Ukraine war – live: Putin orders army to be increased by 137,000 after heavy losses

Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to expand the Russian army by 137,000 troops, amid reports from Ukraine and its allies than the Kremlin’s forces have suffered severe casualties over the past six months.

It is currently unclear whether the additional soldiers, who will join the Russian army from January, will be conscripts or volunteers.

The announcement from Moscow comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to make Russia pay for a deadly strike on a passenger train in eastern Ukraine yesterday.

The shelling in Chaplyne killed 25 people, including several children, according to Kyiv.

“Chaplyne is our pain today,” Mr Zelensky said in his video address late on Wednesday. “We will definitely make the occupiers bear responsibility for everything they have done. And we will certainly drive the invaders out of our land,” he said.

Speaking 31 years to the day since Ukraine broke away from the Soviet Union, he said his country’s independence from Russia “does not end and will never end”.

Key Points

• Putin signs decree to increase size of Russian army

• At least 25 killed as Russia attacks rail station on Independence Day

• Zelensky says Moscow will pay for deadly attack

• US slams ‘illegitimate’ Russian trials of Ukrainian PoWs

• Russian war on Ukraine caused environmental damage worth $10.7 bn

Detained Kremlin critic taken to court

14:00 , Rory Sullivan

Yevgeny Roizman, a critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine, was arrested yesterday.

On Thursday, the former mayor of Yekaterinburg was pictured being led into court in the city he used to oversee.

The EU has condemned his detention, calling it a “grim act of oppression” by the Putin regime.

Putin signs decree to increase size of Russian army

13:33 , Rory Sullivan

Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on Thursday to increase the army by 137,000 soldiers, the country’s state media has reported.

After the enlargement takes effect in January, the size of the Russian army will stand at more than 2 million .

Scholz visits training programme for Ukrainian soldiers in Germany

13:05 , Rory Sullivan

German chancellor Olaf Scholz paid a visit on Thursday to a training programme for Ukrainian soldiers near Oldenburg.

On the tour, the head of training at arms manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Juergen Schoch showed him an anti-aircraft tank:

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s safety systems activated, says Russia

12:39 , Rory Sullivan

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant’s safety systems have been activated after power outages, the Russian-state RIA news agency has said.

The nuclear facility, which is located in Russian-occupied southeastern Ukraine, is Europe’s largest.

Fears have been growing about the site’s safety recently following reports of shelling in the vicinity.

UK to advise Ukraine on reconstruction, says Shapps

12:17 , Rory Sullivan

Britain will offer Ukraine technical advice about how to reconstruct its damaged infrastructure, the UK government has said.

The training in airport and port reconstruction will come as part of the UK’s new £54m package of support for Ukraine, British transport secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.

Experts ‘very close’ to being able to visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, says IAEA boss

12:00 , Rory Sullivan

The UN nuclear watchdog is “very, very close” to being able to send experts to inspect the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant, its boss has said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said talks were ongoing, but appeared to be going in the right direction.

This comes weeks after he described the situation at the nuclear facility as “completely out of control”.

Kremlin admits deadly shelling of Chaplyne railway station

11:36 , Rory Sullivan

Russia’s defence ministry has admitted that its troops hit Chaplyne railway station yesterday.

The attack in Ukraine’s Dniptropetrovsk region killed 25 people, including several children, Kyiv said.

The Kremlin claimed its missile destroyed arms that were being sent to the frontline in the eastern Donbas region.

Russia’s war in Ukraine speeding up renewable energy transition, says US climate diplomat

11:20 , Rory Sullivan

Russia’s war in Ukraine has sped up the world’s shift towards renewable energy, the US deputy special envoy for climate has said.

While addressing a university forum in Australia, Rick Duke said: “The European Union has tripled down on its efforts to deploy renewables and heat pumps and to electrify its vehicle fleet and otherwise respond to this crisis.

“That’s going to take time, but the pace is quickening because of the conflict.”

Russian tourists must be banned from Europe and beyond, says Ukraine’s foreign minister

11:00 , Rory Sullivan

Russian tourists must be banned from Europe and elsewhere as they all bear a “common social responsibility” for the horrors inflicted by their country against Ukraine, the Ukrainian foreign minister has said.

