The Dutch government made the move to help individual cases brought by victims’ relatives, the foreign minister said in a letter to Parliament.

A Chechen man shot near Vienna last weekend had spoken publicly of giving Austrian and Ukrainian authorities information about contract killings. He also said there was a price on his head.

Russia’s grievances against what it sees as American bullying and expansion into its own zones of influence have been stacking up for decades.

The International Monetary Fund agreed to lend Ukraine $5 billion over 18 months while stressing the importance of central bank independence. Three weeks later, the central banker quit, citing political pressure.

Environmentalists say illegal logging in the Carpathian Mountains is contributing to flooding. Rising waters forced the partial evacuation of a hospital treating Covid-19 patients.

Status-conscious fast-food joints across Eastern Europe have offered their diners disposable gloves for years. The idea may find a wider audience in the pandemic era.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine won an endorsement for his anti-corruption policies with the approval of a $5 billion lending program from the International Monetary Fund.

Eleven foreign couples, previously barred by coronavirus restrictions, have entered the country to meet their newborns. But births are still outpacing pickups.

The plan is a further blow to America’s weakening European alliances and likely to be welcomed by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

As she endured a difficult recovery from Covid-19, the grandmaster Irina Krush thrived in competition and found familiar support from others in the game.

Born into an independent Ukraine, the lives of these young women changed for ever when Russia invaded their country, forcing them to shoulder huge burdens of responsibilityPhotographs by Julia KochetovaUkraine is increasingly a country held together, behind the military lines, by women. Those in their 30s – millennial women born into an independent Ukraine, raised in economic turbulence and thrust into adulthood on the wave of revolution and war – are shouldering huge burdens of responsibility. They are fundraising for the army, or sometimes serving in it. They are running civil society organisations, advocating for their country abroad and becoming activists.At the same time, unlike their male counterparts who are forbidden from leaving the country and are eligible for conscription, they have choices – to join the army, or not; to stay in the country, or not. For some, the question of whether to have children, when the war shows no sign of abating, looms large. For many of them, exhaustion, stress and grief are constant companions. We spoke to six Ukrainian women aged between 29 and 40 about their lives. Continue ...

Russian president proclaims test of Poseidon which would launch from submarine and carry nuclear engine and warhead. What we know on day 1,345

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Army says 2nd Infantry Brigade combat team of 101st Airborne to redeploy to Kentucky ‘without replacement’

The US military is reducing the number of troops it has stationed in Romania, scaling back Nato’s deployment to countries along Europe’s eastern border with Ukraine, US and Romanian officials have announced.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US army said that the 2nd Infantry Brigade combat team of the 101st Airborne division would redeploy to its home-based unit in Kentucky “without replacement” as part of a plan to “ensure a balanced US military force posture”.

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Will US sanctions squeeze Russia’s war machine? Plus: The art genius of Gerhard Richter

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Donald Trump’s sudden decision last week to sanction Russian oil producers suggested the US president has finally lost patience with Vladimir Putin after a series of fruitless talks over ending the war in Ukraine.

Could it break the deadlock? Oil sanctions have the potential to genuinely damage Moscow’s finances, as the Russian president himself admitted last week. It remains to be seen, though, whether economic pressure alone can bend Putin’s arm over a conflict he views as defining to his legacy.

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Gripping documentary follows Jens Stoltenberg through his final year as Nato chief – balancing diplomacy, egos and all-out war with unnerving calmJens Stoltenberg is the Norwegian politician and international diplomat whose destiny it was to be secretary general of Nato in the second most fraught period of its postwar history (if we accept that the Cuban missile crisis is in pole position). He was in charge from 2014 to 2024 and this documentary, with remarkable access, shows us his final 12 months – day-by-day, moment-by-moment – after Joe Biden had persuaded him in 2023, when his tenure was technically at an end, to stay on for another year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Perhaps, until that moment, Stoltenberg had been happy to assume that for all the meetings and stress, the secretary-generalship was an agreeable prestigious technocratic position without any real danger. But now he was faced with the possibility of executing Nato’s raison d’être. Ukraine can’t be admitted to Nato because that would mean war on Putin. But how about Nato giving money and weapons to Ukraine for attacks on Russian soil? Wouldn’t Russia see that the same way? Continue ...

