The fighting in Ukraine is brewing again: Russian forces withdraw from Lyman and an airfield attack on the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region
The Kremlin said in a statement that its forces had withdrawn across the Dnipro River, but some soldiers were still in the city.
Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed to have inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in battling to hold Lyman, but said outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff posted photos of a Ukrainian flag being raised on the town’s outskirts while the air force said it moved into Lyman.
The early days of Russia’s incursion in february echoed the early days of the current conflict in Ukraine, which has erupted once again as the winter approaches.
Throughout the weekend, the Ukrainian military sought to target Russian forces as they tried to regroup after their retreat from Kherson. The Ukrainian air force bombed the east side of the river, with the military saying it had hit 33 Russian positions.
Ramzan Kadyrov said the retreat was due to one general being “covered up for” by high-ups in the General Staff. He advocated for more drastic measures.
Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. Explosions and huge billows of smoke could be seen from a distance by beachgoers in the Russian-held resort. There is reported to be a plane that caught fire after rolling off the runway at the Belbek airfield.
Russia started a two-day nationwide bombardment ofUkraine that killed at least 19 people and leveled civilian targets last week. The power systems across Ukraine were damaged during the strikes, forcing people to reduce consumption during peak hours.
The recent fighting has focused on the north of the peninsula. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented the latest attack in a Telegram post.
The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 24 civilians were killed in an attack this week on a convoy trying to flee the Kupiansk district. He said that it can’t be justified. 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.
The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, posted photographs of the attacked convoy. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. Another vehicle at the front of the convoy also had been ablaze. There were bodies on the side of the road, or still inside vehicles with bullet holes.
The attacks on Kyiv appear to be part of a wider assault involving drones and cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Air Force said it had destroyed weapons in the country’s south and east. The east had attacks on important infrastructure.
The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is expected to visit Kyiv this week to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia facility after Putin signed a decree Wednesday declaring that Russia was taking over the six-reactor plant. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called it a criminal act and said it considered Putin’s decree “null and void.” The state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said it would continue to operate the plant.
Russia did not publicly comment on the report. The I Atomic Energy Agency said that Russia told them that the director-general of the nuclear power plant was arrested to answer questions.
A Russian-installed official in Nova Kakhovka said that the power plant had been badly damaged in shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces and would need at least a year to repair it.
The region of Zaporizhzhia has been annexed by Russia, despite the fact that 20% of it is under Ukrainian military control.
The Zaporizhzhia project in Ukraine: Russia’s nuclear power plant and the European Political Community (PPEC)
In Washington, President Joe Biden signed a bill Friday that provides another infusion — more than $12.3 billion — in military and economic aid linked to the war Ukraine.
The president of Ukraine told the country’s people that their military had regained control of three more villages in a region that was annexed by Russia.
The governor wrote on his Telegram channel that a young child was taken to the hospital for treatment after being rescued from multi-story buildings.
Zaporizhzhia is one of four regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed in violation of international laws on Wednesday, and is home to a nuclear plant that is under Russian occupation. The city of the same name remains under Ukrainian control.
Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, plans to talk with Ukrainian officials about the Russian move. He will also discuss efforts to set up a secure protection zone around the facility, which has been damaged in the fighting and seen staff including its director abducted by Russian troops.
Meanwhile, leaders from more than 40 countries are meeting in Prague on Thursday to launch a “European Political Community” aimed at boosting security and prosperity across the continent, a day after the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine.
Lyman, the Russian part of Davydiv Brid and Lyman is a Russian one – the evacuation of the Kherson region
The region is a Russian one, said the Kremlin’s spokesman. It has been defined and fixed. There can’t be any changes here.
The precise borders of the areas Moscow is claiming remain unclear, but Putin has vowed to defend Russia’s territory — including the annexed regions — with any means at his military’s disposal, including nuclear weapons.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said the Ukrainian flag had been raised above seven Kherson region villages previously occupied by the Russians. The city of Kherson is a distance of 100 kilometers away from the liberated villages of Davydiv Brid.
Russian military medics lack supplies and military hospitals are full of wounded soldiers, according to the deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government. Russian soldiers are being sent to the peninsula of Crimea once they are stable.
When Russian troops pulled back from the Donetsk city of Lyman over the weekend, they retreated so rapidly that they left behind the bodies of their comrades. Some were still lying by the side of the road leading into the city on Wednesday.
Lyman sustained heavy damage both during the occupation and as Ukrainian soldiers fought to retake it. Mykola, a 71-year-old man who gave only his first name, was among about 100 residents who lined up for aid on Wednesday.
Kiev vladimir putin’s attack on the Zaporizhzhia bridge: “I am afraid I will have nothing yet”
He said that they would like the war to end so that shops and hospitals could open again. We do not have anything yet. Everything has been pillaged, a complete disaster.
