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2:28pm: Russia postpones nuclear meeting with US

 has unilaterally postponed nuclear disarmament talks with  officials in Cairo planned for this week, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday, citing the US Embassy.

Officials from the two countries were set to meet in the Egyptian capital from November 29 to December 6 to discuss resuming inspections under the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty.

2:09pm: War demand drives Russian manufacturing sector

 drive to equip freshly mobilised troops and increase spending on its military campaign in  is helping the country’s industrial sector weather the economic storm better than expected.

Russian industrial output fell just 2.6% on an annual basis in October, according to the Rosstat federal statistics service, an improvement from a 3.1% decline registered in September and ahead of forecasts for a 3.8% fall.

The improvement came despite Russia calling up more than 300,000 reservists – mostly working-age men – for the fight in Ukraine, and businesses reporting labour shortages and heightened economic uncertainty.

1:59pm: Ukraine war increases chemical weapons threat, toxic arms watchdog says

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased the threat from weapons of mass destruction including , the head of the world’s toxic arms watchdog said on Monday.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine, its chief Fernando Arias told the regulator’s annual meeting.

“The situation in Ukraine has again increased the real threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, including chemical weapons,” Arias told the meeting in The Hague.

1:48pm: Turkey says it will discuss NATO bids with Swedish, Finnish FMs in Bucharest

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that he would meet with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts to discuss their bid to join on the margins of the alliance’s meeting in Bucharest on Tuesday. 

“We will come together with Swedish and Finnish foreign ministers tomorrow in Bucharest under a trilateral format,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the private NTV broadcaster. 

 Ankara has accused the two Nordic nations of providing a safe haven for outlawed militants it deems “terrorists” and held back on ratifying their NATO membership despite an agreement in June.

1:44pm: Russia summons Norwegian ambassador over arrest of Russian nationals

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it had summoned the ambassador over what it said was the politically-motivated arrest of Russian citizens for reportedly using drones illegally.

“It was noted that the sentences against the Russians were politically motivated and had nothing to do with the principles of fair and impartial justice,” the ministry said in a statement.

Several Russian citizens have reportedly been arrested by Norwegian authorities for flying drones near the Arctic border between the two countries or taking photos of classified facilities, as Norway boosts security following suspected sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.

1:14pm: Russian energy giant Gazprom says no further gas cuts to Moldova

Russian energy giant Gazprom announced Monday that it will not further reduce natural gas to Moldova as it had threatened to do after claiming that bills went unpaid and that flows crossing through Ukraine were not making it to Moldova.

Gazprom tweeted that Moldovagaz has “eliminated the violation of payment” for November supplies and that “funds for the gas deposited on the territory of Ukraine, intended for consumers in Moldova, have been received.”

Last week, Moldova and Ukraine hit back at Gazprom’s claim that Russian gas moving through the last pipeline to Western Europe was being stored in Ukraine, saying all supplies that Russia sends through the war-torn country get “fully transferred” to Moldova.

1:06pm: Kazakhstan wants to handle more Iran-Russia cargo, deputy PM says

 wants to handle greater volumes of cargo moving between Russia and Iran, a senior Kazakh official said on Monday, an increasingly important trade route as Russia’s isolation over its invasion of Ukraine grows.

Iran, also targeted by Western sanctions over its nuclear programme, has become a key ally for Russia, providing it both with much-needed goods such as , and with access to Gulf ports from which Russian goods can reach Asia.

Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, has distanced itself from Moscow politically, but Russia remains its biggest trading partner and Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin said Astana was keen to boost its transit role in the so-called North-South corridor between Russia and Iran.

10:51am: Kremlin denies reports that Russian forces planning to leave Zaporizhzhia plant

The Kremlin’s spokesman on Monday denied reports that Russian forces were planning to leave the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine, telling reporters they should not look for signs where there were none.

10:43am: Ukraine has repelled Russian attacks in Donetsk, military authority says

Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks in several areas, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, over the past 24 hours, the General Staff of ’s armed forces said in its daily update on Monday.

The General Staff added that Ukrainian forces on Saturday had destroyed six units of military equipment of various types and that about 30 servicemen had been injured in the area of the occupied Enerhodar city, where many of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant’s workers live.

9:50am: Kyiv mayor says residents should expect power cuts to continue into spring

Ukraine’s capital has reverted to a schedule of rolling blackouts that stick approximately to a planned schedule, FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg reports, and city authorities have promised that no one will lack power for more than five consecutive hours. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said residents should expect power cuts to continue into spring amid ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s grid.