK was “thinking of the Ukrainian people as they continued to defend their country through the winter”.

They added:

Updating on the latest lethal aid deliveries from the UK, the prime minister said that more anti-air guns and further short-range air defence missiles would arrive in the coming weeks.

Both leaders agreed on the importance of pre-empting Russia’s insincere calls for a ceasefire and the prime minister added that the Kremlin needed to withdraw its forces before any agreement could be considered.

The leaders agreed to speak again in the coming weeks, the spokesperson said.

Zelenskiy tweeted about his call with Sunak:

It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• Russian forces have shelled the “entire front line” in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, the region’s governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, has said. The fiercest fighting was near the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, he said, adding that Russian troops were also trying to advance near Lyman, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November.

• Vladimir Putin has said “ultimately an agreement will have to be reached” to end the conflict in Ukraine, but said he was wary of doing so following the Minsk agreements. Russia’s president also acknowledged that there had been some problems supplying equipment and clothes to the 300,000 men who were conscripted to fight in Ukraine in recent months.

• Putin also said Russia may cut oil production and will refuse to sell oil to any country that imposes the G7’s price cap on its oil. His comments came after the G7, the EU and Australia announced a $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil last week.

• Ukraine’s state-run power agency has accused Russian forces of abducting two senior Ukrainian staff at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Energoatom said the two abducted members of staff were beaten before being driven off in an “unknown direction” on Thursday. A third worker, who was detained, was responsible for safety at the plant, it said.

• Russian forces have installed multiple rocket launchers at Ukraine’s shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to Ukrainian officials. Energoatom said Russian forces occupying the plant have placed several Grad multiple rocket launchers near one of its six nuclear reactors, raising fears that Europe’s largest atomic power station could be used as a base to fire on Ukrainian territory and heightening radiation dangers.

• The UK Ministry of Defence has said Russia has likely received a resupply of Iranian Shahed-131 and 136 loitering munitions. Friday’s intelligence update comes following new reports over the past three weeks of attacks involving these devices. On Tuesday, the Ukrainian general staff reported shooting down at least 14 Shahed-136s.

• A Russian court has sentenced the opposition politician Ilya Yashin to eight and a half years in prison on charges of spreading false information meant to discredit the Russian army. The verdict marks the most high-profile case to date of a Russian dissident being jailed for opposing the invasion of Ukraine.

• Russia has told Zambia it pardoned a Zambian student to go and fight in Ukraine, where he was killed, according to the Zambian foreign affairs minister. Zambia has demanded answers over the death of Lemekhani Nyirenda, after Russia announced he had been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine in September.

• Representatives from Russia and the US met in Istanbul on Friday to discuss “difficult questions”, Russian state media reported. A US embassy spokesperson confirmed that a senior State department official met with Russian interlocutors to discuss “a narrow set of bilateral issues” that did not involve the war in Ukraine.

• A senior Orthodox Christian cleric has been accused of engaging in anti-Ukrainian activity by supporting Russian policies in social media posts, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said. The SBU’s statement followed a series of raids of property used by a Ukrainian branch of the Orthodox church, including the 1,000-year-old Kyiv Pechersk Lavra complex, as part of operations to counter suspected “subversive activities by Russian special services”.

• Russian athletes have been offered a path to compete at the Paris 2024 Games even if the war in Ukraine continues to rage for another 18 months. It comes after a proposal was made by the Olympic Council of Asia to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in its qualifying competitions for 2024 – even though they are still banned by most sports.

• The American basketball star Brittney Griner returned to the US early on Friday after being freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange from nearly 10 months in detention in Russia. Griner was seen getting off a plane at joint base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, after she was swapped for the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

• Following his release from US detention, the notorious arms dealer, Viktor Bout, told RT that it was difficult to find the words to describe his feelings after being freed. Nicknamed the “Merchant of Death”, Bout is a former Soviet lieutenant colonel who was serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons US officials said were to be used against Americans.

• The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has announced in today’s Guardian that he will place new sanctions on 2,000 individuals and 400 entities across the world with connections to the Kremlin. “We are right to express our horror and revulsion, but our words will always count for more when they are backed by action,” Cleverly wrote. “I will ensure this remains the theme of British diplomacy. We are not passive observers and we should not merely voice our feelings: we will use our country’s leverage to make a difference.”

Good afternoon from London. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you today, here to bring you all the latest news from Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.