Category Archives: Ukraine

'A very reckless move. It will destroy all interstate relations between our countries'

Russia's former president and current deputy chairman of the countrys Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said Monday that Israeli arms supplies to Ukraine would destroy ties with Moscow.

Israel seems to be going to supply weapons to the Kyiv regime. A very reckless move. It will destroy all interstate relations between our countries, Medvedev wrote in a Telegram post, accusing Ukraine of praising "Nazi" heroes.

"If they are supplied with weapons then it is time for Israel to declare (Stepan) Bandera and (Roman) Shukhevych their heroes," he added, referring to Ukraine's nationalist leaders of the 1940s-1950s.

Earlier on Monday, Israel's Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai said on Twitter that due to Iran reportedly transferring ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the Ukraine war, "there is no longer any doubt where Israel should stand in this bloody conflict."

"The time has come for Ukraine to receive military aid as well, just as the USA and NATO countries provide," he wrote.

Earlier on Monday, Russia launched a series of strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital of Kyiv, killing at least one and wounding three civilians, according to the city's mayor. Ukrainian officials said the strikes that left hundreds of towns without electricity were carried out using suicide drones reportedly supplied to Russia by Iran.

Despite Tehran repeatedly denying providing Moscow with weapons intended for use in the Ukraine war, US media reported on Sunday that Iran secretly agreed to increase its arms supplies to Russia, including more drones and ballistic missiles.

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Israel Giving Arms To Ukraine Will 'destroy' Ties With Russia - Official - I24NEWS - i24NEWS

Following the massive Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure targets on October 10 and 11, the US decided to rush NASAMS (National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) air defense missile system to Ukraine. Many reports suggest that Kyiv could get NASAMS by the end of the month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is upbeat about the impending arrival of the NASAMS, just as he was upbeat when other Western weapon systems arrived in the past, such as Stringer, Starstreak, Switchblade, M777, HIMARS, Harpoons, HARM, etc.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told the press on October 12 that the US is speeding up the shipment of sophisticated NASAMS air defenses to Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly used ground, air, and sea-launched cruise missiles to attack infrastructure, command & control center targets in Western Ukraine.

Terrain-hugging cruise missiles are difficult to detect and even more challenging to engage. They dont fly straight to the target; they are routed through waypoints chosen to skirt enemy AD systems (radars, missile batteries, MANPADS) and confuse the defender about the eventual target.

The most effective and reliable defense against cruise missiles is a short-range target AD system like the Israeli SPYDER, Russian Pantsir, US NASAMS, and Indias QR-SAM.

The NASAMS uses the AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles adapted for ground launch. When launched from a fighter, the AMRAAM has high energy (speed & height) on launch. When launched from the ground, the AMRAAM has no energy on launch.

It has to climb and accelerate, expending its rocket motor fuel. As such, the range of the system is limited to around 30 kilometers. The system has no area defense capability.

The NASAMS is a point defense system developed to defend high-value targets. It is deployed around Washington, and at one point, India was set to deploy it around Delhi. (The Delhi deal likely fell through when MoD put missile systems on the import ban list.)

The NASAMS-2 variant, likely to be supplied to Ukraine, has a Link-16 data link. What that means is that the system needs no surveillance radar. It can be cued towards the target over a data link by an airborne surveillance asset.

To understand the significance of the Link-16 data link on NASAMS, we need to move a bit aside from the narrative.

The US and the UK have deployed airborne ISR assets to monitor Ukrainian territory and airspace. Aircraft participating in the 247 surveillance include:

USAF E-3 Sentry AWACS to monitor the airspace over Ukraine

USAF E-8 JSTARS for ground surveillance, battle management, and command and control aircraft

US Navy P-81 for SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) & Optical reconnaissance. (Remember how the IN Navy used its P-8I assets to monitor the PLA build-up in 2020, flying along the LAC),

US Army RC-12, for SIGINT

RQ-4D Phoenix for high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor-based surveillance. (The RQ-4D can survey as much as 40,000 square miles (100,000 sq kilometers) of terrain per day, an area the size of South Korea or Iceland.)

USAF RC-135S Cobra Ball to collect optical and electronic data on ballistic targets.

RC-135U Combat Sent to collect technical intelligence on adversary radar emitter systems

RC-135V/W for theatre lever SigInt. (Its sensor suite allows the mission crew to detect, identify and geolocate signals throughout the electromagnetic spectrum.)

During a media briefing on May 5, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby confirmed the US was providing battlefield intelligence to help Ukrainians defend their country.

US ISR assets patrolling close to Ukraine are the single reason Ukraine is holding out against Russia. The assets provide Ukraine with a clear picture of the location of Russian forces and the deployment of Russian ground assets.

Using data from the ISR assets, Ukraine has been able to find gaps in Russian defenses and exploit them. The recent Ukrainian successes in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions wouldnt have been possible without US ISR assets.

US E-3 Sentry likely detects and tracks Russian cruise missiles shortly after they enter Ukrainian airspace. Until now, Ukrainian ground-based AD weapons have not effectively leveraged the E-3s ability to stream real-time targeting data on aerial threats to Ukrainian AD systems, which are not built to NATO standards.

When the NASAMS and German IRIS-T systems arrive, Ukraine can leverage the data streamed by E-3 aircraft over data links.

Battles and wars are often won by outwitting the enemy, not by outfighting him. Outwitting the enemy requires good intelligence. Thanks to US ISR assets, Ukraine has good intelligence.

Russias intelligence-gathering capability, in comparison, is minimal. Its Tu-214R reconnaissance & SIGINT aircraft is roughly equivalent to the RC-135. However, Russia is known to have just 1-2 such operational aircraft. As such, they are incapable of maintaining a 247 vigil.

In addition, Russia uses Mi-8MPTR helicopters for intelligence gathering and EW. However, these are not theatre-level assets. Using them, Russia can best monitor Ukraines movements in East Ukraine.

However, given how Ukraine surprised Russia with its counter-offensive in Kharkiv, it can be easily concluded that Russian electronic eavesdropping capability in play is limited.

With its limited defense budget, Russia cannot afford a capability matching the US. Consequently, it has invested in developing long-range air and ground-based missiles that can take out adversary ISR assets.

The RVV-BD is one such missile. It has a range of 300 kilometers, weighs 500-kilogram, and features a 60-kilogram warhead! The missile combines data-link and inertial navigation for midcourse guidance. For terminal guidance, it uses jam-proof DRFM active radar homing. During the endgame, the missile is capable of 8g maneuvering flying at 6M!

As things stand, Russia is not attacking US/UK ISR assets because they are not flying in Ukrainian airspace, but that would change if NATO crosses a Russian red line.

NASAMS will no doubt increase Russian cruise missile losses. But since the NASAMS is a short-range system and infrastructure, command & communication targets are many, a considerable number of NASAMS would be required.

In some ways, the NASAMS sale is a US honeytrap. The system is very attractive but expensive. Once Ukraine invests in the system, it will have to keep increasing its investment to secure more and more assets.

