Key points
- Russia 'preparing response' after Ukraine 'fires US-made missiles' in two attacks
- Moscow expels British diplomat over 'spying'|British ambassador summoned
- Analysis: Expulsion the latest attempt by Putin to paint UK as the enemy to the Russian people
- Russia advancing in Ukraine at fastest pace since early months of war, analysts say
- Live reporting by Mark Wyatt
Russian strike on Sumy kills two, Zelenskyy says
A Russian strike in the Ukrainian city of Sumy has killed two civilians, Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
Speaking in a video on Telegram, Ukraine's president said that a rescue operation was underway at the site.
"There is probably another person under the rubble," he said.
"A house and a kindergarten nearby were also damaged by this blow."
Reeves and Rayner among cabinet ministers banned from Russia
Russia has banned several UK government figures from entering the country over alleged "anti-Russian activities".
Angela Rayner, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Ed Miliband are among those who have been barred, along with most of the cabinet.
The foreign ministry said it was calling on the UK to abandon its "systematic confrontation" with Russia "for the sake of global stability".
"As a reciprocal measure to the hostile actions of the British side, a decision has been made to include in Russia's 'stop list' a number of individuals from the UK's political establishment, military bloc, high-tech industry, and media corps, who have distinguished themselves through their anti-Russian activities," it said.
On the list are:
- Angela Rayner, deputy prime minister
- Yvette Cooper, home secretary
- Rachel Reeves, chancellor
- Ed Miliband, energysecretary
- Wes Streeting, health secretary
Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy were sanctioned in 2022, along with leading Conservative figures, when the Tory government imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow to impose tougher requirements on British embassy staff after spying accusations
Moscow's foreign ministry says "stricter requirements" will now be imposed on employees of the British embassy in Russia amid accusations of spying made against one of its diplomats.
Nigel Casey, the British ambassador to Russia, was summoned by the Russian defence ministry today to answer questions after Moscow earlier expelled a British diplomat on charges of espionage (see 11.48 post).
The ministry says the British diplomat "provided knowingly false information when obtaining permission to enter Russia".
"Simultaneously, Russian authorities obtained evidence confirming that the mentioned individual is affiliated with British intelligence services and uncovered signs of espionage and subversive activities conducted by him on Russian territory," it added.
The ministry said the accused diplomat's accreditation has now been revoked and that "stricter requirements" will now be imposed on the completion of forms byemployees of the British Embassy in Russia.
It said Mr Casey was "reminded once again that Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence personnel operating on Russian territory".
"Moreover, should London choose to escalate the situation, the Russian side will promptly respond with "reciprocal" measures," it added.
The Foreign Office says Russian accusations against its diplomat are "malicious and baseless" (see our last post).
Foreign Office dismisses 'baseless' Russian claims over expelled diplomat
The Foreign Office says Russian accusations against a diplomat in Moscow are "malicious and baseless".
Moscow expelled the seventh British diplomat in four months on charges of espionage earlier today.
"This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff. We will respond in due course," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
The diplomat replaced one of six others who were expelled in August, also on espionage accusations, Interfax cites the Russian FSB service as saying.
Nigel Casey, the British ambassador to Russia, was summoned by the Russian defence ministry to answer questions on an expelled diplomat earlier today.
G7 ministers condemn Russian 'escalation'
Foreign ministers from the G7 have called Russia's use of a new ballistic missile in Ukraine "reckless and escalatory behaviour".
Last week, Russia fired a new hypersonic, non-nuclear ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, which Vladimir Putin said was in response to US and UK weapons being used by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia.
G7 ministers have been meeting in Italy and in a joint statement today condemned "in the strongest possible terms Russia’s irresponsible and threatening nuclear rhetoric as well as its posture of strategic intimidation".
"Russia's use of an intermediate range ballistic missile on 21 November is further evidence of its reckless and escalatory behaviour," they said, adding that "support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity" remains "unwavering".
