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Prominent Russian opposition activist Ildar Dadin has been killed while fighting in Ukraine alongside Kyiv’s forces, officials and his family said.
“It is with deep regret that I must inform you that Ildar Dadin – call sign Gandhi – died yesterday in combat in the Kharkiv region” in northeast Ukraine, his friend and former Russian MP Ilia Ponomarev said. He hailed Dadin as a “fearless and determined fighter” who had gone “to the front to fight Putinism”.
His death was also reported by the Ukrainian group that recruited him, stating that “he was, and he remains a hero”. Dadin was imprisoned by the Russian authorities in 2015 for organising peaceful solo protests against political repression.
The news of his death came as the Netherlands confirmed its first batch of F-16 fighter jets had arrived in Ukraine.
The first planes are already operating in Ukrainian airspace, according to Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans on a surprise visit to Kyiv.
Former Nato chief says he regrets not providing Ukraine with support earlier
Former Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has said he regrets the alliance did not provide military support to Ukraine earlier.
“If there’s anything I in a way regret and see much more clearly now is that we should have provided Ukraine with much more military support much earlier,” he told the Financial Times.
“I think we all have to admit, we should have given them more weapons pre-invasion. And we should have given them more advanced weapons, faster, after the invasion. I take my part of the responsibility.”
Mr Stoltenberg also said Nato had called Putin’s “bluff” after “crossing all those so-called red lines” the Russian President had put up.
Putin has constantly threatened Nato and Ukraine’s Western allies to not interfere with Russia’s invasion, often with nuclear threats.
Russian offensive to peak in 'months, if not weeks'
Vladimir Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine is likely to culminate in the coming months, a US-based think tank has said.
“Russian forces do not have the available manpower and materiel to continue intensified offensive efforts indefinitely, however, and current Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine will likely culminate in the coming months, if not weeks, as Ukrainian officials and ISW have previously assessed,” the Institute for the Study of War said in an assessment.
Ukrainian forces, it said, also face serious operational challenges and constraints, which are providing Russian forces with opportunities to pursue tactically significant gains.
But the current Russian offensive, which was started in autumn last year, has not yielded operationally significant gains for Russian forces and only offered gradual tactical gains in specific sectors of the front, the ISW said.
Ukraine’s “effective defence in depth along the frontline” has caused Russia significant losses and prevent Mr Putin’s troops from making more rapid gains on the battlefield, it said.
Full report: Russian prosecutors seek 7 year sentence for US man accused of fighting for Ukraine
Russian prosecutors seek 7-year sentence for US man accused of fighting for Ukraine
Russian prosecutors have asked for a seven-year sentence in the trial of a U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine against Russia, Russian news agencies reported Saturday
British-French cruise missiles fired by Ukraine at Russian troops, reports
A Ukrainian aircraft fired British-French cruise missiles at Russian troops attempting to advance towards a city in Ukraine, Sky news has reported.
A Ukrainian security source shared drone footage with the broadcaster that reportedly shows strikes on Russian troops advancing towards Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces used Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles, gifted by Western nations,” the source said.
The Independent could not confirm the assertions or the drone footage.
Watch: HR McMaster says he doubts Trump can broker Ukraine peace
Thousands of Jewish pilgrims come to Ukraine for Rosh Hashana despite official warnings
Thousands of Jewish pilgrims come to Ukraine for Rosh Hashana despite official warnings
Thousands of pilgrims have joined an annual gathering to mark the Jewish new year in the central Ukrainian town of Uman, despite the war against Russia
Ukrainian forces down Russian bomber in Donetsk region
Ukrainian forces reported the downing of a Russian warplane in eastern Ukraine.
The bomber was shot down near Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, according to Serhiy Horbunov, head of the local military administration, as cited by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne.
Images revealed the charred wreckage of the aircraft after it crashed into a house, igniting a fire.
Full report: 1 dead as Russia strikes Ukraine with drones and missiles
1 dead as Russia strikes Ukraine with drones and missiles
One person has died after Russian forces attacked Ukraine overnight with 87 Shahed drones and four different types of missiles, officials said Sunday
ICYMI: Russia’s envoy to US ends his term at time of bilateral turmoil
Russia’s envoy to the US, a Kremlin hard-liner, has returned to Moscow, state media reported, with the end of his term coming at a time of the most hostile relations between the two nations in decades.
“Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Ivanovich Antonov is concluding his Washington assignment and heading to Moscow,” TASS state news agency cited the foreign ministry as saying.
The Siberia-born Antonov, 69, a career diplomat, was seen as a hawk who was still capable of striking compromises. Head of the Russian mission in Washington since 2017, he said in July his assignment was coming to an end.
There was no mention of who would replace the envoy, considered a military-style negotiator. His stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine has shown stalwart support of President Vladimir Putin’s actions.
Russia used more than 800 glide bombs in Ukraine in past week, Zelensky says
Russia has used more than 800 guided aerial bombs and almost 400 attack drones in the past week , according to Ukrainian president Vlodymyr Zelensky.
“Last night, air defense forces destroyed more than 50 Shaheds in Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Dnipro, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, and Kharkiv regions. During the week, the enemy used about 20 missiles of various types, more than 800 guided aerial bombs and almost 400 attack UAVs of various types,” he said in a statement on Telegram.
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