Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin to inject £150bn into war effort as Germany identifies Kyiv’s ‘weakest point’

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.

Russia plans to raise its defence spending to more than £150bn next year to bolster its war on Ukraine, according to a draft budget due to be submitted to parliament tomorrow.

Total defence spending will amount to £450bn (50 trillion roubles) in the next three years, reported Reuters, as Putin doubles down on his now four-and-a-half year war with Russia's European neighbour.

It comes as Germany identified Ukraine’s air defence shortage as its “weakest point” heading into the winter. German chancellor Friedrich Merz made the remark during a briefing in Berlin, where he said he was speaking personally with several allies to try and secure more supplies.

Sharing his concerns about securing Kyiv, he said: “If Ukraine falls, peace and freedom throughout Europe will be under threat.”

Meanwhile, Russian air strikes killed three, including a child, and injured another seven people in the Ukrainian capital of ⁠Kyiv and the surrounding region early on Wednesday, officials said.

Poland's Air Traffic ⁠Authority said on ⁠Wednesday ​that ⁠airports ⁠in ​Rzeszow ⁠and ‌Lublin temporarily suspended air ‌operations due ‌to ⁠military aviation activity during Russian strikes on ‌Ukraine.

At least six crew members were killed after a Russian bomber crashed during a training flight.

The incident occurred in an uninhabited part of the Amur region in the country's far east, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday.

The sole crew member who survived the crash was taken to hospital with injuries.

Ukraine’s shortage of air defence missiles is currently its weakest point, the German Chancellor said on Tuesday, adding that Berlin is working with its partners to bolster Kyiv’s capabilities before winter sets in.

Friedrich Merz made the remarks during a briefing in Berlin, reported by DW.

Merz said he was raising the issue and trying to secure fresh supplies for Kyiv in discussions with multiple heads of state.

“At the moment, this is the weakest point. I hope that we will be able to prepare Ukraine for the upcoming winter, including in the field of energy supply,” he said.

Russia, he said, “will continue to bombard ruthlessly and destroy civilian infrastructure”.

“But we will not let ourselves be intimidated by this,” he continued. “We will continue to support Ukraine, because we know: Ukraine is part of Europe. If Ukraine falls, peace and freedom throughout Europe will be under threat.”

Russian air strikes killed three, including a child, and injured another seven people in the Ukrainian capital of ⁠Kyiv and the surrounding region early on Wednesday, officials said.

The attack has killed two and injured four in the capital, Kyiv City Military ⁠Administration said on ​Telegram, ⁠and mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out, affecting private houses along with ⁠a store and a warehouse.

Tymur Tkachenko, Kyiv regional governor, writing on Telegram, said that a Russian missile and ‌a drone strike killed a ‌child and injured three more people in the area, also damaging infrastructure facilities, houses, warehouses and ⁠cars.

Ukraine's neighbours, European Union and Nato members Romania and Poland, have both scrambled military jets to protect their airspaces amid Russian attacks on Ukraine, according to defence ministry and armed forces statements on X.

Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion roubles (£154bn) on defence in 2027, around 27 per cent more than the ​13.5 trillion roubles originally budgeted and the highest figure since the ‌start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, government documents revealed.

Total defence spending will amount to 50 trillion roubles in the next three years, ​according to the documents, reported Reuters. In 2026, the government planned to spend ​12.1 trillion roubles on defence, but the actual amount is classified ⁠and will not be disclosed. Some military spending can also be accounted ​for in other parts of the budget.

The documents also showed the government raised ​its estimate for its 2026 budget deficit to 3.2 per cent of gross domestic product, from 1.6 per cent of GDP previously. Budget spending in 2026 will increase by 13.2 per cent to 48.6 trillion roubles ​or 20.9 per cent of GDP.

The government is expected to submit the draft budget to ​parliament by 1 October. Last week, it announced plans for new tax hikes in 2027 ‌to ⁠finance the growing deficit. The documents showed that a new windfall tax on metals and mining companies was expected to raise about 200 billion roubles annually.

