A “massive” Ukrainian drone attack on an arms depot in Russia’s Tver region which sparked huge fires and caused a blast picked up by earthquake monitors has led to evacuations, power cuts and school closures.
The attack caused an “extremely powerful detonation” at a Russian defence ministry warehouse in the 1,000-year-old town of Toropets, containing Iskander and Tochka-U tactical missile systems, guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition, a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service said.
Russian state media had suggested in 2018 that the site at the 1,000-year-old town of Toropets – which sits northwest of Moscow, and 65 miles from the Belarus border – was home to a major arsenal for conventional weaponry.
It came as fresh estimates from Western intelligence suggested the total number of casualties from Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine may have exceeded one million.
The figure includes 80,000 Ukrainian troops killed and 400,000 wounded, according to a confidential estimate from Kyiv reported by the Wall Street Journal. Estimates of Russian casualties vary but are expected to number around 200,000 killed and 400,000 wounded.
Key Points
- Massive explosion at ammo depot forces Russian town’s evacuation
- Casualties in Ukraine war 'reach one million'
- Ukraine investigating captured soldier’s 'execution by sword'
Kamala Harris, Donald Trump to meet Volodymyr Zelensky next week
04:02
Arpan Rai
US Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris plans to meet Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington next week, a person familiar with the matter said.
Donald Trump has also said he will “probably” meet Volodymyr Zelensky, who will be in the US next week to address a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Russia’s war in his country.
“Probably, yes,” Mr Trump said in response to a question from a reporter about whether he will meet the Ukrainian leader. Trump did not provide further details.
In recent months, some other world leaders who have visited the US for summits and meetings with president Biden have ended up meeting with Trump as well. Trump faces Democratic vice president Kamala Harris in the 5 November election.
Mr Zelensky said in August he wanted to present a peace plan to Mr Biden, Ms Harris and Mr Trump. While Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky talked over the phone in July, they have not talked in person since the Republican leader’s 2017-2021 term.
Zelensky says ‘victory plan’ is ready
03:53
Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky says his “victory plan”, intended to bring peace to Ukraine while keeping the country strong and avoiding all “frozen conflicts”, was now complete after much consultation.
“Today, it can be said that our victory plan is fully prepared. All the points, all key focus areas and all necessary detailed additions of the plan have been defined,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“The most important thing is the determination to implement it.
There was, he said, no alternative to peace, “no freezing of the war or any other manipulations that would simply postpone Russian aggression to another stage”.
Mr Zelensky pledged last month to present his plan to Joe Biden, presumably next week when he attends sessions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly.
While providing daily updates on the plan’s preparation, he has given few clues of the contents, indicating only that it aims to create terms acceptable to Ukraine, now locked in conflict with Russia for more than two and a half years.
Released Russian dissident Kara-Murza visits US Congress
Wednesday 18 September 2024 23:59
Reuters
Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza shook his head in disbelief as he addressed politicians and diplomats in a US Senate hearing room on Tuesday, just weeks after he was released from prison in Siberia in a major prisoner swap.
“The word surreal doesn’t even come close to describing what I feel now,” the dissident said at an event intended to highlight what participants described as the plight of hundreds of prisoners still detained in Russia for their political beliefs.
Coinciding with Kara-Murza’s visit, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will introduce this week the Bridge Act, legislation intended to protect Russians and Belarusians working to support democracy in their home countries.
Ukraine ‘used 100 domestically produced drones’ in Tver arms depot attack
Wednesday 18 September 2024 22:58
Andy Gregory
More than 100 domestically produced exploding drones were deployed in the attack on the Russian arms depot in Tver, a Ukrainian intelligence official told the Associated Press.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti earlier quoted regional authorities as saying air defence systems were working to repel a “massive drone attack” on Toropets.
North Korean ammo ‘destroyed’ in Tver arms depot strike
Wednesday 18 September 2024 22:01
Andy Gregory
Among the ammunition destroyed in the attack on the Tver arms depot were North Korean KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, a Ukrainian intelligence source has told the Associated Press.
