Opening summaryWelcome to our continuing coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Below is a selection of the latest developments to bring you up to speed.
Fierce fighting in Avdiivka on the eastern frontline entered a fifth day as Russia continued to deploy new forces in an attempt to surround the city, according to Vitaliy Barabash, the head of its military administration. Shelling was so fierce that emergency crews were unable to recover the dead from wrecked buildings, Barabash said. Both Russia and the United States have described the upsurge in violence around Avdiivka as a new Russian offensive. “They are striking with everything they have. Bouts of shooting, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, mortars and a lot of aircraft,” Barabash told national television. He said 1,620 residents remained in Avdiivka, a town with a large coking plant and a pre-war population of 32,000.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked troops in areas where fighting was “particularly hot”. In his regular address he said: “I thank everyone who is holding their positions and destroying Russian troops”, citing Avdiivka, Maryinka and other key locations in the Donetsk region.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea near the southern resort city of Sochi on Saturday morning. The city’s mayor, Alexei Kopaigorodskyi, said there had been no casualties or damage and that the situation was under control.
A top Ukraine general said fighting in the north-east had “significantly worsened” as daily Russian attacks continued.
Protesters gathered outside city hall in Odesa again to speak out against the misuse of budget funds and pay tribute to Ukrainian soldiers killed or injured in the war.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet is highly likely to have reinforced its defensive and reactive posture since suffering a series of strikes in August and September, the UK Ministry of Defence said. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said the BSF has relocated many of its prestige assets – including cruise missile-capable ships and submarines – from Sevastopol to operating and basing areas farther east, such as Novorossiysk.
Russia has detained three lawyers of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and raided their homes, aides said, a step that comes as pressure on the Kremlin’s critics increases. The move was an attempt to “completely isolate Navalny”, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said on social media
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Lisa O’Carroll
The EU has urged China to treat it as a geopolitical power in the wake of the war against Russia in Ukraine.
Ending a visit to Shangai and Beijing, Josep Borrell, the bloc’s high representative for foreign affairs said it was one of three messages he conveyed to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
He said:
Europe takes China very seriously and we also expect to be considered, not through the lens of our relations with others.
The war in Ukraine has converted us in a geopolitical power, not just an economic one and we want to talk with China from this approach. Do not look at the European Union relations through the lens of the relations with others.
Russia represents a huge threat for our security and that we are committed to support Ukraine facing the Russian invasion and asking China to take into consideration this very tough position from our side, considering Russia as a security threat for the whole European Union.
Other topics Borrell discussed were China’s use of coal and the danger of a debt crisis.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said in an interview published on Sunday that suggestions in the west that the US prepare for a simultaneous war with both Russia and China were nonsense, Reuters reports.
More on the counteroffensive, Vladimir Putin, said that Russian forces had bolstered their positions across the entire frontline in Ukraine including in Avdiivka, a symbolic industrial hub.
He said troops had been “improving their position” in a vast area in an interview on Russian television, which was posted on social media, AFP reports. He added:
This concerns the areas of Kupiansk, Zaporizhzhia and Avdiivka.
On Saturday, Kyiv reported “heated” fighting around Avdiivka Saturday, saying Russian forces had “not stopped assaulting” it for days in their attempt to surround it.
Russian forces are conducting an ‘active defence’ and have been able to improve their positions at almost entire line of contact in Ukraine, president Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
Reuters reports that in a video posted to social media by Kremlin journalist Pavel Zarubin, Putin said:
What is happening now along the entire length of the [line of] contact is called ‘an active defence’
And our troops are improving their position at almost entire area. Quite a large area.
Anti-aircraft units destroyed 27 Ukraine-launched drones over Russia, most of them over the Kursk region, Russia’s defence ministry said early on Sunday, according to Reuters.
Eighteen of the drones were downed over the Kursk region in southern Russia, while two where destroyed over the Belgorod region, the ministry said on Telegram.
Earlier, Kursk region’s governor, Roman Starovoit, said that there were no casualties in the drone attack and that debris from the drones landed outside populated areas.
Both Kursk and Belgorod regions border Ukraine.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.
Drone attacks on Russian targets, especially in Crimea – annexed by Moscow in 2014 – and in regions bordering Ukraine, have become almost a daily occurrence since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May.
Opening summaryWelcome to our continuing coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Below is a selection of the latest developments to bring you up to speed.
Fierce fighting in Avdiivka on the eastern frontline entered a fifth day as Russia continued to deploy new forces in an attempt to surround the city, according to Vitaliy Barabash, the head of its military administration. Shelling was so fierce that emergency crews were unable to recover the dead from wrecked buildings, Barabash said. Both Russia and the United States have described the upsurge in violence around Avdiivka as a new Russian offensive. “They are striking with everything they have. Bouts of shooting, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, mortars and a lot of aircraft,” Barabash told national television. He said 1,620 residents remained in Avdiivka, a town with a large coking plant and a pre-war population of 32,000.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked troops in areas where fighting was “particularly hot”. In his regular address he said: “I thank everyone who is holding their positions and destroying Russian troops”, citing Avdiivka, Maryinka and other key locations in the Donetsk region.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea near the southern resort city of Sochi on Saturday morning. The city’s mayor, Alexei Kopaigorodskyi, said there had been no casualties or damage and that the situation was under control.
A top Ukraine general said fighting in the north-east had “significantly worsened” as daily Russian attacks continued.
Protesters gathered outside city hall in Odesa again to speak out against the misuse of budget funds and pay tribute to Ukrainian soldiers killed or injured in the war.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet is highly likely to have reinforced its defensive and reactive posture since suffering a series of strikes in August and September, the UK Ministry of Defence said. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said the BSF has relocated many of its prestige assets – including cruise missile-capable ships and submarines – from Sevastopol to operating and basing areas farther east, such as Novorossiysk.
Russia has detained three lawyers of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and raided their homes, aides said, a step that comes as pressure on the Kremlin’s critics increases. The move was an attempt to “completely isolate Navalny”, his ally Ivan Zhdanov said on social media