Russian forces are inching closer to seizing the last pocket of resistance in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. Sievierodonetsk and its neighboring city, Lysychansk, continue to be hit by heavy Russian bombardment. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said on Wednesday that Russian forces were moving towards Lysychansk, targeting police, state security and prosecutors’ buildings.
Dramatic footage has emerged from Russia of what appears to be a drone flying towards an oil refinery. and causing an explosion in what it could be an attack within the borders of Russia. Video shared on social media showed the unmanned aerial vehicle crashing into the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in the Rostov region, in what would be an embarrassing breach of Russia’s air defense systems.
A Russian missile attack has left at least one person dead in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv., according to its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevych. The attack started several fires and damaged several buildings, including a school, Senkevych said. Regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said seven missiles had hit Mykolaiv.
Residents and workers of a nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, a city in the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, are being kidnapped by Russian occupiers. according to the mayor of the region. “Whereabouts of someone unknown. The rest are in very difficult conditions: they are being tortured with electric shocks, physically and morally intimidated,” said Mayor Dmytro Orlov.
A television tower in the city of Donetsk, controlled by Ukrainian separatists, was badly damaged by the shelling and the transmission was interrupted.the local Donetsk news agency reported. The Petrovskiy television center is still standing, but some of its equipment was damaged, while some of the equipment was moved, the agency said.
British intelligence predicts that Russia’s momentum will slow in the coming months.“Our defense intelligence service believes, however, that in the coming months Russia could reach a point where there is no longer any momentum because it has exhausted its resources,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters.
The leaders of the next G7 summit in Germany will announce new measures aimed at putting pressure on Russia as well as new commitments to bolster European security, a senior US official has said. “We will launch a concrete set of proposals to increase pressure on Russia,” the official said. The G7 is also likely to discuss the fate of a Russian turbine blocked in Canada and accused of reducing gas supplies to Germany, Canada’s natural resources minister said.
The Kremlin said EU sanctions that led Lithuania to block the transit of some goods to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad were “absolutely unacceptable”. Moscow was working on retaliatory measures in response to “illegal sanctions” from the EU, he said. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow’s response to the Lithuanian ban would not be exclusively diplomatic but practical in nature.
Ukraine has downplayed the chances of reaching a deal with Russia that could allow blocked grain shipments to start sailing through the Black Sea. Consultations are ongoing, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said. The Russian Defense Ministry said Moscow and Ankara agreed to continue discussions on the safe departure of ships and grain exports from Ukrainian ports.
The head of the Finnish armed forces said his country was prepared for a Russian attack and would put up strong resistance should one occur. The Finns are motivated to fight and the country has amassed a substantial arsenal, General Timo Kivinen said, adding: “The most important line of defense is between the ears.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a strengthening of ties with the countries of the Brics group of emerging economies. – Brazil, Russia, India, China South Africa – after Western sanctions on Ukraine. Putin said discussions were continuing on “opening Indian chain stores in Russia, increasing the share of Chinese cars” in the Russian market.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Iran on Wednesday. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Lavrov’s visit was aimed at “expanding cooperation with the Eurasia and Caucasus region.”
Europe must immediately prepare for Russia to shut down all gas exports to the region this winter.according to the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. He called on governments to work to reduce demand and keep nuclear power plants open.
A Ukrainian photojournalist and a soldier accompanying him were ‘coldly executed’ when they were killed in the first weeks of the Russian invasion, according to Reporters Without Borders. Maks Levin and Oleksiy Chernyshov were reportedly searching Russian-occupied forests for the photographer’s missing image-taking drone, the agency said, citing the findings of an investigation into their deaths.
Reference-www.theguardian.com