Live blog: Kiev steps up attacks behind Russian lines

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

1750 GMT — Ukraine has stepped up attacks behind Russian lines with the apparent killing of a Russian election official in a car bomb and a drone assault on a metals plant.

Deadly Russian strikes also rocked the Ukrainian port city of Odessa during a visit by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was holding talks there with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russia and Ukraine have increased their aerial attacks as Moscow's troops advance on the front lines and Kiev faces a shortage of manpower and weapons.

"We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us. We did not have time to get to a shelter. It is a very intense experience," Mitsotakis said through a translator in Odessa.

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1721 GMT — Ukraine aims to conduct counter-offensive actions in 2024: top commander

The Ukrainian military will stabilise the battlefield situation shortly and aims to form units for counter-offensive actions later this year, a top military commander said.

Ukrainian forces experienced a setback following nine months of mostly stable front lines, when the eastern city of Avdiivka fell into Russian hands earlier in February after months of devastating attacks.

Ukrainian troops were forced to leave several settlements neighbouring the city due to Russia's continued offensive amid its own depleting stockpiles of munitions.

1654 GMT — Czech defence group CSG plans ammunition venture in Ukraine

Czechoslovak Group (CSG), one of Europe's biggest ammunition producers, is looking to set up joint ventures to invest hundreds of millions of euros in Ukraine to boost the country's defence capacities, CSG's billionaire owner said.

The ventures would focus on heavy ammunition and equipment, providing important technology and a way to ramp up production in the coming years, although not an immediate fix to Europe's drive to get more artillery rounds to Ukraine now, Michal Strnad told a group of journalists.

CSG has become an important supplier to Ukraine since Russia's offensive in 2022, delivering refurbished T-72 tanks along with ammunition, howitzers and other equipment.

1509 GMT — Seven killed in separate incidents in occupied Ukraine

Seven people were killed in separate incidents in the eastern Ukrainian region of Lugansk under Russian control, Moscow-backed authorities announced.

Five civilians were killed when the bus they were travelling in hit a mine and two more were killed by alleged Ukrainian shelling, authorities said.

"There was a tragedy in the city of Kirovsk in the Lugansk People's Republic — a bus travelling to a cemetery exploded on a mine," Governor Leonid Pasechnik said. "Five people were killed," he added in a comment on social media.

1443 GMT — Ukraine's reserves slip to $37.1B at March 1, central bank says

Ukraine's foreign currency reserves slipped to $37.1 billion at the start of March, the central bank said.

It said the reserves were down by 3.8 percent due to the central bank's interventions on the forex market to prop up the local hryvnia currency and also due to government debt payments.

Ukraine's reserves have been falling this year with billions in foreign financial aid delayed or blocked.

1011 GMT — We don't want 'conflict,' but threats won't go unanswered

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow had never wanted conflict with NATO, the United States, or Ukraine, but that threats made against it would not go unanswered.

0956 GMT — Ukrainian military intelligence responsible for attack on Russian iron plant: GUR source

Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency is responsible for an attack on the Mikhailovsky iron ore plant in Russia's Kursk region, a source in GUR has told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Russian officials and the plant's owner, Metalloinvest, said earlier that two drones had struck a fuel tank at the enterprise, one of Russia's largest iron ore plants.

0948 GMT — UN atomic watchdog's director arrives in Russia for talks on nuclear safety in Ukraine

The UN atomic watchdog agency's director arrived in Russia for talks on nuclear safety in Ukraine where Europe's largest nuclear power plant is at risk amid fighting.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant amid fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe. The plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire since Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and seized the facility shortly after.

The plant's six reactors have been shut down for months, but it still needs power and qualified staff to operate crucial cooling systems and other safety features.

0938 GMT — Russia rejects ICC's arrest warrants for its officers

The Kremlin said it did not recognise the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants for two senior Russian officers over their actions in the Ukraine conflict.

The court accused lieutenant general Sergei Kobylash and navy admiral Viktor Sokolov of targeting Ukraine's power infrastructure with strikes between October 2022 and March 2023.

"We don't recognise this," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, he said. "This is not the first decision, we also know that there are also various closed processes going on there, which are kept secret," he continued.

0704 GMT — Ukraine strikes fuel depot in Russia's Kursk region: governor

The governor of Russia's Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, said a fuel and lubricants warehouse was on fire after being struck by a Ukrainian drone.

In a video posted on Telegram, local governor Roman Starovoit said that no one had been injured and that a fuel tank was on fire at the warehouse in Kursk region's Zheleznogorsky district, around 90km (56 miles) from the Ukrainian frontier.

Starovoit said emergency services were working at the scene, and that he would provide details later.

0639 GMT — Ukrainian air defence downs 38 of 42 Russian drones

Ukrainian air defence shot down 38 out of 42 Russian drones launched overnight to target eight regions across the country, the air force said.

It is one of the largest Russian drone attacks on the Ukrainian regions in the past several weeks.

The air force said the Iran-made Shaheed kamikaze drones were downed over the south, centre, west, and northeast of the country. Air alerts in some regions lasted for more than two hours.

0510 GMT — Ukraine willing to accept restrictions on EU trade, FT reports

Ukraine is willing to accept restrictions on its trade with the European Union to defuse a political dispute with Poland, but is urging the bloc to ban Russian grain imports as well, the Financial Times reported, citing Ukrainian trade minister Taras Kachka.

For our live updates from Monday, March 5, click here.