Russia and North Korea signed a landmark pact in June that envisioned mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang.
UK Foreign Office summons Russian ambassador over expulsion of diplomats
Wednesday 18 September 2024 21:02
Andy Gregory
The UK has summoned Russia’s ambassador following what it described as an “unprecedented and unfounded public campaign of aggression” by Moscow, including accusations against Foreign Office staff.
Russia’s FSB security service said last week it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow after accusing them of spying and sabotage work, accusations Britain described as “malicious and completely baseless”.
“This pattern of behaviour is completely unacceptable, deeply unprofessional, and beneath the standards of conduct between states,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said, calling on Russia to “stop this activity immediately”.
“This is the latest development in a deliberate campaign by Russia to undermine and threaten UK security and democracy and deter our support for Ukraine, through disinformation, acts of sabotage in Europe and direct harassment and restrictions against our diplomatic missions in Russia,” they added.
Nasa satellites pick up intense heat as Tver blast sparks vast fires
Wednesday 18 September 2024 20:11
Andy Gregory
Nasa satellites picked up intense heat sources emanating from an area of about five square miles at the site of the blast in Russia’s Tver region, while earthquake monitoring stations picked up what sensors thought was a small earthquake in the area.
ICYMI: Ukraine prisoners of war reunited with families after Russia exchange
Wednesday 18 September 2024 19:22
Andy Gregory
Lessons from Ukraine’s Black Sea fight help US Navy prepare for possible conflict with China
Wednesday 18 September 2024 18:31
AP
The US Navy is taking lessons from its combat in the Red Sea over the past year and what Ukraine has done to hold off the Russians in the Black Sea to help US military leaders prepare the service for a potential future conflict with China.
From drones and unmanned surface vessels to the more advanced operation of ship-board guns, the Navy is expanding its combat skills and broadening training. It is also working to overcome recruiting struggles so it can have the sailors it needs to fight the next war.
Admiral Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, is laying out a series of goals, including several that will be highly challenging to meet, in a new navigation plan she described in an interview with The Associated Press. The objective is to be ready to face what the Pentagon calls its key national security challenge – China.
“I’m very focused on 2027. It’s the year that that President Xi told his forces to be ready to invade Taiwan,” Ms Franchetti said. “We need to be more ready.”
Pictured: Ukrainian drone attack ‘hits Russian arms depot'
Wednesday 18 September 2024 17:46
Andy Gregory
Social media chatroom describes ‘horror’ in Tver after arms depot blast
Wednesday 18 September 2024 17:03
Reuters
A Toropets chatroom on the Russian social media site VK was flooded with messages of support from other parts of the country and offers of help to people fleeing the town.
Some people were asking whether buildings at specific addresses were still standing.
“People, does anyone know what’s happened to Kudino village??? They told me nothing is left of our house,” posted one woman.
Another woman replied: “It’s horror there.” Kudino is a village 4.5 km (2.8 miles) northeast of Toropets.
Footage of Tver blast appears consistent with 200 tonnes of explosives detonating, expert suggests
Wednesday 18 September 2024 16:29
Andy Gregory
The size of the main blast shown in unverified social media footage of the blast at the Tver arms depot was consistent with 200-240 tonnes of high explosives detonating, George William Herbert of the California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies told Reuters.
Russian minister claimed in 2018 that Tver arms depot was impervious to nuclear attack
Wednesday 18 September 2024 16:01
Andy Gregory
According to an RIA state news agency report from 2018, Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets – the site of the mass Ukrainian drone attack.
Dmitry Bulgakov, then a deputy defence minister, told RIA in 2018 that the facility could defend weapons from missiles and even a small nuclear attack. Bulgakov was arrested earlier this year on corruption charges, which he denies.
“It [the concrete facilities] ensures their reliable and safe storage, protects them from air and missile strikes and even from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion,” RIA quoted Mr Bulgakov as saying at the time.
Brazil’s Lula and Putin ‘discuss China’s peace plan for Ukraine'
Wednesday 18 September 2024 15:29
Andy Gregory
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the former’s office said, adding that they discussed topics including the Ukraine war and an upcoming Brics summit.
The two leaders “talked about themes that will be addressed at the BRICS summit next month in Kazan, bilateral relations, and Brazil’s and China’s peace proposal for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine”, the Brazilian government said.
‘Thirteen injured’ in attack at Russian arms depot
Wednesday 18 September 2024 14:58
Andy Gregory
At least 13 people were injured in the Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian arms depot in Tver, Russia's health ministry has claimed.
State news agency Tass quoted regional governor Igor Rudenya as saying that no citizens sustained serious injuries and nobody was killed.
Chernobyl fires likely to blame for elevated radiation levels, Norway says
Wednesday 18 September 2024 14:40
Andy Gregory
Norway has said that elevated levels of radioactive caesium it had detected near the Arctic border with Russia were likely due to a forest fire near Chernobyl in Ukraine, the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident.
The Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) said on Tuesday that it had measured “very low” levels of radioactive caesium at Svanhovd and Viksjoefjell near the Arctic border with Russia.
The authority said it detected elevated levels of radioactive caesium at Svanhovd during the week to Tuesday and at Viksjoefjell from 5 to 12 September, but that the levels did not pose a risk to humans or the environment.
“DSA always finds caesium at all air filter stations in Norway, and this often comes from stirred-up dust from old fallout from the Chernobyl accident,” it said on Wednesday. “This time it is most likely that the forest fire around Chernobyl is to blame.”
ICYMI: Michael Douglas meets Ukrainian president Zelensky
Wednesday 18 September 2024 14:11
Andy Gregory
Finland’s president says Israeli arms needed to bolster security
Wednesday 18 September 2024 13:48
Andy Gregory
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb defended his country’s decision to buy arms from Israel despite the war in Gaza, saying it had no link to Finland’s unwillingness to recognise an independent Palestinian state at the present time.
Finland is acquiring a ground based, high altitude, missile defence system called David’s Sling from Israel. Helsinki considers the system a high priority for its own defence due to neighbouring Russia’s ongoing missile attacks on civilian and military targets in Ukraine.
Mr Stubb, who took office in March, has defined his and Finland’s new foreign policy stance as “values-based realism”, which he has said was about “achieving things in the world as it is”, instead of “promoting only the world how I want to see it”.
He added: “I only look at realism, in other words, the fact that we need those weapons. So that’s when I look at Finnish security.”
Watch: Donald Trump says he ‘got along great with Putin'
Wednesday 18 September 2024 13:12
Andy Gregory
Top US diplomat says Zelensky’s victory plan ‘can work’
Wednesday 18 September 2024 12:52
Andy Gregory
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that his recently announced plan for victory includes not only battlefield goals but also diplomatic and economic wins.
The plan has been kept under wraps but the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters on Tuesday that Washington officials have seen it.
“We think it lays out a strategy and a plan that can work,” she said, adding that the United States will raise the plan with other world leaders next week at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Mapped: Russia launches counterattack in Kursk after sending ‘significant’ forces to the region
Wednesday 18 September 2024 12:26
Andy Gregory
Russia has brought in “significant” reinforcements to carry out a sweeping counterattack on the western flank of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, maps and analysis have revealed.
Russia’s initial response appeared muted as Vladimir Putin’s interest remained trained on an offensive towards the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region despite Kyiv’s hopes that their Kursk incursion would force Moscow to relocate troops away from that fight in the east.
But footage last week of a column of Russian tanks, believed to belong to a specialist Russian airborne forces (VDV) unit known to be among some of Moscow’s more elite troops, towards the western flank of Ukraine’s attack has presaged a rapid counteroffensive in that direction.
