Live blog: Ukraine's Zelenskyy says troops 'moving forward'
Russia-Ukraine conflict rages on its 556th day.
The much-vaunted counteroffensive, which is nearing the three-month mark, has retaken more than a dozen villages but no major settlements with soldiers hampered by vast Russian minefields and defensive lines. / Photo: AP
Saturday, September 2, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kiev's troops were "moving forward" in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, rebuffing Western officials who say that Ukraine is gaining ground too slowly.
This week, unnamed US officials vented frustration at the slow progress of the operation and even faulted Ukrainian strategy, according to Western reports that drew Kiev's ire.
Ukrainian forces are moving forward. Despite everything, and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing. We are on the move
Some fear the West's support could begin to falter as colder and wetter weather slows progress on the battlefield later in the year. The West has poured in many billions of dollars to help the counteroffensive and Kiev says it needs more.
Ukrainian battlefield momentum has picked up slightly in one part of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia front where Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Friday that Kiev's troops had broken through the first line of Russian defences.
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1147 GMT — Kiev says decision to uninvite Russian envoy to Nobel ceremony a 'victory for humanism'
Ukraine has welcomed a decision by the Nobel Foundation to cancel an invitation to ambassadors from Russia and Moscow-allied Belarus to this year's Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm.
"Victory for humanism," spokesman for Ukraine's foreign ministry Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook.
"We thank everyone who demanded the restoration of justice. We are convinced that a similar decision should be made regarding the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors to Oslo."
1228 GMT — Russia 'destroys' Ukrainian boats trying to attack Crimea bridge
Russia's forces have destroyed three unmanned Ukrainian boats being used in an attempt to attack the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland, Defence Ministry said.
"On September 2, at about 02.20 am Moscow time [2320 GMT], the third Ukrainian semi-submersible unmanned boat, sent by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, was destroyed in the Black Sea," the ministry said on Telegram.
0958 GMT — Ukraine names businessman Kolomoisky suspect in fraud probe
Ukrainian state security officials have named powerful businessman Ihor Kolomoisky as a suspect in a fraud and money laundering case, the SBU security service said.
Zelenskyy has made cracking down on corruption a priority as Ukraine battles Russia's 18-month-old offensive and Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's richest men, is the most prominent figure to have become a target.
"It was established that during 2013-2020, Ihor Kolomoisky legalized more than half a billion hryvnias ($14 million) by withdrawing them abroad and using the infrastructure of the controlled banks," the SBU said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
0951 GMT — Deadly Ukrainian shelling hits several frontier Russian villages
A regional governor in Belgorod region has said that one man had been killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike on a village close to the border.
Separately, the governors of Russia's frontier regions of Bryansk and Kursk said a string of border villages had come under fire from Ukraine, and a woman had been wounded in Kursk region.
Russian-installed authorities in the Moscow-controlled part of Ukraine's Kherson region also said on Saturday that Kiev struck the village of Maslivka in a drone strike, wounding a civilian.
Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory have picked up in recent weeks, with dozens of drones striking Russia at once on some days, reaching as far as the western city of Pskov, 600 kilometres from Ukraine.
0947 GMT — More cargo ships from Ukraine use a civilian corridor despite Russian threats
Two cargo vessels have left Ukraine despite Russian threats and are in the Black Sea, maritime officials have said.
The Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier carrying 56,000 tonnes of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday and is now close to Bulgarian territorial waters, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
A second vessel — the Ocean Courtesy, traveling under a Marshall Islands flag — left the same port on Friday with 172,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate.
That ship arrived at the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta shortly before noon on Saturday, according to the global ship tracking website MarineTraffic.
For our live updates from Friday (September 1), click here.
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