Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin oversees drill of ‘massive nuclear strike’

Vladimir Putin has monitored drills simulating a “massive nuclear strike” by Russia.

The manoeuvres followed the Russian president’s warning about his readiness to use “all means available” to fend off attacks on Russia’s territory as he prepared to lay claim to captured Ukrainian lands.

The Biden administration said Russia gave notice of the tests. Russian nuclear drills taken place on an annual basis to train the relevant forces and demonstrate their readiness.

The latest drills came as Mr Putin told a meeting of spy chiefs from ex-Soviet states that Russia was aware of Ukrainian plans to use a “dirty bomb”, echoing an unsubstantiated allegation repeatedly made by Moscow in recent days.

Mr Putin also warned there was a high risk of conflict in the world and region, and that security should be heightened around key infrastructure sites.

Volodymyr Zelensky and western officials have refuted Moscow’s claim that Kyiv plans to use a “dirty bomb”, while Ukraine’s state energy regulator warned Russia was itself developing such a device at an occupied nuclear power plant.

Key Points

• Putin observes nuclear exercises

• Ukraine war’s biggest battle looms in Kherson, says Kyiv

• Kremlin concerned by domestic sabotage – MoD

• Nuclear strike will be 'serious mistake', Biden warns

• Russia ‘recruiting Afghan commandos' – report

‘There are no Untouchables in Russia now'

19:56 , Sam Rkaina

Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, argued that the raid has sent a signal to members of the Russian elite that all bets are off.

“If they can arrest the daughter of Putin’s patron ... it means there are no untouchables,” Markov wrote in a commentary. “For some members of the elites, an arrest warrant for Sobchak is a blazing sign in the skies.”

Sobchak is the daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, a liberal mayor of St. Petersburg for whom Putin served as a deputy in the 1990s.

Sobchak has 9.4 million followers on Instagram, and her glamour, sharp wit and defiant ways have made her both loved and loathed.

She first gained fame as a fashionable socialite and reality TV star and was once dubbed the “Russian Paris Hilton,” but later sought to shed her spoiled and arrogant image.

Sobchak got involved in politics when she joined the massive protests in Moscow against Putin in 2011-12, and later reinvented herself as a serious TV journalist and opposition activist.

Sobchak has denied serving the Kremlin’s agenda by running as a challenger to Putin in 2018.

But opposition leader Alexei Navalny denounced her for discrediting the opposition by joining the race, saying that she was a “parody of a liberal candidate” and her involvement in the campaign helped the Kremlin cast the opposition in a negative light.

Russian TV star’s home raided as ‘all bets are off'

18:45 , Sam Rkaina

Russian investigators on Wednesday raided the home of Ksenia Sobchak, the daughter of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s one-time boss.

Sobchak, a 40-year-old TV star, has often been critical of Putin, but many Russian opposition figures have accused her of serving the Kremlin’s agenda.

In 2018, she became a liberal challenger in Russia’s presidential election, finishing a distant fourth with about 1.7% of the vote in what her critics described as a Kremlin effort to add a democratic veneer to Putin’s sweeping re-election.

Investigators said that the search at Sobchak’s luxury home in a prestigious Moscow suburb was part of a probe into alleged wrongdoing by her media director, Kirill Sukhanov, who was arrested on charges of extortion.

Sobchak on Tuesday rejected the accusations against Sukhanov as “ravings and nonsense” and described his arrest as part of the authorities’ efforts to stifle independent media.

The state Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies said that Sobchak had fled Russia. Tass claimed she had bought tickets to Dubai and Turkey to mislead the authorities but eventually left for Belarus, from where she moved to Lithuania.

The reports claimed that investigators suspected Sobchak of being involved in the extortion scheme along with her media director and alleged that a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Tass also cited information from the probe indicating that Sergei Chemezov, a long time Putin associate who heads the state Rostec corporation, a conglomerate controlling Russian aviation industries and other high-tech assets, was the victim of alleged extortion.

Sobchak hasn’t commented on the allegations and her whereabouts were unknown. She has extensive contacts among Russia’s rich and powerful, and the search of her home topped domestic news.

Main developments so far today

18:12 , Sam Rkaina

Good evening, here is a summary of the main developments in the Ukraine war so far today.

NATO and Russia’s military staged separate nuclear exercises Wednesday as the Russian president again stood firm on the internationally rejected claim that Ukraine plans to set off a radioactive “dirty bomb.”

On the battlefront, his forces targeted more than 40 villages around Ukraine over the past day.

Russian President Vladimir Putin remotely monitored the drills of his strategic nuclear forces, which involved multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles in a show of force.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin that the exercise simulated a “massive nuclear strike” retaliating for a nuclear attack on Russia.

The Biden administration said Russia provided advance notice of the annual drills. NATO is carrying out its own long-planned annual nuclear exercises in northwestern Europe.

In remarks carried by Russian TV, Putin said Ukraine plans to “use a so-called ‘dirty bomb’ as a provocation” and contended the United States was using Ukraine as a “battering ram” against Russia and its regional allies, turning the country into a “testing ground for military-biological experiments.” It was the first time Putin himself made the dirty bomb allegation, which his officials have been repeating since last week.

Ukraine and its Western allies have denied the claims and contend that Russia, facing setbacks on the battlefield, might try to detonate a “dirty bomb” — which uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste to sow terror — or go further and tap its nuclear weapons.

Shoigu on Wednesday called his counterparts from India and China to share Moscow’s concern about “possible Ukrainian provocations involving a ‘dirty bomb,”’ according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Ukraine pleads for urgent help over Russia’s ‘energy genocide’

17:40 , Sam Rkaina

Russia is committing “energy genocide” by bombing nearly half of Ukraine’s power infrastructure the government has said, as Ukrainian officials warned the damage could spark Europe’s worst humanitarian catastrophe since the Second World War.

Speaking to The Independent, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said Russia wanted to “sow darkness and despair” with daily “en masse” strikes on the electricity supply chain, which together with the occupation of facilities, has left many without power.

Click here for the full story.

UN ‘relatively optimistic' Ukraine export deal will be extended

17:10 , Liam James

United Nations’ aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Wednesday that he was “relatively optimistic” that a UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine Black Sea grain exports would be extended beyond mid-November.

Mr Griffiths traveled to Moscow with senior UN trade official Rebeca Grynspan earlier this month for discussions with Russian officials on the deal, which also aims to facilitate exports of Russian grain and fertiliser to global markets.

Ukraine on Sunday accused Russia of blocking the full implementation of Black Sea grain deal.

The deal eased a world food crisis by ending the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports, allowing millions of tonnes of foodstuffs to be transported to markets around the globe.

Russia relases photos of nuclear drills

16:44 , Liam James

Russia’s defence ministry has released photographs of today’s nuclear missile drills.

The tests aimed to simulate a “massive nuclear strike” by Russia and came at heightened tension as western powers fear Russia is planning to escalate the war in Ukraine.

The US said it was notified of today’s drill in advance, as per an agreement with Russia. Nuclear drills place on an annual basis to train Russia’s relevant personnel and demonstrate their readiness.

Push for Kherson held back by wet weather, says Ukraine

16:12 , Liam James

Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russian forces in the southern Kherson region is proving more difficult than it was in the northeast because of wet weather and the terrain, Ukraine’s defence minister said today.

Kyiv’s forces are piling pressure on Russian troops in the strategically important Kherson region occupied by Moscow since early in the war, threatening Vladimir Putin with another big battlefield setback.

“First of all, the south of Ukraine is an agricultural region, and we have a lot of irrigation and water supply channels, and the Russians use them like trenches,” defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov told a news conference. “It’s more convenient for them.”

“The second reason is weather conditions. This is the rainy season, and it’s very difficult to use fighting carrier vehicles with wheels,” he said, adding that this reduced the options for Ukraine’s armed forces.

“The counter-offensive campaign in the Kherson direction is more difficult than in the Kharkiv direction,” he added.

Mr Reznikov declined to elaborate when pressed on Kyiv’s plans in the south.

First there was ‘denazification', now Russia turns to ‘desatanisation’

15:43 , Liam James

In February Vladimir Putin said he was sending troops into Ukraine for the sake of the country’s “demilitarisation and denazification”, the latter of which, though long back dropped as a war aim by the Kremlin, has remained the subject of mockery by the defending side.

Nine months into the war, Mr Putin’s Security Council may have just given its opponents more ammunition as it declared the urgent need for “desatanisation” of Ukraine.

Aleksey Pavlov, assistant head of the Security Council, claimed the Church of Satan had spread across Ukraine, with hundreds of sects now operating.

Russia briefs China and India on ‘dirty bomb’ claim

15:14 , Liam James

Russia used calls with allied nations to repeat its claim that Ukraine is planning to use a “dirty bomb” on its own territory to smear Moscow.

Sergei Shoigu, the Kremlin’s defence minister, called his Chinese counterpart and expressed concerns about “possible provocations by Ukraine involving the use of a dirty bomb”, the Russian defence ministry said.

Mr Shoigu held a similar call with Indian officials on Wednesday. It follows conversations in recent days where allegations were raised with Nato defence ministers.

Russia briefs China and India on ‘dirty bomb’ claim

Russia kills two in strikes on 40 villages – Ukraine

14:45 , Liam James

Russia targeted more than 40 villages around Ukraine over the past day, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, killing at least two people and sustaining the terror that forces people into air raid shelters each night.

Russian forces launched five rockets, 30 air strikes and more than 100 multiple-launch rocket system attacks on Ukrainian targets, the Ukrainian armed forces general staff said.

A Ukrainian official reported that a Russian strike on Tuesday hit a petrol station in the city of Dnipro, killing two people, including a pregnant woman. The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said four people wounded were hospitalised.

Mykolaiv, a southern port city near the war’s front line, is among the places where residents have lined up to receive rations of bread and canned food as increases in food prices and losses of income add to the war-time burdens of low-income households in Ukraine.

Putin observes nuclear exercises

14:08 , Liam James

Vladimir Putin has monitored drills by Russia’s strategic nuclear forces involving multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Mr Putin that the exercise was intended to simulate a “massive nuclear strike” by Russia in retaliation for a nuclear attack on the country.

The manoeuvres followed Mr Putin’s warning about his readiness to use “all means available” to fend off attacks on Russia’s territory in a reference to the country’s nuclear arsenals.

Drills involving land, sea and air components have taken place on an annual basis to train the country’s nuclear forces and demonstrate their readiness.

The Biden administration said on Tuesday that Russia gave notice it intended to stage routine drills of its nuclear capabilities.

Putin raises ‘dirty bomb’ claim

13:32 , Liam James

Vladimir Putin claimed Russia was aware of Ukrainian plans to use a “dirty bomb”, raising for the first time himself a repeated baseless claim made by Moscow in recent days.

At a meeting with the intelligence chiefs of several former Soviet countries, the Russian president said the risk of conflict in the world and region was high, and that security should be heightened around key infrastructure sites.

Russia’s defence minister has been circulating the allegation that Ukraine would use a radioactive explosive device on its own territory and blame Moscow. Russia also raised the claim at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council yesterday.

Volodymyr Zelensky and western officials have refuted the allegation, while Ukraine’s state energy regulator warned Russia was itself developing a “dirty bomb” at an occupied nuclear power plant.

Inside an abandoned Russian bunker: In pictures

12:50 , Liam James

Reuters photographers ventured inside a building in a Kharkiv town that was used by Russian troops before they were forced out by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Russia ‘recruiting Afghan troops over WhatsApp’ – report

12:20 , Liam James

Members of an elite Afghan commando unit trained by Britain and the US have reportedly been approached with offers to join the Russian military in Ukraine.

Global affairs journal Foreign Policy said it heard from soldiers of the 20,000-30,000 strong Afghanistan National Army Commando Corps that they had received recruitment messages over WhatsApp and Signal.

