Ukrainian servicemen fire towards Russian troops on a self-propelled howitzer as Russia's attack in Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Oct. 10, 2022. (Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters) Russia-Ukraine War News Live Updates: Russian-installed authorities order all residents of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to leave immediately, news agency AP reported on Friday.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy urged the West to warn Russia not to blow up a dam that would flood a large area of southern Ukraine, reported Reuters. In a television address, Zelenskyy said Russian forces had planted explosives inside the huge Nova Kakhovka dam, which holds back an enormous reservoir, and were planning to blow it up. However, Russia has accused Kyiv of rocketing the dam and planning to destroy it in what Ukrainian officials called a sign that Moscow might blow it up and blame Kyiv. Neither side produced evidence to back up their allegations.
In other news, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke for the first time since May and a top Russian diplomat said the call was needed to eliminate misunderstandings, TASS news agency reported. The Pentagon declined to offer specifics beyond saying that Austin, who initiated the conversation, emphasised a need for lines of communication amid the war in Ukraine.
Police officers shoot at a drone during a Russian drone strike, which local authorities consider to be Iranian-made Shahed-136 UAVs, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv October 17, 2022. (Photo: Reuters)
Russian occupation authorities in the Ukrainian city of Kherson told civilians they should leave immediately because of the tense military situation. Thousands of civilians have been leaving for days across the Dnipro River after warnings of a looming Ukrainian offensive to recapture the city, but Saturday's warning was delivered with renewed urgency.
* Critical infrastructure across Ukraine was pounded by more than a dozen Russian missiles, the Ukrainian air force said, with several regions reporting strikes on energy facilities and power outages.
* Russia has accused Ukraine of rocketing the Nova Kakhovka dam and planning to destroy it in what Ukrainian officials called a sign that Moscow might blow it up and blame Kyiv. Neither side produced evidence to back up their allegations.
* Russian air attacks have hit at least half of Ukraine's thermal generation capacity, causing billions of dollars of damage since Oct. 10, though not all power units have stopped working completely, Ukraine's energy minister said.
* Iran on Saturday strongly condemned a call by France, Germany and Britain for the United Nations to probe accusations that Russia has used Iranian-origin drones to attack Ukraine, its foreign ministry said. (Reuters)
Russian-installed authorities of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson have ordered all residents to evacuate immediately.
Ukrainian forces pressing an offensive in the south have zeroed in on Kherson, a provincial capital that has been under Russian control since the early days of the invasion. On Saturday, Russia said its forces had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to break through its line of control in Kherson.
The possible fall of the city would deal another humiliation to Moscow after a string of battlefield defeats and other setbacks, further cornering Russian President Vladimir Putin and setting the stage for a potential escalation of the nearly 8-month-old war. (Read more)
Critical infrastructure across Ukraine was pounded by more than a dozen Russian missiles on Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said, with several regions reporting strikes on energy facilities and power outages. Ukraine's air force command reported that 33 missiles had been fired at Ukraine on Saturday morning, and that 18 of those had been shot down.
Since Oct. 10, Russia has launched a series of devastating salvos at Ukraine's power infrastructure, which have hit at least half of its thermal power generation and up to 40% of the entire system.
Local officials in regions across Ukraine reported strikes on energy facilites and power outages as engineers scrambled to restore the ruined network. Some advised residents to stock up on water in case of cut-offs. (Reuters)
Iran on Saturday strongly condemned a call by France, Germany and Britain for the United Nations to probe accusations that Russia has used Iranian-origin drones to attack Ukraine, its foreign ministry said. Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said Friday's call by the so called E-3 group of countries was "false and baseless" and that it was "strongly rejected and condemned".
Ukraine says Russia has used Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones that cruise towards their target and explode on impact. Tehran denies supplying the drones to Moscow and Russia has denied its forces used Iranian drones to attack Ukraine.
"The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in its pursuit to protect its national interest and to secure the rights of the noble Iranian people, reserves the right to respond to any irresponsible action," the Iranian foreign ministry website quoted Kanaani as saying. (Reuters)
A video of a helicopter having a close shave with vehicles on road in Ukraine has gone viral on social media, garnering over a million views on Twitter.
The clip, posted on Twitter by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, showed a helicopter approaching a road that is apparently open to civilians and flying very close to the vehicle. 'Welcome to Ukraine', read the caption.
One Twitter user commented: "Below the radar has a new meaning". A few others praised the pilot. "That's definitely years of training respect for the fighter pilot," commented one. "Pretty decent overtaking manoeuvre by the chopper there," read another comment.
