Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin is preparing to use this winter to ‘break’ Kyiv, think-tank warns

An overnight drone ​attack killed a child, damaged four enterprises and over two dozen residential buildings in the Russian Black Sea port city of Novorossiysk, mayor Andrei Kravchenko said on ⁠Telegram this morning.

At least eight people, including a child, were injured in the attacks which also saw another person killed and others wounded in the wider region, Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of ⁠Russia’s southern region of Krasnodar where ​Novorossiysk ⁠is located, said on Telegram separately.

There were a number of unverified social media posts on Telegram purporting to ⁠show photos of a tower of flames and smoke rising ​from ⁠somewhere in Novorossiysk, a ‌major oil and grains export hub.

In Sevastopol in Russia-occupied Crimea, more than three dozen drones were downed, the city’s governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram.

A few houses were damaged in the attack, but there were no injuries, he added.

Ukraine has ​paused drone strikes on oil tankers using Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk after a request from the US vice president JD Vance, the Financial Times reports today, citing Ukrainian officials.

The paper said last month’s request followed US alarm that Ukraine was destabilising oil markets and harming US firms by targeting tankers carrying crude piped from Kazakhstan to a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal at the port.

A US official confirmed to the FT that the administration ​had warned Ukraine to ‌stop attacking non-Russian vessels in the ​Black Sea.

Ukraine agreed not to target CPC infrastructure or non-Russian vessels as long as the ⁠latter were not under Ukrainian sanctions and were not ​carrying ⁠Russian oil or cargo, the ‌report added.

Ukrainian forces recently stepped up strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and other sites in an effort Kyiv says aims at depriving ⁠Russia of resources to fund its military.

Black Sea drone attacks took out as much as a fifth of CPC oil loadings in July, four sources familiar with the data said, as the Russia-Ukraine war spilled over to hit sales by Kazakhstan and western oil majors.

Kazakhstan, which relies ‌on the CPC route for crude exports, suffered ​a drop of 14 per cent in oil production ‌in July versus June, the ⁠sources said.

Chevron and Exxon Mobil are among the ⁠major Western oil companies operating there.

Russian officials have resorted to importing gasoline from the likes of India amid a rise in Ukrainian drone strikes on its major refineries, a new report has revealed.

Kpler, a data and market intelligence provider, said new data showed Russia received its first shipment on 5 August and more was likely on the way.

India’s oil processor Nayara Energy Ltd, which is backed by Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft PJSC, has been identified as the source of the fuel.

The transfers were made to Russia-linked tankers via shipments off Egypt, Bloomberg reported.

“The emergence of Indian barrels is particularly notable,” said Sumit Ritolia, lead analyst at Kpler.

The cargoes, which complement continued imports from Belarus and other neighbouring markets, highlight “the severity of the current domestic gasoline imbalance, and the extent to which lower refinery runs are reshaping Russia’s traditional product trade flows,” he said.

Russian forces have ⁠intercepted ‌and ‌destroyed ‌at least 502 ⁠Ukrainian drones overnight ‌over ​various ‌regions, its defence ministry said this morning.

Russia released an American military veteran on Tuesday, allowing his return to the US after four years of what his family and US officials allege was wrongful incarceration and abusive treatment that left him near death.

Robert Gilman, a 32-year-old Massachusetts teacher and former Marine, was freed after president Donald Trump said he spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin about his release, which Trump said was “very much on a Humanitarian Basis.”

“We appreciate this decision, and the fact that Russia asked for no one in return – No exchange took place,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a photo on social media of a gaunt-looking Gilman draped in an American flag and surrounded by his family aboard an airplane.

The United Nations estimates that more than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia during its war in Ukraine are still being “deprived of their liberty,” many held incommunicado and on grounds that don’t comply with international law.

“Widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment” of both Ukrainian civilian detainees and prisoners of war by Russia are continuing, including sexual violence, said Claudia Fuentes Julio, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights.

Since the full-scale invasion in 2022, Julio said, UN human rights staff have interviewed 910 Ukrainian prisoners of war and 403 civilian detainees following their release.

The UN has not been able to visit detention facilities in Russia, and its estimated figure of those held does not break down how many are adults or children.

Russian forces struck parts of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight yesterday, according to officials.

One strike hit the grounds of a children’s hospital, leaving two craters and shattering windows, the State Emergency Service said. Children and medical workers were in bomb shelters and nobody was hurt, it added.

Emergency workers said two craters were formed at the site, and the building’s windows and a gas pipe were damaged.

Gas service workers were able to eliminate the leak.

Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with missiles, drones and glide bombs yesterday, killing at least 10 civilians, officials said.

Ukraine has handed proposals to US negotiators for a plan to end the war with Moscow, Volodymyr Zelensky announced, as he suggested that Russia would use its parliamentary election next month as a pretext to declare a new round of mobilisation.

“We have conveyed our proposals to the American side,” Zelensky said ⁠in his nightly video address.

“And the United States can help strengthen our defence, first and foremost with air ​defence, and put pressure on Russia so that its plans are different – to prepare for an end to the war ​rather than prolonging it.”

Zelensky offered no details on the proposals.

Moscow appears to be adopting increasingly aggressive strategies to recruit fresh troops for its war of attrition in Ukraine, as Vladimir Putin looks to make up for heavy battlefield losses.

Men are reportedly being snatched off Russian streets and students offered significant financial incentives to join drone units as Moscow looks to avoid another forced mobilisation.

Local officials have been issued recruitment quotas by the Kremlin and Moscow’s defence ministry as it looks to meet this year’s 409,000 target, sources familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

Russians are given referral bonuses for encouraging others to sign up while officials exploit knowledge of potential recruits’ debts and legal problems to pressure them into signing up, the FT adds.