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Ukraine said on Tuesday its troops had entered the strategic southeastern village of Robotyne, a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russian forces. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app that Ukrainian soldiers were organising the evacuation of civilians after entering Robotyne but were still coming under fire from Russian forces. "Our soldiers in the village of Robotyne," General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukrainian forces in the south, wrote on Telegram under a picture of a soldier in a tank. Robotyne is 10 km (six miles) south of the frontline town of Orikhiv in the...

Ukrainian forces reportedly launched a massive push against Russia's front-lines in the country's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, threatening Russian positions that had been overseen by a general who was recently fired. The surge marks a dramatic change in pace for Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive. For nearly two months, Kyiv's troops were forced to make slow and steady advances to liberate occupied territory as they faced Russia's formidable defensive lines, which include deadly networks of trenches, barbed wire, anti-armor obstacles, and minefields. Clearing the Russian fortifications — particularly the minefields — has been a painstaking process for Ukraine, which managed to preserve lots...

A Ukrainian official tweeted a video of troops holding a flag in the settlement, located about halfway between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia in the country's southeast. "The 35th brigade and the 'Ariy' territorial defence unit have fulfilled their task and liberated the village of Staromaiorske. Glory to Ukraine!" said a soldier in the video. Staromaiorske lies to the south of a number of small settlements that Ukraine has recaptured during its counteroffensive, which began in June. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hinted at a significant win on the frontline last night. "By the way, today our boys had very good results...

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) experts have not found explosives during their recent inspections of parts of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. However, the on-site experts haven’t yet received access to the rooftops of reactor units three and four, as well as parts of the turbine halls and the cooling system, according to the IAEA’s July 5 press release. Director General Rafael Grossi emphasized the importance of IAEA experts being able to inspect all parts of the nuclear power plant. “With military tension and activities increasing in the region where this major nuclear power plant is located, our...

Vladimir Putin is facing fresh woes after one of his generals was killed in a missile attack. Major-general Sergey Goryachev, 52, died during fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, which has recently seen major action in Ukraine’s counter-offensive. Goryachev was chief of staff of the Russian 35th Combined Arms Army and is one of 11 generals to be officially classed as casualties in the war – the first this year. Pro-Moscow war correspondent Yuri Kotenok wrote yesterday: ‘War takes the best. The army lost one of the brightest and most effective military leaders, who combined the highest professionalism with personal courage....

The Moscow-aligned information space is reporting Kremlin troop setbacks amid Russian sources suggesting Ukraine has begun its counter-offensive. Kyiv has not commented on Russian claims that its long-awaited push to retake captured territory has commenced, but milbloggers have reported on Telegram how Ukrainian troops have used tanks and other armored vehicles in the Zaporizhzhia oblast. On Thursday, milblogger War Gonzo said that a battle had been ongoing during the night in Orekhov-Tokmak, writing that the Ukrainian side had not made significant progress. However, the post described how on the Donetsk front where Russian troops had conducted assault operations in Maryinka...

Russia has sparked a "mad panic" as it evacuates a town near the contested Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a Ukrainian official says. Russia has told people to leave 18 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region, including Enerhodar near the plant, ahead of Kyiv's anticipated offensive. The Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, said there were five-hour waits as thousands of cars left. The UN's nuclear watchdog warned a "severe nuclear accident" could occur. Speaking to the BBC's Newshour programme Rafael Grossi - the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - said the evacuation of residents near the nuclear plant...

Russia-installed managers at the Moscow-occupied atomic energy power plant in Zaporizhzhia are trying to leave the site over concerns about Ukraine's expected counteroffensive, according to the country's nuclear operator. Energoatom said on Telegram that the Moscow-appointed director of the site, Yuriy Chernichuk, had left the town of Enerhodar, where the plant is located, for occupied Crimea on Monday. The Ukrainian state enterprise had also said that the "pseudo management" of the site had urgently asked to go on leave. "The current so-called managers of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant show a desire to 'rest' en masse closer to the Kerch...

Russian occupiers are preparing a plan to evacuate [Russian collaborators and] Rosatom employees from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in the city of Enerhodar.

Senior U.S. officials are advising Ukraine to hold off on launching a major offensive against Russian forces until the latest supply of U.S. weaponry is in place and training has been provided, a senior Biden administration official said on Friday. The official, speaking to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States was holding fast to its decision not to provide Abrams tanks to Ukraine at this time, amid a controversy with Germany over tanks. U.S. talks with Ukraine about any counter-offensive have been in the context of ensuring the Ukrainians devote enough time first...

NATO's head said earlier this month that Russia may want the fighting to slow, seeking a "freeze" in the fighting so it can better prepare for a bigger assault next year. "What we see now is Russia is actually trying to have some kind of 'freeze' of this war at least for a short period of time so they can regroup, repair, recover," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. "And then try to launch a bigger offensive next spring." The UK Ministry of Defence predicted on Monday that Russian forces will not see any big gains over the winter, even...

Following a string of Ukrainian military successes in the south, the Kremlin sought on Monday to tamp down speculation that Russian forces would withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex, with President Vladimir V. Putin’s spokesman saying that Moscow has no plans to end its military occupation of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. “One should not look for signs where there are none and cannot be any,” said the spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov. Mr. Peskov’s comments came after some pro-Russian military bloggers wrote posts suggesting that Moscow’s forces would withdraw from the area, and after Ukrainian officials said there were indications...

The Kremlin denies it, but right now, it only looks like a matter of time. Russia wants to keep the nuclear power facility in Zaporizhzhia for its own energy needs as well as nuclear hostage in its failing war in Ukraine. The question is whether they can hold it, and for how long. As the New York Times points out, the fallback from Kherson hasn’t bolstered their forces in Zaporizhzhia enough to sustain its seizure in the long run: Following a string of Ukrainian military successes in the south, the Kremlin sought on Monday to tamp down speculation that Russian...

Moscow’s occupying authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol said Saturday they had brought back a statue of Lenin, seven years after it was taken down following Kyiv’s pro-EU revolution. The Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, posted a photograph of workers in the city reinstating the tribute to the Bolshevik leader. “After seven years the statue of Vladimir Lenin has returned to its place in Melitopol,” he said, adding that city authorities had taken it down in 2015. Ukraine dismantled Lenin statues across the country after its 2014 revolution overthrew a Moscow-backed regime as part of...

The Ukrainian military made another attempt to land an assault force of up to two companies on the left bank of the Kakhovka reservoir and seize the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, with the attack repelled by Russian troops, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday. "The Kiev regime does not cease provocations with the aim of creating the threat of a man-made disaster at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Today, at about 4:00 a.m., up to two enemy companies made another attempt to land an assault force on the left bank of the Kakhovka reservoir and seize the...

Russia is preparing to evacuate senior officers in the Federal Security Service (FSB) and their families from occupied areas of Ukraine, Kyiv on Wednesday claimed. According to the National Resistance Center (NRC), which is a civilian resistance office launched by the Ukrainian government following Russia’s invasion, senior Russian officers in the FSB have been "informed about the evacuation routes." The NRC said officials in all five occupied regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea – have been notified of evacuation plans.

Ukrainian troops have reported outages of their Starlink communication devices on the frontline, hindering efforts to liberate territory from Russian forces, according to Ukrainian officials and soldiers. Thousands of Starlink terminals, made by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX, were purchased by the US government and crowdfunded by donors to help Ukrainian troops operate drones, receive vital intelligence updates and communicate with each other in areas where there are no other secure networks. The systems which connect a small antenna to a 35-centimetre-high terminal also provide internet for Ukrainian civilians. Some of the outages led to a “catastrophic” loss of communication in recent...

Russia plans to supervise operations of the Zaporizh .. (Cannot extract more from the article easily)

Voting in internationally criticised referendums for four Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to become part of Russia has continued into its third day despite shelling by Ukrainian forces. ...

Four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine are expected on Friday to begin voting in referendums on joining Russia, in a move that raises the stakes of Moscow’s invasion seven months after fighting began. The referendums, which are illegal under international law, could pave the way for Russian annexation of the areas, allowing Moscow to frame the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive as an attack on Russia itself. Such a move could provide Moscow with a pretext to escalate its faltering war, which has seen Kyiv regain thousands of square miles of territory this month. In an address Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin raised...