Ukraine war: Under the threat of a nuclear strike and a long looming winter, indomitable Ukrainian spirit holds
There are a quite shocking number of Russian corpses left in the wake of the Ukrainian blitz on their eastern front.
Kyiv’s troops are moving so fast and methodically, there’s no time to collect the enemy’s dead.
It’s a grim illustration of Ukraine’s current battlefield successes.
As we followed their route through the village of Yampil and on to Torske on the edge of the Luhansk border, we saw scores of burnt military vehicles and scorched forest trees, which highlighted the ferocity of the battle.
There are repeated signs the Ukrainians have ambushed their enemy, often it seems, laying in wait for them and attacking them from the front as the Russians try to flee to their defensive positions deeper into the Donbas.
The Ukrainians have the city of Kremina in their crosshairs now. Seizing it will open the gateway for them into Luhansk and the entire region, and leave them poised to reclaim the twin cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.
There is evidence all around of Russians being ambushed
The road from Torske to Kremina is scarred with bombed vehicle wrecks.
We saw Ukrainian soldiers loaded with ammunition and kitbags heading off down the road into Luhansk to do more battle.
“Everything will be Ukraine,” one of them shouted after us with a cheery reassurance. “Hear that?” another called, motioning above us.
There’s a constant backdrop of shelling, of the firing of Grad rockets, and at one stage we hear a jet in the air followed by the terrifying thunder of bombs raining down in the direction of Kremina.
“They will drop more here soon,” he cautions.
The pockmarked yellow bus we are nearby has the body of a Russian soldier hanging out of the driver’s seat. The bus door is open, and his arms are dangling down above the road, as if he’d desperately tried to climb out before death claimed him.
His hands are black with ingrained dirt. His head is gouged open. Death and war are tragically ugly yet simultaneously pitiful.
His relatives in Russia have likely no idea of his fate or how he met his end on this mangled, broken bus at the end of a road pitted with vehicle carcasses.
The stretch of roadway next to the bus is covered in a blanket of Russian uniforms and other discarded clothing and belongings. It’s a chaotic, muddled mayhem reeking of panic and fear.
A car crushed by a powering tank
Digging a grave
A short distance away, a woman called Anna, who’s wearing a colourful woollen headscarf, tells us of the ferocious fighting outside the farmhouse where she lives with her husband. She’s only just retired from farming and probably looked forward to some relaxing time after a lifetime of hard graft.
Instead, she tells us how a Russian soldier had run into her yard days earlier, trying to hide from the onslaught.
He was wearing civilian clothes but had a weapon and green army body armour. When he’s gunned down, she can’t bear to leave his corpse on her yard for the birds and rats to eat.
She can’t stop crying, recounting what happened. It’s still very fresh and raw for her. She and her husband drag the body to the field at the back of their home and dig a grave, on top of which they place the green flak jacket.
The documents they find on him show he’s 30 years old and from Moscow.
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A Russian life marked with respect by one Ukrainian mother
“He was the first military person I’d ever seen dead,” she tells us between sobs.
“I felt nothing, nothing. He came to kill us.” But her voice trails off as she’s enveloped by weeping.
The trauma of this war has not yet stripped Anna of her basic humanity. He’s around the same age as her own son. Another young man dying in a war he never chose to fight in.
The shells keep landing close and make her constantly flinch. “It’s so scary. It’s so, so, scary,” she says. “When the houses are on fire, it’s terrifying.
In the midst of horror
“This house was burning just here.” She nods towards her neighbour’s home.
We ask if she’d prefer to go to her shelter to hide for a bit and feel safer.
“Can I go? Is that OK?” Even enduring all this death and torment, she’s unfailingly polite to strangers.
She hugs our Ukrainian colleague Artem, who’s around the same age as the dead Russian soldier. He’s a warm, friendly face to her in the midst of this horror.