Vadym Mysnyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Command “Siversk”, told Ukrainian TV late last week that Moscow had bolstered its Kursk forces from 11,000 at the time of the Ukrainian incursion to up to 45,000.
Fronteligence Insight, a Ukrainian group that tracks the war and is known to have close ties to the military, added that those forces have been bolstered by numerous anti-aircraft and air defence systems.
While territorial defence units are being used to “contain Ukrainian forces”, the group wrote in an update, more mobile units such as tank battalions and air-assault regiments, supported by motor rifle units, are likely being tasked with “breaking through ad-hoc Ukrainian defences”.
Our foreign affairs reporter Tom Watling has more details:
Ukraine boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk released after brief detention in Poland
Wednesday 18 September 2024 12:07
via AP news wire
Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after being briefly detained at Krakow airport in Poland, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“I was disappointed by this attitude towards our citizen and champion,” Mr Zelensky said, following a phone call with Usyk. “Our champion has been released, and he is no longer being detained.”
He posted a photo of Usyk with Ukraine’s Consul General in Krakow after the athlete was released.
It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old was detained. He is one of Ukraine’s most prominent athletes known abroad, and has organised and participated in different projects aiding his country’s efforts to resist Russia’s invasion.
Nato must respond to Russian breaches of alliance’s airspace, Romania says
Wednesday 18 September 2024 11:47
Andy Gregory
Nato must respond to incidents in which Russian missiles or drones fired at Ukraine enter the alliance's airspace, Romanian defence minister Angel Tilvar has warned.
His remarks come just days after Romania reported once again that a Russian drone had breached its airspace during overnight attacks on “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube River in Ukraine.
Kremlin labels Nato chief comments about Putin ‘extremely provocative and dangerous’
Wednesday 18 September 2024 11:21
Andy Gregory
The Kremlin has criticised “dangerous” comments by Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg that allowing Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons to strike Russia would not be a red line that would prompt an escalation by Moscow.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Stoltenberg dismissed a warning by Vladimir Putin last week that letting Ukraine use such weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory would mean the West was directly fighting Russia.
“There have been many red lines declared by him before, and he has not escalated, meaning also involving Nato allies directly in the conflict,” said Mr Stoltenberg, whose tenure as head of the military alliance ends in October.
“He has not done so, because he realises that Nato is the strongest military alliance in the world. They also realise that nuclear weapons, nuclear war, cannot be won and should not be fought. And we have made that very clear to him several times.”
Claiming Mr Stoltenberg’s comments were “extremely provocative and dangerous”, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “This ostentatious desire not to take seriously the Russian president’s statements is a move that is completely short-sighted and unprofessional.”
Russia has not detected elevated radiation in atmosphere, Kremlin says
Wednesday 18 September 2024 10:50
Andy Gregory
Russian services have not issued any alerts on higher levels of radiation in the atmosphere, the Kremlin has said, after Norway reported having detected elevated levels of radioactive caesium (Cs-137) near the Arctic border with Russia.
The Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) said on Tuesday it had measured “very low” levels of radioactive caesium at Svanhovd and Viksjoefjell.
The authority detected elevated levels of radioactive caesium (Cs-137) at Svanhovd during the week to Tuesday and at Viksjoefjell between 5 and 12 September, it said, adding that the levels did not pose a risk to humans or the environment.
Asked about the statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “There were no warnings from our relevant services about an increased level of certain isotopes in the atmosphere, there were no warnings about threats to human health either, so I have nothing to say here.”
Church that survived Second World War destroyed in Russian aerial bombardment
Wednesday 18 September 2024 10:33
Andy Gregory
The sound of broken brick and glass could be heard underfoot as Ukraine’s special “White Angel” police officers walked through a destroyed church in Donetsk on Tuesday, reports Oliver Browning.
The church was built more than 110 years ago, Gennadiy Yudin, the major of the special police unit said, walking through the debris in Novoeconomichne, a small village a few kilometers from the frontline in eastern Ukraine. The dome was completely destroyed and several icons of Jesus Christ left in ruins.
“Locals are saying that this church survived the Second World War, but was destroyed by the Russian army,” Mr Yudin said. Russian forces destroyed the church with aerial bombardment on 8 July, according to Ukrainian officials.
Financial institutions that help Russia are new focus, EU sanctions envoy says
Wednesday 18 September 2024 10:17
Andy Gregory
The EU’s sanctions envoy has said that a new focus for the bloc was to look at financial institutions that underpin battlefield product flows to Russia – as well as the flow of products made in southeast Asia by western subsidiaries.
“A lot of the product going through China is made by subsidiaries of western companies in southeast Asia,” EU sanctions chief David O’Sullivan told a Brussels think-tank event.
“We are looking at which financial institutions are funding the shipments of battlefield products to Russia ... The US has done this to great effect. We are starting to collect the information and compare notes.”
HQ created in Sumy to coordinate defence of region and its energy facilities
Wednesday 18 September 2024 10:04
Andy Gregory
Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister in charge of reconstruction, regions and infrastructure, has announced that a coordination headquarters has been created to support Sumy region.
The body is intended to coordinate the defence of energy facilities and prepare the region's critical infrastructure for the winter season.
Sumy lies across the border from the Russian region of Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces launched a daring incursion last month, which president Volodymyr Zelensky has said aimed to create a buffer zone to better protect Sumy from frequent Russian attacks.
Russia attacks energy infrastructure in Sumy, officials say
Wednesday 18 September 2024 09:47
Andy Gregory
Russia has attacked energy facilities in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, regional authorities said.
Sumy regional authorities said air defences had shot down 16 drones over the region, where energy infrastructure has repeatedly come under fire, forcing authorities to use back-up power systems.
Man killed and 90-year-old woman injured in Russian attack, authorities say
Wednesday 18 September 2024 09:33
Andy Gregory
Russian attacks in the central Ukrainian region of Kirovohrad have left one person dead and a 90-year-old woman injured, as several residential buildings damaged in the city of Kropyvnytsky, local officials said.
No damage to critical infrastructure was reported in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv after air defences went into action there.
Ukrainian drone attack destroyed weapons depot, Kyiv security source says
Wednesday 18 September 2024 09:21
Andy Gregory
A Ukrainian drone attack destroyed a warehouse storing missiles, guided bombs and artillery ammunition in Russia's Tver region, close to the border of Belarus, a source in Ukraine's SBU state security service has told Reuters.
Power outages have been reported in the region after a huge blast sparked evacuations and was registered by earthquake monitoring stations and Nasa satellites picked up several sources of fires emanating from the site.
Russia had been building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town in the region, which state media suggested in 2018 was a major arsenal for conventional weapons.
JD Vance says US could drop support for Nato if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms
Wednesday 18 September 2024 09:03
Andy Gregory
Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee JD Vance has suggested that American support for Nato should be predicated on the European Union not regulating Elon Musk and his X social media platform.
The Ohio senator claimed in an interview with YouTuber Shawn Ryan that a top EU official had threatened to arrest the billionaire if he allowed Mr Trump back on X.
“The leader, I forget exactly which official it was within the European Union, but sent Elon this threatening letter that basically said, ‘We’re going to arrest you if you platform Donald Trump,’ who, by the way, is the likely next president of the United States,” Mr Vance said in the interview published last week.
He added: “So what America should be saying is, if Nato wants us to continue supporting them and Nato wants us to continue to be a good participant in this military alliance, why don’t you respect American values and respect free speech?” Vance asked.
“It’s insane that we would support a military alliance if that military alliance isn’t going to be pro-free speech. I think we can do both. But we’ve got to say American power comes with certain strings attached. One of those is respect free speech, especially in our European allies.”
