The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, claimed that Russian forces have lost at least a brigade’s worth of troops attempting to advance on Ukraine’s eastern town of Avdiivka. “The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses. In these cases, the enemy lost at least a brigade,” Zelenskiy told the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in a phone call, according to the president’s office. Brigades vary in size and can number between 1,500 and 8,000 troops, and both Ukraine and Russia keep their battlefield losses a secret. Russian military bloggers have reported territorial gains by Moscow’s troops in the area, while Ukraine has described the situation as extremely difficult.
The White House has claimed Russia was executing soldiers who failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire. White House national security council spokesperson John Kirby said it was a development that security officials believe reflects Russia’s morale problems 20 months into its invasion.
Russia has said it thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack near a nuclear plant in the south of the country, where two news outlets said an explosion had damaged the facade of a warehouse storing nuclear waste. The defence ministry said air defences foiled “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack” when they intercepted a drone late on Thursday near the settlement of Kurchatov in the southern region of Kursk. Kurchatov is home to the Kursk nuclear power station, which said in a separate statement that an attempt to attack it with three drones had been thwarted.
At a meeting of the Russian security council, the president, Vladimir Putin, has claimed that weapons from the conflict in Ukraine are being smuggled into Russia. Putin said “We need to think about how weapons and ammunition enter the territory of the Russian Federation illegally. By the way, including from the territory of Ukraine. Not our troops, but such weapons still enter the territory of Russia from the territory of Ukraine.”
The wives and family of enlisted Ukrainian soldiers have gathered at Independence Square in Kyiv to call for the right to voluntarily demobilise after 18 months. “Our servicemen are strong, but they are not robots,” protesters shouted during the rally. In the first weeks after the invasion, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians volunteered to serve at the front, the Guardian has reported. But many of those initial recruits are now dead, wounded or simply exhausted, and the army needs new recruits to fill the ranks. However, most of those who want to fight have already signed up, leaving the military to recruit among a much more reluctant pool of men.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s top diplomatic adviser said officials from up to 70 nations will meet in Malta to discuss Ukraine’s vision for peace this weekend, rejecting the idea that cracks are appearing in allied support for Kyiv. The talks on Saturday and Sunday will bring together national security advisers and foreign ministry officials to discuss Zelenskiy’s 10-point blueprint for a peace settlement after 21 months of war with no end in sight. The talks, which do not involve Russia, will help gauge Ukraine and the West’s ability to drum up continued and broader support, particularly in the Global South, as the conflict in Israel dominates headlines, moving the focus from Kyiv.
A fire station has been struck in the Ukrainian city of Izyum, damaging equipment and injuring eight people.
Russian-installed official Vladimir Rogov has claimed Russia destroyed “at least four” of the Leopard tanks supplied to Ukraine by the west in the Zaporizhzhia region within the past 24 hours.
Arriving at the EU’s summit in Brussels, the European Council president, Charles Michel, said he expected leaders to discuss Ukraine, adding that there was broad support for financial assistance to the country.
Irish leader, Leo Varadkar, said “Because of all the other things that are happening in the world, and not least in the Middle East, it would be very easy to lose focus on the war in Ukraine – and essential that we don’t do that.”
Viktor Orbán, has told Hungarian state radio that the EU’s strategy over the war in Ukraine “has failed”, and the bloc should create a plan B, as the Ukrainians will not win on the frontline. In comments likely to infuriate Kyiv, Orbán said he saw no reason for Hungary, which shares a border with Ukraine, sending any taxpayers’ money to the EU budget for financial support for Ukraine.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has noted that “The Russian airforce’s long range aviation fleet of heavy bombers has not conducted air launched cruise missile strikes into Ukraine for over a month, one of the longest gaps in such strikes since the conflict began”. It suggests this may be because operationally the Russian air force needed to replenish cruise missiles stocks.
The Russian ambassador to the US has criticised Washington for its latest round of support for Ukraine. Anatoly Antonov said “The provocative and inflammatory actions of the US in the international arena are more like adding fuel to the fire than efforts to counter the further incitement and spread of bloody conflicts. It’s high time to stop senseless multibillion-dollar injections into the bankrupt Kyiv regime.”
Newly elected US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said that funding to support Ukraine and Israel should be handled separately, suggesting he will not back President Joe Biden’s $106 billion aid package for both countries. Johnson, speaking in an interview on Fox News, said he had concerns about Ukraine funding in general. “We want to know what the object is there, what is the end game in Ukraine.”
