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Tag: Kharkiv

  • Trump says Ukraine’s Donbas region will have to be ‘cut up’ to end the Russian invasion

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    President Donald Trump said Sunday that the Donbas region of Ukraine should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands, to end a war that has dragged on for nearly four years.“Let it be cut the way it is,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “It’s cut up right now,” adding that you can “leave it the way it is right now.”Video above: Trump and Zelenskyy to discuss U.S. sending missiles to support Ukraine“They can negotiate something later on down the line,” he said. But for now, both sides of the conflict should “stop at the battle line — go home, stop fighting, stop killing people.”Trump’s latest comments came after Ukrainian drones struck a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, sparking a fire and forcing it to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan, Russian and Kazakh authorities said Sunday.The Orenburg plant, run by state-owned gas giant Gazprom and located in a region of the same name near the Kazakh border, is part of a production and processing complex that is one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind, with an annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters. It handles gas condensate from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field, alongside Orenburg’s own oil and gas fields.Video below: Labor unions challenge Trump administration for visa-holder social media surveillanceAccording to regional Gov. Yevgeny Solntsev, the drone strikes set fire to a workshop at the plant and damaged part of it. The Kazakh Energy Ministry on Sunday said, citing a notification from Gazprom, that the plant was temporarily unable to process gas originating in Kazakhstan, “due to an emergency situation following a drone attack.”Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement Sunday that a “large-scale fire” erupted at the Orenburg plant, and that one of its gas processing and purification units was damaged.Kyiv has ramped up attacks in recent months on Russian energy facilities it says both fund and directly fuel Moscow’s war effort.Trump says Ukraine may have to give up land for peaceTrump has edged back in the direction of pressing Ukraine to give up on retaking land it has lost to Russia, in exchange for an end to Moscow’s aggression.Asked in a Fox News interview conducted Thursday whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be open to ending the war “without taking significant property from Ukraine,” Trump responded: “Well, he’s going to take something.”“They fought and he has a lot of property. He’s won certain property,” Trump said. “We’re the only nation that goes in, wins a war and then leaves.”The interview was aired Sunday on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” but was conducted before Trump spoke to Putin on Thursday and met with Zelenskyy on Friday.Then on Sunday evening, while flying from Florida to Washington, Trump — who plans to meet Putin in Budapest in coming weeks — reiterated his stance that Ukraine will need to give up territory by having the fighting “stop at the lines where they are.”“The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say, ‘You take this, we take that,’” he said. “You know, there are so many different permutations.”The comments amounted to another shift in position on the war by the U.S. leader. In recent weeks, Trump had shown growing impatience with Putin and expressed greater openness to helping Ukraine win the war.Contrary to Kyiv’s hopes, Trump did not commit to providing it with Tomahawks following his meeting with Zelenskyy. The missiles would be the longest-range weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal and would allow it to strike targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow, with precision.Russians modified bombs for deeper strikesMeanwhile, Ukrainian prosecutors claim that Moscow is modifying its deadly aerial-guided bombs to strike civilians deeper in Ukraine. Local authorities in Kharkiv said Russia struck a residential neighborhood using a new rocket-powered aerial bomb for the first time.Kharkiv’s regional prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Russia used the weapon called the UMPB-5R, which can travel up to 130 kilometers (80 miles), in an attack on the city of Lozava on Saturday afternoon. The city lies 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Kharkiv, a considerable distance for the weapon to fly.Russia continued to strike other parts of Ukraine closer to the front line. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, at least 11 people were injured after Russian drones hit the Shakhtarske area. At least 14 five-story buildings and a store were damaged, said acting regional Gov. Vladyslav Haivanenko.A Russian strike also hit a coal mine in the Dnipropetrovk region. Some 192 miners were brought to the surface without injury, the company that operates the mine said.Ukraine’s General Staff also claimed a separate drone strike hit Russia’s Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery, in the Samara region near Orenburg, sparking a blaze and damaging its main refining units.Video below: Trump reacts to John Bolton, his former national security adviser, being indictedThe Novokuibyshevsk facility, operated by Russian gas major Rosneft, has an annual capacity of 4.9 million tons, and turns out over 20 kinds of oil-based products. Russian authorities did not immediately acknowledge the Ukrainian claim or discuss any damage.Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement early Sunday that its air defense forces had shot down 45 Ukrainian drones during the night, including 12 over the Samara region, one over the Orenburg region and 11 over the Saratov region neighboring Samara.In turn, Ukraine’s air force reported Sunday that Russia during the night launched 62 drones into Ukrainian territory. It said 40 of these were shot down, or veered off course due to electronic jamming.

    President Donald Trump said Sunday that the Donbas region of Ukraine should be “cut up,” leaving most of it in Russian hands, to end a war that has dragged on for nearly four years.

    “Let it be cut the way it is,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One. “It’s cut up right now,” adding that you can “leave it the way it is right now.”

    Video above: Trump and Zelenskyy to discuss U.S. sending missiles to support Ukraine

    “They can negotiate something later on down the line,” he said. But for now, both sides of the conflict should “stop at the battle line — go home, stop fighting, stop killing people.”

    Trump’s latest comments came after Ukrainian drones struck a major gas processing plant in southern Russia, sparking a fire and forcing it to suspend its intake of gas from Kazakhstan, Russian and Kazakh authorities said Sunday.

    The Orenburg plant, run by state-owned gas giant Gazprom and located in a region of the same name near the Kazakh border, is part of a production and processing complex that is one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind, with an annual capacity of 45 billion cubic meters. It handles gas condensate from Kazakhstan’s Karachaganak field, alongside Orenburg’s own oil and gas fields.

    Video below: Labor unions challenge Trump administration for visa-holder social media surveillance

    According to regional Gov. Yevgeny Solntsev, the drone strikes set fire to a workshop at the plant and damaged part of it. The Kazakh Energy Ministry on Sunday said, citing a notification from Gazprom, that the plant was temporarily unable to process gas originating in Kazakhstan, “due to an emergency situation following a drone attack.”

    Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement Sunday that a “large-scale fire” erupted at the Orenburg plant, and that one of its gas processing and purification units was damaged.

    Kyiv has ramped up attacks in recent months on Russian energy facilities it says both fund and directly fuel Moscow’s war effort.

    Trump says Ukraine may have to give up land for peace

    Trump has edged back in the direction of pressing Ukraine to give up on retaking land it has lost to Russia, in exchange for an end to Moscow’s aggression.

    Asked in a Fox News interview conducted Thursday whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be open to ending the war “without taking significant property from Ukraine,” Trump responded: “Well, he’s going to take something.”

    “They fought and he has a lot of property. He’s won certain property,” Trump said. “We’re the only nation that goes in, wins a war and then leaves.”

    The interview was aired Sunday on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” but was conducted before Trump spoke to Putin on Thursday and met with Zelenskyy on Friday.

    Then on Sunday evening, while flying from Florida to Washington, Trump — who plans to meet Putin in Budapest in coming weeks — reiterated his stance that Ukraine will need to give up territory by having the fighting “stop at the lines where they are.”