Near the front door of the second-floor apartment is a pile of blankets, just in case. Plastic sheeting covers the broken windows in the main bedroom. The lower half of the wall protrudes precariously out, seemingly ready to fall.
Nataliia Rebenko, 64, and her husband, Oleksiy Rebenko, 72, have been living like this for months, since fighting ceased in their northern Ukraine city, Chernihiv. But now, as temperatures drop, they worry how they will make it through the winter.
“It’s already getting really cold,” Oleksiy Rebenko said. “And we are worried because in Chernihiv, the infrastructure that brings us heating could be destroyed. So we are already thinking of a backup plan.”
For many in Europe, the rising cost of heating homes this winter has already caused alarm, contributing to soaring inflation and cutting into support for Ukraine in the war. But in Ukraine itself, there is a far deeper worry — about keeping warm at all.
The United States and key Western allies accused Russia Friday of using Iranian drones to attack civilians and power plants in Ukraine in violation of a 2015 UN Security Council resolution and international humanitarian law.
Russia countered by accusing Ukraine of attacking infrastructure and civilians for eight years in the eastern separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed earlier this year.
The US, France, Germany and Britain supported Ukraine's call for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send a team to investigate the origin of the drones. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the drones are Russian and warned that an investigation would violate the UN Charter and seriously affect relations between Russia and the United Nations. (AP)
Friday afternoons at the Chop-Chop Barbershop in central Moscow used to be busy, but at the beginning of a recent weekend, only one of the four chairs was occupied.
“We would usually be full right now, but about half of our customers have gone,” said the manager, a woman named Olya. Many of the clients — along with half of the barbers, too — have fled Russia to avoid President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to mobilise hundreds of thousands of men for the flagging military campaign in Ukraine.
Many men have been staying off the streets out of fear of being handed a draft notice. As Olya came to work last Friday, she said, she witnessed the authorities at each of the four exits of the metro station, checking documents.
More from World
➡️ Russia has accused Ukraine of rocketing the Nova Kakhovka dam and planning to destroy it in what Ukrainian officials called a sign that Moscow might blow it up and blame Kyiv. Neither side produced evidence to back up their allegations.
➡️ To Ukrainian soldiers entrenched north of Kherson, a drop-off in Russian shellfire and armour movements signals that their foes dug into a nearby tree line are suffering serious manpower, supply and hardware woes.
➡️ Russian air attacks have hit at least half of Ukraine's thermal generation capacity, causing billions of dollars of damage since Oct. 10, though not all those power units have stopped working completely, Ukraine's energy minister said.
➡️ The minister said he saw no signs of progress towards a deal involving Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations nuclear watchdog on resolving the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's biggest nuclear power station.
➡️ Ukraine is taking down 85% of Iranian-made "kamikaze" drones fired by Russia but needs its allies' support to prevent Tehran selling Moscow ballistic missiles, an air force spokesperson said. (Reuters)
The Iranian Shahed-136 drone was designed to explode on impact, and on Monday, Russian forces launched dozens of them at targets across Ukraine. One hit an apartment building in Kyiv, the capital, killing four people, including a woman who was six months pregnant.
As the war enters its ninth month, the Shahed is among dozens of types of drones, including remote-controlled surveillance types and programmable flying bombs, being used on battlefields in Ukraine. They also include military drones produced by the United States, Turkey and Russia and commercial-grade drones made in China.
The full range of models, and which countries supplied them, is unclear. But the rapid increase in the number and types of unmanned drones deployed in the war signals that smaller, less-expensive weapons like the Shahed will probably become a staple of modern armed conflicts.
Some residents of the Russian-held city of Kherson were shown leaving by boat on Wednesday after Moscow-installed officials told them it was not safe and said they were relocating their own staff in the face of a looming Ukrainian assault.
The images of people fleeing were broadcast by Russian state TV which portrayed the exodus – from the right bank of the Rover Dnipro to its left bank – as a calculated attempt to clear the city of civilians before it became a combat zone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the West to warn Russia not to blow up a dam that would flood a large area of southern Ukraine.
In a television address, Zelenskyy said Russian forces had planted explosives inside the huge Nova Kakhovka dam, which holds back an enormous reservoir, and were planning to blow it up. "Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster," he said.
Russia has accused Kyiv of rocketing the dam and planning to destroy it in what Ukrainian officials called a sign that Moscow might blow it up and blame Kyiv. Neither side produced evidence to back up their allegations.
The vast Dnipro bisects Ukraine and is several kilometres wide in places. Bursting the dam could send a wall of water flooding settlements below it, towards Kherson, which Ukrainian forces hope to recapture in a major advance. (Reuters)