Fierce fighting continued in southern and eastern Ukraine as both sides looked to be preparing for a battle over the strategically crucial city of Kherson in the south, part of a region Russian President Vladimir Putin has 'annexed' and subjected to martial law. Read about the day's developments as they unfolded on FRANCE 24's liveblog. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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10:28pm: US sees no evidence Russia is interested in ending Ukraine aggression
The United States will consider every means to advance diplomacy with Russia if it sees an opening, but at the moment Moscow shows no sign of willingness to engage in meaningful talks, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
“Every indication is that far from being willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy, President Putin continues to push in the opposite direction,” Blinken said at a press conference with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna.
“We consider and will consider every means to advance diplomacy if we see an opening to advance it by whatever means,” he said, but noted that Moscow was instead “doubling and tripling down” on its aggression.
Russia has intensified its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s power and water infrastructure this week in what Ukraine and the West call a campaign to intimidate civilians ahead of winter.
8:16pm: Zelensky accuses Russia of ‘delaying’ grain exports from Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday accused Russia of “deliberately delaying” the export of grain from Ukrainian ports bound for countries in Africa and Asia.
“Today more than 150 ships are in a queue to fulfil contractual obligations for the supply of our agricultural products,” Zelensky said in a video address. “This is an artificial queue. It arose only because Russia is deliberately delaying the passage of ships.”
“Due to the Russian slowdown”, Ukraine has under-exported “about 3 million tonnes of food”, he said. “Russia is doing everything to ensure that at least hundreds of thousands of these people become forced migrants, who will seek asylum ... or die of hunger,” he added.
In late July, Turkey and the United Nations brokered a landmark deal with Moscow and Kyiv that designated three Black Sea ports Ukraine could use to send much-needed grain supplies through a Russian blockade. But Russia has criticised the deal, complaining its own exports had suffered and claiming without evidence that most deliveries were arriving in Europe, not in poor countries where grain is needed most.
7:10pm: US, Russian defence ministers hold rare call on Ukraine
Russia’s defence minister held rare telephone talks with his US counterpart Friday after Kremlin proxy officials said they were turning Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson into a “fortress” as Kyiv’s forces advance.
Details of the conversation – including its duration – between Russia’s Sergei Shoigu and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin were scant from official read-outs but both sides said the senior officials had discussed Ukraine.
“Topical issues of international security – including the situation in Ukraine – were discussed,” Moscow said, with Washington saying: “Secretary Austin emphasised the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid the ongoing war against Ukraine”.
It was only the second call between the ministers since Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24. During the first, in May, Austin urged Moscow to implement an “immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine.
5:59pm: Ukraine PM calls for international monitoring at Kakhovka dam
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Friday called for an international monitoring mission to deploy at the Kakhovka dam, which Kyiv has accused Moscow of preparing to blow up.
“We call on the UN, the EU and other organisations to organise an international monitoring mission to the Kakhovka hydroelectric-power station.
“International specialists need to arrive immediately at the station along with Ukrainian personnel,” Shmyhal said during a government meeting.
3:57pm: Ukraine says 88 towns and villages recaptured in Kherson region
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had “de-occupied” 88 settlements in the southern region of Kherson.
Last week, Kyiv said 75 towns and villages had been recaptured in the region.
3:52pm: EU plans to aid Ukraine with €1.5 billion per month next year
The European Union is drawing up plans to provide Ukraine with €1.5 billion in economic aid per month next year, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.
Von der Leyen said Ukraine had requested that international donors provide “a stable, reliable and predictable flow” of macroeconomic support.
2:20pm: Russia turns Kherson into ‘fortress’ as Ukraine troops advance on key city
Kremlin proxy officials on Friday said they were building up defences and turning the southern city of Kherson into a “fortress” ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Ukrainian forces have in recent weeks advanced along the west bank of the Dnieper river towards the city, which lies in one of the four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia.
Kherson was the first major city to fall to Moscow’s troops since the February invasion began and retaking it would be a crucial prize for Ukraine in its bid to reconquer the territories taken by Russia.
1:49pm: Ukrainian forces pile pressure on Russian-held Kherson
Ukrainian forces continued to pile on the pressure on Russian positions in occupied Kherson Friday, targeting resupply routes across the Dnieper river as Kyiv inched closer to a full-scale assault to retake the strategic southern port city.
As many as 2,000 Russian draftees have poured into the Kherson region “to replenish losses and strengthen units on the front line," according to Ukraine's Army General Staff.
The Antonivskyi Bridge that is on a main route from Crimea to Russian-held territories in southern Ukraine was struck late Thursday, said Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern operational command, but but only after the 10 p.m. local curfew, to avoid civilian casualties.
“We do not attack civilians and settlements," Humeniuk told Ukrainian television after Kirill Stremousov, the Moscow-installed deputy chief of the regional administration claimed that at least four civilians were killed as a result of Ukrainian strikes.
1:38pm: Ukraine warns Russia planning to destroy hydro dam
Kyiv accused Russia of planning to destroy a hydroelectric dam in the southern Kherson region, where Ukrainian soldiers have been steadily advancing and Moscow-installed authorities have begun evacuations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had mined the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant with the intent of blowing it up, in what would amount to a "catastrophe on a grand scale".