Afghan military insiders think as many as 10,000 former commandos could be receptive to the offers as “they have nothing to lose” since the US and UK evacuation left them jobless, with hopes of resettling in the west dwindling, Foreign Policy said.

Insiders think as many as 10,000 former commandos could be receptive to the offers as “they have nothing to lose” since the US and UK evacuation left them jobless, with hopes of resettling in the west dwindling, Foreign Policy said.

One former commando officer said he believed the shady Russian-allied Wagner Group mercenaries were carrying out the recruitment effort.

Full report from Foreign Policy here.

Russia repeats ‘dirty bomb’ claims in call with China

11:48 , Liam James

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu today held a phone call with his Chinese counterpart and expressed concerns about “possible provocations by Ukraine involving the use of a dirty bomb”, the Russian defence ministry said.

Moscow first raised the allegation on Sunday that Ukraine was preparing to detonate a radioactive device. Ukraine and its Western allies have strongly rejected that and raised concerns that Russia may use it as a pretext to escalate the war.

Mr Shoigu held a similar call on Wednesday with his Indian counterpart.

Putin increasingly fears attacks from anti-war saboteurs in Russia, MoD says

11:22 , Liam James

Vladimir Putin will be “increasingly concerned” about the potential threat from anti-war saboteurs within Russia, according to UK intelligence (Zoe Tidman writes).

He mainly sends troops to Ukraine – where a bitter conflict has been raging since Russia invaded eight months ago – using an expansive rail network, the British government said.

“The system is extremely challenging to secure against physical threats,” its latest update on the Ukraine war said.

“The Russian leadership will be increasingly concerned that even a small group of citizens has been sufficiently opposed to the conflict to resort to physical sabotage.”

Putin increasingly fears attacks from anti-war saboteurs in Russia, MoD says

Zelensky adviser promises ‘good news ahead’ as US preps more air defence deliveries

10:45 , Liam James

A top Ukrainian government official’s cryptic tweet could be a sign that the US is preparing to augment Kyiv’s air defence capabilities with a widely-used surface-to-air missile system.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Biden Administration is considering using the president’s “drawdown authority” allowing him to provide allies with existing stocks of weapons to arm Ukraine’s defence forces with the MIM-23 Hawk missile system.

Two US defence officials said the Hawk – which stands for “Homing All The Way Killer” – would be an upgrade from the Stinger man-portable air defence system which Ukrainian forces have been employing against Russian jets and cruise missiles.

Although Hawk dates back to the Vietnam era, the systems have recieved multiple upgrades over the years and although it was last fielded by the US Marine Corps in 2020, it has remained popular with US allies and is currently employed by Turkish and Iraqi defence forces.

Zelensky adviser promises ‘good news ahead’ as US preps more air defence deliveries

Nuclear strike will be 'serious mistake', Biden warns Russia

10:10 , Liam James

Joe Biden said Russia would be “making an incredibly serious mistake” if it used a tactical nuclear weapon.

The US president was responding to a question from a reporter over Russia’s baseless claim that Ukraine was preparing a false-flag strike with a “dirty bomb” – an explosive laced with radioactive material.

Ukraine’s allies said Moscow made the allegation as pretext for an escalation of the war, while Ukrainian energy regulator Energoatom said it suspected Russian forces were developing a “dirty bomb” using radioactive waste from the occupied Zaporizhizhia power plant.

Fire rains in Kherson as Ukraine warns of ‘heaviest battle’

09:40 , Liam James

Artillery fire was traded between Russian and Ukrainian forces around Kherson, reports said, as a Ukrainian official said Moscow was digging in for the “heaviest of battles” in the mostly occupied region.

Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, said that there is no sign that Russian forces were preparing to abandon Kherson city, which fell from Ukrainian control early in the war.

In Mykolaiv region north and west of Kherson city, artillery duels raged throughout Tuesday, according to a post from the frontline on Rybar, a pro-Russian channel on Telegram.

In Ishchenka district north of Kherson, Ukrainian forces tried to consolidate their positions, but were forced back to earlier lines, the post said. It said the Ukrainian military was preparing for an advance along the entire length of the frontline.

