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Russia has widened its strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and is likely to expand its target range further, the British Ministry of Defence has said.
Five civilians were killed in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region over the past day, while in Nikopol several dozen high-rise and private buildings, gas pipelines and power lines were damaged by Russian strikes, the governors of those regions said on Sunday.
In an intelligence update, the MoD said that Russia had launched several thousand long-range missiles against Ukraine since the start of the invasion. “However, in the last seven days Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate effect,” the ministry said.
“As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government.”
It comes after Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that Ukraine risks provoking “more serious” action from Moscow with its sweeping counteroffensive, claiming that “we so far have responded with restraint”.
He vowed to press on with his “special military operation” during his address to reporters after attending a meeting of Asian world leaders, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, in Uzbekistan.
Four medics killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv
Four medics have been killed in Russian shelling of Kharkiv Oblast.
The city’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said the doctors were trying to evacuate patients from a psychiatric hospital in the village of Strilecha when Russian forces began “a massive shelling” of the area.
Two patients were also injured in the attack, he said.
Biden urges Putin against use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine
US President Joe Biden has urged Vladimir Putin to not use nuclear or chemical weapons in Ukraine.
When asked about the Russian president’s potential use of such methods in an interview to air on Sunday, Biden said: “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War Two.”
He added that Russia “would become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been.”
“Depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.”
Grave exhumation in Izyum to continue for weeks
Grave exhumation in Izyum, Ukraine will continue for at least two more weeks.
The city mayor, Valerii Marchenko said that the exhumation works will continue “because there are many burials” in the recently liberated city in Kharkiv Oblast.
Around 450 bodies were found in the mass grave, with some displaying signs of torture according to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenksy.
Russian troop death toll at over 50,000
Over 50,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the ongoing war with Ukraine.
Around 54,480 troops have been killed, according to Ukrainian armed forces.
Over 3,000 vehicles, 2,000 tanks and 200 planes have also been destroyed as of September 18.
Vladimir Putin ‘failing on all of his military objectives’, says UK army chief
Vladimir Putin is “failing on all of his military strategic objectives”, says the UK army’s chief of the defence.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said pressure is mounting on the Russian president as the country’s defence weakens and international support grows for Ukraine.
He told the BBC: “At the very outset, we said that this was a strategic error by President Putin and strategic errors lead to strategic consequences. And in this instance, it’s strategic failure.
“Putin is failing on all of his military strategic objectives, he wanted to subjugate Ukraine, that’s not going to happen.
“He wanted to take control of the capital, we saw that that was defeated earlier on. We saw that he wanted to weaken Nato. Nato is now much stronger, and we have Finland and Sweden joining.
“He wants to break the international resolve. Well, actually that strengthened over this period, and he’s under pressure, his problems are mounting.”
Russia ‘increases attacks on civilian targets’ after military setbacks, UK says
Russia has increased its attacks on civilian targets despite it serving “no immediate military effect” as Vladimir Putin’s forces face setbacks, according to British intelligence.
A statement from the Ministry of Defence on Sunday said Russia has escalated their long-range missile attacks in the last week after reports of forces not having sufficient resources or morale to continue against Ukrainian counterattacks.
Strikes were fired on an electricity grid and a river dam in Kryvyi Rih which caused extensive flooding in the central city.
Read the full story here.
EU calls for war crime tribunal over mass graves in Izyum, Ukraine
The European Union has called for a war crimes tribunal as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said evidence of torture has been found in bodies exhumed in Izyum, eastern Ukraine.
The town was re-seized by Ukrainian forces to which a mass burial site of around 450 graves was found, with some displaying torture evidence.
Jan Lipvasky, foreign minister of the Czech Republic, said on Saturday that Russia’s attacks “against the civilian population are unthinkable and abhorrent.”
“We must not overlook it. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I call for the speedy establishment of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime of aggression.”
Two dead as Russian tank attacks civilian car
Two people have been killed after a Russian tank targeted a civilian car in Kharkiv Oblast, according to Ukrainian media.
City governor Oleh Synyehubov said two women were killed after the tank fired at the car in the village of Strilecha, which borders Russia.
‘We may never find them’: Desperate Ukrainians forced to trawl through dead looking for lost loved ones
In the crude images of frozen grey faces, blood-smeared torsos and the scraps of remains, they look for a flicker of something recognisable: a scar or a ring.
“Twenty hours a day I go through these Telegram channels looking for him,” said Maria, her face gripped by grief.
“We are a community of women who are looking for our loved ones. All of us have to trawl through the photos of the dead. We have to see if they are there.”
The Independent’s Bel Trew writes.
‘We may never find them’: Desperate Ukranains hunt for their loved ones
The Missing: Bel Trew follows families who may never know the fate of their relatives
In an intelligence update, Britain’s Ministry of Defence today said that Russia has laucnhed several thousand long-range missiles against Ukraine since the start of the invasion, but that these have increased in the past week.
“In the last seven days Russia has increased its targeting of civilian infrastructure even where it probably perceives no immediate effect,” the ministry said in the tweet.
The strikes have struck targets including an electricity grid and a dam, it added.
“As it faces setbacks on the front lines, Russia has likely extended the locations it is prepared to strike in an attempt to directly undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government,” the ministry said.
Source Article from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-news-war-latest-russia-invasion-b2169722.html
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