Russia assured on Monday that it had advanced in three days of three kilometers towards Kupyansk, in the north-east of Ukraine, an area taken over last September by Ukrainian forces and which has been facing a Russian offensive for several weeks. “Over the past three days, Russian soldiers have made an advance in this direction from a depth of more than three kilometers on an 11-kilometer-long stretch of the front,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin. .
According to the same source, this is the area between the villages of Vilchana and Perchotravnevé, northeast of Kupiansk, a city which had some 26 to 28,000 inhabitants before the conflict. Ukraine had admitted in mid-July to be in a “defense position” in the Kupyansk region, the Russian army having launched an offensive there. Since then, Moscow has ensured that it is nibbling on the ground.
The main information:
– Russia says it has advanced three kilometers towards Kupyansk, an area facing a Russian offensive for several weeks
– Woman arrested on suspicion of helping Russia plan an attack on President Volodymyr Zelensky
– Ukraine says it has secured the release of 22 POWs
Two dead in a Russian strike on a building in eastern Ukraine, according to kyiv
At least two people were killed Monday by a Russian strike on a residential building in Pokrovsk, a city in eastern Ukraine, kyiv said. “At the moment, there are two dead: a woman and a man,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak on Telegram messaging. “Four injured were evacuated by ambulance. Rescuers and doctors are at work.”
Zelensky says Russia hit ‘residential building’ in eastern Ukraine, causing ‘casualties’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that Russia struck “an ordinary residential building” in Pokrovsk, a city in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, causing “victims”. “Two missiles hit. An ordinary residential building was hit,” Mr. Zelensky said on X. “Unfortunately, there are casualties. Help (…) is on the spot. The rescue of people continues.”
A stretch where Russia is on the offensive
Kyiv forces began a massive counter-offensive in June to try to retake the eastern and southern territories occupied by the Russian army. Progress so far, however, has been quite limited, with Russia having built strong lines of defense, made up of trenches, anti-tank booby traps and minefields.
The Kupiansk area and most of the Kharkiv region were recaptured from the Russian army last September after a surprise offensive by Ukrainian forces. Today it is one of the rare stretches of the front where Russia is on the offensive.
Ukraine says it foiled Russian attack on Zelensky
Separately, Ukrainian security services (SBU) said on Monday they arrested a woman accused of helping Russia plan an attack on President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. In a statement, the SBU said it had arrested a “Russian secret service informant who was gathering intelligence on the president’s planned visit to the Mykolaiv region”, close to the front line, in view of a “massive air attack “.
According to the same source, this woman who worked in a store on a military base “tried to establish the time and the list of places of the provisional itinerary of the head of state in the region”. The SBU released a blurred photo of the woman, held by officers, along with phone messages and handwritten notes about military activities. Volodymyr Zelensky stressed on Monday on Telegram messaging that the SBU had informed him of this attempted attack and kept abreast of the “fight against traitors” in Ukraine.
“Additional security measures” for the Ukrainian president
The Ukrainian president visited the Mykolaiv region in June after the rupture of the Kakhovka dam, which caused the flooding of large parts of southern Ukraine, and at the end of July after deadly bombardments. In its press release, the SBU specifies that it took “additional security measures” for the visit of Volodymyr Zelensky but did not immediately arrest the woman, “in order to obtain new information about her Russian ‘sponsors’ and the tasks that were assigned to him”.
According to the SBU, she sought in particular to obtain intelligence on the location of electronic warfare systems and Ukrainian ammunition warehouses, then was arrested “in the act” while she tried to pass her information to the Russian secret services. . She is accused of unauthorized dissemination of information on the movement of weapons and troops and faces up to 12 years in prison, said the security services. Ukrainian justice regularly announces the arrest of people living in Ukraine accused of transmitting information to help the Russian army.
Ukraine says it has secured the release of 22 prisoners of war
The Ukrainian presidency announced on Monday the return to Ukraine of 22 prisoners of war, without specifying whether Russians were also released as part of an exchange. “Today (Monday) 22 servicemen returned home from captivity, they are soldiers of the armed forces: two officers, rank and file and sergeants,” said the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration. Andriï Iermak, in a message published on X, the new name of Twitter.
According to him, there are wounded among the released soldiers. However, he did not give any details on the circumstances of their release, but Ukraine and Russia regularly exchange prisoners. kyiv, like Moscow, does not publicly say how many soldiers of the opposite camp they hold, after nearly a year and a half of Russian invasion.
Meeting on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia: Moscow reaffirms that it wants kyiv to surrender
Only the capitulation of Kiev will put an end to the Russian offensive in Ukraine, reaffirmed Monday Moscow, two days after a meeting on the conflict in Saudi Arabia which did not allow progress towards its settlement. “We are convinced that a truly comprehensive, lasting and equitable settlement is only possible if the Kiev regime puts an end to hostilities and terrorist attacks,” said Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova in a statement. communicated.
“The new territorial realities (in eastern and southern Ukraine, editor’s note) must be recognized, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine (…) must be ensured”, she further claimed. , demanding “confirmation” of the “original foundations of Ukraine’s sovereignty: its neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status”. These demands, already made by Moscow when it launched its military offensive in February 2022, had been swept away by kyiv.