Power back on in parts of the Ukraine after rocket strikes….
A Russian fighter jet crashes into a building…(2nd One)…
Russians keep draining Kherson of people as the Ukraine forces move to reclaim the town…
Russians slowing grain exports….
Russian is ‘adopting’ Ukraine children they have captured….
Winter is coming to the Ukraine…..
Analysts have also warned in recent days that Russia could blow up a Ukrainian hydroelectric dam at Nova Kakhovka, which would flood the Russian-occupied city of Kherson and surrounding territory. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of targeting the dam, which Russia controls.
Kremlin-backed authorities are also stepping up efforts to relocate civilians from Kherson to Crimea and other occupied regions, in what Ukrainian officials have called an attempt by Moscow to “depopulate” areas of Ukraine that Kyiv is poised to recapture.
In Russia, an Su-30 warplane crashed into a residential building on Sunday — the second incident of its kind in less than a week. Two pilots were killed in the crash in Irkutsk, Siberia, authorities said.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- In the call Sunday, Shoigu warned of a possible uncontrolled escalation in the war against Ukraine, and he claimed that Ukraine was preparing a bomb designed to release radioactive material. He spoke to Wallace, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Sunday. In a separate call, the Russian Defense Ministry said, Shoigu talked to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, two days after they had discussed Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry provided little detail about the calls with Austin. Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in 1994 in return for a Russian guarantee that it would never attack Ukraine. Russia has aired similar claims that Ukraine was planning attacks using dirty bombs or bioweapons.
- Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said Shoigu’s comments were “as absurd as they are dangerous.” “Firstly, Ukraine is a committed NPT [Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons] member: we neither have any ‘dirty bombs’, nor plan to acquire any,” Kuleba tweeted. Dara Massicot, a senior policy analyst who studies the Kremlin’s military at Rand Corp., said on Twitterthat Shoigu’s call “reads like Russian false flag groundwork.” “Troubling that it’s happening at the defense minister level,” she said.
- Two pilots died in the plane crash in Irkutsk, Russia’s emergencies ministry said in a statement, adding that the crash occurred during a test flight. No residents were killed, regional governor Igor Kobzev said. He declared a state of emergency in the district, according to his Telegram channel. On Monday, a Russian Su-34 crashed into a nine-story residential building in Yeysk, opposite the port city of Mariupol, killing at least 15 people.
- Occupying Russian authorities ordered residents to leave Kherson and urged them to take “documents, money, valuables and clothes” with them. Photos showed people boarding ferries and buses in Kherson, pets and luggage in tow. Officials are promising government payments of 100,000 rubles (about $1,600) and housing certificates to purchase an apartment for those who comply. Ukrainian officials called Russia’s order illegal.
- Russian authorities are reducing the volume of water in the reservoir behind the Nova Kakhovka dam to minimize damage if it is destroyed, a Russian-installed regional official said, per Russian news reports. Vladimir Leontyev also claimed that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that would seek to destroy it. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of laying explosive mines at the dam in an effort to create “a large-scale disaster” in an area it is on the verge of losing control over. The Washington Post could not verify the claims. If the dam were damaged, it could flood the banks of the Dnieper River and compromise the water supply in Crimea.
- Russia is preparing to defend parts of Donbas it invaded from any Ukrainian counteroffensive, Britain’s Defense Ministry said. The ministry cited the head of the Wagner Group, a network of mercenaries working with Russian forces in Ukraine, who claimed to be building trenches and antitank defenses in Luhansk. This effort, the ministry said, suggests that “Russia is making a significant effort to prepare defences in depth behind the current front line, likely to deter any rapid Ukrainian counter offensives.”
- Russian forces struck Mykolaiv overnight with S-300 surface-to-air missiles, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said. Two residential buildings, a central heating line and a children’s playground were damaged, and one man was injured, though not severely, Senkevych added.
- The situation around Luhansk’s border remains “tense,” regional governor Serhiy Haidai said Sunday morning. During the previous day, Russian forces shelled border towns north of Luhansk city, while Ukrainian forces targeted Russian military equipment, Haidai said.
- The Ukrainian military claimed that Russia has moved its officers across the Dnieper River, leaving recruits behind on the western bank to fend off a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive. “Using such inexperienced forces to conduct a delaying action could prompt a Russian rout if Ukrainian forces choose to press the attack,” the Institute for the Study of War said….
Here’s what we know:
The Pentagon said the U.S. defense secretary had rejected any pretext for Russian escalation in his call with Sergei K. Shoigu.
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Russian attacks are seen as an attempt to stretch Ukraine’s resources.
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A Russian fighter jet crashes into a home in Siberia, killing the two pilots.
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Zelensky says some power is already back on after another wave of Russian strikes on infrastructure.
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More Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of intentionally slowing grain shipments.
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Using adoption, Russia turns Ukrainian children into spoils of war.
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Russian-installed authorities tell civilians to ‘immediately’ leave Kherson, a key southern city….