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington DC:
Power outages in Russia’s Tver region after ‘Ukrainian drone attack'
Wednesday 18 September 2024 08:47
Andy Gregory
Power outages have been announced in parts of Russia’s Tver region, local officials said in the wake of reports of a Ukrainian drone attack on the region.
The administration of the Zapadnodvinsky district in Tver said on the social Vkontatke network that several parts of the district will be without power. It did not say what caused the outages.
The district borders the Toropetsky district, where officials said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked fire and forced partial evacuation of the town of Toropets.
Ukraine says it shot down 46 drones overnight
Wednesday 18 September 2024 08:33
Andy Gregory
The Ukrainian air force has said it had shot down 46 of 52 drones launched by Russia overnight.
The air force also said Russia had used three guided air missiles during the attack.
Finland’s president calls for end of single veto power at UN security council
Wednesday 18 September 2024 08:24
Andy Gregory
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb has called for expansion of the UN security council, abolition of its single-state veto power, and suspension of any member engaging in an “illegal war” such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Stubb, who leads the Nordic nation’s foreign policy, said he would add his voice to reform calls at next week’s UN General Assembly in New York which is to discuss composition of the global body’s security council.
Consisting of five permanent and 10 rotating member states, the council’s brief is to keep global peace, but geopolitical rivalries have deadlocked it on issues from Ukraine to Gaza.
Mr Stubb said he would propose the number of permanent members be expanded from five to 10, with one more from Latin America, two from Africa and two from Asia, telling Reuters: “No single state should have veto power in the UN Security Council.”
What we know about massive Ukrainian drone attack on Tver, Russia
Wednesday 18 September 2024 07:44
Arpan Rai
- A giant blast has forced the partial evacuation of a Russian town in the Tver region after a major Ukrainian drone attack was reported, officials said
- The attack targeted the site of a large Russian arsenal, according to war bloggers and Ukrainian journalists
- Nasa satellites picked up several sources of fires emanating from the site in the early hours of today
- Earthquake monitoring stations picked up what sensors thought was a minor earthquake in the area
- Videos of the explosion showed a huge ball of flame blasting high into the night sky and detonations thundering across a lake in the region that lies northwest of Moscow and not far from the border with Belarus.
- Fire fighters were trying to contain the fire, said Igor Rudenya, the governor of the Tver region
- Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town
- Russian state media in 2018 had suggested it was a major arsenal for conventional weapons.
- The impact of the explosions and whether there are any casualties is not immediately clear
- Size of the main blast shown consistent with 200-240 tons of high explosives detonating, according to George William Herbert of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California
- Schools and kindergartens were moved online in the Zapadnodvinsky district, which borders the Toropetsky district
Russia destroys 54 Ukrainian drones overnight
Wednesday 18 September 2024 07:22
Arpan Rai
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 54 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting five Russian regions, its defence ministry said.
Of these, half of the drones were destroyed over the border Kursk region, while the rest were downed over the Bryansk, Smolensk, Oryol and Belgorod regions, the Russian defence ministry said.
The defence ministry did not mention the Tver region where reports suggest a Ukrainian drone attack has sparked a massive fire at an ammo depot, forcing the partial evacuation of the town of Toropets.
Ukraine boxing champ released from Polish detention
Wednesday 18 September 2024 07:00
Arpan Rai
Undisputed heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk has been released after he was detained by police at Poland’s Krakow airport, Volodymyr Zelensky said today.
“I was outraged by this attitude towards our citizen and champion,” he said on Telegram. “Our champion was released and no one is detaining him anymore.”
It was not immediately clear why the 37-year-old Usyk was detained. The WBC, WBO and WBA champion, who also won gold at the 2012 London Olympics, has become a national hero and supports Kyiv’s war efforts with fundraising.
Usyk also confirmed his release from detention by Polish authorities. “Friends, everything is fine,” Usyk said in an Instagram post. “There was a misunderstanding that was quickly resolved. Thank you to everyone who was concerned.”
