Ryan Evans, a safety adviser and former soldier, was staying at the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk when it was hit by Russian missile
A British man working for the Reuters news agency has been killed in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the news agency has said.
Ryan Evans, who was working as a safety adviser for the agency, was killed after a missile struck the Hotel Sapphire on Saturday where he was staying as part of a six-person team.
Continue reading...PM sends message of solidarity as Ukrainians celebrate anniversary of exit from USSR
Keir Starmer has told Ukrainians that the UK will back them “today and always” as Kyiv marks 33 years since it declared independence from the Soviet Union.
The prime minister described his message to frontline fighters and people who have sought refuge in Britain as “crystal clear” as community groups, councils and parishes around the UK plan to mark the anniversary on Saturday.
Continue reading...Indian PM says he respects and supports ‘sovereignty and territorial integrity’ of Ukraine during historic visit
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, made a historic visit to Kyiv on Friday and told Volodymyr Zelenskiy he was ready to work “as a friend” to bring about a peace deal that would end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Modi said he respected and supported Ukraine’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”. “It is our highest priority,” he said, adding that he had told Vladimir Putin during their meeting in July that “problems cannot be resolved on the battlefield”. The war could only end through “dialogue and diplomacy”, he stressed.
Continue reading...Indian PM calls on Ukraine and Russia to open dialogue as soon as possible to find way out of conflict
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, has told Reuters that Narendra Modi’s visit to Kyiv is significant because New Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.
“It’s extremely important for us to effectively build relations with such countries, to explain to them what the correct end to the war is - and that it is also in their interests,” he said.
Continue reading...Marinovka airbase becomes latest target of Kyiv’s ambitious long-range drone campaign
Ukraine has carried out a night-time drone attack on a Kremlin military airfield near the city of Volgograd and announced the capture of another village in Russia’s Kursk region, as Russian forces pressed on with their advance in the Donetsk region.
Volgograd’s governor, Andrei Bocharov, said the strike took place at about 3am. Local people reported a series of explosions. Several hours later, ammunition continued to detonate as a vast carpet of black smoke engulfed the area.
Continue reading...Mayor says no damage or casualties reported as 11 drones are downed
Ukraine’s parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify the Rome Statute, a senior lawmaker said, paving the way for Kyiv to join the International Criminal Court.
In a Telegram post, Yaroslav Zhelezniak said 281 deputies had voted for the measure, a key requirement for Ukraine to eventually join the European Union.
Continue reading...Pontoon bridge across Seym River blown up as Ukrainian army reportedly captures another village in Kursk region
Fierce fighting has continued inside Russia as Ukrainian troops tried to seize more territory and used kamikaze drones to blow up a Russian pontoon bridge across a strategic river crossing.
Satellite images showed that the temporary bridge on Tuesday had disappeared and there were large puffs of grey smoke. Russian forces built the pontoon between the villages of Zvannoe and Glushkovo after Ukrainian missiles destroyed three bridges across the Seym River.
Continue reading...Russian forces advancing so fast families are under orders to leave nearby towns and villages
Ukraine’s parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that paves the way for a ban of the Russia-linked minority Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), lawmakers said.
The legislation prohibits the Russian Orthodox Church on Ukrainian territory and envisages a ban, to be approved by a court decision, on religious organisations “affiliated” with it.
Continue reading...Last major crossing on this part of front in Kursk region hit overnight as Ukraine aims to expand ‘buffer zone’
Ukraine has destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region, as part of an apparent attempt to expand what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described as a military “buffer zone” inside Russia.
According to Russian officials, the bridge in the village of Karyzh was damaged overnight by targeted Ukrainian “shelling”. It was the last major crossing on this part of the front, following the destruction on Friday and Saturday of two bridges further east over the same river.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president says troops meeting their objectives and have taken more prisoners
An update to that earlier map, showing the three bridges hit by the Ukrainian air force:
Ukrainian forces have struck and damaged a third bridge over the River Seym, near the village of Karyzh in the Kursk region of Russia, according to a member of Russia’s Investigative Committee. The hit could seriously complicate Russian military logistics as Moscow attempts to fend off Ukraine’s incursion into the region.
Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian president Vladimir Putin, has said that Ukraine’s attack on Kursk means Moscow is not ready to hold peace talks for now. Proposed discussions aimed at negotiating a halt to strikes on energy and power infrastructure between the two sides had been planned to be held in Qatar.