Equipment and body armour is left strewn at roadsides
And yet all the political talk is of worse to come – an impending tactical nuclear attack. It’s a threat US President Joe Biden appears to be taking seriously, and which the Ukrainian troops we spoke to seem unnervingly prepared for.
“We are not afraid of anything any more,” a soldier calling himself Lynx tells us. “We know what we’re fighting for – we’re fighting for our land.
“We’re not afraid of nuclear or chemical weapons. We’ve started, and we won’t stop until we liberate all our land.”
‘Mentally, I’m ready to die’
The rest of his unit sitting atop their armoured personnel carrier are equally undeterred by the nuclear threat.
“Mentally I’m ready to die,” Oleksander says, “so if it (a nuclear attack) happens, then it will happen.”
When you’re prepared to give your life in a war, the manner of that dying takes on a very different significance, it seems.
We travel with the crew across an increasingly boggy forest with pools of muddy water dotted everywhere.
The seasons are rapidly changing, and the incoming inclement weather is what the Ukrainians are trying to get ahead of.
Only military vehicles can easily traverse terrain so taxing, and the deteriorating conditions will challenge even these.
The Ukrainians are in a race against winter as well as a ferocious battle with Russian troops – and they cannot afford to lose either.
Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers have resigned amid a major embezzlement and kickbacks scandal involving the state nuclear power company.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the removal of Justice Minister Herman Halushchenko and Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk on Wednesday, with the pair later submitting their resignations.
The damaging scandal – fast becoming one of the most significant government crises since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion – has put top officials under scrutiny.
It could not come at a worse time for Ukraine, as Russia’s renewed attacks on energy infrastructure cause rolling blackouts and Kyiv’s outnumbered forces retreat under relentless assaults.
Svitlana Grynchuk file image. Pic: Reuters
Site of a Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on 12 November, 2025. Pic: Reuters
At the centre of the scandal, Mr Halushchenko and other well-known ministers and officials are alleged to have gained payments from constructing fortifications against Moscow’s assaults on energy infrastructure. Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov is also alleged to have been involved.
Mr Halushchenko said he would defend himself legally, while Mr Grynchuk posted on social media: “Within the scope of my professional activities there were no violations of the law.”
The findings of a 15-month investigation, including 1,000 hours of wiretaps, were revealed by the same anti-corruption watchdogs Mr Zelenskyy sought to weaken earlier this year.
Herman Halushchenko – file image. Pic: Reuters
Blackout in Ukraine. Pic: Reuters
These resulted in the detention of five people, and another seven linked to about $100m (£76m) in alleged kickbacks in the energy sector.
Ukrainian officials are scrambling for European funds to manage mounting energy shortages as Moscow targets critical infrastructure and natural gas production in an attempt to damage public morale.
The nation has been plagued by corruption since gaining independence, and Mr Zelenskyy was elected on a mandate to eliminate graft.
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Military procurement scandals also led to the ousting of Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov in 2023.
Oleksandr Merezhko, a lawmaker with Zelenskyy’s party, said the scandal looks “really bad in the eyes of our European and American partners”.
He said: “Internally this scandal will be used to undermine unity and stability within the country. Externally, our enemies will use it as an argument to stop aid to Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Galushchenko and former Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin. Pic: Reuters
“While Russians destroy our power grid and people have to endure blackouts, someone at the top was stealing money during the war.”
But questions remain over how high the alleged corruption goes.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau, known as NABU, refrained from identifying the suspects.
But it said they included a businessman, a former adviser to the energy minister, an executive who oversaw physical protection at state energy company Energoatem, and others responsible for money laundering. It dubbed the scheme “Midas”.
The agency also accused eight people of abuse of office, bribery, and possession of disproportionate assets.
The investigation, which NABU said conducted over 70 raids, was welcomed by the Ukrainian president, who urged officials to cooperate with it. Energoatom said the inquiry didn’t disrupt its operations.
Situation on the battlefield
NABU released excerpts of tapes in which the network, using code names and secretive language, discussed blackmail and pressuring Energoatom contractors to extract 10% to 15% in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for them to do business without facing internal blocks.
