Closing summary
It is just after 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, told Volodymyr Zelenskiy the war with Russia was in a “pivotal moment” as Ukraine’s military continues its counteroffensive in the south of the country. AP reports that Blinken told Zelenskiy: “We know this is a pivotal moment, more than six months into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as your counteroffensive is now under way and proving effective.”
Blinken’s surprise trip to Kyiv came after the United States unveiled nearly $2.7bn (£2.4bn) in new military support to Ukraine and other European countries threatened by Russia. Blinken travelled in secret on his second trip to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began in February. Blinken approved $2bn in foreign military financing, a programme in which the US offers loans or grants to other nations to buy US-produced weapons. This amount comes on top of the announcement by the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, of another $675m in military assistance that includes more arms, ammunition and supplies for Himars, the precision-guided rockets that can hit targets as far as 80km (50 miles) away.
Poland and the Baltic states have announced they will temporarily restrict access for Russian citizens holding EU visas. The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said in a statement that the move had been taken to address “public policy and security threats” arising from the “substantial and growing influx of Russian citizens” into the EU. “We believe that this is becoming a serious threat to our public security and to the overall shared Schengen area,” they said. The measures are expected to come into force by 19 September, and will “restrict the entry into the Schengen area for Russian citizens travelling for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II who has died at the age of 96. He said on Twitter: “It is with deep sadness that we learned of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of the people, we extend sincere condolences to the @RoyalFamily, the entire United Kingdom and the Commonwealth over this irreparable loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
Ukraine has now recaptured more than 700 sq km (270 sq miles) of territory in Kharkiv and in the south, according to a Ukrainian general. Speaking at a public briefing, Brig Gen Oleksiy Gromov said Ukrainian forces had advanced as far as 50km (31 miles) into Russian lines and retaken more than 20 villages. The comments are the most detailed public assessment so far of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
Ukraine has struck over 400 Russian targets with Himars rocket systems supplied by the United States, Reuters reports. Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told reporters at Ramstein airbase in southern Germany: “We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems. For example, the Ukrainians have struck over 400 targets with the Himars and they’ve had devastating effect.”
Norway said it will donate approximately 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine as well as launching pads and guidance units. During the meeting of 40 allied defence departments at the Ramstein base in Germany, Norwegian defence minister Bjørn Arild Gram said his country would also supply Ukraine with night-vision equipment, adding that Kyiv had requested the weapons, reports AP.
Two people have been killed and four have been injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, according to the office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine. A post on Facebook said there had been “massive shelling” in the central part of the city of Bakhmut on Thursday, and that the shells had come from the Soviet-designed Uragan rocket system. It added that a woman had also died near her home after shelling in the town of Toretska in the New York region.
Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea last month. It marks the first official acknowledgment from Kyiv that it was behind the strike, which destroyed at least nine Russian aircraft at the site.
About 51,250 Russian personnel have now been killed since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian military has said. The figure represents an increase of 640 since Wednesday’s update.
Local authorities said that two people have been killed and five have been injured in Russian shelling in Kharkiv’s industrial district.
Three bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a building shelled by Russian forces in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
The UK’s ministry of defence said Ukraine appears to be “imposing pressure on Russian forces” in Kherson and has probably destroyed a bridge that served as “one of the main routes between the northern and southern sectors of Russia’s military presence along the Dnipro River”.
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, has said the deportation of people from Ukraine has “chilling echoes from European history” and that the “appalling term ‘de-nazification’” was a “cover for obliterating Ukraine from the map”.
Belarus has started military exercises near the Polish border, its capital Minsk, and the northeastern region of Vitebsk, according to the country’s defence ministry. It said the exercises, which are set to last a week, will practise “liberating territory temporarily seized by the enemy” and regaining control over border regions.
That’s it from me, Joe Middleton, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thank you for reading.
Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian MP, paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II who has died at the age of 96.
Sovsun said on Twitter that Her Majesty was a “faithful friend of Ukraine” and offered her “deepest condolences” to the British people.
Read more: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, dies aged 96
Queen Elizabeth passed away.
— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) September 8, 2022
This is a loss not only for the UK, but for the whole world.
The Queen was a faithful friend of Ukraine & she wasn't afraid to talk about it.
British people, you're one of our greatest allies & today, Ukrainians offer you their deepest condolences
RIP pic.twitter.com/IYdoMqyEWI
Ukraine has struck over 400 Russian targets with Himars rocket systems supplied by the United States, Reuters reports.
Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told reporters at Ramstein airbase in southern Germany:
We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems. For example, the Ukrainians have struck over 400 targets with the Himars and they’ve had devastating effect.
The Himars multiple launch rocket system is a mobile unit that can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided missiles.
Updated
Our defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh offers his analysis of Ukraine’s counterattack, which seems to have taken Russia and everyone else by surprise:
A sudden, unexpected Ukrainian military success south-east of Kharkiv changes the analysis of Kyiv’s counterattack strategy. What had been expected to be a well-telegraphed effort to isolate the city of Kherson in the south has been turned on its head by the sudden pushback against Russian forces at the northern edge of the front.