NASAMS is likely being acquired to protect Ukrainian leadership and strong command and control centers, not infrastructure targets.

In the face of NASAMS deployment, likely, Russia will increasingly use a ballistic missile or Geran-2 suicide drones to hit infrastructure targets protected by NASAMS and IRIS-T. The Geran-2 drone has proved to be the joker in the pack.

Its slow-moving but very low observable due to its small size, radar frequency, low observable shaping, and near absence of heat signature. If Russia can ramp up Geran-2 production to between 10-20 units a day, the Geran-2 will prove a game changer, NASAMS or no NASAMS.

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Game Changing NASAMS Are On Their Way To Ukraine. Is Russia Running Out Of Options Or Has A Plan B? - EurAsian Times

Russian soldiers have shot dead a Ukrainian musician in his home after he refused to take part in a concert in occupied Kherson, according to the culture ministry in Kyiv.

Conductor Yuriy Kerpatenko declined to take part in a concert intended by the occupiers to demonstrate the so-called improvement of peaceful life in Kherson, the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page.

The concert on 1 October was intended to feature the Gileya chamber orchestra, of which Kerpatenko was the principal conductor, but he categorically refused to cooperate with the occupants, the statement said.

Kerpatenko, who was also the principal conductor of Khersons Mykola Kulish Music and Drama Theatre, had been posting defiant messages on his Facebook page until May.

The Kherson regional prosecutors office in Ukraine has launched a formal investigation on the basis of violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder. Family members outside Kherson lost contact with the conductor in September, it said.

Condemnation by Ukrainian and international artists was swift. The history of Russia imposing a comply or die policy against artists is nothing new. It has a history which spans for hundred of years, said the Finnish-Ukrainian conductor Dalia Stasevska, who was scheduled to conduct the Last Night of the Proms at Londons Albert Hall last month before it was cancelled because of the Queens death.

I have seen too much silence from Russian colleagues, she said. Would this be the time for Russian musicians, especially those living and working abroad, to finally step up and take a stand against the Russian regimes actions in Ukraine?

A fortnight ago Stasevska drove a truck of humanitarian supplies into Lviv from her home in Finland, before conducting the INSO-Lviv orchestra in a concert of Ukrainian contemporary music.

We know the Russian regime is hunting activists, journalists, artists, community leaders, and anyone ready to resist the occupation, said the prizewinning Ukrainian novelist turned war crimes investigator Victoria Amelina.

Yet, even knowing the current pattern and history, we cannot and, more importantly, shouldnt get used to hearing about more brutal murders of a bright, talented, brave people whose only fault was being Ukrainian.

She drew a parallel between Kerpatenko and Mykola Kulish, the Ukrainian playwright after whom the theatre where the conductor worked is named.

Kulish was shot on 3 November 1937, near Sandarmokh, with 289 other Ukrainian writers, artists and intellectuals. Yuriy Kerpatenko was shot in his home in Kherson in October 2022, she said.

The Russians actions were pure genocide, said the conductor Semyon Bychkov from Paris, where he was performing as music director of the Czech Philharmonic. The St Petersburg-born conductor left Russia as a young man in the 1970s.

The tragic irony of this is that talk about the superiority of Russian culture, its humanism, he said. And here they murdered someone who is actually bringing beauty to peoples lives. It is sickening.

The bullets dont distinguish between people. It didnt make me feel worse that this man was a conductor, it just confirmed the pure evil thats been going on even before the first bombs fell on Ukraine.

The novelist Andrey Kurkov, author of Death and the Penguin, said: Now the name of Yuriy Kerpatenko will be added to the list of murdered artists of Ukraine. I increasingly think that Russia is not only seeking to occupy Ukrainian territories, but also diligently destroying Ukrainian identity, an important part of which is Ukrainian culture.

Ukrainian author Oleksandr Mykhed, who joined the military at the outbreak of the war, and whose home was destroyed by Russian shelling, said: Russia is trying to reconstruct the Soviet Union in the occupied territories. To reconstruct something improbable.

One of the key components of Soviet policy was the destruction of culture of the enslaved countries. Murder of cultural figures, purging of libraries, banning of national languages.

The modern occupiers are fully following this strategy. Destroying culture, sports, education.

And when our territories are deoccupied, we will learn about dozens and hundreds of such terrible stories. Stories of destruction and heroic resistance.

It is absolutely terrifying, said chief stage director of Kyivs National Opera of Ukraine, Anatoliy Solovianenko. Whether he was a doctor, or a worker, or an artist, it makes no difference. He was a human, and he refused to comply.

The rest is here:

Russian troops kill Ukrainian musician for refusing role in Kherson concert - The Guardian

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine -- Regions of southern Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed saw more heavy fighting Saturday as Ukrainian soldiers pressed a ground campaign to recapture one, and Russian forces fired long-range missiles and deployed Iranian-made drones in another.

And even as the fighting raged in Ukraine, two volunteer soldiers fired at other troops during target practice in western Russia, killing 11 and wounding 15 others, before getting killed. The Russian Defense Ministry called the shooting a terror attack and it underlined the challenges stemming from a hasty mobilization ordered by Putin.

A missile strike also seriously damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine's capital region, the country's grid operator said. Following mounting setbacks, the Russian military has worked to cut off power and water in far-flung populated areas while also fending off Ukrainian counterattacks in occupied areas.

Dmytro Pocishchuk, a hospital medic in the Zaporizhzhia region's capital who has treated dozens of people wounded during Russian attacks in recent weeks, said people sought safety outdoors or in his building's basement when the familiar blasts started at 5:15 a.m. Saturday.

If Ukraine stops, these bombings and killings will continue. We cant give up to the Russian Federation," Pocishchuk said several hours later. He put a small Ukrainian flag on the broken windshield of his heavily damaged car.

Russia has lost ground in the nearly seven weeks since Ukraine's armed forces opened their southern counteroffensive. This week, the Kremlin launched what is believed to be its largest coordinated air and missile raids since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said the missile that hit a power site Saturday morning didn't kill or wound anyone. Citing security, Ukrainian officials didn't identify the site, one of many infrastructure targets the Russian military tried to destroy after an Oct. 8 truck bomb explosion damaged the bridge that links Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Ukrainian electricity transmission company Ukrenergo said repair crews were working to restore electricity service, but warned residents about further possible outages. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office, urged residents of the capital and three neighboring regions to conserve energy.

Putin may hope that by increasing the misery of the Ukrainian people, President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy may be more inclined to negotiate a settlement that allows Russia to retain some stolen territory in the east or Crimea, said Ian Williams, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy organization based in Washington. A quick look at history shows that the strategic bombing of civilians is an ineffective way to achieve a political aim.

This week's wide-ranging retaliatory attacks, which included the use of self-destructing explosive drones from Iran, killed dozens of people. The strikes hit residential buildings as well as infrastructure such as power stations in Kyiv, Lviv in western Ukraine, and other cities that had seen comparatively few strikes in recent months.

