Russia Ukraine war latest: Kyiv makes ‘breakthrough’ on Dnipro river

At least 10 civilians in Ukraine were killed on Wednesday in Russian attacks as Ukrainian military officials confirmed battlefield gains in counteroffensive operations in the south of the warzone.

A 31-year-old woman was killed in a separate attack in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk. Officials said she was a resident of the Obukhivka village. Another Russian attack claimed the lives of a man and woman in Kherson, officials said.

Xi Jinping warned the West against breaking economic ties with China on Wednesday as he welcomed his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin and other allies to a global summit in Beijing.

The Chinese president was hosting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum, part of its long-term plan to build global infrastructure and energy networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through overland and maritime routes.

Representatives of more than 130 countries – largely from the global South, but including Hungary – attended the forum.

Ukrainian forces have advanced on the Dnipro River onto the opposite bank of Kherson Oblast as they cross into Russian-occupied territory, Russian sources have claimed.

A prominent Russian milblogger ‘Rybar’ claimed Ukrainian troops pushed through Russian defences as they landed on the east bank of the Dnipro river.

He claimed they temporarily occupied the village of Poyma and positions on the northern outskirts of Pishchanivka on the afternoon of 17 October.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the milblogger later claimed that Russian forces pushed Ukrainian forces back from these positions towards the Dnipro River.

He also claimed that a Ukrainian sabotage group is still operating in Pishchanivka as of the afternoon of October 18, according to ISW.

Russian forces carried out new air strikes overnight on targets in eastern, southern and northern Ukraine, Kyiv’s military said on Thursday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The air force said 17 different weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles and attack drones, had been used to strike industrial, infrastructure, civilian and military objects.

Ukrainian forces shot down three drones and one cruise missile, it said.

Russia has carried out frequent air strikes since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, including hitting population centres far behind front lines.

Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians. It did not immediately comment on the latest reported air strikes.

Ukraine began a counteroffensive in the south and east in early June but has made only gradual progress against vast Russian minefields and heavily entrenched Russian forces.

Mr Lavrov is in North Korea for meetings viewed as preparatory efforts ahead of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s visit as Moscow and Pyongyang slide closer in diplomatic cooperation against Ukraine and the West.

Moscow “deeply” valued Pyongyang’s “unwavering and principled support” for Russia in the war, Mr Lavrov said, speaking at a reception hosted by North Korean officials on Wednesday.

At least 10 civilians in Ukraine were killed on Wednesday in Russian attacks as Ukrainian military officials confirmed battlefield gains in counteroffensive operations in the south of the warzone.

A 31-year-old woman was killed in a separate attack in central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk. Officials said she was a resident of the Obukhivka village. Another Russian attack claimed the lives of a man and woman in Kherson, officials said.

Ukrainian forces have pushed further south and crossed the crucial Dnipro river, Russian sources said. They added that Kyiv’s troops now have an established position on the opposite bank.

The river divides liberated Ukrainian territory on one bank and Russian-occupied land on the other, and for months it has served as part of the front line in southern Ukraine.

Yesterday, pro-Kremlin military bloggers claimed that the Ukrainian forces had created a bridgehead, captured a town and towards the nearby town of Pishchanivka.

According to the geolocated footage, Ukrainian forces advanced north of Pishchanivka, which is 3km from the Dnipro River and into Poyma.

“A prominent Russian milblogger claimed that two Ukrainian “assault groups” landed on the east bank of the Dnipro River and broke through initial Russian defenses, temporarily occupying all of Poyma and positions on the northern outskirts of Pishchanivka on the afternoon of 17 October,” the US based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War said.

The milblogger later claimed that Russian forces pushed Ukrainian forces back from these positions towards the Dnipro River.

A Ukrainian sabotage group is still operating in Pishchanivka as of Wednesday afternoon, the Russian military blogger said.

In August, Ukrainian forces broke through Russia’s defensive lines after launching a surprise raid across the Dnipro River amid clear signs of a major battle.

Ukrainian special forces reported on Tuesday that they had struck two Russian military airfields, following the first-time deployment of long-range ballistic missiles supplied by the US.

The details of the weapons’ delivery has been shrouded in secrecy – unlike previous aid provided to Ukraine from the Biden Administration.

The missiles – which Ukraine has reportedly been petitioning the US to deliver for months – may prove key to helping Ukrainian forces in the months of conflict ahead.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned steps by Russia to revoke ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and urged the international community to respond to Moscow’s “provocations”.

It said in a statement on its website that Russia had “already provoked a dangerous imbalance in the global architecture of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation” by suspending participation in the New START Treaty and with the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Delays in Western military aid handed Moscow time to build heavily fortified defences which have largely held up against months of intense assaults – and constraints in ammunition and weaponry now mean both armies may struggle to sustain the current pace of the war, some analysts believe.

With the prospect of a Middle East conflict likely to further stretch Washington – Ukraine’s largest backer – ahead of a US presidential election in November 2024, Vladimir Putin’s strategy may now be to preserve the current state of the front line and “wait it out”, Western experts say.