The effort started on Tuesday, and by Wednesday the US Institute for the Study of War estimated that Ukraine’s forces had, in a surprise attack, advanced “at least 20km into Russian-held territory” recapturing approximately 400 sq km (154 sq miles) in an area scarcely focused on by military analysts until now.
According to one Russian military blogger, as highlighted by Rob Lee, a former US marine and military analyst, Ukrainian forces massed a “powerful tank fist” with 15 tanks to break through the occupiers lines. Cleverly, Kyiv had brought up its air defences in support, preventing Russian jets from immediately striking back to eradicate the gains, a sign of more sophisticated battlefield tactics.
The fighting is concentrated around the village of Balakliya, roughly 45 miles south-east of Kharkiv – which appears to still be held by the Russians, but which Ukraine hopes to surround – and in the vicinity of Shevchenkovo on the way to the Russian staging post of Kupiansk. The military aim is to increase pressure on Izium, a strategic city captured by the invaders at the end of April, a gateway to the western Donbas.
Read more: Ukraine counterattack takes Russia – and everyone else – by surprise
Nato head warns that Ukraine and its supporters face 'tough winter'
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, warned today that Ukraine and its supporters face a tough winter in coming months.
Stoltenberg told the Associated Press:
We need at least to be prepared for this winter, because there is no sign of Russia giving up its goal of taking control of Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is approaching a pivotal moment where we see that the Russian offensive in Donbas has stalled. We see that the Ukrainians have been able to fight back, to strike back and regain some territory.
Despite the promise of further and equipment and weapons during a meeting of Western allies in Ramstein, south-west Germany on Thursday, more winter equipment is required, said the head of the western military alliance.
He said:
Winter’s coming, and winter’s going to be hard on the battlefield in Ukraine. We know that the size of the Ukrainian army is now roughly three times as big as what it was last winter.
“They are in urgent need for more winter uniforms, for generators that create electricity, warmth, and also of course tents and other things that can help them through the winter.
Stoltenberg also urged western countries that were suffering with high energy prices and inflation to keep the faith and that the price of ending support now would be a price that’s too high to pay.
He said:
I understand that many people are frustrated and actually feel the pain in Nato countries with increasing energy prices, the cost of living. But at the same time, we have to remember that the price we pay is measured in money, in US dollars or pounds or euros, while the price that Ukrainians are paying is measured in lives lost every day.
If President Putin wins in Ukraine, then the world will become more dangerous. Then he will see that he is rewarded, that he can get this way by using brutal military force, by invading a neighbour, by blatantly violating international rule and attacking innocent civilians.
Updated
US secretary of state Blinken tells President Zelenskiy war is at 'pivotal moment'
The US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, told Volodymyr Zelenskiy the war with Russia was in a “pivotal moment” as Ukraine’s military continues its counteroffensive in the south of the country.
Blinken made a surprise visit to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Thursday after the US unveiled nearly $2.7bn (£2.4bn) in new military support to Ukraine and other European countries threatened by Russia.
AP reports that Blinken told Zelenskiy:
We know this is a pivotal moment, more than six months into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as your counteroffensive is now under way and proving effective.
Zelenskiy replied:
We are grateful for the signal, for this enormous support that you’re providing on a day-to-day basis.
Updated
Pjotr Sauer reports:
“The war in Ukraine will continue until the complete defeat of Russia,” Igor Girkin, a far-right nationalist, grumbled in a video address to his 430,000 followers on Telegram on Monday. “We have already lost, the rest is just a matter of time.”
Girkin, a former Russian intelligence colonel who became a commander of the pro-Russian separatist forces in 2014, is arguably the most prominent voice within an increasingly loud and angry group of ultra-nationalist and pro-war bloggers who have taken to berating the Kremlin for its failure to achieve its tactical objectives as the fighting in Ukraine has entered its seventh month.
After Ukraine’s latest counteroffensive in the south and the north-east of the country, these bloggers – who have so far been granted a public platform denied to many – have intensified their criticism of the Kremlin, slamming the army’s inadequate performance in the war and urging Vladimir Putin to declare a full-scale mobilisation.
Read more: ‘We have already lost’: far-right Russian bloggers slam military failures
Updated
Summary
It is just after 6pm in Kyiv. Here is everything you might have missed:
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has made a surprise trip to Kyiv as the United States unveiled nearly $2.7bn (£2.4bn) in new military support to Ukraine and other European countries threatened by Russia. Blinken travelled in secret on his second trip to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began in February. Blinken approved $2bn in foreign military financing, a programme in which the US offers loans or grants to other nations to buy US-produced weapons. This amount comes on top of the announcement by the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, of another $675m in military assistance that includes more arms, ammunition and supplies for Himars, the precision-guided rockets that can hit targets as far as 80km (50 miles) away.
Poland and the Baltic states have announced they will temporarily restrict access for Russian citizens holding EU visas. The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said in a statement that the move had been taken to address “public policy and security threats” arising from the “substantial and growing influx of Russian citizens” into the EU. “We believe that this is becoming a serious threat to our public security and to the overall shared Schengen area,” they said. The measures are expected to come into force by 19 September, and will “restrict the entry into the Schengen area for Russian citizens travelling for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes”.
Ukraine has now recaptured more than 700 sq km (270 sq miles) of territory in Kharkiv and in the south, according to a Ukrainian general. Speaking at a public briefing, Brig Gen Oleksiy Gromov said Ukrainian forces had advanced as far as 50km (31 miles) into Russian lines and retaken more than 20 villages. The comments are the most detailed public assessment so far of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
Norway said it will donate approximately 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine as well as launching pads and guidance units. During the meeting of 40 allied defence departments at the Ramstein base in Germany, Norwegian defence minister Bjørn Arild Gram said his country would also supply Ukraine with night-vision equipment, adding that Kyiv had requested the weapons, reports AP.
Two people have been killed and four have been injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, according to the office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine. A post on Facebook said there had been “massive shelling” in the central part of the city of Bakhmut on Thursday, and that the shells had come from the Soviet-designed Uragan rocket system. It added that a woman had also died near her home after shelling in the town of Toretska in the New York region.
Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea last month. It marks the first official acknowledgment from Kyiv that it was behind the strike, which destroyed at least nine Russian aircraft at the site.
About 51,250 Russian personnel have now been killed since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian military has said. The figure represents an increase of 640 since Wednesday’s update.
Local authorities said that two people have been killed and five have been injured in Russian shelling in Kharkiv’s industrial district.
Three bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a building shelled by Russian forces in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
The UK’s ministry of defence said Ukraine appears to be “imposing pressure on Russian forces” in Kherson and has probably destroyed a bridge that served as “one of the main routes between the northern and southern sectors of Russia’s military presence along the Dnipro River”.
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, has said the deportation of people from Ukraine has “chilling echoes from European history” and that the “appalling term ‘de-nazification’” was a “cover for obliterating Ukraine from the map”.
Belarus has started military exercises near the Polish border, its capital Minsk, and the northeastern region of Vitebsk, according to the country’s defence ministry. It said the exercises, which are set to last a week, will practise “liberating territory temporarily seized by the enemy” and regaining control over border regions.
Updated
Activists from Greenpeace blocked a shipment of Russian gas from unloading at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Sweden today, the terminal owner and environmental group said.
A spokesperson for terminal owner Gasum, Olga Väisänen, told AFP.
Activists climbed up on the loading arms at the terminal and they have boats in the water.
She said the protest at the Nynäshamn terminal near Stockholm began around 10am (8am GMT) and was still going on more than five hours later, though police had forced the activists to climb down from the loading arms.
Greenpeace’s sailboat Witness and activists in kayaks were blocking the Dutch-registered LNG tanker Coral Energy from docking and unloading.
They unfurled banners reading “Stop financing Putin’s war” and “Stop Russian fossil trade”.
Greenpeace campaigner Karolina Carlsson said in a statement.
That Russian gas is still allowed to flow into Sweden, more than six months after Putin began his bloody invasion of Ukraine, is unacceptable.
We all know that fossil fuels from Russia are financing the war. The [Swedish] parliament has given the government a clear mandate to stop all imports of Russian energy to Sweden and it is prime minister Magdalena Andersson’s obligation to act on this.
Updated
These are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
Updated
Two people have been killed and four have been injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, according to the office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine.
A post on Facebook said there had been “massive shelling” in the central part of the city of Bakhmut on Thursday, and that the shells had come from the Soviet-designed Uragan rocket system.
“The invaders’ shells hit private houses, shops, gas stations and high-rise buildings. One local resident died, four others were injured,” the post said.
It added that a woman had also died near her home after shelling in the town of Toretska in the New York region.
Ukraine has recaptured more than 700 sq km, says general
Ukraine has now recaptured more than 700 sq km (270 sq miles) of territory in Kharkiv and in the south, according to a Ukrainian general.
Speaking at a public briefing, Brig Gen Oleksiy Gromov said Ukrainian forces had advanced as far as 50km (31 miles) into Russian lines and retaken more than 20 villages.
The comments are the most detailed public assessment so far of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
“The total amount of territory returned to Ukrainian control in the Kharkiv and Pivdennyi Buh directions stands at over 700 sq km,” Gromov said.
Pivdennyi Buh is a river that runs through the southern frontline city of Mykolaiv before discharging into the Black Sea.
Updated
Poland and Baltic states to restrict visas for Russian citizens
Poland and the Baltic states have announced they will temporarily restrict access for Russian citizens holding EU visas.
The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said in a statement that the move had been taken to address “public policy and security threats” arising from the “substantial and growing influx of Russian citizens” into the EU.
“We believe that this is becoming a serious threat to our public security and to the overall shared Schengen area,” they said.
The measures are expected to come into force by 19 September, and will “restrict the entry into the Schengen area for Russian citizens travelling for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes”.
Exceptions will be made for various categories, including “dissidents”, “humanitarian cases”, family members and holders of residence permits in EU countries.
“We fully uphold the need to continue to support opponents of the Putin regime and provide them with opportunities to leave Russia,” the leaders said.
But they added that it was “unacceptable that citizens of the aggressor state are able to freely travel in the EU, while at the same time people in Ukraine are being tortured and murdered”.
Updated
Lorenzo Tondo reports for us from Kyiv
An independent Italian journalist has been wounded while covering the fighting near the frontline in the southern region of Kherson.
Italian authorities said Mattia Sorbi, a contributor to several Italian newspapers, was taken for surgery after an incident on Thursday, but added that his condition was not life threatening.
The Italian foreign ministry said Sorbi was in hospital in Russian-occupied territory, but that it was in touch with him and working to bring him back to Italy soon.
Ukraine said last week that it had launched offensives in several directions in Kherson, but has since released few details and continues to insist on a “regime of silence” for strategic reasons, with journalists temporarily banned from travelling to the frontlines in the south.
Updated
Norway said today it will donate approximately 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine as well as launching pads and guidance units.
During the meeting of 40 allied defence departments at the Ramstein base in Germany, Norwegian defence minister Bjørn Arild Gram said his country would also supply Ukraine with night-vision equipment, adding that Kyiv had requested the weapons, reports AP.
The minister said:
This is the weapon that Ukraine asked for, and it will come in handy in the fight against Russian occupying forces.
The Hellfire is an anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile that Arild Gram said is easy to control and can be used on land or sea targets.
Updated
US secretary of state Antony Blinken is visiting Kyiv and has tweeted his thanks to US embassy staff based in the Ukrainian capital “for their service to our country and the US-Ukraine partnership”.
Amid terrible loss, the courageous and resilient team at @usembassykyiv continues to demonstrate the best of our ideals. I expressed my thanks to @USAmbKyiv and all of the Ukrainians and Americans at our Embassy for their service to our country and the U.S.-Ukraine partnership. pic.twitter.com/PtqLperZ24
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 8, 2022
Updated
Julia Kollewe reports:
Lloyd’s of London has warned of a “challenging year” of natural catastrophes, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and inflation as the world’s oldest insurance market braced for a £1.1bn hit from unrecoverable planes and cargoes related to the war in Ukraine.
Lloyd’s said it had set aside the sum for customers affected by the conflict, mostly for grounded aircraft, ships trapped in the Black Sea, and disrupted exports of cereals and agricultural products from Ukraine and Russia.
Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the chairman, said Lloyd’s had estimated the losses using the same methodology as for the pandemic, but that only about 4% of claims for losses from the war had been received so far. Covid-19 was far more costly for the Lloyd’s market, where 76 firms operate, at £3.5bn. Overall, the war in Ukraine could cost the global insurance industry £10bn to £12bn, according to estimates.
Read more: Lloyd’s of London takes £1.1bn hit from Ukraine war
Updated
Ukraine’s minister of defence, Oleksii Reznikov, has thanked the US for the $675m in military assistance that will fund arms, ammunitions and military vehicles.
The first good news from the #Ramstein 5!
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) September 8, 2022
Another tranche of 🇺🇸 security assistance for 🇺🇦 ($675 million) will include howitzers, artillery munitions, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems and more.
Thank you to @POTUS @SecDef and the American people.
Updated
As we reported earlier, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has made an impromptu visit to Kyiv.
As part of his trip, Blinken visited a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital and was pictured holding a landmine sniffer dog and talking to six-year-old Marina from the Kherson region.
Updated
Lorenzo Tondo reports for us from Kyiv
Ukrainian police have uncovered a sprawling child sexual abuse network involving dozens of Russian children, whose images and videos were allegedly traded inside and outside the country, but said it was impossible to pursue the case because of the war.
A Ukrainian man has been arrested and 15 children, all Russians living in Russia, identified, but prosecutors in the Kyiv region have said they were not able to trace other victims or arrest other suspects because of the severing of Russia-Ukraine relations since the Kremlin’s invasion.
“These kinds of crimes are unfortunately common everywhere, in Ukraine and Europe,” said Oleh Tkalenko, a senior prosecutor for the Kyiv region, who led the investigation. “But what terrifies us is the large scale of these crimes in Russia.”
Read more here: Ukraine police uncover child sexual abuse ring involving Russian children
Updated
US Secretary of State Blinken makes surprise visit to Kyiv
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has made a surprise trip to Kyiv as the United States unveiled nearly $2.7bn in new military support to Ukraine.
Blinken travelled in secret on his second trip to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began in February, AFP reported.
A senior US official accompanying Blinken said:
The secretary very much wanted to come on this trip now because it’s such a consequential moment for Ukraine.
She pointed to Ukraine’s counter-offensive nearly seven months into the invasion, with Volodymyr Zelenskiy announcing on Wednesday that Kyiv had retaken several places in the Kharkiv region.
She added:
All of the security assistance is trying to help ensure that Ukraine is successful in the counter-offensive,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
If they are, I do think it is very significant in terms of how the war moves forward.
Blinken approved $2bn in foreign military financing, a programme in which the US offers loans or grants to other nations to buy US-produced weapons.
Half of the new $2n package will go to Ukraine and the rest to 18 other nations seen as under threat from Russia, another State Department official said.
The approved recipients include Moldova and Georgia, which both have breakaway regions backed by Russia, as well as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Bosnia, where tensions have grown with Russian-backed Bosnian Serb leaders.
This amount comes on top of defense secretary Lloyd Austin’s announcement of another $675n in military assistance that includes more arms, ammunition and supplies for Himars, the precision-guided rockets that can hit targets as far as 80km (50 miles) away.
Updated
Summary
If you’re just joining us, here’s a quick roundup of all the latest on the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine has recaptured up to 400 sq km of territory in the eastern region of Kharkiv in a surprise counter-offensive. The operation is thought to have been made possible after Russia was forced to refocus its forces to the south to counter Ukrainian offensives in Kherson.
Hailing the counter-offensive in an address last night, President Zelenskiy said that “each success of our military in one direction or another changes the general situation along the entire frontline in favour of Ukraine”.
Figures within the Russian military are said to be concerned that the counter-offensive will cut lines of communication between Russian forces in the Kharkiv region.
Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea last month. It marks the first official acknowledgment from Kyiv that it was behind the strike, which destroyed at least nine Russian aircraft at the site.
About 51,250 Russian personnel have now been killed since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian military has said. The figure represents an increase of 640 since Wednesday’s update.
Local authorities said that two people have been killed and five have been injured in Russian shelling in Kharkiv’s industrial district.
Three bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a building shelled by Russian forces in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
The UK’s ministry of defence said Ukraine appears to be “imposing pressure on Russian forces” in Kherson and has probably destroyed a bridge that served as “one of the main routes between the northern and southern sectors of Russia’s military presence along the Dnipro river”.
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, has said the deportation of people from Ukraine has “chilling echoes from European history” and that the “appalling term ‘de-nazification’” was a “cover for obliterating Ukraine from the map”.
President Biden has approved additional military aid to Ukraine worth up to $675m, including howitzers, artillery munitions, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems, and more.
Belarus has started military exercises near the Polish border, its capital Minsk, and the northeastern region of Vitebsk, according to the country’s defence ministry. It said the exercises, which are set to last a week, will practise “liberating territory temporarily seized by the enemy” and regaining control over border regions.
Updated
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has shared its latest map of Russian attacks and troop locations in Ukraine.
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 8, 2022
The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 08 September 2022.
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/xMW3T8glaz
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/FrxVLRSVSi
Two people have been killed and five have been injured in Russian shelling in Kharkiv’s industrial district, the regional governor has said.
Posting on Telegram, Oleh Syniehubov said: “Unfortunately, as a result of the shelling of the Industrial District, there are casualties.
“According to the preliminary data of medics, 2 people died, 5 were injured.”
He added that emergency services were at the scenes of the strikes.
Success in Kharkiv helps entire frontline, says Zelenskiy
The counter-offensive in Kharkiv will help the efforts of the Ukrainian military along the entire front of the conflict, President Zelenskiy has said.
Speaking in his nightly address on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said: “This week we have good news from the Kharkiv region. Probably, you all have already seen reports about the activity of Ukrainian defenders.
“And I think every citizen feels proud of our warriors. It is a well-deserved pride, a right feeling.”
He said that “now is not the time to name the settlements to which the Ukrainian flag returns”, but went on to list and thank brigades operating in Kharkiv and elsewhere.
“Each success of our military in one direction or another changes the general situation along the entire frontline in favour of Ukraine,” he said.
“The more difficult it is for the occupiers, the more losses they have, the better the positions of our defenders in Donbas will be, the more reliable the defense of Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and the cities of the Dnipropetrovsk region will be, the faster we will be able to liberate the Azov region and the entire south.”
Updated
Three bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a building shelled by Russian forces in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
Posting on Facebook, Vadym Liakh, the head of the city’s military-civil administration, said the bodies of two men and a woman had been recovered from a building on Torska Street.
Reports on Wednesday said a building on the same street had been hit by Russian shelling. A nearby school was also reportedly struck.
Pictures from the city showed a building with the roof caved in. Rescue personnel could also be seen working to clear debris and extinguish a fire.
“We hold on. We are together,” Liakh said.
Updated
US approves $675m in military aid to Ukraine
President Biden has approved additional military aid to Ukraine worth up to $675m, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin has said.
The announcement came at a meeting of defence ministers and military chiefs from more than 40 countries at the Ramstein airbase in Germany.
In remarks opening the talks, Austin said the US and its allies were “seeing the demonstrable success of our common efforts on the battlefield”.
He added that the latest package of aid would include howitzers, artillery munitions, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems, and more.
Updated
Ukraine appears to be “imposing pressure on Russian forces” in the southern region of Kherson, according to the UK’s ministry of defence.
The ministry’s latest update said Ukrainian forces has “probably destroyed a military pontoon bridge” at Darivka, a village near the Black Sea coast.
It added that Russian forces set up the crossing after a nearby road bridge had been severely damaged, and that it is “one of the main routes between the northern and southern sectors of Russia’s military presence along the Dnipro river”.
“Ukraine’s systematic precision targeting of vulnerable crossing points likely continues to impose pressure on Russian forces as they attempt to contain Ukrainian attacks,” the ministry said.
“It slows their ability to deploy operational reserves and resupply materiel from the east.”
Sustained pressure on Russian forces in the south is thought to have been key to enabling Ukraine to launch a counter-offensive in Kharkiv in the northeast.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 8 September 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 8, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/iG2SbXem8X
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/SdWUE7ma8j
Figures within the Russian military are said to be concerned that the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv will hinder communication between Russian forces in the region.
According to the latest assessment from US-based thinktank the Institute for the Study of War, Russian milbloggers – military personnel who write blogs – have voiced concern that the operation seeks to cut ground lines of communication to forces in the cities of Kupyansk and Izyum, and that that could “allow Ukrainian troops to isolate the Russian groupings in these areas and retake large swaths of territory”.
“These milbloggers used largely panicked and despondent tones, acknowledged significant Ukrainian gains,” the institute said.
“The level of shock and frank discussion of Ukrainian successes by Russian milbloggers speaks to the scale of surprise achieved by Ukrainian forces, which is likely successfully demoralizing Russian forces.”
Updated
The deportation of people from Ukraine has “chilling echoes from European history”, the UK’s permanent representative to the UN has said.
Dame Barbara Woodward was speaking at a briefing on Ukraine at the UN Security Council.
“We are deeply concerned by reporting by the UN, the OSCE and civil society organisations that Russia is systematically detaining, processing and deporting Ukrainian men, women and children, with chilling echoes from European history,” she said.
“As we have heard, civilians reportedly face interrogation, body searches, stripping, invasive data collection, ill-treatment and torture while passing through ‘filtration’.
“Those who are deemed most threatening are reportedly held indefinitely in detention centres, while others, including unaccompanied children, are forcibly deported to Russia. Some simply disappear.”
She added that the “appalling term ‘de-nazification’” was a “cover for obliterating Ukraine from the map”.
Reports of systematic detention, filtration, ‘processing’ and deportation of Ukrainians by Russia have chilling echoes in European history.
— UK at the UN 🇬🇧 (@UKUN_NewYork) September 7, 2022
It tells us three things about Russia's war:
Updated
Around 51,250 Russian soldiers killed since invasion, says Ukraine
Some 51,250 Russian soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the invasion, according to figures published by the Ukrainian military.
A graphic posted to Twitter by the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces showed “total combat losses of the enemy” from 24 February to today.
As well as the soldiers killed, it said Russia has lost a total of 2,112 tanks, 4,557 armoured personnel vehicles, and 239 aircraft.
The number of total Russian deaths is an increase of 640 on Wednesday’s update.
A separate post on Facebook said Russia had suffered the greatest losses in the region of the southeastern city of Donetsk.
Asked about the cost of the invasion during a speech at the Russian Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin denied reports of Russian losses.
“We haven’t lost anything and we won’t lose anything,” he said. “The main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty.”
Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02 по 08.09 орієнтовно склали / The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 08.09 were approximately pic.twitter.com/lAHtKMlDPZ
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) September 8, 2022
Updated
An upbeat message from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence this morning as that counter-offensive in Kharkiv continues.
“Dracarys” is a command used by characters in Game of Thrones when they want a dragon to breath fire.
Good morning, russkies!
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 8, 2022
Oh, wait… Not so good?
Dracarys! pic.twitter.com/tSysIsuGw8
Russian forces carried out two missiles strikes in Kharkiv overnight, according to the city’s mayor.
Posting on Telegram, Ihor Terekhov said rockets hit the neighbourhoods of Saltovskoye and Kholodnogorsk at around midnight local time.
He said preliminary reports suggested the strike in Saltovskoye had hit infrastructure that was “critically important for the normal life support of the city”.
He said the strike in Kholodnogorsk had hit a local business.
“Information about the destruction and victims is being clarified,” he said.
Ukraine recaptures up to 400 sq km in Kharkiv
Ukraine has retaken 400 sq km of territory in the east of the Kharkiv region, according to US-based think tank The Institute for the Study of War.
In its latest assessment of the situation on the ground, the group said that, on 7 September, Ukrainian forces “likely used tactical surprise to advance at least 20km into Russian-held territory”.
It said Ukraine was “likely exploiting Russian force reallocation” to the south to “conduct an opportunistic yet highly effective counteroffensive” northwest of the city of Izyum.
It added that Russia had been forced to refocus its forces in the south because of Ukraine’s ongoing operations in the Kherson region.
Updated
The Ukrainian letter ‘Ї’, which has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian occupation throughout Ukraine has been painted on a number of public monuments and statues in Mariupol, according to reporters in the southern city.