In an op-ed for Politico, Dmytro Kuleba said an “overwhelming majority of them [Russians] support this war”.

“Yet, massive popular support in Russia for the war is a grim reality that not all European leaders seem ready to appreciate,” he added.

Acknowledging that Russians who oppose the war could face persecution at home, he argued they would still be able to seek asylum abroad, even if a travel ban is introduced.

“Tourism is an achievement of peace and humanity. Belligerent nations that break international peace must lose access to the privileges of peaceful coexistence,” Mr Kuleba wrote.

Russian and French defence ministers discuss Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

10:30 , Rory Sullivan

The Russian and French defence ministers have spoken about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the Kremlin has said.

The conversation comes amid fears of a potential nuclear disaster there.

The Ukrainian plant, which is the largest in Europe, was captured by Russia early in the war.

World leaders have called for the site to be demilitarised.

Ukrainian town grieves for victims of Russian strike

10:09 , Rory Sullivan

Ukrainian families grieve for their loved ones in Chaplyne, the town hit by deadly Russian shelling on Wednesday.

As search and rescue efforts neared their conclusion, three more bodies were discovered, bringing the number of fatalities to 25.

Local resident Sergiy’s 11-year-old son died in the strike. “We looked for him there in the ruins, and he was lying here. Nobody knew that he was here. Nobody knew,” he said, beside his child’s covered body.

Moscow has declined to comment on the attack.

Responding to the strike on Ukrainian Independence Day, US secretary of state Antony Blinken tweeted: “Russia’s missile strike on a train station full of civilians in Ukraine fits a pattern of atrocities. We will continue, together with partners from around the world, to stand with Ukraine and seek accountability for Russian officials.”

EU condemns arrest of Russian opposition figure

09:43 , Rory Sullivan

The EU has condemned Russia’s detention of opposition figure Yevgeny Roizman for his criticism of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign affairs representative, said it was “yet another grim act of oppression by the Kremlin”.

“The EU calls for his immediate and unconditional release,” he added.

Mr Roizman served as mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth largest city, from 2013 to 2018.

Russian attack on passenger train kills 25, says Ukraine

09:16 , Rory Sullivan

A Russian attack on a passenger train in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has left at least 25 people dead, Ukraine has said.

The Ukrainian authorities revised the death toll up from 22 on Thursday.

Moscow’s forces hit the train in the village of Chaplyne on Wednesday, with four carriages catching fire.

Children are said to be among the victims.

Ukrainian Independence Day in photos

08:52 , Rory Sullivan

Yesterday, Ukrainian Independence Day marked 31 years since Kyiv broke away from the Soviet Union.

The anniversary was celebrated not just by Ukraine, but by other countries across the world.

Here are some photos from the US, Europe and the Middle East:

Russian Patriarch cancels meeting with Pope

08:35 , Rory Sullivan

The controversial head of the Russian Orthodox Church will no longer attend an interfaith meeting in Kazakhstan where he was suppose to meet with Pope Francis.

The Moscow Patriarchate, which has been supportive of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, said Kirill will no be going to the meeting next month.

Kirill has caused schisms in the Russian Orthodox Church by justifying the invasion and blessing Russian soldiers being sent to the frontlines.

Google subsidiary to target disinformation about Ukrainian refugees

08:17 , Rory Sullivan

Google’s subsidiary Jigsaw is to start anti-disinformation campaigns in several European countries to counter bias against Ukrainian refugees.

The company will run adverts in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

Russia ‘in very fragile position’ and bracing for ‘major’ Ukrainian counterattack, say UK

07:56 , Rory Sullivan

Icymi:

With its “poorly-trained” troops and their low morale, Russia is in a “very fragile position”, the UK has said.

Speaking on the six month anniversary of the Russian invasion, British defence secretary Ben Wallace said Moscow’s offensives were “grinding” to a standstill in some parts of Ukraine.

Russia ‘in fragile position’ and bracing for ‘major’ Ukrainian counterattack, say UK

Russia lost control of area ‘size of Denmark’, says ISW

07:32 , Rory Sullivan

Since it controlled swathes of northern Ukraine early in the war, Russia has been pushed out of an area the size of Denmark, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has said.

The US think tank said that Moscow, whose troops are now concentrated in eastern and southeastern Ukraine, has only gained a small amount of territory in its recent offensives.

Over the past 39 days, Russian forces have captured an area the size of Andorra, equivalent to 1 per cent of what they lost earlier in the conflict, the ISW added.

Russian war on Ukraine caused environmental damage worth $10.7 bn

07:04 , Arpan Rai

The six-month long war on Ukraine bleeding into its seventh month has caused at least $10.7 billion worth of environmental damage.

Ukrainian officials have recorded more than 2,000 cases of damage to nature have been recorded since 24 February, country’s ministry of environmental protection and natural resources said.

Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine in February this year and president Vladimir Putin has called it a “special military operation”.

Russian fighters in Zaporizhzhia can exploit Ukrainian military activity for propaganda purposes - British MoD

06:46 , Arpan Rai

The British defence ministry has said that the Russian fighters in Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant are probably prepared to exploit any Ukrainian military activity for propaganda purposes.

Russian ground forces had assaulted and seized Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) within a month of invading Ukraine, threatening the safety of the region by wresting control of the risky infrastructure.

“On 21 August 2022, imagery indicated that Russia maintained an enhanced military presence at the site, with armoured personnel carriers deployed within 60 metres of reactor number five,” the British MoD said in its latest intelligence update on Thursday.

It added that the Russian troops were likely attempting to conceal the vehicles by parking them under overhead pipes and gantries.

“While Russia maintains the military occupation of ZNPP, the principal risks to reactor operations are likely to remain disruption to the reactors’ cooling systems, damage to its back-up power supply, or errors by workers operating under pressure,” the defence ministry warned.

Russian rockets hit Kyiv oblast, ‘several explosions' heard

06:38 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian authorities said “several explosions” were heard in Kyiv Oblast’s northern district Vyshgorod early on Thursday morning around 3am.

In an update, Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said that Russia had fired a rocket attack on the district which lies to the north of the city.

“Two arrivals were recorded,” Mr Kuleba said, adding that no casualties or damage to the residential buildings and infrastructure facilities was recorded so far.

US slams Russian trials of Ukrainian PoWs: ‘Illegitimate and mockery of justice’

06:23 , Arpan Rai

The US has criticised any Russian effort which could lead to holding tribunals for Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Russian-occupied port city Mariupol and has called the proceedings “illegitimate.”

Moscow is reportedly planning to prosecute Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs) under conditions that could amount to war crimes.

However, US state department spokesman Ned Price said that the “planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice, and we strongly condemn them.”

“The Kremlin is attempting to deflect responsibility for President [Vladimir] Putin’s war of aggression and distract from overwhelming evidence of the atrocities Russian forces have committed in Ukraine…,” he said in a statement.

Mr Price added: “All members of Ukraine’s armed forces, including domestic and foreign volunteers incorporated into the armed forces, are entitled to prisoner of war status if they are captured and must be afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, according to the Geneva Conventions.”

Washington has also called on Moscow to “comply with its obligations under international law.”

ICYMI: At least 22 killed as Russia attacks rail station on Independence Day

06:11 , Arpan Rai

At least 22 people were killed in Ukraine’s Chaplyne after a Russian attack on a railway station in eastern Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The rocket attack struck the town of about 3,500 people in the Dnipropetrovsk region. It came as Ukrainians across the world marked the country’s Independence Day on Wednesday.

Mr Zelensky had warned Russia may attempt “something particularly cruel” to coincide with the celebrations.

Read the full report here:

At least 22 killed in Russian rail attack on rail station in Ukraine

Search and rescue in Ukraine’s Chaplyne continue, Zelensky pledges retribution

05:47 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian authorities have continued search and rescue opeartions at the site of deadly missiles strike in eastern Ukraine’s Chaplyne which killed at least 22 civilians on Wednesday.

“Search and rescue operations at the railway station will continue,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video address.

He also vowed to make Russian forces pay for the attack on civilians and said: “We will definitely make the occupiers bear responsibility for everything they have done. And we will certainly drive the invaders out of our land. Not a single stain of this evil will remain in our free Ukraine.”

04:59 , Arpan Rai

Good morning!

Hello, and welcome to our rolling Ukraine coverage.

Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates.