Ukraine counteroffensive latest: Putin’s forces pushed again by counteroffensive after ‘largest’ drone strike

President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared to boast concerning the Pskov assault twice a day after Moscow reported tried Ukrainian drone strikes in six Russian areas.

One of the strikes brought on an enormous hearth at a navy air base in Pskov in northern Russia, damaging a number of large navy transport planes on the tarmac.

“The results of our weaponry – new Ukrainian weaponry – 700km away,” he mentioned in his nightly video deal with. “And the task is to do more.”

Ukraine’s Western allies usually forbid Kyiv from utilizing weapons they provide to assault Russian territory, however say Ukraine has a proper to assaults navy targets with its personal weapons.

After months of preventing their manner via heavy minefields, Ukraine’s forces have lastly reached the principle Russian defensive traces in recent days, south of the village of Robotyne, which they captured final week within the Western Zaporizhzhia area.

They at the moment are advancing between the close by villages of Novopokropivka and Verbove, in search of a manner across the anti-tank ditches and rows of concrete pyramids referred to as dragon’s enamel that type Russia’s foremost fortifications seen from area.

A breakthrough would offer the primary check of Russia’s deeper defences, which Ukraine hopes will probably be extra weak and fewer closely mined than areas its troops have traversed to date.

A Ukrainian commander within the space instructed Reuters final week that his males had breached probably the most tough line, reaching much less closely defended areas, and now anticipated to advance extra rapidly. Kyiv not often provides particulars of its offensive operations.

In an announcement yesterday, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar reported unspecified successes close to Novopokropivka, with out giving particulars.

She additionally mentioned Ukrainian forces have been advancing close to Bakhmut, within the east, the one metropolis Russia captured in its personal offensive earlier this yr. Heavy battles have been engulfing villages south of the town, she mentioned.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s floor forces, reported a “positive dynamic” close to Bakhmut.

After months of preventing their manner via heavy minefields, Ukraine’s forces have lastly reached the principle Russian defensive traces in recent days, south of the village of Robotyne, which they captured final week within the Western Zaporizhzhia area.

They at the moment are advancing between the close by villages of Novopokropivka and Verbove, in search of a manner across the anti-tank ditches and rows of concrete pyramids referred to as dragon’s enamel that type Russia’s foremost fortifications seen from area.

A breakthrough would offer the primary check of Russia’s deeper defences, which Ukraine hopes will probably be extra weak and fewer closely mined than areas its troops have traversed to date.

A Ukrainian commander within the space instructed Reuters final week that his males had breached probably the most tough line, reaching much less closely defended areas, and now anticipated to advance extra rapidly. Kyiv not often provides particulars of its offensive operations.

In an announcement yesterday, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar reported unspecified successes close to Novopokropivka, with out giving particulars.

She additionally mentioned Ukrainian forces have been advancing close to Bakhmut, within the east, the one metropolis Russia captured in its personal offensive earlier this yr. Heavy battles have been engulfing villages south of the town, she mentioned.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s floor forces, reported a “positive dynamic” close to Bakhmut.

A Ukrainian MP has urged newly appointed defence secretary Grant Shapps to “personally come to Ukraine” to ascertain good relations.

Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun thought-about Mr Wallace a “friend” of Ukraine and expressed her gratitude for his time as defence secretary after 4 years.

“Ben Wallace is a friend to Ukraine and we very much appreciate everything that he has done,” she mentioned from Kyiv. She has urged Mr Shapps to go to Ukraine to achieve a “better understanding” of the state of affairs.

It comes after Mr Wallace formally resigned from his place yesterday, prompting a mini-reshuffle.

Ukraine has asked critics of the pace of its three-month-old counteroffensive to “shut up”, serving the sharpest rebuke yet of Kyiv’s frustration at leaks from Western officers who say its forces are advancing too slowly.

“Criticising the slow pace of (the) counteroffensive equals … spitting into the face of (the) Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometre of Ukrainian soil after another,” Ukraine’s overseas minister Dmytro Kuleba instructed reporters yesterday.

“I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to liberate one square centimetre by themselves,” he mentioned at a gathering of EU overseas ministers in Spain.