Putin said Friday that Moscow didn't see a need for additional massive strikes but his military would continue selective ones. He said that of 29 targets the Russian military planned to knock out in this weeks attacks, seven werent damaged and would be taken out gradually.

The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, interpreted Putin's remarks as intended to counter criticism from pro-war Russian bloggers who largely praised the resumption of strikes against Ukrainian cities, but warned that a short campaign would be ineffective."

In the Zaporizhzhia region, Gov. Oleksandr Starukh said the Russian military carried out strikes with kamikaze drones from Iran and long-range S-300 missiles. Some experts said the Russian militarys use of the surface-to-air missiles may reflect shortages of dedicated precision weapons for hitting ground targets.

The neighboring Kherson region, one of the first areas of Ukraine to fall to Russia after the invasion and which Putin also illegally designated as Russian territory last month, remained the focus of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Kyiv's army has reported recapturing 75 villages and towns there in the last month, but said the momentum had slowed, with the fighting settling into the sort of grueling back-and-forth that characterized Russia's months-long offensive to conquer Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

On Saturday, Ukrainian troops attempted to advance south along the banks of the Dnieper River toward the regional capital, also named Kherson, but didn't gain any ground, according to Kirill Stremousov, a deputy head of the occupied region's Moscow-installed administration.

The defense lines worked, and the situation has remained under the full control of the Russian army, he wrote on his messaging app channel.

The Kremlin-backed local leaders asked civilians Thursday to leave the region to ensure their safety and to give Russian troops more maneuverability. Stremousov reminded them they could evacuate to Crimea and cities in southwestern Russia, where Moscow offered free accommodations to residents who agreed to leave.

Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman, said the military destroyed five crossings on the Inhulets River, another route Ukraine's fighters could take to progress toward the Kherson region.

Konashenkov claimed Russian troops also blocked Ukrainian attempts to make inroads in breaching Russian defenses near Lyman, a city in the annexed Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine that the Ukrainians retook two weeks ago in a significant defeat for the Kremlin.

Amid the fighting, two volunteer soldiers from an unnamed ex-Soviet nation who joined the Russian army fired on other soldiers during target practice at a firing range in the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine and were killed by return fire, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

The shooting comes amid a mobilization ordered by Putin to beef up Russian forces in Ukraine a hasty and poorly-executed move that triggered protests and caused hundreds of thousands to flee Russia.

Putin said on Friday that more than 220,000 reservists already had been called up as part of an effort to recruit 300,000.

To the north and east of Kherson, Russian shelling killed two civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Gov. Valentyn Resnichenko said. He said the shelling of the city of Nikopol, which is located across the Dnieper from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, damaged a dozen residential buildings, several stores and a transportation facility.

Fighting near the nuclear plant, Europe's largest, has been an ongoing concern during the nearly eight-month war. The power station temporarily lost its last remaining outside electricity source twice in the past week, fueling fears the reactors could eventually overheat and cause a catastrophic radiation leak.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi reported that such fears were somewhat eased late Friday, because Ukrainian engineers had managed after several weeks to restore backup power lines that can serve as a buffer" in case of further war-related outages.

Working in very challenging conditions, operating staff at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant are doing everything they can to bolster its fragile offsite power situation," Grossi said. "Restoring the backup power connection is a positive step in this regard, even though the overall nuclear safety and security situation remains precarious.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Ukraine and Russia work to gain advantage in annexed regions - ABC News

Katie-Jo Page sits in a room she has prepared for Mykyta, a Ukrainian boy her family was in the process of adopting, in Snohomish, Wash., on Oct 2. Annie Tritt for NPR hide caption

Katie-Jo Page sits in a room she has prepared for Mykyta, a Ukrainian boy her family was in the process of adopting, in Snohomish, Wash., on Oct 2.

KYIV, Ukraine When Katie-Jo and Christian Page decided last winter to host a Ukrainian orphan in their home through the nonprofit Host Orphans Worldwide, adoption wasn't actually on their minds.

"We decided it wasn't something that we were going to be able to do just based on the travel aspects and financial reasons," 30-year-old Katie-Jo Page, from Snohomish, Wash., says.

But then they met Mykyta an 11-year-old with blond hair and lively hazel eyes from the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine. Page describes him as fun, joyful and a "good older brother" to their three young daughters.

The family started the process to adopt Mykyta on the second day of his stay.

"We just felt like he was a part of the family and he was meant to be in our family, so we knew we'd do whatever it took to make it official," she says.

Mykyta went back to Ukraine in January. The initial plan was for him to return to the United States in June for another visit, then they would go to Ukraine and finalize his adoption.

Ukraine had become the leading country from which Americans adopted children, surpassing China in 2020, according to U.S. State Department figures. But then Russia invaded in February, and the Ukrainian government halted all foreign adoptions. That left dozens of American families, such as the Pages, in limbo without a timeline on when they would get to finalize the adoptions and bring the children home.

"That was heartbreaking; there was so much unknown," Page recalls. She says at the beginning, Mykyta had "a lot of questions and he was asking when he was coming home."

Mykyta and the over 100 other children in his orphanage fled on a bus in early March to eastern Poland, where they now live in a fenced-in facility made up of a series of trailers.

The families interviewed for this story asked NPR not to name the organization caring for the orphans for the protection of the children. The organization has not responded to NPR's interview requests.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers with her husband, Doug Rogers, in December 2021. Jennifer Kelly-Rogers hide caption

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers with her husband, Doug Rogers, in December 2021.

Page has visited Mykyta there three times since he was evacuated twice as a volunteer and once as a visitor along with two of her daughters.

"We are very thankful for the location that they're at," she says. "And Poland has been very accommodating, but it's not their home."

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers, another American woman who comes to visit and volunteer, says the place is a little like summer camp. NPR spoke to Kelly-Rogers while she was on her third visit to see Maksym, a 14-year-old from southern Ukraine whom her family was in the process of adopting when Russia invaded. Her family temporarily hosted Maksym in their home in Honeoye, N.Y., also through Host Orphans Worldwide, a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit.

The kids perform daily lessons and activities, Kelly-Rogers, 49, says. They also eat together, play games and celebrate birthdays. But, she says, it's generally an "uncomfortable situation."

"They just can't get the schooling they need and most of the kids there are crying because they want their families," Kelly-Rogers says.

Meanwhile, she says, the facility is struggling financially and the organizers are unsure whether they will be able to afford food and heating; the upcoming winter is particularly concerning.

"It's stressful for everyone and they all need a break," she says.

Daniel Stevens, the executive director of the upstate New York adoption agency Family Connections Inc., works with nearly 30 families who have had their adoption procedures halted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers and Maksym hold hands at the facility in Poland in May. Kelly-Rogers was in the process of adopting 14-year-old Maksym when Russia invaded Ukraine. Jennifer Kelly-Rogers hide caption

Jennifer Kelly-Rogers and Maksym hold hands at the facility in Poland in May. Kelly-Rogers was in the process of adopting 14-year-old Maksym when Russia invaded Ukraine.