Russian military personnel in Oleshky seized food packages dropped by Ukrainian forces for the residents of Oleshky, reported state news agency Ukrinform.

Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky Military Administration, said that the Russians have been taking food away from locals for a while and questioning how residents are obtaining food if it is not manufactured in Russia.

She added that if the Ukrainian Armed Forces were dropping the food, accepting it could be construed as cooperation – making it grounds for their detention.

Some locals have disappeared after being abducted by Russian forces, she alleged.

Ukraine aims to leverage its expertise in military technologies and digital innovation to sharply increase high-tech exports in coming years, including through the use of AI, the country's minister ⁠for digital transformation told Reuters on Tuesday.

Oksana Ferchuk said Ukraine was exploring cooperation agreements with the US, other countries and international institutions, drawing on its experiences maintaining digital services during the war against Russia's invasion, now in its fifth year.

"Ukraine during the war showed this tremendous speed of digitising the state services and providing the ⁠services to the population in a digital way," ​said ⁠Ms Ferchuk, who travelled to Washington this week to meet with US economic, cybersecurity and telecommunications officials, as well as senior leaders at the World Bank.

"We are ready to cooperate ⁠and consult other states in this experience, how it was done, how it was ​analysed, what is ⁠the architecture."

Ukraine, which has become a ‌test bed for the newest weaponry during the war, is already helping other countries build their drone defences, but could do the same in non-military sectors, while incorporating AI technologies, said ‌Ms Ferchuk, who previously oversaw digital transformation at the defence ministry.

South Korea made no promise to ⁠support Ukraine's fight against Russia in exchange for the transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday, citing the country's intelligence agency.

Ukraine imposed no preconditions on the transfer of the pair captured during fighting in Russia's Kursk region, Yoo Yeong-ha, a lawmaker from the opposition People Power ⁠Party, told reporters after a briefing by South Korea's ​National Intelligence ⁠Service (NIS).

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN General Assembly last week that Ukraine had transferred two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea.

After Zelensky disclosed the transfer, ⁠South Korea's presidential office demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine and accused Kyiv ​of ⁠violating an agreement to keep the move ‌confidential to protect the soldiers and their relatives in North Korea.

Ukraine has not apologised or expressed regret over the disclosure so far, Yoo said, citing the NIS.

Kyiv has said no ‌secrecy agreement existed.

According to Yoo, Zelensky may have announced the transfer of the North Koreans because he had hoped it would spur public support in South Korea for providing weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Poland's Air Traffic ⁠Authority said on ⁠Wednesday ​that ⁠airports ⁠in ​Rzeszow ⁠and ‌Lublin temporarily suspended air ‌operations due ‌to ⁠military aviation activity during Russian strikes on ‌Ukraine.

Russian air strikes killed a child and injured another ⁠five people in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the surrounding ⁠region early ​on ⁠Wednesday, officials said.

Fires broke out affecting ⁠private houses, as well as ⁠a store and a ‌warehouse, and leaving two people ‌injured, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko ‌said on Telegram.

Tymur Tkachenko, Kyiv's regional governor, said on Telegram that a Russian missile and a drone ‌strike killed a child ​and injured three ‌more people ⁠in the area, ⁠also damaging infrastructure facilities, houses, ‌warehouses and ​cars.

Ukraine’s prized local steel factory, employing over 8,500 people, has been shut down after a spate of attacks from Russia.

Zaporizhstal suffered four major attacks including two in August and two in September, leading to its closure after all the equipments were completely destroyed.

“There are no windows left, and there are hole in the roofs,” an employee Denys Maksyshko told the BBC News.

President Vladimir Putin’s forces fired at least 17 missiles at the steel factory, killing eight workers and leaving 31 wounded, said Oleksandr Myronenko, the chief operating officer of steelworks owner Metinvest.