Russia-Ukraine war live news: Kherson victory marks ‘beginning of the end’ of war, Ukraine president says | Ukraine

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, warned Moscow’s strength should not be underestimated despite Kyiv’s recent battlefield successes.

During a joint news conference with Dutch government officials in The Hague on Monday, Stoltenberg told reporters:

We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia. The Russian armed forces retain significant capabilities, as well as a large number of troops.

The coming months will be difficult. Putin’s aim is to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter. So we must stay the course.”

President Joko Widodo has called for unity at the opening of the G20 summit, and said that the gathered leaders must not allow the world to fall into another cold war.

His remarks will probably be interpreted as a commentary on the effects that Russia’s war in Ukraine is having on the wider global economy.

Without referring directly to the war in Ukraine, Widodo said that if the war did not end, it would be difficult for the world to move forward.

“Indonesia has tried as best as possible to bridge very wide differences. We have no other option, collaboration is badly needed,” he said.

Ukraine’s president followed up on the comments he made to G20 leaders with a statement posted on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

It is not worth offering Ukraine compromises with conscience, sovereignty, territory and independence.

… if Russia says that it supposedly wants to end this war, let it prove it with actions.

We will not allow Russia to wait, build up its forces, and then start a new series of terror and global destabilisation. There will be no Minsk-3, which Russia will violate immediately after the agreement.

There is a Ukrainian formula for peace. Peace for Ukraine, Europe and the world. And there is a set of solutions that can be implemented to really guarantee peace.

Having participated in the G20 summit, I presented proposals for such solutions – specific and honest. Ukraine offers the leading states of the world to be co-creators of peace together with us.”

Zelenskiy then outlined 10 proposals of Ukraine:

1. Radiation and nuclear safety.
2. Food safety.
3. Energy security.
4. Release of all prisoners and deportees.
5. Implementation of the UN charter and restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the world order.
6. Withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities.
7. Restoring justice.
8. Anti-ecocide.
9. Prevention of escalation.
10. Fixing the end of the war.

The G20 will reportedly issue a statement at the end of the G20 summit, where “most” members will condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine.

According to a draft communique seen by Agence France-Presse, the group of 20 will deplore the economic impact of the Ukraine conflict and call for the extension of a deal with Russia expiring on Saturday that allows the export of Ukrainian grain.

I think you’re going to see most members of the G20 make clear that they condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine, that they see Russia’s war in Ukraine as the root source of immense economic and humanitarian suffering in the world,” a US official told reporters while speaking on condition of anonymity.

The statement, to be issued at the end of the summit this week in Bali, will show that the G20 is “really isolating Russia” – a member of the group of the world’s biggest economies.

The official would not say how many countries would not join the condemnation, nor how diplomats would craft the non-unanimous declaration within the document, which is issued by all member countries.

The US official said, “Russia’s war of aggression … is being condemned in the strongest possible terms.” The statement, said the official, “speaks in very clear terms”.

In his address to world leaders gathered for the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy outlined a series of conditions needed to end the war Ukraine.

Speaking virtually from Ukraine, he said that Russia must reaffirm the territorial integrity of Ukraine, withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory and pay compensation for damage caused.

Zelenskiy is calling for an international conference to “cement key element of the postwar security architecture” and prevent a recurrence of “Russian aggression”.

“When all anti-war measures are implemented, a document confirming the end of the war should be signed by the parties.”

Throughout his speech he pointedly thanked the “G19” – excluding Russia – for making it clear that there were “no excuses for nuclear blackmail.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin was not in the room, but his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov was in attendance at the meeting in Bali.

The United Nations General Assembly has called for Russia to make reparations to Ukraine and be held accountable for its conduct.

The assembly voted to approve a resolution on Monday, supported by 94 of the assembly’s 193 members, saying Russia “must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts.”

The resolution also recommends that member states, in cooperation with Ukraine, create an international register to record evidence and claims against Russia.

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya used the biblical adage that “there is nothing new under the sun” as a motif throughout his remarks in presenting the resolution on Monday.

“Seventy-seven years ago, the Soviet Union demanded and received reparations, calling it a moral right of a country that has suffered war and occupation,” he said.

“Today, Russia, who claims to be the successor of the 20th century’s tyranny, is doing everything it can to avoid paying the price for its own war and occupation, trying to escape accountability for the crimes it is committing.”

Zelenskiy hailed the vote as a “diplomatic victory” in a tweet late on Monday night.

From the liberation victory in Kherson to the diplomatic victory in New York – the General Assembly has just given the green light to the creation of a compensation mechanism for Russian crimes in Ukraine. The aggressor will pay for what he did!”

Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a surprise visit to Kherson on Monday, saying the recapture of the southern city marked “the beginning of the end of the war”.

“We are moving forward. We are ready for peace, peace for all our country,” he said.

Zelenskiy said it was important to visit Kherson to show residents his support and to demonstrate that “we are really returning, we really raise our flag”.

He said: “I’m really happy, you can tell by the reaction of the people, their reaction is not staged.”

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.

The United Nations General Assembly has called for Russia to make reparations to Ukraine and be held accountable for its conduct in a resolution supported by 94 of the assembly’s 193 members.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy also made a surprise visit to Kherson, saying the recapture of the southern city marked “the beginning of the end of the war”. “We are moving forward. We are ready for peace, peace for all our country,” he said.

Ukrainian authorities are scrambling to de-mine the strategic southern city of Kherson and restore power across the region after the retreating Russian army blew up all major infrastructure, leaving residents without electricity and water.

For any updates or feedback you wish to share, please feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.

If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Russian troops have “destroyed absolutely all critical infrastructure” in Kherson. “There is no electricity, no communication, no internet, no television … Russian occupiers destroyed absolutely all critical infrastructure for the people,” he said in his Monday evening address. Ukrainian national energy company Ukrenergo said Russia also destroyed key energy infrastructure in the region. “The energy facility that provided power supply to the entire right bank of the Kherson region and a significant part of the Mykolaiv region, is practically destroyed,” Ukrenergo chief Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said.

• Zelenskiy made a surprise visit to Kherson on Monday, saying the recapture of the southern city marked “the beginning of the end of the war”. “We are moving forward. We are ready for peace, peace for all our country,” he said. Zelenskiy said it was important to visit Kherson to show residents his support and to demonstrate that “we are really returning, we really raise our flag”. He said: “I’m really happy, you can tell by the reaction of the people, their reaction is not staged.”

• The US believes that Russian troops carried out a relatively orderly withdrawal from the city of Kherson, a senior US military official said on Monday, in contrast to some of the more chaotic retreats in the country. “We assess that it was a relatively orderly withdrawal,” the official spoke on the condition of anonymity, according to a Reuters report.

• According to Russian media, the Ukrainian army has entered the city of Herois’ke, in the Kinburn peninsula in the southern part of Kherson, after an amphibious operation, as heavy fighting continues across the region.

• The United Nations General Assembly has called for Russia to make reparations to Ukraine and be held accountable for its conduct. The assembly voted to approve a resolution on Monday, supported by 94 of the assembly’s 193 members, saying Russia “must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts.” The resolution also recommends that member states, in cooperation with Ukraine, create an international register to record evidence and claims against Russia.

• The US president, Joe Biden, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, have reiterated their agreement that a nuclear war “should never be fought”, the White House said. Beijing’s readout from the long-awaited meeting in Bali differed slightly and did not mention the pair agreeing on opposing Russia’s threat of using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. However, on Sunday, Chinese premier Li Keqiang emphasised the “irresponsibility” of nuclear threats, suggesting China was uncomfortable with Russia’s nuclear rhetoric, a senior US official said.

• Zelenskiy welcomed statements from the US and China. “This is a grouping of very weighty states. And today, on the eve of the summit, weighty statements have already been made,” he said in his Monday night video address. “In particular, it is important that the United States and China jointly highlighted that the threats of using nuclear weapons were unacceptable. Everyone understands to whom these words are addressed.”

• CIA director, Bill Burns, met his Russian counterpart in Turkey on Monday to talk about “the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia” in a rare high-level meeting, US officials said. The meeting in Ankara with the head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin, followed speculation that some senior US figures would like Ukraine to enter negotiations with the Kremlin to end the war. Officials insisted the US is not engaged in secret peace talks with Moscow without Ukrainian officials being present.

• Rishi Sunak has called Russia a “pariah state” on the eve of his first meeting of the G20 in Indonesia, where he has vowed to confront Moscow’s representative in public and on the sidelines of the summit. The UK prime minister said he would take every opportunity during the summit to confront Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, attending in Vladimir Putin’s absence. “Russia is becoming a pariah state and he’s [Putin] not there to take responsibility for what he’s doing,” Sunak told reporters.

• The EU and its member states have so far provided weapons and military equipment worth a total of at least €8bn (£7bn) to Ukraine, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
  

• A former Russian prison inmate, who defected to Ukraine after being recruited by the Kremlin-linked private military group Wagner, was reportedly executed and repeatedly struck with a sledgehammer. Footage of the summary killing of Yevgeny Nuzhin was posted over the weekend by the Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone.