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Tag: Sergei Shoigu

  • Russia takes full control of Avdiivka, as Kyiv decries ‘artificial deficit’ in ammo

    Russia takes full control of Avdiivka, as Kyiv decries ‘artificial deficit’ in ammo

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    U.S. President Joe Biden said “Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction, resulting in Russia’s first notable gains in months.” Biden called on lawmakers to approve $60 billion in aid to Ukraine that has been held up in the U.S. Congress.

    The fall of Avdiivka is Russia’s biggest gain since capturing the city of Bakhmut in May 2023, and comes almost two years to the day since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Ukraine’s newly appointed military chief, Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said in a statement that he decided to withdraw forces from the embattled city to “avoid encirclement [by Russian troops] and preserve the lives and health of servicemen.”

    Moscow said that some Ukrainian troops were still holed up in an industrial plant in the Avdiivka area, according to media reports. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Kremlin that Russian forces were working to clear final pockets of resistance at the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant, officials said in a statement.

    Outnumbered Ukrainian defenders had battled a Russian assault around Avdiivka for four months in one of the most intense battles of the war. Zelenskyy said Russian forces had been suffering seven casualties for every Ukrainian death in Avdiivka, but even that death rate wasn’t stopping the attacks.

    “Russia has only one specific advantage, complete devaluation of human life,” Zelenskyy said.

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    Jones Hayden

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  • North Korea’s Kim views Russian nuclear-capable bombers, hypersonic missiles

    North Korea’s Kim views Russian nuclear-capable bombers, hypersonic missiles

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    In this pool photo distributed by Sputnik agency, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (centre L) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (centre R) visit the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur region on September 13, 2023.

    Mikhail Metzel | Afp | Getty Images

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers, hypersonic missiles and warships on Saturday, accompanied by President Vladimir Putin’s defense minister.

    A smiling Kim was greeted in Russia’s Knevichi airfield, about 50 km (30) miles from the Pacific city of Vladivostok, by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, who saluted Kim. The North Korean leader then inspected a guard of honor.

    The United States and South Korea fear the revival of Moscow’s friendship with Pyongyang could give Kim access to some of Russia’s sensitive missile and other technology while helping arm Russia in its war in Ukraine.

    Shoigu showed Kim Russia’s strategic bombers – the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 – which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons and form the backbone of Russia’s nuclear air attack force, Russia’s defense ministry said.

    “It can fly from Moscow to Japan and then back again,” Shoigu told Kim of one aircraft.

    Kim was shown asking about how the missiles were fired from the aircraft, at times nodding and smiling.

    Shoigu showed him the MiG-31I supersonic interceptor aircraft equipped with “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles. The Kinzhal, or dagger, is an air-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads.

    It has a reported range of 1,500 to 2,000 km (930-1,240 miles) while carrying a payload of 480 kg (1,100 pounds). It may travel at up to 10 times the speed of sound (12,000 kph, 7,700 mph).

    After the aircraft and missiles, Kim inspected the warship of Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, where he was due to watch a demonstration by the Russian navy.

    South Korea and the United States said on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia violated U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang and that the allies would ensure there was a price to pay.

    Russia has gone out of its way to publicize Kim’s visit and drop repeated hints about the prospect of military cooperation with North Korea, which was formed in 1948 with the backing of the Soviet Union.

    For Putin, who says Moscow is locked in an existential battle with the West over Ukraine, courting Kim allows him to needle Washington and its Asian allies while potentially securing a deep supply of artillery for the Ukraine war.

    Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, which has the world’s biggest store of nuclear warheads, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.

    Kim on Friday inspected a Russian fighter jet factory that is under Western sanctions.

    He and Putin discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation when they met on Wednesday. Putin told reporters Russia was “not going to violate anything”, but would keep developing relations with North Korea.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there had not been a plan to sign any formal agreements during the visit.

    Russian diplomats said Washington had no right to lecture Moscow after the United States had bolstered its allies across the world, including with a visit of a U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine to South Korea in July.

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  • At global pariah summit, Putin and Kim Jong Un talk weapons and satellite tech

    At global pariah summit, Putin and Kim Jong Un talk weapons and satellite tech

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    On the lunch menu Wednesday at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s far east: Crab dumplings, entrecôte of marbled beef … with a side of deadly weapons.

