Ukraine-Russia battle newest: Putin loses greater than 8,000 troops as Zelensky warns Moscow making an attempt to ‘intensify’ assaults | EUROtoday

Ukrainian soldiers fighting off Russian advances on the war frontline have said the loss of Starlink access to Russia has been essential to their counter-offensive.

“It came at a critical moment,” a soldier who goes by the call sign Konosh, from the Timur Special Forces Unit in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate told the Wall Street Journal.

“Without Starlink, they were basically pushed back to Cold War-era communications,” he said.

A Ukrainian commander confirmed that once Starlink was cut off, so did the number of drones coming towards them.

“Before, if the enemy spotted our group, even a single soldier, they wouldn’t let him go. They would throw everything at him,” said Oleksiy Serdiuk, the commander of the Brotherhood unit of the Timur Special Forces Unit.

A high-level Nato military delegation led by Admiral Pierre Vandier arrived in Kyiv for the first time since the beginning of the conflict with Russia, a senior Ukrainian official said yesterday.

“For the first time during a full-scale war, a Nato military command of this level visited Ukraine – a delegation led by Admiral Pierre Vandier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation,” said Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, on Telegram.

The two sides discussed the participation of Ukrainian troops in Nato’s military exercises in the capacity of a conditional adversary.

The future of the Nato-Ukraine joint centre was also discussed, he said.

A fuel reservoir ⁠in Russia’s Baltic Sea port of ⁠Primorsk ​caught ⁠fire after ⁠a drone attack this morning, said ​Alexander ⁠Drozdenko, ‌the governor of northwestern Leningrad ‌region.

He said 35 drones have been ‌shot down ​over ‌the ⁠region ⁠in recent attacks.

Kenyan nationals enlisted by Russia to fight the war in Ukraine will now be granted amnesty on their return home, Kenya’s foreign minister said.

“So far 44 Kenyans have been safely repatriated back home while 11 have been reported missing in action/killed in action, 38 are currently hospitalised in various Russian hospitals under restricted access, leaving 160 Kenyans officers still actively involved,” Musalia Mudavadi said in a statement.

The Kenyan foreign ministry said Mudavadi has negotiated a deal that allowed Kenyans currently on the front line and “unwilling to continue in the assignment disengaged and freed to travel back home”.

At least 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine after being misled with false promises of jobs in Russia before being sent to the front lines, an intelligence report said.

Russia said its forces have captured Potapivka, a tiny village near the Russian border in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.

“As a result of determined actions, units of the Northern grouping of soldiers established control over the village of Potapovka in the Sumy region,” the Russian defence ministry stated, utilizing a Russian identify for the village.

Ukraine didn’t instantly reply to the Russian defence ministry’s claims.

The Russian military has been ramping up its efforts to determine a “buffer zone” within the Sumy area for months, however Ukraine has largely repelled these advances and says Moscow has struggled to determine a significant foothold within the area.

Volodymyr Zelensky has stated he has a “very bad feeling” in regards to the penalties of the battle within the Middle East for his nation.

“You see that our diplomatic meetings, trilateral meetings, are constantly postponed. There is one reason: war in Iran,” he stated, chatting with the BBC in an interview.

“Putin will want a long war. For Putin, a long war in Iran is a plus,” he stated.

Ukraine is working with Gulf nations on a regular basis and offering experience and “real” help, Volodymyr Zelensky has stated.

”Other nations of the world ought to now additionally make their contribution to stabilisation,” he wrote on social media.

“We all need joint decisions and joint work so that there is more security for everyone. I thank everyone who contributes to coordination and shared results.”

Russian forces have tried to accentuate offensive efforts over the previous ⁠week, benefiting from extra beneficial climate situations, though that ⁠resulted ​in a rise ⁠in its ⁠casualties, Volodymyr Zelensky ​stated.

“In ‌the Donetsk region, our positions have ‌not significantly changed over the past week,” he said.

“In the Kharkiv area and in border communities of the Sumy area, we’re observing makes an attempt by the occupier to advance from the border – Russian items finishing up these makes an attempt are being destroyed,” Zelensky stated.

Poland’s prime minister Sunday said Poland “had our suspicions” in response to a Washington Post report that Hungary’s government has for years provided Russia with detailed information from EU Council meetings.

The Post, citing several current and former European security officials, found that the Hungarian government under Viktor Orban has long offered Moscow access to sensitive discussions within the European Union.

Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó regularly calls during breaks in EU council meetings to provide his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, with “direct stories on what was mentioned” and possible solutions, according to the Post report.

“The information that Orban’s folks inform Moscow about EU Council conferences in each element should not come as a shock to anybody,” Polish PM Donald Tusk said on X.

“We’ve had our suspicions about that for a very long time. That’s one motive why I take the ground solely when strictly essential and say simply as a lot as essential.”

Szijjártó called Tusk’s comments “pretend information”.

The US and South Korean militaries are discussing moving some of the American Patriot missile defence systems based in South Korea to be used in the war against Iran.

South Korean foreign minister Cho Hyun on Friday was responding to a question at a parliamentary hearing and said the two nations were working closely together. The decision on the deployment of weapons and military personnel would be made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Earlier reports said the US troops stationed in South Korea relocated their Patriot missile defence batteries to Osan Air Base from other US bases, in signs that US Forces Korea (USFK) could deploy part of its critical air-defence assets to the Middle East as the conflict escalates.