Russia has begun a fightback, encroaching on Ukrainian territory near the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, home of a railway yard and other important logistical assets.
The offensive threatens to overshadow Ukraine’s recent gains in Kursk.
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the commander of the country's air force in the wake of a deadly F-16 crash.
The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website on Friday, four days after an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners crashed during a Russian bombardment and killed the pilot.
"We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers," Zelensky said in an address minutes after the order was published. He said Ukraine needs to strengthen its army on the command level.
Zelensky reposted a video of the aftermath of the strike, using the incident to reiterate his calls for Kyiv’s Western allies to allow Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory.
Key Points
- Ukrainian president fires air force commander after fatal F-16 crash
- Russian bomb attack kills two in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, governor says
- Number injured rises to 96 after Russian attack on Kharkiv that killed seven
- Russia says five killed and 46 injured in Ukraine strike on Belgorod
- Five killed by Russian strike as Moscow continues latest push in Ukraine’s east
- Russia says it has captured Pivnichne in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Fire breaks out at Moscow oil refinery after Ukrainian drone attack
06:50
Shahana Yasmin
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that a fire has broken out in the Moscow Oil Refinery following a drone attack from Ukraine.
The fire has been assigned the highest level of complexity, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported.
Earlier, the mayor had said that a Ukraine-launched drone was destroyed near the Moscow Oil Refinery, and no damage to the refinery’s production process had been caused.
Ukraine had launched several overnight drone attacks targeting power and refinery plants in Moscow and Tver.
Vladimir Putin ‘gifts Kim Jong-un 24 purebred horses in exchange for artillery shells used in Ukraine war’
06:30
Shahana Yasmin
Vladimir Putin has reportedly gifted Kim Jong-un 24 purebred horses in exchange for artillery shells used in the Ukraine war, signalling the two leaders’ increasingly close bond.
The new consignment of Orlov Trotters, which are said to be the North Korean leaders’ favourite breed, were brought over the narrow land border on Sunday, according to an announcement made by the veterinary authorities in Primorsky Krai, which is the Russian Far East region connected by rail to North Korea, reported The Times.
The delivery of the 19 stallions and five mares is reported by South Korean media to be partial payment for North Korean artillery shells sent to Russia for use in its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia claims Ukrainian drones target power and refinery plants in Moscow, Tver
06:10
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine launched several drone attacks targeting power and refinery plants in Moscow and Tver regions, Russian officials and local media reported today.
Loud blasts were heard near the Konakovo Power Station in the Tver region, posted the Baza Telegram news channel. The Konakovo Power Station is one of the largest energy producers in central Russia.
A Ukraine-launched drone was destroyed near the Moscow Oil Refinery, said Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin. He added that there was no damage to the refinery’s production process.
Ukraine also launched three drones at the Kashira Power Plant in the Moscow area, Kashira city district head Mikhail Shuvalov said on Telegram. No damage or casualties were caused, he said.
“Electricity is being supplied without problems,” Shuvalov said.
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate, says NATO’s Stoltenberg
05:50
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv’s right to self-defence, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly Welt am Sonntag in his first reaction to the advance into Russian territory.
“Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg told the paper, adding that NATO had not been informed about Ukraine’s plans beforehand and did not play a role in them.
The NATO chief said Ukraine was running a risk with the advance onto Russian territory but that it was up to Kyiv how to conduct its military campaign.
“(Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky has made clear that the operation aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further Russian attacks from across the border,” he said.
“Like all military operations, this comes with risks. But it is Ukraine’s decision how to defend itself.”
Kyiv launched a major cross-border incursion into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, while Moscow’s troops keep pressing towards the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has called the Kursk operation a “major provocation” and said it would retaliate.
Recap: Seven killed by Russian attacks in Ukraine towns
05:15
Shahana Yasmin
Russian shelling in the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday killed five people, when it hit a high-rise building and a private home, said regional governor Vadym Filaskhin.
The victims were men aged 24 to 38, he added.
