The war in Ukraine has seen Russia launch more than 8,000 airstrikes and fire 4,500 missiles, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed. Standing beside the wreckage of a downed Iranian drone, he vowed that Putin’s attacks on power plants would not break Ukrainian spirits. Russia had aimed dozens of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine’s electricity network causing widespread power cuts over the last two weeks, with Ukraine shooting down 23 drones in the past two days alone.
Ukraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones so far, an air force spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, told a briefing on Friday. The drones have become a key weapon in Russia’s arsenal during its war in Ukraine and have often been used in the past month to target crucial energy infrastructure. Iran has denied Ukrainian and western accusations that it is supplying drones to Russia.
The US and its allies condemned Russia for wasting the time of the UN security council and spreading conspiracies by again raising its accusation that the US has “military biological programmes” in Ukraine. “How much more of this nonsense do we have to endure?” the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, asked the council. Russia has previously raised at least twice at the security council the issue of biological weapons programmes in Ukraine – while Washington and Kyiv say they do not exist. Russia is pushing for a formal inquiry.
The US has dismissed Russian accusations it is helping Ukraine engage with banned biological weapons. It claims Russia is attempting to “distract from the atrocities” being carried out in Ukraine, calling the allegations “pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence”.
Russia has bolstered its troops with “mobilised reservists” west of the Dnieper River, the UK’s MoD says. Over the past six weeks, its ground forces have transitioned to a “defensive posture” on the frontline, likely due to being “severely undermanned” and “poorly trained”.
The EU has appointed the Polish general Piotr Trytek to lead a new training operation with Ukrainian troops. Trytek, 51, was chosen by the bloc as part of its pledge to step up military support for Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin’s first deputy chief of staff visited the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Kherson. Sergei Kiriyenko stopped at the ferry port where hundreds of people were being removed after a warning from authorities.
A Russian official’s threat to “strike” western satellites aiding Ukraine has raised concerns among space lawyers and industry executives about the safety of objects in orbit. No country has carried out a missile strike against an enemy’s satellite.
UN nuclear inspectors are expected to reach conclusion on “dirty bomb”. Investigators are being sent to two locations in Ukraine where Russia alleged the activities were taking place, and are expected to reach a conclusion “in days”.
Russia claims only 3% of food exported under the UN-brokered Black Sea export deal has gone to the poorest countries. Several tonnes of grain have left blockaded Ukrainian ports since the contract was signed. However, Russia says Ukraine has failed to deliver humanitarian food assistance.
The US is sceptical of Putin’s claim to have no intention of using nuclear weapons. Putin had played down a nuclear standoff, insisting Russia had not threatened to use nuclear weapons, and had only responded to nuclear “blackmail” from western leaders.
Putin has said the war in Ukraine is part of Russia’s wider struggle against western domination. “We are standing at a historical frontier: Ahead is probably the most dangerous, unpredictable and, at the same time, important decade since the end of World War Two,” he said. The Ukraine offensive, he said in a speech addressed to the Valdai Discussion Club, a gathering of Russian specialists, on Thursday. He added the war was simply part of the “tectonic shifts of the entire world order” and that “the historical period of the west’s undivided dominance over world affairs is coming to an end”.