They also warned that North Korean support for Russia markeda dangerous expansion of the conflict, with serious consequencesfor European and Indo-Pacific security, and called on China, along-standing ally of Pyongyang, to act against it.
The statement added that the G7 hoped to start distributing funds from a $50bn (£39.7bn) loan package stemming from frozen Russian assets by the end of the year.
Only one fine issued for breaching Russian sanctions by the UK
By Ed Conway, economics and data editor
The government's financial sanctions watchdog has admitted it has only imposed a single £15,000 fine for evasion of Russian sanctions since they were introduced two and a half years ago.
Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, the Treasury's economic crime chief said that despite the imposition of the most far-reaching set of sanctions on any country, so far the organisation has levied only one fine.
That fine, on a company called Integral Concierge Services (ICSL), was imposed in September after it was found that ICSL helped a designated person transfer and receive money.
So far no other fines have been issued, but Giles Thomson, the Treasury's director of economic crime and sanctions, admitted it was a low number, given the scale of sanctions.
"I will certainly be very disappointed if we come back before you and your committee in a year's time and we've only got this £15,000 fine," he said, adding: "I don't think we can consider it entirely in isolation.
"I think the figure at the moment is lower than we would want, and we hope to have more cases come out that will present a more rounded, fuller picture of our enforcement action."
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) only deals with breaches of financial sanctions - in other words, flows of money, not the flows of goods Sky News has documented in recent months. However, the small size of the fine is striking, given the scale of the sanctions regime.
The OFSI now has a full-time staff of 150 people dedicated to clamping down on sanctions breakers.
In the 2022/23 period it issued a total of £45,000 of fines, though neither of these fines (there were two) were in relation to Russia.
Fire after Russian strikes take out energy in city
Russia struck the western Ukrainian region of Ternopil overnight.
Strikes took out energy infrastructure in the area, with more than 70% of the population of the city, which is less than 200kmform the border with Poland, left without power.
More than a quarter of a million people lived in the city before the war broke out.
Norway to increase spending for Ukraine in U-turn
Norway will increase its spending for Ukraine to just over £2bn next year, the country's prime minister has announced.
Planned fiscal spending for Kyiv will rise to 30bn crowns (£2.1bn), Jonas Gahr Stoere said, reversing a previously announced cut to the budget for Ukraine.
Right-leaning opposition parties criticised the government after it proposed last month allocating just 15bn crowns (£1bn) in 2025's budget.
The opposition Conservative Party has proposed spending 45bn crowns next year (£3.2bn).
Analysis: Expulsion the latest attempt by Putin to paint UK as the enemy to the Russian people
By Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
Cameras and reporters were waiting for Britain's ambassador when he arrived at the Russian foreign ministry this afternoon.
It was almost like they knew he would be summoned before he did.
Maybe they did.
News of his diplomatic dressing-down came in tandem with the expulsion announcement.
It felt very much like a coordinated campaign between Russia's security services and state media outlets to make the accusations of espionage as public as possible.
It was very similar during the last round of expulsions at the end of the summer, when six British diplomats were kicked out of Russia after also being accused of spying.
Their mugshots were plastered all over state TV, as well as their departure from the airport.
It was an attempt, I think, to shape public opinion here, to paint Britain as the enemy.
At the time, the UK and Ukraine's allies were discussing whether to allow Kyiv to fire Western weapons deep inside Russia.
This feels very similar, coming just a week after that permission was indeed granted by the UK for use of its Storm Shadow missiles.
There is a wider tit-for-tat exchange of expulsions that has been going between the UK and Russia for a number of years. But coming soon after the announcement on long-range missiles, it's hard not to see it as being related.
Russia claims Britain is now actively participating in the war, as it seeks to reinforce its narrative that it's under attack from the West.
Public expulsions like this are another way to feed into that, as the Kremlin seeks to ensure the Russian public buys into the war.