Ї letter massively appears in occupied Mariupol as a new form of protest is taking momentum
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) September 6, 2022
People are painting Ukrainian letters Ї on the streets, irritating occupiers. Ї is not present in the Russian language and is one of the symbols of Ukraine
📷from advisor to the mayor pic.twitter.com/Lh8kaQwjOR
The Ukrainian letter "Ї", which has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian occupation, has been painted in a number of area in Mariupol #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/yFenpsNyA7
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) September 8, 2022
A senior Ukrainian presidential advisor has reiterated Ukraine’s desire for long-range weapons in order to equalise the battlefield.
“Increasing long-range is our mission,” Andriy Yermak wrote in a Telegram post early this morning. “Because long-range gives birth to symmetry. And it is the basis of success in confrontation with the aggressor.”
Ukraine’s military chief has also predicted the war is likely to rage on into next year with no signs of letting up.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in an article co-authored by lawmaker Mykhailo Zabrodskyi and published by state news agency Ukrinform:
There is every reason to believe that it is not going to end anywhere within 2022.
… As long as the current situation persists, this war can last for years.”
Ukraine's top general warns of Russian nuclear strike risk
Ukraine’s top military chief has warned of the threat of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, which would create the risk of a “limited” nuclear conflict with other powers, according to an opinion piece attributed in his name in Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, gave a detailed assessment of the war to date in rare public comments published on Wednesday.
Zaluzhnyi said the “direct threat” of Russia’s possible use of tactical nuclear weapons has had a major influence on the adoption of relevant decisions.
Another factor is the direct threat of the use by Russia, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons.
Battles on the territory of Ukraine have already demonstrated how much the Russian Federation neglects the issues of global nuclear security even in a conventional war.
… It is hard to imagine that even nuclear strikes will allow Russia to break Ukraine’s will to resist. But the threat that will emerge for the whole of Europe cannot be ignored. The possibility of direct involvement of the world’s leading powers in a ‘limited’ nuclear conflict, bringing closer the prospect of World War 3, cannot be completely ruled out either.”
“Any Russian attempts at practical steps in the use of tactical nuclear weapons must be pre-empted by employing the entire arsenal of means at the disposal of world powers,” he added. “After all, starting from this moment, the Russian Federation will become not only a threat to the peaceful coexistence of Ukraine, its neighbours, and a number of European countries but also a truly global-scale terrorist state.”
Belarus starts military drills to practice 'liberating territory'
Belarus has started military exercises near the Polish border, its capital Minsk and the north-east region of Vitebsk, the country’s defence ministry said on Thursday morning, according to Reuters.
It said the exercises, which are set to last a week, will practice “liberating territory temporarily seized by the enemy” and regaining control over border regions.
According to the ministry, the level of troops and military equipment involved in the exercise did not require them to provide notice under OSCE guidelines.
Ukraine has stationed troops and built defences along its border with Belarus amid repeated signals that its northern neighbour could join forces with Russia. Belarus’s autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is the Kremlin’s most loyal ally and allowed Russian troops to use his territory to enter Ukraine in February.
Ukraine claims responsibility for attack on Crimea Saky airbase
Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for the attack on Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea in the first official acknowledgment from Kyiv since the strike destroyed at least nine Russian aircraft last month.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, gave a detailed assessment of the war to date in rare public comments published on Wednesday.
An opinion piece attributed in his name in Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform acknowledged rocket strikes on Russian air bases in annexed Crimea, including one that damaged the Saky military base in August.
Until now, Ukraine has refused to publicly acknowledge its involvement.
Referring to the approaches Ukraine could adopt to gain advantage as the war rages on, Zaluzhnyi cited the Crimea attack as an example.
A convincing example proving that this is a correct approach to be applied this year is the successful efforts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to physically transfer the zone of hostilities to the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
This was done by a series of successful missile strikes on the enemy’s Crimea-based air bases, first of all, the Saky airfield.
The task of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2023 is to make these experiences even sharper and more tangible for the Russians and for other occupied regions, despite the massive distance to the targets.”
The Saky airbase lies at least 200km from the front lines and Zaluzhnyi did not clarify what he meant by missile strikes.
Updated
A series of images from Ukraine’s frontlines have been sent over our newswires today.
Kyiv’s forces retake settlements in Kharkiv, Zelenskiy says
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has remained guarded about the military counter-offensive in the east while Ukraine’s army has yet to comment on the alleged new battle plan.
Without giving details, Zelenskiy reported “good news” from the Kharkiv region east of Kyiv, implying some settlements had been recaptured from Russian forces but adding that “now is not the right time to name those settlements where the Ukrainian flag has returned”.
In a Wednesday evening address, Zelenskiy cited “the extremely successful hits in areas where the occupiers are concentrated”, and thanked Ukrainian artillery troops for what he said were successful strikes against Moscow’s forces in the south.
Ukraine launches surprise counterattack in Kharkiv region
Ukraine has launched a surprise counterattack in the north-east Kharkiv region, stretching Russian forces who are also facing Ukrainian attacks in the south.
