Good morning and welcome to our live blog with regular updates on events in Ukraine throughout the day. Here’s what we know so far today.
Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed six Russia-launched attack drones and a cruise missile overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday, adding that in total Russia launched nine cruise missiles on Ukraine.
The number of wounded in a Russian missile strike on a postal distribution centre in Kharkiv district on Saturday, in which at least six people died, is now put at 16, rising overnight from 14. Of those, seven were “fighting for their lives”, the governor Oleh Synehubov said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shared a video on Saturday night showing what appeared to be a heavily damaged warehouse surrounded by rubble and a container with the logo of Ukrainian postal operator Nova Poshta. He said it was a civilian facility and urged Ukraine’s allies to unite in the “fight against terror”.
Zelenskiy, talked to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday. During the call, Zelenskiy said the two discussed Ukraine’s peace formula, food security, and the situation in the Middle East. Turkey will take part in peace talks next week to discuss ways to end the Ukraine conflict, Zelenskiy said.
Moscow’s drive to capture the town of Avdiivka encountered fierce resistance on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said. “The enemy is becoming more active, but is incurring heavy losses,” Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s troops in the south, said on Telegram. Russia’s defence ministry, in its evening report, made no mention of Avdiivka, but reported strikes on areas outside Bakhmut, a town seized by Moscow’s forces in May after months of battles. Both towns are in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia struck areas of eastern and southern Ukraine with artillery and missiles on Friday and Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring others, officials said. The fatal attacks were in Nikopol, Kryvyi Rih and Kherson region.
A UN investigation has found further evidence that Russian forces committed “indiscriminate attacks” and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia. “The collected evidence further shows that Russian authorities have committed the war crimes of wilful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the Russian Federation,” a UN commission of inquiry on Ukraine said in a report submitted to the UN general assembly. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and has said Ukrainian allegations of war crimes are concocted.
Three more children have been rescued from Russia and brought back to Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Germany will reportedly provide an additional €200m (£175m) to Ukraine to support the country’s restoration of its education and healthcare systems, its drinking water supplies, and the reconstruction of its cities.
I’m Caroline Davies and will be posting updates throughout the day. You can get in touch on [email protected]
Russian forces shelled the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region at around 7 a.m today hitting residential buildings and injuring three people, Kharkiv governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram.
Among those injured are two teenagers aged 15 and 17 and a 63-year-old woman.
The governor said that all three were hospitalised following the attack. The woman and a 15-year-old girl are reportedly in a critical condition.
Ukrainian forces had shot down three Shahed kamikaze drones and one guided Kh-59 cruise missile that Russia launched against Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force reported.
According to the report, the drones were launched from Chauda in occupied Crimea, while a Russian Su-34 aircraft fired the guided missile from the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Apart from Shahed drones, Russia also attacked Ukraine with two unidentified drones launched from the northern direction, as well as fired eight S-300 missiles from Belgorod Oblast and occupied Donetsk Oblast, the Air Force said.
The report does not specify where the targets not downed by the Ukrainian forces hit.
Ukraine fears a drone shortage due to China’s move to place restrictions on exports, the BBC reports.
The war in Ukraine is the first armed conflict to see such extensive use of drones, which are used by both sides. Many of them are commercially made in China and bought off the shelf, and new supplies are vital because of the large numbers lost in the fighting.
According to the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), a London-based thinktank, Ukraine is losing about 10,000 drones a month.
But there are indications of a reduction in the number of Chinese drones and parts available to both Ukraine and Russia, BBC Monitoring reports.
The Chinese restrictions imposed on 1 September apply to longer-range drones weighing more than 4kg, as well as drone-related equipment such as some cameras and radio modules.
Chinese producers must now apply for export licences and provide end-user certificates, and the government in Beijing – which has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – says commercial Chinese drones must not be used for military purposes, the BBC reported.
Ukrainian volunteers and soldiers say the latest Chinese restrictions have so far had minimal impact on the availability of drones, especially the ubiquitous lightweight Mavics made by the Chinese company DJI. However, they say that the supply of parts has been affected, and they also fear that the situation may worsen in the future.
Ukrainian ground forces are reportedly engaged in efforts to secure the village of Krynky, 30km north-east of Kherson and 2km from the Dnipro River, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported in its latest update, citing BBC Russia.
If successful, the control of this settlement would provide forward units with a strategic foothold to initiate a broader offensive strategy, with the goal of dividing Russian forces and disrupting their supply routes, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The British army’s Royal Engineers have trained Ukrainian civilian engineers on how to defend their energy sector from Russian attacks this winter, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
Damage and destruction of critical national infrastructure (CNI) by Russian missile and drone attacks has represented one of the greatest threats to the lives and safety of Ukrainian civilians since the invasion.
The two-week training package was developed after a request from Ukraine.
The UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said the training was “essential” to protect Ukrainian civilians as winter approaches.
The Royal Engineers’ specialist reservists who work within the UK CNI sector employed their professional experience to deliver elements of the training at a UK gasworks, a military airstrip and a port facility, the MoD said.
It is likely that Russia has suffered 150,000-190,000 permanent casualties (killed or permanently wounded) since the Ukraine war began, according to the latest intelligence update from the UK’s defence intelligence.
If the numbers of temporary wounded (those recovered and due to return to the battlefield) are added, that number rises to 240,000-290,000, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest update posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Recent Russian assaults in Avdiivka have contributed to 90% increase in Russian casualties recorded by the Ukrainian MoD, it said. Moscow’s drive to capture the town of Avdiivka was met by fierce resistance on Saturday, Ukraine’s military have said.
Since February 2022, Russia has significantly increased its force footprint by intensifying recruitment, which allows it to better conduct costly assaults, according to UK defence intelligence.
Good morning and welcome to our live blog with regular updates on events in Ukraine throughout the day. Here’s what we know so far today.
Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed six Russia-launched attack drones and a cruise missile overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday, adding that in total Russia launched nine cruise missiles on Ukraine.
The number of wounded in a Russian missile strike on a postal distribution centre in Kharkiv district on Saturday, in which at least six people died, is now put at 16, rising overnight from 14. Of those, seven were “fighting for their lives”, the governor Oleh Synehubov said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shared a video on Saturday night showing what appeared to be a heavily damaged warehouse surrounded by rubble and a container with the logo of Ukrainian postal operator Nova Poshta. He said it was a civilian facility and urged Ukraine’s allies to unite in the “fight against terror”.
Zelenskiy, talked to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Saturday. During the call, Zelenskiy said the two discussed Ukraine’s peace formula, food security, and the situation in the Middle East. Turkey will take part in peace talks next week to discuss ways to end the Ukraine conflict, Zelenskiy said.
Moscow’s drive to capture the town of Avdiivka encountered fierce resistance on Saturday, Ukraine’s military said. “The enemy is becoming more active, but is incurring heavy losses,” Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s troops in the south, said on Telegram. Russia’s defence ministry, in its evening report, made no mention of Avdiivka, but reported strikes on areas outside Bakhmut, a town seized by Moscow’s forces in May after months of battles. Both towns are in the eastern Donetsk region.
Russia struck areas of eastern and southern Ukraine with artillery and missiles on Friday and Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring others, officials said. The fatal attacks were in Nikopol, Kryvyi Rih and Kherson region.
A UN investigation has found further evidence that Russian forces committed “indiscriminate attacks” and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia. “The collected evidence further shows that Russian authorities have committed the war crimes of wilful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the Russian Federation,” a UN commission of inquiry on Ukraine said in a report submitted to the UN general assembly. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and has said Ukrainian allegations of war crimes are concocted.
Three more children have been rescued from Russia and brought back to Ukraine, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Germany will reportedly provide an additional €200m (£175m) to Ukraine to support the country’s restoration of its education and healthcare systems, its drinking water supplies, and the reconstruction of its cities.
I’m Caroline Davies and will be posting updates throughout the day. You can get in touch on [email protected]