About four million people across Ukraine are being affected by rolling power cuts due to Russian strikes on electricity infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his Friday evening address. Earlier on Friday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Moscow had "completed" the mobilisation of 300,000 reservists in just over a month. The minister's comments came a day after the Moscow-backed head of the Crimea region said that the evacuation of civilians from occupied Kherson had been "completed". Read our liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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8:56pm: Zelensky expresses doubt that Russian mobilisation is finished
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday expressed doubt over Russia's declaration that its partial mobilisation was over, saying the poor performance of pro-Moscow forces meant more men could be needed.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier said the call-up of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine was complete.
"We have reports the enemy has completed its mobilisation, as if there is no longer a need to send new waves of Russian citizens to the front. We feel very differently on the front lines," Zelensky said in a video address.
"Even though Russia is trying to increase the pressure on our positions by using conscripts, they are so poorly prepared and equipped, so brutally used by their command, that it allows us to presume that very soon Russia may need a new wave of people to send to the war."
8:46pm: Four million people in Ukraine affected by power cuts, Zelensky says
About four million people across Ukraine are being affected by rolling power cuts caused by Russia's air strikes on the country's electricity infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday.
"As of this time, many cities and regions of our country use stabilization blackout schedules..." he said in his evening address. "We are doing everything so that the state has the opportunity to reduce such blackouts."
8:36pm: Russian state journalist killed by stray bullet at Crimea base, Russia says
A Russian journalist working for a major Kremlin-backed media group died on Friday in a shooting accident at a military training ground in Crimea, Russian-installed officials and state media outlets said.
Svetlana Babayeva was head of the Rossiya Segodnya media group's bureau in Simferopol, the second-largest city on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The RIA Novosti news agency, a subsidiary of Rossiya Segodnya, reported Babayeva was killed by a stray bullet during shooting practice. It provided no further details.
7:02pm: 'Unprecedented' power cuts to be introduced in Kyiv region, energy operator says
"Unprecedented" power cuts will be introduced in the region surrounding Ukraine's capital Kyiv due to damage caused by Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, the local energy operator said Friday.
A barrage of Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid over the past two weeks has destroyed at least a third of the country's power facilities ahead of winter.
Authorities have called on Ukrainians to reduce their electricity consumption as much as possible and has introduced scheduled power cuts lasting hours several regions including the capital.
"In order to prevent a complete blackout of the capital and central regions of Ukraine, the state energy company Ukrenergo is introducing unprecedented emergency restrictions," energy company DTEK said on Facebook.
"More severe and longer blackouts will be implemented in the coming days," DTEK added.
5:08pm: Ukraine foreign minister tells Iran counterpart to 'cease flow of weapons' to Russia
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had received a phone call from his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian on Friday and that he had demanded that Tehran stop sending weapons to Russia.
Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Iran of sending 'kamikaze' drones to Russia which have then been used to devastating effect by Russian forces in strikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure. Iran denies the charge.
"I demanded Iran to immediately cease the flow of weapons to Russia used to kill civilians and destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine," Kuleba said in a tweet.
4:28pm: Russia has mobilised 300,000 reservists, defence minister says
Russia mobilised 300,000 reservists to join Moscow's offensive in Ukraine in just over a month, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin.
"The task of recruiting 300,000 people has been completed," Shoigu told Putin, adding that 41,000 have been deployed to military units in Ukraine. Putin asked Shoigu to thank the mobilised troops for their "patriotism".
3:32pm: Iranians hold rally in Kyiv in solidarity with Ukraine
A few dozen Iranians gathered in central Kyiv on Friday to protest the alleged use of Iranian-made drones by Russian forces in strikes on Ukraine that have in particular targeted energy infrastructure.
At the call of the local Iranian community, the demonstrators gathered on the city's Maidan Square in the heart of the Ukrainian capital, holding up Iranian and Ukrainian flags.
Some held posters saying: "The Iranian people stand with Ukraine".
Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Iran of supplying Moscow with Iranian-made drones used in attacks across Ukraine, including on Kyiv.