    At the closely watched summit of global outcasts, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday pledged cooperation with North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un.

    While Russia was widely believed to be seeking an arms deal with North Korea, the meeting ended without major announcements on weapons, although Putin acknowledged that the issue was on the agenda.

    The meeting took place against the backdrop of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, which has isolated the Kremlin and left it hunting allies — and military equipment — in other ostracized capitals like Pyongyang and Tehran.

    “Our friendship has deep roots, and now our country’s first priority is relations with the Russian Federation,” Kim told reporters, after he arrived following a lengthy journey on his armored train for his first trip to Russia since 2019, according to Russian state-owned newswire Ria Novosti.

    “Russia has now risen to defend its state sovereignty and defend its security to counter the hegemonic forces that oppose Russia,” the North Korean ruler added, echoing the Kremlin’s propaganda used to justify its aggression in Ukraine. 

    Kim’s visit came as Russia is seeking to buy artillery ammunition from North Korea for its invasion of Ukraine, where Moscow is estimated to have used between 10 and 11 million rounds over the past 18 months in its grinding full-scale invasion, a Western official told Reuters last week.

    Military analysts say a potential arms deal between Moscow and Pyongyang could help Russia replenish its depleted stocks, but is unlikely to change the tide of the war.

    Asked whether military cooperation was on the agenda, Putin said: “We’ll talk about all the issues slowly. There is time.”

    The Russian president, who was accompanied by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for the negotiations, added that Russia would help North Korea build space satellites.

    “That’s why we came here. The leader of [North Korea] shows great interest in rocket technology, they are trying to develop space,” Putin said.

    Kim has made the development of spy satellites — an important military asset — a priority for his highly militarized country. So far, it has made two attempts to launch a satellite, both of which failed.

    The cosmodrome summit lasted over five hours in total and included a dinner consisting of a duck salad, crab dumplings, fish soup, then a choice of sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes or an entrecôte of marbled beef with grilled vegetables, before ending on a dessert with berries. There was also a selection of Russian wines. 

    It ended with Kim toasting Putin’s “good health” and to “the continuous development of Russian-Korean friendship.”

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    Nicolas Camut

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  • Wagner Leader Prigozhin Says His Forces Have Entered Russian City Of Rostov

    Wagner Leader Prigozhin Says His Forces Have Entered Russian City Of Rostov

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    The owner of the Wagner private military contractor Yevgeny Prigozhin said Saturday that his forces have driven into the Russian city of Rostov facing no resistance.

    Prigozhin said that Wagner field camps were struck by rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery fire on orders from the chief of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov. He charged that Gerasimov issued the order after a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, at which they decided to destroy Wagner.

    He said Wagner troops were greeted by border guards as they moved into the Rostov region and are now driving into the city of Rostov. He said young conscripts at checkpoints stood back and offered no resistance, adding that his forces “aren’t fighting against children.”

    “But we will destroy anyone who stands in our way,” he said. “We are moving forward and will go until the end.”

    THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

    The owner of the Wagner private military contractor escalated his direct challenge to the Kremlin on Friday, calling for an armed rebellion aimed at ousting Russia’s defense minister. The security services reacted immediately by opening a criminal investigation into Yevgeny Prigozhin and calling for his arrest.

    Prigozhin posted a series of angry video and audio recordings in which he accused Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering a rocket strike Friday on Wagner’s field camps in Ukraine, where his troops are fighting on behalf of Russia.

    Prigozhin said his troops would now punish Shoigu in an armed rebellion and urged the army not to offer resistance.

    “This is not a military coup, but a march of justice,” Prigozhin declared.

    The National Anti-Terrorism Committee, which is part of the Federal Security Services, or FSB, said he would be investigated on charges of calling for an armed rebellion. The FSB urged Wagner’s contract soldiers to arrest Prigozhin and refuse to follow his “criminal and treacherous orders.” It called his statements a “stab in the back to Russian troops” and said they amounted to fomenting an armed conflict in Russia.

    Prigozhin has often been with his troops near the frontline in Ukraine, but his whereabouts on Friday were unclear.

    In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin was taking the threat, riot police and the National Guard have been scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infrastructure, the state news agency Tass reported.

    Russia’s chief prosecutor said the criminal investigation was justified and that an armed rebellion charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years imprisonment.

    President Vladimir Putin has been informed about the situation and “all the necessary measures were being taken, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

    Wagner’s forces have played a crucial role in Russia’s war in Ukraine, succeeding in taking the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place, Bakhmut. Prigozhin has frequently criticized Russia’s military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of weapons and ammunition, but his accusations and calls for armed rebellion Friday were more direct challenge.

    The Russian Defense Ministry required all military contractors to sign contracts with it before July 1, but Prigozhin, whose feud with the Defense Ministry dates back years, refused to comply. In a statement issued late Friday, he said he was ready to find a compromise with the Defense Ministry, but “they have treacherously cheated us.”

    “Today they carried out a rocket strike on our rear camps, and a huge number of our comrades got killed,” he said. The Defense Ministry denied attacking the Wagner camps.

    Prigozhin claimed that Shoigu went to the Russian military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don personally to direct the strike on Wagner and then “cowardly” fled.

    “This scum will be stopped,” he said, in a reference to Shoigu.

    “The evil embodied by the country’s military leadership must be stopped,” he shouted, urging the army not to offer any resistance to Wagner as it moves to “restore justice.”

    Security also was heightened in Rostov-on-Don, Tass reported. Its correspondent said military and law enforcement personnel were seen on the streets, with at least one armored personnel carrier and aerial patrols.

    Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, urged the Wagner forces to stop any move against the army, saying it would play into the hands of Russia’s enemies, who are “waiting to see the exacerbation of our domestic political situation.”

    Another top military officer, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, denounced Prigozhin’s move as “madness” and threatened to unleash a civil war in Russia.

    “It’s a stab in the back to the country and the president,” he said. “It’s impossible to imagine a stronger blow to the image of Russia and its armed forces. Such a provocation could only be staged by enemies of Russia.”

    The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Ukrainian military was concentrating troops to launch an attack around Bakhmut to take advantage of “Prigozhin’s provocation.” It said Russian artillery and warplanes were firing on Ukrainian forces as they prepared to start an offensive in the area.

    In other developments in the Ukraine, war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on other countries to heed warnings that Russia may be planning to attack an occupied nuclear power plant to cause a radiation disaster.

    Members of his government briefed international representatives on the possible threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, whose six reactors have been shut down for months. Zelenskyy said he expected other nations to “give appropriate signals and exert pressure” on Moscow.

    The Kremlin’s spokesman has denied the threat to the plant is coming from Russian forces.

    The potential for a life-threatening release of radiation has been a concern since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year and seized the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station. The head of the U.N.’s atomic energy agency spent months trying to negotiate the establishment of a safety perimeter to protect the facility as nearby areas came under repeated shelling, but he has been unsuccessful.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency noted Thursday that “the military situation has become increasingly tense” while a Ukrainian counteroffensive that got underway this month unfolds in Zaporizhzhia province, where the namesake plant is located, and in an adjacent part of Donetsk province.

    Although the last of the plant’s six reactors was shut down last fall to reduce the risk of a meltdown, experts have warned that a radiation release could still happen if the system that keeps the reactors’ cores and spent nuclear fuel cool loses power or water.

    During months of fighting, Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over which side was increasing the threat to the plant. On Friday, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi met with the head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom in the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia to discuss the conditions at the plant. Rosatom director Alexey Likachev and other officials “emphasized that they now expect specific steps” from the U.N. agency to prevent Ukrainian attacks on the plant and its adjacent territory, said a statement from the Russian corporation, whose divisions build and operate nuclear power plants.

    Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of mining the plant’s cooling system, already under threat from a dam collapse earlier this week that drew down water in a reservoir that the power station uses.

    Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Friday that Russia has beefed up its defense forces in southern Ukraine in response to the early counteroffensive and intensified its efforts to take more ground in the east. Asked if the Ukrainian military’s initial attacks set the stage for a larger assault, Maliar told Ukrainian television: “We are yet to see the main events, and the main blow. And indeed, a part of reserves will be used later.”

    Ukrainian forces so far have made only incremental gains in Zaporizhzhia province, one of four regions that Putin illegally annexed last year. Putin has pledged to defend the regions as Russian territory.

    Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine is fighting to force Russian troops out of those regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014 and is using as a staging and supply route in the 16-month-old war. If the counteroffensive breaks the Russian defenses in the south, Ukrainian forces could attempt to reach a pair of occupied port cities on the Sea of Azov and break Russia’s land bridge to Crimea.

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  • IAEA discusses Ukraine nuclear plant protections with Russia

    IAEA discusses Ukraine nuclear plant protections with Russia

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    KYIV, Ukraine — The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog met Thursday in Moscow with officials from Russia’s military and state atomic energy company as he pursues a long-running drive to set up a protection zone around a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

    Russian company Rosatom described the talks on measures needed to safeguard Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding region as “substantive, useful and frank.” International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi indicated that more negotiations were needed after “another round of necessary discussions.”

    “It’s key that the zone focuses solely on preventing a nuclear accident,” he tweeted. “I am continuing my efforts towards this goal with a sense of utmost urgency.”

    The meeting in Moscow came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a defiant wartime visit to the U.S. capital, his first known trip outside his country in the nearly 10 months since Russia invaded.

    The visit to Washington was aimed at reinvigorating support for Ukraine in the U.S. and around the world at a time when Russia appears to have lost battlefield momentum. There is concern that Ukraine’s allies are growing weary of providing the military and economic assistance that have enabled Ukraine to keep fighting.

    The Russian military on Thursday reported that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu paid a visit to Russian troops on the front line what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine. The exact location of the visit was not disclosed.

    A video released by the Russian Defense Ministry showed Shoigu inspecting temporary troop quarters in dugouts and talking to military commanders.

    Before his trip to Washington, Zelenskyy met with Ukrainian troops in the eastern city of Bakhmut, the recent focus of some of the war’s most intense combat. Russian President Vladimir Putin has never been seen traveling to front-line areas. Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that Putin visited his Ukraine command headquarters last week, but its location wasn’t disclosed, and it wasn’t even clear if it was in Ukraine.

    The IAEA’s Grossi has urged Russia and Ukraine for over three months to agree on a safety zone around Europe’s largest nuclear power station. Zaporizhizia province and areas across the Dnieper River from the nuclear power plant have been under regular shelling since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called for a demilitarized zone around the plant, which was seized by Russian forces early in the war.

    Although all six of the plant’s reactors are shut down, the reactor core and used nuclear fuel must still be cooled for lengthy periods to prevent them overheating and triggering dangerous meltdowns like the ones that occurred in 2011 when a tsunami hit the Fukushima plant in Japan. Ukraine saw the world’s worst nuclear accident, at Chernobyl in 1986.

    Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for the repeated shelling, which has led on multiple occasions to the Zaporizhizia plant losing the electricity needed to operate the cooling system. Ukrainian officials earlier this month also accused Russian troops of installing multiple rocket launchers at the site.

    Grossi said in November that the main issues under discussion involve military equipment and the radius of the safety zone. He said the IAEA’s proposal is very simple: “Don’t shoot at the plant, don’t shoot from the plant.”

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

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  • Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports

    Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Diplomatic efforts salvaged a wartime agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain and other commodities to reach world markets, with Russia saying Wednesday it would stick to the deal after Ukraine pledged not to use a designated Black Sea corridor to attack Russian forces.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine formally committed to use the established safe shipping corridor between southern Ukraine and Turkey “exclusively in accordance with the stipulations” of the agreement.

    “The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees it has received currently appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the ministry said, adding that medition by the United Nations and Turkey secured Russia’s continued cooperation.

    Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attack, which some Ukrainian officials blamed on Russian soldiers mishandling their own weapons.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Turkey’s defense minister that the deal for a humanitarian grain corridor would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday.

    Erdogan said the renewed deal would prioritize shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, in line with Russia’s concerns that most of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. in July.

    U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23% of the total cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower or lower-middle income countries, which also received 49% of all wheat shipments.

    Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia halting its support for the agreement, which aimed to ensure safe passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger. But the United Nations had said vessels would not move Wednesday, raising concerns about future shipments.

    The United Nations and Turkey brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia’s eight month-old war in Ukraine.

    Ukraine and Russia are key global exporters of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to developing countries where many are already struggling with hunger. A loss of those supplies before the grain deal was brokered in July surged global food prices and helped throw tens of millions into poverty, along with soaring energy costs.

    The grain agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N. Losing Ukrainian shipments would have meant poorer countries paying more to import grain in a tight global market as places like Argentina and the United States deal with dry weather, analysts say.

    After the announcement of Russia rejoining the deal, wheat futures prices erased the increases seen Monday, dropping more than 6% in Chicago.

    At least a third of the grain shipped in the last three months was going to the Middle East and North Africa, and while a lot of corn was going to Europe, “that’s the traditional buyer for Ukraine corn. It’s not like that was so unusual,” Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, said.

    He added that more wheat was going to sub-Saharan Africa and Asian markets that have become increasingly important buyers of Ukrainian grain.

    In Ukraine on Wednesday, thousands of homes in the Kyiv region and elsewhere remained without power, officials said Wednesday, as Russian drone and artillery strikes continued to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

    Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kukeba said 16,000 homes were without electricity and drones attacked energy facilities in the Cherkasy region south of the capital, prompting power outages.

    Although power and water were restored to the city of Kyiv, Kuleba didn’t rule out electricity shortages lasting “weeks” if Russian forces continue to hit energy facilities there. In a Telegram post, he accused Russian forces of trying to prompt a serious humanitarian crisis.

    Power outages were also reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka following “a large-scale drone attack,” Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.

    The two cities are located across the Dniper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility. Russia and Ukraine have for months traded blame for shelling at and around the plant that U.N.’s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency.

    Continued Russian shelling across nine regions in southern and eastern Ukraine resulted in the deaths of at least four civilians and the wounding of 17 others between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    The shelling also pounded cities and villages retaken by Ukraine last month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, wounding seven people.

    Russian fire damaged a hospital, apartment buildings in the Donetsk region city of Toretsk. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said Wednesday Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to fight for control of the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut, both key targets of a Russian offensive in the region.

    In southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Kherson region relocated civilians some 90 kilometers (56 miles) further into Russian-held territory in anticipation of a major Ukrainian counterattack to recapture the provincial capital of the same name. Russian forces dug trenches to prepare for the expected ground assault.

    The Kherson region’s Kremlin-appointed officials on Tuesday expanded an evacuation area to people living within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the Dnieper River. They said 70,000 residents from the expanded evacuation zone would be relocated this week, doubling the number moved earlier.

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    Fraser reported from Ankara. Courtney Bonnell in London contributed reporting.

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

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  • Ukraine is preparing for ‘dirty bomb’ attacks, claims Russia

    Ukraine is preparing for ‘dirty bomb’ attacks, claims Russia

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    Russia’s defense chief on Sunday alleged that Ukraine was preparing a provocation involving a radioactive device, a stark claim that reflected soaring tensions as Moscow struggles to stem Ukrainian advances in the south and is building defensive positions in anticipation of Ukrainian offensives elsewhere.

    Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegations in phone calls with his counterparts from Britain, France and Turkey. He also spoke to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in their second call in three days, but a terse Russian readout of that call didn’t say whether the dirty bomb claim was also mentioned in their conversation.

    Russia’s defense ministry said Shoigu voiced concern about possible Ukrainian provocations involving a dirty bomb,’ a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. It doesn’t have the devastating effect of a nuclear explosion, but it could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination.

    Britain strongly rejected the claims.

    The British Ministry of Defense said in his call with Defense Secretary Ben Wallace that Shoigu alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

    The Defense Secretary refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation, the ministry said. The Defense Secretary also reiterated UK and wider international support for Ukraine and desire to de-escalate this conflict. It is for Ukraine and Russia to seek resolution to the war and the UK stands ready to assist.

    Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak also dismissed Shoigu’s claims as an absolute and quite predictable absurdity from those who believe that they blatantly lie and make people believe in that.

    The French Ministry of the Armed Forces said that Shoigu told his counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, that the situation in Ukraine was rapidly worsening and trending towards uncontrollable escalation.

    Russian authorities repeatedly have made allegations that Ukraine could detonate a dirty bomb in a false flag attack and blame it on Moscow. Ukrainian authorities, in turn, have accused the Kremlin of hatching such a plan.

    The mention of the threat in Shoigu’s calls with his counterparts appeared to indicate that the threat of such an attack has risen to an unprecedented level.

    It appears that there is a shared feeling that the tensions have approached the level that could raise the real threat for all, Fyodor Lukyanov, the Kremlin-connected head of the Council for Foreign and Defense policies, a Moscow-based group of top foreign affairs experts, said in a commentary on Shoigu’s phone calls.

    Elsewhere, Russian authorities reported that they are building defensive positions in occupied areas of Ukraine and border regions of Russia, reflecting fears that Ukrainian forces may attack along new sections of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line of a war nearing its ninth month.

    In recent weeks, Ukraine has focused its counteroffensive mostly on the Kherson region. Their relentless artillery strikes cut the main crossings across the Dnieper River, which bisects the southern region, leaving Russian troops on the west bank short of supplies and vulnerable to encirclement.

    Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-installed regional administration in Kherson, said Sunday in a radio interview that Russian defensive lines have been reinforced and the situation has remained stable since local officials strongly encouraged all residents of the region’s capital and nearby areas Saturday to evacuate by ferry to the river’s east bank.

    The region is one of four that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and put under Russian martial law on Thursday. Kherson city has been in Russian hands since the early days of the war, but Ukraine’s forces have made advances toward reclaiming it.

    About 20,000 Kherson residents have moved to places on the east bank of the Dnieper River, the Kremlin-backed regional administration reported. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that Russia’s military also withdrew its officers from areas on the west bank, leaving newly mobilized, inexperienced forces.

    The Ukrainian claim could not be independently verified.

    As Ukraine presses south after liberating the Kharkiv region in the north last month, authorities in the western Russian provinces bordering northeastern Ukraine appeared jittery.

    The governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said Sunday that two defensive lines have been built and a third one would be finished by Nov. 5.

    Defensive lines were also established in the Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. He posted pictures Saturday of lines of pyramid-shaped concrete blocks to block the movement of armored vehicles.

    More defensive positions are being built in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, according to an announcement by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire Russian businessman dubbed Putin’s chef. Prigozhin owns the Wagner Group, a mercenary military company that has played a prominent role in the war.

    He said his company was constructing a Wagner line in the Luhansk region, another of the Ukrainian provinces Putin illegally annexed last month. Prigozhin posted images Wednesday showing a section of newly built defenses and trench systems southeast of the town of Kreminna.

    The British Defense Ministry said Sunday that the project suggests Russia is making a significant effort to prepare defenses in-depth behind the current front line, likely to deter any rapid Ukrainian counteroffensives.

    Russia’s forces captured Luhansk several months ago. Pro-Moscow separatists declared independent republics in the region and neighboring Donetsk eight years ago, and Putin made controlling all of both provinces a goal at the war’s outset.

    The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, said Sunday that Russia’s latest strategy of targeting power plants appeared aimed at diminishing Ukrainians’ will to fight and forcing the government in Kyiv to devote more resources to protecting civilians and energy infrastructure.

    It said the effort was unlikely to damage Ukrainian morale but would have significant economic impacts.

    Nine regions across Ukraine, from Odesa in the southwest to Kharkiv in the northeast, saw more attacks targeting energy and other critical infrastructure over the past day, the Ukrainian army’s general staff said. It reported a total of 25 Russian air strikes and more than 100 missile and artillery strikes around Ukraine.

    The Russian attacks forced the emergency suspension of fertilizer production at a major chemical plant in northwestern Ukraine. The company that operates the plant, Rivneazot, said Sunday the suspension did not pose an environmental risk.

    Russian S-300 missile strikes overnight hit a residential neighborhood in the city of Mykolaiv, injuring three people, according to the Ukrainian military’s southern command. Two apartment buildings, a playground and a warehouse were damaged or destroyed, it said in a Facebook post.

    Images posted on Telegram by local media and officials showed an apartment building with one side sheared off, and piles of rubble amid puddles on the adjacent ground.

    Ukrainian counteroffensive forces in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, meanwhile, targeted Russian-held facilities, notably in the town of Nova Kakhovka, and carried out 17 air strikes in the overall campaign, according to the Ukrainian army’s general staff.

    In a Telegram post-Sunday, the Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed 14 Iranian-made Russian drones over the past day.

    The mayor of Enerhodar, home to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, reported an attack on a hotel used by Russian occupying forces and people who collaborate with them. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.

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  • Russian Defense Chief Claims—Without Evidence—Ukraine Could Use ‘Dirty Bomb’

    Russian Defense Chief Claims—Without Evidence—Ukraine Could Use ‘Dirty Bomb’

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    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told foreign defense officials on Sunday—without citing any evidence—Ukraine could be planning to make use of a “dirty bomb,” a claim U.S. and U.K. officials warned could be a pretext to ramp up Russia’s invasion, weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin floated the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons.

    Key Facts

    Shoigu discussed the use of a “dirty bomb”—or an explosive that contains radioactive nuclear waste material–-in separate phone calls with British, French and Turkish defense officials on Sunday, according to Russian readouts of the conversations seen by Politico.

    Shoigu told his French counterpart, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, he was concerned about “possible provocations” from Ukraine using a dirty bomb, the Russian readout said, noting the situation in Ukraine is “rapidly detoriorating.”

    The Russian defense chief also purportedly discussed dirty bombs with U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

    Shoigu did not provide evidence that Ukraine is planning to use weapons with nuclear waste material in any of the three conversations, according to Russia’s readouts.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba fervently denied Russia’s allegations in a tweet and said Ukraine doesn’t possess any dirty bombs, adding that “Russians often accuse others of what they plan themselves.”

    The British Ministry of Defence said in a statement that Shoigu accused Ukraine of planning military actions to ramp up the war, which Wallace refuted, warning that Russia should not use the allegations “as a pretext for greater escalation.”

    Chief Critic

    White House National Security Council spokeperson Adrienne Watson rejected Shoigu’s allegations, calling the accusations of Ukraine preparing to use dirty bombs “transparently false.” Watson added that the world would “see through any attempt” by Russia to use the allegation to escalate the invasion of Ukraine. Shoigu also spoke with his American counterpart—Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin—on Sunday, the two leaders’ second call in three days, and a Pentagon readout said Austin “rejected any pretext for Russian escalation.”

    Tangent

    Russia has made similar unfounded accusations about Ukraine planning to use dirty bombs and nuclear weapons since the early days of the invasion. In March, Russian claimed it uncovered evidence of a bioweapons program operated by the Ukrainian government and funded by the U.S., which Kyiv and Washington both denied.

    Key Background

    Monday marks nine months since Russia invaded Ukraine. According to a Gallup poll released last week, 70% of Ukranians support fighting until Ukraine wins the war, compared to 26% who said they would prefer negotiations to end the conflict quickly. Rhetoric on both sides has ramped up in recent weeks, particularly earlier this month when the the only bridge linking Russia and Crimea was damaged in an explosion, which Putin called “an act of terrorism” by Ukraine, which has not claimed responsibility for the attack. Putin has also implied he may be willing to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, ramping up his threats.

    Further Reading

    Russia defense chief makes unfounded claims of Kyiv ready to use ‘dirty bomb’ (Politico)

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    Carlie Porterfield, Forbes Staff

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  • Russia’s defense chief warns of ‘dirty bomb’ provocation

    Russia’s defense chief warns of ‘dirty bomb’ provocation

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    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s defense chief alleged Sunday that Ukraine was preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device, a stark claim that was strongly rejected by U.S., British and Ukrainian officials amid soaring tensions as Moscow struggles to stem Ukrainian advances in the south.

    Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegations in phone calls with his counterparts from the United States, Britain, France and Turkey.

    Russia’s defense ministry said Shoigu voiced concern about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb,’” a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. It doesn’t have the devastating effect of a nuclear explosion, but could expose broad areas to radioactive contamination.

    Russian authorities repeatedly have made allegations that Ukraine could detonate a dirty bomb in a false flag attack and blame it on Moscow. Ukrainian authorities, in turn, have accused the Kremlin of hatching such a plan.

    British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace strongly rejected Shoigu’s claim and warned Moscow against using it as a pretext for escalation.

    The British Ministry of Defense noted that Shoigu, in a call with Wallace, “alleged that Ukraine was planning actions facilitated by Western countries, including the UK, to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.”