He added: “Respect to the Polish law enforcement officers who perform their duties regardless of height, weight, arm span, and titles.”
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that his ministry will contact the Polish foreign ministry, as it considered the detention “disproportionate and unacceptable in relation to our champion.”
Mapped: Russia launches probing counterattack in Kursk
Wednesday 18 September 2024 07:00
Tom Watling
Massive explosion at ammo depot forces Russian town’s evacuation
Wednesday 18 September 2024 06:35
Arpan Rai
A Ukrainian drone attack has forced the partial evacuation of the town of Toropets, deep inside Russian territory, the site of a large ammunition depot.
This is likely the biggest attack of its kind successfully targeting Russia’s ammunition stockpiles.
According to an RIA state news agency report from 2018, Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town, which has a population of just over 11,000.
The massive explosion also forced schools and kindergartens to be closed in the region, with classes moved online in the Zapadnodvinsky district near Toropetsky, local officials said.
Massive explosions and fires are occurring in Russia after several Ukrainian UAVs struck an ammunition depot in Toropets in Tver, Russia located 470km from Ukraine pic.twitter.com/tpsxtM22jG
— Ukraine Battle Map (@ukraine_map) September 18, 2024
A regional governor said fire fighters were trying to contain the fire but did not mention what was burning or the cause. There was no information about casualties as a result of the Wednesday attack on Tver.
Russia says its air defence units destroyed 54 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting five western Russian regions.
Blinken briefed on Ukraine plan to end Russia’s war, says US
Wednesday 18 September 2024 06:04
Arpan Rai
Antony Blinken has been briefed on elements of a Ukrainian plan to push Russia to end the war, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said last night.
The plan has been touted as “nothing impossible” with “90 per cent of it already laid out” by Volodymyr Zelensky.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, State Department’s Miller said Blinken shared the ambassador’s assessment but declined to say more on it for now.
“I think I ought to let President Zelensky, whose plan ultimately this is, speak to the details of it,” Mr Miller said.
Mr Zelensky first spoke of his “victory plan” last month, saying he wanted to discuss it with Joe Biden. He is expected to present it on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York next week that he said he hopes to attend.
Earlier yesterday, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington had seen the plan. “We think it lays out a strategy and a plan that can work,” she said.
Lammy says climate change more of a threat than terrorism or Putin
Wednesday 18 September 2024 06:00
Tom Watling
Massive explosions reported at ammunition depot in Russia
Wednesday 18 September 2024 05:48
Arpan Rai
Huge explosions rocked Russia’s Toropets city this morning, amid reports that an ammunition warehouse was struck by a Ukrainian drone.
Photos and videos shared on social media showed the massive explosion from a distance, as a thick cloud of smoke and flames rose into the sky.
The explosion was also captured today on Nasa’s orbital monitoring Fire Informations and Resource Management System.
“Russian authorities have announced ‘partial evacuation’ of the city of Toropets. The depot can have up to around 30,000 tons of munitions in store,” said Illia Ponomarenko, a Ukrainian journalist and author.
Epic detonations at a Russian munitions depot in the Tver region following yet another Ukrainian drone attack.
— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) September 18, 2024
Russian authorities have announced “partial evacuation” of the city of Toropets.
The depot can have up to around 30,000 tons of munitions in store. pic.twitter.com/z2fC3A2Q10
Wow. Something bad happened overnight to ammo depots in Toropets.#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/X0ZgQqVjpN
— olexander scherba (@olex_scherba) September 18, 2024
Casualties in Ukraine war 'reach one million'
Wednesday 18 September 2024 05:05
Arpan Rai
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has killed or injured roughly one million people on both sides of the conflict, according to fresh estimates based on Western intelligence.
While there are no precise tolls available and neither Russia nor Ukraine publicly reveals how many losses they have suffered, the Wall Street Journal collated the latest estimates to show the total casualties had passed the million mark.
