Ukraine war: Finland closes 830-mile eastern border as Kyiv suffers drone attack

British foreign secretary Lord Cameron is urging his counterparts in Nato not to waver in their support for Ukraine as it continues to fight against Russian invaders.

The former prime minister has travelled to Brussels to demonstrate the UK’s continued support for Kyiv as it battles President Vladimir Putin’s attack. There has been less focus on the war in eastern Europe as Western allies address the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

But Lord Cameron said Nato must show the Kremlin that Nato backing for Ukraine will not dampen.

He said: “Nato keeps over one billion people safe and secure and, nearly 75 years on, the alliance is stronger than ever. Putin first believed that Nato would be divided and that Ukraine would crumble.

“Now he believes he can wait out his war in Ukraine. He was wrong then and he is wrong now. Together, the UK and our Nato allies will never turn a blind eye to Russian aggression.

“The UK will continue to be a steadfast supporter of Ukraine and a champion for European peace and stability.”

The wife of Ukraine‘s intelligence chief has been diagnosed with heavy metals poisoning and is undergoing treatment in hospital, a spokesperson for the agency said as the country’s war with Russia stretched into its 22nd month.

Marianna Budanova is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine‘s military intelligence agency known by its local acronym GUR.

Her condition was confirmed to The Associated Press by Andrii Yusov, the agency’s spokesman.

Mr Yusov did not provide more details about the alleged poisoning, nor did he say if it was believed to have been intended for Mr Budanov or whether Russia was thought to be behind it.

Earlier this year, he told Ukrainian media that the military intelligence chief had survived 10 assassination attempts carried out by the Russian state security service, or FSB.

Previously, Mr Budanov had also told local media that his wife lives with him in his office, which could suggest he was the intended target for the poisoning.

The British government has given £4.6 billion of aid to Ukraine since the war started, but ministers have faced questions about why no extra money to help the eastern European country defend itself against Russia’s invading forces throughout 2024 was announced in the Chancellor’s autumn statement.

Labour and senior Conservatives pressed the British government about future support, with defence minister James Heappey giving assurances that an announcement would be made in the Commons once plans were confirmed.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey told the Commons: “The Defence Secretary (Grant Shapps) said last month ‘Let’s not forget about Ukraine’. So why did the autumn statement do just that? No 2024 military funding for Ukraine, no 2024 action plan for Ukraine. At the very time when Ukraine needs confidence that it has strong, continuing support from allies, the prime minister is stepping back.”

Defence minister Mr Heappey responded: “As for the plan for next year, I completely accept that he is right in saying there could have been a number in the autumn statement.

“But what is more important surely is a number that reflects the discussions that the chairmen of the joint chiefs, the Chief of the Defence Staff (Admiral Sir Tony Radakin), and General Zaluzhny have had, the conversations that senior politicians UK, US and Ukrainian have had, in order to understand what the Ukrainian ambition is for their operations next year, so that we can resource that properly.

“All the way through, the thing that the UK has done better than anybody else in the world is understood what the Ukrainians want to do next and got their first in terms of delivering that capability, and in so doing emboldening others to follow.

“As soon as that plan for next year is confirmed, I am certain that the amount of money that it will cost will be announced to Parliament, and the plan firmed up.”

Vladimir Putin will not make peace in Ukraine before he knows the results of the November 2024 US election, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday, amid concerns that a potential victory for former president Donald Trump could upend Western support for Kyiv.

Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024 and is the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has been sharply critical of US support for Kyiv.

A senior official briefing reporters after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels said the alliance reiterated its support for Ukraine knowing that a peace agreement in the next year is unlikely.

“My expectation is that Putin won’t make a peace or a meaningful peace before he sees the result of our election,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the outcomes of the meeting.

Finland said Tuesday it will close its last remaining border crossing with Russia amid concerns that Moscow is using migrants as part of “hybrid warfare” to destabilize the Nordic country following its entry into NATO.

Finland already had shut seven of the eight checkpoints on its 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia this month following a surge in arrivals of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

Helsinki has accused Moscow of ushering them toward the frontier — through thick forests in the south to the rugged Arctic landscape in the north.

“The government has decided to close all the crossing points on the entire eastern border,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo told reporters, saying Finland faced an “exceptional” situation that the government blames on Moscow for orchestrating.“

Finland has a profound reason to suspect that the entry (of migrants) is organized by a foreign state. This deals with Russia’s influencing operations and we won’t accept it,” Orpo said bluntly. “We don’t accept any attempt to undermine our national security. Russia has caused this situation and it can also stop it.”

Russian attacks on Ukraine on Tuesday hit residential buildings, private houses, and a coal mine, killing four and injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian officials said.

A five-storey building was shelled in the morning in the southern town of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Serhiy Lysak said.

“A 63-year-old man was killed. Two women, aged 65 and 63, were injured,” he said on Telegram messenger.

Later, Lysak added, Russian troops launched a drone attack, injuring one more person. “Nikopol district experienced a dozen attacks in a day,” he added.

Three apartment buildings, two industrial enterprises, an administrative building, and vehicles were damaged. Power lines and a gas pipeline were also targeted.

Images shared by Lysak showed the remains of a building under fire, shattered windows, and piles of construction waste.

Mr Putin denounced what he described as Western “Russophobia”, claiming that “our diversity and unity of cultures, traditions, languages, and ethnic groups simply don’t fit into the logic of Western racists and colonialists, into their cruel scheme of total depersonalisation, disunity, suppression and exploitation”.

“If they can’t do it by force, they will try to sow strife,” he said, vowing to block “any outside interference, provocations with the aim of causing interethnic or interreligious conflicts as aggressive actions against our country, as an attempt to once again foment terrorism and extremism in Russia as a tool to fight us”.

Russian authorities have intensified their crackdown on dissent amid the fighting in Ukraine, arresting and imprisoning protesters and activists and silencing independent news outlets.

Mr Putin said that the US-dominated global order has become increasingly decrepit, declaring that “it is our country that is now at the forefront of creating a more equitable world order”.

“And I want to emphasise: without a sovereign, strong Russia, no lasting, stable world order is possible,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cast Moscow’s military action in Ukraine as an existential battle against purported attempts by the West to destroy Russia in a ranting speech ahead of a presidential election campaign.

Mr Putin, who has been in power for more than two decades and is the longest-serving Russian leader since Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, is expected to soon declare his intention to seek another six-year term in a presidential election next March.

“We are defending the security and wellbeing of our people, the highest, historical right to be Russia – a strong, independent power, a country-civilisation,” Mr Putin said, accusing the US and its allies of trying to “dismember and plunder” Russia.

Ukraine and its Western allies have condemned the Russian action against Ukraine as an unprovoked act of aggression.

“We are now fighting for the freedom of not only Russia, but the whole world,” Mr Putin said in a speech to participants of a meeting organised by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Kyiv fears Moscow could attack its power grids with air strikes this winter.

In Ukraine, at least 10 people were killed and almost 1,500 towns and villages were left without power after storms dumped up to 10 inches of snow in some places.