To divide
Kiev reports partial successes in the south and east of the country. Russia continues to suffer heavy losses. The news about the war in Ukraine.
- from Russia new Nuclear missile: Shoigu assures us that we will be ready for action soon
- losses for Russia: Moscow loses many soldiers and tanks
- The information processed here comes from international media and news agencies, but also from the belligerent parties, Russia, Ukraine and their allies. In particular, information about the losses suffered by the armies involved in the Ukrainian war cannot be independently verified.
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Update October 8, 5:30am: According to information from Kiev, Russian losses have increased significantly in the fighting in southern Ukraine. The Russian occupiers lost 338 fighters and dozens of combat technology units in 24 hours, said the commander of the southern sector of the “Taurien” front, Brigadier General Olexander Tarnavsky. Thus, Ukrainian troops are making progress in the Zaporizhia region. There was “partial success” north of the villages of Kopani and Novoprokopivka, he said.
In this region, Ukrainian troops have been fighting their way through heavily fortified Russian defense lines with minefields, anti-tank barriers and trenches for weeks. The fighting in Kopani and Novoprokopivka suggests that the Ukrainians are expanding their point of penetration into Russian defenses.
In its evening report on the situation, the Ukrainian General Staff reported, among other things, a total of twelve repelled Russian attacks in the Donetsk region in the east of the country. In total, 50 battles took place in the war zone on Saturday.
Ukrainian soldiers aim an anti-aircraft missile at the front line near Klishchyivka, near Bakhmut. © Alex Babenko/dpa
War in Ukraine: attack on Crimea avoided?
Update from October 7th, 10pm: Chechnya’s ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, has come up with an unusual proposal. He called for postponing the next Russian presidential election in 2024. Alternatively, he advocated presenting Russian President Vladimir Putin as the only candidate. According to the Ria Novosti news agency, the war in Ukraine is one of the reasons for Kadyrov’s idea. There is no other person in Russia who can “defend the country”, Kadyrov said at an event marking the Kremlin chief’s 71st birthday attended by 25,000 people in the Chechen capital Grozny. A few weeks ago, Putin announced that he would announce his decision to run for office at the end of the year.
Update October 7th, 9:15 pm: The Russian Defense Ministry claims to have intercepted a Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. This is reported by Ukrayinska Pravda. The Defense Ministry wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces fired at parts of Crimea early Saturday evening “with an S-200 anti-aircraft missile converted into a strike version.” The attack would have been repelled by the Russian air defense system.
Losses for Russia: Attack on Russian authorities – Shoigu announces new nuclear missiles
Update October 7th, 7:14 pm: Russia will soon deploy the new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu threatened to do so during a visit to a weapons factory. The Russian Defense Ministry posted images on Telegram on Saturday showing Shoigu and other military officers at the Kramash factory in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. The Sarmat missiles will be “put into service in the near future,” a ministry statement said.
War in Ukraine: the origins of the conflict with Russia
See series of photos
The long-range missile will become “the basis” of the ground-based weapons systems of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces, Shoigu announced. Sarmat missiles can carry multiple nuclear warheads and are among Russia’s next-generation missiles. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin described them as “invincible”. The Russian president assured on Thursday that the development of Sarmat missiles was almost complete. This “truly unique weapon will strengthen the combat potential of our armed forces and reliably guarantee Russia’s security against external threats,” Putin added.
Heavy losses for Russia: Attack on Russian authorities – Moscow loses dozens of tanks
Update October 7th, 4:47 pm: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the militant Hamas’ major attack on Israel and emphasized the right to self-defense. Terror should have no place in the world because it is not directed against a specific country or person, but against all humanity, Zelenskyy wrote on Facebook on Saturday. “Israel’s right to self-defense is beyond question.” Ukraine has been defending itself against a full-scale Russian invasion for nearly 20 months. A contact point has been created at consular missions for citizens of Ukraine in Israel, he wrote.
Update October 7th, 1:45 pm: An attack took place in the occupied city of New Kakhovka in the Kherson region. According to Ukrainska Pravda, a vehicle carrying a Russian officer was blown up by a bomb. This is said to have been the “local department secretary” of Putin’s United Russia party. According to the Russian news agency Ria Novosti, he is hospitalized in an “extremely serious condition”.
Heavy losses for Russia: Moscow loses dozens of soldiers and tanks
Update October 7th, 11am: The Ukrainian General Staff published current figures on Russia’s losses in the Ukrainian war. According to this, 610 Russian soldiers died in battle in one day. According to Kiev, the total number of Russian soldiers killed rises to around 281,700. The numbers cannot be independently verified; Russia only very rarely publishes its own data on the number of losses.
