In a week, the Ukrainian army advanced 1.7 kilometers in the counteroffensive in the direction of the city of Melitopol on the southern part of the front, a high-ranking Ukrainian military officer said on Friday. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainians should understand that Russia used all possible resources to stop the advance of Kyiv’s troops in the east and south of the country.

Ukrainian military personnel from the Gvozdyk self-propelled guns on the Ugledar FrontPhoto: AA/ABACA / Abaca Press / Profimedia

08:00Who is “Sedoy”, the veteran mercenary whom Putin proposed to command the Wagner Group?

“Sedoi” is a decorated veteran of the Russian war in Afghanistan and Chechnya. He is from St. Petersburg, Putin’s hometown, and was photographed with the president, Reuters reported.

TOTALS FOR THE LAST 24 HOURS

  • In a week, the Ukrainian army advanced 1.7 kilometers in the counteroffensive in the direction of the city of Melitopol on the southern part of the front, a high-ranking Ukrainian military officer said on Friday.
  • Zelensky says Russia is “using all possible resources” against troops in the east and south. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainians should understand that Russia used all possible resources to stop the advance of Kyiv’s troops in the east and south of the country.
  • US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Friday that Russia showed no signs of changing course in its war against Ukraine, after foreign ministers from more than 20 countries, including the US and Russia, met in the Indonesian capital for an annual meeting. the ASEAN organization, which deals with security issues.
  • The number of Russian troops in Belarus has significantly decreased, the State Border Service of Ukraine reported on Friday, CNN reports. Until recently, Ukraine had about 2,000 Russian troops stationed at training grounds in Belarus, but now “almost all Russian troops have been withdrawn from the territory of Belarus,” said Andrii Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Service of Ukraine.
  • Putin wants to attend the summit in Johannesburg, but South Africa wants to stay away. Vladimir Putin wants to attend an economic summit in Johannesburg next month, but the country is desperate to turn him away to avoid the legal and diplomatic consequences of an international arrest warrant for him, South Africa’s vice president said on Friday.
  • “The threat of Russia using nuclear weapons is not so great.” The head of Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s administration, Andriy Yermak, told reporters that the threat of Russia using nuclear weapons to stop a counteroffensive is always there, but at the moment it is not very big.
  • Erdogan says he and Putin agree to extend the Black Sea grain deal