Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin nemesis Navalny ‘missing for three days’ as president stands for re-election

The Kremlin has said the idea that Russia would engage in peace talks with Ukraine on Kyiv’s terms next year was unrealistic.

It was responding to a media report which said Washington wanted such a scenario to unfold.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the idea “absolutely unrealistic”.

The Ukrainian parliament has approved three bills necessary to start European Union accession talks, including one on national minorities’ rights – a demand from Hungary which opposes Ukraine’s bid.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, who signed all three bills into law, described them as a key step in Ukraine’s application.

An EU summit next week is to consider whether to start negotiations on membership with Ukraine, and neighbouring ex-Soviet Moldova.

EU leaders must unanimously approve the move.

“We expect that Ukraine‘s efforts will be duly appreciated by leaders of the European Union and the corresponding European promises to Ukraine will be fulfilled,” Mr Zelensky said.

Ukraine, he said, had “done everything expected of us” in taking on EU recommendations.

In case you missed it: Four Sukhoi fighter jets escorted Vladimir Putin‘s presidential plane on Wednesday as he arrived in the UAE for a rare trip outside of Russia.

Ukraine’s human-rights ombudsman has voiced hope that a coalition of countries formed to bring back Ukrainian children illegally deported by Russia will be able to come up with a faster mechanism to repatriate them.

More than 19,000 children are still believed to be in Russia or in occupied regions of Ukraine.

The National Coalition of Countries for the Return of Ukrainian Children, which was formed based on a recommendation by Canada, held its first meeting in Kyiv.

Some 72 representatives of countries and international organisations attended.

Addressing the participants, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that such deportations were “not something unsystematic, but the organised work of Russia’s state system”.

He said forcible deportation was one of the war’s most heinous crimes and “a clear indicator of Russia’s genocidal policy”.

Bulgaria’s parliament has approved the provision of additional military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

A majority of 147 MPs voted to supply Ukraine with portable anti-aircraft missile systems and surface-to-air missiles of various types intended to bolster Ukraine’s air defence capabilities, the state-run BTA news agency reported.

Military experts said the missiles, which are either defective or redundant, cannot be repaired in Bulgaria, but Ukraine has the facilities to fix them or use them for spare parts.

Some 55 lawmakers from pro-Russian groups in parliament voted against sending the aid, underscoring the divisions in the country over helping Ukraine.

Bulgaria joined Nato in 2004, but maintains stocks of Soviet-designed weapons.

In addition, parliament approved the use of Bulgarian airspace for training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots and allowed up to four rotating infantry or mechanized Ukrainian army units of up to 160 people per year to transit or stay in Bulgaria for training.

In a separate vote, MPs overrode a veto by the country’s pro-Russian president on providing Ukraine with 100 Soviet-era armored personnel carriers and available armament, as well as spare parts.

Ukrainian forces are still fighting to retake Bakhmut. Last month Russian forces started ramped up attacks in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to gain ground near Avdiivka and around Bakhmut.

Russian police have put prominent Russian-American journalist and author Masha Gessen on a wanted list after opening a criminal case against them on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army:

Finland will not extradite to Ukraine a Russian man suspected of terrorism in Ukraine, Finland’s supreme court has ruled, citing the risk of inhuman prison conditions in Ukraine.

Yan Petrovsky was taken into custody by Finnish authorities in August after a Ukrainian court issued an arrest warrant for him. He is suspected of participating in a terrorist organisation in Ukraine.

Social media channels linked to Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries said in August that Petrovsky was a top fighter in Rusich, a far-right subunit affiliated to Wagner.

Rusich identified Petrovsky as a founding member and leader of the unit who has been under EU and US sanctions.

The Supreme Court cited an earlier decision by the European Court of Human Rights which found Ukrainian prisons overcrowded and materially deprived over long term, concluding extradition to Ukraine could lead to inhuman and degrading treatment for Petrovsky.

The court ordered him to be released but he was immediately taken into custody by the Finnish Border Guard.

An official in Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s office said Kyiv would press requests for Petrovsky’s extradition. “We are continuing to seek ways of detaining and extraditing this suspect to Ukraine,” said Andriy Gulkevych, deputy head of the office’s international legal section.

Mr Gulkevych said Ukraine was working towards ensuring greater success for its extradition requests, often turned down on grounds that the country could not provide suitable conditions of detention while it is at war.