All posts tagged: Ukraine

Russia-Ukraine war live: ‘enemy attempts to storm Avdiivka from all directions’, says Ukrainian official | Ukraine

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Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Ten people have died in snowstorms in Ukraine, the country’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, has said. Icy winds and storms have swept in since Sunday, cutting power and blocking roads, particularly in the south. “As a result of worsening weather conditions, 10 people died in Odesa, Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kyiv regions,” Klymenko wrote on Telegram. “Twenty-three people were injured, including two children,” he added. A total of 411 settlements in 11 regions had lost power, and more than 1,500 vehicles had to be rescued, Klymenko said. Summary It is Tuesday and this is the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine. Here are the top developments. Russian forces are intensifying their drive to capture Avdiivka, trying to advance on all sides, according to Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka’s military administration. “The Russians have opened up two more sectors from which they have begun making assaults – in the direction of Donetsk … and in the so-called industrial …

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 643 | Ukraine

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Hurricane-force winds, snowfall and flooding have lashed Russia’s southern regions of Dagestan, Krasnodar and Rostov, as well as the occupied Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea. In Ukraine, the severe weather killed at least five people and cut power to almost 1,500 towns and villages after storms dumped up to 25cm (10 inches) of snow in some places. Another four people were reported dead in Moldova. Freezing temperatures were forecast for Tuesday morning. Russia’s energy ministry said power cuts affected 1.9 million people. Weather forecasts show downpours were continuing late on Monday in the Crimean port of Sevastopol and Sochi on Russia’s Black Sea coast, amid hopes the storm’s impact might deliver a setback to the Russian war effort. Russian forces are intensifying their drive to capture Avdiivka, trying to advance on all sides, according to Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s military administration. “The Russians have opened up two more sectors from which they have begun making assaults – in the direction of Donetsk … and in the so-called industrial zone. The …

Ukraine detains Victor Zhora, former top government cyber official

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Last week, the Ukrainian government fired two of its top cybersecurity officials, who are accused of embezzlement. Now, one of them has been detained. Ukraine’s senior cabinet official Taras Melnychuk announced the firings in a public post on Telegram last week. The two officials are Yurii Shchyhol, head of Ukraine’s State Special Communications Service of Ukraine, or SSSCIP, and his deputy Victor Zhora, who had become a staple at international conferences as the public face of Ukraine’s cybersecurity defenders. On Monday, the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine announced in a press release that a judge had ordered the detention of Zhora as a preventative measure, and that he had been taken into custody, according to a machine translation. The press release said that the detention will last until January 22, 2024, and imposed a bail of 10,000,584 Ukrainian hryvnia, roughly $275,000. It’s unclear if Zhora posted bail. And Zhora did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zhora previously told TechCrunch, shortly after the charges were announced, that he would “defend my name and …

Ukraine to change conscription policies in drive to sustain fighting capacity | Ukraine

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The Ukrainian government is planning to change its conscription practices as it seeks to sustain fighting capacity after nearly two years of full-fledged war with Russia. The changes, expected to be announced this week, will include the use of commercial recruitment companies to carry out more targeted conscription and to reassure conscripts they will be deployed in roles that match their skills and not simply sent to the front, according to one senior official. “Some people are scared, scared to die, scared to shoot, but it doesn’t mean they can’t be involved in other activities … Now we have a new minister with a new approach,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s security council, told the Guardian. In early September, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sacked Oleksii Reznikov, who had been defence minister since the beginning of the war, and replaced him with Rustem Umerov, who spent the early part of the war working on doomed negotiations with Russia. On Friday, Zelenskiy said he expected Umerov’s ministry to provide him with a package of new mobilisation …

Russia-Ukraine war live: Russians scavenge air defence from Kaliningrad, says UK MoD | Ukraine

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Summary Welcome, as we resume the Guardian’s coverage of the Russian war against Ukraine. Here are the developments making news this morning. Russia is having to pull air defence systems out of Kaliningrad, its external province on the Baltic Sea, to replace those it has lost in the Ukraine war, according to an intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence. “This follows an increase in losses of SA-21 air defence systems in Russian-occupied Ukraine in late October 2023.” The move shows that Russia is so overstretched by the conflict that it is having to accept additional risk to strategically important Kaliningrad, which is bordered on three sides by Nato member states, according to the MoD. The Russian military death toll in Ukraine has reached 324,830, according to estimates provided by the Ukrainian military. Russia sent waves of kamikaze drones into Ukraine on Saturday in what Kyiv said was the most intensive drone attack since the start of the war. Five people were wounded by falling debris, while several buildings were damaged as about 17,000 …