Ukraine is believed to have had 80,000 troops killed and 400,000 wounded, according to a confidential estimate produced by Kyiv earlier this year.
Russian casualties have varied in Western intelligence estimates but its dead are expected to number nearly 200,000 and wounded to be around 400,000, the WSJ report added.
In July, leaked Pentagon estimates of Russian losses were reported to be even greater, with the highest estimate for the number of killed, injured or captured troops up to 728,000.
Putin boosts troop numbers as Russia launches masive airstrike
Wednesday 18 September 2024 05:00
Tom Watling
Ukraine investigating captured soldier’s 'execution by sword'
Wednesday 18 September 2024 04:44
Arpan Rai
Ukraine has opened an investigation into the alleged killing of captured prisoner of war by sword, the prosecutor general’s office said.
Andriy Kostin, the prosecutor general, shared a blurred image from the footage where a Ukrainian POW with taped hands is seen.
“Another act of barbarism by the aggressor state. Footage of an alleged execution by sword of an unarmed Ukrainian serviceman with taped hands is spreading on the web. Preliminarily, the crime was committed in Novohrodivka, Donetsk region,” Mr Kostin said in the post.
“The footage shows the Ukrainian servicemember clearly disarmed, wearing no protective equipment, and with remnants of duct tape around his wrists, suggesting that Russian forces captured, disarmed, and forcibly detained the servicemember,” the Institute for the Study of War said.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said it was looking into a social media post showing images of an apparent execution. “Criminal proceeding have been initiated regarding the violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine),” Mr Kostin said.
Russian region suspends schools after Ukrainian drone strike
Wednesday 18 September 2024 04:26
Arpan Rai
Schools and kindergartens were cancelled this morning in parts of Russia’s Tver region, local administration said in a statement that followed reports of a Ukrainian drone attack on the region.
“Dear residents! Kindergartens and schools are suspended for today!!!” the administration of the Zapadnodvinsky district in Tver said on the social Vkontatke network.
It did not explicitly specify why the schools were suspended. The district borders the Toropetsky district, where officials said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked fire and forced partial evacuation of the town of Toropets.
Russia claims Ukrainsk in east Ukraine captured
Wednesday 18 September 2024 04:09
Arpan Rai
Russian forces claimed they have captured the Ukrainian town of Ukrainsk in the eastern Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian town was encircled by the Russian forces earlier this month during their advance towards Pokrovsk.
“Ukrainsk is ours,” said Yuri Podolyaka, an Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, adding that Russian forces had taken the city “almost intact” allowing them to use it as a base for further offensive operations.
Russian forces raised their flag on a mine ventilation shaft on the outskirts of the town, which had a population of over 10,000 before the war broke out, an unidentified source from the Russian military said.
No mention of the loss of Ukrainsk was made by Ukraine’s General Staff in its late evening report. They referred to it as one of several places under Russian attack. It said 34 assaults had been recorded near the town of Pokrovsk.
Mapped: The Russian targets Ukraine could hit with long-range missiles
Wednesday 18 September 2024 04:00
Tom Watling
Ukraine targets western Russia with drones
Wednesday 18 September 2024 03:59
Arpan Rai
Here’s what has happened in the early hours in Russia:
Ukraine launched a series of drones overnight targeting several western Russian regions, local governors said this morning, adding there was no damage or casualties.
At least seven Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the western Smolensk region, Vasily Anokhin, governor of the region that borders Belarus, said on Telegram.
One drone was destroyed by Russia’s air defence units over the Oryol region, governor Andrei Klychkov said on Telegram.
At least 14 of Ukraine’s attack drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region, governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.
Kyiv says the strikes targeted Russia’s military, energy and transport infrastructure key to Moscow’s war efforts.
Russia-Ukraine War in Maps: Where are the frontlines now?
Wednesday 18 September 2024 03:00
Tom Watling
Ukraine will use UK long missiles against Russia, says ex-Army boss
Wednesday 18 September 2024 02:00
Tom Watling