    “The Defense Secretary refuted these claims and cautioned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for greater escalation,” the ministry said.

    The U.S. also rejected Shoigu’s “transparently false allegations,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation.”

    In a televised address Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that Moscow itself was setting the stage for deploying a radioactive device on Ukrainian soil.

    “If Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means only one thing: that Russia has already prepared all of it,” Zelenskyy said.

    The mention of the dirty bomb threat in Shoigu’s calls seemed to indicate the threat of such an attack has risen to an unprecedented level.

    The French Ministry of the Armed Forces said Shoigu told his counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, that the situation in Ukraine was rapidly worsening and “trending towards uncontrollable escalation.”

    “It appears that there is a shared feeling that the tensions have approached the level that could raise the real threat for all,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, the Kremlin-connected head of the Council for Foreign and Defense policies, a Moscow-based group of top foreign affairs experts.

    The rising tensions come as Russian authorities reported building defensive positions in occupied areas of Ukraine and border regions of Russia, reflecting fears that Ukrainian forces may attack along new sections of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line of the war, which enters its ninth month on Monday.

    In recent weeks, Ukraine has focused its counteroffensive mostly on the Kherson region. Their relentless artillery strikes cut the main crossings across the Dnieper River, which bisects the southern region, leaving Russian troops on the west bank short of supplies and vulnerable to encirclement.

    Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-installed regional administration in Kherson, said Sunday in a radio interview that Russian defensive lines “have been reinforced and the situation has remained stable” since local officials strongly encouraged all residents of the region’s capital and nearby areas Saturday to evacuate by ferry to the river’s east bank.

    The region is one of four that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and put under Russian martial law on Thursday. Kherson city has been in Russian hands since the early days of the war, but Ukraine’s forces have made advances toward reclaiming it.

    About 20,000 Kherson residents have moved to places on the east bank of the Dnieper River, the Kremlin-backed regional administration reported. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that Russia’s military also withdrew its officers from areas on the west bank, leaving newly mobilized, inexperienced forces.

    The Ukrainian claim could not be independently verified.

    As Ukraine presses south after liberating the Kharkiv region in the north last month, authorities in the western Russian provinces bordering northeastern Ukraine appeared jittery.

    The governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said Sunday that two defensive lines have been built and a third one would be finished by Nov. 5.

    Defensive lines were also established in the Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

    More defensive positions were being built in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, said Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire Russian businessman who owns the Wagner Group, a mercenary military company that has played a prominent role in the war.

    Prigozhin said his company was constructing a “Wagner line” in the Luhansk region, another of the Ukrainian provinces Putin illegally annexed last month. Prigozhin posted images last week showing a section of newly built defenses and trench systems southeast of the town of Kreminna.

    The British Defense Ministry said Sunday “the project suggests Russia is making a significant effort to prepare defenses in depth behind the current front line, likely to deter any rapid Ukrainian counteroffensives.”

    Russia’s forces captured Luhansk several months ago. Pro-Moscow separatists declared independent republics in the region and neighboring Donetsk eight years ago, and Putin made controlling all of both provinces a goal at the war’s outset.

    The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, said Sunday that Russia’s latest strategy of targeting power plants appeared aimed at diminishing Ukrainians’ will to fight and forcing the government in Kyiv to devote more resources to protecting civilians and energy infrastructure.

    It said the effort was unlikely to damage Ukrainian morale but would have significant economic impacts.

    President Zelenskyy said Sunday that utilities workers were well on their way to restoring electricity supplies cut off by large-scale Russian missile strikes Saturday, but acknowledged that it would take longer to provide heating.

    Nine regions across Ukraine, from Odesa in the southwest to Kharkiv in the northeast, saw more attacks targeting energy and other critical infrastructure over the past day, the Ukrainian army’s general staff said. It reported a total of 25 Russian airstrikes and more than 100 missile and artillery strikes around Ukraine.

    In response, Zelenskyy appealed to mayors and other local leaders to ensure that Ukrainians heed official calls to conserve energy. “Now is definitely not the time for bright storefronts and signs,” he said.

    ___

    Aamer Madhani and Lolita Baldor in Washington and Joanna Kozlowska in London contributed to this report.

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

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