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3m ago
11.32 BST
Summary of the day so far
It’s just
past 1.30pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s where we stand:
Russia’s grip on the city of Kherson appeared
increasingly fragile after a weekend in which all civilians were ordered to
evacuate immediately in the face of the advancing Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said the urgent call
indicated that the occupiers “do not expect a rapid Russian or civilian return”
to the city, and appeared to be trying to depopulate it to damage its
“long-term social and economic viability”.
All men remaining in Kherson have been invited to
join a newly formed local militia. In a notice on Telegram, the occupation
authorities said men had the “opportunity” to join territorial defence units if
they chose to remain in Kherson of their own free will. Compelling civilians to
serve in the armed forces of an occupying power is defined as a breach of the
Geneva Conventions.
A former chief of the British army has said
Russia faces an “inevitable defeat” in Kherson ahead of an expected battle. Gen
Lord Dannatt claimed Vladimir Putin’s troops are attempting to save face to
make their defeat appear “less chaotic”. Dannatt also suggested Russia was
targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as they were “still on the back foot”
on the battlefield.
Concern is also growing that Russia may blow up a
large hydroelectric dam at Nova Kakhovka, upstream from Kherson, which holds
back 18m cubic metres of water. On Friday, Ukrainian defence intelligence
warned that the dam had been mined and that two trucks full of explosives had
been placed on top of its 30m-high walls.
The US has rejected as “transparently false”
Russia’s evidence-free claim that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” on
its own territory as part of an escalation of Vladimir Putin’s war. Secretary
of state Antony Blinken told his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on
Sunday “the world would see through any attempt by Russia to use this
allegation as a pretext for escalation”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy reacted
swiftly to Moscow’s claims, calling for a united international response. “If
Russia calls and says that Ukraine is allegedly preparing something, it means
one thing: Russia has already prepared all this,” Zelenskiy said in a video
address on social media. His foreign minister Kuleba denounced Moscow’s claims
as “absurd” and “dangerous”.
Russia continues to use Iranian uncrewed aerial
vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, against targets throughout Ukraine,
though Ukrainian efforts to defeat the Shahed-136 UAVs are increasingly
successful, the UK Ministry of Defence has determined. Official sources,
including Ukraine’s president Zelenskiy, claim that up to 85% of attacks are
being intercepted, according to the latest British intelligence report.
A Russian fighter jet crashed in Siberia, killing
two crew members. The Su-30 fighter jet came down on a private, two-storey
building housing two families in Irkutsk, a major industrial centre in eastern
Siberia. The crash appears to reflect the growing strain that the fighting in
Ukraine has put on the Russian air force.
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