Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s new nuclear missile ‘uncovered’ north of Moscow

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said he met his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu on Monday to discuss the situation on the frontline and air defences.

Umerov said on Facebook officials from Ukraine‘s general staff briefed Lecornu on the battlefield situation and the critical needs of Kyiv troops in fighting Russia’s invasion.

Joint defence industries ventures were also discussed, he added.

Russia has said it will make changes to the doctrine that sets out the circumstances in which it might use nuclear weapons.

The current doctrine was set out by President Vladimir Putin in June 2020 in a six-page decree. It states, in part: “The Russian Federation reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to the use of nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction against it and (or) its allies, as well as in the event of aggression against the Russian Federation using conventional weapons, when the very existence of the state has been placed under threat.”

As this risk is not defined explicitly, Putin was able to make thinly veiled threats to use Russia’s nuclear arsenal to deter any direct Western response to his despatch of troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin’s arms control point man, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said on Sunday that the planned changes were “connected with the escalation course of our Western adversaries” in connection with the Ukraine conflict. He did not refer to specific events. Public discussion about the nuclear doctrine has been taking place for more than a year and intensified this year after French President Emmanuel Macron floated the possibility – dismissed by NATO alliance partners – that Western troops might be sent to fight in Ukraine.

As children across Ukraine return for the start of the academic year, in the country’s second largest city of Kharkiv they could only do so at an underground school amid Russian bombardment.

Kharkiv’s schools have been teaching children online since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Throughout the ensuing war, the northeastern city has been near the front lines of fighting.

Only one Kharkiv school, purpose-built in May 2024 in an underground metro station, offers in-person lessons.

On Monday, it held the traditional first day of school festivities that are commonplace in Ukraine and other post-Soviet states, with parents bringing bouquets of flowers and children arriving in their best clothes.

“We brought them here because we thought it is safe and our children won’t be afraid of missiles and strikes,” said Tetiana Hubina, a mother of a first-year student starting school.

“They will be safe here,” she said.

A Russian attack on Ukraine‘s northeastern city of Kharkiv on Monday hit a residential area and wounded at least 13 people, local officials said.

The regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said in televised comments that four guided bombs hit garages near residential buildings. City major Ihor Terekhov added that a private house and a sports facility were damaged.

A 60-year-old woman and a 40-year-old man were in a critical condition, Mr Syniehubov said.

The number of strikes at Ukraine‘s second-largest city and surrounding region appeared to drop after Kyiv launched a major incursion into Russia’s western region of Kursk on 6 August.

But in recent days Kharkiv has been pummelled by Russian attacks again.

On Friday, a strike hit a residential building, killing seven people and wounding 97. On Sunday, at least 50 people were injured after Russian missiles struck a shopping mall and events complex.

Businesses in the allied countries are expected to be boosted when the UK-Ukraine Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) comes into force.

Ukraine was one of the largest exporters of IT services globally, with areas such as outsourcing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) and mobile applications in rapid development before the war.

Barney Davis reports:

Two US researchers say they have identified the probable deployment site in Russia of the 9M370 Burevestnik, a new nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile touted by President Vladimir Putin as “invincible.”

Putin has said the weapon – dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by NATO – has an almost unlimited range and can evade U.S. missile defenses. But some Western experts dispute his claims and the Burevestnik’s strategic value, saying it will not add capabilities that Moscow does not already have and risks a radiation-spewing mishap.

Using images taken on July 26 by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, the two researchers identified a construction project abutting a nuclear warhead storage facility known by two names – Vologda-20 and Chebsara – as the new missile’s potential deployment site, reported Reuters. The facility is 295 miles (475 km) north of Moscow.

Decker Eveleth, an analyst with the CNA research and analysis organization, found the satellite imagery and identified what he assessed are nine horizontal launch pads under construction. They are located in three groups inside high berms to shield them from attack or to prevent an accidental blast in one from detonating missiles in the others, he said.

The berms are linked by roads to what Eveleth concluded are likely buildings where the missiles and their components would be serviced, and to the existing complex of five nuclear warhead storage bunkers.

The site is “for a large, fixed missile system and the only large, fixed missile system that they’re (Russia) currently developing is the Skyfall,” said Eveleth.

Russia’s defense ministry and Washington embassy did not respond to a request to comment on his assessment, Burevestnik’s strategic value, its test record and the risks it poses.

A Kremlin spokesman said these were questions for the defence ministry and declined further comment.

A senior Russian military commander has been detained in a fraud case, the latest high-profile arrest in what appears to be a sweeping investigation into abuse of office in Russia’s military leadership.

Major General Valery Mumindzhanov, deputy commander of the Leningrad Military District, was detained on suspicion of receiving a bribe of more than 20 million rubles (£169,700), Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

He is the ninth top military figure to be arrested on charges of fraud, bribery or abuse of office in recent months, including deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, who was arrested for bribery in April and later dismissed from his position.

The arrests began shortly before President Vladimir Putin replaced defence minister Sergei Shoigu with an economist, Andrei Belousov.

Analysts suggest the arrests are a sign that Mr Shoigu’s associates are being removed from power and that the most egregious corruption in the Defence Ministry will no longer be tolerated.

Mumindzhanov received the bribe from suppliers who wanted to secure a contract with Russia’s Ministry of Defence for the supply of military uniforms, including for soldiers fighting in Ukraine, the Investigative Committee alleged.

It added that, at the time the bribe was allegedly paid, Mumindzhanov was the head of a department which sourced supplies and resources for the Defence Ministry and that the contract for uniforms was worth 1.5 billion roubles (£12.7 million.)

Investigators are also assessing how Mumindzhanov and his family acquired more than 120 million roubles (£989,000) of property in the Moscow and Voronezh regions and whether it was legal, the committee said.