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  • Concerns rise as Russia resumes grain blockade of Ukraine

    Concerns rise as Russia resumes grain blockade of Ukraine

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Russia resumed its blockade of Ukrainian ports on Sunday, cutting off urgently needed grain exports to hungry parts of the world in what U.S. President Joe Biden called a “really outrageous” act.

    Biden — speaking in Wilmington, Delaware — warned that global hunger could increase because of Russia’s suspension of a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine, one of the world’s breadbaskets.

    “It’s really outrageous,” Biden said Saturday. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”

    Biden spoke hours after Russia announced it would immediately halt participation in the grain deal, alleging that Ukraine staged a drone attack Saturday against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet off the coast of occupied Crimea. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons.

    A ship carrying 40,000 tons of grain bound for Ethiopia under the United Nations aid program could not leave Ukraine on Sunday as a result of Russia’s “blockage of the grain corridor,” Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure, said on Twitter. He didn’t specify from which Ukrainian port the ship, the Ikraia Angel, had been scheduled to depart.

    The grain initiative has allowed more than 9 million tons of grain in 397 ships to safely leave Ukrainian ports since it was signed in July. U.N. chief António Guterres had urged Russia and Ukraine on Friday to renew the deal when it expires Nov. 19. The grain agreement has succeeded in bringing down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N., which has listed Ethiopia as one of the countries most at risk for food shortages.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that 176 ships loaded with grain for more than 7 million consumers are being blocked.

    “Why is it that a handful of people somewhere in the Kremlin can decide whether there will be food on the tables of people in Egypt or Bangladesh?” he said Saturday in his nightly video address.

    Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that no more ships would depart from Ukraine but those already waiting near Istanbul would be inspected on Sunday or Monday. The statement said Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was in talks with his counterparts to “solve the problem and to continue the grain initiative.”

    Russia requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the alleged attack and the security of the Black Sea grain corridor. Guterres delayed a trip to Algiers by a day to engage in talks aimed at ending Russia’s suspension of the grain export deal.

    Analysts say Russia pulling out of the deal signals that it sees the agreement as a way to exert pressure on Ukraine.

    “By leaving the deal now and putting the blame on Ukraine, it aims to slow Ukrainian attacks around the Black Sea,” said Mario Bikarski, Europe’s analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Russia could be hoping that Ukraine’s Western allies might ask it to focus its forces elsewhere in order to preserve the grain deal, he said.

    More conflicting details emerged Sunday about the alleged attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

    The city council of Mariupol, a Ukrainian port captured by Russia on the Azov Sea, said on Telegram that Ukrainian special services had destroyed at least three Russian warships near the city of Sevastopol on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

    An adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry claimed that the Russians’ “careless handling of explosives” had caused blasts on four Russian warships. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed Sunday that one of the drones that attacked Sevastopol could have been launched from a civilian ship carrying agricultural products from Ukraine. The ministry claimed an inspection of the wreckage showed the drones used Canadian-made navigation technology and that the launch point was the Ukrainian coast near the port of Odesa. The ministry claimed the ships that were attacked had helped secure the safety of the Black Sea grain corridor.

    Independent verification of each side’s claims was not possible.

    Russia’s action is facing international condemnation over the grain deal suspension. In a tweet Sunday, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged Russia to reverse its decision.

    Russia had been angling to withdraw from the deal for some time, said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

    On the diplomatic front, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said any peace talks between Russia and Ukraine should be held with Washington, which Russia views as Kyiv’s “mastermind.”

    “Obviously, the deciding vote belongs to Washington … It is impossible to talk about something, for example, with Kyiv,” Peskov said on Russian state television.

    Ukraine and the United States are unlikely to agree to such a demand.

    On the battlefront, Russian missile attacks kept pounding key front-line hot spots in Ukraine. The Russians shelled seven Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours, killing at least five civilians and wounding nine more, Ukraine’s presidential office said.

    In the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting is ongoing near the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, eight cities and villages were shelled.

    Earlier this month, Moscow intensified its missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s power stations, waterworks and other key infrastructure, damaging 40% of Ukraine’s electric system and forcing the government to implement rolling blackouts. Kyiv’s mayor said the Ukrainian capital’s power system was operating in “emergency mode.”

    In addition, in areas that Ukraine has recaptured, residents are still recovering bodies of killed civilians, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

    “Over the past 24 hours alone, in three de-occupied towns and villages, we found abandoned bodies of Ukrainian civilians,” Kyrylenko said. “The Russians are ignoring all principles of war. Every week we discover either individual or mass graves of civilians.”

    Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy said Sunday that Russian forces were mining territories they leave behind twice as densely as during the first months of the war.

    “Virtually everything in the recently de-occupied territories has been mined,” Monastyrskiy told Ukrainian television.

    Power outages were reported Sunday in the occupied Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, home to the closed Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest. Ukrainian and Russian officials traded blame for the shelling that caused the blackout.