An official representing the Russian-controlled Donetsk People’s Republic said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces “encircled” Balakliia, an eastern town of 27,000 people situated between Kharkiv and Russian-occupied Izium.
“Today, the Ukrainian armed forces, after prolonged artillery preparation … began an attack on Balakliia,” Daniil Bezsonov said on Telegram.
“At this time, Balakliia is in operative encirclement and within the firing range of Ukrainian artillery. All approaches are cut off by fire,” he said, adding that a successful Ukrainian offensive would threaten Russian forces in Izium, a strategically important town that Russia has been using for its own offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Unverified footage circulating on social media on Wednesday showed what looked like a Ukrainian soldier posing in front of an entrance sign for Balakliia.
Analysts have said that the initial target of the offensive could be the city of Kupyansk, a key road hub for Russian supplies heading south from the border into eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has remained guarded about the military counter-offensive in the east while Ukraine’s army has yet to comment on the alleged new battle plan.
Without giving details, Zelenskiy reported “good news” from the Kharkiv region east of Kyiv, implying some settlements had been recaptured from Russian forces but adding that “now is not the right time to name those settlements where the Ukrainian flag has returned”.
In a Wednesday evening address, Zelenskiy cited “the extremely successful hits in areas where the occupiers are concentrated”, and thanked Ukrainian artillery troops for what he said were successful strikes against Moscow’s forces in the south.
One of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s advisers, Oleksiy Arestovych, said on Tuesday night that “lightning-fast changes are taking place” in the Kharkiv region, in parallel to the southern offensive in the Kherson region announced by Ukraine’s military last week.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.
Ukraine has launched a surprise counterattack in the north-east Kharkiv region, stretching Russian forces who are also facing Ukrainian attacks in the south.
Ukraine’s top military chief has also warned of the threat of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, which would create the risk of a “limited” nuclear conflict with other powers, according to an opinion piece attributed in his name in Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform.
It is 7.30am in Kyiv. Here is where things stand:
Ukraine has recaptured several settlements in the north-eastern Kharkiv region as part of a surprise counterattack, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed. “This week we have good news from Kharkiv region,” he said in his Wednesday evening address, adding that “now is not the right time to name those settlements where the Ukrainian flag has returned”. An official representing the Russian-controlled Donetsk People’s Republic said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces “encircled” Balakliia, an eastern town situated between Kharkiv and Russian-occupied Izium.
US intelligence says Ukrainian forces are making “slow but meaningful progress” on the battlefield. “We’ll see how things pan out,” defence undersecretary Colin Kahl said. “But I certainly think things are going better on the Ukrainian side right now in the south than is true on the Russian side.” The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based thinktank, reported on Wednesday that Ukrainian forces probably captured Verbivka, less than two miles (3.2km) north-west of Balakliia, on Tuesday, citing geo-locatable images posted by Ukrainian soldiers.
Shelling resumed near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Wednesday. Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of firing on the city of Nikopol, across from the plant, as well as in Enerhodar, where the power plant is located. “Employees of communal and other services simply do not have time to complete emergency and restoration work, as another shelling reduces their work to zero,” the Ukrainian mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said on Telegram.
The UN has accused Moscow of forcing Ukrainians into detention camps and even prisons via a Kremlin-directed “filtration” program, and removing children from the war zone to hand over to adoptive parents inside Russia. “We are concerned that the Russian authorities have adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without parental care, and that these children would be eligible for adoption by Russian families,” Ilze Brands Kehris, assistant UN secretary-general for human rights, told the security council. The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the council that estimates indicate authorities have “interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported” between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians to Russia since late February in an attempt “to prepare for an attempted annexation”.
The body of a British aid worker who was captured by Russian proxies in April has been handed to Ukraine with “possible signs of unspeakable torture”, according to the country’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba. Paul Urey, 45, from Warrington, Cheshire, was captured along with another Briton, Dylan Healey. The two men were charged with “mercenary activities” by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, but in July the Russian proxy authorities announced that Urey had died as a result of “illness and stress”. Kuleba said Urey’s body had been returned, showing possible signs of torture.
Vladimir Putin has threatened to tear up a fragile Ukraine grain deal allowing exports from the Black Sea. During a bellicose speech at an economic conference in Vladivostok, Putin said he would speak with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, about “limiting the destinations for grain exports”, claiming that only two of 87 ships leaving Ukraine with grain had gone to developing countries. Data from the UN showed the claim was false by a factor of at least 10.
Putin also threatened to cut off all deliveries of gas, oil, and coal to Europe if they imposed a price cap on Russian energy imports. “Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we just won’t fulfil them. We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests,” he said, according to a Reuters translation of his remarks. “We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil – we will not supply anything.” Recalling a Russian fairytale, he said that Europeans could “freeze like the wolf’s tail”.
Putin declared that Russia had “lost nothing” in launching a war on Ukraine during a belligerent and defiant speech at the Russian Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday. “We haven’t lost anything and we won’t lose anything,” he said, when asked about the cost of the invasion. “The main gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty.”
Updated