He says six of those families including Kelly-Rogers and Page had already finalized their paperwork required by the U.S. government and were ready to submit the necessary documents to Ukraine's central adoption authority. Had the Ukrainian government been processing adoptions, the families would have then been officially matched with the children and the Ukrainian side of the adoption process would have begun.

"So we have families in the United States who have relationships with these kids; these kids feel safe with these families," Stevens tells NPR. "And now they don't really have a caregiver in the sense of someone they can love and trust to tell them it's going to be OK."

He says some families, including Page and Kelly-Rogers, have asked the Ukrainian government for the children to be released to their American would-be parents.

"These families are willing to pay for the costs of the travel, of providing for these kids, and when it is deemed safe for these children to return to Ukraine, these families would return these kids and then finish the adoption process," he says.

They've asked members of Congress for help, Stevens says, but even though 75 lawmakers signed a letter urging movement on the issue, the State Department says adoptions should not proceed amid the war.

Before the conflict, hundreds of children were adopted from Ukraine into the U.S. annually, according to State Department statistics.

Michelle Bernier-Toth, the special adviser for children's issues in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department, which handles intercountry adoptions, says it is normal for countries to stop adoptions during times like this.

"When there is a crisis, be it a war, an invasion or a natural disaster, that is not a time to initiate intercountry adoptions or even domestic adoptions," she says. "Because you don't know if the children who have been separated from family members, do they have parents, do they have families that are looking for them?"

However, Bernier-Toth noted that the department has been working with its Ukrainian counterparts to complete the adoptions that had already been approved by both countries before the war began.

Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy declined an interview with NPR for this story.

Daria Herasymchuk, an adviser to the Ukrainian president on children and child rehabilitation, says Ukraine cannot allow children to go to families it hasn't properly vetted.

"We cannot transfer a child from one dangerous situation to another. We must comply with the entire procedure and do it with caution," she says, noting that orphans evacuated from the country such as Mykyta and Maksym are not refugees and still citizens of Ukraine.

"These children will be returned to the territory of Ukraine ... and the [adoption] procedure will take place here so we can monitor it," Herasymchuk says. "We cannot just send Ukrainian children to the families now and not be able to control it."

Katie-Jo and Christian Page along with their three children Emalyn, Makenna and Kyla (hiding), at their home in Snohomish, Wash., on Oct. 2. Annie Tritt for NPR hide caption

Katie-Jo and Christian Page along with their three children Emalyn, Makenna and Kyla (hiding), at their home in Snohomish, Wash., on Oct. 2.

She assures anxious families that they will not have to start the adoption process over from scratch, but that intercountry adoptions will only resume when the war ends.

For now, parents must wait.

Katie-Jo Page and her family talk to Mykyta three times a day. She says their bond and trust have grown strong over the months.

"He knows that I am working towards getting him home and will do everything I can," she says.

Page is headed back to Poland soon. She says the thousands of dollars and loads of hours she's spent so far on these trips to see Mykyta are worth it.

"I can't imagine not going when I have the opportunity because I don't want Mykyta to lose hope and know how loved he is," she says. "And that we won't give up on him."

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Ukraine had the most adoptions to the U.S. Now families must wait for war to end - NPR

Russian forces will be 'annihilated' if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, says Borrell

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Moscow today that its forces would be annihilated by the wests military response if president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, AFP reports.

At the opening of the Diplomacy Academy in Brussels, Borrell said:

Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the member states, and the United States and Nato are not bluffing neither.

Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg also said Russia faces severe consequences if it launches a nuclear assault on Ukraine.

However the alliance has stopped short of threatening to use its nuclear arsenal to respond as non-member Ukraine is not covered by its self-defence clause.

Updated at 13.25EDT

Key events

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It is coming up to 9pm in Kyiv. Thats it from me, Joe Middleton, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog for today.

Here is a round-up of everything you might have missed:

The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Moscow that its forces would be annihilated by the wests military response if president Vladimir Putin used nuclear weapons against Ukraine, AFP reports. At the opening of the Diplomacy Academy in Brussels, Borrell said: Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian army will be annihilated. The Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, also said Russia faced severe consequences if it launched a nuclear assault on Ukraine.

After retreating about 20km in the north of the Kherson sector in early October, Russian forces are likely to be attempting to consolidate a new frontline west from the village of Mylove, according to British intelligence. Heavy fighting continues along this line, especially at the western end, where Ukrainian advances mean Russias flank is no longer protected by the Inhulets River, the latest UK Ministry of Defence report reads.

The Moscow-installed head of Ukraines southern Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, has urged residents to leave the area and asked Russia to help evacuate people.

Just hours later Russia confirmed it would evacuate residents from Kherson. The Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said on state television: The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country. We will provide everyone with free accommodation and everything necessary.

Ukraines state emergency service said a 12-year-old boy had been rescued after hours under rubble, after rockets hit a five-story residential building in Mykolaiv.

Ukraines power grid has been stabilised after Russian strikes on the country that in particular targeted energy infrastructure, causing power and hot water cuts, the national energy operator Ukrenergo said Thursday.

A residential building in the southern Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border was hit Thursday in shelling by Kyivs forces, the city governor said today. Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, denied Kyivs military was responsible and said Russia had tried to shell Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv on the border but something went wrong.

Russia said it had summoned diplomats from Germany, Denmark and Sweden to complain that representatives from Moscow and Gazprom had not been invited to join an investigation into ruptures of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Russia will obviously not recognise the pseudo-results of such an investigation unless Russian experts are involved, the foreign ministry said.

Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, did not discuss ways to resolve the conflict in Ukraine at their bilateral meeting on Thursday, the state-run RIA news agency reported, citing the Kremlin.

The UN general assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russias annexation of parts of Ukraine as 35 nations abstained including China, India, South Africa and Pakistan. The resolution condemns the organisation by the Russian Federation of so-called referendums within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation announced last month of four regions by Russia president Vladimir Putin.

Russias foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, told Russian television Thursday that the vote was anti-Russian and that the west had used methods of diplomatic terrorism against developing countries in order to force them to vote. He dismissed US claims that Washington did not persuade anyone to vote.

Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine currently had only 10% of what it needed in terms of air defences.

The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said that Russia would run out of supplies and armaments before the west did. He said procurement processes were in place among allies in the west that would ensure that the international community could continue arming Ukraine for years ahead.

The admission of Ukraine to Nato could result in a third world war, the deputy secretary of the Russian security council, Alexander Venediktov, told Russian state Tass news agency in an interview on Thursday.

Updated at 14.12EDT

Daniel Boffey reports for us from Kyiv:

Moscow has announced it will evacuate Kherson after an appeal from the Russian-installed head of the region, raising fears the occupied city at the heart of the south Ukrainian oblast will become a new frontline.

Marat Khusnullin, a Russian deputy prime minister, told state television on Thursday that residents would be helped to move away from the region in south Ukraine, which remains only partly occupied by invading troops due to a successful Ukrainian counterattack in recent months.

The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country, Khusnullin said.