RIA News, a state-owned news agency, says Russian forces have captured 19 Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region. The report has not been independently verified.
Ukraine’s air force said on Monday morning that the country’s air defence units had repelled an overnight Russian drone attack on multiple cities including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy.
Continue reading...Moscow official claims Berlin shows little interest in finding those responsible for gas pipeline explosions in 2022
Russia has complained to Germany about its investigation into the 2022 sabotage of the multibillion-dollar Nord Stream gas pipelines that run between the two countries, accusing Europe’s top economic power of having little interest in finding those responsible.
The head of a European department at the foreign ministry, Oleg Tyapkin, said Russia had “raised the issue of Germany and other affected countries fulfilling their obligations under the UN anti-terrorist conventions”, RIA news agency reported in remarks cited by Reuters.
Continue reading...President states he wants to stop cross-border attacks by Russian forces and that counteroffensive was much needed
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.
It marked the first time the Ukrainian president had clearly stated the aim of the operation, which was launched on 6 August. Previously, he had suggested it aimed to protect communities in the bordering Sumy region from constant shelling.
Continue reading...Key civilian leader says attack on Russia’s Kursk region is first of ‘several stages’ in taking the fight to Moscow
Ukraine has captured more than 150 Russian prisoners of war on some days in the cross-border military operation that a key civilian official said was the first of “several stages” in taking the fight to Moscow.
Oleksii Drozdenko, the head of the military administration in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, said the attack had fared better than expected and there had been only 15 casualties needing hospital treatment on the first day.
Continue reading...Atomic energy watchdog reports damage after Russia accuses Ukraine of dropping explosive charge nearby
The UN’s nuclear watchdog warned on Saturday that the safety situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was “deteriorating” after a nearby drone strike.
Earlier on Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of dropping an explosive charge on a road near the occupied plant in southern Ukraine.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
Russia has lost 598,180 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
This number includes 1,230 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.
8,501 tanks
16,473 armoured fighting vehicles
22,913 vehicles and fuel tanks
16,985 artillery systems
1,160 multiple-launch rocket systems
923 air defence systems
367 aircraft
328 helicopters
13,714 drones
28 warships and boats
1 submarine
Continue reading...After months of being pushed steadily back – short of troops and ammunition – a Kyiv offensive to occupy a chunk of Russian territory took the Kremlin by surprise. The move has a clear political logic but is fraught with military danger
The immediate impact of Ukraine’s incursion into the Russian region of Kursk that began on 6 August has been a transformation in the morale of the Ukrainian public and even more so the narrative among Ukraine’s international partners.
The slow but inexorable loss of ground in Donbas that painted a grim picture of retreat has been replaced by images of a dynamic front. While deceptive, this new narrative is important in reminding Ukraine’s international partners that outcomes in war are not inevitable.
Continue reading...Comments by Zelenskiy aide come as officials in strategic Pokrovsk say Moscow’s forces are ‘advancing at a fast pace’
Ukraine’s lightning offensive into several Russian border regions is designed to persuade Moscow to engage in “fair” talks about its war in Ukraine, an aide to Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said, as Russian forces close in on the strategic city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.
“We need to inflict significant tactical defeats on Russia,” the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “In the Kursk region, we clearly see how the military tool is objectively used to convince the Russian Federation to enter into a fair negotiation process.
Continue reading...The UK’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces were initially disorganised following Ukraine’s lightning offensive
Russian forces took control of Serhiivka, a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Reuters reported citing the TASS state news agency.
Joe Biden has met with Vladimir Kara-Murza and his family in the White House.
Continue reading...Transport for London confirms 330 vehicles approved for donation to help country’s war effort
More than 200 vehicles that fell foul of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) have been sent to Ukraine to aid the country’s war effort, despite initial legal concerns over the plan.
Transport for London (TfL) said on Friday that 330 vehicles had been given the green light to be sent to Ukraine under the Ulez vehicle scrappage scheme. More than 200 are already in the eastern European country.
Continue reading...Military commandant’s office is being established in city, says president as discussions over prisoner exchanges restart
Ukraine’s president has claimed Kyiv’s troops have full control over the Russian town of Sudzha, which had a prewar population of 5,000 people and contains infrastructure pumping Russian gas towards Europe.
Sudzha, roughly six miles (9.6km) inside Russian territory, is the biggest of 80 settlements that Ukraine claims to have taken during the 10 days since its surprise incursion into Russia began.
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