Hundreds of thousands of people around the lower Dnipro River would be in danger of rapid flooding if the dam was destroyed, Zelensky warned in a speech Thursday to European leaders.
He said cutting water supplies to the south could also impact the cooling systems of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest.
12:46pm: Baltics push EU on Ukraine war tribunal for Russia
Leaders from the Baltic states on Friday urged their EU counterparts to help set up a special tribunal to prosecute Russia's top brass for the "crime of aggression" against Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently probing potential war crimes conducted by Russian forces in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion in February.
But there are calls from Kyiv to establish an additional tribunal to target Moscow for the "crime of aggression" as it would allow for the swifter prosecution of Russia's leadership.
"We definitely have to discuss the legal response to the crimes of aggression that have been committed and how to make a separate tribunal to prosecute those," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said, at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.
11:58am: Kremlin 'condemns' arrests of Russian nationals at US request
The Kremlin on Friday condemned the arrests of two Russians – including the son of a senior official -- on a US request in Europe for alleged sanctions evasion and illegal sale of US technology to Russian arms companies.
"We are categorically against this and we condemn the practice of these kinds of arrests of Russian citizens," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Moscow will do "everything possible" to defend them.
11:21am: Russia says Ukraine killed four people evacuating Kherson
Russia said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had killed at least four people and wounded 13 more in a missile attack on civilians evacuating from the Russian-controlled city of Kherson.
A Ukrainian official acknowledged an attack, but said it occurred after a civilian curfew.
Russian-installed authorities in the southern Ukrainian region which Moscow proclaimed as annexed last month are evacuating around 50,000-60,000 people across the Dnipro River ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Russia's investigative committee said that Ukrainian forces deliberately attacked a civilian column as it was crossing the Dnipro river from Kherson.
10:49am: 'Everyone does what they can': Ukraine's Mikhailivka recovers from occupation
Mikhailivka, a quiet town on the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine, was one of the first in Kherson region to be captured during the Russian invasion – and things are slowly getting back to normal after the Ukrainian military retook it on October 2. FRANCE 24 reports.
10:32am: Iran advises citizens to refrain from Ukraine travel
Iran's foreign ministry advised its citizens on Friday to refrain from traveling to Ukraine and asked Iranians there to leave the country, semi-official news agencies reported.
"Due to the military escalation in Ukraine, all Iranians are strongly advised to refrain from traveling to Ukraine. Also, Iranians living in Ukraine are advised to leave the country for their own safety," a ministry statement said.
8:54am: EU weighs Ukraine support as new refugee exodus beckons
European Union leaders are gathering Friday to take stock of their support for Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia is trying to spark a refugee exodus by destroying his war-ravaged country’s energy infrastructure.
Nearly eight months into the war, Russia is increasingly targeting Ukraine’s power stations, waterworks and other key infrastructure with missile and drone strikes. Meanwhile, the EU is struggling with the fallout of having to urgently wean itself off Russian gas and oil as the war fuels price hikes and market nervousness.
In a speech via video link to European leaders in Brussels on Thursday, Zelensky said that “attacks by Russian cruise missiles and Iranian combat drones have destroyed more than a third of our energy infrastructure. Because of this, unfortunately we are no longer able to export electricity to help you maintain stability.”
7:55am: Explosions heard in Ukraine's Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia
A series of blasts rocked the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia on Friday, authorities said, after Russian forces stepped up missile strikes on Ukraine in the past few weeks, targeting electric power facilities.
Missiles hit an industrial facility in Kharkiv on Friday, its mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said, adding that rescuers had yet to assess the damage and determine if there were casualties.
Separately, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Sinegubov said five people had been wounded.
The information on the Zaporizhzhia blasts was provided by regional governor Oleksandr Starukh.
12:00am: Russian, Ukrainian troops prepare for major battle in Kherson
Russian and Ukrainian troops appeared Thursday to be girding for a major battle over the strategic southern industrial port city of Kherson, in a region which Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally annexed and subjected to martial law.
Fighting and evacuations were reported in the Kherson region as Moscow tried to pound the invaded country into submission with more missile and drone attacks on critical infrastructure.
Putin declared martial law in the Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions on Wednesday in an attempt to assert Russian authority in the annexed areas as he faced battlefield setbacks, a troubled troop mobilisation, increasing criticism at home and abroad, and international sanctions.
The unsettled status of the illegally absorbed territory was especially visible in the Kherson region’s capital, where Russian military officials have replaced Kremlin-installed civilian leaders as part of martial law that took effect Thursday to defend against a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Kherson city, with a prewar population of about 284,000, was one of the first urban areas Russia captured when it invaded Ukraine, and it remains the largest city it holds. It is a prime target for both sides because of its key industries and major river port. Reports of sabotage and assassinations of Russian-installed officials in Kherson have surfaced for months, in what appeared to be one of the most active Ukrainian resistance movements in occupied territory.
Russian-installed officials have urged residents to evacuate for their safety and to allow the military to build fortifications. Officials said 15,000 residents of an expected 60,000 had been relocated from the city and surrounding areas as of Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said Thursday that Ukrainian forces mounted 15 attacks on Russian military strongholds in the Kherson region. For its part, Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman said the Kremlin’s forces repelled Ukrainian attempts to advance with tanks on the Kherson villages of Sukhanove, Nova Kamianka and Chervonyi Yar.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)