The network took advantage of a regulation enforced during martial law prohibiting contractors from claiming debts in court from companies providing essential services, such as Energoatom, which has annual revenues of around $4.7 billion (£3.6 billion). Four others worked to launder the money at a Kyiv office.
The tapes, which have not been independently verified, say about $1.2 million was handed to a former deputy prime minister, whom the plotters called “Che Guevara,” after the Argentinian revolutionary leader.
Ms Svyrydenko also said the cabinet submitted proposals to apply sanctions against Timur Mindich, a close associate of Zelenskyy, and businessman Alexander Tsukerman.
World
Police in Germany arrest suspected Hamas member who ‘acquired Glock pistols to attack Jewish institutions’
Police in Germany have arrested a suspected Hamas member who allegedly obtained guns and ammunition to attack Jewish targets.
Lebanese-born Borhan El-K was picked up on the motorway after crossing into Germany from the Czech Republic on Tuesday night.
In a statement, the German federal prosecutor’s office alleged in August he had procured an automatic rifle, eight Glock pistols and more than 600 pieces of ammunition in Germany.
It’s claimed the weapons were then handed to Wael FM, another suspected member of the Palestinian armed group Hamas, in Berlin.
Wael FM was arrested with the items on 1 October along with two other men named as Adeb Al G and Ahmad I.
Police officer – file image. Pic: iStock
The men, whose full names have not been released due to German privacy laws, were charged with preparing a serious act of violence endangering the German state and being members of a foreign terrorist organisation.
Authorities believe that the group had been gathering supplies since the summer.
“The weapons were intended for use by Hamas in assassination attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement at the time.
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A source suggested that the first three men were detained when they met for the weapons handover.
The arrests came a day before Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Hamas – which is considered a terrorist organisation by the EU – previously denied any connection to the men and said the allegations against it were “baseless”.
Another alleged member of the group, Mohammed A, was arrested on 3 November in London at the request of German police.
He’s accused of taking five handguns and ammunition from Abed Al G and transporting them to Vienna where they were stored.
This morning Danish Police searched premises linked to Borhan El-K and another suspect in and around Copenhagen following Mr El-K’s arrest on Tuesday.
He was due to appear before a judge today.
In February, four suspected Hamas members went on trial in Berlin accused of plotting attacks on Jewish sites in Europe.
Hackers working for the Chinese military and government have been probing Australia’s key infrastructure and telecoms network, warns spy chief.
Mike Burgess, director-general of security for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, warned Australians could have their water and electricity supplies cut off as well as extensive banking trouble if hackers managed to cause widespread telecoms disruption.
“Foreign governments have elite teams investigating these possibilities right now,” Mr Burgess insisted.
However, China‘s foreign ministry accused Burgess’s statement of spreading false narratives.
Pic: Reuters
The warning demonstrates the difficulty faced by Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese in trying to keep China close economically while trying to mitigate security concerns.
Burgess said espionage was estimated to have cost the country A$12.5bn (£6.2bn) last year, including billions in trade secrets and intellectual property.
In particular, he highlighted the activities of the Chinese hacking groups Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon.
He highlighted how Salt Typhoon had previously penetrated US telecoms systems intending to disrupt operations and pre-position for potential sabotage.
Burgess also warned that Australian companies could be crippled as trade competitors or that elections could be affected.
Chinese officials made complaints to the Australian government and private sector about ASIO whenever he spoke
publicly about China, Burgess said during a speech last week. “It won’t stop my resolve,” he said.
Not the first time alarms have been raised
Concerns were raised in Canberra in February after Chinese warships conducted live-fire drills with minimal warning in the Tasman Sea.
Australian authorities only heard about the drills when a commercial pilot for Virgin Australia notified Airservices Australia.
Chinese frigate Hengyang, one of three vessels involved in the circumnavigation of Australia. Pic: Australian Defense Force /AP
The drills resulted in 49 flights having to change their path.
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