Ukraine makes ‘breakthrough’ on Dnipro river – latest updates

Russia said on Thursday it was coordinating its policy in the Middle East and North Africa with China, an increasingly close ally that President Vladimir Putin visited this week where he was treated as a guest of honour at a delegation including multiple countries.

The country sees itself as a potential broker between Israel and Hamas who triggered the current crisis with a surprise assault on Oct. 7 that killed 1,400 people. Israel has responded with aerial bombardments that Gaza authorities say have killed more than 3,500 Palestinians and left more than 12,000 wounded.

Moscow has tried to put some of the blame for the crisis on the United States, the most powerful ally of Ukraine, against which Russia began an all-out invasion last year

Ukraine forces have made some headway against Russian forces in southern Ukraine. However, the progress comes with new Russian attacks around the eastern town of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.

Oleksandr Stupun, a military spokesperson, reported an advance of 400 metres (0.25 mile) to the southwest of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Zaporizhia is a city on the Dnieper River in southeastern Ukraine.

There are 30,000 Ukrainians missing according to Suspilne Media as reported by Sky News.

The Head of the International Commission of Missing Persons said: “Right now it’s about 30,000 people. And that’s just civilians.

“I’m not sure exactly who that number includes. We’re trying to figure out what those numbers are and what they mean.”

NATO is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea following recent damage to undersea infrastructure in the region, the transatlantic military alliance said on Thursday.

“The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights, including with maritime patrol aircraft, NATO AWACS planes, and drones. A fleet of four NATO minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” NATO said in a statement.

The move followed announcements by authorities of damage to a Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden and Estonia and to a Finnish-Estonian pipeline and cable at around the same time earlier this month.

The Su-27 fighter jets were sent to intercept “three air targets” near the border, with Russia claiming to have identified them as a British RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and two Typhoon fighter planes.

“As the Russian fighters approached, the foreign military aircraft turned away from the state border of the Russian Federation,” the statement claimed. It was not clear how close the planes came to each other.

The Black Sea has become an increasingly important theatre in the war between Russia and Ukraine, now nearing the end of its 20th month.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he had ordered Russian planes armed with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to patrol over the Black Sea.

President Joe Biden will deliver a rare Oval Office address Thursday night as he makes his case for providing billions of dollars in military assistance to Israel and Ukraine.

The funding request, expected to be formally unveiled on Friday, is likely to be around $100 billion over the next year, according to people directly familiar with the proposal who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Conservative Republicans oppose sending more weapons to Ukraine as its battle against the Russian invasion approaches the two-year mark. Biden’s previous request for funding, which included $24 billion to help with the next few months of fighting, was stripped out of budget legislation last month despite a personal plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The White House has warned that time is running out to prevent Ukraine, which recently struggled to make progress in a grueling counteroffensive, from losing ground to Russia because of dwindling supplies of weapons.

Russia has hit out at the US for its decision to send long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time, claiming the move increases the risks of a direct conflict between Nato and Moscow.

Western backers of Ukraine have been reluctant to provide long-range munitions since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion in February last year, fearing that their use against targets within Russia would represent an escalation of the conflict.

While the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, result in an additional threat, the weapon would not change the situation along the 1,500km (932 mile) frontline, Mr Putin told reporters in Beijing. He said his forces will be able to repel attacks by the top-tier missile system.

“For Ukraine, in this sense, there’s nothing good… it only prolongs the agony,” the Russian president said during his visit to China.

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.