In his nightly address, a defiant Zelenskyy switched to speaking Russian to tell the Moscow leadership that it has already lost the war that it launched Feb. 24.
A senior official said on Sunday that crews restored power and cellular connection in the city near the nuclear power plant that is currently under Russian control.
The Zaporizhzhia government’s pro-Russian leader Rogov said in a telegram post that the water supply would be restored soon.
Ukrainian authorities have tried many times to deliver supplies like food and water to the city but have been blocked by the Russians, Orlov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukrainian special services of being involved in the attack on the bridge. He said Monday’s strikes were in response to the attack, but Ukrainian intelligence says the strikes had been planned since early last week.
KYIV and DNIPRO, UKRAINE, and MOSCOW — Explosions rocked several cities across Ukraine in the most extensive attack on the country since the early days of Russia’s invasion in February. The attacks came only hours after Russia blamed Ukraine for a weekend explosion that partially damaged a strategic bridge that connects Russian-occupied Crimea to mainland Russia.
“We have already established the route of the truck,” he said, adding that it had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar — a region in southern Russia — among other places.
Donetsk, the largest city hall municipality of Crimea, is being demolished by a Russian-backed missile-barrage attack
Stunned residents watched from behind police tape as emergency crews tried to reach the upper floors of a building that took a direct hit. Apartments used to be located in a chasm at least 12 meters wide. In an adjacent apartment building, the missile barrage blew windows and doors out of their frames in a radius of hundreds of feet. According to the city council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtev there were at least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings damaged.
Tetyana Lazunko, 73, and her husband, Oleksii, took shelter in the hallway of their top-floor apartment after hearing air raid sirens. The explosion shook the building and sent their possessions flying. Lazunko wept as the couple surveyed the damage to their home of nearly five decades.
Three volunteers prepared a grave for a dog that was killed in the missile and its leg was destroyed by the blast, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the other neighborhood ravaged by the missile.
Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and a former speechwriter for Putin, said the Russian president, who formed a committee Saturday to investigate the bridge explosion, had not responded forcefully enough to satisfy angry war hawks. The attack and response, he said, has “inspired the opposition, while the loyalists are demoralized.”
He said that once again, they see that when the authorities say that everything is going according to plan, they are lying and it demoralizes them.
Putin personally opened the Kerch Bridge in May 2018 by driving a truck across it as a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. The bridge, the longest in Europe, is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine.
Crimea is a popular vacation resort for Russians. People trying to drive to the bridge and onto the Russian mainland on Sunday encountered hours-long traffic jams.
Those towns and Donetsk are in the industrialized Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Kyiv since 2014. The Donetsk region is among four that were illegally annexed by Russia last month.
Moscow attacks on Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant: A warning for world leaders and for a de-escalation “to bring back the peace”
— The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, said that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s biggest, had been reconnected to the grid after losing its last external power source early Saturday following shelling.
Moscow carried out attacks on crucial energy facilities in three Ukrainian regions and disrupted power in some areas on Monday, Ukraine’s prime minister has said.
In his remarks Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said that there have been ongoing power shortages throughout the country. There are some that he said were emergencies caused by attacks. They are what he called “stabilization” outages.
China and India also call for de-escalation: After the strikes, China expressed hope that the situation in Ukraine will “de-escalated soon.” India has said it is “deeply concerned” by the escalation of the conflict and said that “escalation of hostilities is in no one’s interest,” urging an “immediate cessation of hostilities” and return to the “path of dialogue. The attack was also condemned by other European leaders.
Global outrage: International leaders, including US President Joe Biden have condemned the Russian attacks. Biden said the US would provide Kyiv with the support to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.
“It’s a tough morning when you’re dealing with terrorists,” said Zelenskyy in the video, which recalled the selfie he took the night Russia invaded in February. “They’re choosing targets to harm as many people as possible.”
Viktor Shevchenko: Invasion of a Kiev Cultural Complex by a Streaked Building and Public Transport in Dnipro
In Kyiv, Ukraine Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko says that at least two museums and the National Philharmonic concert halls sustained heavy damage. A nearby strike damaged the country’s main passenger terminal, delaying trains during this morning’s rush hour, according to Ukraine’s National Railway.
“This happened at rush hour, as a lot of public transport was operating”, said Ihor Makovtsev, the head of the department of transport for the Dnipro city council. He added that the bus driver and four passengers had been taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
“All of our transportation is only for civilian purposes, so it’s hard for me to understand their work,” Makovtsev said.
