In recent days, Russia has ordered civilians to leave Kherson in anticipation of a Ukrainian offensive to retake the city, the only regional capital Moscow has captured since its invasion in February. Kherson, with a pre-war population of nearly 300,000, has been left cold and dark after power and water were cut off in the surrounding area for the past 48 hours, both sides said. Officials based in Russia blamed Ukrainian “sabotage” and said they were working to restore electricity. Ukrainian officials said the Russians had dismantled 1.5 kilometers of power lines and power would likely not be restored until Ukrainian forces retook the area. Kyiv has described the evacuation of the area as a forced deportation, a war crime. Moscow says it is evacuating residents for safety. About 100 disabled children were taken from a medical facility in Dnipriany in the Kherson region of the Moscow region, Ukraine’s military said. Patients from a nursing home in Kakhovka were also evacuated and Russian forces are occupying those facilities, it said. IDPs from Kherson leave their old people’s home to move to Crimea in southern Ukraine on Saturday. Russian authorities have encouraged residents of Kherson to leave, warning that the city could come under massive Ukrainian shelling. (The Associated Press)
A tough match is expected
Kherson is located in the only enclave of Russian territory on the west bank of the Dnipro River that bisects Ukraine. Its recapture has been the main focus of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south, which has accelerated since early October. The situation in Kherson could not be independently confirmed. Ukrainian forces near the front line told Reuters they expected a tough battle against Russian troops determined to claim a blood price before they were forced to leave. Ukraine’s military said Russian forces, “disguised in civilian clothes, are occupying civilian facilities and reinforcing positions inside to conduct street battles.” Russian forces “have been involved in looting and theft from residents and infrastructure sites and are transporting equipment, food and vehicles into the Russian Federation,” it said in a briefing late Monday. Moscow denies abusing civilians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that the Donetsk region in the east remains the “epicenter” of fighting, with hundreds of Russians killed every day. The cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka are the focal points of the fiercest fighting in the Donetsk region. WATCHES | Clearance of mines in Eastern Ukraine:
The remote-controlled machine helps to “eat” land mines in Ukraine
Ukrainian crews in the Kharkiv region use a remote-controlled machine to clear mines left behind by retreating Russian forces. The Armtrac 400 is capable of covering 2,400 square meters per hour.
According to information, talks between the US and Russia
On the diplomatic front, both the White House and the Kremlin declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that US national security adviser Jake Sullivan held talks with aides to President Vladimir Putin aimed at reducing the risk of an escalation in war. The war has greatly damaged the global economy and raised fears of nuclear conflict. “We reserve the right to speak directly at senior levels about matters of concern to the United States,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said later, adding that those talks focused “only on risk reduction.” US support for Ukraine will be “unwavering and unwavering” regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s congressional elections, he added. Nataliia Chopova, 69, shows a shelter where she and her husband Oleksandr have been staying nights since July 12 amid continuous Russian military attacks in the Ukrainian city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, on Monday. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters) Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine is ready to negotiate an end to the war with a future Russian leader but not Putin, after a Washington Post report that the United States had urged Kyiv to signal its readiness to peace talks to ensure he retains Western support. . “Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open,” Podolyak said on Twitter, adding that Russia should first withdraw its forces from Ukraine. “Is Putin ready? Apparently not.” Zelensky in his late-night speech on Monday said it was vital to compel Russia to join “genuine” peace talks, describing the country as a destabilizing force on a range of issues, including climate change.
Big setbacks for Moscow
Russia lost all the territory it seized in northern Ukraine in the weeks after the invasion, and in recent months has suffered major setbacks in the east and south. Putin responded to the losses by calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists and announcing the annexation of occupied territories. He said that on Monday 50,000 newly recruited reservists were already fighting in combat units. But as more troops are sent to the front and casualties mount with few new signs of gains, there is growing concern in Russia about the conduct of the war. Russia’s defense ministry took the rare step on Monday of denying that an elite unit had suffered catastrophic casualties in an unprovoked attack after Russian military bloggers published an open letter from surviving members of the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Marine Brigade. In the letter, addressed to Oleg Kozhemyako, commander of the unit’s Pacific Coast base area, the Marines said that in just four days their unit had lost 300 men killed, wounded or missing and half of its equipment. A woman stands in front of a wall commemorating the “fallen defenders of Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war” in central Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. (Bernat Armangue/The Associated Press)
