Russia, Ukraine update battle reports as West dithers over providing Ukraine with long-range weapons

Russia reported on Monday that its forces had attacked several Ukrainian targets and shut down a warplane in the past 24 hours, while Ukraine claimed that its army had repelled Russian offensives in different directions, according to their latest updates on the conflict.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily battlefield report that the Russian army had hit Ukrainian targets including a drone production workshop and warehouse, as well as the infrastructure of a military airport.

The Russian air defense systems shot down one MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force and intercepted aerial bombs, rockets and drones, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Russian forces took control of two settlements in the Kursk region and continued to destroy fronts of the Ukrainian army, according to the report.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that as of Monday afternoon, its soldiers continued to engage the Russian army in different directions and repelled multiple attacks.

The most intense fighting was in the direction of Kurakhove, said the report.

The Ukrainian Air Force issued an alert in the early morning of Monday against a risk of missile attack in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkov of Ukraine, as well as a risk of drone attack in many places.

The city of Kyiv and the Kyiv Regional Military Administration both sounded air raid sirens in the early hours of Monday, with the latter saying that its air defense systems were repelling enemy drones. The Russian side has not made any responses to Ukraine's claim.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree to increase the number of Russian armed forces to 2,389,130 units, including 1.5 million military personnel.

The decree also requires the Government of the Russian Federation to allocate funds to the Ministry of Defense through the federal budget.

In December 2023, the armed forces of the Russian Federation numbered 2,209,130, including 1.32 million military personnel.

Recently, Ukraine has repeatedly asked the United States and other Western countries to lift restrictions on its use of Western-supplied weapons to remotely attack targets deep inside Russia. The United States and Britain have responded by taking frequent actions and gradually showing a sign of backing off from their stand. However, there is no consensus among Western countries on this issue.

The U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a meeting at the White House on Sept 13 to discuss whether to allow Ukraine to deploy British cruise missiles "Storm Shadows" backed by U.S. navigational data to conduct long-range strikes inside Russian territory. But the two sides made no decision at the time.

Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Monday that such discussions were only "formalizing" Washingtons involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that U.S. experts and military personnel have already intervened in the conflict without obtaining the so-called authorization.

In an interview broadcast by CNN on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine has been trying to persuade the U.S. government to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, but no such authorization has been granted so far.

Bloomberg News reported on the same day that Starmer would meet with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Monday to discuss the proposal to allow Ukraine to use "Storm Shadow" against Russian territory, and British officials would also consult with French and German officials in the coming days.

According to the British Times on Saturday, five former British defense ministers, including Grant Shapps and Ben Wallace, and former British Prime Minister Johnson Boris recently urged Starmer to authorize Ukraine's use of "Storm Shadow" to strike targets deep in Russia, even without the support of the United States. Shapps said it is how his country "takes the lead in supporting Ukraine globally".

However, there is still opposition in the West over this issue. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday that in order to prevent further escalation of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, Germany will not provide Ukraine with long-range weapons to attack the Russian territory, and he also refused to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. He stated that he would stand by his position even if other countries decided otherwise.

Putin warned recently that by providing Ukraine with long-range weapons, Western countries risk involving directly in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He said this would "significantly change the essence of the conflict", and Russia would take "appropriate decisions" based on the new threats.

Russia, Ukraine update battle reports as West dithers over providing Ukraine with long-range weapons

The death toll in Lebanon from the ongoing Israeli attacks has risen to 2,119 since last October, with 10,019 others injured, according to a statement released Monday by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

Over the past 24 hours, 36 fatalities and 150 injuries were reported in various regions of Lebanon due to the Israeli attacks, said the statement.

Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces across the Lebanese-Israeli border since Oct 8, 2023, to show solidarity with Hamas.

The Israeli military has been conducting an air campaign in Lebanon, dubbed "Arrows of the North," since Sept 23, marking a significant intensification of hostilities.

Lebanese authorities said an estimated 1.2 million people have been displaced over the last year, most of them within the past two weeks.

Israel's mass forced displacement campaign in Lebanon may soon cause major disease outbreaks, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned as Israel attacks health care centers in the country.

In a press briefing on Tuesday by video link from Beirut, WHO Deputy Incident Manager for Lebanon Ian Clarke warned of disease outbreaks in Lebanon due to crowded conditions in displacement shelters and hospital closures as medics have fled Israel's assault.

"WHO is deeply concerned by the impact of the recent escalation of violence on the health system in Lebanon, including the rising number of attacks on health care workers and facilities. Since September 16, attacks on health care had been recorded leaving behind 65 deaths and 40 injuries among health staff. Health facilities had been greatly impacted: more than 96 primary health care centers and health facilities had been forced to close in the south due to rising hostilities, five hospitals were reported non-functioning due to physical or infrastructural damage, and an additional four hospitals have been partially evacuated," he said.

As the number of displaced people increased and the population was left with limited access to emergency and trauma care, as well as access to essential health services, including routine vaccination and essential child and maternal health services, Lebanon was facing a situation where there was a much higher risk of disease outbreaks, such as acute watery diarrhea, hepatitis A, and a number of vaccine preventable diseases, Clarke said.

Death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks rises to 2,119