The development followed a public request on the social media platform Telegram by Volodymyr Saldo, a former mayor of the port city, who was installed in April by the Russian forces as head of the wider Kherson region.

Read more: Russia announces Kherson evacuation, raising fears city will become frontline

Updated at 13.48EDT

Simon Smith is chair of the steering committee of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, and they write for us to argue that Putins latest campaign stems from desperation:

The Russian missile strikes on Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine over the past two days have opened a further deplorable chapter in Russias aggression against the country.

Yet we need to resist seeing it as a shocking new moment in Russias assault.

Each additional death brings new personal tragedy and heartbreak. But, in many respects, the wrecking of civilian lives and infrastructure is not new.

Its what millions of Ukrainians have been bravely living with for months.

These strikes and those that may well follow are more of the same: entirely in line with the vindictiveness and indifference to civilian suffering with which Ukrainians have become familiar over eight years under Russian attack.

Read more here: First Nazis, now terrorists: Putins latest campaign stems from desperation

Updated at 12.58EDT

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the Ukrainian Presidency, has tweeted a picture and footage of 20 newly-released prisoners of war.

As we reported earlier, Ukraine and Russia said 20 soldiers on both sides had been released as part of a prisoner exchange, 40 soldiers in all.

In a follow-up post, Yermak said that 14 of the returned soldiers were from the Ukrainian armed forces, four were from the territorial defence forces, one from the national guard and one from the navy.

Updated at 12.50EDT

Russia said today it will evacuate residents from the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson after a plea from a Kremlin-backed official, AFP reports.

The Russian deputy prime minister Marat Khusnullin said on state television:

The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country.

We will provide everyone with free accommodation and everything necessary.

As we reported earlier Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of the Kherson administration, posted a video on Telegram urging people to leave the region due to missile attacks.

He directly addressed Russian authorities and asked them to help organise this work.

The plea is a possible sign that Ukraines counteroffensive is continuing to make inroads in the south of the country.

It comes just a day after Kyiv said it had retaken five settlements in Kherson.

Kherson is one of the four regions in Ukraine that Moscow recently claimed to have annexed.

Updated at 13.15EDT

Young Ukrainians from Kyiv are organising repair together weekends to help villages devastated by Russian occupation by cleaning up and rebuilding homes for free.

Tetiana Burianova was traveling in Peru when the war broke out and rushed back to Ukraine to help out in any way she could. With her friends, she began collecting donations and organising repair events that now attract hundreds of young people from cities each weekend.

The Guardians Christopher Cherry reports from a liberated village where he meets locals finding it impossible to forgive a brutal occupation, and volunteers determined to build a better Ukraine amid the ruin.

Updated at 12.39EDT

Maksym Kozytsky, the head of the regional military administration in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said today that Russia launched six rockets in the region.

He said that Ukraines air defence forces shot down four of them, but two of the rockets hit a target.

Kozytsky did not specify what was struck by the bombardment or if there were any casualties.

In a post on his Twitter and Telegram accounts, he said:

Today, the enemy launched 6 rockets on the territory of Lviv region. Unfortunately, there are two hits. Four rockets were shot down by soldiers of the Zahid PvK. Thanks to our air defence for the highly professional work.

Updated at 11.52EDT

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Moscow today that its forces would be annihilated by the wests military response if president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, AFP reports.

At the opening of the Diplomacy Academy in Brussels, Borrell said:

Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the member states, and the United States and Nato are not bluffing neither.

Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg also said Russia faces severe consequences if it launches a nuclear assault on Ukraine.

However the alliance has stopped short of threatening to use its nuclear arsenal to respond as non-member Ukraine is not covered by its self-defence clause.

Updated at 13.25EDT

After retreating around 20km in the north of the Kherson sector in early October, Russian forces are likely attempting to consolidate a new front line west from the village of Mylove, according to British intelligence. Heavy fighting continues along this line, especially at the western end where Ukrainian advances mean Russias flank is no longer protected by the Inhulets River, the latest UK Ministry of Defence report reads.

The Moscow-installed head of Ukraines southern Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, has urged residents to leave the area and asked Russia to help evacuate people.

Ukraines state emergency service said a 12-year-old boy has been rescued after hours under rubble after rockets hit a five-story residential building in Mykolaiv.

Ukraines power grid has been stabilised after Russian strikes on the country that in particular targeted energy infrastructure, causing power and hot water cuts, the national energy operator Ukrenergo said Thursday.

A residential building in the southern Russian city of Belgorod near the Ukraine border was hit Thursday in shelling by Kyivs forces, the city governor said today. Mykhaylo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, denied Kyivs military was responsible and said Russia had tried to shell Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv on the border but something went wrong.

Russia said it had summoned diplomats from Germany, Denmark and Sweden to complain that representatives from Moscow and Gazprom had not been invited to join an investigation into ruptures of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Russia will obviously not recognise the pseudo-results of such an investigation unless Russian experts are involved, the foreign ministry said.

Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, did not discuss ways to resolve the conflict in Ukraine at their bilateral meeting on Thursday, the state-run RIA news agency reported, citing the Kremlin.

The United Nations general assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russias annexation of parts of Ukraine as 35 nations abstained including China, India, South Africa and Pakistan. The resolution condemns the organisation by the Russian Federation of so-called referendums within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation announced last month of four regions by Russia president Vladimir Putin.

Russias foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, told Russian television Thursday that the vote was anti-Russian and that the west had used methods of diplomatic terrorism against developing countries in order to force them to vote. He dismissed US claims that Washington did not persuade anyone to vote.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine currently only has 10% of what it needs in terms of air defences.

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said that Russia will run out of supplies and armaments before the west does. He said procurement processes were in place among allies in the west that will ensure that the international community will be able to continue arming Ukraine for years ahead.

The admission of Ukraine to Nato could result in a third world war, the deputy secretary of the Russian security council, Alexander Venediktov, told Russian state Tass news agency in an interview on Thursday.

Ukraine and Russia say 20 soldiers on both sides have been released as part of a prisoner exchange, 40 soldiers in all, Associated Press reports.

The Russian defence ministry said:

As a result of the negotiation process on the exchange today, 20 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory of Ukraine controlled by the Kyiv regime.

Ukraine also said its 20 soldiers have been freed from captivity in Olenivka, in the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. They are now undergoing medical checkups.

The head of the Ukrainian presidents office, Andriy Yermak, vowed on Telegram:

We will bring everyone back.

Updated at 10.47EDT

Philip Oltermann reports for us in Berlin:

Europes largest economy is still a teenager when it comes to foreign security policy, the German chancellor Olaf Scholzs chief of staff has said, asking for patience from western allies urging Germany to take a more proactive leadership in its support of Ukraine.

We are getting into a situation that Americans have known for decades: people want us to lead, said Wolfgang Schmidt, a longstanding ally of Scholz who also serves as the political point of contact for the countrys intelligence agencies.

We are in the teenager years in that role, he said, responding to criticism that Berlin has been slow to live up to the Zeitenwende or epochal turn on military and foreign policy Scholz had declared in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Read more: Germany still a teenager on leading foreign security policy, says Scholzs top aide

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Russian forces will be annihilated if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, says senior EU official as it happened - The Guardian

KYIV, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Ukraine has recaptured over 1,170 square kilometres (450 square miles) of land in its southern Kherson region since launching the start of its counter-assault against Russia in late August, a military spokesperson said on Sunday.

Ukraine achieved lightning success with its offensive in the north-east, but its drive in the south to wipe out a Russian foothold on the west bank of the vast Dnipro river has been a longer, more laboured affair.

Southern military command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said that Ukraine was making progress on the Kherson front, but that lots needed to be done to secure newly recaptured territories.

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"Work is continuing on consolidation of territory, clearing it and conducting stabilising operations, as the settlements we enter contain many surprises left by the (Russian) occupiers," she said on Ukrainian national television.

"As of today, from the beginning of the counter-offensive, over 1,170 square kilometres have been liberated in the Kherson direction," Humeniuk said.

Ukrainian officials have long talked up the priority of recapturing Kherson, a flat, agricultural region which Moscow captured in its near-entirety in the early days of its invasion.

Any major territorial losses in Kherson would threaten Russia's supply lines to the strategically significant Crimean peninsula further south, the return of which Kyiv has coveted since its occupation by Russia in 2014.

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Reporting by Max HunderEditing by Raissa Kasolowsky

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Ukraine says it recaptured 1200 sq km of Kherson region in ongoing counteroffensive - Reuters

A City of London body whose members comprise the worlds biggest shipping insurers is embroiled in a row with Ukraines anti-corruption agency over enabling the export of Russian oil, the Guardian can reveal.

The International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs (IGP&I), whose members insure 90% of the worlds ocean-going tonnage, has enraged Ukrainian officials after failing to dissuade its members from insuring the transport of the Russian fossil fuel.

In a letter sent by the countrys National Agency for Corruption Prevention in August, its head had asked for consideration in IGP&Is advice to members of a then recent listing of Greek shipping companies on Ukraines database of international sponsors of war.

The Ukrainian government has tagged five major Greek shipping firms on the database, claiming in its letter that this spring alone the firms had transported 19m tons of Russian oil worth $16bn a third of all the countrys oil exports over those months and equal to the cost of launching 2,350 Kalibr cruise missiles.

The latest figures suggest the total value of oil transported by the Greek shippers now stands at $32bn.

The IGP&I, which acts to pool risks and share information among the insurance companies that comprise its membership, responded nine days later to the agency by knocking back its request, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian.

In his letter, Paul Jennings, the chair of the IGP&I, headquartered on Londons Leadenhall Street, had offered sympathy over Ukraines plight but said Greek shippers were acting lawfully.

To the best of our knowledge, the ship-owning companies you have mentioned in your letter are engaged in trade that has to date remained lawful under European Union, UK and US law, Jennings wrote.

Specifically, under the sixth EU sanctions package there are exemptions to the prohibitions so as to permit some Russian oil cargoes to be transported into the EU and there is also no general prohibition on the transport of Russian oil cargoes to third countries.

Officials in Kyiv contrasted how a similar request from the Ukrainian agency to the London Stock Exchange Group, which runs the world-leading database on financial information known as Refinitiv, did lead to action.

In a letter on 31 August to the agency, Phil Cotter, the head of the data and analytics division at the LSEG, had offered support for the Ukrainian people through this difficult time and confirmed that the World-Check database does cover the Ukraine national agency on corruption prevention [by flagging] international sponsors of war entity names.

Each of the Greek shipping companies transporting Russian oil has been tagged by the LSEG with a notice on their database that they are on the Ukrainian international sponsors of war register and are allegedly financing terrorism.

A letter dated 1 September to IGP&I shows the Ukrainian government agency made a further appeal to the insurers body to take responsibility for avoiding the financing of the Kremlins invasion.

Oleksandr Novikov, the head of the agency, wrote: We do not dispute the legality of their actions and their compliance with the current international sanctions regime. Otherwise, the carriers in question would have been placed on the sanctions list right away (so far they are in the International Sponsors of War category, which is not the same).

Yet, we believe that IGP&I Clubs do have a say in the matter.

Novikov asked the IGP&I Clubs, which are not-for-profit mutuals, to send a message discouraging the members from doing business with Russians or shipping Russian oil, or to at least follow a precedent set in 2020 when it had issued a circular advising about the increasing sanctions pressure faced by companies cooperating with the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipe.

In his response, Jennings said it was likely that a circular would be issued in the future but that discussions over watering down an EU prohibition on the export of Russian oil would probably keep the trade legal.

A subsequent circular issued by the IGP&I Clubs on 11 October, five months after the relevant EU sanctions came into force, advised members there was an extended wind-down period for insurance and reinsurance relating to the transport of Russian products until 5 February 2023.

Officials in the Ukrainian government said that while the LSEG had found a way to help, it appeared that the IGP&I Clubs had been looking for a reason to stay apart and that its advice would merely enable further transports of oil.

Novikov said: Greek shipowners are the first to blame for undermining economic sanctions by moving Russian oil and profiting from the shipment, but they cannot be the only ones worthy of blame.

The companies some of them non-profits that classify, register, and insure ships as well as other actors who appear reluctant to take action, deserve blame too.

It is very disappointing when the debate on transportation is reframed as one of legality. It is not just about hard-law regulations and sanctions any more; there is a need for a great global unity and there is a lot that can be done by private actors, not just governments.

Read more:

London body in row with Ukraine over insuring Russian oil-carrying ships - The Guardian

Provided by The Associated Press USAID Administrator Samantha Power observes drones which were received by local farmers from the USAID on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. The U.S. deployed its international development chief to Ukraine on Thursday, the highest-ranking American official to visit the country since Russia illegally annexed the four regions. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, Pool)

KYIV, Ukraine The head of Ukraines human rights commission says Russian authorities detained hundreds of Ukrainians as they neared Russia's border with Estonia.

Dmytro Lubinets wrote in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday that Russians took them away on trucks to an unknown destination a day earlier. He cited information from Estonias Interior Ministry about the transfers.

Amid Russias war in Ukraine, most of those Ukrainians had fled their country through Russia and Crimea and were seeking ways to enter the European Union Estonia is a member state or find a way to return home, Lubinets wrote.

Some travelers, including women, the elderly, and children, were waiting to cross the Russia-Estonia border in cold, humid weather without proper clothes or food, he said.

Lubinets said he planned to bring up the matter with Russias commissioner for human rights.

He noted that a mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which counts both Russia and Ukraine as members, was expected to meet next week with Ukrainians who had been processed through Russian filtration camps.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

EXPLAINER: Russias military woes mount amid Ukraine attacks

Russian rockets slam into Ukrainian city near nuclear plant

Experts: Russia finding new ways to spread propaganda videos

-- EU agrees on price cap for Russian oil over Ukraine war

Belarus opposition hopeful at Russian setbacks in Ukraine

Ukraine links World Cup host bid to beating horrors of war

Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

___

KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian forces have retaken 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) of territory in the southern Kherson region, so far this month as they continue to push Russian troops back in the south and east, Ukraines southern military command says.

Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian militarys Operational Command South, said in a briefing Thursday that the situation along the southern front was rapidly changing and remained complicated.

Ukraine has recaptured 29 settlements in the oblast since Oct. 1, Oleksii Hromov, deputy chief of the Main Operational Department of the Ukrainian armys General Staff, told a separate briefing.

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BRUSSELS The European Union on Thursday froze the assets of an additional 37 people and entities tied to Russias war in Ukraine, bringing the total of EU blacklist targets to 1,351.

The newly sanctioned people include officials involved in last weeks illegal Russian annexation of and sham referenda in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The latest sanctions, published in the EUs Official Journal, also widen trade bans against Russia and lay the ground for a price cap on Russian oil being prepared with other G-7 members. The new commercial curbs hit an estimated 7 billion euros ($6.9 billion) of EU imports of Russian goods including steel, plastics, textiles and non-gold jewelry.

The wider EU prohibition on exports to Russia covers such products as coal, electronics used in Russian weapons and aircraft components.

-

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Norway on Thursday said that Russian fishing vessels can only call at three Arctic ports ports, and that all Russian vessels arriving at these ports will be checked.

Russian fishing boats only will be allowed in three Arctic ports -- Kirkenes, Troms and Btsfjord.

We now have information which indicates that there is a need to increase the control of Russian fishing vessels, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said.

The recent serious developments with Russias unacceptable annexation of Ukraine, the attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea and increased drone activity, means that the government has further tightened preparedness.

This will make it more difficult to use Russian fishing vessels for illegal activities, for example by circumventing export regulations, Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl added.

In April, the European Union, of which Norway is not a member, banned Russian vessels from entering EU ports. Norway followed suit with the exception of fishing boats, which led to criticism from the Norwegian opposition.

Authorities in Norway, a major oil and gas producer, have reported several drone sightings near offshore installations in the North Sea.

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PRAGUE Czech social media users have shared satirical tweets claiming that the Czech Republic has annexed the Russian territory of Kaliningrad and renamed it Krlovec.

It is a satire on Russias illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories where Kremlin-installed authorities held voter referendums that Ukraine and its allies regard as an illegitimate farce.

Even Slovak President Zuzana Caputova got in on the joke on Thursday, tweeting I might consider a state visit. Or not. Turning serious, she added: Well done our #Czech friends for de-masking the absurdity of #Russias fictitious referendums in #Ukraine.

An anonymous Twitter user in Poland first posted about the fake annexation of Kaliningrad. A Czech member of the European Parliament, Tomasz Zdechovsky, then posted about it. There has since been an explosion of jokes under the hashtags Kralovec and VisitKralovec.

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CANBERRA, Australia Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday it was hard to say whether the risk of nuclear war had increased with his militarys territorial gains, but he remains confident his Russian counterpart would not survive such as escalation in hostilities.

Zelenskyy was addressing the Lowy Institute international think tank in Sydney via video link after Ukraines military retook ground illegally annexed by Russia last week. He questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had enough control over the Russian campaign to direct a tactical nuclear strike.

The Russians found it hard to control everything that is happening in their country, just as theyre not controlling everything they have on the battlefield, Zelenskyy said.

Putin understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable any more to preserve, so to speak, his life, Zelenskyy said, and Im confident of that.

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WARSAW, Poland - Poland is distributing potassium iodide tablets to regional firefighters stations in a pre-emptive measure in case of damage to Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops.

Stored in some 1,500 stations nationwide, the potassium iodide pills would be distributed to Poles in case of real threat, the government said. Deputy interior and administration minister, Blazej Pobozy, has said radioactive contamination is very unlikely.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from Polands eastern border, is Europes largest. It was damaged recently in the fighting with Russian forces.

In 1986, following the accident at Ukraines Chernobyl nuclear power plant many Poles took iodine solution to prevent absorbing radiation.

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WARSAW, Poland Poland is raising its security emergency level for energy infrastructure located outside Polands borders.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki signed the decision Thursday to raise security to the second out of four levels, through November. The decision means that security services need to be especially vigilant and ready to react to any potential terrorist threats.

Poland recently opened a new natural gas pipeline from Norway, the Baltic Pipe, that partly runs on the Baltic seabed. It is helping Poland cut its decades-long dependence on Russian gas.

Last week Russians Nord Stream pipelines suffered leaks in the Baltic Sea caused by explosions, widely believed to be the result of sabotage.

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KYIV, Ukraine The U.S. deployed its international development chief to Ukraine on Thursday, the highest-ranking American official to visit the country since Russia illegally annexed the four regions.

The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Samantha Power, traveled to Kyiv and was holding meetings with government officials and residents. She said the U.S. would provide an additional $55 million to repair heating pipes and other equipment.

Among the sites she visited were a Kyiv neighborhood and school that had previously been hit by Russian missiles.

USAID said the United States has delivered $9.89 billion in aid to Ukraine since February.

A spending bill signed by President Biden last week promises another $12.3 billion in Ukraine-related aid directed both at military and public services needs. Power said Washington plans to release the first $4.5 billion of that funding in the coming weeks.

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KYIV, Ukraine The head of the U.N.s nuclear watchdog is expected to visit Kyiv this week to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since the early part of the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Wednesday declaring that Russia was taking over the six-reactor plant, the largest in Europe.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry called it a criminal act and said it considered Putins decree null and void. The state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said it would continue to operate the plant.

Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, plans to talk with Ukrainian officials about the Russian move.

He will also discuss efforts to set up a secure protection zone around the facility, which has been damaged in the fighting and seen staff including its director abducted by Russian troops.

Grossi will travel to Moscow for talks with Russian officials after his stop in Kyiv.

Original post:

Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War - msn.com

Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom says it may halt gas deliveries to Moldova, Europes poorest country, if it fails to pay its latest bill by Oct. 20 as its contract stipulates.

In a statement Tuesday, Gazprom said it had repeatedly allowed Moldovan national gas supplier Moldovagaz this year to pay its monthly bills with delay, but may not continue that practice.

Gazprom further said it reserved the right to annul completely its 5-year supply contract with the tiny country over its failure to settle its old debts.

The director of Moldovan natural gas supplier Moldovagaz, Vadim Ceban, said his company will make every effort to fulfil its contractual obligation. Moldovagaz has struggled this year to meet its payment commitments to Gazprom after prices under its long-term contract rose sharply.

Separately, Gazprom claims Moldovagaz owes it over 700 million euros for gas deliveries before 2019, over 40% of the sum due to late-payment penalties. Moldovan authorities have asked for an audit to determine the debt.

Moldova has condemned Moscows invasion of Ukraine, its neighbor, and barred its citizens from displaying pro-Russia symbols. But it did not fully join European Union sanctions on Russia for fear of being cut off from Russian gas.

-

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

International experts guess at Putin's nuclear plans

Russian losses evident in city liberated by Ukraine

The AP Interview: Ukraine aims to restart occupied reactors

Frustration with retreat reaches Kremlin-friendly television

10 torture sites in 1 town: Russia sowed pain, fear in Izium

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

Russias defense chief says the countrys military has recruited over 200,000 reservists as part of a partial mobilization launched two weeks ago.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that the recruits were undergoing training at 80 firing ranges before being deployed to the front lines in Ukraine, where Russian forces are on the retreat in some areas.

Story continues

President Vladimir Putin ordered the mobilization on Sept. 21 to beef up his troops in Ukraine.

Shoigu previously said that up to 300,000 reservists were to be called up for service, but Putins order left open the possibility of an even larger recruitment effort. Some Russian media have speculated that the military plans to call up 1 million reservists or more.

The mobilization sparked protests in many areas across Russia and drove tens of thousands of men to flee Russia.

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DAKAR, Senegal Ukraines foreign minister has promised that his embattled country will do all it can to send more grain to Africa.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba began a tour of the continent this week in Senegal. He met with Senegals president, Macky Sall, who is the current chairman of the African Union, on Monday.

Ukraine will be sending boats full of seeds for Africa, Kuleba said said at a joint press briefing with his Senegalese counterpart, Aissata Tall Sall. We will do our best until the last breath to continue exporting Ukrainian grain to Africa and the world for food security.

Many African countries depend heavily on grain imports from Russia and Ukraine. Amid market shortages, Russia has sought to portray the West as the villain, blaming it for rising food prices.

Western leaders, meanwhile, have accused the Kremlin of cynically using food as a weapon and waging an imperial-style war of conquest.

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KYIV, Ukraine The head of the company operating Europes largest nuclear plant says Ukraine is considering restarting the Russian-occupied facility to ensure its safety as winter approaches.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant's reactors in a matter of days.

If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged, he said.

Fears that the war in Ukraine could cause a radiation leak at the Zaporizhzhia plant prompted the shutdown of its remaining reactors. The plant has been damaged by shelling, prompting international alarm over the potential for a disaster.

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BERLIN German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reiterated that, in his view, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine are inviolable.

The sham referendums and the Russian initiative to annex parts of Ukraine are in breach of international law and without value. They are null and void for us, he said during a Tuesday news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

Scholz said Germany and the Netherlands will continue to stand by and support Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression.

He said both countries are training Ukrainian mine removal teams and will continue to work closely to provide weapons to Ukraine, as they have already done with howitzers.

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KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has formally ruled out talks with Russia following its illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories.

Zelenskyys decree released Tuesday declares that holding negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin has become impossible after his decision to annex four regions of Ukraine. The decree enacted a decision by Ukraines National Security and Defense Council to bolster Ukrainian defenses and seek more weapons from the countrys Western allies in response to Moscows move.

Russias upper house of parliament on Tuesday ratified the treaties that make the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine part of Russia. Putin is expected to sign their official adhesion later in the day, completing the annexation.

The Kremlin responded to Zelenskyy by saying that it will wait for Ukraine to sit down for talks on ending the conflict, noting that it may not happen until a new Ukrainian president takes office.

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ANKARA, Turkey Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis has called for the deployment of more weapons from Western allies to Ukraine following the partial mobilization of reserve troops announcement by Russia.

In a video address to a conference in Turkeys capital on Russias war against Ukraine on Tuesday, Perebyinis said the additional weapons would not lead to an escalation but help to end the war sooner.

We need additional long-range artillery and ammunition, combat aircrafts, and armed vehicles to continue the liberation of the occupied territories, the deputy minister said. We need anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense systems to secure our civilians and critical infrastructure from the terrorist attacks on the Russian forces.

Perebyinis said: such assistance doesnt lead to escalation; it will only bring the end of the war closer. The sooner Ukraine receives weapons, the sooner the war will be over and more lives of Ukrainians will be saved.

Western weapons have helped Ukraine launch a counterattack that has forced a Russian retreat from some previously conquered terrain.

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KYIV, Ukraine The city council of Kyiv says it is providing evacuation centers with potassium iodine pills in preparation for a possible nuclear strike on the capital, Ukraines largest city.

Potassium iodine pills can help block the absorption of harmful radiation by the thyroid gland if taken just before or immediately after exposure to nuclear radiation.

The pills will be distributed to residents in areas contaminated by nuclear radiation if there is a need to evacuate, the city council said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he would use all the means at our disposal to win the war while his ground forces retreat from a Ukrainian counterattack.

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KYIV, Ukraine Tesla CEO Elon Musk has proposed his own peace plan for Ukraine that would include a redo of referendums in Russian-occupied regions, triggering a wave of criticism from Ukrainians including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Musk argued Monday that Russia should be allowed to keep Ukraines Crimean Peninsula that it annexed in 2014 and that Ukraine adopt a neutral status, dropping its bid to join NATO. The tech billionaire also argued that the four Ukrainian regions that Russia has just moved to annex following Kremlin-orchestrated referendums denounced by the West as a sham should hold repeat votes organized by the United Nations.

Musk launched a Twitter poll to ask whether those regions should remain part of Ukraine or become part of Russia.

In a sarcastic response, Zelenskyy suggested a Twitter poll of his own: Which Elon Musk do you like more? One who supports Ukraine or One who supports Russia.

And Andrii Melnyk, the outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, responded to Musks proposal with a four-letter word.

Musk replied to Zelenskyy that I still very much support Ukraine, but am convinced that massive escalation of the war will cause great harm to Ukraine and possibly the world.

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WASHINGTON Ukrainian troops are making substantial gains in both the east and south of the country, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War says.

In the east, the institute said, Ukrainian forces pushing from Lyman in the Donetsk region may have gone as far as the border of neighboring Luhansk as they advance eastward toward the city of Kreminna.

The gains in the east and on the southern front around Kherson are noteworthy because Russian troops there were previously considered to be among Russias premier conventional fighting forces, the institute said.

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MOSCOW The upper house of the Russian parliament has ratified the treaties with four Ukrainian regions to absorb them into Russia.

The Federation Council voted quickly Tuesday to endorse the treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia. The vote came a day after the lower house endorsed the pacts following the Kremlin-orchestrated referendums in the four regions that Ukraine and the West have rejected as a sham.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is now expected to quickly sign the ratification treaties to complete the process of absorbing the regions even as intense fighting is raging in those areas.

The move by Russia is seen as an escalation of its war effort since it could interpret attacks by Ukrainian forces in those areas as aggressions on its own territory.

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KYIV, Ukraine Ukraines presidential office says at least five civilians have been killed and another 10 have been wounded in the latest Russian shelling.

It said Tuesday that one person was killed when Russian missiles struck Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city. A doctor was killed and two nurses were also wounded when Russian shelling hit a hospital in the Kharkiv region.

The southern city of Nikopol across the Dnieper River from the Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came under intense shelling that damaged more than 30 houses, a school and several stores. The shelling interrupted water supplies and led to partial blackouts.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War - news.yahoo.com