Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Reuters

Published Oct 06, 2022 04:44

Updated Oct 07, 2022 02:45

(Reuters) - Ukraine said its forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson, one of four partially Russian-occupied regions that President Vladimir Putin formally incorporated into Russia in Europe's biggest annexation since World War Two.

BATTLEFIELD REPORTS

* A Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one woman and leaving other residents trapped under rubble, the regional governor said.

* Ukraine's armed forces have advanced up to about 55 km (34 miles) over the last two weeks in a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian general said. Reuters could not independently verify Gromov's remarks.

* A Russian-installed official in Ukraine poured scorn on Moscow's generals and suggested its defence minister should shoot himself because of failures in the Ukraine conflict, in a highly rare public rebuke of the Kremlin's top brass.

NUCLEAR ANNEXATION

* Putin signed laws admitting the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia in the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century.

* He also said Russia would stabilise the situation in the regions, indirectly acknowledging the challenges it faces to assert its control.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia on Thursday of "nuclear blackmail" over its seizure of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southern Ukraine.

* The Kremlin said it was preparing to welcome the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Moscow soon.

SANCTIONS

* Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected sanctions pressure on the Russian economy to intensify, in televised remarks from a meeting with government officials.

ENERGY

* A crime scene investigation of the damages on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines has strengthened suspicions of "gross sabotage", Swedish security police.

* Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia may cut oil production to offset negative effects from price caps imposed by the West over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

* Europe may limp through the cold winter months with the help of brimming natural gas tanks despite a plunge in deliveries from Russia only to enter a deeper energy crisis next year, the head of the International Energy Agency said.

DIPLOMACY