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  • Sunday, October 16. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Sunday, October 16. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 235.

    As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues and the war rages on, reliable sources of information are critical. Forbes gathers information and provides updates on the situation.

    Breaking: several countries called on their citizens to leave the territory of Ukraine.

    Egypt. On October 14, Egypt reported that The Egyptian Embassy in Kyiv, without a clear explanation of the reason, urged members of the Egyptian community to depart Ukraine via available land routes with the neighboring countries.

    China. On October 15, Consul General of China Zhang Meifang urged Chinese citizens to leave Ukraine “with the current grim security situation.” She added that the Embassy will assist in organizing the evacuation of people in need.

    Serbia. Today, the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Kyiv announced its temporary closure “in order to protect the safety of its personnel.” Recalling that on February 13, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia recommended to its citizens to consider the possibility of temporarily leaving the territory of Ukraine, and to those citizens who were planning a trip to Ukraine, to postpone their trip. Russian mass media reported on several other countries that have called on their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, but there is no official confirmation of this information yet.

    About 9,000 Russian troops are currently arriving in the Republic of Belarus. “The first troop trains with Russian servicemen who are part of the RGF began to arrive in Belarus,” Valery Revenko, Assistant Minister of Defense of Belarus, wrote on Twitter. “The relocation will take several days. The total number will be a little less than 9 thousand people.” On October 10, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said that Russia and Belarus had agreed to deploy a joint regional grouping of troops due to the “escalation” on the western borders of Belarus. “If the threat level reaches the current level, as it is now, we begin to activate the grouping of the Union state.”

    More than 11,200 houses, 479 industrial enterprises, 167 educational institutions and 64 hospitals were damaged or completely destroyed by Russia in the Luhansk region, stated the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration. According to preliminary data, at least 18 sports facilities, 6 social welfare facilities, 64 health care facilities, 115 cultural facilities, 37 administrative buildings, 7 railway stations, and 48 livelihood facilities were damaged due to constant shelling and bombing of the region in eastern Ukraine. “The enemy purposefully destroyed the economy of the region. Today, it is impossible to carry out economic activities on the territory of the Luhansk region. Thousands of individual entrepreneurs, 3,408 enterprises, including 479 industrial enterprises, cannot work.”

    Dnipropetrovsk Region. At night, the city was shelled 30 times from barrel artillery, almost fifty strikes from a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system were recorded, as reported by the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. During the attack, 6 people were injured, 2 were hospitalized. Russian Forces shelled 3 nine-story buildings, 21 private houses, damaged 5 power lines and many other objects. The shelling caused several fires and more than 1,500 families were left without electricity.

    Kharkiv Region. The head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Oleh Synyehubov, reported that yesterday the Russian army shelled several settlements near the contact line and the border with the Russian Federation. According to the regional Center of Emergency Medical Assistance, 3 people were hospitalized with injuries in the Kupyansk district: 2 men aged 36 and 48, and a 69-year-old woman. Synyehubov also added that 555 explosive objects in the Kharkiv region were defused during the day by the pyrotechnic units of Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

    On The Cultural Front

    The American streaming service of films and series, Netflix
    NFLX
    , has acquired the rights to show seven Ukrainian films. These are the first of a large package of films on Ukraine, the rights to which Netflix has purchased, the distributor Film.ua Distribution confirmed in a comment to The Village Ukraine. “…our full meters are actually needed by the viewer, create interest and admiration. All this inspires us to continue working on the local and global distribution of Ukrainian films and series.”

    Among the films that are already available on the service: “My Thoughts Are Silent” by Antonio Lukich, “The Rising Hawk” by Akhtem Seitablaev and John Wynn, “Stars Exchange” by Oleksiy Daruga, “Devoted” by Khrystyna Syvolap, “Foxter & Max” by Anatoliy Mateshko, “The Stronghold” by Yuriy Kovalyov, “The Guide” by Oles Sanin.

    The Russian authorities, under the pretext of “evacuation,” are going to expropriate artifacts from Crimean museums and institutions as well as those in other temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, according to the website of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. “Such mass removal of cultural values from the territory of Ukraine by the Russian occupiers will be comparable to the looting of museums during the Second World War and should be qualified accordingly.” The Ministry of Culture said.

    The ministry appealed to UNESCO and all international partners to prevent another violation of international law by Russia and to refuse cooperation with Russian museums and other institutions. The Russian plan for “external evacuation” from the museums of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to the territory of the Russian Federation provides for the priority removal of the most valuable objects. In particular, archaeological finds made of precious metals.

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    Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff

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  • Ukraine: Russia hits power site by Kyiv, guards seized land

    Ukraine: Russia hits power site by Kyiv, guards seized land

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    A missile strike seriously damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine‘s capital region, the country’s power system operator said Saturday as the Russian military strove to cut water and electricity in populated areas.

    Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike did not kill or wound anyone.

    Electricity transmission company Ukrenergo said repair crews were working to restore power but warned residents about possible outages.

    Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, urged Kyiv area residents and people in three neighboring regions to reduce their energy consumption during evening hours of peak demand.

    After a truck bomb explosion a week ago damaged the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula, the Kremlin launched what is believed to be its largest coordinated missile attacks since the initial invasion of Ukraine.

    This week’s wide-ranging retaliatory attacks hit residential buildings, killing dozens of people, as well as civil infrastructure such as power stations near Kyiv and other cities far from the front lines of the war.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Moscow did not see a need for additional massive strikes but his military would continue selective strikes. He said of 29 targets the Russian military planned to knock out in this week’s attacks, seven weren’t damaged and would be taken out gradually.

    The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, interpreted Putin’s remarks as intended to counter criticism from pro-war Russian bloggers who “largely praised the resumption of strikes against Ukrainian cities but warned that a short campaign would be ineffective.”

    “Putin knew he would not be able to sustain high-intensity missiles strikes for a long time due to a dwindling arsenal of high-precision missiles,” the think tank said.

    Regions of southern Ukraine that Putin illegally designated as Russian territory last month remained a focus of fighting Saturday.

    Kirill Stremousov, a deputy head of the administration Moscow installed in the mostly Russian-occupied Kherson region, reminded residents they could evacuate to Crimea and cities in southwestern Russia as Ukrainian forces try to battle their way to the regional capital.

    After the region’s worried Kremlin-backed leaders asked civilians Thursday to evacuate to ensure their safety and to give Russian troops more maneuverability, Moscow offered free accommodations to residents who agreed to leave.

    Ukrainian troops attempted to advance south along the banks of the Dnieper River but did gain any ground, according to Stremousov.

    “The defense lines worked, and the situation has remained under the full control of the Russian army,” he wrote on his messaging app channel.

    In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Gov. Oleksandr Starukh said the Russian military carried out strikes with Iranian-made kamikaze drones and S-300 missiles. Some experts said the Russian military’s use of the long-range missiles may reflect shortages of dedicated precision weapons for hitting ground targets.

    To the north and east of Kherson, Russian shelling killed two civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Valentyn Resnichenko said. He said the shelling of the city of Nikopol, which is located across the Dnieper from the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, damaged a dozen residential buildings, several stores and a transportation facility.

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  • Putin calls his actions in Ukraine ‘correct and timely’

    Putin calls his actions in Ukraine ‘correct and timely’

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    KYIV, UKRAINE — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he expects his mobilization of army reservists for combat in Ukraine to be completed in about two weeks, allowing him to end an unpopular and chaotic call-up meant to counter Ukrainian battlefield gains and solidify his illegal annexation of occupied territory.

    Putin — facing domestic discontent and military setbacks in a neighboring country armed with increasingly advanced Western weapons — also told reporters he does not regret starting the conflict and “did not set out to destroy Ukraine” when he ordered Russian troops to invade nearly eight months ago.

    “What is happening today is unpleasant, to put it mildly,” he said after attending a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Kazakhstan’s capital. “But we would have had all this a little later, only under worse conditions for us, that’s all. So my actions are correct and timely.”

    Russia’s difficulties in achieving its war aims have become apparent in one of the four Ukrainian regions Putin illegally claimed as Russian territory last month. Anticipating an advance by Ukrainian forces, Moscow-installed authorities in the Kherson region urged residents to flee Friday.

    Even some of Putin’s own supporters have criticized the Kremlin’s handling of the war and mobilization, increasing pressure on him to do more to turn the tide in Russia’s favor.

    In his comments on the army mobilization, Putin said the action he ordered last month had registered 222,000 of the 300,000 reservists the Russian Defense Ministry set as an initial goal. A total of 33,000 of them have joined military units, and 16,000 are deployed for combat, he said.

    Putin ordered the call-up to bolster the fight along a 1,100-km (684-mile) front line where Ukrainian counteroffensives have inflicted blows to Moscow’s military prestige. The mobilization was troubled from the start, with confusion about who was eligible for the draft in a country where almost all men under age 65 are registered as reservists.

    Opposition to the order was so strong that tens of thousands of men left Russia, and others protested in the streets. Critics were skeptical the draft would end in two weeks. They predicted only a pause to allow enlistment offices to process regular conscripts during Russia’s annual fall draft for men aged 18-27, which was postponed from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1.

    “Do not believe Putin about ‘two weeks.’ Mobilization can only be canceled by his decree. No decree – no cancellation,” Vyacheslav Gimadi, an attorney for imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on Facebook.

    Asked about the possibility of an expanded mobilization, the Russian president said the Defense Ministry had not asked him to authorize one.

    “Nothing further is planned,” Putin said, adding, ”In the foreseeable future, I don’t see any need.”

    Putin and other officials stated in September the mobilization would affect some 300,000 people, but his enabling decree did not cite a specific number. Russian media reports have suggested it could be as high as 1.2 million.

    Putin had also said only those with combat or service experience would be drafted. He later admitted military officials had made mistakes, such as enlisting reservists without the relevant background. Men who received minimal training decades ago were drafted in droves.

    Reports also have surfaced that some recruits were sent to the front lines in Ukraine with little preparation and inadequate equipment. Several mobilized reservists were reported to have died in combat in Ukraine this week, just days after they were drafted.

    Putin responded to the criticism Friday, saying all activated recruits should receive adequate training and that he would assign Russia’s Security Council “to conduct an inspection of how mobilized citizens are being trained.”

    Before launching the invasion on Feb. 24, Putin questioned Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign nation, portraying the country as part of historic Russia. Asked about this on Friday, he repeated his claim that Russia was prepared for peace talks and again accused the Ukrainian government of quitting negotiations after Russian troops withdrew from Kyiv early in the war.

    Ukraine rejected any possibility of negotiating with Putin after he illegally annexed Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions last month based on “referendums” that Kyiv and the West denounced as a sham.

    The battlefield momentum has shifted toward Ukraine as its military recaptures cities, towns and villages that Russia took early in the war. After occupied Kherson’s worried Kremlin-backed leaders asked civilians to evacuate to ensure their safety and to give Russian troops more maneuverability, Moscow offered free accommodations.

    Russia has characterized the movement of Ukrainians to Russia or Russian-controlled territory as voluntary, but in many cases they aren’t allowed to travel to Ukrainian-held territory, and reports have surfaced that some were forcibly deported to “filtration camps” with harsh conditions.

    An Associated Press investigation found that Russian officials deported thousands of Ukrainian children — some orphaned, others living with foster families or in institutions — to be raised as Russian.

    Ukrainian forces reported retaking 75 populated places in northern Kherson in the last month, according to Ukraine’s Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories. A similar campaign in eastern Ukraine resulted in most of the Kharkiv region returning to Ukrainian control, as well as parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the ministry said.

    As they retreat, Russian forces are adding to their losses by abandoning weapons and ammunition. In the U.S., the Office of the Director of National Intelligence presented a slide deck Friday stating that at least 6,000 pieces of Russian equipment have been lost since the start of the war. The presentation outlines enormous pressure on Russia’s defense industry to replace its losses and says that because of export controls and international sanctions, Russia is expending munitions at an unsustainable rate.

    Konstantin, a Kherson resident who spoke to the AP only if his last name was withheld for safety reasons, said columns of military trucks had moved around the region’s capital and eventually left. Most government offices have reduced working hours, and schools have closed, he said.

    “The city is now in suspense. Primarily the Russian military from the headquarters and the family of collaborators are leaving,” Konstantin said. “Everyone is discussing the imminent arrival of the Ukrainian military and preparing for it.”

    Russian forces on Friday carried out missile strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and in the Zaphorizhzhia region, home to Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog has warned that fighting at or near the Russian-controlled Zaphorizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, now shuttered, could trigger a catastrophic radiation release.

    Putin has vowed to retaliate if Ukraine or its allies strike Russian territory, including the annexed regions of Ukraine. Russia’s Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine came under attack for a second day Friday. According to Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov, the shelling damaged an electric substation, five houses in the village of Voznesenovka and a power line, leaving several nearby villages temporarily without electricity. No casualties or injuries were reported.

    Ukrainian shelling blew up an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region on Thursday, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee. Unconfirmed media reports said three Russian National Guard officers were killed and more than 10 were wounded.

    Vowing to liberate all Russian-occupied areas, Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, said in a video message Friday, “We have buried the myth of the invincibility of the Russian army.”

    ——

    Yuras Karmanau contributed reporting from Tallinn, Estonia.

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  • Ukraine gets more air defense pledges as Russia hits cities

    Ukraine gets more air defense pledges as Russia hits cities

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s allies vowed Thursday to supply the besieged nation with advanced air defense systems as Russian forces attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and fired missiles elsewhere at civilian targets, payback for the bombing of a strategic bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea.

    Missile strikes killed at least five people and destroyed an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while heavy artillery damaged more than 30 houses, a hospital, a kindergarten and other buildings in the town of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

    Russia has intensified its bombardment of civilian areas in recent weeks as its military lost ground in multiple occupied regions of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally annexed. Kremlin war hawks have urged Putin to escalate the bombing campaign even more to punish Ukraine for Saturday’s truck bomb attack on the landmark Kerch Bridge. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

    “We need to protect our sky from the terror of Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskky told the Council of Europe, a human rights organization. “If this is done, it will be a fundamental step to end the entire war in the near future.”

    Responding to Zelenskyy’s repeated pleas for more effective air defenses, the British government announced it would provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. The U.K. also is sending hundreds of aerial drones for information-gathering and logistics support, plus 18 howitzer artillery guns.

    “These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defense alongside the U.S. NASAMS,” U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.

    Other NATO defense ministers meeting this week promised to supply systems offering medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.

    Germany has delivered the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, while France pledged more artillery, anti-aircraft systems and missiles. The Netherlands said it would send missiles, and Canada is planning about $50 million more in military aid, including winter equipment, drone cameras and satellite communications.

    Speaking in Berlin, German German Olaf Scholz said Putin “and his enablers have made one thing very clear: this war is not only about Ukraine,” but rather “a crusade against our way of life and a crusade against what Putin calls the collective West. He means all of us.”

    NATO plans to hold a nuclear exercise next week against the backdrop of Putin’s insistence he would use any means necessary to defend Russian territory, including the illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. The exercise takes place each year.

    On the battlefield Thursday in Ukraine, Russian forces hit a five-story apartment building in Mykolaiv with an S-300 missile, regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim said, a weapon ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft. An 11-year-old boy was pulled alive from the building’s rubble after six hours but later died.

    “No words. Creature terrorists,” Kim wrote on Telegram.

    Video showed rescuers working by flashlight to pull the boy out of the concrete and metal debris. As they carried him on a stretcher through the building’s front door to an ambulance, a man who appeared to be his father leaned over to kiss the boy’s head, then place a blanket on him.

    Four other people were reported killed in Mykolaiv.

    Residents of Ukraine’s capital region, whose lives had regained some normalcy when war’s front lines moved east and south months ago, were jolted by air raid sirens multiple times Thursday after explosives-packed Iran-made drones found their targets.

    Ukrainian officials said Iranians in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine were training Russians how to use the Shahed-136 systems, which can conduct air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare and targeting.

    The low-flying drones keep Ukraine’s cities on edge, but the British Defense Ministry said they’re unlikely to strike deep into Ukrainian territory because many are destroyed before hitting their targets. Ukraine’s air force command said Thursday its air defense units shot down six drones over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions during the night. Ukrainian authorities also reported knocking down four Russian cruise missiles.

    Describing the scope of Russia’s retaliatory attacks, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Russian forces struck more than 70 energy facilities in Ukraine this week.

    State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin threatened an “even tougher” response to future Ukrainian attacks. The 12-mile Kerch Bridge is a prominent symbol of Moscow’s power.

    Kyiv’s troops have recaptured villages and towns in a fall offensive but that has been revealing the trauma of residents who lived for months under Russian occupation.

    In one liberated town, Velyka Oleksandrivka in the annexed Kherson region, seven months of Russian occupation left bridges blasted into pieces, blackened vehicles on pockmarked roads and shelling scars on buildings.

    “It’s a disaster,” resident Tetyana Patsuk said of her house. “I’ve been crying for a month. I am still shocked. I can’t recover from that feeling that I have lost everything now that I am 72 years old, and that’s it.”

    As Ukraine’s military claimed more success Thursday in forcing its enemy to retreat from Kherson-area positions, Moscow authorities promised free accommodation to Kherson residents who choose to evacuate to Russia. The Russia-backed leader of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, cited possible missile attacks on civilians in suggesting the move.

    Saldo’s deputy, Kirill Stremousov tried to play down the move, saying, “No one’s retreating … no one is planning to leave the territory of the Kherson region.” But the British military suggested the move reflected Russian fears that fighting was coming right into the city of Kherson.

    Russia has repeatedly characterized the movement of Ukrainians to Russia as voluntary but reports have surfaced that many have been forcibly deported from occupied territory to Russian “filtration camps,” under harsh conditions. In most cases, the only way out of the camps is to Russia or Russian-controlled areas.

    Among those forced out have been children. An Associated Press investigation found that officials have deported Ukrainian children without consent, lied to them that their parents didn’t want them, used them for propaganda, changed their citizenship to Russian and gave some to Russian families.

    On the Russian side of the border, the Ukrainian military blew up an ammunition depot and damaged a multi-story building in Russia’s Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. The village where the depot is located was evacuated.

    The director general of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Thursday that fighting around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, remained “concerning.” A Russian missile strike on a distant electrical substation Wednesday caused the plant temporarily to lose its last external power source, which is needed to prevent reactors from overheating.

    International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said in Kyiv after returning from Russia that his organization is pushing for a demilitarization zone around the plant, but that said he did not receive any indications that Putin was ready to discuss the definitive “parameters” of such an agreement.

    ___

    Yesica Fisch in Velyka Oleksandrivka, Ukraine, Lorne Cook in Brussels and Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed to this report.

    —-

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  • Ukraine recaptures 5 settlements in Kherson region

    Ukraine recaptures 5 settlements in Kherson region

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces recaptured five settlements in the southern Kherson region, according to the southern Operational Command.

    The villages of Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka, Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka and Chervone in the Beryslav district were retaken as of Oct. 11, according to the speaker of the southern command Vladislav Nazarov.

    The settlements are in one of the four regions recently annexed by Russia.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s top domestic security agency said Wednesday it arrested eight people on charges of involvement in the bombing of the main bridge linking Russia to Crimea, while an official in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia said Russian forces carried out more strikes there.

    The Federal Security Service, known by the Russian acronym FSB, said it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia over Saturday’s attack that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula — a crucial thoroughfare for supplies and travel whose much-ballyhooed construction under Russian President Vladimir Putin cost billions.

    A truck loaded with explosives blew up while driving across the bridge, killing four people and causing two sections of one of the two automobile links to collapse.

    Ukrainian officials have lauded the explosion on the bridge, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility for it.

    The FSB alleged that the suspects were working on orders of Ukraine’s military intelligence to secretly move the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying documents.

    It said the explosives were moved by sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Bulgaria before being shipped to Georgia, driven to Armenia and then back to Georgia before being transported to Russia in a complex scheme to secretly deliver them to the target.

    Putin alleged that Ukrainian special services masterminded the blast, calling it “an act of terrorism,” and responded by ordering a barrage of missile strikes on Ukraine.

    Russia’s onslaught continued in the Zaporizhzhia region and eponymous city on Wednesday, shattering windows and blowing out doors in residential buildings, municipal council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said. There were no immediate reports of casualties, though Kurtev warned locals of the possibility of a follow-up attack.

    Zaporizhzhia, which sits fairly near the front line between Russian and Ukrainian forces, has been repeatedly struck with often deadly attacks in recent weeks. It is part of a larger region, including Europe’s largest nuclear power plant now in Russian control, that Moscow has said it has annexed in violation of international law. The city itself remains in Ukrainian hands.

    To the south, in a Russian-controlled area of the region, a powerful blast struck the city of Melitopol — sending a car flying into the air, mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no word on casualties.

    The new clashes came two days after Russian forces began pummeling many parts of Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones, killing at least 19 people on Monday alone in an attack the U.N. human rights office described as “particularly shocking” and amounting to potential war crimes.

    Tuesday marked the second straight day when air raid sirens echoed throughout Ukraine, and officials advised residents to conserve energy and stock up on water. The strikes knocked out power across the country and pierced the relative calm that had returned to the capital, Kyiv, and many other cities far from the war’s front lines.

    “It brings anger, not fear,” Kyiv resident Volodymyr Vasylenko, 67, said as crews worked to restore traffic lights and clear debris from the capital’s streets. “We already got used to this. And we will keep fighting.”

    The leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers condemned the bombardment and said they would “stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.” Their pledge defied Russian warnings that Western assistance would prolong the war and the pain of Ukraine’s people.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the G-7 leaders during a virtual meeting Russia fired more than 100 missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine over two days. He appealed for “more modern and effective” air defense systems — even though he said Ukraine shot down many of the Russian projectiles.

    The Pentagon on Tuesday announced plans to deliver the first two advanced NASAMs anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks.

    In a phone call with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, President Joe Biden “pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems,” the White House said.

    Ukraine’s defense minister tweeted that four German IRIS-T air defense systems had just arrived, saying a “new era” of air defense for Ukraine had begun.

    ———

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Monday, October 10. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Monday, October 10. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine: Day 229.

    As Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues and the war rages on, reliable sources of information are critical. Forbes gathers information and provides updates on the situation.

    By Polina Rasskazova

    Kyiv. Russia launched attacks hitting the center of Kyiv, as well as dozens of regions in Ukraine on Monday. This is viewed as an apparent retaliation for the explosion of the Crimean bridge a few days ago. Power outages throughout Ukraine are also reported on Monday morning

    Zaporizhzhia. The Russian army continues to terrorize the civilian population of Ukraine. That night, the Russians shelled one of the residential neighborhoods of Zaporizhzhia. They attacked the city with twelve Kh-22 and Kh-59 missiles (designed to engage a wide range of fixed ground targets), which were launched from airplanes, reports the head of the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration. Dozens of private houses, two apartment buildings and other civilian infrastructure of the city came under Russian fire.

    As a result of the rocket attack on the city, 13 people died, including 1 child. 89 civilians were injured, including 11 children. The data on the deceased is still being updated. “Absolute evil. Savages and terrorists. From the one who gave this order to everyone who fulfilled this order. They will bear responsibility. For sure. Before the law and before people.”, commented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. In addition, it is known that 20 Ukrainians were killed as a result of shelling by the Russian military on the city on Thursday.

    Sumy region. In the morning, Russian forces shelled several communities of the city, more than 50 shells have already been recorded. Private houses and infrastructure facilities were damaged. One person died. “A drone brought death just outside a store in Myropil community.”, informed the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

    Kharkiv region. The police of the Kharkiv region documented another case of brutality by the Russian army. In the village of Kupyansk-Vuzlovy, Kharkiv region, law enforcement officers found 4 bodies with signs of violent death. Russian soldiers shot dead four civilians in the cellar of the house. Among them is the 73-year-old owner of the house and the neighboring family — a 65-year-old woman, her grandson and daughter-in-law. Victims were buried by relatives and neighbors on the territory of their homes. “All bodies have gunshot wounds”.

    The fall in the GDP of Ukraine for 9 months of the current year is estimated at the level of 30%, according to the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. At the same time, the drop in GDP in September amounted to 35%, as in August. However, some positive trends are observed. For example, improving the dynamics of transport, both as a result of the increase in the export of agricultural products by sea, and due to the increase in the transportation of goods by railway. “Thanks to the implementation of the “Grain Initiative”, 5.5 million tons of agricultural products were exported through the ports of Odesa in August-September.” The message on the website of the Ministry also states that in September, compared to August, the number of exported products increased by more than 2 times, and the number of ships that left the ports — almost tripled.

    Russia is trying to drag Belarus into an open war with Ukraine, reports the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. “We see measures being taken by the Russian Federation in order to force the leadership of Belarus to enter into an open war. Meetings between Putin and Lukashenko are constantly held, where this issue is discussed and Putin tries to persuade Lukashenka to this decision”, said Vadym Skibitskyi, representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Today, according to military intelligence, 6 battalions are concentrated on the border of Ukraine and Belarus. “These are mechanized battalions, battalions of airborne troops of the so-called command of special operations forces.”

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    Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff

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  • Truck bomb hits bridge to Crimea, hurts Russian supply lines

    Truck bomb hits bridge to Crimea, hurts Russian supply lines

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    KYIV, Ukraine — An explosion Saturday caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, damaging a key supply artery for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. Russian authorities said a truck bomb caused the blast and that three people were killed.

    The speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament immediately accused Ukraine of being behind the explosion, though Moscow didn’t apportion blame. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge and some lauded the destruction, but Kyiv stopped short of claiming responsibility.

    The explosion risked a sharp escalation in Russia’s eight-month war, with some Russian lawmakers calling for Russian President Vladimir Putin to declare a “counterterrorism operation” in retaliation, shedding the term “special military operation” that had downplayed the scope of fighting to ordinary Russians.

    Such a move could be used by the Kremlin to further broaden the powers of security agencies, ban rallies, tighten censorship, introduce restrictions on travel and expand a partial military mobilization that Putin ordered last month.

    Hours after the explosion, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that the air force chief, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, would be named commander of all Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. It was the first official appointment of a single commander for all Russian forces in Ukraine.

    Surovikin, who over the summer was placed in charge of Russian troops in southern Ukraine, had led Russian forces in Syria and was accused of overseeing a brutal bombardment that destroyed much of the city of Aleppo.

    Moscow, however, continues to suffer battlefield losses.

    On Saturday, a Kremlin-backed official in Ukraine’s Kherson region announced a partial evacuation of civilians from the southern province, one of four illegally annexed by Moscow last week, amid an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive. Kirill Stremousov told Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti agency that young children and their parents, as well as the elderly, could be relocated to two southern Russian regions because Kherson was getting “ready for a difficult period.”

    The 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge across the Kerch Strait that links the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov is a tangible symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea and has provided an essential link to the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The $3.6 billion bridge, the longest in Europe, opened in 2018 and is key to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine.

    While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early during its invasion of Ukraine and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim those lands.

    Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that a truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in the “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” A man and a woman riding in a vehicle across the bridge were killed by the explosion, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. It didn’t provide details on the third victim or what happened to the truck driver.

    The blast occurred even though all vehicles crossing the bridge undergo checks for explosives by state-of-the-art control systems, drawing a stream of critical comments from Russian war bloggers who urged Moscow to retaliate by striking Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

    The truck that exploded was owned by a resident of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. Russia’s Investigative Committee said investigators searched the man’s home and were looking at the truck’s route.

    Train and automobile traffic over the bridge was temporarily suspended. Automobile traffic resumed Saturday afternoon on one of the two links that remained intact from the blast, with the flow alternating in each direction and vehicles undergoing a “full inspection procedure,” Crimea’s Russia-backed regional leader, Sergey Aksyonov, wrote on Telegram.

    Rail traffic is expected to resume Saturday night, the Russian Transport Ministry said, while passenger ferry links between Crimea and the Russian mainland were being relaunched Sunday.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said troops in the south were receiving necessary supplies through the land corridor along the Sea of Azov and by sea. Russia’s Energy Ministry said Crimea has enough fuel for 15 days.

    Putin was informed about the explosion and he ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency.

    The speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament blamed Ukraine for the explosion, but downplayed the severity of the damage and said the bridge would be promptly repaired.

    Leonid Slutsky, head of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of Russian parliament, said “consequences will be imminent” if Ukraine is responsible.

    Gennady Zyuganov, the head of the Russian Communist Party, said the “terror attack” should serve as a wake-up call.

    “The long-overdue measures haven’t been taken yet, the special operation must be turned into a counterterrorist operation,” he said.

    Sergei Mironov, the head of the Just Russia faction in parliament, said that Russia should respond to the explosion on the bridge by attacking key Ukrainian infrastructure including power plants, bridges and railways.

    The statements, especially from Zyuganov and Slutsky, may herald a decision by Putin to declare a counterterrorism operation.

    The parliamentary leader of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party on Saturday stopped short of claiming that Kyiv was responsible but appeared to cast it as a consequence of Moscow’s takeover of Crimea.

    “Russian illegal construction is starting to fall apart and catch fire. The reason is simple: if you build something explosive, then sooner or later it will explode,” said David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People party.

    The Ukrainian postal service announced that it would issue stamps commemorating the blast like it did after the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian flagship cruiser, by an Ukrainian strike.

    The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, tweeted a video with the Kerch Bridge on fire and a video with Marilyn Monroe singing her famous “Happy Birthday Mr. President” song. Putin turned 70 on Friday.

    In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure shows its terrorist nature.”

    Local authorities in Crimea made conflicting statements about what the damaged bridge would mean for residents and their ability to buy consumer goods. The peninsula is a popular destination for Russian tourists year-round and home to Sevastopol, a key city and a naval base. A Russian tourist association estimated that 50,000 tourists were in Crimea on vacation at the time of the blast.

    Elsewhere, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has lost its last remaining external power source as a result of renewed shelling and is now relying on emergency diesel generators.

    The blast on the bridge occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.

    Ukrainian officials accused Russia of pounding Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, with surface-to-air missiles and said at least one person was wounded. The strikes targeted two largely residential neighborhoods, the governor said.

    Kharkiv resident Tetiana Samoilenko’s apartment caught fire in the attack. She said she was in the kitchen when the blast struck, sending glass flying.

    “Now I have no roof over my head. Now I don’t know what to do next,” the 80-year-old said.

    ———

    Stepanenko reported from Kharkiv, Ukraine. Francisco Seco contributed from Kharkiv.

    ———

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Massive explosion on Crimea’s Kerch bridge, Russian state media reports | CNN

    Massive explosion on Crimea’s Kerch bridge, Russian state media reports | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A fuel tank exploded early Saturday on Europe’s longest bridge, which links Russia to the annexed territory of Crimea, according to Russian state media RIA and social media footage.

    Images of the Kerch bridge posted on social media appear to show a portion of the roadway of the vehicle and rail bridge had fallen into the waters below it. Flames are seen burning from rail cars above.

    The tanker was located on the 19-kilometer (11 mile) long bridge – strategically important because it links Russia’s Krasnodar region with the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

    The bridge spans the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov.

    The source of the explosion remains unclear.

    In an interview in August, a senior Ukrainian military commander said the Kerch bridge was a legitimate target.

    “This is a necessary measure in order to deprive them (Russia) of the opportunity to provide reserves and reinforce their troops from Russian territory,” Maj. Gen. Dmytro Marchenko said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

    Work is “underway to extinguish the fire,” the adviser to the Russian administration head of occupied Crimea, Oleg Kryunchkov, said in a Telegram post, adding that the bridge’s “shipping arches were not damaged.”

    The Kerch bridge is able to handle 40,000 cars a day and to move 14 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo per year, state news agency RIA Novosti reported when the bridge opened in 2018.

    After the bridge opened, the United States condemned its construction as illegal.

    “Russia’s construction of the bridge serves as a reminder of Russia’s ongoing willingness to flout international law,” a US State Department statement said.

    “The bridge represents not only an attempt by Russia to solidify its unlawful seizure and its occupation of Crimea, but also impedes navigation by limiting the size of ships that can transit the Kerch Strait, the only path to reach Ukraine’s territorial waters in the Sea of Azov.”

    This is a developing story. More to follow.

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  • Large fire reported on key bridge linking Russia to Crimea

    Large fire reported on key bridge linking Russia to Crimea

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Russian state-backed media are reporting that a fire has occurred on the bridge linking mainland Russia with the Russian-controlled Crimean peninsula.

    RIA-Novosti and the Tass news agency quoted local Russian official Oleg Kryuchkov as saying an object thought to be a fuel storage tank caught fire and that traffic has been stopped on the bridge.

    Images shared on social media purported to show fire and damage to the span.

    The authenticity of the reports and images could not be immediately verified.

    The crossing is a pair of road and rail bridges that Russia built after it seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in violation of international law in 2014.

    The fire occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions.

    Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that the early-morning explosions were the result of missile strikes in the center of the city. He said that the blasts sparked fires at one of the city’s medical institutions and a nonresidential building. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

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