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Ukraine establishes new counter-offensive foothold on eastern bank of Dnipro river
Armoured Humvees have crossed the Dnipro river as Ukraine established a foothold that they hope could open a new front in the stalled counter-offensive.
Ukrainian troops involved in the operation said that its forces had secured three positions on the eastern bank of the river that divides much of Ukraine.
The build-up of Ukrainian forces on the river bank has alarmed Russian officials.
Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, on Wednesday became the first to openly admit that Ukraine was advancing in an unlikely operation to outflank Russian forces. Mr Saldo said “small groups” of Ukrainian soldiers had established positions, insisting that Russia was raining down “fiery hell” on the units.
Moscow said it had sent in more troops to stop them. The new positions centre on the village of Krynky on the bank of the Dnipro, and around 18 miles northeast of the city of Kherson, which Ukraine recaptured almost exactly a year ago.
Russian and Ukrainian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the Dnipro river since Moscow withdrew from the western part of Ukraine’s Kherson region last November.
A Ukrainian soldier who crossed to the eastern bank at the beginning of November said Ukrainian forces were outnumbered after crossing on to the eastern banks.
“For every fighter we have there, they have 10,” the soldier, 32, who was evacuated due to a concussion, told the Wall Street Journal. “And we’re sitting in trenches unable to even stick our heads out.”
Troops also said armoured personnel carriers had crossed the Dnipro to join the attack. Pro-Kremlin military bloggers posted videos showing Russian shells hitting houses in Krynky.
“They are hiding in hedges, in houses,” Russian military analyst Boris Rozhin said.
Mr Saldo, the Russian-installed official, said the average lifespan of a Ukrainian soldier on the left bank is a little more than two days.
Citing what he said was first-hand information from Russia’s ‘Dnepr’ military grouping, Mr Saldo said troops had pinned the Ukrainians down, predicting they would be killed.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, described the frontline as “fairly fluid” and said Kyiv’s forces had been putting Russian troops under pressure along the river.
“The pushback from our side is taking place on a line from three to eight kilometres along the entire bank from the water’s edge,” she said. “For now, we will ask for informational silence ... which would allow us to report later on great successes,” she added in televised comments.
It comes after Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, said troops had secured a foothold on the east bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.
He said Ukrainian forces had managed to cross the river and dig in “against all odds.” Mr Yermak, said that Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which it launched in June, was “developing” and that Kyiv knew “how to achieve victory”.
Russia’s military said last week its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to forge a bridgehead on the eastern bank and nearby islands, inflicting heavy losses.
The Dnipro, Europe’s fourth-longest river and a historic trading route, has become a key front since Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces back over its banks in the south in 2022.
The river winds the length of the country from north to south, eventually flowing into the Black Sea from the Kherson region, where it separates the two armies.
While Ukraine’s recapture of Kherson city last November was a shock defeat for the Kremlin, Russian forces on the opposing bank still control swathes of territory and shell towns and villages they retreated from.
EU sanctions proposal makes no reference to inspections of Russian oil tankers
The European Commission’s proposal for tightening the implementation of a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian crude oil does not make any reference to inspections of tankers in Danish straits, or to Denmark, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.
The Financial Times reported that Denmark will be tasked with inspecting and potentially blocking Russian oil tankers sailing through its waters under new European Union plans as a way enforcing a price cap on Moscow’s crude.
The paper said Denmark would target tankers transiting through the Danish straits without Western insurance, adding that all of Russia’s oil shipped through the Baltic Sea, or roughly 60 per cent of its total seaborne exports, crosses the Danish straits on its way to international markets.
“We have seen nothing about it in the Commission proposal,” one EU diplomat familiar with the Commission text said and two others confirmed they found no such reference in the proposal.
Two killed in Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia region
A Russian missile killed two emergency workers in southern Ukraine on Wednesday as they put out a fire from an attack only minutes earlier, Ukrainian officials said. [see post at 11:57]
At least seven other people were wounded in the strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region, in which Russian forces fired three missiles in about half an hour, regional governor Yuriy Malashko said.
He said a civilian facility had been hit but gave no details and that homes, cars and outhouses nearby had been damaged.
Rescue workers had rushed to the scene after the first strikes but another attack followed, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian troops 'under pressure' along Dnipro river
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, described the frontline as “fairly fluid” and said Kyiv’s forces had been putting Russian troops under pressure along the Dnipro river.
“The pushback from our side is taking place on a line from two to five miles along the entire bank from the water’s edge,” she said.
“For now, we will ask for informational silence ... which would allow us to report later on great successes,” she said in a televised briefing.
One killed and seven injured in Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia region
Russia has fired three missiles at Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, killing one person and injuring at least seven others, the governor said.
Houses, cars and outhouses near the strike sites were damaged by a blast wave and debris in an attack that lasted about half an hour and hit a civilian facility, governor Yuriy Malashko said.
“As of this moment, we know of one person killed and seven injured, including women,” he said on Telegram messenger.
Russia will pay 'heavy price for Avdiivka,' Zelensky says
Russian losses in the shattered eastern town of Avdiivka are likely to undermine its overall war effort, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
The Ukrainian president said Russian assaults in the eastern Donetsk region including Avdiivka had been “very intense” but added that the defence of Avdiivka was key to Kyiv’s war plans.
“Russia is already losing men and equipment near Avdiivka faster and on a larger scale than, for example, near Bakhmut,” Mr Zelensky said, citing the eastern town captured by Russian forces in May after months of heavy fighting.
“Withstanding their pressure is extremely difficult ... The more Russian forces that are destroyed near Avdiivka, the worse the overall situation will be for the enemy and the overall course of this war.”
Mt Zelensky’s chief of staff, meanwhile, acknowledged for the first time that Ukraine’s forces in the southern Kherson region had established a foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, potentially opening a new line of attack towards occupied Crimea.
Moscow’s forces have focused on eastern Ukraine since failing to advance on Kyiv in the first days of the invasion. They have taken aim at Avdiivka since mid-October and officials from the town, which had a pre-war population of 32,000, say not a single building remains intact.
Russia admits Ukraine has positions on Russian-held bank of Dnipro river
Russia has admitted for the first time that “small groups” of Ukrainian troops had established positions on the Russian-held side of the Dnipro river.
Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said some Ukrainian soldiers were “blocked” in Krynky, a small village on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river, and were facing a “fiery hell” from Russian artillery, rockets and drones.
He claimed that the average life expectancy of a Ukrainian soldier there is around two days.
It comes after Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said troops had secured a foothold on the east bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region.
Russia 'regrets' Finland mulling borer closure
Russia said it “deeply regretted” Finland’s move to consider closing its border crossings with Russia.
Helsinki on Tuesday accused Moscow of deliberately allowing migrants to cross into Finland without having proper travel documents, suggesting it was a tactic to destabilise its neighbour.
“We deeply regret that the Finnish leadership has chosen to deliberately move away from what used to be good relations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday, when asked about Finland’s comments.
Russia and Finland share a 1,340-kilometre land border, stretching through mainly forests from near the Russian city of Saint Petersburg up into the Arctic Circle.
Pope Francis: Pray 'in a special way' for peace in Ukraine
Pope Francis has called on the faithful to pray regularly for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and all other war-torn places.
“Let us pray, brothers and sisters, for peace, in a special way for martyred Ukraine, it is suffering a lot. And then the Holy Land, Palestine and Israel, and let’s not forget Sudan,” he said during his weekly audience in St Peter’s Square.
“Let us think (about) all places where there is war, there are many wars. Let us pray for peace, every day someone should take some time to pray for peace,” he added.
The Vatican has offered to mediate in both the Russian-Ukrainian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, but its efforts have so far not proved successful.
One killed in Russian missile strike on eastern town
At least one person was killed in an overnight Russian missile strike that hit an apartment building in eastern Ukraine, authorities said.
Five others, including a child, were rescued but at least one person is believed to be trapped under the rubble, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app.
The attack on the town of Selydove, northwest of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, heavily damaged a four-storey building, Mr Klymenko said.
Rescuers early on Wednesday were clearing the rubble and warned residents against approaching the building, which appeared to have been obliterated by the impact.
Russian state media withdraws article announcing retreat from Dnipro river
Russian state media has erased reports announcing a retreat to “more favourable positions” on the left bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine.
Two separate reports of a withdrawal were deleted within minutes, in a highly unusual breakaway from Kremlin propaganda.
Ria Novosti, the state-owned news agency, reported that commanders from Moscow’s Dnepr force had ordered the relocation of its troops.
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Estonian PM signals interest in top Nato job
Kaja Kallas, the Estonian Prime Minister, has reportedly said she would like to be considered for the job of Nato secretary general once Jens Stoltenberg steps down.
Speaking at a Politico conference in Washington, Ms Kallas responded “yes” when she was pressed on whether she’d like to be considered for the role, according to the report.
Ms Kallas has been a leading critic of Russia in the European Union and Nato, and has pushed for more comprehensive plans to defend the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which all border Russia.
Nato diplomats have said, however, Ms Kallas may be regarded as too hawkish by some members of the Western defence alliance.
Mr Stoltenberg has been in post since 2014 and is due to step down in October 2024.