Russia plans to raise its defence spending to more than £150bn next year to bolster its war on Ukraine, according to a draft budget due to be submitted to parliament tomorrow.
uncertain
Russia → plan → parliament
Total defence spending will amount to £450bn (50 trillion roubles) in the next three years, reported Reuters, as Putin doubles down on his now four-and-a-half year war with Russia's European neighbour.
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Putin → amount → neighbour
It comes as Germany identified Ukraine’s air defence shortage as its “weakest point” heading into the winter.
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Germany → come → winter
German chancellor Friedrich Merz made the remark during a briefing in Berlin, where he said he was speaking personally with several allies to try and secure more supplies.
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he → make → supplies
Sharing his concerns about securing Kyiv, he said: “If Ukraine falls, peace and freedom throughout Europe will be under threat.”
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peace → share → threat
Meanwhile, Russian air strikes killed three, including a child, and injured another seven people in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region early on Wednesday, officials said.
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officials → kill → Wednesday
Poland's Air Traffic Authority said on Wednesday that airports in Rzeszow and Lublin temporarily suspended air operations due to military aviation activity during Russian strikes on Ukraine.
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airports → say → Ukraine
Six dead as Russian long-range bomber crashes in far east
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bomber → crash → east
At least six crew members were killed after a Russian bomber crashed during a training flight.
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bomber → kill → flight
The incident occurred in an uninhabited part of the Amur region in the country's far east, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday.
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ministry → occur → Tuesday
The sole crew member who survived the crash was taken to hospital with injuries.
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who → survive → injuries
Report:
Germany identifies air defence shortages as Ukraine's 'weakest point'
Ukraine’s shortage of air defence missiles is currently its weakest point, the German Chancellor said on Tuesday, adding that Berlin is working with its partners to bolster Kyiv’s capabilities before winter sets in.
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winter → identify → capabilities
Friedrich Merz made the remarks during a briefing in Berlin, reported by DW.
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Merz → make → DW
Merz said he was raising the issue and trying to secure fresh supplies for Kyiv in discussions with multiple heads of state.
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he → say → state
I hope that we will be able to prepare Ukraine for the upcoming winter, including in the field of energy supply,” he said.
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he → hope → supply
Russia, he said, “will continue to bombard ruthlessly and destroy civilian infrastructure”.
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he → say → infrastructure
“But we will not let ourselves be intimidated by this,” he continued.
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he → let → this
“We will continue to support Ukraine, because we know: Ukraine is part of Europe.
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Ukraine → continue → Europe
If Ukraine falls, peace and freedom throughout Europe will be under threat.”
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peace → fall → threat
Russian air strikes kill 3, injure 7 in and around Kyiv, officials say
Russian air strikes killed three, including a child, and injured another seven people in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and the surrounding region early on Wednesday, officials said.
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officials → kill → Wednesday
The attack has killed two and injured four in the capital, Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram, and mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out, affecting private houses along with a store and a warehouse.
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fires → kill → store
Tymur Tkachenko, Kyiv regional governor, writing on Telegram, said that a Russian missile and a drone strike killed a child and injured three more people in the area, also damaging infrastructure facilities, houses, warehouses and cars.
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missile → write → facilities
Ukraine's neighbours, European Union and Nato members Romania and Poland, have both scrambled military jets to protect their airspaces amid Russian attacks on Ukraine, according to defence ministry and armed forces statements on X.
Russia raises 2027 military spending by 27% to £154bn
Russia plans to spend 17.1 trillion roubles (£154bn) on defence in 2027, around 27 per cent more than the 13.5 trillion roubles originally budgeted and the highest figure since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, government documents revealed.
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documents → scramble → 2022
Total defence spending will amount to 50 trillion roubles in the next three years, according to the documents, reported Reuters.
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Reuters → amount → documents
In 2026, the government planned to spend 12.1 trillion roubles on defence, but the actual amount is classified and will not be disclosed.
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amount → plan → defence
Some military spending can also be accounted for in other parts of the budget.
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spending → account → budget
The documents also showed the government raised its estimate for its 2026 budget deficit to 3.2 per cent of gross domestic product, from 1.6 per cent of GDP previously.
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government → show → GDP
Budget spending in 2026 will increase by 13.2 per cent to 48.6 trillion roubles or 20.9 per cent of GDP.
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spending → increase → GDP
The government is expected to submit the draft budget to parliament by 1 October.
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government → expect → October
Last week, it announced plans for new tax hikes in 2027 to finance the growing deficit.
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it → announce → deficit
The documents showed that a new windfall tax on metals and mining companies was expected to raise about 200 billion roubles annually.
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tax → show → roubles
Russian military seizes food dropped for local residents
Russian military personnel in Oleshky seized food packages dropped by Ukrainian forces for the residents of Oleshky, reported state news agency Ukrinform.
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personnel → seize → agency
Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky Military Administration, said that the Russians have been taking food away from locals for a while and questioning how residents are obtaining food if it is not manufactured in Russia.
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it → say → Russia
She added that if the Ukrainian Armed Forces were dropping the food, accepting it could be construed as cooperation – making it grounds for their detention.
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it → add → detention
Some locals have disappeared after being abducted by Russian forces, she alleged.
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she → disappear → forces
Ukraine sets its sights on boosting high-tech exports, hails digital resilience
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Ukraine → set → resilience
Ukraine aims to leverage its expertise in military technologies and digital innovation to sharply increase high-tech exports in coming years, including through the use of AI, the country's minister for digital transformation told Reuters on Tuesday.
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Ukraine → aim → Tuesday
Oksana Ferchuk said Ukraine was exploring cooperation agreements with the US, other countries and international institutions, drawing on its experiences maintaining digital services during the war against Russia's invasion, now in its fifth year.
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Ukraine → say → year
"Ukraine during the war showed this tremendous speed of digitising the state services and providing the services to the population in a digital way," said Ms Ferchuk, who travelled to Washington this week to meet with US economic, cybersecurity and telecommunications officials, as well as senior leaders at the World Bank.
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who → show → Bank
"We are ready to cooperate and consult other states in this experience, how it was done, how it was analysed, what is the architecture.
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architecture → cooperate → states
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
