Ukraine is to receive a new rapidly developed bespoke air defense system, Gravehawk, as part of support announced by Keir Starmer during a visit to Kiev on Thursday. The system, about the size of a shipping container, was developed by Britain and Denmark to allow Ukrainians to shoot down air threats using improved ground-launched air-to-air missiles. This means, the UK government says, that it can “use Ukrainian missiles already in its armed forces” to shoot down Russian missiles and drones. The British government has revealed that two Grave Hawk prototypes were tested in Ukraine in September, with 15 expected to be sent this year.
Ukraine’s military said Thursday that a drone attack on a large Russian military fuel depot in Ryskinska, Russia’s Voronezh region, caused a “massive fire.” Voronezh region governor Alexander Gusev admitted that several drones “caused a fire in an oil depot.” A video posted by a witness showed a significant amount of fire.
Ukrainian officials announced Thursday that a major Russian gunpowder factory in the Tambov region had been attacked, but did not directly claim Ukrainian responsibility or specify the outcome of the attack. “The company is one of the main suppliers of explosive materials to the armed forces of the Russian Federation,” said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s counter-disinformation center.
France and Norway will fulfill their commitments to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine as scheduled, their defense ministers said in Oslo on Thursday. Norway has committed to delivering six US-made F-16s to Ukraine between 2024 and 2025, and France has announced it will deliver an unspecified number of Mirage 2000-5s in the first quarter of 2025. .
The Ukrainian Brigades use ground drones equipped with machine guns and mines in what they claim is the first documented all-mechanical ground attack in the war with Russia. The Haltya Brigade said last month’s attack in northeastern Kharkiv involved the use of assault vehicles, mine-laying vehicles and mine-clearing vehicles guided by drones. The operation paved the way for a successful infantry advance, the brigade said. “They got as close as possible to the (Russian) dugout and then it exploded,” a Ukrainian crew member explained to Reuters.
Ukraine announced on Thursday that it had sentenced a former local official to 15 years in prison for treason for supporting Russian forces. Local media identified the suspect as Oleksandr Krupil, a lawmaker from Trostianets town in Sumy region, and announced that he was arrested in May 2022.
Russia’s Rights Ombudswoman said on Thursday that she had held talks with the Ukrainian side about the search for missing residents of Russia’s Kursk border region after Ukrainian forces captured the territory in August last year. Ukraine says about 2,000 civilians remain in areas under its control, while Russia says fewer than 1,000 are reported missing. Russia’s ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova called the meeting “a major step towards strengthening trust and achieving concrete joint action.” Dmytro Rubinets, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, confirmed that the two sides had “agreed to continue mutual information exchange regarding the search for missing prisoners of war.”
Deputy Economy Minister Andriy Telyupa said on Thursday that Ukraine’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow to 2.7% this year from probably around 3.6% in 2024. This forecast is lower than the 3-4% expected by most Ukrainian analysts and economists. With tens of thousands of Ukrainian men being mobilized into the army and millions of refugees remaining abroad, Ukrainian businesses are suffering from staff shortages. Ukraine is also battling an energy crisis due to Russia’s bombardment of its energy sector.
A compensation scheme for Ukrainians who lost close relatives to the Russian invasion was launched on Thursday. Thousands of claims for compensation have already been received. The Ukraine Damages Registry is based in The Hague and is designed to serve as a record of all eligible claims seeking compensation for damage, loss and injury resulting from Russia’s all-out invasion. The register, created by the Council of Europe and with the participation of the EU, will ultimately calculate the financial sum with the aim of extracting compensation from Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are scheduled to meet in Russia on Friday and sign a strategic cooperation agreement. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency quoted Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Kazem Jalali, as saying the cooperation agreement would not include mutual defense clauses like Moscow’s agreements with North Korea and Belarus. In 2024, Ukraine announced that Russia had launched more than 8,000 Iranian-developed Shahed drones since the invasion of Iran. Kiev first accused Iran of supplying drones to Russia in the fall of 2022.