The windows on Viktor Shevchenko’s first floor balcony were torn down a long time ago, just next to the bus stop. Shattered glass was covered by the ground. He said he had been watering the plants on his balcony just minutes before the blast, but went to his kitchen to make breakfast.
He said the explosion blew open all of the cabinets and almost knocked him to the ground. “Only five minutes before, and I would have been on the balcony, full of glass.”
Repeated missile and drone attacks since October, which have damaged or destroyed civilian infrastructure, are part of a strategy by the Kremlin to terrorize Ukrainians and are in violation of the laws of war, according to experts.
Ramzan Kadyrov, a loyalist to Putin, warned Zelenskyy that Russia wasn’t really starting yet.
Critical and Civil Infrastructure Damages in the Kherson Region of Ukraine as a Result of a Russian Violation of the Constitutional Law
At least 19 people were killed and 105 others were injured in Russian missile attacks across Ukraine on Monday, according to preliminary data, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said Tuesday.
Critical and civil infrastructure was hit in 12 regions and the capital, where more than 30 fires broke out, the emergency services said, adding the blazes have been put out.
“The enemy is massively attacking Ukraine. Increased danger. Stay in shelters,” Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv regional military administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app, asking residents not to ignore the alarm.
“We urge the residents of the Kherson region to remain calm and to not panic. Nobody is going to withdraw Russian troops from the Kherson region,” Stremousov said. This is an opportunity to save lives.
Saldo said the cities of Kherson, one of four Ukrainian regions Russia claimed to have annexed, were being hit by dangerous airstrikes.
“We suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if there is such a wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes, should go to other regions … to take their children and leave.”
However, Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Kherson region’s military administration, said that the civilian transports were not an “evacuation.”
Stremousov has been critical of the war’s decision-makers on the battlefield. He blamed the military setbacks in Kherson on incompetent commanders not being held accountable for their mistakes.
The Ukrainian crisis in Donbas: How badly will Russia have to survive a nuclear crisis? Keir Giles, senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, and a national expert on Russian and European energy policy
The international community was told by President Zelensky of Ukraine how much money his country needed to rebuild and keep the economy afloat: $57 billion. The board of governors of the International Monetary Fund were given the figure by him. $2 billion will go toward exports to Europe and restoringUkraine’s energy infrastructure as Mr Zelensky said $17 billion would be needed to rebuild schools, hospitals, transport systems and housing.
The images captured hundreds of cargo trucks backed up and waiting to cross from Crimea into Russia by ferry, some five days after the bombing. There is a big backup at a port in Kerch and a line of trucks that is miles away at an airport according to the images captured by Maxar Technologies.
Oleg Ignatov, a senior Russia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the long lines for the ferry crossing had been exacerbated by security checkpoints set up after the bridge explosion.
The war is nearing a new phase for the first time. Keir Giles, a senior consultant at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme, said this was the third and fourth war they had been observing.
The upcoming weeks of the war could be crucial and another surge of intensity is anticipated over the course of the next few days, as each side seeks to strike another blow.
Giles said that anything that could be described as a victory for the Ukranians is now more plausible. The response from Russia is likely to get worse.
The counter-offensives changed the war’s trajectory and disproved the idea that Russia lacked the ability to seize ground in the war.
The senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that the Russians are trying to avoid a collapse in their frontline before the winter.
If they can get to Christmas with the frontline looking like it is, it will be a huge success for the Russians.
A big victory for the Ukrainians in Donbas will be a powerful signal to the rest of Europe, which is feeling the effects of rising energy prices.
“There are so many reasons why there is an incentive for Ukraine to get things done quickly,” Giles said. “The winter energy crisis in Europe, and energy infrastructure and power being destroyed in Ukraine itself, is always going to be a test of resilience for Ukraine and its Western backers.”
NATO leaders have vowed to stand behind Ukraine regardless of how long the war takes, but several European countries – particularly those that relied heavily on Russian energy – are staring down a crippling cost-of-living crisis which, without signs of Ukrainian progress on the battlefield, could endanger public support.
It has been shown over the past few days that sites beyond the current theater of ground fighting are not immune to attacks. It is not clear exactly how the bridge bombing was accomplished but the fact that a target so deep in Russian-held territory could be successfully hit indicates a Ukrainian threat towards key Russian assets.
Russia is struggling on the ground and has failed to achieve supremacy in the air, but Monday’s attacks may have achieved one goal – sending a signal of strength towards the growing list of Putin’s internal critics.
Western assessments indicate that Moscow may not be able to keep up with the aerial bombardment, as experts believe it is unlikely that Russia will form a recurrent pattern.
Jeremy Fleming, the chief of the UK’s spy agency, said on Tuesday in a rare speech that Russian commanders on the ground know their supplies are running out.
