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Ukraine-Russia war live: Killed security chief at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was ‘collaborator’, Kyiv says

Zelensky defends Vuhledar retreat and says it was done to save ‘citizens of Ukraine’

Arpan Rai,Jabed Ahmed
Saturday 05 October 2024 12:01
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Trump claims he could end Russia-Ukraine war as he meets with Zelensky

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An employee at a Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been killed in a car bomb attack.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, had died after a bomb planted under his car went off near his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located.

Korotkiy worked in the plant’s security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.

Ukrainian military intelligence published a video of his car exploding and in a statement branded Korotkiy a “war criminal” and collaborator, accusing him of repressing Ukrainians and of handing Russia a list of the plant’s employees and then pointing out people with pro-Ukrainian views.

“The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine‘s Ministry of Defence reminds people that every war criminal will be fairly punished,” the Ukrainian agency said.

Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest with six reactors, soon after they entered Ukraine in February 2022. The plant is not currently operating.

The plant’s authorities condemned Ukrainian authorities for orchestrating the murder.

“This is a horrific, inhumane act,” said plant director Yuri Chernichuk, vowing punishment for the attackers.

1728126089

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

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 12:01
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Russia takes control of village in eastern Ukraine, TASS reports

Russia’s Defence Ministry has said that its forces had taken control of the village of Zhelanne Druhe in Ukraine‘s eastern Donetsk region, the Russian state-run TASS news agency reported.

The Independent could not independently confirm the battlefield report.

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 11:14
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Russian prosecutor seeks 7-year sentence for US man over mercenary charges, IFX reports

A Russian prosecutor has called for a seven-year prison sentence for a 72-year-old American man who Russia accuses of working as a mercenary for Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.

Stephen Hubbard is accused of signing a $1,000 per month contract with a Ukrainian territorial defence unit in the city of Izyum in February 2022. He was captured by Russian forces in April that year, and faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted.

Russia’s RIA news agency reported that Hubbard pleaded guilty to the charges at a hearing in Moscow City Court on Monday. Hubbard’s sister and another relative cast doubt on his reported confession, telling Reuters he held pro-Russian views and was unlikely to have taken up arms at his age.

Hubbard’s trial is being held behind closed doors and the verdict will be announced on 7 October.

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 10:29
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Employee at Russian-controlled nuclear plant killed by Ukraine in car bomb attack

An employee at a Russian-controlled nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been killed in a car bomb attack.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, said the employee, Andrei Korotkiy, had died after a bomb planted under his car went off near his house in the city of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located.

Korotkiy worked in the plant’s security department, the Committee said. A criminal case has been opened into his death.

Ukrainian military intelligence published a video of his car exploding and in a statement branded Korotkiy a “war criminal” and collaborator, accusing him of repressing Ukrainians and of handing Russia a list of the plant’s employees and then pointing out people with pro-Ukrainian views.

“The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine‘s Ministry of Defence reminds people that every war criminal will be fairly punished,” the Ukrainian agency said.

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 10:17
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Romania finds Russian drone fragments near Ukraine border

Romania recovered fragments from a Russian drone from a canal in the Danube Delta near the Ukrainian border, the defence ministry has said.

Romania shares a 650 km (400 mile) border with Ukraine and has had Russian drone fragments stray into its territory repeatedly over the past year.

Romanian territory lies a few hundred metres from Ukrainian Danube River ports, frequent Russian targets.

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 09:46
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Ukraine prepares to present ‘victory plan’ to world leaders

Tom Watling5 October 2024 08:59
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Family mourn death of soldier in east Ukraine

Mother Kateryna with her family cry over the coffin of her son Ihor Kusochek, Ukrainian soldier of the Azov brigade who was killed at the frontline in Toretsk, during the funeral ceremony in Bobrovytsia, Chernihiv region, Ukraine
Mother Kateryna with her family cry over the coffin of her son Ihor Kusochek, Ukrainian soldier of the Azov brigade who was killed at the frontline in Toretsk, during the funeral ceremony in Bobrovytsia, Chernihiv region, Ukraine (AP)
(AP)
Tom Watling5 October 2024 08:27
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Kremlin prisoner-swap exclusive: How I survived 11 months in Putin’s gulag

Vladimir Kara-Murza: How I survived 11 months of torture in Putin’s gulag

Vladimir Kara-Murza, one of the faces of Russian opposition to Putin alongside Evan Gershkovich, sits down with The Independent for the first time since being freed in a historic prisoner swap. Tom Watling reports

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 08:00
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Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns

Vladimir Putin wants to wipe us off the map, Ukraine’s top tennis player warns

Exclusive: Kyiv’s top tennis player Elina Svitolina tells Alexander Butler the West must act to get Ukraine’s stolen children back from Russia

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 07:00
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Russia knocked out most infrastructure in Ukraine's Pokrovsk, local official says

Russia has knocked out around 80 per cent of critical infrastructure in the town of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in Ukraine‘s east, as Moscow’s troops inched forward, a local official said.

Serhiy Dobriak, Pokrovsk’s military administration head, said Russian forces were at about 4 miles from the town, which is at an intersection of roads and a railway that makes it an important logistics point for the military and for civilians in the eastern Donetsk region.

Russia forces have focused some of their heaviest assaults in recent weeks on Pokrovsk, which could allow it to consolidate and advance the front line in the region.

“The enemy is leaving us without power, without water, without gas. Prepares us for the winter, so to say,” Dobriak said on national television.

Some 13,050 residents remain in the town and Ukrainian officials are pressing on with an evacuation plan that has been going on for some weeks. Just a month and a half ago, the town hosted more than 48,000 people, he said.

Russia continued to pummel the town on Thursday, launching a total of nine glide bombs and injuring four people in two attacks which damaged infrastructure, Dobriak said.

He said the daily attacks targeted energy facilities and other vital infrastructure. Almost half of Pokrovsk, 10 nearby villages and one smaller town were without power, he said, adding the energy infrastructure was “almost impossible to repair”.

Jabed Ahmed5 October 2024 06:00

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