Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin inflicts ‘terrible’ shelling as Kyiv warn of record drone attacks

Russia’s barrage of airstrikes and shelling led to a ‘terrible night’ in the southern Ukrainian region Kherson, said the region’s governor on Sunday morning.

A dozen people were wounded in the attack, including a 27-year-old woman and her 9-month-old baby.

“The Kherson region experienced another terrible night,” Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces carried out 59 attacks on Kherson, the region’s administration said on Telegram, including 19 instances of shelling of Kherson city, the region’s administrative centre.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russia will attempt to return to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday, after being ousted when the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The UN General Assembly is set to elect 15 new members to the Geneva-based UN body, for terms running from 2024 to 2026.

Moscow’s candidacy has drawn criticism, and comes days after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian village of Groza killed more than 50 people.

“We hope UN members will firmly reject (Russia’s) preposterous candidacy,” a State Department spokesperson told AFP.

Russian forces shelled southern Kherson region and other parts of Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring a dozen more, Ukrainian officials said.

Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of Kherson region, said a man had died in Russian shelling in the northern part of the region. Prokudin had earlier reported that a dozen people were wounded in attacks on different localities.

Russian troops abandoned the city of Kherson and the western bank of the Dnipro River in the region late last year but now regularly shell those areas from positions on the eastern bank.

In northeastern Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Synehubov said a man had died in shelling near the Russian border.

Reuters could not verify reports from either side.

Ukraine‘s air force expects a record number of Russian drone attacks on its soil this winter, its spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Sunday, as Kyiv girds for a second winter of mass bombardment of its energy facilities.

Ihnat said that data for September showed the use by Russia of Iranian-designed Shahed kamikaze drones would smash last year’s figure.

“This autumn and winter … is already a record in terms of the number of Shahed drones. Over 500 (were used) in September,” Ihnat said in an interview on national television.

He contrasted this number with Russia’s air strike campaign on Ukraine last winter, when he said about 1,000 Shahed drones were used in six months.

Train traffic between North Korea and Russia has “dramatically increased”, suggesting a “likely” transfer of arms, according to a new report by the Beyond Parallel group, who are Washington-based analysts.

Satellite imagery reveals at least 70 freight cars at North Korea’s border Tumangang rail facility, which is a number described as “unprecedented”.

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un met for a summit in Russia’s far East in September, where Kim offered his firm support for the Kremlin’s “sacred fight” against the “hegemonic forces” that oppose it.

Two Ukrainian women were among those killed in Israel after Hamas invaded the country on Saturday, the Ukrainian embassy has told news agency Interfax-Ukraine.

The identities of the two women have not been confirmed, but officials said the women had lived in Israel for a long time.

“The Embassy of Ukraine received confirmation from the Israeli police regarding the death of two Ukrainian citizens”, said the embassy in a statement on Sunday.

“Measures are being taken to organise the repatriation of the bodies of the deceased. There is currently no information on the presence of Ukrainian citizens among the wounded or missing.”

The expat community of Ukrainians in Israe is estimated to stand at around 500,000 people, according to the Ukrainian foreign ministry.

Russia will exploit the Hamas attacks in Israel to spread propaganda supporting its invasion of Ukraine, according to the American think tank The Study of War.

The Kremlin has already blamed the West for “neglecting conflicts” in the Middle East by concentrating efforts in Ukraine, according to the group.

Now Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chair of the Russian Security Council claims the Us and its allies should have been working on the Palestinian and Israeli issue, rather than “intefering” with Russia.

The group added: “These Kremiline narratives target Western audiences to drive a wedge in military support for Ukraine, seek to demoralize Ukrainian socity by claiming Ukraine will lose international support, and intend to reassure Russian domestic audiences that the international society will ignore Ukraine’s war effort.”

The fall-out from Uefa’s plans to reinstate Russian underage teams to European competition is causing a huge split within the governing body, putting president Aleksander Ceferin under immense pressure to “revisit” the issue at this week’s Executive Committee meeting.

The controversy has already caused the confederation vice-president Karl-Erik Nilsson to resign as boss of the Swedish Sports Confederation and led Denmark to become the latest association to say they will not play Russian sides to go with England, Ireland and Ukraine.

The Independent has been told that there is tension within some national associations that didn’t immediately reject the idea out of hand.

The UK’s new ambassador for Ukraine wore a kilt for his first meeting with President Vlodymyr Zelensky.

Father-of-three Martin Harris, 54, previously served from 2003 to 2008 in Kyiv as deputy head of mission and consul general, and raised his children in Ukraine.

Mr Harris, who grew up in Scotland, wore his family’s Ferguson tartan for his initiation into the role, which was admired by President Zelensky.