Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv ‘destroys’ Black Sea ship as Putin’s troops advance along ‘entire frontline’

The government of neutral Switzerland has said it would be ramping up military spending over the coming years, the latest European country to do so in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

President Viola Amherd said that as of 2035, some 20 billion Swiss francs ($22.58 billion) in additional funding would be available, compared to planning before the Ukraine war.

Switzerland allocated 1.9 billion francs for defence in 2023.

“The security policy situation is obviously difficult given the current instability, with a war on the European continent, armed conflicts in the Middle East and other flashpoints in the world,” Amherd told a press conference.

Amherd, who is also defence minister, said there were “so many crises” currently, and the plan was partly taking into account lessons drawn from the Ukraine war.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has vowed that the United States would not back down from supporting Ukraine in the short and long-term, even as President Joe Biden's administration has run out of money for Kyiv and a request for additional funds is languishing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

“We will continue to dig deep to provide Ukraine with both short-term and long-term support,” Mr Austin said virtually, without mentioning the $95.34 billion military aid package for Ukraine and other allies that has not been taken up yet by the House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Ukrainian forces have destroyed another Russian warship off the southern coast of occupied Crimea, Kyiv’s military said, in its latest done attack on Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.

The Ukrainian intelligence services (GUR) posted a video said to show multiple naval drones attacking the 90-person, 113m-long Caesar Kunikov Ropucha-class landing ship in the early hours of Wednesday. It is another embarrassing blow for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Black Sea fleet, and a significant success for Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law Wednesday that will allow authorities to confiscate money, valuables and other assets from people convicted of spreading “deliberately false information” about the country’s military.

The bill sailed through the lower and upper houses of the Russian parliament, and was unanimously endorsed by the upper house last week.

The speaker of the lower house, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the measure includes harsher punishment for “traitors who sling mud at our country and our troops” and would “strip those scoundrels of honorary titles, confiscate their assets, money and other valuables.”

Secretary of defense Lloyd Austin has cancelled a trip to Brussels for Nato and Ukraine meetings as he remains in hospital for treatment for a bladder issue.

Mr Austin, a retired four-star general and the first Black secretary of defense, was put under general anaesthesia on Monday for a non-surgical procedure to treat the “emergent bladder issue,” his doctors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said in a new statement.

They added that he was set to get back to work on Tuesday and that “a prolonged hospital stay is not anticipated”.

An overnight Russian attack on the town of Selydove in the eastern Donetsk region struck a medical facility and a residential building, killing a child and a pregnant woman, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has said on social media.

Three other children were wounded, he said. Selydove is just 16 miles from the front line.

“The occupiers attacked the hospital around one in the morning,” Mr Klymenko wrote. “The main impact was on the maternity ward. In total, there were almost 200 people in the institution at that time, and dozens of patients were in serious condition. They were evacuated to other medical facilities in the region.”

Nine Ukrainian civilians were killed and at least 25 people wounded by Russian shelling over the previous 24 hours, the president’s office said Wednesday.

The Nato secretary general has said that Europe has increased its spending on defence and the United States needs allies, days after former US President Donald Trump suggested that Washington might not protect countries that did not spend enough.

“I expect 18 allies to spend 2 per cent of their GDP on defence this year,” Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels, adding overall military spending was set for another record year after two years of Russia’s full-fledged war against Ukraine.

The number was higher than last year, when 11 of NATO’s 31 members were expected to reach the agreed target.

Mr Trump shocked Europeans on Saturday by implying that he would encourage Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO allies who did not spend enough.

Addressing journalists’ questions linked to the controversy around Mr Trump’s comments ahead of a NATO ministers’ meeting, Mr Stoltenberg said the United States knew how important the defence alliance is for its own security.

“The United States have never fought a war alone,” he said.

“The criticism we hear is not about NATO, it is about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO,” he added, saying the new hike in military spending by European allies was proof this message had been heard.

The Senate early Tuesday passed an emergency spending package that would provide military aid to Ukraine and Israel; replenish U.S. weapons systems; and provide food, water, and other humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.

The Senate jettisoned from the package a bipartisan effort to boost immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexico border after most Republican senators, following the lead of former President Donald Trump, deemed the bipartisan proposal inadequate. Abandoning the border proposal brought the price tag of the bill down to about $95.3 billion.

The Netherlands is joining a military coalition with allies including Britain that will supply Ukraine with advanced drone technology and bolster its offensive capabilities in the war against Russia, the Dutch defence minister said.

The pledge from the Netherlands comes in addition to F-16 fighter jets, artillery, ammunition and air defence systems provided by the Dutch to Kyiv.

For the Netherlands, there may be additional costs on top of 2 billion euros earmarked already for 2024, Dutch Defence Minister Kasja Ollongren told Reuters in an interview ahead of two days of NATO defence minister meetings in Brussels starting on Wednesday.

“We know of course that drones are very important in this war,” Ollongren said. “That’s why we are joining the drone coalition that Ukraine has started together with Latvia, together with other countries, to make sure that we do just that - increase production, use the latest technology and to provide exactly what Ukraine needs.”

Ukraine‘s Defence Ministry announced Britain’s participation last month.

As the radio crackles with enemy communications that are hard to decipher, one Russian command rings out clear: “Brew five Chinese tea bags on 38 orange.”

A Ukrainian soldier known on the battlefield as Mikhass is able to quickly decode the gibberish. It means: Prepare five Beijing-made artillery shells and fire them on a specific Ukrainian position in the Serebryansky Forest, which forms the front line in the country’s restive northeast.