Russia-Ukraine war live: Russia and Ukraine both report thwarting drone strikes; Zelenskiy calls for more air defences | Ukraine

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Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Russia and Ukraine report downing of drones in overnight attacks Russia’s defence ministry says it had thwarted a major Ukrainian drone attack with at least 20 drones shot down over Russian regions, including Moscow. Officials said the drones were shot down over regions including Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Bryansk. One person was injured in Tula when an intercepted drone hit an apartment building, the region’s governor Alexei Dyumin said. Ukraine’s air force says it destroyed eight of nine attack drones launched overnight by Russia. There were no immediate reports of damage or about where the remaining drone had struck. The attack, which the air force said was launched from the south-east, came a day after what Ukrainian officials said had been Russia’s largest drone attack of the war. Ukraine has warned in recent weeks that Russia will target critical infrastructure in a winter aerial campaign, as it did last year. Ukraine needs more air defences to protect grain exports, Zelenskiy says …

Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv hit by ‘largest drone attack’ of war, officials say | Ukraine

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Ukraine says overnight drone attack was largest of the war Ukraine’s capital city took the brunt of what the country’s air force described as Russia’s largest drone attack of the war on Saturday. Reuters reports five people were wounded as the continuing rumble of air defences and explosions woke residents. The attack, which used Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones, began hitting different districts of Kyiv in the early hours of Saturday, with more waves coming as the sun rose. Explosions are seen in the sky over Kyiv. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters A spokesperson for Kyiv’s city administration told public broadcaster Suspilne at least 40 drones had been downed. Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram app, said the attack had injured five people, including an 11-year-old girl, and damaged buildings in districts all across the city. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that most of the drones were shot down. A searchlight over Kyiv. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters Updated at 08.21 GMT Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature President Volodymyr …

Russia-Ukraine war live: Russian forces suffering mass casualties from long-range strikes, UK says | Ukraine

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Russian forces suffer mass casualties from long-range strikes, UK says “Russian forces in Ukraine continue to suffer mass casualties from Ukrainian long-range precision strikes well behind the front line,” the British ministry of defence said in an intelligence update published this morning. The update also noted: On 10 November 2023, likely over 70 Russian troops were killed in a strike on a convoy of trucks 23km behind the front line in the village of Hladkivka, Kherson Oblast. Subsequently, on 19 November 2023, a strike on Russian troops attending an award ceremony or concert in Kumachove, 60km inside Russian-controlled territory, likely caused tens of casualties. Ukraine has also suffered similar incidents: a Russian ballistic missile killed 19 members of Ukraine’s 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade at a medal ceremony on 3 November 2023. Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Speaking at the German Council on Foreign Relations this morning, Ukrainian deputy prime minister for European integration Olha Stefanishyna said Ukrainians understand that the longer the war lasts, the …

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 639 | Ukraine

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A Russian attack using cluster munitions killed three people in a suburb of Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, a Ukrainian official said, bringing to six the number of civilians to die in a single day. Russian shelling also killed two people in the Donetsk region, Ukraine’s presidential office said. On Thanksgiving, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, thanked the US for its support, saying that with “American support and global leadership, millions of Ukrainian lives have been saved”. Ukraine has not reached a stalemate in its war with Russia because the west can help by “dropping five more queens on the board”, according to Timothy Snyder, a Yale professor and influential historian of eastern Europe. A leading Russian politician and supporter of Vladimir Putin has denied a report that he adopted an infant who had been forcibly taken from an orphanage in Ukraine. Russia has claimed it is succeeding in selling almost all of its oil above a western-imposed price cap of $60 a barrel. The EU, G7 countries and Australia introduced the price cap on …

Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy hails air defence coalition formed from Ramstein group | Ukraine

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Key events Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Justin McCurry North Korea has warned it will deploy new weapons and stronger armed forces along its heavily armed border with South Korea, as officials in Seoul claimed that Russia had helped Pyongyang carry out a satellite launch. After closer collaboration between Pyongyang and Moscow, North Korea has provided Russia with large quantities of ammunition for its war in Ukraine, although both leaders have denied striking an arms deal. In a sign of rising tensions on the peninsula, North Korea has said it would restore “all military measures” it had halted under a 2018 confidence-building agreement with South Korea. South Korea had already said it would suspend some of the measures, which are designed to reduce the possibility of an accidental conflict along the demilitarised zone (DMZ), after North Korea launched a satellite – apparently successfully – for the first time late on Tuesday. Seoul added that it would step up surveillance along the DMZ. A statement from North Korea’s defence …