The Ukrainian military says it has seized the village of Andriivka in the partially occupied Donetsk region. The battle around Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine caused Russian forces “significant losses in manpower and equipment”, the Ukrainian armed forces’ general staff said on Facebook. It also had “partial success in the area of Klishchiivka”, it said, while Russian forces were continuing to try to break through Ukrainian defences in the Bohdanivka area.
A Russian drone attack in western Ukraine was an attempt to target warplanes used this week to attack Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukrainian air force colonel Yuriy Ihnat has said. Russia fired 17 drones overnight on Thursday at the central Khmelnytskyi region that is home to the Starokostiantyniv airbase, Ukraine’s air force said. Debris damaged 12 homes and shattered windows in a school but no one was hurt, regional official Serhiy Tiurin said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Washington next week and meet President Joe Biden, the White House confirmed on Friday. The Ukrainian president will also hold meetings at the US Congress as it debates providing as much as $21bn in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Zelenskiy’s second wartime trip to Washington will come after meetings with other world leaders at the UN general assembly in New York.
A Ukrainian sea drone damaged the “Samum” small Russian missile ship in an attack at the entrance to occupied Crimea’s Sevastopol Bay and the vessel had to be towed away for repairs, a Ukrainian intelligence source said on Friday. Russia’s defence ministry said the previous day that it repelled an attack on the Samum in the Black Sea, during which it destroyed a naval drone.
Talks on North Korea providing arms to Russia for use against Ukraine have continued to advance after a meeting between Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday. North Korea’s official KCNA news agency reported on Saturday that Kim expressed admiration for Russia’s aviation technology undergoing rapid development and outpacing potential threats during his visit to a Russian fighter jet factory on Friday.
The European Union said on Friday it was ending an import ban on Ukrainian grain in five member states but Poland, Hungary and Slovakia immediately announced they would defy the move. The EU’s decision had been taken after Kyiv agreed to introduce measures such as an export licensing system within 30 days to “avoid grain surges”, the European Commission said.
Tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims gathered in the Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday to mark the Rosh Hashanah religious festival, despite warnings not to travel due to Russia’s invasion. Security was tightened ahead of this year’s gathering, as Ukrainian officials urged pilgrims to follow warnings. “At present, about 32,000 pilgrims have already arrived in Uman,” said Iryna Rybnytska from the Historical Cultural Centre of Uman.
A Ukrainian court has ordered a former government minister to be detained for 60 days with no option of bail on suspicion of espousing pro-Russian sentiments and committing treason. Nestor Shufrych is accused of maintaining contacts with a fugitive Ukrainian parliamentarian suspected by investigators to have worked for Russian security services and of abetting plans to encourage pro-Moscow separatism in eastern Ukraine. “This is what the authorities need,” Shufrych said in a video issued by Public Suspilne Television as court officials led him away on Friday.
A leading Russian general has resurfaced in Algeria after disappearing from public view following the Wagner mercenary group’s attempted mutiny in June. Nicknamed “Gen Armageddon”, Sergei Surovikin was removed from his post as commander of Russia’s aerospace force in August, two months after the mercenary group sought to topple Russia’s military command.
Satellite images appear to show the dismantling of a Wagner militia base south-east of the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The images of activity in recent weeks showed tents being taken down at the Tsel military base in Mogilev region, and may indicate the winding down of the Russian mercenary company’s presence in the country after the brief mutiny in Russia.
