Summary
That’s it for today’s live blog. Thank you for following our coverage. Here’s a a round-up of today’s top headlines and latest developments:
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine’s city of Kherson, the only regional capital captured by Moscow since this year’s invasion. Russia did not formally declare its retreat, but in a televised meeting with Shoigu, General Sergei Surovikin said it was no longer possible to keep supplying Kherson. This represents a setback for Russian president Vladimir Putin, who just weeks before had announced the “forever” annexation of the Kherson region.
Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-appointed administration in the Kherson region, was killed in a car crash. Once an anti-vaccine blogger, Stremousov rose to notoriety as one of the most prominent public faces of the Russian occupation of Ukraine, frequently posting aggressive anti-Ukrainian videos to social media. Russian president Vladimir Putin posthumously decorated Stremousov with the Order of Courage, a top state award.
Russian forces destroyed bridges on the west bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region to slow a continuing Ukrainian advance. Ukrainian forces were reported to have retaken a number of settlements, amid what Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskiy described as “intense fighting” on the southern frontline.
US president Joe Biden said Russia’s withdrawal of troops from Kherson is “evidence” that the Russian military has “real problems.” During a White House press conference, Biden said: “It remains to be seen whether or not there will be a judgment made as to whether or not Ukraine is prepared to compromise with Russia.” As midterm election votes are still being counted, Biden also told reporters he expects US aid to Ukraine will carry on.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said it was “encouraging” to see Ukrainian forces liberating more of the country’s territory. On his visit to London to meet with prime minister Rishi Sunak, Stoltenberg said Russia’s retreat from Kherson is “part of an overall pattern” demonstrating that Moscow “has absolutely lost the momentum.”
UN aid chief Martin Griffiths and senior UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan will meet with Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin on Friday to discuss extending the Black Sea grain initiative. “They will continue ongoing consultations in support of the efforts by the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the full implementation of the two agreements signed on 22 July in Istanbul,” a UN spokesperson said in a statement.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Moscow had contacts with US officials from time to time. Zakharova confirmed there would soon be US-Russia consultations on the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty, the last remaining arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
A British man has died fighting in Ukraine, his family and the Foreign Office said. Simon Lingard, a father of two from Blackburn, Lancashire, died on Monday. “We are supporting the family of a British national who has lost his life in Ukraine and we are in touch with the local authorities in connection with his death,” a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
Biden expects US aid to Ukraine will continue
US president Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he expects American aid to Ukraine to continue uninterrupted, as the divisive midterm elections saw Republican pushback on the issue.
Last month, Kevin McCarthy – the Republican minority leader in the US House of Representatives – said his party will not write a “blank check” for Ukraine if the GOP wins the House majority.
Speaking to reporters from the White House, Biden was asked whether aid to Ukraine will continue uninterrupted, to which he responded: “That is my expectation.”
“And by the way, we’ve not given Ukraine a blank check,” the president said. “There’s a lot of things that Ukraine wants that we didn’t do.”
“For example, I was asked very much whether we’d provide American aircrafts to guarantee the skies over Ukraine,” he continued. “I said ‘No, we’re not gonna do that, we’re no gonna get into a third world war taking on Russian aircrafts and directly engage, but would we provide them with all the rational ability to defend themselves? Yes.”
Biden said he wants to ensure Ukraine is able to defend itself and “take on what is purely the ugliest aggression that’s occurred since World War 2 on a massive scale”.
“So I would be surprised if leader McCarthy even has a majority of his Republican colleagues who say they’re not gonna fund the legitimate defence and needs of Ukraine,” he added.
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