A Reuters reporter in a remote hamlet near part of the Kherson frontline heard no shooting or artillery fire. Residents said they hoped Russian forces would soon withdraw.

Blackouts in Kyiv: In pictures

09:10 , Liam James

Blackouts continued for a second week in Kyiv due to restrictions on electricity supplies to allow energy companies to repair power facilities hit by a wave of recent Russian air strikes.

Volodymyr Zelensky said around one-third of Ukraine’s power stations had been destroyed.

State energy company Ukrenergo said Russia had caused more damage to power infrastructure in the past few weeks than it had in the first seven months of war.

UN inspectors on the way, says Ukraine after Russia’s ‘dirty bomb' claim

08:40 , Liam James

Ukraine’s foreign minister said inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog would soon inspect two Ukrainian sites at Kyiv’s request, adding that he feared Moscow’s baseless “dirty bomb” allegations were preparation for a “false-flag“ operation.

Dmytro Kuleba told reporters the inspectors would receive full access, and he called on Moscow to demonstrate the same transparency as Ukraine.

Ukraine’s energy regulator raised fears yesterday that Russia was preparing its own “dirty bomb” – an explosive laced with radioactive material – after accusing Kyiv of preparing one to use on its own territory to blame Moscow.

Energoatom said it suspected Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were making a device using spent radioactive fuel as they had been “working in secret” for the week before Moscow made its allegation against Kyiv.

Ukraine needs $3bn a month from allies, says IMF

08:10 , Liam James

Ukraine will need around $3bn (£2.6bn) a month from allies throughout 2023 to keep its economy afloat, the head of the IMF told a conference in Berlin on Ukrainian recovery from the war.

Further damage to infrastructure – from the Russian bombing campaign against energy facilities for example – could cause the monthly bill to rise to $5bn, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, said.

Speaking at the conference yesterday, German chancellor Olaf Scholz said €350bn (£300bn) may be needed to rebuild Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky, appearing on video link, complained that a requested €17bn for urgent recovery had yet to be delivered.

Biden calls Sunak, Meloni over Ukraine support

07:35 , Liam James

Joe Biden held calls with Rishi Sunak and Giorgia Meloni, the new prime ministers of Britain and Italy, to reaffirm their commitment to supporting Ukraine, the White House said.

Mr Sunak pledged to see the war in Ukraine "through to its conclusion" as he took office yesterday.

Ms Meloni, whose coalition with Vladimir Putin sympathisers Silvio Berlusconi and Mattero Salvin has raised fears that Italy would depart Europe's united front against Russia, yesterday told parliament she would maintain support for Ukraine despite pressure from Moscow over energy.

Zelensky adviser promises ‘good news ahead’ as US preps more air defence deliveries

07:05 , Arpan Rai

The US is likely preparing to augment Kyiv’s air defence capabilities with a widely-used surface-to-air missile system, according to an indication from a top Ukrainian government official’s cryptic tweet.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the Biden administration is considering using the president’s “drawdown authority” allowing him to provide allies with existing stocks of weapons to arm Ukraine’s defence forces with the MIM-23 HAWK missile system.

Two US defence officials said the HAWK — which stands for “Homing All The Way Killer” — would be an upgrade from the Stinger man-portable air defence system which Ukrainian forces have been employing against Russian jets and cruise missiles.

Zelensky adviser promises ‘good news ahead’ as US preps more air defence deliveries

Russia will be increasingly concerned about physical sabotage by anti-war groups - UK

06:49 , Arpan Rai

The leadership in Moscow will be increasingly concerned over sufficient opposition to the war in Ukraine to the extent of physical sabotage by “even a small group of citizens”, the British defence ministry said today.

The ministry was referring to the explosion in Russia’s Belgorod region which damaged the railway near the village of Novozybkovo.

This is approximately 15km from the Russia-Belarus border and serves as the main rail link between Russia and southern Belarus, the British MoD said in its latest intelligence update on the war.

It noted that the Russian anti-war group ‘Stop the Wagons’ (STW) claimed responsibility for the incident.