“Normal life has been impossible in Chasiv Yar for more than two years. Do not become a Russian target — evacuate,” Filaskhin wrote on social media.
Two more died by Russian shelling in Kharkiv. One victim was pulled from rubble in Cherkaska Lozova, and a woman died of her wounds on the way to the hospital, said governor Oleh Syniehubov.
UK and Ukraine make AI deal to help post-war rebuild
05:00
Shahana Yasmin
The UK and Ukraine have signed one of the world’s first digital-only trade deals to benefit both countries with physical trade is disrupted by the Russian invasion.
Businesses in the allied countries are expected to be boosted when the UK-Ukraine Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) comes into force.
Ukraine launches five drones in Tver region near Moscow
04:30
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine launched five drones overnight in Russia’s Tver region just northwest of the Moscow region, said regional governor Igor Rudenya.
“According to preliminary information, there were no injuries. Emergency services are on the scene,” said Rudenya on Telegram, speaking of the Konakovo town. Russia claimed to have destroyed all five drones.
Reuters reported that multiple other Russian Telegram channels reported loud blasts near the Konakovo Power Station, one of the largest energy producers in central Russia.
Ukraine launches drone attacks on Moscow, say Russian officials
04:15
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine launched overnight drone attacks on Moscow and several other targets across Russia today, said regional officials.
This comes as Kyiv continued to press the US for permission to use weapons supplied by allies to strike targets deeper inside Russia.
At least five drones flying towards Moscow were destroyed in the region surrounding the Russian capital, Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
At least 26 drones fired by Ukraine were destroyed over the border region of Bryansk in Russia’s southwest, governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.
Over 10 drones were destroyed over Voronezh, and several downed over Kursk, Lipetsk, Ryazan and Tula regions, updates from governors said on Telegram.
Preliminary information said there were no injuries or damages from the attacks.
Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defence
04:00
Barney Davis
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia’s Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion onto Russian soil since the Second World War.
The move is partly an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.
Elsewhere, the number of wounded following a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday continued to rise.
Six people were killed, including a 14-year-old girl, when glide bombs struck five locations across the city, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. Writing on social media on Saturday, he said that the number of injured had risen from 47 to 96.
Mr Syniehubov also confirmed that the 12-storey apartment block that was hit by one bomb strike, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor, would be partly demolished.
Ukrainian officials have previously pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as further evidence that Western partners should scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons.
Zelensky puts pressure on United States to let Kyiv strike military targets deep inside Russian territory
03:00
Barney Davis
Washington has provided Ukraine with more than $50 billion worth of military aid since 2022, but has limited the use of its weapons to Ukrainian soil and defensive crossborder operations.
Zelensky said guided aerial bombs killed six people and injured 97 in Kharkiv on Friday, with more attacks on Saturday. These could be averted only “by striking Russian military airfields, their bases, and the logistics of Russian terror.”
In his nightly video address, he said, “We talk about this every day with our partners. We persuade. We present arguments.”
He said that clearing the Ukrainian sky of Russian guided aerial bombs would be “a strong step to force Russia to seek an end to the war and a just peace.”
Appealing to the United States, Britain, France and Germany, he said, “We need the capabilities to truly and fully protect Ukraine and Ukrainians.
“We need both the permissions for long-range capabilities and your long-range shells and missiles.”
Without providing specifics, he said his representatives had “provided all the necessary details” to Ukraine’s partners.
Russia says it has captured Pivnichne in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
02:00
Joe Middleton
Russia’s ministry of defence said that it had captured the town of Pivnichne, also in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions.
Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defence in the area.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia’s Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion on to Russian soil since the Second World War. The move is partly an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.
Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region is legitimate, says NATO's Stoltenberg
01:00
Joe Middleton
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv’s right to self-defence, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly Welt am Sonntag in his first reaction to the advance into Russian territory.
“Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg told the paper, adding that NATO had not been informed about Ukraine’s plans beforehand and did not play a role in them.
The NATO chief said Ukraine was running a risk with the advance onto Russian territory but that it was up to Kyiv how to conduct its military campaign.
“(Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy has made clear that the operation aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further Russian attacks from across the border,” he said.
“Like all military operations, this comes with risks. But it is Ukraine’s decision how to defend itself.”
Kyiv launched a major cross-border incursion into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, while Moscow’s troops keep pressing towards the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
The incursion was also discussed at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine-Council on Wednesday that was requested by Kyiv amid Moscow’s biggest wave of air attacks on its neighbour.
The council, grouping members of the Western military alliance and Ukraine, was established last year to enable closer coordination between the alliance and Kyiv.
Russia has called the Kursk operation a “major provocation” and said it would retaliate.
RECAP: Russia says five killed and 46 injured in Ukraine strike on Belgorod
Sunday 1 September 2024 00:02
Joe Middleton
Five people were killed and 46 injured in Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod late on Friday, the local governor said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov also said 37 people, including seven children, were taken to hospital.
Video from a car dashboard, posted on social media and purporting to demonstrate the attack, showed another car being blown up while moving on the road. Seconds later an explosion is seen on the other side of the road.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months.
Ukraine and Russia say they do not deliberately target civilians in the war that began when Russia sent thousands of troops into its smaller neighbour in February 2022. Moscow has called the invasion a “special military operation”.
At least seven dead in Russian attack on northeast Ukraine
Saturday 31 August 2024 23:14
Rebecca Thomas
Russia sweeping through Kursk so fast could break Ukraine front lines
Saturday 31 August 2024 23:00
Barney Davis
Russia has made vast advances into the Kursk region threatning to undo all Ukrainian advances over recent months.
Ukraine’s armed forces chief Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Russia was throwing “everything that can move” into its assault.
“The situation is extremely difficult,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded on Wednesday.
“If we lose Pokrovsk,” military expert Mykhaylo Zhyrokhov warned, “the entire front line will crumble.”
Recap: Kharkiv strike is another example of Russia’s ‘genocidal type of war’, says top Kyiv official
Saturday 31 August 2024 22:15
Rebecca Thomas
An advisor to the Ukrainian president’s office has called out Kyiv’s Western allies for not providing more support to counter Russia’s “genocidal type of war” after Moscow killed at least five people and injured 47 more in a day strike on a playground.
Mykhailo Podolyak, writing on X, formerly Twitter, said that Russia was trying “to test the world to see how long it is prepared to look blankly at unconditional and premeditated war crimes against civilians”.
Once again and again. #Russia never tires of demonstrating as openly as possible the genocidal type of war it is waging in #Ukraine... This time a deliberate strike on the center of #Kharkiv, on a multi-story building, with a guided aerial bomb. Deliberately, carefully thought… pic.twitter.com/z6hOzR2oua
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 30, 2024
Recap: Ukraine urges Mongolia to arrest Putin ahead of visit
Saturday 31 August 2024 21:14
Rebecca Thomas
Ukraine has called on Mongolia to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his visit next Tuesday.
This will be the Russian president’s first visit to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member state since a warrant was issued for his arrest for war crimes.
An ICC spokesperson told the BBC that Mongolian officials “have the obligation” to abide by ICC regulations, but it did not mean that an arrest had to take place.
“We have an excellent rapport with our partners from Mongolia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
“Of course, all aspects of the president’s visit have been carefully prepared.”
Ukraine marks 33 years of independence as war with Russia rages on
Saturday 31 August 2024 20:14
Rebecca Thomas
Ukraine somberly marked its 33rd Independence Day on Saturday, setting the usual fireworks, parades and concerts aside to commemorate thousands of civilians and soldiers killed in the ongoing war with Russia.
AP news reports scenes in Kyiv of people who traveled from various regions pardaing in “vyshyvankas,” shirts of many colors enhanced with adornments, including the traditional white shirt with red embroidery.
Some posed for pictures in front of the country’s blue-and-yellow flag and an “I Love Ukraine” sign that had been placed near a makeshift memorial to fallen soldiers.
Ukraine declared independence from the former Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion on the country on Feb. 24, 2022. Since then more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the conflict, according to the United Nations, although it has indicated that the toll could be higher.
Recap: Russia jails journalist for eight years over Ukraine war reporting
Saturday 31 August 2024 18:47
Rebecca Thomas
A Russian journalist has been sentenced to eight years in prison after his newspaper reported on Russia’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine, a human rights group said.
Prosecutors convicted Sergei Mikhailov in a court in the Siberian city of Gorno-Altaysk for “spreading false information” about the Russian army that was motivated by “political hatred”, the Net Freedoms Project said.
The 48-year-old journalist and editor at local newspaper Listok, or Leaflet, was arrested in 2022 near Moscow for posting on the publication’s Telegram channel and website about the horrors in the Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Mariupol.
It became a criminal offence in Russia to criticise the war in Ukraine under a new law that was adopted just days after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
More than 1,000 people have been implicated in criminal cases over their anti-war stance since the law’s inception, OVD-Info, one of Russia’s leading rights groups that tracks political arrests, has said.
Russian officials say five killed and 46 injured in Ukraine strike on Belgorod
Saturday 31 August 2024 17:10
Rebecca Thomas
Five people were killed and 46 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod late on Friday, the local governor said.
With men at front lines, women watch over Ukraine’s night sky for Russian drones
Saturday 31 August 2024 16:00
Tara Cobham
When the air raid siren bellows in the dead of night, the women in arms rush to duty.
Barely two months since joining the mobile air-defense unit, 27-year-old Angelina has perfected the drill to a tee: Combat gear fitted, anti-aircraft machine gun in place, she cruised behind the wheel of a pickup, singing along to a Ukrainian song about rebellion.
The rest unfolded in seconds: Under a tree-lined position near Kyiv's Bucha suburb, she and her five-woman unit mounted the gun, checked the salvo and waited. The chirp of crickets filled the silence until the Russian-launched Shahed drone was shot down — on this August night, by a nearby unit — another menace to near daily life in Ukraine eliminated.
To shoot down a drone brings her joy. "It's just a rush of adrenaline," said Angelina, who like other women in the unit spoke to The Associated Press on condition only their first names or call signs be used, in keeping with military policy.
Women are increasingly joining volunteer mobile units responsible for shooting down Russian drones that terrorize Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure as more men are sent east to the front line.
While women make up only a tiny fraction of the country's armed forces, their service is vital. With tens of thousands of men reportedly recruited every month, women have stepped up as crucial operations from coal mines to territorial defense forces accept them to fulfill traditionally male roles.
At least 70 women have been recruited into the Bucha defense forces in recent months for anti-drone operations, said the area's territorial defense commander, Col. Andrii Velarty. It's part of a nationwide drive to attract part-time female volunteers to fill the ranks of local defense units.
The women come from all walks of life — stay-at-home moms to doctors like Angelina — and call themselves the "Witches of Bucha," a nod to their role of keeping watch over the night skies for Russian drones.
Some were motivated to volunteer by the Russian massacre of hundreds of Bucha residents during the monthlong occupation of the Kyiv suburb by Russian troops soon after the February 2022 invasion. Bodies of men, women and children were left on the streets, in homes and in mass graves.
"We were here, saw these horrors," said Angelina, who treated wounded residents, including children, during the Russian occupation. So when she spotted a sign calling for female recruits on a highway while driving in June with her friend, Olena, also a doctor, "we didn't hesitate," she said.
Russian bomb attack kills two in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, governor says
Saturday 31 August 2024 15:25
Tara Cobham
A Russian bomb attack on Saturday killed two civilians and wounded eight more in a village in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, the governor said.
Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram that Russian forces hit the village of Cherkaska Lozova with guided bombs, damaging a residential building. Rescuers and medics were working to clear up the debris and help the injured, he said.
Towns and villages in the northeastern Kharkiv region on the border with Russia have been frequently shelled and bombed by Moscow's forces during the 30 months of the war.
A similar Russian attack on the city of Kharkiv, the regional centre, killed seven people on Friday, local authorities said.
Number injured rises to 96 after Russian attack on Kharkiv that killed seven
Saturday 31 August 2024 15:23
Tara Cobham
The number of injured after a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday continued to rise.
Seven people were killed, including a 14-year-old girl, when glide bombs struck five locations across the city, said local authorities.
In a social media post on Saturday, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov that the number of injured had risen from 47 to 96.
He also confirmed that the 12-storey apartment block that was hit by one bomb strike, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor, would be partly demolished.
Russia says it has captured Pivnichne in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Saturday 31 August 2024 15:17
Tara Cobham
Russia's ministry of defence said that it had captured the town of Pivnichne, also in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin's primary ambitions.
Russia's army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defence in the area.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia's Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion on to Russian soil since the Second World War. The move is partly an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.
Five killed by Russian strike as Moscow continues latest push in Ukraine’s east
Saturday 31 August 2024 15:14
Tara Cobham
Five people were killed by Russian shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday as Moscow's troops continue their push on Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.
The attack hit a high-rise building and a private home, said regional governor Vadym Filaskhin, who said the victims were men aged between 24 and 38.
He urged the last remaining residents to leave the frontline town, which had a pre-war population of 12,000.
"Normal life has been impossible in Chasiv Yar for more than two years," Mr Filaskhin wrote on social media. "Do not become a Russian target - evacuate."
Russia says five killed and 46 injured in Ukraine strike on Belgorod
Saturday 31 August 2024 15:00
Tara Cobham
Five people were killed and 46 injured in Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod late on Friday, the local governor said.
Vyacheslav Gladkov also said 37 people, including seven children, were taken to hospital.
Video from a car dashboard, posted on social media and purporting to demonstrate the attack, showed another car being blown up while moving on the road. Seconds later an explosion is seen on the other side of the road.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months.
Ukraine and Russia say they do not deliberately target civilians in the war that began when Russia sent thousands of troops into its smaller neighbour in February 2022. Moscow has called the invasion a "special military operation".
Recap: Let us strike deep inside Russia where it will hurt them, Ukraine pleads with West
Saturday 31 August 2024 14:00
Tara Cobham
Ukraine’s top diplomat has called on the European Union to pressure the US into allowing them to use Western long-range missiles to strike deeper into Russian territory. The request comes ahead of crunch talks between senior Kyiv and Washington officials later this week.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, speaking in Brussels on Thursday, where he is attending an informal meeting of the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers, urged the EU to “play a role in persuading the US” to green-light the deeper strikes.
Ukraine needs “support to finally lift restrictions on long-range strikes on all legitimate military targets in Russia”, Mr Kuleba told Politico. “Of course this decision lies mainly with the United States and the UK, but France is also a party and part of the EU.”
My colleague Tom Watling reports:
Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region is legitimate, says NATO's Stoltenberg
Saturday 31 August 2024 13:00
Tara Cobham
Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv's right to self-defence, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly Welt am Sonntag in his first reaction to the advance into Russian territory.
"Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border," Stoltenberg told the paper, adding that NATO had not been informed about Ukraine's plans beforehand and did not play a role in them.
The NATO chief said Ukraine was running a risk with the advance onto Russian territory but that it was up to Kyiv how to conduct its military campaign.
"(Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy has made clear that the operation aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further Russian attacks from across the border," he said.
"Like all military operations, this comes with risks. But it is Ukraine's decision how to defend itself."
Kyiv launched a major cross-border incursion into the Kursk region on Aug. 6, while Moscow's troops keep pressing towards the strategic hub of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
The incursion was also discussed at a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine-Council on Wednesday that was requested by Kyiv amid Moscow's biggest wave of air attacks on its neighbour.
The council, grouping members of the Western military alliance and Ukraine, was established last year to enable closer coordination between the alliance and Kyiv.
Russia has called the Kursk operation a "major provocation" and said it would retaliate.
Russia jails journalist for eight years over Ukraine war reporting
Saturday 31 August 2024 12:00
Tara Cobham
A Russian journalist has been sentenced to eight years in prison after his newspaper reported on Russia’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine, a human rights group said.
Prosecutors convicted Sergei Mikhailov in a court in the Siberian city of Gorno-Altaysk for “spreading false information” about the Russian army that was motivated by “political hatred”, the Net Freedoms Project said.
The 48-year-old journalist and editor at local newspaper Listok, or Leaflet, was arrested in 2022 near Moscow for posting on the publication’s Telegram channel and website about the horrors in the Ukrainian cities of Bucha and Mariupol.
Rachel Hagan reports:
Russia says its forces seize another settlement in Ukraine's Donetsk region
Saturday 31 August 2024 11:01
Tara Cobham
Russian forces have gained control of the Kirove settlement, known in Ukraine as Verezamske, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions which Russia says it has annexed even though it does not fully control all of them, a territorial claim which Kyiv and the West have rejected as illegal and one which Ukraine has vowed to reverse by force.
Russia has been making incremental gains in the region at a time when Ukrainian troops seek to advance in Russia's Kursk region after a surprise cross-border attack that began on 6 August.
Separately, the defence ministry said in a bulletin about developments in Russia's Kursk region that its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks there, including towards settlements of Korenevo and Malaya Loknya.
Russian officials have said Kyiv's attack on the Kursk region will fail to divert Russian forces away from the east of Ukraine where they are still advancing.
The officials also say Ukraine's foray into Russian territory will ensnare thousands of its troops in a new front which has little strategic or tactical importance.
Ukrainian residential building burns after Russian attack on Kharkiv that killed seven
Saturday 31 August 2024 11:00
Tara Cobham
Ukrainian air defence downs 24 Russian drones, Kyiv says
Saturday 31 August 2024 10:00
Tara Cobham
Ukrainian air defences shot down 24 out of 52 drones launched by Russia during overnight attacks on eight regions across Ukraine, the air force said on Saturday.
It said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that 25 Shahed drones had fallen on their own and three others had flown towards Russia and Belarus. There were no reports of anybody being hurt in the attacks or of any major damage being caused.
Ukraine uses electronic warfare as well as mobile hunting groups and aircraft defences to repel frequent Russian drone and missile strikes.
Air alerts sounded several times during the overnight drone attacks, with many people rushing to shelters in the middle of the night.
In the capital Kyiv, where alerts lasted for about four hours, it was the fourth drone attack this week, officials said. All drones targeting the city were downed and no major damage was reported, Kyiv city officials said.
Ukrainian air defences also shot down Russian drones in the Poltava, Cherkasy, Kyrovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk regions in central Ukraine, in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions in the north and the Mykolayiv region in the south.
Regional officials in the Cherkasy region said the drones' debris had damaged several private houses.
The Russian forces also launched five missiles during the attack, the Ukrainian air force said, but gave no other details.
Ukrainian president fires air force commander after fatal F-16 crash
Saturday 31 August 2024 09:33
Tara Cobham
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired the commander of the country's air force on Friday, four days after an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners crashed during a Russian bombardment and killed the pilot.
The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website.
"We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers," Zelenskyy said in an address minutes after the order was published. He said Ukraine needs to strengthen its army on the command level.
Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko was appointed acting air force commander, the army's general staff said.
The dismissal came on the same day that Oleshchuk directed scathing criticism at a lawmaker who is deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament's defense committee for her claims that the F-16 was downed by a Patriot air-defense system. Ukraine has received an unspecified number of the U.S.-made systems.
Mariana Bezuhla cited unnamed sources for her claim and demanded punishment for those responsible for the error.
Oleshchuk accused Bezuhla of defaming the air force and discrediting U.S. arms manufacturers and said that he hoped she would face legal consequences for her claims.
"The truth will win," Bezuhla posted on X shortly after the dismissal order was published.
The air force did not directly deny that the F-16 was hit by a Patriot missile.
US experts have joined the Ukrainian investigation into the crash, the air force said.
Ukraine calls for Putin’s arrest when he visits Mongolia next week
Saturday 31 August 2024 09:22
Tara Cobham
Ukraine urged Mongolia to arrest Russian president Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes when he visited the country on 3 September.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in March last year accusing Mr Putin of the war crime of unlawfully deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine to Russia during its invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin responded saying it was “not worried”.
“The Ukrainian side hopes that the government of Mongolia is aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Telegram.
Shahana Yasmin reports:
Russia says five killed and 46 injured in Ukraine strike on Belgorod
Saturday 31 August 2024 08:30
Tara Cobham
Five people were killed and 46 injured in a Ukrainian attack on the southwestern Russian city of Belgorod late on Friday, the local governor said, the latest in a series of strikes by Ukraine on the city in recent months.
Vyacheslav Gladkov said 37 of the injured, including seven children, were taken to hospitals in the city, which lies 40 km (25 miles) north of the border with Ukraine.
Video filmed from inside a vehicle, posted on social media and purporting to show the attack, showed a car being blown up while moving along a road. Seconds later another explosion is seen metres away. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.
Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the attack.
"Once again we call on all responsible governments and relevant international structures to strongly condemn this brutal terrorist attack and publicly distance themselves from the Kyiv regime and its Western curators who commit such crimes," it said on Saturday.
The ministry added that Russia's "special military operation" will continue until it reaches all the goals including Ukraine's "demilitarisation and de-nazification".
Russia's Investigation Committee said on its Telegram channel that it had initiated a criminal case into the attack.
Authorities also reported that a woman was injured on Saturday during Ukrainian shelling of the border town of Shebekino in the Belgorod region.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months, with the city the focal point of the attacks.
Ukraine and Russia say they do not deliberately target civilians in the war that began when Russia sent thousands of troops into its smaller neighbour in February 2022.
With men at the front lines, women watch over Ukraine's night sky for Russian drones
Saturday 31 August 2024 08:00
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine says US experts are helping figure out why a Ukrainian F-16 crashed in the war with Russia
Saturday 31 August 2024 07:30
Shahana Yasmin
Let us strike deep inside Russia where it will hurt them, Ukraine pleads with West
Saturday 31 August 2024 07:15
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine’s top diplomat has called on the European Union to pressure the US into allowing them to use Western long-range missiles to strike deeper into Russian territory.
The request comes ahead of crunch talks between senior Kyiv and Washington officials later this week.
Child among dead as Russian glide bomb strikes playground in Kharkiv
Saturday 31 August 2024 07:00
Tom Watling
What is Ukraine really up to with its audacious Kursk land grab?
Saturday 31 August 2024 06:30
Shahana Yasmin
One month on from President Zelensky’s Russian incursion began, The Independent’s Mary Dejevsky asks whether it is a strategic game-changer as a powerful bargaining chip – or simply a defensive move to prevent a direct march on Kyiv.
Ukraine urges Mongolia to arrest Putin ahead of visit
Saturday 31 August 2024 06:00
Shahana Yasmin
Ukraine has called on Mongolia to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of his visit next Tuesday.
This will be the Russian president’s first visit to an International Criminal Court (ICC) member state since a warrant was issued for his arrest for war crimes.
An ICC spokesperson told the BBC that Mongolian officials “have the obligation” to abide by ICC regulations, but it did not mean that an arrest had to take place.
“We have an excellent rapport with our partners from Mongolia,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
“Of course, all aspects of the president’s visit have been carefully prepared.”
Russia jails journalist for eight years over Ukraine war reporting
Saturday 31 August 2024 05:45
Shahana Yasmin