US sends Ukraine 1.1 million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition

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01:39am: Ukraine says its forces make headway in south, hold gains in east

Ukrainian forces made some headway in their drive southward as part of a gruelling counteroffensive to recapture areas seized by Russia in its 19-month-old invasion of its neighbour, military officials said.

Ukrainian officials also said Kyiv’s forces were resisting Russian attempts to reverse gains on the eastern front made by Kyiv since it launched the counteroffensive in June.

Russia’s Defence Ministry reported a measure of success by its troops on the eastern front. Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

Ukraine’s southern group of forces outlined advances as Kyiv presses on with a drive towards the Sea of Azov to split Russian-occupied territory in the south and east.

9:52pm: Biden fears congressional chaos will disrupt US aid to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden expressed fears on Wednesday that aid to Ukraine could be hurt by congressional chaos and said he will give a major speech soon to make the case for why it is necessary to help Ukraine repel Russian invaders.

Republican infighting in the House of Representatives has complicated budget negotiations and prompted Biden to go from confidence that an agreement will be made on Ukraine aid to now expressing worries about funding his top foreign policy priority.

 “It does worry me,” Biden said, “but I know there are a majority of members of the House and Senate in both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine.“

8:19pm: Scholz says ‘convinced’ of continued US support for Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday he was “convinced” the US would continue to provide support for Ukraine despite political turmoil in Washington.

“I am very convinced that the American Congress will make the necessary support for Ukraine possible,” Scholz told reporters in Berlin following a phone call by President Joe Biden to allies on the issue on Tuesday.

7:49pm: Biden says will give ‘major speech’ on Ukraine aid

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday he would soon give a key speech on the importance of supporting Ukraine as political turmoil in Washington threatened to disrupt wartime aid for Kyiv.

“I’m going to be announcing very shortly a major speech I’m going to make on this issue, and why it’s critically important for the United States and our allies that we keep our commitment,” Biden told reporters at the White House.

7:09pm: The US sent Ukraine 1.1 million rounds of ammunition seized from Iran

The US has transferred to Ukraine 1.1 million rounds of ammunition that it seized from Iran, US Central Command confirmed Wednesday in a statement. 

The 7.62mm rounds were originally seized by US naval forces in December 2022 and were being transferred from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to Houthi forces in Yemen.

6:31pm: Kyiv expects results from US-joint air defence production by year-end, says minister

Ukraine expects the first “results” of joint air defence systems production with the United States by the end of the year, a government minister said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin told the media outlet nv.ua that the two countries had already started working on joint production following a visit by a Ukrainian delegation to Washington last month.

“During our visit to the United States, we received not just another assurance of continued financial and military support, but also a willingness to work on the joint production of air defence systems,” Kamyshin was quoted as saying. “We have already started working on this.”

6:17pm: Zelensky says Ukraine doing ‘everything’ to obtain more air defence systems

Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said Kyiv was doing “everything” to make sure the war-torn country receives more air defence systems in the next few months.

“We are doing everything to provide Ukraine with more air defence systems before winter,” Zelensky said. “And now we are waiting for certain decisions from our partners.”

5:42pm: FIFA lifts ban on Russia under-17 teams competing in international football

World soccer governing body FIFA announced on Wednesday that it had lifted Russia’s ban from international football by allowing under-17 girls and boys teams from the country to take part in tournaments.

The move follows a similar relaxation on Russia youth teams last week by European soccer body UEFA.

“This is conditional on these teams playing under the name of the ‘Football Union of Russia’ rather than Russia, in the absence of their national flag, their national anthem, their national-team kit and equipment, and instead playing in neutral colours,” FIFA said in a statement.

Teams from Russia were banned from international football following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But last week, the governing body of European soccer said “children should not be punished for actions whose responsibility lies exclusively with adults”, and that Russian U-17 sides would be readmitted to UEFA competitions “in the course of this season”.

5:26pm: Zelensky, Azerbaijan’s Aliyev affirm states’ ‘territorial integrity’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday affirmed principles of territorial integrity for states during phone talks, in the wake of Azerbaijan’s takeover of separatist Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We reaffirmed our commitment to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states,” the two leaders said, according to a readout of the telephone call released by the presidency in Kyiv, which is battling Russian forces that claimed to have annexed eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.

5:04pm: US to send seized Iranian weapons, ammunition to Ukraine, says official

The United States is expected to announce it will send seized Iranian small arms and ammunition to Ukraine, a US official said on Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

US naval forces for years have been seizing weapons believed to be from Iran bound for Iran-backed fighters in Yemen, usually transported by fishing vessels.

The weapons are expected to include small arms like guns and are unlikely to make a major difference on the battlefield at a time when long-range weapons and air defence systems are on the top of Ukraine’s wish list.

The seized weapons being transferred are also unlikely to ease concerns about the continued flow of western weapons to Kyiv.

1:50pm: France condemns prison sentence for Russian anti-war journalist

France on Wednesday condemned the eight-year jail term a court in Moscow handed down to exiled journalist Marina Ovsyannikova.

“Russian propaganda is a weapon in its own right in Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said in a statement.

She also condemned “repression carried out by the Russian authorities against voices critical of power”.

A court in Moscow said Wednesday that Ovsyannikova, a former editor at Channel One who disrupted a live broadcast to protest the war, had been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on dissent. They have detained, jailed or fined thousands who opposed the conflict.

