Zelenskiy: Ukraine has made gains in Kherson as well as Donetsk
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine is not just experiencing military success in Lyman, but also in Kherson. In his overnight statement, he said Ukraine forces have liberated the small Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka settlements in the Kherson region.
Ukraine has also pushed to regain some territory within the region of Luhansk. This means that Russia does not hold the full territory of any of the areas of occupied Ukraine that it announced it would annex on Friday.
Zelenskiy also overnight reiterated Ukraine’s pledge to punish those who had taken part in organising “referendums” on Ukrainian soil. In a Telegram message, he said:
Recently, someone somewhere held pseudo-referendums, and when the Ukrainian flag is returned, no one remembers the Russian farce with some pieces of paper and some annexations. Except, of course, law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. Because everyone who is involved in any elements of aggression against our state will be accountable for it.
Key events
Here’s more from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov’s briefing earlier, where he said Russia favours a “balanced approach” to the issue of nuclear weapons that is not based on emotion.
It comes after Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of the Chechnya region, said Moscow should consider using a “low-yield” nuclear weapon in Ukraine.
After Russia confirmed the loss of its stronghold of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, Kadyrov criticised top commanders for the defeat and wrote on Telegram:
In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.
Asked about Kadyrov’s comments, Peskov said the Chechnyan leader and Putin ally had the right to voice his opinion, but that Russia’s military approach should not be driven by emotions.
Peskov told reporters:
This is a very emotional moment. The heads of regions have the right to express their point of view. But even in difficult moments, emotions should be kept out of any kind of assessment. So we prefer to stick to balanced, objective assessments.
The basis for any use of nuclear weapons was set down in Russia’s nuclear doctrine, he added, under which they are permitted if nuclear weapons or another weapon of mass destruction are used against Russia, or if the Russian state faces an existential threat from conventional weapons.
Peskov added:
There can be no other considerations when it comes to this,
Kremlin unclear on which parts of Ukraine it is annexing
Three days after its president Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s illegal annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, the Kremlin said it would need to carry out consultations on defining the borders of two of the territories.
During his regular briefing with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the borders of the Russian-occupied southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions were not yet determined.
Peskov said:
We will continue to consult with people who live in these areas.
He added that he could not specify what format the consultation would take.
Confusion abounds as Russia seems unable to confirm whether it is claiming all of the occupied regions in Ukraine or only those portions controlled by its forces.
Last week, Moscow formally claimed to annex four Ukrainian territories – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – but none are fully under the control of its forces and Ukraine continues to advance in the south.
Since Putin’s “annexation” ceremony on Friday, Ukrainian forces have made significant gains including fully recapturing the key eastern city of Lyman, as well as the small Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka settlements in the Kherson region.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Summary of the day so far …
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed Ukraine has “fully cleared” Russian forces from the key eastern city of Lyman, a day after Moscow admitted its troops had pulled out after they were encircled. Ukraine’s president thanked serving Ukrainian troops for liberating Lyman.
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Lyman’s recapture by Ukrainian troops is Russia’s largest battlefield loss since Ukraine’s lightning counteroffensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region in September. Russian forces had captured Lyman from Ukraine in May and had been using it as a logistics and transport hub for its operations in the north of the Donetsk region.
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Along with Lyman, Ukraine forces have liberated the small Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka settlements in the Kherson region as well, Zelenskiy said.
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Kirill Stremousov, who is deputy head of the Russian-imposed authority in occupied Kherson, has said that “everything is under control” in the region. However, on Russian state TV Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Russian-imposed authority in the region, admitted that Ukrainians had gained some ground. “It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” he said.
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The Kremlin said on Monday that it will consult with residents living in two of the Ukrainian regions it moved to annex last week – Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – on how their borders should be defined. Russia does not control the whole territory of any of the four occupied regions of Ukraine it said it would incorporate into the Russian Federation.
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Russia’s parliament will consider on Monday the bills and ratification treaties to absorb the regions, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin has said.
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Chechen leader and Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov has said that his three underage sons are heading to fight in Ukraine.
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Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, has said a 48-year-old woman was killed after Ukrainian forces fired over the border into the village of Golovchino.
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The British government’s ability to investigate the true ownership of properties has come into question after researchers found £700m of luxury homes previously linked to sanctioned oligarchs were not flagged for asset freezes.
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The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine and sink its Black Sea fleet if Russia uses nuclear weapons in the country, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you shortly.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has published its latest map of how it believes the war is going on the ground.
Kremlin will consult with residents of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia on how to define borders
The Kremlin said on Monday that it will consult with residents living in two of the Ukrainian regions it moved to annex last week – Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – on how their borders should be defined.
“We will continue to consult with people who live in these areas”, Reuters reports Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters.
Russia formally claimed to annex four Ukrainian territories last week, but none are fully under the control of Moscow’s forces and Ukraine continues to advance in the south.
It raises the possibility that the move to annex the four regions marks a halt to any further Russian ambition to take Ukrainian territory beyond their existing borders, and instead Moscow may concentrate on simply holding the land it already has, and imposing new borders that would de facto split the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts into Ukrainian-held and Russian-held zones.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency is reporting that Chechen leader and Vladimir Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov has said that his three underage sons are heading to fight in Ukraine. It reports Kadyrov saying on Telegram:
A minor age should not interfere with the training of the defenders of our Motherland. Akhmat, Eli and Adam are 16, 15 and 14 years old respectively. But their military training began a long time ago, almost from an early age. And I’m not joking. The time has come to show themselves in a real battle, and I only welcome their desire. Soon they will go to the frontline and will be on the most difficult sections of the line of contact.
Russian-imposed leader says military situation is ‘tense’ in occupied Kherson
Kirill Stremousov, who is deputy head of the Russian-imposed authority in occupied Kherson, has said that “everything is under control” in the region on Telegram, despite the reports that Ukraine has made some advances in the area.
He posted:
Everything is under control in the Mykolaiv direction, despite attempts by the Ukronazis to break through the defences. The Nazis advanced along the Dnieper in the direction of Dudchan and there they received gifts from the Russian Aerospace Forces. At the moment the situation is completely under control.
In a subsequent post he added:
We are on the ground and continue to take care of the citizens of the Russian Federation of the Kherson region. We are now Russia and everything will be fine.
However, Reuters reports that on Russian state TV Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Russian-imposed authority, admitted that Ukrainians had gained some ground in the region.
“It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” he said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has reported on Telegram that at least one person is trapped under rubble in an educational establishment in Chasiv Yar after Russian shelling. The claim has not been independently verified.
Zelenskiy: Ukraine has made gains in Kherson as well as Donetsk
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine is not just experiencing military success in Lyman, but also in Kherson. In his overnight statement, he said Ukraine forces have liberated the small Arkhanhelske and Myrolyubivka settlements in the Kherson region.
Ukraine has also pushed to regain some territory within the region of Luhansk. This means that Russia does not hold the full territory of any of the areas of occupied Ukraine that it announced it would annex on Friday.
Zelenskiy also overnight reiterated Ukraine’s pledge to punish those who had taken part in organising “referendums” on Ukrainian soil. In a Telegram message, he said:
Recently, someone somewhere held pseudo-referendums, and when the Ukrainian flag is returned, no one remembers the Russian farce with some pieces of paper and some annexations. Except, of course, law enforcement agencies of Ukraine. Because everyone who is involved in any elements of aggression against our state will be accountable for it.
Ukraine’s governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synyehubov, has posted to Telegram that in the last 24 hours two civilians were hospitalised “as a result of Russian shelling”.
He also said that “in the Izium district near Balakliia, an emergency medical vehicle was blown up by a mine. Unfortunately, the 60-year-old driver died. A 23-year-old paramedic was injured.”
He said that another 26-year-old man was injured by a landmine in the Kharkiv district, and that “569 explosive objects were neutralised by deminers of the state emergency service during the day”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Russian state-media Tass has reported that about 300 residents of Yakutia, called up during the partial mobilisation by mistake, have returned to the republic. Yakutia is a region in the far north-east of the Russian Federation.
A rehabilitation centre where children with special needs study has been destroyed overnight by Russian shelling in the city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukraine’s governor for the region, Oleksandr Starukh.
Starukh claimed “about 10 S300 missiles were launched” at the region, but that there were no casualties.
The claims have not been independently verified. Zaporizhzhia is one of the regions Russia announced it was annexing last week.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, has posted to Telegram to say that Ukrainian forces fired on the village of Golovchino, which is over the border from Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions. He claims that a 48-year-old woman has been killed. The claims have not been independently verified.
A church reduced to rubble, a dog exploring the ruins of a village in Kharkiv region, and a Ukrainian soldier in a moment of rest – some of the latest images from the war.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s unusually rapid acknowledgment of problems with Russia’s partial mobilisation highlights the likely scale of dysfunction with the draft, the UK Ministry of Defence says.
In its latest intelligence briefing, the MoD says officials have almost certainly drafted ineligible people, and will struggle to train the new recruits.