Several US and different Western officers have urged that the grinding warfare’s counteroffensive stage was falling wanting expectations however didn’t select to be quoted on their claims. Some of the officers have pointed holes in Ukraine’s technique and blamed it for concentrating its forces within the unsuitable locations.

In its pushback towards greater than a yr previous Russian invasion, Ukrainian forces have recaptured greater than a dozen villages and has managed to penetrate Russia’s first line of defence.

The counteroffensive has been backed by billions of {dollars} value Western navy gear as nation’s rallied towards Moscow’s unjust warfare on Ukraine.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Thursday his nation has developed a weapon that hit a goal 700 kilometres (400 miles) away, in an obvious reference to the day prior to this’s strike on an airport in western Russia.

Zelensky mentioned on his Telegram channel the weapon was produced by Ukraine’s Ministry of Strategic Industries however gave no different particulars.

On Wednesday, a four-hour wave of drones that Moscow blamed on Ukraine hit an airport close to Russia’s border with Estonia and Latvia, damaging 4 Il-76 navy transport planes, in line with native studies.

The protection ministers of Poland and South Korea held talks in Warsaw Thursday on safety and help for Ukraine in its battle towards Russia’s aggression, in addition to on additional cooperation within the armaments sector.

Poland is buying tens of billions of {dollars} value of weapons and navy gear from South Korea because it upgrades its protection potential with concern rising due to the warfare in neighbouring Ukraine.

The new gear can also be changing that which Poland has given to Ukraine to assist it defend itself towards the Russian invasion.

Samuel Newey, 22, from Solihull within the West Midlands, was “killed in action” on Wednesday in japanese Ukraine, his brother, Daniel Newey, mentioned in a social media put up.

He wrote on Facebook: “I cannot put into words how broken I feel.

“I also cannot emphasise how proud I am of my little brother.”

Ukraine’s forces have pushed again Russian troops in areas of the nation’s south and east as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive – with President Volodymyr Zelensky additionally claiming that his nation has developed a brand new long-range weapon.

The pronouncement by Mr Zelensky that the unnamed weapon reached a goal of greater than 400 miles (700 kilometres) away comes a day after a wave of drone strikes throughout six areas in Russian. Those strikes included an assault that brought on an enormous hearth at a navy air base in Pskov in northern Russia, damaging a number of large navy transport planes on the tarmac. That air base is roughly 400 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Chris Stevenson has the complete story:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres mentioned on Thursday that he had despatched Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “a set of concrete proposals” geared toward reviving a deal that allowed the protected export of Ukrainian grain by way of the Black Sea.

Russia give up the deal in July – a yr after it was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey – complaining that its personal meals and fertiliser exports confronted obstacles and that not sufficient Ukrainian grain was going to nations in want. Guterres’ letter comes forward of a gathering between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan. Two Turkish sources instructed Reuters the pair will meet on Monday and primarily focus on Black Sea grain exports.

The Black Sea grain deal was meant to fight a worldwide meals disaster that the United Nations mentioned had been worsened by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine are each main grain exporters.

“I believe we presented a proposal that could be the basis for a renewal, but a renewal that must be stable,” Guterres instructed reporters, with out elaborating on particulars of the proposal.

“We cannot have a Black Sea initiative that moves from crisis to crisis, from suspension to suspension. We need to have something that works and that works to the benefit of everyone,” he mentioned.

A Russian diplomat, talking on situation of anonymity, instructed Reuters earlier on Thursday “there are no revelations” in Guterres’ letter to Lavrov and that it simply “sums up of previous U.N. ideas, which didn’t fly.” Lavrov mentioned earlier on Thursday, after assembly with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Moscow, that Russia sees no signal that it’s going to obtain the ensures that may permit it to renew the Black Sea grain deal.

Russia has mentioned that if calls for to enhance its personal exports of grain and fertiliser have been met, it will take into account resurrecting the Black Sea settlement. One of Moscow’s foremost calls for is for the Russian Agricultural Bank to be reconnected to the SWIFT worldwide funds system. The EU lower it off in June 2022.