Putin’s forces pushed back as Kyiv ‘gradually gaining ground’ in counteroffensive

NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Stoltenberg said “every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses”.

“And there is a stark contrast: Ukrainians are fighting for their families, their future, their freedom,” he added. “Moscow is fighting for imperial delusions.”

Zelensky stressed Ukraine‘s need for more air defence against Russian attacks, saying Moscow had used more than 40 Shahed drones in strikes on Ukraine the previous night alone.

“And so it is almost every night. In the conditions of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, ports – which are important for global food security – we need a corresponding increase in pressure on Russia and a corresponding increase in our air shield,” he said.

Mr Stoltenberg said he was “constantly pushing” NATO allies to provide more support to Ukraine and speed up delivery, “not least” of air defence systems.

Mr Stoltenberg announced that NATO now had over-arching framework contracts in place with arms companies worth 2.4 billion euros ($2.53 billion) for ammunition, including 1 billion euros in firm orders.

Russia is likely using Ukraine’s own grain supplies to buy votes for its return to a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council, experts say, less than two years after it was kicked off the panel for invading its neighbour.

Vladimir Putin has ordered a charm offensive by his diplomats to try and secure the backing of enough countries for Moscow to beat two other eastern European nations in a vote for council membership on 10 October.

A Russian position paper circulated to dozens of other countries ahead of the vote strikes a markedly different tone to the nuclear threats and wartime sabre-rattling of Putin’s addresses since he invaded Ukraine, calling for “constructive mutually respectful dialogue” and referring to the 47-member Human Rights Council as “a key body in the United Nations system”.

Russia is pressuring smaller countries to vote in its favour next month when the membership of the UN Human Rights Council is decided, 18 months after it was kicked out of the panel for invading neighbour Ukraine. Arpan Rai speaks to experts about Moscow’s chances:

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he discussed his region’s contribution to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine at talks with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that came at a sensitive moment in relations between the two sides.

Kadyrov enjoys wide leeway from Putin to run Chechnya ruthlessly as his personal fiefdom, but he angered even pro-Kremlin hardliners this week by praising his 15-year-old son for beating up an ethnic Russian prisoner in Chechen custody.

Kadyrov posted on Telegram that he and Putin had talked about a range of topics including the role of Chechen fighters in Ukraine. He added teasingly that “other issues” were raised, and promised “more on this later.”

It was not clear if he was referring to the beating incident last month in which his son Adam kicked and punched a prisoner called Nikita Zhuravel who is accused of burning the Koran.

Kadyrov posted a video of the attack on Monday and said he was proud of his son for defending his Muslim religion.

The alleged Koran-burning did not take place in Chechnya but Russian investigators said they transferred Zhuravel to Chechen custody because Muslims there saw themselves as victims of the incident.

Ukrainian soldiers fought off fierce Russian attacks on the battlefield on Wednesday as the invading troops continued to recapture lost territory in eastern Ukraine, military officials said.

Some progress was also seen in southern Ukraine – another pocket of heavy territorial battle in Russia’s 20-month-old invasion.

“We continue to repel intense enemy attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka. The enemy is still storming these positions with the hope of recapturing lost positions, but without success,” Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces, told national television.

The two villages – Klishchiivka and Andriivka – near Bakhmut were retaken from Russian control in mid-September in a span of three days, marking a significant territorial feat in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

There had been 544 Russian shelling incidents in the past 24 hours in the area, seven combat clashes and four air attacks, the military spokesperson said.

Germany should not fear that Kazakhstan will try to help Russia circumvent Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, Kazakh president Tokayev said on Thursday after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Tokayev said Kazakhstan continued to call for talks between Russia and Ukraine on ending the war, now in its 20th month, and that it had no concerns about Moscow threatening its own territorial integrity.

The large former Soviet state in Central Asia shares a long border with Russia and is home to a large ethnic Russian minority.

Chinese importers are believed to have made large purchases of animal feed corn from Ukraine in the past two weeks, traders in Asia and Europe said on Thursday.

The traders were unable to say the precise volumes but several said they amounted to several hundred thousand metric tons. A Ukrainian government source also confirmed corn sales to China.

“Importers in China have bought around 10 to 12 Panamax cargoes of Ukrainian corn for November/December shipment,” said a Singapore-based trader at an international grains trading company, referring to a size of ship with a capacity that typically exceeds 60,000 tons of grain.

”Ukraine is the cheapest origin for corn as of now”, the trader said.

A Ukrainian government source said: “I cannot tell you the volume, but I know that many (traders) did it and it is a good trend (for Ukrainian corn).”

China is traditionally one of the biggest buyers of Ukraine‘s corn to meet its animal feed needs. Chinese corn shipments were among the largest freight types transported in the United Nations-backed safe shipping channel from Ukrainian ports that ended in July after Russia quit the deal.

Grant Shapps discussed how to bolster Ukraine‘s air defences during talks in Kyiv with Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

The visit to the Ukrainian capital was Shapps’ first to wartime Kyiv since he became defence secretary last month.

Shapps and Zelenskiy discussed beefing up air defences in Ukraine amid fears that Russia will use long-range missiles and drones to target critical energy infrastructure in the depths of winter, according to a statement released by Zelensky’s office.

Ukraine’s new defence minister, Rustem Umerov, also met Shapps and said he had briefed him on the battlefield situation and Kyiv’s urgent needs.

“Focus on air defence, artillery, anti-drone systems. Winter is coming but we are ready. Stronger together,” Umerov said on X.

Russian shelling damaged a combined heat and power station in southern Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian energy ministry said.

Ukraine‘s national grid operator, Ukrenergo, had earlier on Thursday described the plant as a thermal power station but an energy ministry statement said all thermal power plants in territory controlled by Ukraine were in operation.

“Unfortunately, last night a combined heat and power station in one of the towns in the south of the country was damaged by shelling,” the ministry said.

It said the station had not been in operation at the time of the attack and a warehouse had caught fire. The blaze was subsequently extinguished, it added.

Ukrainian cities are often equipped with small combined heating and power stations, which not only heat homes but also generate electricity.

In an emailed comment to Reuters, Ukrenergo said it was not able to provide further details under current legislation during wartime.

Back in June, Ukraine accused Moscow of plotting a terrorist attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Claiming Moscow had reduced its presence at the huge plant, the Ukraine Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) had claimed that the number of military patrols around the site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and in the nearby city of Enerhodar had been gradually been decreasing.

Personnel remaining at the plant – occupied by Moscow’s forces – were told to blame Ukraine “in case of any emergency situations”, claimed Kyiv.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Stoltenberg also said Russian troops were fighting for Moscow’s “imperial delusions”.

Stoltenberg announced that NATO now had over-arching framework contracts in place with arms companies for key ammunition.

He said such contracts would allow NATO members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while also continuing to provide Ukraine with ammunition, a key factor in the war.

Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes near Ukraine‘s border with NATO member Romania. He said there was no evidence such strikes were a deliberate attack on Romania but branded them “reckless” and “destabilizing”.