Hurricane-force winds, snowfall and flooding have lashed Russia’s southern regions of Dagestan, Krasnodar and Rostov, as well as the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea. In Ukraine, the severe weather killed at least five people and cut power to almost 1,500 towns and villages after storms dumped up to 25cm (10 inches) of snow in some places. Another four people were reported dead in Moldova. Freezing temperatures were forecast for Tuesday morning. Russia’s energy ministry said power cuts affected 1.9 million people. Weather forecasts show downpours were continuing late on Monday in the Crimean port of Sevastopol and Sochi on Russia’s Black Sea coast, amid hopes the storm’s impact might deliver a setback to the Russian war effort. Russian forces are intensifying their drive to capture Avdiivka, trying to advance on all sides, according to Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s military administration. “The Russians have opened up two more sectors from which they have begun making assaults – in the direction of Donetsk … and in the so-called industrial zone. The …

A Russian attack using cluster munitions killed three people in a suburb of Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, a Ukrainian official said, bringing to six the number of civilians to die in a single day. Russian shelling also killed two people in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s presidential office said. On Thanksgiving, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, thanked the US for its support, saying that with “American support and global leadership, millions of Ukrainian lives have been saved”. Ukraine has not reached a stalemate in its war with Russia because the west can help by “dropping five more queens on the board”, according to Timothy Snyder, a Yale professor and influential historian of eastern Europe. A leading Russian politician and supporter of Vladimir Putin has denied a report that he adopted an infant who had been forcibly taken from an orphanage in Ukraine. Russia has claimed it is succeeding in selling almost all of its oil above a western-imposed price cap of $60 a barrel. The EU, G7 countries and Australia introduced the price cap on …

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed the formation by western allies on Thursday of a 20-nation coalition to boost Ukrainian air defences, “enabling our cities and villages to be better protected”. Zelenskiy said the group was formed at a virtual meeting of the Ramstein group examining Ukraine’s military needs. Germany said it and France would be taking on leading roles. “Not everything can be disclosed publicly at this time, but the Ukrainian air shield is becoming stronger every month,” Zelenskiy said. Lithuania said it delivered a new package of military aid to Ukraine comprising three million bullets, remote detonation systems and winter equipment. The Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta shipped a record high 29.4m tonnes of Ukrainian grain between January and October, Reuters reported, citing the port authority. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he urged Vladimir Putin to end Moscow’s war on Ukraine and withdraw all troops, in the first G20 video call the Russian president participated in since the conflict. Speaking at the virtual G20 meeting, Putin said Russia had always been “ready for …

The White House says it is concerned Iran may provide ballistic missiles to Russia to use against Ukraine. “In return for that support, Russia has been offering Tehran unprecedented defence cooperation, including on missiles, electronics and air defence,” said John Kirby, US national security council spokesman. President Joe Biden’s request for more than $61bn in emergency US funding to support Ukraine’s defence remains stalled in Congress. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has announced the Pentagon will in any case be sending an additional $100m in weapons to Ukraine from existing US stockpiles, including another Himars mobile artillery system. More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, with about half of recent deaths occurring far behind the frontlines, the UN human rights office said. Its mission in Ukraine, which has dozens of monitors, said it expected the real toll to be “significantly higher” since its work was continuing. Germany will support Ukraine with another military aid package worth €1.3bn ($1.4bn) that will include an additional IRIS-T air …

US defence secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv in a high-profile push to keep money and weapons flowing to Ukraine. After travelling to Kyiv by train from Poland, Austin met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, defence minister Rustem Umerov and chief of staff General Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Austin announced the Pentagon would be sending an additional $100m in weapons to Ukraine from existing US stockpiles, including artillery and munitions for air defence systems. The package also includes another High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars. Austin said Ukraine’s effort to defeat Russian forces “matters to the rest of the world” and that US support would continue “for the long haul”. Ukraine sacked two senior cyber defence officials, a government official said, as prosecutors announced a probe into alleged embezzlement in the government’s cyber security agency. Yurii Shchyhol, head of the state service of special communications and information protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), and his deputy, Viktor Zhora, were dismissed by the government, senior cabinet official Taras Melnychuk wrote on Telegram. Ukrainian forces were engaged in containing …