Ukrainian forces have secured a foothold on the east bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff was quoted as saying. Andriy Yermak’s remarks were the first official acknowledgment that Ukrainian troops were established on the Dnipro’s east bank in Kherson region, Reuters reported.
A top Ukrainian military official has said Russian troops have continued simultaneous assault attempts in several directions on the country’s east, and are increasing the use of kamikaze drones, Reuters reported. The head of Ukraine’s ground forces, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russia, despite high losses, has been attacking Ukrainian positions near Kupiansk. “In addition, the enemy has increased the use of kamikaze drones,” he said on Telegram.
Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said Russia had hit Nikopol region 11 times on Tuesday, using kamikaze drones and artillery. He wrote on Telegram that the district centre was most heavily targeted and that a 26-year-old man died.
The former detective Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, convicted for his role in the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, has been pardoned after fighting in Ukraine, his lawyer said. “As a special forces fighter, he was invited to sign a contract to participate in the special military operation … When the contract expired, he was pardoned by presidential decree,” lawyer Alexei Mikhalchik told AFP.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Russia is increasing its attacks across the frontline, AFP reported. “The military reported an increase in the number of enemy assaults,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram on Tuesday, saying Russian forces were attacking around Donetsk, Kupiansk and Avdiivka.
The former detective Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, convicted for his role in the 2006 killing of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, has been pardoned after fighting in Ukraine, his lawyer said. “As a special forces fighter, he was invited to sign a contract to participate in the special military operation … When the contract expired, he was pardoned by presidential decree,” lawyer Alexei Mikhalchik told AFP.
Vladimir Putin has approved changes to the law that governs presidential elections by putting new restrictions on media coverage, local news agencies reported.
The EU will miss its target of supplying Ukraine with 1m artillery shells and missiles by next March, the German defence minister said. Boris Pistorius’s comments, the first public admission by a senior European minister that the target would not be met, were made before a summit of EU defence ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.
Russian shelling on Monday damaged a hospital and homes in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, killing three people and injuring at least 12, local governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Xi Jinping and Joe Biden are expected to discuss Ukraine, the Middle East, North Korea’s ties with Russia, Taiwan, human rights, artificial intelligence, in a meeting scheduled for Wednesday at the Apec summit.
At least three Russian officers were killed in the Moscow-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol in a blast Ukraine’s intelligence said was an “act of revenge” by local resistance groups.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken and newly appointed British foreign secretary David Cameron discussed the Israel-Hamas conflict, relations with China and help for Ukraine during a telephone call on Monday, the state department said. “Secretary Blinken and Lord Cameron underscored continuity in the US-UK special relationship and its importance to regional and global security,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a readout of the conversation.
Blinken promised a top Ukrainian official that sustained US support including help to get through the winter, with Russia expected to strike Kyiv’s infrastructure again. Blinken met Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on a brief stop in Washington in between the top US diplomat’s latest Middle East crisis tour and an Asia-Pacific summit in San Francisco.
Save Ukraine, an organisation that focuses on rescuing Ukraine’s most vulnerable people, has said its rescuers have evacuated more than 108,880 people from the frontlines since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. It said its rescue network provided humanitarian assistance to more than 186,450 people, with its hotline operators fielding more than 161,425 calls from Ukrainians in urgent need of assistance.