The ISW pointed out that Russia had limited supply of precision weapons, which may affect their ability to disrupt Ukrainian counter-offensives.
Justin Bronk, a military expert with the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), agreed with that assessment, telling CNN that, “Ukrainian interception success rates against Russian cruise missiles have risen significantly since the start of the invasion in February.”
“The barrage of missile strikes is going to be an occasional feature reserved for shows of extreme outrage, because the Russians don’t have the stocks of precision munitions to maintain that kind of high-tempo missile assault into the future,” Puri said.
Any further involvement in the war could have an effect on the psychological state of the population. He said that in the west and inUkraine everyone’s mind is focused on fighting one army. The war in Russia would be about the reunification of the lands of ancient Rus states, according to Putin.
“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. It would provide Russia a new route into the Kharkiv oblast (region), which has been recaptured by Ukraine, should Putin prioritize an effort to reclaim that territory, he said.
The narrative of the conflict over the past two months has been flipped by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who wants to convince Ukraine’s Western partners that their military aid can help win the war.
Before a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine needed more systems to stop missile attacks.
“These air defense systems are making a difference because many of the incoming missiles [this week] were actually shot down by the Ukrainian air defense systems provided by NATO Allies,” he said.
The IRIS-T, which arrived this week from Germany and the NASAMS from the United States, is a badly needed modern system.
Russia and the fight against the pro-Kremlin government in Donetsk, Ukraine: a counteroffensive between the Russian and its neighboring countries
Experts recommend that the coming weeks are crucial in Europe and around the globe. “As ever, where Putin goes next depends on how the rest of the world is responding,” Giles said. Russia’s attitude is shaped by how Western countries fail to confront and deter it.
The Pro-Kremlin officials in KYIV blamed the Ukrainian government for the rocket attack on the mayor’s office in the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
Western intelligence officials have said that Zelenskyy’s allegation that Russia included criminals with long sentences for serious crimes in its front-line troops was true.
The office of Zelenskyy said that Moscow was shelling the towns and villages along the front line in the east and that fighting continued in the south.
Ukrainian officials say that the rockets at Nikopol caused damage to power lines and a raft of businesses and residential buildings. For months, Ukraine and Russia have both accused each other of firing at and around the nuclear plant. It’s run by the Ukrainian staff who were under Russian control before the war.
A shooting at a military firing range killed 11 men and wounded 15 others on Saturday, after two men from a former Soviet republic killed themselves, prompting Russia to open an investigation. The Russian Defense Ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.
France, a close ally of Ukraine, promised air-defense missiles and intensified military training in an effort to correct what it sees as its lagging support for the country. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published in Le Parisien.
The Institute for the Study of War suggests that deporting Ukrainian citizens to Russian territory as they populate areas with Russian citizens is a pretext.
Russian authorities had claimed this week that several thousand children from the southern region of Russia had been put in rest homes and children’s camps as a result of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The original remarks by Russia’s deputy prime minister, Marat Khusnullin, were reported by RIA Novosti on Friday.
Russian authorities have previously admitted to placing children from Russian-held areas of Ukraine, who they said were orphans, for adoption with Russian families, in a potential breach of an international treaty on genocide prevention.
— A Russian commander wanted for his role in the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in 2014 has been deployed to the front, according to social media posts by pro-Kremlin commentators. Maksim Fomin and others wrote that the Russian front-line unit was being taken over by the person known as “Strelkov”.
Girkin has been on an international wanted list over his alleged involvement in the downing of Kuala Lumpur-bound flight MH17, which killed 298 people. The verdict in a related murder trial is expected in November.
Recently, Girkin’s social media posts have lashed out at Moscow’s battlefield failures. Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency said Sunday it would offer a $100,000 reward to anyone who captures him.
Anton Gerashcenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Internal Ministry, reported attacks on infrastructure near the city’s main rail station, but lines were operating as normal midmorning Monday.
“”The enemy can attack our cities, but it won’t be able to break us. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote that the occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of future generations.
The chief of staff for Zelenskyy is once again calling on the west to give Ukraine more air defense systems. He said that there wasn’t time for slow actions.
Shahed models are known to crash into targets with explosives, as described by Yermak. Ukraine estimates that Russia ordered 2,400 of the drones from Iran, a number that overwhelms Ukrainian air defense systems. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, they shot down 11 drones this morning.
The picture of the bomb labeled ” Geran-2″ that was posted was taken down after commenters objected to himconfirming a Russian strike.
Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Annexed Kherson Region, Revisited: State-Dependent Action in Kiev, the EU’s Foreign Ministers and “Concrete Evidence” of Iran’s Interaction
The European Union foreign ministers are in Luxembourg. The EU’s top diplomat told reporters before the meeting that the bloc would look into “concrete evidence” regarding Iran’s involvement in Ukraine.
