Russia-Ukraine war – latest: Putin’s troops ‘forced to retreat’ as Kyiv ‘retakes key Donetsk village’

Russian troops have been forced to retreat as Ukraine has retaken a key village in Donetsk, according to reports.

Moscow’s forces have abandoned their positions in Urozhaine, which is a strategically-significant southeastern village that Kyiv has been attempting to recapture for days as part of its counteroffensive.

In reports that The Independent has been unable to independently verify, it has been suggested that Ukrainian soldiers used US smart bombs that were shipped over in March.

There is a “realistic possibility” the Russian state no longer funds the Wagner Group, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

In its latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, it states: “Since the abortive mutiny of June 2023, the Russian state has acted against some other business interests of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin. There is a realistic possibility that the Kremlin no longer funds the group.”

The update suggests the Belarusian authorities are “the second most plausible paymasters”, but adds, “The sizable force would be a significant and potentially unwelcome drain on modest Belarusian resources.”

Overall, the MOD writes of the mercenaries currently experiencing “financial pressure”. It says: “The Wagner Group is likely moving towards a down-sizing and reconfiguration process, largely to save on staff salary expenses at a time of financial pressure.”

Russia has switched on the scientific instruments aboard its lunar lander and scientists began processing its first data, as the space craft sped towards the moon in a bid to be first to find ice on the Earth’s only natural satellite.

The Russian Luna-25 mission, the first since 1976, is racing against India, which launched its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month, to complete a soft landing on the moon’s south pole where scientists believe there are pockets of water ice.

A Soyuz 2.1 rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East at 2:11am on Friday Moscow time and was boosted out of Earth’s orbit an hour later.

There is much riding on the Luna-25 mission for Russia – if it succeeds, Moscow is likely to say it shows that the West’s sanctions over the Ukraine war cannot hold it back, while failure would again raise questions over Russia’s space ambitions after decades of superpower competition with the US during the Cold War.

Seven people – including a 23-day-old baby girl – were killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Sunday, the country’s Internal Affairs Ministry said.

Artillery shelling in the village of Shiroka Balka, on the banks of the Dnieper River killed a family — a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy and 23-day-old girl — and another resident.

Two men were killed in the neighbouring village of Stanislav, where a woman was also wounded.

Susie Blann has the full report:

Ukraine claims to have “liquidated” a further 560 Russian troops in its daily roundup of Moscow’s losses.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also claimed to have destroyed 20 vehicles and fuel tanks, 11 armoured personnel vehicles, three tanks, and 19 artillery systems.

Ukraine’s count of Russian losses is somewhat higher than estimates by Western allies, media outlets and other analysts, which in turn are significantly higher than those admitted to by Moscow.

A large fire that broke out at a fertiliser warehouse in the Moscow region on Sunday has been extinguished, Russia’s emergency service has said.

The size of the fire in the town of Ramenskoye reached 2,700 square metres before it was localised and put out, Russian state news agency RIA reported.

Videos of the fire posted online earlier showed thick black smoke and a flame, seen from hundreds of metres away.

Moscow region prosecutor’s office said the preliminary cause of the fire was a violation of fire safety requirements during welding work, state news agency Tass reported, citing the warehouse’s owners as saying that all employees had left the premises.

Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has resumed after a brief suspension on Sunday, an official Telegram channel said.

It did not state the reason for the road closure, but it came a day after Russia’s defence ministry claimed Ukraine had unsuccessfully tried to strike the bridge across the Kerch Strait with S-200 rockets, forcing its temporary closure.

The bridge, a prized trophy of Vladimir Putin built following his illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and has been targeted on more than one occasion since Russia’s full-scale invasion last February.

Allegations of Ukraine’s civilians being snatched from their homes and abused in makeshift detention centres go “way beyond” the actions of rogue Russian soldiers, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture has warned.

Dr Alice Jill Edwards has written to Russian authorities detailing the accounts she has received of harrowing and widespread human rights abuses by Moscow’s troops in Ukraine – including electrocutions, mock executions and threats of genital mutilation.

The 22-page letter serves to put Russia on notice of the extensive war crimes allegations, and in effect triggers Moscow’s obligations to investigate them under its international obligations.

But a two-month deadline to formally respond to the warning has now passed – with Russia failing to do so, while ignoring Dr Edwards’ requests for a meeting to discuss the allegations, as she prepares to embark on a fact-finding mission in Ukraine.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Dr Edwards warned that consistencies in the geographically widespread testimonies she has received “show not just a pattern, but really state authorisation” by Moscow.

A Russian warship fired warning shots at a dry cargo ship in the Black Sea on Sunday, after the Russian defence ministry said it intercepted the Palau-flagged “Sukru Okan” ship heading towards Ukraine.

Issuing a statement, Russia said its Vasily Bykov patrol ship open fired with an automatic weapon at the vessel after its captain did not respond to their request to halt for an inspection.

“To forcibly stop the vessel, warning fire was opened from automatic weapons,” the Russian defence ministy said. A Ka-29 helicopter carrying Russian soldiers was then scrambled to inspect the ship.

Ukrainian forces are trying to pierce Russian lines in the western parts of Donetsk region where waves of Kyiv’s fighters were used to gain a foothold to the east of the town of Staromaiorske, a Russian-installed official said.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in parts of Zaporizhzhia controlled by Moscow, said that there had been intense fighting south of Velyka Novosilka – in that area – as Ukrainian troops try to pierce Russian lines to push down to the coast on the Sea of Azov.

“The enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of Urozhaine after two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement,” Rogov said, referring to the same part of the frontline.

He said Russian soldiers still controlled the southern part of Urozhaine, adding that Ukrainian forces were clearly aiming to take control of a town further south, Staromlynivka.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June, attempting to retake swathes of territory captured by Russia in the south and east of the country. It has recaptured several villages in the south and some territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east, but has so far not achieved major gains against well-dug in Russian troops.

Moscow says the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed.