Day: November 3, 2022

The world’s five big nuclear powers are teetering “on the brink of a direct armed conflict”, Russia has claimed, warning of catastrophic consequences.

Blaming the west for “provocation”, Moscow ramped up the nuclear rhetoric, pinpointing “irresponsible and impudent actions aimed at undermining our national security”.

The statement by the foreign ministry said avoiding a nuclear clash was the country’s first priority, and that Russia stood by a joint declaration with the US, China, Britain and France in January affirming their joint responsibility for avoiding a nuclear war.

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Avoiding ultimate clash is top priority, claims Moscow as it blames West for ‘provocation’

Foreign secretary James Cleverly will urge international allies to bolster resilience against Vladimir Putin’s “weaponisation” of energy and food at a meeting of G7 foreign minister in Germany today.

Mr Cleverly will warn that the Russian leader is plunging the world’s poorest “further into despair”.

He is set to stress the need to work together in the face of economic insecurity driven by Moscow’s war on its neighbour.

Mr Cleverly will accuse the Russian president of exploiting a scheme to export grain from Ukraine to low-income countries around the globe – claiming this shows his willingness to “hold the world’s vulnerable hostage”, the foreign office said.

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James Cleverly is set to stress the need to work together in the face of economic insecurity driven by Moscow’s war on its neighbour.

At least four Russian ammunition depots situated in Ukraine’s south have been destroyed, the Ukrainian military’s southern unit said today.

The Ukrainian salvo of 150 fire missions and an airstrike on Russian positions traced in Ukraine’s south have destroyed four Russian depots and tanks carrying fuel, the southern command said in an update.

Now, Russia now has seven ships in the Black Sea, including one warship and one surface-to-surface missile carrier with eight Kalibr cruise missiles on board, the military unit said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow’s blackmail has failed and remained fruitless as Vladimir Putin has been forced to take a U-turn and resume the grain exports deal in Europe.

“Today, we have a significant diplomatic outcome for our country and the whole world – the Grain Export Initiative will continue being implemented. Russian blackmail has led nowhere,” Mr Zelensky said in his address last night.

He added: “Once again, everyone saw that there is only one threat to global food security in our region, and that is the Russian Federation, and no one else.”

The Ukrainian president thanked the UN and secretary general Antonio Guterres for “personally responding in a principled and effective way.”

“This entire situation was immediately reflected in the stock exchanges’ indicators – we see some decrease in the price of both wheat and corn. Every time Russian blackmail intensifies, food prices rise. And every time the world does not give in to blackmail, foodstuffs become cheaper,” Mr Zelensky said.

Mr Zelensky said that the phantom threat of the global food crisis would have not existed had there been no attack from Russia on Ukraine.

“Because every Russian missile that hits our ports, grain storage facilities, and power plants that power our agricultural production ultimately affects the standard of living of tens of millions of people in many countries. This includes Egypt, Algeria, Somalia, Sudan, Lebanon, Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam…,” he said.

Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Thursday, 3 November.

Thanks for following our live updates, we are pausing our coverage for the evening.

Pakistan has denounced statements from a Russian senator that accused Islamabad of helping Ukraine develop nuclear bombs, calling them illogical.

Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs said on Tuesday that the statements were baseless and sought an explanation from its Russian counterpart.

“We are surprised by such an unfounded and baseless statement. It is without any rationale, and is entirely inconsistent with the spirit of Pakistan-Russia relations,” foreign office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in a statement.

Ukrainian specialists travelled to Pakistan to discuss nuke technologies, claimed a Russian senator

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been urged by Western officials “stop using food as a weapon” after Moscow agreed to rejoin the UN-brokered deal allowing Ukraine grain exports.

Russia suspended its involvement in the Black Sea Grain Initiative over the weekend, saying it could not guarantee the safety of civilian ships crossing the Black Sea because of an attack on its fleet there.

The Kremlin claimed there was a major drone strike on Russian vessels in the Bay of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula – an area Mr Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014 – part of which it said had originated from within the grain export corridor. Ukraine has said that was a false pretext.

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Russia suspended its involvement in the Black Sea Grain initiative over the weekend

Vladimir Putin has said Moscow reserved the right to withdraw again from a UN-brokered grain shipment deal that it had returned to – but that if it did so, it would not impede grain shipments from Ukraine to Turkey.

In televised remarks, Putin said that, in return for rejoining the agreement, Russia had demanded guarantees that Ukraine would not launch attacks from parts of the Black Sea covered by the deal.