Kamikaze drones, or suicide drones, are small, portable aerial weapon systems that are hard to detect and can be fired at a distance. They can be easily launched and are designed to hit behind enemy lines and be destroyed in the attack.
It’s unclear how many casualties there have been, but one person was found dead under the rubble of a destroyed building in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Another remains trapped, Klitschko said.
The attack on energy infrastructure in the Kamianske district caused “fire and serious destruction,” according to the regional military official.
“Currently, all services are working on eliminating the consequences of shelling and restoring electricity supply. Each region has a crisis response plan,” Shmyhal added.
We ask the people of Ukrainians to take a conscious approach to economical consumption of electricity, so as to stabilizing the energy system. Especially during peak hours.
The power grid in the country has been under control, according to Ukrenergo, a state energy supplier.
Shmyhal’s announcement comes as Ukraine is recovering from Russian attacks on critical energy facilities.
Pro-Russian officials in the annexed Kherson region claim that the evacuation of civilians and the retreat of Russian troops from the west bank to the east bank of Dnipro River is due to the threat of flooding that could occur if the Ukrainian military hits the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam.
Saldo offered residents an option to move to any part of Russia, and the Russian government would give vouchers if they wanted to move further from the fighting.
He said that residents whose homes might be damaged from shelling could be compensated by the Russian government.
Kherson, the worst case scenario of no water or electricity in Kyiv, Ukraine: a statement by U.S. president Vladimir Putin
According to the President’s office, Ukrainian forces moved the Russian line back by 20 miles in October.
In his first interview since being appointed to lead Russia’s armed forces, General Sergei Surovikin said the situation in Kherson was very difficult and refused to rule out the hardest decisions.
We will work to maximize the safety of our soldiers and the civilian population. That is our priority,” Surovikin said to the Zvezda channel, a state media outlet funded by Russia’s Defense Ministry.
In the event that there are more attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure by Russia, the city of Kyiv is preparing for a worst-case scenario of no water or electricity in the city.
If you have extended family, please take into account the possibility of staying here for a certain period of time if there was no water or electricity in the area.
The goal of his is to make us leave our land so that he can have it. That’s what the aggressor wants to achieve,” Klitschko said regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Each district within the city will have about 100 heating centers, which will operate in case of emergencies in the winter. An ambulance crew and warm clothes will be on duty near the heating centers, which will be equipped with heat, lighting, toilets, canteens, places to rest and warm clothes.
Russian withdrawal from the Kherson province in the early stage of the Second World War II. A human-sector official tells Ukrainians in Beryslav
Russian state media stated that Ukrainian shelling damaged power lines, but the head of the Kherson region’s military administration said that they had been attacked by Russian troops.
The Russian forces have also placed mines around water towers in Beryslav, Mr. Yanushevych said, referring to a town less than 50 miles from Kherson city and just north of a critical dam near the front lines of the fighting.
Some 250,000 people lived in the city before the war. Ukrainian activists estimate that 30,000 to 60,000 people remain, but it is impossible to know how accurate such guesses are.
The loss of Kherson would be Russia’s third major setback of the war, following retreats from Kyiv, the capital, last spring, and from the Kharkiv region in the northeast in September. Kherson was the only provincial capital Russia had captured since invading in February, and it was a major link in Russia’s effort to control the southern coastline along the Black Sea.
After the Russian retreat, the military claimed that Ukrainian troops entered the key city of Kherson.
Even as its soldiers fled, the Kremlin said that it still considered Kherson — which President Putin illegally annexed in September — to be a part of Russia.
Videos shared by Ukrainian government officials on social media showed scenes of civilians cheering and awaiting the arrival of a contingent of Ukrainian troops shortly after Russia said that the withdrawal of its forces across the Dnipro River was complete.
As he spoke, Ukrainian soldiers continued to move through towns and villages in the region, greeted joyously by tearful residents who had endured nine months occupation.
On the final hours of the Russian occupation of Kherson, Ukraine: A historic day for the Ukrainian people and a reminder of Russia’s pullout
In his zone along the front less than four miles north, Oleh Voitsehovsky did not see any Russian troops.
“The Russians left all the villages,” he said. We looked at hundreds of villages with our drones but didn’t see any cars. We don’t see how they are leaving. They retreat quietly, at night.”
According to residents of Kherson reached by telephone on Friday morning, the final hours of the Russian occupation had a lot of explosions and were chaotic.
Serhiy, a retiree living in the city who asked that his last name not be published for security reasons, said in a series of text messages that conditions in the city had unraveled overnight.
“At night, a building burned in the very center, but it was not possible even to call the fire department,” he wrote. There was no phone signal, no electricity, and no heating.
Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia may have left a contingent of soldiers behind disguised as civilians to engage the Ukrainians in street battles or stage sabotage operations.
The Russian forces that did not leave the west bank of the Dnipro River will have to be removed because the Ukrainians now control that river bank. Those that are present will either surrender or be eliminated from the fight.
Other videos showed cars driving in the city center beeping horns as people on the sidewalks shouted “Glory to Ukraine!” In one, Ukrainian soldiers drove slowly past a crowd as people reached out to touch the soldiers through the open windows.
The people who remain in Kherson have gone through curfews, shortages of goods, and partisan warfare, as well as an intense campaign to force them to become Russian citizens.
On Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky said that it was a historic day for the country because of Russia’s pullout from the Kherson region.
The president talked about how people kept the Ukrainian flags in the city despite the threats and oppression they faced, even after the military arrived.
Zelensky thanked everyone involved in the operation from the military units to the intelligence service and the National Guard.
He said stabilization measures would follow due to the threat of mines. “The occupiers left a lot of mines and explosives, in particular at vital facilities. He said that they would be clearing them.
Police, rescuers, power engineers follow our defenders. Social services are coming back. … Life is returning,” he said.
Is it too dangerous to return to the city? The case of Snihurivka, Romania, in the days of the Kherson revolution
Officials also on Friday warned displaced residents to hold off on returning to their homes in the newly retaken areas of Kherson, saying, “It’s too dangerous here now.”
In neighboring Mykolaiv region: The head of the regional military administration of Mykolaiv visited the small city of Snihurivka Friday to discuss “the restoration of life in the liberated territories of the region.”
“Despite the fact that the relevant services have already started (removing mines in) the liberated territories, I warn local residents to be careful,” Kim added.
“There is practically no water supply in the town. There is a shortage of medicines, there is a shortage of bread, which is not produced because of the lack of electricity. The advisers to the mayor of Kherson said there were problems with food supplies.
Russian forces are still near the city, and the authorities warn residents to be safe, as there is explosives in the city.
This is not the end of the struggle against the Russian occupation in the country, reports CNN’s Nic Robertson, who witnessed emotional scenes Saturday in Kherson’s central square as residents hailed their liberation.
“Kherson is now a front line city,” he said. You could hear guns being fired at the Russian forces last night and this morning.
The mines are a significant danger. Four people were killed, including an 11 year old, when a family drove into a mine outside the city. A few railway workers were injured when they tried to repair damaged lines. According to statements by Ukrainian officials, there were at least four more children injured by mines in the region.
The President of the Ukraine said that over 2,000 explosives had already been removed from the Kherson region. He warned residents not to try to independently check buildings and objects that have been left by the occupiers.
“There are 10 groups of bomb disposal experts working in Kherson, the police are working, and there are various units of the defense forces,” Zelensky said.
Operational Update of the Dnipro River Battlefield in Kherson, Ukraine, During the July 24 Attack of Volodymyr Zelensky
Kherson city has no heating, and there are sub-zero temperatures at night, according to CNN. The Ukrainian authorities believe that people who find it hard to live in Kherson can move to other parts of the country, since they have freedom of movement.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies obtained by CNN on Friday showed water flowing out of three sluice gates at the dam, where a major hydroelectric project is situated.
The next steps for the Ukrainian military in Kherson are going to be a major urban operation, stated an analyst for CNN. You will see a methodical operation to clear buildings of potential mines and booby traps.
Russian troops are focusing their efforts in the Kherson region on equipping their defensive lines on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, an operational update from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) General Staff said Sunday night.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian and Russian forces traded fire on Monday from across the broad expanse of the Dnipro River that now divides them after Russia’s retreat from the southern city of Kherson, reshaping the battlefield with a victory that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared marked “the beginning of the end of the war.”
The Dnipro has become the new front line in southern Ukraine, and officials there warned of continued danger from fighting in regions that have already endured months of Russian occupation.
The Russian army’s new positions on the eastern banks of the Dnipro had caused fears that it would retaliate for the loss of the city with a bombardment.
Mortar shells struck near the bridge, sending up puffs of smoke. There were thunderous, metallic booms when incoming rounds were fired near the river. It was hard to tell what had been hit.
The deaths underscored the threats that were still on the ground as Mr. Zelensky made a surprise visit to Kherson.
Hundreds of people celebrated after Mr. Zelensky said that they were coming to all of the country.
Russian strikes and shutdown of thermal and hydroelectric power plants in Kherson City, Ukraine: a resident’s voice in Skadovsk
One resident of Kherson City, who spoke via secure messaging from Oleshky, a town across the river from Kherson City, said that people in the city are willing to exchange things for homemade booze. “Then they get drunk and even more aggressive. We are so scared here.” She asked her name be kept out of the news for security.
