Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin ‘loses entire brigade’ as Moscow suffer painful losses

The White House on Thursday said Russia is executing soldiers who have failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.

It’s a development that U.S. national security officials believe reflects Russia’s morale problems 20 months into its grinding invasion of Ukraine, said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric,” Kirby told reporters. “But I think it’s a symptom of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective.”

The White House has downgraded and released intelligence findings about Russian action over the course of the war. In the past, the administration has said it has acted to disclose the intelligence to highlight plans for Russian misinformation and other activity so allies remain clear-eyed about Moscow’s intent and Russia thinks twice before carrying out an operation.

This latest unveiling of intelligence about Russia’s struggles comes as President Joe Biden is pressing the Republican-controlled House to go along with providing more funding for Ukraine as Kyiv tries to repel Russia in a war that has no end in sight.

It was a good thing Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy had his videoconference address to the European Union summit pre-slotted for the opening session.

Immediately afterward, EU leaders switched off and went to the order of the day — the Israel-Hamas war. They didn’t come back to the issue of Russia‘s war in Ukraine again before Friday’s closing day of the summit.

After dominating summit after summit since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the timing alone, anecdotal as it was, underscored a deeper reality: Zelenskyy will be facing tougher times to get all the attention and political, economic and military aid that Ukraine wants.

Peace talks that are being supported by Ukraine and representatives from more than 50 countries have begun in Malta, with Russia absteining from the discussions.

This follows similar summits in Jeddah and Copenhagen earlier this year, with Volodymyr Zelensky outlining 10-point plan to end the war.

“This meeting is a powerful signal that unity is preserved around Ukraine,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said this week.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Malta talks have “nothing to do with the search for a peaceful resolution”.

Ukraine’s air force claimed it has shot down three out of the four Iskander cruise missiles that Russia launched overnight at Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

They wrote on Telegram that the launches were carried out from the Dzhankoi district of Russian-occupied Crimea and that the remaining missile did not reach its target. Explosions were heard around 1am with no casualties reported.

In their daily update on social media, the Ministry of Defence said that “heavy but inconclusive” fighting had been taking place around the town of Avdiivka, with Russian troops likely to have suffered some of their highest casualty rates in 2023.

Scores of protesters gathered on the streets of Ukrainian cities on Friday to demand a cap of 18 months on mandatory military service, amid new suggestions of possible Ukrainian and international weariness with the 20-month war.

Both the warring sides are striving to keep their military momentum, though neither side is able to land a knockout blow, and the fighting is expected to drag on deep into next year.

The 18-month service limit would be the same maximum as before the war. It is currently open-ended for draftees. The protesters, who are part of a loose national network, want the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, to consider possible alternatives on service time.

French president, Emmanuel Macron, has condemned the Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán’s recent meeting and handshake with Vladimir Putin.

“I want to condemn it [the meeting with the Russian president once again and make it very clear. I can tell you what I said to Viktor Orbán publicly around the table,” he said. “First of all, I respect all the heads of state and government around the table and they have this sovereignty.

There’s absolutely no need to prohibit a head of state or government from going in one direction or another. It doesn’t shock us. What I am asking, out of respect and loyalty, is that we coordinate beforehand and coordinate afterwards and that, especially in the situation we are in with Russia, we do not use these bilateral contacts to negotiate things about ourselves that would weaken our unity.

Russian forces heavily shelled the centre of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday, injuring eight people and destroying or damaging at least 15 buildings, a senior city official said.

Pictures posted on social media showed at least three sites dotted with piles of rubble and the interior of one building strewn with shattered building materials and other debris.

Roman Mrochko, head of the city’s military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app that three of the injured were being treated in hospital. He said two buildings had been destroyed, three suffered heavy damage and 10 less damage.

“In the evening the entire city trembled,” Ukraine‘s Emergency Services said on Telegram. “The enemy targeted the very centre of Kherson.”

The posting said emergency workers had rescued two women, in their 70s and 80s, who had been blocked in a building, and brought a fire under control in a rubble-strewn area.

Ukraine‘s Suspilne public broadcaster said Russian forces had also shelled Beryslav, a town further north on the Dnipro River in Kherson Region, wounding one person.

Russian forces captured Kherson in the early days of the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but abandoned the city and the western bank of the Dnipro late last year. They now regularly shell those areas from positions on the eastern bank.

It was a good thing Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky had his videoconference address to the European Union summit pre-slotted for the opening session.

Immediately afterward, EU leaders switched off and went to the order of the day — the Israel-Hamas war. They didn’t come back to the issue of Russia‘s war in Ukraine again before Friday’s closing day of the summit.

After dominating summit after summit since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the timing alone, anecdotal as it was, underscored a deeper reality: Zelensky will be facing tougher times to get all the attention and political, economic and military aid that Ukraine wants.

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