    “The rest is very tough to negotiate if you’re going to say, ‘You take this, we take that,’” he said. “You know, there are so many different permutations.”

    Mark Schiefelbein

    President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md., as he returns from a trip to Florida.

    The comments amounted to another shift in position on the war by the U.S. leader. In recent weeks, Trump had shown growing impatience with Putin and expressed greater openness to helping Ukraine win the war.

    Contrary to Kyiv’s hopes, Trump did not commit to providing it with Tomahawks following his meeting with Zelenskyy. The missiles would be the longest-range weapons in Ukraine’s arsenal and would allow it to strike targets deep inside Russia, including Moscow, with precision.

    Russians modified bombs for deeper strikes

    Meanwhile, Ukrainian prosecutors claim that Moscow is modifying its deadly aerial-guided bombs to strike civilians deeper in Ukraine. Local authorities in Kharkiv said Russia struck a residential neighborhood using a new rocket-powered aerial bomb for the first time.

    Kharkiv’s regional prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Russia used the weapon called the UMPB-5R, which can travel up to 130 kilometers (80 miles), in an attack on the city of Lozava on Saturday afternoon. The city lies 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Kharkiv, a considerable distance for the weapon to fly.

    Russia continued to strike other parts of Ukraine closer to the front line. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, at least 11 people were injured after Russian drones hit the Shakhtarske area. At least 14 five-story buildings and a store were damaged, said acting regional Gov. Vladyslav Haivanenko.

    A Russian strike also hit a coal mine in the Dnipropetrovk region. Some 192 miners were brought to the surface without injury, the company that operates the mine said.

    Ukraine’s General Staff also claimed a separate drone strike hit Russia’s Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery, in the Samara region near Orenburg, sparking a blaze and damaging its main refining units.

    Video below: Trump reacts to John Bolton, his former national security adviser, being indicted

    The Novokuibyshevsk facility, operated by Russian gas major Rosneft, has an annual capacity of 4.9 million tons, and turns out over 20 kinds of oil-based products. Russian authorities did not immediately acknowledge the Ukrainian claim or discuss any damage.

    Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement early Sunday that its air defense forces had shot down 45 Ukrainian drones during the night, including 12 over the Samara region, one over the Orenburg region and 11 over the Saratov region neighboring Samara.

    In turn, Ukraine’s air force reported Sunday that Russia during the night launched 62 drones into Ukrainian territory. It said 40 of these were shot down, or veered off course due to electronic jamming.

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  • Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine, attacks on Kyiv, Kharkiv

    Live updates: Russia’s war in Ukraine, attacks on Kyiv, Kharkiv

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    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to meet with US President Joe Biden on Thursday and visit the US Capitol as he appeals for more support for Kyiv. Follow here for live updates.

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  • Friday, November 11. Russia’s War On Ukraine: Daily News And Information From Ukraine

    Friday, November 11. Russia’s War On Ukraine: Daily News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 261.

    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

    Ukrainian soldiers entered the Russian-occupied city of Kherson. “Kherson is returning under the control of Ukraine. The retreat routes of the Russian invaders are under fire control of the Ukrainian army,” the Ukrainian military intelligence agency announced on November 11. Intelligence officials also added that more than half of Russia’s occupational forces are still on the right bank of the Kherson region. According to a representative of the military intelligence of Ukraine, the Russian army is retreating from the second line of defense, to which they were pushed back by Ukrainian forces in early October. “Today is a historic day. We are returning Kherson. As of now, our defenders are approaching the city. But special units are already in the city,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his evening speech.

    41 settlements in southern Ukraine have been liberated and returned under the control of Ukrainian defenders, according to Zelenskyy`s speech. “Dozens of Ukrainian flags have already returned to their rightful place in the framework of the defense operation. 41 settlements were liberated,” said the President. He added that the lives of Ukrainian soldiers stand behind every step of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield. “Everything that is happening now has been achieved by months of brutal struggle. It was achieved through courage, pain, and loss. It’s not the enemy coming — it’s the Ukrainians who are chasing the invaders at great cost.”

    In the liberated territory of the Kherson region, law enforcement officers discovered the remains of civilian bodies in a cellar, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reports. According to preliminary data, the remains belong to three local residents who died during the occupation of the settlement. The Russian army may have committed physical violence against the locals, because during the initial inspection of the skeletonized corpses, the law enforcement officers found injuries in the form of skull fractures. “The remains of the dead have been sent for a complex of examinations, including DNA examinations. Measures are being taken to establish the circumstances, witnesses and eyewitnesses of the crime,” added the Office of the Prosecutor General.

    Mykolayiv. On the night of November 11, the Russian army attacked the city of Mykolaiv, firing shells that hit a five-story residential building. According to information from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the building was destroyed from the 5th to the 1st floor. The number of dead as a result of the destruction increased to seven, including a married couple. Their 16-year-old child survived because she slept in another room.

    Abandoned Russian mines are killing Ukrainian citizens. According to the deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, in the Kherson region, civilians drove over a landmine left by Russian troops. As a result of the explosion, 4 people were injured, including two children aged 9 and 14. Also today, 2 children were injured by a Russian explosive device in Kharkiv. “Two boys, 15 and 12 years-old, found an explosive object in the bushes near the house, which detonated. Children have shrapnel injuries,” reported Tymoshenko.

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    Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff

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  • Tuesday, November 1. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Tuesday, November 1. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine.

    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

    Tuesday, November 1. Day 251. According to the President of Ukraine, 40% of all Ukrainian energy infrastructure has been seriously damaged as a result of Russian attacks. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a meeting with the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, during which he disclosed the consequences of Russia’s energy terrorism, as well as the measures Ukraine is taking to stabilize its energy grid. “Unfortunately, due to the strikes of missiles and kamikaze drones by the Russian Federation on our energy system, we have suspended the export of electricity to Europe. But I am sure that we will restore everything, and in a calmer time, when the situation in our energy system will be stabilized,” said Zelenskyy.

    Iran plans to send more than 200 drones to the Russian Federation starting in November. According to the main intelligence department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Shahed-136, Mohajer-6 and Arash-2 drones will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan, in Russia. Drones will arrive in a disassembled state, then, on the territory of the Russian Federation, they will be assembled, repainted and applied with Russian markings, in particular “Geran-2”.

    Starting November 1, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Russian regime intends to start its fall draft to fill the ranks of the Russian armed forces, reported the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Under the guise of conscription, mobilization is also underway in Crimea, the nature and methods of which testify to the desire of the Russian military-political leadership to reduce the number of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars on the peninsula as they are the most resistant to Russian occupation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns Russia’s intention to start conscription. “Under international humanitarian law, an occupying power is prohibited from forcing protected persons to serve in its armed forces, as well as from pressuring and promoting voluntary military service,” written in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    Mykolayiv. Around midnight, the Russian army attacked the city with S-300 type missiles, as a result of which a number of civilian objects were damaged. The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevich, reported that a two-story residential building was completely destroyed and a woman was killed. A fire broke out in another house due to the impact of ammunition and shrapnel.

    Monday, October 31. Day 250. Russian forces unleash massive missile attack on the entire territory of Ukraine. In the morning, air raid alarms sounded throughout Ukraine. Out of more than 50 cruise missiles, air defense forces managed to shoot down 44. According to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, 10 regions were affected by missiles and drones, where 18 objects were damaged, and most of them energy-related. Hundreds of settlements in seven regions of Ukraine were cut off from power. “Local emergency shutdowns continue in the Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkiv regions. Today, as in previous weeks, it is important that all Ukrainians consciously consume energy and reduce the load on the network,” said Shmyhal.

    Kyiv Region. Due to massive Russian shelling, part of the Kyiv region was left without electricity. According to the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, 80% of the consumers of the capital of Ukraine remained without water supply, 350,000 apartments in Kyiv remain without electricity. As a result of the attack, two people were injured in the Kyiv region. One of them is in serious condition. There was also damage to private buildings.

    Kharkiv. According to Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, about 50,000 consumers were cut off from power in Kharkiv due to the morning missile strikes launched by the Russian army, which damaged critical infrastructure. In the Kharkiv region, about 90,000 local residents were disconnected from electricity. As a result of problems with electricity, “water was supplied with reduced pressure to some districts of Kharkiv and to some large settlements of the region, because there was not enough power in the power grids for the pumps to create the proper pressure,” said Synyehubov.

    Cherkasy Region. Two-thirds of the region was cut off from power supply as a result of a Russian attack on a critical infrastructure facility. The head of the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration, Ihor Taburets, reported other four victims of shelling are currently in the hospital. Work to restore electricity supply in the region continues.

    Dnipropetrovsk Region. According to the head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, the Marhanets community came under Russian fire. 40 shells from BM-21 Grad missile launchers were fired into the community. As a result of the attack, a 31-year-old woman died. Another woman is injured. “Almost 30 high-rise and private buildings were damaged in the city. The local lyceum, administrative building, cars and power lines were mutilated,” reported Reznichenko. In the morning, the Russians caused serious damage to energy infrastructure facilities in Dnipro and Pavlohrad. As a result, the system could not cope with the electrical load causing blackouts.

    Sunday, October 30. Day 249. The Russian Federation suspends its participation in a formal agreement to allow the movement of grain out of Ukrainian ports, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. The grain deal was signed by Ukraine and Russia with Turkey and the UN at the end of August in Istanbul, and provides for the unblocking of Ukrainian ports for the export of food and farmed goods. The Russian Federation refused the agreement “in view of the terrorist act carried out by the Kyiv regime on October 29 of this year with the participation of UK specialists against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civil courts involved in the security of the grain corridor.”

    The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, emphasized Russia began deliberately aggravating the food crisis back in September, when it blocked the movement of ships with Ukrainian food. From September to today, 176 vessels have already accumulated in the grain corridor as they’ve been blocked from navigating their routes. “Some grain carriers have been waiting for more than three weeks. Algeria, Egypt, Yemen, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and other countries can all be equally destabilized by this Russian decision to block exports,” Zelenskyy added.

    NATO called on Moscow to urgently renew the U.N.-brokered deal that enabled Ukraine to resume grain exports via the Black Sea amid a global food crisis, Reuters reported. “President Putin must stop weaponising food and end his illegal war on Ukraine,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said. “We call on Russia to reconsider its decision and renew the deal urgently, enabling food to reach those who need it most.” According to the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, the ship Ikaria Angel, carrying 40,000 tons of grain, was supposed to leave the Ukrainian port today. “These foodstuffs were intended for Ethiopians that are on the verge of famine. But due to the blockage of the “grain corridor” by Russia, export is impossible,” Lungescu said.

    Russian launch nuclear provocations in the city of Enerhodar, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Region. Most of the occupied city of Enerhodar (where Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is located) was left without electricity due to Russian shelling. According to the mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, the Russian troops hit one of the substations. “We are waiting for updates on the extent of damage and restoration of power supply,” he added.

    Donetsk region. During the day, the Russian military forces launched 24 attacks on the civilian population in Donetsk, Ukraine. The police of the Donetsk region recorded more than 30 destroyed buildings as a result of Russian shelling. In all, the attack caused fires in 16 settlements, 31 civilian objects were destroyed and damaged, including residential buildings, the city council building, utility buildings, garages and cars. According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration, as a result of Russian shelling on October 29, 5 civilians of the Donetsk region were killed and another 8 people were injured: in Antonivka, Pervomaiskyi, Druzhba, Klishchiivka, and Yelyzavetivka. In addition, law enforcement officers discovered the bodies of 5 civilians who died during the occupation.

    Kharkiv Region. According to the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Oleh Synyehubov, during the past day, the Russian army shelled the city of Kupyansk, as well as settlements and villages in various districts of the region. “In Kupyansk, as a result of shelling, a civilian industrial facility was damaged, and a large-scale fire broke out. Rescuers are working on the spot, the fire has been contained. Previously, no one was injured,” he reported. According to the regional Center of Emergency Medical Assistance, a 58-year-old resident of the Kupyansk district was hospitalized with an injury during the day. Also, Synyehubov emphasized that hostilities continue on the contact line with the Russian border.

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    Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff

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  • Ukraine: Barrage of Russian strikes on key infrastructure

    Ukraine: Barrage of Russian strikes on key infrastructure

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials on Monday morning reported a massive barrage of Russian strikes on critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities.

    Part of the Ukrainian capital was cut off from power and water supplies as a result, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Officials reported possible power outages in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia resulting from the strikes.

    Critical infrastructure objects were also hit in the Cherkasy region southeast of Kyiv, and explosions were reported in other regions of Ukraine.

    In Kharkiv, the subway ceased operating. Some parts of Ukrainian railways were also cut off from power, the Ukrainian Railways reported.

    The attack comes two days after Russia accused Ukraine of a drone attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet off the coast of the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons, but Moscow still announced halting its participation in a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine.

    Commenting on Monday’s attacks, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said that Russian forces “continue to fight with civilian facilities.”

    “We will persevere, and generations of Russians will pay a high price for their disgrace,” Yermak said.

    It’s the second time this month that Russia unleashed a massive barrage of strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure. On Oct. 10, a similar attack rocked the war-torn country following an explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking annexed Crimea to mainland Russia — an incident Moscow blamed on Kyiv.

    ———

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

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  • Ukraine: Barrage of Russian strikes on key infrastructure

    Ukraine: Barrage of Russian strikes on key infrastructure

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials on Monday morning reported a massive barrage of Russian strikes on critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities.

    Part of the Ukrainian capital was cut off from power and water supplies as a result, its mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Officials also reported possible power outages in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia resulting from the strikes.

    The attack comes two days after Russia accused Ukraine of a drone attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet off the coast of the annexed Crimean peninsula. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that Russia mishandled its own weapons, but Moscow still announced halting its particiaption in a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukraine.

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  • Friday, October 28. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Friday, October 28. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 247.

    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

    Russia lost its status as a key exporter of fossil fuels due to the invasion of Ukraine.

    The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its World Energy Outlook, which highlighted a number of Russia’s main losses due to its invasion on February 24. The IEA Outlook reports that until February 24 of this year, Russia was the world’s largest exporter of fossil fuels. But after the start of the war, it lost its status and its main customer—Europe. “Russian fossil fuel exports never return––in any of the scenarios in this year’s WEO––to the levels seen in 2021, with Russia’s reorientation to Asian markets particularly challenging in the case of natural gas,” the report says. According to the IEA, Russia’s share of internationally traded energy, which stood at close to 20% in 2021, will likely fall to 13% in 2030, while market shares of both the United States and the Middle East should rise.

    U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly became the ambassador of the Ukrainian fundraising platform UNITED24. UNITED24 was launched by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the main platform for collecting charitable donations in support of Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s invasion. According to Zelenskyy, Scott Kelly has been supporting Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. Currently, Kelly will focus on developing medical aid. His first project will be fundraising for Type C ambulance vehicles. “Pleased to announce my joint mission with @ZelenskyyUa to raise funds for ambulances in support of Ukraine. At liftoff, I’ve pledged to purchase the 1st vehicle. Join us!” Kelly said on Twitter.

    Donetsk Region. According to the head of the Donetsk State Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, on October 27 Russian attacks took the lives of four civilians in the region: three in Bakhmut, and one in Sviatohirsk. In addition, law enforcement officers discovered the bodies of five civilians who died during the occupation in the village of Shandryholovo. “Another 9 people were injured yesterday. Currently, it is impossible to establish the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha,” said Kyrylenko. A total of 1,112 people have died and 2,483 people have been injured in the occupied territories of the Donetsk region since the beginning of the Russian invasion, not including the victims in the cities of Mariupol and Volnovakha.

    Kharkiv Region. The National Police of Ukraine documented large-scale damage caused by the Russian Army to one of the world’s largest radio telescopes, which is located in the Chuhuiv district. According to Olga Naumenko, deputy head of the investigation department, the institution’s building is completely destroyed and most likely cannot be restored. “The occupiers were on the territory of the station for several months, before the settlement was de-occupied. They dug trenches and left behind a lot of ammunition and their remains,” she said.

    Mykolayiv. At night, the city came under fire from a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile complex. Disregarding the norms of international humanitarian law, the army of the Russian Federation carried out the attack on one of the civilian districts of Mykolaiv. According to the head of the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration, Vitaliy Kim, a three-story administrative building was destroyed as a result of the rocket attack and a multi-story new building located nearby was damaged. One person was injured.

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    Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff

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  • Thursday, October 27. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Thursday, October 27. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 246.

    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

    Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is under Russian attack. At night, Russian forces damaged energy infrastructure facilities in the central regions, disabling a number of essential facilities. The attacks were carried out by so-called kamikaze drones. According to information from the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, there were no deaths or injuries. The office of the President of Ukraine warned that in order to overcome the consequences of the night attacks on Kyiv city, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and the Cherkasy regions, from today onwards, “energy companies are forced to introduce tighter restrictions” on their supplies of electricity.

    Kharkiv region.

    Last night, the Russian army shelled areas of the Ukrainian regions located on the border with the Russian Federation with mortars, barrel and rocket artillery. According to the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Oleg Synehubov, there were no injuries as a result of the attacks. However, Sineрubov reported a high number of mines in the region. “Yesterday, in the Izium district, an anti-tank mine blew up a car of pyrotechnicians of the State Emergency Service. 1 person died, 6 were injured,” he said. A 62-year-old man was also injured by a mine today.

    Russian invaders conduct military censorship in the temporarily occupied territories. According to the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, as of today, Russian forces may check the mobile phones of any resident in any occupied town of the Zaporizhzhia region. “They will check who a person communicates with, what they watch on the Internet. And if they find a subscription to Ukrainian Telegram channels there, the person will be fined or even thrown into a basement,” he said.

    Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has conducted 28 exchanges and freed 978 people from Russian captivity, including 99 civilians, announced the Deputy Minister of Defense, Hanna Malyar, at a briefing. “The past few weeks have been a landmark in the issue of prisoner of war exchanges. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, 28 exchanges have already been carried out and 978 people have been released, including 99 civilians,” the deputy minister said. “Negotiations regarding the release and exchange of our prisoners of war are ongoing.”

    The National Police of Ukraine documented the mass burial of citizens in the Kharkiv region. The grave was found in the Boriv district and, according to preliminary police data, at least 17 people—civilians and soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces—were buried there.

    Residents of the village of Kopanky told the police that the Russians collected the bodies of the dead throughout the district. “On April 13, they brought in two trucks, dug a hole up to 3 meters deep with an excavator, and dumped all the bodies there. Then the burial place was leveled with tanks,” said eyewitnesses. It is reported that the Russians didn’t mark the grave and did not allow the villagers to do so.

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    Katya Soldak, Forbes Staff

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  • Saturday, October 22. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Saturday, October 22. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 241.

    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

    At night, the armed forces of the Russian Federation launched a massive attack: 36 rockets, most of which were shot down. As a result of the destruction, almost 15,000 million Ukrainians were left without electricity. According to the deputy head of the president’s office, 672,000 subscribers were disconnected in the Khmelnytskyi region; 188,400 in the Mykolaiv region; 102,000 in the Volyn region; 242,000 in the Cherkasy region; 174,790 in the Rivne region; 61,913 in the Kirovohrad region; and 10,500 in the Odesa region. The scale of damage from today’s missile attack by Russian troops on energy facilities of main networks in the western and central regions of Ukraine may exceed the consequences of the attack on October 10-12, Ukrenergo reported.

    The National Power Company has currently forced restrictions on energy supply in many cities and regions of Ukraine:“The consumer restrictions are necessary to reduce the load on the networks and avoid repeated accidents after the power grids were damaged by terrorist missile attacks.”

    Odesa Region. Two cruise missiles hit a critical infrastructure object, reported Odesa District Military Administration. During the attack, three locals were injured.

    Lutsk, Volyn Region. An energy facility in Lutsk, which was hit by Russian missiles in the morning, is completely destroyed and cannot be restored, Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said in a comment to Suspilne. According to preliminary information, the object was hit by Kh-101 cruise missiles. In the regional center, a private home was damaged by the shock wave and fragments of the rocket. One person was injured.

    Mykolaiv Region. According to the information of Ukraine’s Operational Command “South,” at night, over the Mykolaiv region, air defense forces shot down 10 “Shahed-136” kamikaze drones. Also, as a result of a Russian attack with high-precision Kalibr missiles, two objects of critical infrastructure were hit.

    Donetsk Region. During the day, the Russian army launched 22 strikes on the civilian population. 13 settlements were under the fire, the National Police of Ukraine reports. As a result of the attack, 45 civilian objects were destroyed and damaged and civilians were killed and injured. “The city of Bakhmut again suffered the heaviest shelling. The occupiers opened fire on the city 4 times. High-rise buildings and private houses were damaged,” said the police.

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  • Friday, October 21. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

    Friday, October 21. Russia’s War On Ukraine: News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 240.

    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

    Since the beginning of Russia’s the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the amount of damage caused to the infrastructure of Ukraine has reached more than $127 billion, according to a report from the “Russia Will Pay” project of the KSE Institute. In the period from February 24 to September 1, 2022, the largest share in the total amount of losses belongs to residential buildings at $50.5 billion. In second place in terms of the amount of losses is the sphere of infrastructure at $35.3 billion.

    Cumulative direct losses from destruction and damage to public sector objects (social objects and institutions, educational, scientific and health care institutions, cultural buildings, sports facilities, administrative buildings, etc.) amounts to about $11.6 billion. Losses of business assets are minimal at $9.9 billion and growing rapidly.

    The armed forces of Ukraine continue to liberate territories captured earlier this year by Russia. The Deputy Head of the Office of the President, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported that as of today, 551 settlements have been de-occupied in the Kharkiv region. “Since the beginning of de-occupation measures, 1,685 war crimes have been registered in the region.”

    There is still no power supply in the liberated territories, but a reserve of equipment and fuel for alternative energy sources will be developed, Tymoshenko added. The head of the Department of Emergency Services in the Kharkiv region reported that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the bodies of 265 people were recovered from the rubble of destroyed buildings, and 302 people were rescued.

    Also, 88 settlements with 11,827 civilians have been liberated in the Kherson region. Work on de-mining the area continues. “A total of 156 war crimes have been documented since the beginning of the de-occupation of the Kherson region.”z

    Zaporizhzhia. On the morning of October 21, the Russian military attacked the regional center of the city with S-300 missiles. Six explosions were heard in different areas of the city. According to the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, five people were injured, including policemen, “who were returning from an assignment.” A residential building and infrastructure facilities were destroyed.

    As a result of the attack, a fire broke out in a residential high-rise building and the gas system was damaged. According to the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration, the Russians also fired shells at a school in one of the districts of Zaporizhia, damaging the roof and breaking the windows.

    Kharkiv Region. In the morning, Kharkiv was shelled with S-300 missiles. As a result of the Russian attack, six people were injured. The missiles struck industrial infrastructure in one of the city districts. One of the Kharkiv large enterprises was attacked, according to the mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov.

    Donetsk Region. Attacks on the eastern part of Ukraine are ongoing. At night, Russian troops shelled several communities in the region along the front lines. Residential buildings, power lines and civilian sectors of were damaged by artillery shelling. In the city of Bakhmut, as a result of an attack on the civilian sector, two people died, one was injured and seven houses were damaged, according to the information of the head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. At least one person died, one more was injured in the Lysychansk direction.

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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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  • Ukrainian deminers remove deadly threats to civilians

    Ukrainian deminers remove deadly threats to civilians

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    HRAKOVE, Ukraine — Beside an abandoned Russian military camp in eastern Ukraine, the body of a man lay decomposing in the grass — a civilian who had fallen victim to a tripwire land mine set by retreating Russian forces.

    Nearby, a group of Ukrainian deminers with the country’s territorial defense forces worked to clear the area of dozens of other deadly mines and unexploded ordnance — a push to restore a semblance of safety to the cities, towns and countryside in a region that spent months under Russian occupation.

    The deminers, part of the 113th Kharkiv Defense Brigade of Ukraine’s territorial defense forces, walked deep into fallow agricultural lands on Thursday along a muddy road between fields of dead sunflowers overgrown with high weeds.

    Two soldiers, each with a metal detector in hand, slowly advanced up the road, scanning the ground and waiting for the devices to give a signal. When one detector emitted a high tone, a soldier knelt to inspect the mud and grass, probing it with a metal rod to see what might be buried just below the surface.

    The detector’s hit could indicate a spent shell casing, a piece of rusting iron or a discarded aluminum can. Or, it could be an active land mine.

    Oleksii Dokuchaev, the commander of the demining brigade based in the eastern Kharkiv region, said that hundreds of mines have already been discharged in the area around the village of Hrakove where they were working, but that the danger of mines across Ukraine will persist for years to come.

    “One year of war equals 10 years of demining,” Dokuchaev said. “Even now we are still finding munitions from World War II, and in this war they’re being planted left and right.”

    Russian forces hastily fled the Kharkiv region in early September after a rapid counteroffensive by Ukraine’s military retook hundreds of square miles of territory following months of Russian occupation.

    While many settlements in the region have finally achieved some measure of safety after fierce battles reduced many of them to rubble, Russian land mines remain an ever-present threat in both urban and rural environments.

    Small red signs bearing a white skull and crossbones line many of the roads in the Kharkiv region, warning of the danger of mines just off the pavement. Yet sometimes, desperation drives local residents into the minefields.

    The local man whose body lay near the abandoned Russian camp was likely searching for food left behind by the invading soldiers, Dokuchaev said, an additional danger posed by the hunger experienced by many in Ukraine’s devastated regions.

    The use of the kind of tripwire land mines which killed him is prohibited under the 1997 Ottawa Treaty — of which Russia is not a signatory — which regulates the use of anti-personnel land mines, he said.

    “There are rules of war. The Ottawa Convention says that it’s forbidden to place mines or any other munitions with tripwires. But Russians ignore it,” he said.

    The deminers had cleared the road of anti-personnel mines the previous day, allowing them to search for anti-tank mines hidden beneath the ground that could destroy any vehicles driving over them.

    They hoped to bring vehicles deep enough into the area to retrieve an abandoned Russian armored personnel carrier, the engine of which they planned to salvage. A vehicle would also need to be brought in by local police to retrieve the body.

    The deminers reached the abandoned camp, set in a grove of trees and strewn with the remains of the months the Russian soldiers had spent there: rotting food rations in wooden ammunition boxes, strings of high-caliber bullets, a stack of yellowing Russian newspapers and trenches filled with refuse.

    After a thorough scan of the area, the servicemen recovered two Soviet-made TM-62 anti-tank mines and six pneumatically armed fuses and placed them in a depression on the edge of the camp, taped into a bundle along with 400 grams of TNT.

    Dokuchaev placed an electric detonator into the explosive charge and connected it to a long length of wire before taking cover with his men at a distance of more than 100 meters (yards).

    When the charge was detonated — something the servicemen laughingly called “bada-boom” — the immense blast ripped through the air, causing a cascade of autumn leaves to fall from the surrounding trees and emitting a tall plume of gray smoke.

    After the mines had been destroyed, Dokuchaev — a former photographer who enlisted with the territorial defense forces after the outbreak of war — said the work his brigade is doing is essential to keep civilians safe as they pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

    Despite the dangers, he said, he enjoys his work.

    “I don’t know what I’ll do after our victory,” Dokuchaev said. “Life is boring without explosions.”

    ———

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

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  • Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War

    Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s State Emergency Service says that 12 S-300 missiles have slammed into public facilities in Zaporizhzhia, setting off a large fire in the area.

    It says that one person was killed in the attack early Tuesday.

    The S-300 was originally designed as a long-range surface-to-air missile. Russia has increasingly resorted to using repurposed versions of the weapon to strike targets on the ground.

    ———

    KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

    Missiles hit Ukrainian city, alarms elsewhere keep up fear

    Kremlin war hawks demand more devastating strikes on Ukraine

    Worried UN meets on Ukraine hours after Russian strikes

    Hong Kong nixes US sanctions on Russian-owned superyacht

    Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

    ———

    PRAGUE — The presidents of NATO members in central and eastern Europe are condemning Monday’s Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities and saying that they “constitute war crimes under international law.”

    The presidents of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Montenegro said in a statement that war crimes and crimes against humanity aren’t subject to any statute of limitations and are covered by the “jurisdiction of courts all over the world.”

    They demanded that Russia immediately stop attacking civilian targets and said that “We will not cease our efforts to bring to court persons responsible of yesterday’s crimes.” The presidents said that “any threats by Russian representatives to use nuclear weapons” are unacceptable.

    ———

    KYIV, Ukraine — Air raid warnings throughout Ukraine have sent some residents back into shelters after months of relative calm in the capital and many other cities. That lull had led many Ukrainians to ignore the regular sirens, but Monday’s attacks gave them new urgency.

    Besides the usual sirens, Kyiv residents were jolted early Tuesday by a new type of loud alarm that blared automatically from mobile phones. The caustic-sounding alert was accompanied by a text warning of the possibility of missile strikes.

    The Ukrainian Air Force said Russian Tu-95 and Tu-160 bombers operating over the Caspian Sea launched missiles over Ukrainian territory around 7 a.m. Tuesday. It did not provide information about the targets.

    It said four inbound missiles were shot down by the Ukrainian southern air command around 9 a.m.

    The governor of the Vinnytsia region, Serhiy Borzov, said there was an air strike there in the morning. There was no word on casualties.

    ———

    BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he plans to discuss how to bring down soaring fossil fuel prices with his counterparts in the Group of Seven industrial powers.

    Scholz told a conference of Germany’s machinery industry Tuesday that “the very first task must be to ensure that the prices for fossil resources, for gas, for oil and coal come back down.” But he noted that can’t be done unilaterally.

    Scholz said he plans to bring up “mutual responsibility,” particularly on gas prices, in all his international talks — including at a videoconference of G-7 leaders planned later Tuesday.

    He said that “we need a negotiated process in which prices sink to a sensible level again.” Scholz said that it was the same idea that led to the foundation of the G-7 in the 1970s.

    ———

    MOSCOW — The speaker of the lower house of Russian parliament has likened the Ukrainian president to former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

    State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin asserted Tuesday that “the Kyiv regime has become a terrorist one,” pointing to the weekend attack on a bridge linking Russia with Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine 2014, other attacks and the killings of public figures in Ukraine and Russia.

    He said that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has “put himself on par with Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists.”

    Volodin argued that “Western politicians supporting Zelenskyy’s regime are effectively sponsoring terrorism.” He added that there is “a rule known worldwide: there can be no talks with terrorists.”

    ———

    MOSCOW — A senior Russian diplomat has issued a new warning to the U.S. and its allies that their support for Ukraine could draw them into an open conflict with Russia.

    Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Western military assistance to Kyiv, the training of Ukrainian personnel in NATO countries, and the provision of real-time satellite data allowing the Ukrainian military to designate targets for artillery strikes have “increasingly drawn Western nations into the conflict on the part of the Kyiv regime.”

    He warned in remarks carried by the state RIA-Novosti news agency that “Russia will be forced to take relevant countermeasures, including asymmetrical ones.”

    Ryabkov added that “Russia isn’t interested in a direct clash with the U.S. and NATO, and we hope that Washington and other Western capitals are aware of the danger of an uncontrollable escalation.”

    ———

    LONDON — The head of GCHQ, Britain’s electronic intelligence agency, says Russia is running short of weapons and its troops are “exhausted.”

    Jeremy Fleming said Tuesday that “we believe Russia is running short of munitions.”

    Fleming is due to give a public speech later, arguing that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made “strategic errors in judgment” throughout the war.

    According to GCHQ, he will say that “we know – and Russian commanders on the ground know – that their supplies and munitions are running out.”

    “Russia’s forces are exhausted. The use of prisoners to reinforce, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a desperate situation.”

    GCHQ did not disclose the sources of its intelligence.

    ———

    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s State Emergencies Service says that 19 people were killed and 105 others were wounded in Monday’s Russian missile strikes across Ukraine.

    It said Tuesday that critical infrastructure facilities were hit in Kyiv and 12 other regions, and 301 cities and towns were without power.

    Russia on Monday retaliated for an attack on a critical bridge by unleashing its most widespread strikes against Ukraine in months. They hit at least 14 regions, from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the east. Many of the attacks occurred far from the war’s front lines.

    ———

    TALLINN, Estonia — Moscow’s barrage of missile strikes on cities across Ukraine has elicited celebratory comments from Russian officials and pro-Kremlin pundits, who in recent weeks have actively criticized the Russian military for a series of embarrassing setbacks on the battlefield.

    Commentators lauded Monday’s large-scale attack as an appropriate and long-awaited response to Kyiv’s successful counteroffensives and a weekend attack on a key bridge between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

    Many argued, however, that Moscow should keep up the intensity of the strikes in order to win the war. Some analysts suggested that President Vladimir Putin is becoming a hostage of his own allies’ views on how the military campaign in Ukraine should unfold.

    ———

    HONG KONG — Hong Kong leader John Lee says he will only implement United Nations sanctions, after the U.S. warned the territory’s status as a financial center could be affected if it acts as a safe haven for sanctioned individuals.

    Lee’s statement Tuesday came days after a luxury yacht connected to Russian tycoon Alexey Mordashov docked in the city.

    Mordashov, who is believed to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned by the U.S., U.K. and the European Union in February after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hong Kong authorities have said that they do not implement unilateral sanctions imposed by other governments.

    “We cannot do anything that has no legal basis,” Lee told reporters. “We will comply with United Nations sanctions, that is our system, that is our rule of law,” he said.

    A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in a statement Monday that “the possible use of Hong Kong as a safe haven by individuals evading sanctions from multiple jurisdictions further calls into question the transparency of the business environment.”

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  • Saturday, October 8. Russia’s War On Ukraine: Daily News And Information From Ukraine

    Saturday, October 8. Russia’s War On Ukraine: Daily News And Information From Ukraine

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    Dispatches from Ukraine: Day 227.

    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

    A fire broke out on the Crimean Bridge, which connects occupied Crimea with Russia, on the morning of October 8. The bridge across the Kerch Strait was illegally built by the occupying Russian authorities and is part of the Kerch – Novorossiysk road. The automobile section of the bridge was opened in 2018, the railway part in 2019.

    Russian news reported that the partial destruction of the bridge occurred due to the detonation of a truck, which ignited a fire that caught on to 7 fuel tanks of a railway train on the rail portion of the bridge, heading to Crimea. The advisor to the office of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy published a post on Twitter saying: “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled.”

    As a result of another shelling by Russian troops, the last line connecting the Zaporizhzhia NPP (nuclear power plant) with the energy system of Ukraine was damaged. The Minister of Energy of Ukraine, German Galushchenko, says that currently the operation of the ZNPP is provided by diesel generators, which have enough fuel for 10 days. “Perhaps this is another rate hike by the Russians on the occasion of Rafael Grossi’s visit to Moscow. After all, the Director General of the IAEA, after meeting with the President of Ukraine, made a statement that the ZNPP is a Ukrainian plant.” He also added that now, only the professionalism of Ukrainian nuclear workers is a safeguard against a possible nuclear accident.

    During this week, the Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated 776 square kilometers of territory in the east and 29 settlements, including six in Luhansk Oblast, from the area claimed in Russia’s pseudo-referendum, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in a video message. In total, since the beginning of the Russian war, 2,434 square kilometers of Ukrainian territories and 96 settlements have already been liberated. “And each of the Russian attacks, all manifestations of Russian terror – against Zaporizhzhia, against Kharkiv, against Mykolaiv, against Donbas and all our other territories – only prove that the liberation of our entire land is the only foundation of peace and security for all Ukrainians.”

    Donetsk Region. During the day, the Russian army launched rocket attacks on several communities in the region. The Donetsk regional military administration reported one dead person in the city of Bakhmut, seven more were injured. Six private houses and three high-rise buildings, kindergartens, a sports complex, an entertainment facility and an administrative building were damaged.

    A rocket attack also took place in the city of Kurakhove. As a result of the attack, three people were injured, and six high-rise buildings were damaged. “The Russians are hitting civilians every day and every night – it is unwise and dangerous to stay in the Donetsk region!” The head of the Donetsk regional military administration called on local residents to evacuate.

    Kharkiv. At night, Russian forces launched several strikes with S-300 missiles in two Kharkiv districts. A 45-year-old man received shrapnel injuries, and his condition is pronounced average. The head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration announced the rockets originated in the Russian city of Belgorod. “The sports complex, non-residential premises, farm buildings, cars, garages were damaged, and there were hits in open areas.”

    In the Kharkiv region, Russian troops attacked several towns. According to the regional Center of Emergency Medical Assistance, six people were hospitalized during the day: one man in Kharkiv, one injured in Kharkiv district, four in Izium as a result of mine explosions.

    On The Culture Front

    Due to the continuation of military operations in Ukraine, the winners of Eurovision 2022 — Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra — have agreed to give Britain the opportunity to host the Eurovision Song Contest. The 67th Eurovision Song Contest, set to kick off May 2023, will be hosted by Britain, in the city of Liverpool. The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place at the Liverpool Arena by the River Mersey on Saturday May 13, with the semi-finals taking place on the 9th and 11th. Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor, Martin Österdahl, welcomed the news: “This will be the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held in the UK in 25 years and, as we work with our host broadcaster, the BBC, to celebrate Ukraine’s victory, this unique production promises to be a very special one indeed.”

    The number of destroyed cultural sites in Ukraine by the Russian forces continues to grow. Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine announced the damage and destruction of 161 objects of cultural heritage. “Among them: 23 monuments of national importance, 129 monuments of local importance, 9 newly discovered objects of cultural heritage and 143 objects of valuable historical buildings.” A total of 540 objects of cultural heritage, cultural institutions and religious buildings have been officially damaged in Ukraine.

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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.

    ———

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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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  • Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind

    Retreating Russians leave their comrades’ bodies behind

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    LYMAN, Ukraine — Russian troops abandoned a key Ukrainian city so rapidly that they left the bodies of their comrades in the streets, offering more evidence Tuesday of Moscow’s latest military defeat as it struggles to hang on to four regions of Ukraine that it illegally annexed last week.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s upper house of parliament rubber-stamped the annexations following “referendums” that Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as fraudulent.

    Responding to the move, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy formally ruled out talks with Russia, declaring that negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin are impossible after his decision to take over the regions.

    The Kremlin replied by saying that it will wait for Ukraine to agree to sit down for talks, noting that it may not happen until a new Ukrainian president takes office.

    “We will wait for the incumbent president to change his position or wait for a future Ukrainian president who would revise his stand in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

    Despite the Kremlin’s apparent political bravado, the picture on the ground underscored the disarray Putin faces amid the Ukrainian advances and attempts to establish new Russian borders.

    Over the weekend, Russian troops pulled back from Lyman, a strategic eastern town that the Russians had used as a logistics and transport hub, to avoid being encircled by Ukrainian forces. The town’s liberation gave Ukraine an important vantage point for pressing its offensive deeper into Russian-held territories.

    Two days later, an Associated Press team reporting from Lyman saw at least 18 bodies of Russian soldiers still on the ground. The Ukrainian military appeared to have collected the bodies of their comrades after fierce battles for control of the town, but they did not immediately remove those of the Russians.

    “We fight for our land, for our children, so that our people can live better, but all this comes at a very high price,” said a Ukrainian soldier who goes by the nom de guerre Rud.

    Speaking late Tuesday in his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said dozens of settlements had been retaken “from the Russian pseudo-referendum this week alone” in the four annexed regions. In the Kherson region, he listed eight villages that Ukrainian forces reclaimed, “and this is far from a complete list. Our soldiers do not stop.”

    The deputy head of the Russian-backed regional administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian TV that Ukrainian troops made “certain advances” from the north, and were attacking the region from other sides too. He said they were stopped by Russian forces and suffered high losses.

    As Kyiv pressed its counteroffensives, Russian forces launched more missile strikes at Ukrainian cities.

    Several missiles hit Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, damaging infrastructure and causing power cuts. Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said one person was killed. In the south, Russian missiles struck the city of Nikopol.

    After reclaiming control of Lyman in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian forces pushed further east and may have gone as far as the border of the neighboring Luhansk region as they advanced toward Kreminna, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis.

    On Monday, Ukrainian forces also scored significant gains in the south, raising flags over the villages of Arkhanhelske, Myroliubivka, Khreshchenivka, Mykhalivka and Novovorontsovka.

    In Washington, the U.S. government announced Tuesday that it would give Ukraine an additional $625 million in military aid, including more of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, that are credited with helping Kyiv’s recent military momentum. The package also includes artillery systems ammunition and armored vehicles.

    Before that announcement, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis told a conference in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Tuesday that Ukraine needed more weapons since Russia began a partial mobilization of draft-age men last month. He said additional weapons would help end the war sooner, not escalate it.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the military has recruited more than 200,000 reservists as part of the partial mobilization launched two weeks ago. He said the recruits were undergoing training at 80 firing ranges before being deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.

    Putin’s mobilization order said that up to 300,000 reservists were to be called up, but it held the door open for an even bigger activation. The order sparked protests across Russia and drove tens of thousands of men to flee the country.

    Russia’s effort to incorporate the four embattled regions in Ukraine’s east and south was done so hastily that even the exact borders of the territories being absorbed were unclear.

    The upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, voted to ratify treaties to make the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk and the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. The lower house did so Monday.

    Putin is expected to quickly endorse the annexation treaties.

    In other developments, the head of the company operating Europe’s largest nuclear plant said Ukraine is considering restarting the Russian-occupied facility to ensure its safety as winter approaches.

    In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant’s reactors in a matter of days.

    “If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged,” he said.

    Fears that the war in Ukraine could cause a radiation leak at the Zaporizhzhia plant had prompted the shutdown of its remaining reactors. The plant has been damaged by shelling, prompting international alarm over the potential for a disaster.

    ———

    Adam Schreck reported from Kyiv.

    ———

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  • Occupied Ukraine holds Kremlin-staged vote on joining Russia

    Occupied Ukraine holds Kremlin-staged vote on joining Russia

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Kremlin-orchestrated referendum got underway Friday in occupied regions of Ukraine that sought to make them part of Russia, with some officials carrying ballots to apartment blocks accompanied by gun-toting police. Kyiv and the West condemned it as a rigged election whose result was preordained by Moscow.

    Meanwhile, in a grim reminder of the brutality of the 7-month-old invasion, U.N. experts and Ukrainian officials pointed to new evidence of Russian war crimes. Kharkiv region officials said a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izium held hundreds of bodies, including at least 30 displaying signs of torture.

    The referendums in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions were widely seen as a prelude to Moscow annexing the regions. The voting, which was overseen by authorities installed by Russia, is scheduled to run through Tuesday and is almost certain to go the Kremlin’s way.

    Authorities in the Kherson region said residents of a small Moscow-controlled area of the neighboring Mykolaiv province also will be able to vote, and that small area was “incorporated” into Kherson until all of Mykolaiv is taken over by Russian forces.

    Ukraine and the West said the vote was an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to slice away a large part of the country, stretching from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula. A similar referendum took place in Crimea in 2014 before Moscow annexed it, a move that most of the world considered illegal.

    Citing safety reasons, election officials carried ballots to homes and set up mobile polling stations for the four-day voting period. Russian state TV showed one such election team accompanied by a masked police officer carrying an assault rifle.

    Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, told The Associated Press that Russians and residents of Crimea were brought into his city to urge people to vote.

    “The Russians see an overwhelming reluctance and fear to attend the referendum and are forced to bring people… to create an image and an illusion of the vote,” he said. “Groups of collaborators and Russians along with armed soldiers are doing a door-to-door poll, but few people open the doors to them.”

    Voting also occurred in Russia, where refugees and other residents from those regions cast ballots.

    Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-backed separatist leader in the Donetsk region, called the referendum “a historical milestone.”

    Lawmaker Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s State Duma, said in an online statement to the regions: “If you decide to become part of the Russian Federation, we will support you.”

    Thousands attended pro-Kremlin rallies across Russia in support the referendums, news agencies reported. “Long live the one, great, united Russian people!” one speaker told the large crowd at a central Moscow rally and concert titled, “We Don’t Abandon Our Own.”

    Luhansk Gov. Serhii Haidai accused officials of taking down the names of people who voted against joining Russia. In online posts, Haidai also alleged that Russian officials threatened to kick down the doors of anyone who didn’t want to vote.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in occupied regions to undermine the referendums and to share information about the people conducting “this farce.” He also urged Ukrainians to avoid being called up in the Russian mobilization announced Wednesday.

    “But if you do end up in the Russian army, then sabotage any enemy activity, interfere with any Russian operations, give us all important information about the occupiers. … And at the first opportunity, switch to our positions,” he said in his nightly address.

    President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization of reservists could add about 300,000 troops, his defense minister said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as false media reports of plans to muster up to 1.2 million troops.

    Across the vast country, men hugged their weeping family members before departing as part of the call-up, which has raised fears that a wider draft might follow. Anti-war activists planned more protests Saturday.

    Other Russian men tried desperately to leave the country, buying up scarce plane tickets and creating traffic jams hours or even days long at some borders. The lines of cars were so long at the border with Kazakhstan that some people abandoned their vehicles and walked — just as some Ukrainians did after Russia invaded their country Feb. 24.

    Russian authorities sought to calm public fears over the call-up. Lawmakers introduced a bill Friday to suspend or reduce loan payments for those called to duty, and media emphasized that they would be paid the same as professional soldiers and that their civilian jobs would be held for them.

    The Defense Ministry said many of those working in high tech, communications or finance will be exempt, the Tass news agency reported.

    Amid the mobilization and referendums, the horrors of the conflict persisted.

    Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov and regional police chief Volodymyr Tymoshko said at least 30 of the 436 bodies exhumed so far in Izium bore signs of torture. Among them were the bodies of 21 Ukrainian soldiers, some found with their hands bound behind their backs, they said.

    Russian forces occupied Izium for six months before being pushed out by a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month. The exhumations, which began a week ago, are nearing an end, as investigators work on identifying victims and how they died. A mobile DNA lab was parked at the edge of the burial site.

    “Each body has its own story,” Synyehubov said.

    Experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council also presented evidence of potential war crimes, including beatings, electric shocks and forced nudity in Russian detention facilities, and expressed grave concerns about extrajudicial killings the team was working to document in Kharkiv and the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy.

    With world opinion pushing Moscow deeper into isolation over the war, Russia lashed out against the West. Its U.S. ambassador, Anataly Antonov, said at a Moscow conference Friday about the 1962 Cuban missile crisis that Washington is trying to bring Russia “to its knees” and divide it into “several fiefdoms” while stripping it of its nuclear weapons and its permanent seat at the U.N. Security Council.

    In new reports of fighting, Ukraine’s presidential office said 10 civilians were killed and 39 others wounded by Russian shelling in nine regions. Battles continued in the southern Kherson province during the vote, it said, while Ukrainian forces meted out 280 attacks on Russian command posts, munitions depots and weapons.

    Heavy fighting also continued in the Donetsk area, where Russian attacks targeted Toretsk, Sloviansk and several smaller towns. Russian shelling in Nikopol and Marhanets on the western bank of the Dnieper River killed two people and wounded nine.

    In other developments, Kyiv expelled Iran’s ambassador and reduced staff at the Iranian Embassy in response to Tehran’s “supply of weapons to Russia for war on Ukrainian territory,” said Oleh Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. Ukraine reported shooting down an Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drone that can be used for surveillance or to carry precision-guided weapons, adding that it destroyed four other Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.

    Earlier Friday, Ukrainian officials said Russia had attacked the port city of Odesa with Iranian-made drones, killing one person.

    —-

    Associated Press writer Lori Hinnant in Izium contributed.

    ___

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