EU edges towards using ‘reparations loan’ using Russian frozen assets; Kremlin pressing ahead with year-round conscription. What we know on day 1,344Ukraine sent drones towards Moscow for the third consecutive night, closing airports, Russian authorities said late on Tuesday. Rosaviatsiya, the air transport watchdog, said Moscow’s Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports had flights halted or restricted. Russia usually says all incoming drones were destroyed, regardless of the outcome, and typically gives limited details about the effects of Ukrainian strikes unless civilians or civilian infrastructure are hit. Over the previous two nights, Russia’s defence ministry said there were 35 Ukrainian drones destroyed over the Moscow region. Ukraine says its long-range drone strikes of recent months on Moscow and other Russian regions are aimed at hitting military and industrial assets, damaging Russia’s war economy and bringing the conflict home to Russians.Ukraine also launched several drones targeting the Budyonnovsk industrial zone in Russia’s Stavropol oblast, said its governor, Vladimir Vladimirov. Online reporting suggested the drones targeted a petrochemical and plastics plant, with videos showing a fire.The ...

The Ukrainian president stressed that this would ‘not a plan to end the war’ but one to ‘begin diplomacy’

EU’s von der Leyen also gets asked about the balloons disrupting the Lithuanian airspace.

She says she wants to “express my full solidarity” with Lithuania, and calls it “a provocation, a hybrid threat,” which “we cannot tolerate.”

We’re in for the long haul. We are ready to cover the financing needs of Ukraine, so that we are standing by Ukraine for as long as it takes.

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Rights commission inquiry focused on south-east of country found drones targeted gathering points and critical infrastructure

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A UN rights commission has concluded that Russia’s drone attacks on civilians in south-eastern Ukraine constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In a report published this week, the commission said Russian forces, operating under a centralised command, had systematically used drones to “intentionally target civilians and civilian objects and cause harm and destruction”.

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Ukraine strengthens Pokrovsk positions amid infiltration by estimated 200 Russian troops; Lukoil selling overseas assets after US sanctions. What we know on day 1,343

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Defence minister says Xi Jinping should note resolve to stay the course by global democratic alliance, including Australia

Defeating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is critical to restraining China in the Indo-Pacific, Finland’s defence minister has said, warning Europe and democratic partners, including Australia, face a fight of global consequences.

Antti Häkkänen praised Donald Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on two Russian oil companies last week, calling the move a major sign of resolve by the US president against Vladimir Putin’s three-year long war.

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US president says Vladimir Putin should focus on ending war with Ukraine rather than testing missiles

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Donald Trump has described Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a nuclear-powered cruise missile test as “not appropriate” amid growing tensions between Moscow and Washington.

Putin said on Sunday that Russia had successfully tested its “unique” nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile, which the Kremlin described as part of efforts to “ensure the country’s national security”.

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Burevestnik stayed in air for 15 hours, defence minister tells Vladimir Putin; Ukrainian drones close Moscow airports. What we know on day 1,342See all our Ukraine war coverageVladimir Putin claimed Russia had successfully tested its Burevestnik cruise missile – said to be both powered by a nuclear engine and capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. It has been called a “flying Chornobyl” by arms control experts because it is powered by a nuclear reactor and, depending on the design, potentially spews out radioactive exhaust as it flies.On the weekend, Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin the missile travelled 14,000km (8,700 miles) and was in the air for about 15 hours when it was tested on 21 October. The Burevestnik has been dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall by Nato. Russia has regularly threatened that the Ukraine war could go nuclear, for example if allies join Ukraine on the battlefield or provide it with long-range strike weapons as they have done.A major nuclear accident in August 2019 killed five Russian scientists who were suspected to have been working on the Burevestnik or something similar. The incident released radiation into surrounding areas. That November, awarding posthumous decorations to the ...