“This is at least the sixth incident of sabotage against Russian railway infrastructure claimed by STW since June,” it said, calling the attack part of a wider trend of dissident attacks against railways in both Russia and Belarus.

“The Russian authorities have previously clamped down on STW’s online presence,” the MoD said.

“The Russia military primarily relies on rail transport for deploying forces to Ukraine, but with a network extending to over 33,000km, largely transiting isolated areas, the system is extremely challenging to secure against physical threats,” the ministry said.

Rishi Sunak promises UK’s continued solidarity to Ukraine

06:05 , Arpan Rai

British PM Rishi Sunak made his first diplomatic call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, hours after entering No 10 Downing Street, and pledged continued support to the besieged nation.

“A privilege to speak to the President of Ukraine @ZelenskyyUa this evening. Both he and the Ukrainian people can count on the UK’s continued solidarity and support. We will always stand with UK,” Mr Sunak said on Twitter.

Mr Sunak is the third prime minister to speak with Mr Zelensky in the course of the eight-month-old war.

Zelensky invites Rishi Sunak to visit Ukraine

05:45 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke with new British PM Rishi Sunak on Tuesday night and extended an invite to his UK ally to visit the war-hit country.

“Just before recording this address, I spoke with the new British prime minister Rishi Sunak. I believe that the partnership between our countries and the already traditional British leadership in the defence of democracy and freedom will be further strengthened,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Tuesday.

He added: “Ukraine and Britain have achieved the best relations so far, but there is still potential to increase our cooperation to bring more benefits to our societies. I invited the Prime Minister to visit Ukraine.”

Ukraine says Russia's dirty bomb claims are cover for secret operation at nuclear plant

05:37 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator Energoatom has accused Russian forces of performing secret operations at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia amid Russia’s own claims that Ukrainian forces are preparing a “provocation” involving a radioactive device.

Energoatom “assumes” the Russians “are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at” the plant, it said on Tuesday.

It said all 174 containers at the plant’s dry spent fuel storage facility contained 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel.

“Destruction of these containers as a result of explosion will lead to a radiation accident and radiation contamination of several hundred square kilometres (miles) of the adjacent territory,” Energoatom has said, calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency to assess what was going on.

This comes a day after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu made an unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine was preparing to launch a so-called dirty bomb.

Western countries monitoring the war and Ukraine have said that this is a pretext from the Kremlin to escalate the war.

Zelensky vows to retake Crimea from Putin

05:16 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine is determined to liberate the Crimea region, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, as he announced the launch of a diplomatic initiative for reclaiming the territory.

“The Crimea Platform started working in Croatia today - at the parliamentary level.

“This is an additional and very powerful level of functioning of our instrument for the de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea,” he said.

Mr Zelensky added “we will definitely liberate Crimea”.

“We will return this part of our country not only to the all-Ukrainian space, but also to the all-European space. This was confirmed once again today. And I am grateful to all our partners - almost 50 states and international organisations - who help in the parliamentary format,” he said.

He explained that the initiative which counts on parliamentary actions “always embodies democracy, represents different communities of each country.”

“Therefore, when parliaments help restore territorial integrity, when, thanks to parliamentary cooperation, expert work and exchange of experience can be directed in the right direction, it is very powerful,” he added.

Ukraine war’s biggest battle looms in Kherson, says Kyiv

05:05 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian officials have warned of a fierce battle to come in Kherson, with Russian soldiers digging in for the “heaviest of battles” in the strategic southern region.

Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, said that there is no sign that Russian forces were preparing to abandon the city.

“With Kherson everything is clear. The Russians are replenishing, strengthening their grouping there,” Arestovych said in an online video late on Tuesday.

“It means that nobody is preparing to withdraw. On the contrary, the heaviest of battles is going to take place for Kherson.”

Russia-installed authorities have been putting increased pressure on Kherson residents to leave.

“Search and filtration procedures are intensifying as are searches of cars and homes,” Yuri Sobolevsky, a member of the ousted pro-Ukrainian Kherson regional council, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

04:26 , Arpan Rai

Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Wednesday, 26 October.