Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin’s forces suffer ‘significant losses’ as Kyiv vows more drone strikes

Following Ukraine’s breach of Russia’s heavily mined and fortified front line near the Zaporizhzhia village of Robotyne, Vladimir Putin’s troops have likely been creating new defences in the area, with nearby Tokmak set to become a “lynchpin” of their second line, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

“In recent days, Russian forces have likely reinforced their defences around the occupied town of Tokmak in southern Ukraine, which is approximately 16 km behind the current front line,” the ministry said.

“Russia is likely deploying additional checkpoints, ‘hedgehog’ anti-tank defences and digging new trenches in the area, which is held by its 58th Combined Arms Army.

“Tokmak is preparing to become a lynchpin of Russian’s second main line of defences. Improvements to the town’s defences likely indicates Russia’s growing concern about Ukrainian tactical penetrations of the first main defensive line to the north.”

The UK has formally banned Russia‘s mercenary Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation weeks after the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The government order, approved on Friday, makes it a criminal offence to be a member or a supporter of the paramilitary group in the UK.

“The Russian mercenary organisation, Wagner Group, has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation today after an order was laid in Parliament on Wednesday September 6,” the Home Office said in a statement.

Two cargo boats arrived in Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian port authorities said, the first ships to use a temporary corridor to sail into Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets.

Ukraine last month announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to release ships trapped in its ports since the start of the war in February 2022 and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned a deal to let Kyiv export grain.

Five vessels have so far left the port of Odesa, using the corridor which hugs the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.

Ukraine, a leading global food producer and exporter, also wants to use the corridor for its food exports. The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, in a post on Facebook, said the bulk carriers “Resilient Africa” and “Aroyat” had arrived in the port of Chernomorsk.

Russia’s air forces thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Crimea this morning, destroying at least six drones that were targeting the peninsula from different directions, the Russian defence ministry said.

Two drones were destroyed at 1.15am (local time) off the western coast of Crimea and four more half an hour later off the northwestern and eastern coasts, the ministry said on Telegram.

The reports come after a series of strikes this week on Russian military targets on the Crimean Peninsula, seen as Kyiv’s increased attempts to break down Russia’s war efforts.

Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014.

Ukraine released footage on Saturday (16 September) of troops moving through a war-ravaged settlement in the Donetsk Oblast after Kyiv announced its recapture.

Video published by Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade showed troops moving through rubble in Andriivka, 6 miles (10km) south of the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut after three months of intense fighting.

The clip also shows soldiers taking cover behind a broken wall amid mortar fire.

It comes after Ukraine announced a tactical victory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, taking back the village of Robotyne in late August.

The world must recommit to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals if the ambitious targets are to be met, UK ministers and diplomats will urge at a UN summit next week.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has been accused of snubbing the gathering in New York, blaming diary pressures for his absence and instead sending a team headed by his deputy Oliver Dowden.

He is not the only world leader expected to miss the summit, which is set to see discussions on the war in Ukraine, artificial intelligence and the threat of climate change.

The UN’s World Heritage Committee has placed two major historical sites in Ukraine on its list of such sites that it considers to be in danger.

The iconic Saint Sophia Cathedral in the capital, Kyiv, and the medieval centre of the western city of Lviv, are Unesco World Heritage Sites central to Ukraine’s culture and history.

The decision announced on Friday to put those two on the body’s list of sites “in danger” has no enforcement mechanism, but could help deter Russian attacks.

A body has been found in the search for a former British soldier who went missing while fighting in Ukraine.

Ex-paratrooper Daniel Burke, 36, of south Manchester, was reported missing by his family on 16 August after he had travelled to join the fighting in 2022.

Greater Manchester Police said on Saturday that officers were working with Mr Burke’s family and the Ukrainian authorities to identify the body found and to bring him back to the UK.

Five civilians were killed and one wounded as a result of intense Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk region, a Russian-installed official said.

The five were killed yesterday in the Kirov and Kuibyshevskyi districts and a woman was injured in Svetlodarsk, said Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the region.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported heavy fighting and partial success of its forces as part of Ukraine’s counteroffensive to reclaim land occupied by Russia in its 19-month invasion.

Ukraine’s ministry of defence has claimed that its forces have taken back the village of Andriivka in Bakhmut region.

“The unwelcome «guests» in Andriivka are being removed by the 3rd Assault Brigade,” the account tweeted on Saturday night.

However, these facts were disputed by the Russian side.

Earlier on Saturday, the account of fighting by Russia’s defence ministry said its troops were still holding at least two key villages south of Bakhmut, known in Russia by its Soviet-era name, Artyomovsk.