Vladimir Putin has declared martial law in the four provinces of Ukraine where it controls territory after Russian officials warned of a looming Ukrainian assault on the key southern city of Kherson. The law, published on the Kremlin website, gives far-reaching emergency powers to the Russian-installed heads of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces, which Russia recently proclaimed as annexed after sham referendums.
Putin also ordered an “economic mobilisation” in eight provinces bordering Ukraine. The measures apply to the southern regions of Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov, which are all near Ukraine, and the territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. Putin said he was granting additional authority to the leaders of all Russian provinces to maintain public order and increase production in support of Moscow’s war, which is entering its eighth month.
The Russian-installed leader of the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson, said Wednesday that authorities plan a mass removal of 50-60,000 people over the next six days. Vladimir Saldo said authorities were moving civilians to the left bank of the Dnipro in order to “keep people safe” and allow the military to “act resolutely”.
Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy administrator of the Kherson region, echoed the message on Telegram late on Tuesday: “The battle for Kherson will begin in the very near future. The civilian population is advised, if possible, to leave the area of the upcoming fierce hostilities.”
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, described the Russian announcements as “a propaganda show”. He said “The Russians are trying to scare the people of Kherson with fake newsletters about the shelling of the city by our army, and also arrange a propaganda show with evacuation”. He described it as “a rather primitive tactic, given that the armed forces do not fire at Ukrainian cities – this is done exclusively by Russian terrorists”.
The new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine described the military situation as “tense”. “The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Sergei Surovikin said in his first televised interview since being appointed earlier this month, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson.
Kyiv has recently introduced a news blackout in the south of the country, leading to speculations that it was preparing a new major offensive on Kherson. “When the Ukrainians have a news blackout it means something is going on. They have always done this before when there is a big offensive push on,” Michael Clarke, a former director general of the Royal United Services Institute, told Sky News.
Several Russian missiles have been shot down over Kyiv, its mayor Vitalii Klitschko said, after loud explosions were reported in the centre of the Ukrainian capital. “Air defence shot down several Russian missiles over Kyiv. Air raid alarm is still on! Stay in shelters! Air defence continues to work,” he said. Oleksiy Kuleba, the governor of Kyiv region, indicated that “kamikaze” drones had been shot down.
The head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, said Russia launched rocket fire overnight on an energy facility, causing “serious destruction”
Ukrainian forces shot down 13 “kamikaze” drones over Mykolaiv overnight, according to the region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim.
An attempt to retake control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) by boats loaded with Ukrainian special forces has been repulsed, according to one of the Russian-installed officials in occupied eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials are working to create mobile power points after Russia launched new strikes against the country’s energy infrastructure, President Zelenskiy said. Zelenskiy held a “strategic meeting” with senior officials today to discuss measures to “eliminate the consequences in the event of a breakdown of the energy system of Ukraine”, he said on Telegram.
Ukraine has withdrawn its ambassador to Kazakhstan after a row over Petro Vrublevsky;s comments about killing Russians.
Russia’s strikes on critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine are “acts of pure terror” that amount to war crimes, the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has said.
The Belarus defence ministry said in a statement that it has begun summoning citizens to check their eligibility for military service, but that it is not planning mobilisation. The military registration and enlistment activities are strictly routine and are expected to be completed by the end of this year,” it said.
The White House is taking “every step possible” to avoid a direct encounter between President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Indonesia next month, according to reports. US officials are also reportedly taking measures to avoid even a hallway run-in or photo meeting between the two leaders.
Finland’s main political parties have backed building a fence along parts of the country’s border with Russia, with work on a short pilot section expected to start as soon as funds have been allocated, Finnish media have reported.
Israel’s defence minister has reiterated that the country will not sell weapons to Ukraine, despite a request from Kyiv for air defence supplies in the face of Russia’s growing use of Iranian-made drones.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Thursday that Russia no longer sees a need to maintain a diplomatic presence in the west, the Daily Beast reports. “There is neither point nor desire to maintain the previous presence in western states. Our people work there in conditions that can hardly be called human,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
Military advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were on Ukrainian soil at a Russian military base in occupied Crimea, the New York Times reports. The Iranians were reported to have been deployed to help Russian troops deal with problems with the Tehran-supplied fleet of Shahed-136 drones, rebranded as Geran-2 by the attackers.
Iran has deepened its commitment to supplying arms for Russia’s assault on Ukraine by agreeing to provide a batch of medium-range missiles, as well as large numbers of cheap but effective drones, according to US and Iranian security officials.
Russian airstrikes have destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s power stations since 10 October, causing massive blackouts across the country, said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday.
Russian strikes on Tuesday hit a power plant in Kyiv, killing three people, as well as energy infrastructure in Kharkiv in the east and Dnipro in the south. A man sheltering in an apartment building in the southern port city Mykolaiv was also killed and the northern Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr was without water or electricity.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said Tuesday he was proposing a formal cut in diplomatic ties with Tehran after a wave of Russian attacks using what Kyiv says are Iranian-made drones. Iran has denied supplying drones and Russia has denied using them. Ukrainian intelligence said 1,750 drones, each costing only £20,000 to manufacture, have been delivered. They can be fired from mobile trucks and, despite their slow speeds, are hard to detect until the last minute.
Nato said Ukraine would receive anti-drone defence systems in coming days. Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said on Tuesday that member countries would “step up” and deliver more air defences to help stabilise the situation.