Iran has rejected these claims and Moscow accused the West of using these accusations to put "pressure" on Tehran.
2:59pm: Russia 'holding up ships' to delay grain deliveries, Ukraine says
An agreement to unblock Black Sea ports and allow Ukraine to export its grain is not being upheld by Russia, Ukraine says.
“There are huge numbers of trucks here loaded with grain, apparently unable to unload into ships or storage facilities,” said FRANCE 24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg, reporting from a port in the Odesa region. “The reason for that, Ukrainians say, is because Russians are holding up the passage of ships through the Bosphorus.”
Since Russia and Ukraine signed the UN-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, several millions of tonnes of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed and soya have been exported from Ukraine.
12:52pm: Ukraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian-made drones, says air force spokesman
Ukraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 'kamikaze' drones so far, air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told a briefing on Friday.
The drones have become a key weapon in Russia's arsenal during its war in Ukraine and have often been used in the past month to target crucial energy infrastructure.
Iran has denied Ukrainian and Western accusations that it is supplying drones to Russia.
>> Ukraine faces new Russian threat from Iran-made ‘kamikaze’ drones
9:21am: Moscow-installed official says Kherson civilian evacuations 'completed'
The head of Moscow-annexed Crimea has said evacuations from occupied Kherson organised by Russia's forces amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive were "completed", after he visited the region with the Kremlin's domestic chief Sergei Kiriyenko.
"The work to organise residents leaving the left side of the Dnipro (river) to safe regions of Russia is completed," Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram late on Thursday.
Ukraine, for its part, has called Russia's evacuation of civilians "forced deportation".
9:08am: Russian and Ukrainian forces brace for major battle
Ukrainian forces are attempting to surround the city of Kherson. Ukraine says Russia has been building up its defences and positioning its troops around the city over the past few weeks, especially around strategic locations.
FRANCE 24’s Jonathan Walsh has more from Kherson.
06:06am: West says no biological weapons in Ukraine, Russia disagrees
The US and its Western allies on Thursday dismissed Russia’s claims that banned biological weapons activities are taking place in Ukraine with US support, calling the allegation disinformation and fabrications.
Russia’s UN ambassador said Moscow will pursue a UN investigation of its allegations that both countries are violating the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.
The dispute came during the third UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine-related issues that Russia has called since Tuesday. This one focused on a 310-page document that Russia circulated to council members this week alleging there is “military biological” activity in Ukraine with support of the US Defense Department.
1:38am: Putin's talk of possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine is 'dangerous', says Biden
US President Joe Biden expressed skepticism on Thursday about Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment that he had no intention of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
"If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it? Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?" Biden said in an interview with NewsNation.
"He's been very dangerous in how he's approached this," said Biden.
1:10am: Ukraine's economy to shrink by almost 32%, says central bank
Ukraine's economy will shrink by almost 32% this year and annual inflation will accelerate to 30%, largely due to the damage done by Russia's invasion, the Ukrainian central bank said on Thursday.
Assuming security risks decline and demand picks up, gross domestic product will grow by around 4% to 5% per year in 2023 and 2024, the bank said in a quarterly inflation report.
"This year's economic downturn has been driven by lower domestic demand, disrupted logistics, and large losses of labor force and production potential caused by the war," it said, predicting the unemployment rate would hit 30% this year.
12:22am: Zelensky, giving address in the dark, says 'shelling will not break us'
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday stood outside in the dark beside the wreckage of a downed drone and vowed that widespread Russian attacks on power plants would not break Ukrainian spirits.
Abandoning his usual indoor setting, Zelensky said in his daily video address that Kyiv had shot down 23 drones in the last two days. Russia has aimed dozens of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine's electricity generating network in the last two weeks, causing major damage and triggering blackouts.
"Shelling will not break us - to hear the enemy's anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy's rockets in our sky. We are not afraid of the dark," he said.
Kyiv and four regions may have to cut electricity supplies for longer than planned after Russian strikes, a senior official said earlier on Thursday.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)