In a text message, Ivan wrote that Russians find empty houses and settle there. He asked that his name not be used out of concern for his safety in Skadovsk, which is south of Kherson city. We try to find someone local to stay in the owner’s place. That it is not abandoned and that Russians don’t take it.
Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenergo reported on Friday that over 50% of the country’s energy capacity was lost due to Russian strikes on thermal and hydroelectric power plants.
After a brief emergency shutdown, the nuclear reactors have been turned back on, but were still not reconnected to the national grid, the company added.
The military administrator, Vitaliy Kim, said that the nuclear plant in his area was cut off from the grid, which led to a potential shutdown of the reactor.
Ukrainian officials stress that the power cuts have the cascading effect of turning off the heat and water in many cases. And with temperatures often below freezing, the water in pipes could freeze, adding further complications.
Ukrainian Health Minister Maia Sandu: Evacuating State Hospitals in the Light of Russia’s Nuclear Missile Barrage on Wednesday night
President Maia Sandu of Moldova wrote on his Facebook profile that they can’t trust Russia because they left us in the dark and cold.
Ukraine is scrambling to prepare for the winter. In a Tuesday night video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there are now 4,000 centers to take care of civilians if there are extended power cuts.
He said they will provide a lot of things including water, phone charging and internet access. Many will be in government buildings.
One of Ukraine’s largest state hospitals was on the verge of evacuating some patients Wednesday after it lost water supply due to a Russian missile barrage, a local official told CNN.
It is difficult to run a hospital if there is no water. The sterilized rooms suffer andalysis is impossible to conduct, he said. “On Wednesday, the Kyiv Regional Clinical Hospital was on the edge of evacuating patients who require (dialysis) to other facilities, but in the afternoon the water supply was restored and everyone received the procedures vital for them.”
The health minister of Ukraine said on Friday that every hospital had a generator and that the government was adding more generators to increase capacity.
Vladimir Putin speaks about the attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Thursday at a Kremlin reception and isn’t there water cut off
President Vladimir Putin made rare public comments specifically addressing the Russian military’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Thursday, while clutching a glass of champagne at a Kremlin reception.
Speaking after an awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia,” he addressed the group of soldiers receiving the awards. He said of the attacks, “yes, we are doing it. Who started it?
He ended his apparently off-the-cuff comments by claiming that people seem to refrain from mentioning that water has been cut off from Donetsk. There has been no word about it. At all! Complete silence.”
The Russian president compared the responses to attacks on Russia and attacks on Ukranian to noise, clamor and crackle for the whole universe.
He concluded the speech by adding that “it won’t interfere with our combat missions,” before raising a toast to the listening soldiers and sipping from his champagne glass.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/09/europe/putin-ukrainian-infrastructure-strikes-intl/index.html
A top Ukrainian official accused the attacks on the country’s energy grid as genocide – a comment on “The problem of a rural Ukranian city in a disaster zone”
It said that the restoration of household consumers is slowed down by the difficult weather conditions, along with the damage done by the freezing and breakdown of wires in distribution networks.
A top Ukrainian official said the attacks on the country’s energy grid amount to genocide. The Prosecutor-General of the Ukranian republic made a comment while speaking to British Broadcasting Corporation.
He shares the school with more than 1,000 students during the week. In case of an extended outage, the school provides heat, food, and water for the community.
He says that there were power cuts that lasted up to 24 hours. In this agricultural region, farming equipment and warehouses were destroyed. He believes business activity is a third of what it was.
“The people coming are mostly from the houses on the main street. Olha Kobzar is a Ukrainian volunteer who is in charge of the temporary housing.
Taras Shevchenko’s bust in town: russia war Ukrainianraine-town-borodianka Banksy power cuts
The lights go out in the interview room, leaving her standing in a dark hallway. She said she was going to wait a while to see if the power came back. If it starts to get chilly, she’ll turn on the generator. It’s like this every day, she adds.
There’s a bust of Taras Shevchenko in the center of town. He helped to push for independence from Russia in the 19th century. He wrote, “I am very sad to be in chains and die a slave.”
A British artist well-known for his street spray-paintings, Banksy surreptitiously painted on several badly scarred walls last month, later confirming it was his work on Instagram.
One image shows a young boy tossing a man to the floor. Both are in martial arts attire. The man is said to be the leader of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/10/1141536117/russia-war-ukraine-town-borodianka-banksy-power-cuts
The air defense system of Simferopol, Ukraine, after the Saturday night attack on Melitopol by Ukrainian-made missiles and bombs
People are happy that we’re getting attention. “But the paintings are on destroyed buildings.” We will remove the paintings and place them somewhere else.
The attack on Melitopol came amid social media footage and reports of several blasts in the Crimean city of Simferopol at around 9 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Yevgeny Balitsky, Russia’s acting governor of Zaporizhzhia, said the missile attack on Melitopol had “completely destroyed” a recreation center where “people, civilians, and [military] base personnel were having dinner on Saturday night.”
The city administration head said that Ukraine had launched Grad missiles around 5:54 a.m. local time Sunday in the direction of the Voroshilovsky and Kalininsky districts.
There were dead and wounded in a Russian military barracks that burned after an explosion, according to an unofficial media portal.
The air defense system was put in place over Simferopol, said Sergey Aksenov. All services are working as usual.
The news comes amid reports that 1.5 million people in the Odesa region of Ukraine have been left without power following strikes by Iranian-made drones.
He said “Ukrainian sky defenders” had shot down 10 of the 15 drones, but the damage was still “critical” and he suggested it will take a few days to restore electricity supply in the region.
“In general, both emergency and stabilization power outages continue in various regions,” Zelensky said. “The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state.”
Kiev’s response to the Soviet missile attacks on Ukraine: the attitude of Russia towards Odesa residents, the prime minister and the city’s mayor
Zelensky said that the true attitude of Russia is towards Odesa residents, because of their deliberate attempt to bring disaster to the city.
The new support package from Norway was used for the restoration of the energy system in Ukraine, according to Zelensky.
The Ukrainian people rely on the heat and light from plants and equipment that have been attacked many times, and the attacks have drawn condemnation from the world’s leaders.
“The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state — there is an acute shortage in the system,” he said, urging people to reduce their power use to put less strain on the battered power grid.
“It must be understood: Even if there are no heavy missile strikes, this does not mean that there are no problems,” he continued. There is shelling almost every day in different parts of the country. Energy facilities are hit almost every day.”
“They have set a goal to leave Ukrainians without light, water and heat,” Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting, adding that 60 of the 76 missiles fired at Ukraine were intercepted by its air defense forces.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said explosions had hit the city and that three districts had been struck in the onslaught of rockets, disrupting water supplies across the capital. Residents were advised to prepare a stock of drinking water, not to leave shelters while technicians work to restore the water supply, and to stay indoors when the attacks continue.
Residents bundled in winter coats, hats and scarves gathered in Kyiv’s underground stations as the sirens wailed. Their faces were lit by their phones as they scrolled through updates.
Oleh Synie Hubov, head of the regional military administration, says that at least 10 missiles were fired at various targets in the north of the region. Power was beginning to be restored in Kharkiv city after being knocked out for much of the day. The mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, told residents that they should use makeshift centers offering relief from power shortages to get food and drinks, and also to refill their cellphones.
The Kremlin said that two planes were slightly damaged in an attack on the air base in December. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack.
An MiG-31K, a supersonic aircraft capable of carrying a Kinzal hypersonic missile, was also seen in the sky over Belarus during the air attacks on Friday in Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s Armed Forces. They didn’t know if a Kinzal was used in the attacks.
“We know that their defense industrial base is being taxed,” Kirby said of Russia. They know they are not keeping up with the pace. We know that he’s (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s) having trouble replenishing specifically precision guided munitions.”
The Biden administration is finalizing plans to send the Patriot, the US’ most advanced ground-based air defense system, to Ukraine, according to two US officials and a senior administration official. The Ukrainian government has asked the system to help it fight off Russian missiles and drones. It would be the most effective long-range defensive weapons system sent to the country and officials say it will help secure airspace for members of the North Atlantic Treaty and America (NATO) in eastern Europe.
He declined to announce any details on the next security assistance package for Ukraine, but said that there “will be another one” and that additional air defense capabilities should be expected.
The Russian missile attacks on critical infrastructure in Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv, Khrukuk and Kharkkiv
The water supply is back to normal. In a post on Telegram, the city’s mayor said that half of the residents of the city already have heating.
In the central city of Kryvyi Rih, rescuers have pulled the body of an 18-month-old boy from the rubble of an apartment block which was destroyed by a Russian missile on Friday, Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said Saturday on Telegram.
Local officials said that the boy’s parents and a woman were also killed. The 13 people, including four children, were injured.
More than 100 people lived in the apartment block, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the city military administration. They and residents of neighboring homes which also suffered damage are being looked after in a temporary accommodation, he said Friday.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubv, head of the regional military administration, said “critical infrastructure facilities” were hit in Chuhuiv district on Friday.
Some sections of the Ukrainian railway system were without power due to the missile strikes.
In the wake of Friday’s assaults on power-generating facilities, the energy minister of Ukraine warned of further emergency power cuts.