- Soldiers: 281,700 (+610)
- Tank: 4800 (+23)
- Armored combat vehicles: 9102 (+20)
- Artillery systems: 6688 (+22)
- Various Rocket Launchers: 808 (+2)
- Vehicles and fuel tanks: 9073 (+58)
- Drones: 5185 (+27)
- Source: Ukrainian General Staff as of October 7, 2023. Information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine reports partial successes near Bakhmut
Update October 7th, 9:55am: The Ukrainian army says it continues to attack Russian troops in two key sectors of the front, in the east and south. South of the eastern city of Bakhmut, there was “partial success” in the village of Andriivka, the General Staff in Kiev said in its Saturday morning situation report. Although Bakhmut is in Russian hands, Ukrainians have in recent weeks retaken a strategically important railway line south of it. They now extend their positions to the other side of the track.
On the southern front, in the Zaporizhia region, there were also “partial successes” north of the villages of Kopani and Novoprokopivka, it was said. In this region, Ukrainian troops have been fighting their way through heavily fortified Russian defense lines with minefields, anti-tank barriers and trenches for weeks. The fighting in Kopani and Novoprokopivka suggests that the Ukrainians are expanding their point of penetration into Russian defenses.
Update October 7th, 8:40am: The Russian military said it shot down a Ukrainian drone near Moscow on Saturday morning. The aircraft was intercepted over the city of Istra, which borders the Russian capital to the west. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also confirmed the shooting. No damage was caused to the ground by the falling debris. As in previous weeks, the drone disrupted air traffic at Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports in Moscow. There was a temporary shutdown and individual flights were cancelled.
Update October 6, 1:15 pm: The death toll rose to two in a new rocket attack on the city of Kharkiv. The announcement was made by Oleg Sinebugov, governor of Kharkiv, on Friday. The victims were a ten-year-old boy and his 68-year-old grandmother. According to the report, the number of injured rose to 28.
Shoigu announces increase in fighter production – “highly sought after”
Update October 6, 11:45 am: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is calling for increased production of SU-34 fighter jets to bolster Russia’s war in Ukraine. During a visit to an aircraft factory in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Shoigu said: “These planes are real workhorses. They can make four to five flights a day,” Shoigu said. “That’s why we need to speed up its production.” He added that the planes are “in high demand.”
Military aid in Ukraine war: President Joe Biden seeks money for Ukraine
Update October 6, 9:48 am: President Joe Biden has apparently considered alternative financing methods for Ukraine that do not require congressional approval, Politico reported on Oct. 6. The State Department’s program allows grants or loans to be made to allied countries to purchase military equipment and could be a stopgap solution while the US Congress continues to debate whether to include aid to Ukraine in upcoming budget proposals.
War in Ukraine: Devastating Russian missile attack on Kharkiv
First report: Kiev – The devastating Russian rocket attack on the village of Hrosa in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, killing more than 50 people, has sparked international outrage. The Russian army is “an absolute evil,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening video address on Thursday. EU and UN representatives also strongly condemned the brutal attack on civilians.
Zelensky: Russians deliberately attacked civilians in Kharkiv region
“This was a deliberate rocket attack on a village in the Kharkiv region, targeting a grocery store and a cafe,” Zelensky said. “The Russian military could not ignore the place where they attacked. This was not a blind attack.”
According to Ukrainian authorities, 51 people, including a six-year-old child, were killed by Russian rocket fire in Hrosa, not far from the city of Kupyansk. Three people were reported missing. At the time of the attack, villagers gathered at the cafe for a funeral ceremony for a deceased fellow citizen. Rescue work was completed in the evening, it was said, and no other victims were found under the rubble.
According to Zelenskyy, just over 300 people recently lived in Hrosa. The worst Russian attack on the Kharkiv region since the start of the war destroyed a sixth of the village.
EU chief diplomat Borrell: Russian attack “abhorrent”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell strongly condemned the Russian attack. “Russia’s horrific terror against Ukraine’s civilian population shows no sign of abating and reached another grim milestone today,” Borrell said. It is a heinous attack on innocent civilians. Intentional attacks on civilians are war crimes.
UN chief: Attacks on civilians violate international law
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also made serious accusations against Moscow. “Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law and must stop immediately”, demanded Guterres through his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. This left no doubt that UN representatives on the ground held Russia responsible for the attack.
Putin: shrapnel found in Prigozhin’s body
Meanwhile, Putin commented on the cause of the plane crash for the first time about six weeks after the death of Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. “Fragments of hand grenades were discovered in the bodies of those killed in the air disaster,” Putin said at the Valdai Forum in Sochi, southern Russia. “There was no external influence on the aircraft, a fact that has already been proven,” he also stated, citing investigators. This could not be independently verified.
Many international observers suspect that the Kremlin had Putin’s longtime confidant Prigozhin killed on August 23 because he had already organized an uprising against Russian military leadership and also killed fighter pilots. Russia has rejected an international investigation into the crash of Prigozhin’s private plane, in which nine other passengers died. (With agency material)