Ukrainian forces have decisively breached Russia’s first defensive line near Zaporizhzhia after weeks of painstaking mine clearance, and expect faster gains as they press the weaker second line, the general leading the southern counteroffensive has told the Observer. Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy estimated Russia had devoted 60% of its time and resources into building the first defensive line and only 20% each into the second and third lines because Moscow had not expected Ukrainian forces to get through. “We are now between the first and second defensive lines,” he said.
Ukrainian forces were “on the move”, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as the US acknowledged the “notable progress” of the counteroffensive over the past few days. Zelenskiy said on Telegram: “Despite everything and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing.”
A Ukrainian court ordered tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky to be held in custody for two months on suspicion of fraud and money laundering on Saturday. The detention of Kolomoisky, who is under US sanctions and is a one-time supporter of Zelenskiy, comes as Kyiv is trying to signal progress in a corruption crackdown.
The Nobel Foundation has reversed its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm, after the move sparked anger in Sweden and abroad. The foundation said on Saturday that it had chosen “to repeat last year’s exception to regular practice – that is, to not invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran”.
Russia has taken down three Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region, the Russian defence ministry said on Saturday, while the regional governor said one man had been killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike on a village close to the border. Separately, the governors of the nearby frontier regions of Bryansk and Kursk said a string of border villages had come under fire from Ukraine, and a woman had been wounded in the Kursk region.
Zelenskiy said on Saturday that two more ships had passed through a “temporary” Black Sea shipping corridor established after Russia withdrew from a UN-backed grain export deal in July. On Friday officials said two vessels had cleared the corridor, bringing to four the number that have used it.
Russia risks dividing its forces as it seeks to prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough in Ukraine’s south, the UK Ministry of Defence said. It said Ukrainian forces continued to take offensive action on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine, with units reaching the first Russian main defensive line.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is to host his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for talks on Monday, the Kremlin has announced. It comes just over six weeks after Moscow broke off the deal brokered by Ankara and the UN that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces destroyed an unmanned Ukrainian boat being used in an attempt to attack the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland. The vessel had been “spotted and destroyed in time off the Black Sea coast” along with three naval drones, it said early on Saturday.
Elections are under way in Russian-controlled provinces of Ukraine as part of a move to cement Moscow’s authorities in its “new territories” despite the ongoing conflict. Russia does not fully control any of the four regions where the votes are being held – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
The largest refugee centre established to home Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion has been closed by Poland after it said the sanctuary was no longer required, since most had now found homes elsewhere.