1:49pm: Ukraine strikes Russian air defence complex near Belgorod, Ukraine security source says

An overnight drone attack allegedly carried out by Ukraine on the western Russian region of Belgorod hit an S-400 air defence complex and its radar, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told Reuters.

The account could not be independently verified.

The SBU source pointed to videos posted online by Russian nationals showing what he said were 20 explosions at the location of the air defence system and its radar near the city of Belgorod.

The source said it was the second time the SBU had struck a “Triumf” air defence system since September 14. The last one, also not confirmed by Russia, was located on the western part of the occupied Crimean peninsula.

Kyiv does not typically claim responsibility for attacks carried out on targets inside Russia.

1:39pm: Ukraine’s counteroffensive to continue, says Zelensky

Ukraine will do everything to win its war against Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday, and is aiming to get through the winter without losing initiative on the battlefield.

“There is fatigue but we will do everything to win against our enemy, and our counteroffensive goes ahead, even if slowly we do everything to repel the enemy,” he told Italian broadcaster SkyTg24 speaking through a translator into Italian.

He said Ukraine felt support from the United States in “these very difficult times” and was convinced this would be the case in the future.

1:32pm: UK’s Sunak urges West to equip Ukraine to ‘finish the job’

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is urging Western allies to continue arming Ukraine to repel Russia’s invasion, at a time when military aid from some countries appears to be in doubt.

“I say this to our allies: If we give President (Volodymyr) Zelensky the tools, the Ukrainians will finish the job,” Sunak said during a Conservative Party conference in northern England.

11:17am: International Red Cross urges ouster of Belarus manager over deportation of Ukrainian children

The international Red Cross is calling for the ouster of the head of the Belarus Red Cross, Dzmitry Shautsou, who stirred international outrage for boasting that it was actively ferrying Ukrainian children from Russian-controlled areas to Belarus.

The board of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Wednesday it has given the Belarus chapter until November 30 to dismiss Shautsou. It said it will recommend all affiliates halt new partnerships and funding for the Belarus branch, which would be suspended from the global organisation if it does not act.

A report aired in July by the state Belarus 1 TV channel showed Shautsou visiting the Russian-held city of Lysychansk in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. In the footage, he says the organisation was actively involved in bringing Ukrainian children to Belarus for “health improvement” purposes, and said the Belarus Red Cross was taking “an active part in it”.

Both Ukraine and the Belarusian opposition have decried the transfer of children as unlawful deportations, and there have been calls for international war crimes charges for Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, similar to the charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In June, Belarusian opposition activist Pavel Latushka said he provided the International Criminal Court with information that allegedly detailed the forced transfer of 2,100 Ukrainian children from at least 15 Russian-occupied cities to Belarus with Lukashenko’s approval.

Belarusian authorities have confirmed hosting more than 1,000 children, ages 6-15, from Russian-held parts of Ukraine for health reasons. The first group of 350 children arrived in April, officials said, without providing further details.

10:43am: Twelve more vessels ready to enter Black Sea corridor towards Ukrainian ports

Ukraine’s navy has announced that 12 more vessels are ready to enter a Black Sea shipping corridor on their way towards Ukrainian ports, and 10 other vessels were ready to depart from the country’s ports.

Navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk made his remarks as Ukraine tries to defy a de-facto Russian blockade on Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea after Moscow pulled out of a deal in July that had allowed Kyiv to safely export grain.

9:22am: Russian journalist who staged TV protest handed eight-year prison sentence in absentia

A Russian journalist working for state television, who last year protested the Kremlin’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, was handed more than eight years in prison on Wednesday on charges of spreading disinformation about Moscow’s army.

A court in Moscow said Marina Ovsyannikova, a former editor at Channel One who disrupted a live broadcast, had been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail. Ovsyannikova, 45, left Russia after the proceedings were initiated.

Read moreRussian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova calls for end to ‘fratricidal’ war in Ukraine

7:30am: Russia downs 31 Ukrainian drones in border regions, defence ministry says

Russia downed 31 Ukraine-launched drones overnight over the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk bordering Ukraine, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

“Air defence systems on duty over the territory of the Belgorod, Bryansk and Kursk regions intercepted and destroyed 31 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging platform. 

The ministry did not provide any information about potential casualties in the attacks.

Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz described Wednesday on Telegram how drones launched against his city overnight had been destroyed by air defence, adding that “there were no casualties or damage”. 

He also said that cluster munitions had been dropped over four districts.

“According to preliminary information, there were no casualties. There is partial destruction of residential households and outbuildings,” he wrote.

The reports have not been verified, and there was no immediate comment from the government in Kyiv.

Key developments from Tuesday, October 3:

US President Joe Biden called key allies on Tuesday to “coordinate” support for Ukraine, the White House said, amid concerns in Western capitals after Republican hardliners derailed US funding for Kyiv.

Moscow summoned Moldova’s ambassador to protest against what it called “politically motivated persecution” of Russian-language media in the pro-Western country.

Ukraine destroyed 29 of 31 drones and one cruise missile launched by Russia overnight, most of which targeted the regions of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk, its air force said.

The governor of Russia’s Bryansk region said Ukraine fired cluster munitions at the Russian village of Klimovo near the Ukrainian border, damaging several houses.

Read yesterday’s live blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP, and Reuters)