Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv raises hopes of Tomahawks deal after Putin orders record autumn conscription

Ukraine has asked Sweden to start training Ukrainian pilots on Swedish Gripen fighter jets as soon as possible, Kyiv’s defence minister said.

Denys Shmyhal told reporters in Stockholm alongside his Swedish counterpart that Ukraine was ready to send personnel to Sweden immediately.

Gripen is a fourth generation light single-engine supersonic fighter jet. It is a so-called multi-role fighter aircraft, designed for missions such as air-to-air combat, aerial bombing and reconnaissance. It is seen as a solid low-cost alternative to the more expensive fifth generation planes, such as the F-35.

The Gripen E is just over 15 metres long, weighs 16.5 tonnes and can refuel, rearm and be back in the air in 10-20 minutes after landing, and is capable of operating from relatively rough air strips.

Gripen, Swedish for the mythical creature Griffin, has been in commission since 1996 but has been upgraded several times.

An anti-Russian rebel group has carried out sabotage operations and attacked dozens of locomotives being used to transport weapons and ammunition, Ukrainian intelligence agency said.

The Freedom of Russia resistance movement, seen as one of the most dominant resistance groups on Russian territory, carried out the attack. A video showed locomotives set ablaze in multiple locations, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (HUR) said on Telegram.

“The partisans’ incendiary cocktails incinerated the control and power systems of dozens of vehicles used for military cargo transport,” the statement by HUR said.

The attacks have slowed down Russian logistics and disrupted the military supplies to Russian frontline units.

Nato is now producing more ammunition than Russia, the alliance’s secretary general Mark Rutte has said.

“We are already turning the tide on ammunition. Until recently, Russia was producing more ammunition than all Nato allies put together. But not anymore. Across the Alliance, we are now opening dozens of new production lines and expanding existing ones,” he said at the Nato Industry Forum in Bucharest yesterday.

“We are making more than we have done in decades. We need to build on this progress in other areas, from high end air defence and low-cost drone interceptors,” he said.

Rutte warned that the danger posed by Russia “will not end when this war does”.

“For the foreseeable future, Russia will remain a destabilising force in Europe and the world. And Russia is not alone in its efforts to undermine the global rules. As you know it is working with China, with North Korea, with Iran and others,” he said.

“They are increasing their defence industrial collaboration to unprecedented levels. They are preparing for long term confrontation,” Rutte said.

Ukraine is engaged in “positive” talks with the US on buying Tomahawk missiles and other long-range weapons, the country’s ambassador to Washington Olha Stefanishyna said.

“The discussion is still ongoing but we have a lot of delegations working to scale up the available financial resources to procure more military capabilities from the US,” she told Bloomberg.

US president Donald Trump on Sunday said that for now, he is not considering a deal that would allow Ukraine to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles for use against Russia.

Trump and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte discussed the Tomahawk missile sale to Kyiv when they met at the White House on 22 October.

The While Trump has cooled on a plan for the United States to sell Tomahawks to Nato nations that would transfer them to Ukraine, with Trump now saying that he does not want to escalate the war.

“No, not really,” Trump told reporters as he flew to Washington from Palm Beach, Florida, when asked whether he was considering a deal to sell the missiles. He added, however, that he could change his mind.

Unless Europe dramatically increases pressure on Russia, Ukraine will face a “forever war” and a slow erosion of its territory, a former Nato secretary general has said.

“If we do not carry out major changes in strategy we will look into a forever war,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general from 2009 to 2014.

“Putin has no incentive to engage in peace negotiations so long as he thinks he can win on the battlefield. Changes in speed and mindset are needed,” he said.

Calling on the deployment of a European protection force for Ukraine in advance of a ceasefire agreement, Rasmussen said the “coalition of the willing” is now reduced to a coalition of the waiting as it waits for fighting to end.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered a fresh round of conscription of troops before the end of this year, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

“Putin is increasing the number of Russians conscripted into the military. 135,000 is the number of Russians Putin has ordered for conscription by the end of the year,” the MoD said in an update yesterday.

Putin signed a law on year-round conscription into the army on Tuesday, according to Russia’s legal acts portal.

It has been nine years since Russia called up so many men in its autumn draft, according to the ministry. The defence ministry said at least 160,000 men were called up in this year’s spring intake. That was the highest number of Russian servicemen drafted into the military during the spring since 2011.

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison after finding him guilty of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war, the first time Ukraine has jailed a suspect on such charges.

The court in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia found Dmitry Kurashov, 27, guilty of shooting dead Vitalii Hodniuk, a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in January 2024 when his dugout was captured by Russian forces.

Kurashov, who was taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces along with other Russian troops soon after the incident, pleaded guilty in court, although he later told reporters that he was innocent and wanted to be exchanged in a prisoner swap.

Kurashov said he did not plan to appeal after the ruling.

His sentencing carries symbolic importance for Ukraine, which says Russian forces have executed numerous Ukrainian prisoners of war, but that the suspects are usually outside their jurisdiction.

Gazprom hit a new daily record for gas supplies to China via its Power of Siberia pipeline on Wednesday, the Russian holding said in a statement.

“The delivered volume exceeded Gazprom’s contractual obligations,” it said.

It was the sixth time in two months that the supplier had hit a new daily record, with China remaining a major buyer of Russian fuel.

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier on Thursday to life in prison after finding him guilty of killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war, the first time Ukraine has jailed a suspect on such charges.

The court in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia found Dmitry Kurashov, 27, guilty of shooting dead Vitalii Hodniuk, a Ukrainian soldier who had surrendered in January 2024 when his dugout was captured by Russian forces.

Kurashov, who was taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces along with other Russian troops soon after the incident, pleaded guilty in court, although he later told reporters that he was innocent and wanted to be exchanged in a prisoner swap.

His sentencing carries symbolic importance for Ukraine, which says Russian forces have executed numerous Ukrainian prisoners of war, but that the suspects are usually outside their jurisdiction.