Escalating conflict: Russia intensifies energy grid attacks as UK imposes new sanctions

The United Kingdom has announced 31 new sanctions targeting Russian people and businesses involved in Kremlin disinformation, human rights abuses and raising money for Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said the measures target “LNG shadow fleet vessels, Kremlin disinformation networks and perpetrators of civilian torture and child indoctrination”.

The Foreign Office said that the UK was taking the actions following “sham elections” in the occupied Ukrainian territories earlier this month.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Russia sent a letter to Nato threatening to use nuclear weapons if it feels its Baltic territory of Kaliningrad is under threat.

Despite a growing campaign of Russian hybrid attacks on Ukraine's European neighbours and allies, Moscow said it was Nato exhibiting "dangerous and reckless" behaviour that entailed "high risks of the outbreak of a direct armed conflict".

The letter said Russia "will be ready to use the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, in order to defend its territory".

Two concerts by US rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in St Petersburg, Russia, have been cancelled, organisers said on 30 September. Ye was due to perform on 10 and 11 October. The shows were expected to be his first major concerts in Russia and would have made him the biggest Western artist to perform there since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian event agency Say Agency said in a statement: “Ye’s concerts in St Petersburg will not be able to take place on the scheduled dates.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin believes his meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at an APEC summit in China next month will yield results and benefit ties, Russian news agencies quoted him as saying in a letter to Xi. China did not confirm nor deny the meeting would take place.

Russia has for the first time used a jet-powered drone fitted with a warhead designed to destroy high-voltage power pylons and steel bridges, Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhii Beskrestnov said. He said the shaped-charge warhead contains a 40kg main charge and four additional destructive modules, and warned Russia could use it to target major power transmission lines. The development came during Russia’s latest large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy system. Nearly 190 attack drones and ballistic missiles were launched, with Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast among the main targets. Ukraine’s Air Force said it intercepted 254 of 285 drones, including 146 of 174 jet-powered drones, during the daytime attack.

A Russian drone tore through a school in Ukraine's capital, authorities said on Thursday, the latest in a spate of worsening air attacks on Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said children had been in the shelter at the moment of the strike, which sparked a fire. He reported no injuries. The State Emergency Service released images of rescue workers picking through debris and dousing the charred building, whose windows were shattered.

Ukraine's military struck an oil facility in Russia's Samara region overnight, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

Ukraine faces a $27bn defence funding gap this year as Russia intensifies attacks on its energy infrastructure ahead of winter. Prime minister Sergii Koretskyi said: “Since the summer, there has been virtually not a single day when the enemy has not attacked energy infrastructure. But an attack of this scale and intensity has not occurred since the end of the last heating season.”

Estonia has banned the transit of Russian and Belarusian grain through its territory, Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said on Thursday. "Russia cannot wage a war of aggression and expect us to help keep its trade flowing. We will not help finance its war or make its aggression easier to sustain," Tsahkna said on social media X.

Ukraine is urging the US to sanction Russian companies supplying components for Rassvet, Moscow’s planned Starlink-like satellite network, under a new US sanctions law. Denys Sienik, Ukraine’s charge d’affaires in Washington, said the companies are among Kyiv’s main targets for potential sanctions. Russia has launched 16 Rassvet satellites and plans to expand the network to 292 by 2027 and 924 by 2035.

At least five people have been killed in Ukraine in “massive” overnight Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, the Ukrainian prime minister said. “Overnight, missiles and drones hit energy facilities in Kyiv, the Kyiv region, and other parts of the country. As of now, 14 people are known to be injured nationwide. Tragically, 5 people were killed, including a child,” he said.