Rescuers are searching for survivors and victims under the rubble of a dormitory destroyed in attacks on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to reports. Local head of police Volodymyr Tymoshko said 19 people are confirmed dead, including a child, and 20 injured, with the death toll expected to rise after Russian rockets struck two hostel dormitories.
Fires and explosions have been reported at military targets inside Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, in the latest of a string of apparent sabotage missions deep into Russian-held territory. Two Russian villages were evacuated after a blaze at a munitions depot near the Ukrainian border in Belgorod province. “An ammunition depot caught fire near the village of Timonovo”, less than 50km from the border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement, adding that no casualties were reported.
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, will participate online in the second summit of the Crimea Platform, an international platform for work and cooperation on the liberation of Crimea. The summit, initiated by Ukraine, will be available to watch live on Nato’s website.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged Ukrainians to stay away from enemy command posts and logistics bases, after reports of explosions overnight in Russian-occupied Crimea. Fires and explosions have been reported at military targets inside Russia and Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine, in the latest of a string of apparent sabotage missions deep into Russian-held territory.
According to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russia has lost 44,700 troops in Ukraine, as well as 1,899 tanks, 4,195 armoured fighting vehicles, 1,016 artillery systems, 266 multiple launch rocket systems, 141 air defence systems, 197 helicopters, 234 airplanes, 795 drones, and 15 boats, The Kyiv Independent reports.
There were “no claimed or assessed Russian territorial gains in Ukraine” on Thursday for the first time since 6 July, a report by The Institute for the Study of War, has found. The report suggests Russian propaganda has been intensified as tensions continue to build around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russia has failed to make ground in the cyberspace battle against Ukraine, the head of Britain’s GCHQ intelligence service has said. “President Putin has comprehensively lost the information war in Ukraine and in the west,” Jeremy Fleming said in an op-ed in The Economist on Friday. “Just as with its land invasion, Russia’s initial online plans appear to have fallen short.”
Kharkiv has been one of the most consistently shelled since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to British intelligence.
Russian forces may be preparing to stage a “provocation” at the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s military intelligence has warned.
The US is readying about $800m of additional military aid to Ukraine and could announce it as soon as Friday, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.
Chinese and Russian leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit in Bali in November, Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, told Bloomberg News. “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Jokowi, as he is popularly known, told the news agency.
