Ukrainian forces most likely blocked elite Russian infantrymen in Donetsk, preventing them from redeploying to a critical sector of the front line, a US think tank said.
Some 49 infantrymen from the 7th VDV Division were killed in a day of fighting near the village of Staromayorske, and their commander abandoned the bodies, the Institute for War Studies (ISW) said, citing a Russian army blogger.
Moscow had tried to move regiments from the department to the Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukraine passes through some of Russia’s top fortified defenses, near the towns of Robotyne and Verbove.
“Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhya border domain will succeed in trapping elements of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne Division (VDV) and preventing them from laterally redeploying to critical spaces on the front in western Zaporizhzhya Oblast the ISW said.
Some regiments from the department arrived in the Robotyne area, they said.
It will be illegal to carry the Wagner Group logo in the UK, a ban that will be tabled in Parliament today.
The government will seek to ban mercenaries as a terrorist organization and their assets, the BBC reported, presenting a draft order.
It would be an intentional crime to belong or belong to the group, organize or speak at its meetings, or wear its logo in public.
The UK sanctioned Wagner boss Eugene Prigozhine in 2020 and the Wagner Group in March 2022.
Welcome to our war policy in Ukraine.
Yesterday there were many discussions about the so-called upcoming meeting between Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Many said this revealed a sign of “desperation” in Russia’s weapons component, as it breaks projectiles faster than it can upgrade them, though some worry where that might lead.
Meanwhile, a video showing the destruction of a major British-supplied Challenger 2 war tank in Ukraine was widely shared on social media.
A defense source said it would be the first and only Challenger 2 to be disabled during the war.
And as far as the UK is concerned, Parliament is expected to issue an order today officially designating the Wagner mercenary organisation as a terrorist organisation.
Here’s a look at the key updates from the last 24 hours:
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have shot down a new drone over its territory tonight.
The claims have been verified.
If the reports are to be believed, drone strikes are taking place almost daily on Russian soil, while Ukraine appears to be stepping up its efforts to strike outside its borders.
President Zelensky has promised more frontline troops and weapons as winter approaches.
“There will be new supplies,” he says on Telegram.
There are reports of ammunition shortages in Ukraine, and the president has stepped up orders for new Western weapons and ammunition in recent months, while pledging to increase Ukrainian production.
“It is very important that there is a new production of our weapons and we have explained several priority issues to the fighters,” he added.
“That’s what needs to be done. We will!”
The Wagner mercenary organization will be officially recognised as a terrorist organisation in the UK and a draft prohibition order will be ready in time to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow.
Once passed, the ordinance will mean that it is illegal to be a member of or for the Wagner Group.
It will have all assets seized and designated as terrorist property.
Interior Minister Suella Braverman said: “Wagner is a violent organization that has acted as a military tool of Vladimir Putin’s Russia abroad.
“While the Putin regime decides what to do with the monster it has created, Wagner’s continued destabilizing activities only serve the Kremlin’s political goals.
“They are terrorists, plain and simple. . . Wagner engaged in barbaric looting, torture and murder. “
Celebrations in the Russian military following the downing of a British Challenger 2 tank show a point of “desperation” in the face of complex Western technology, a former U. S. military special adviser has said.
Mark Voyger told Sky News that while the loss of the tank is significant, more importantly the team survived.
This demonstrates the “superiority of Western systems,” he said.
He said Russian propagandists had spread rumors that Russian forces had destroyed far more Western-supplied tanks than they had destroyed.
Voyger said the fact that Russia is showing its citizens that it is capable of destroying “sophisticated systems” shows how “desperate” it is “in the face of several dozen tanks from the UK and other countries. “
He added that the loss of Challenger 2 should not be “dramatized. “
A Russian helicopter pilot who defected to Ukraine will get $500,000 in bounties, according to a report.
Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda quoted comments by army intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov as saying the pilot, Maksim Kuzminov, would get the prize in khrivnia, the Ukrainian currency.
“Those Russians who don’t need to become war criminals, please step to Ukraine’s side,” he said.
In another article on Telegram, Ukrainian intelligence said the 28-year-old pilot is now asking other Russians to follow suit.
Kuzminov spoke at a press conference in Kiev about the operation to bring Russia’s Mi-8 helicopter to Ukraine.
In statements collected by the intelligence services, the pilot claimed that he flew at “an extremely low altitude in radio silence mode”.
“No one knew what was wrong with me. Apparently, no one understood what had happened for 3 or 4 days. I flew effectively and landed. “
He said Ukraine would “definitely win this war” because its other peoples were “united. “
International attention on Ukraine is fading and attacks on the country’s civilian infrastructure are “normal,” a leading humanitarian organization has warned.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said it was preparing to cut donations for its operations in Ukraine as the conflict continues.
The charity earned $40 million (£31. 8 million) in investments for its operations in Ukraine last year; However, in 2023 it earned almost part of that amount.
Despite this, David Miliband, president and chief executive of the IRC, said the need for help had diminished.
“We know that the number of civilian casualties remains high,” he said.
“Levels of internal displacement continue to break records; The number of refugees is very high. “
The British Challenger 2 tank destroyed in Ukraine pierced a mine before being attacked by Russian munitions, a Western army source said.
The source told a small organization of journalists that the main war tank first went through an old mine which immobilized it and caused a fire in the rear fuel tank.
The team evacuated the tank and, once asleep in the open air without shelter, the Challenger 2 pierced an errant Lancet munition, or “suicide drone. “
A video of the broken tank circulated widely on the internet, with reports suggesting it was filmed near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia area.
Sky News was unable to verify the precise location.