Ukraine war: Kyiv is pushing ‘Putin forces back’ as damage to Crimea fleet revealed

Russia rolled out the red carpet for Kim Jong-Un ahead of the North Korean leader’s visit to an aircraft plant.

Kim was welcomed as a “top-ranking guest” upon his arrival at Russia’s eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Friday, according to state media.

“A red carpet was unfurled for the top-ranking guest”, Russian state media TASS said, adding that Kim was welcomed with bread and salt in keeping with the Russian tradition for “special guests”.

Kim has been visiting Russia this week and held talks with the Russian president about “economic cooperation” between the two countries.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu checked on the repair and modernisation of the Pacific Fleet’s nuclear submarines at a top military shipyard on Friday, his ministry said.

Shoigu earlier this week took part in talks between president Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un who visited two aviation plants in the town of Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Friday.

Shoigu checked construction of a floating docking complex and on how nuclear submarines are being repaired and modernized at Zvezda plant in the town of Bolshoi Kamen, the defence ministry said in statement.

It added that Zvezda is the leading submarine repair facility of Russia’s Pacific Fleet and the only one in the Far East specialising in repair and modernization of nuclear-powered submarine missile carriers.

“Sergei Shoigu demanded the maximum use of Zvezda’s production facilities in order to complete the repair and modernisation of submarines,” the defence ministry said.

Ukraine says it shot down 17 drones launched by Russia overnight.

“On the night of September 15, 2023, the enemy attacked Ukraine with ‘Shahed-136/131’ type UAVs from the southeast (Prymorsko-Akhtarsk — Russian Federation),”Ukraine’s air forces said in a statement.

“A total of 17 UAVs were launched, which were moving along different routes in the direction of Khmelnytskyi. All 17 ‘Shakhediv’ was destroyed by anti-aircraft defense along the tracking route.”

Ukrainian forces have recaptured a village in the country’s east after intense battles with Russian troops, the country’s military said Friday.

The village of Andriivka — about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the Russia-occupied town of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region — is the latest gain for Kyiv in a counteroffensive that has seen slow but steady gains by Ukrainian forces.

The announcement of reclaiming Andriivka came early Friday from the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.

The 3rd Assault Brigade said it captured the village after surrounding the Russian garrison in Andriivka in what it described as a “lightning operation” and destroying it over two days.

It described the capture of Andriivka as a breakthrough on the southern flank of Bakhmut and “key to success in all further directions.”

Arpan Rai has the full report:

Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the US next week for talks with Joe Biden about getting more military aid for Ukraine.

The two presidents are expected to meet either at the White House or at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, US media report.

Both Zelensky and Biden are scheduled to address the UN assembly on Tuesday.

Blinded by a Russian mortar shell, Ukrainian veteran Ivan Soroka couldn’t see his bride when she walked into his family home in a shoulderless white dress, a bouquet of white flowers in her right hand.

But when Vladislava Ryabets, 25, stepped toward him, Soroka wept with joy at the new chapter of life starting months after enemy artillery stole his sight.

Russia has lost 271,440 soldiers during its illegal invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has claimed.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Moscow lost 470 troops in one day.

Russia has also lost some 4,612 tanks, 8,814 armoured combat vehicles and 5,972 artillery systems among other military kit since 24 February last year.

Key Russian ships by missiles in a Ukrainian strike of the Kremlin’s Black Sea fleet in Crimea suffered “catastrophic damage”, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.

The MoD said landing ship ‘Misnk’ has almost certainly been “functionally destroyed” while the Rostov submarine has likely suffered “catastrophic damage”.

This was despite the Kremlin trying to play down the significance of the attacks,the MOD.

A statement said: “Despite the Russian Ministry of Defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage.”

While Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the south and east has been slowed by minefields and Russian defensive lines, fighting has escalated in the Black Sea region where Russia is imposing a de facto blockade on Ukraine‘s seaborne exports.

Russian drones have regularly attacked Ukrainian port infrastructure along the Danube River, a vital alternative export route for the major grain producer. It uses its Black Sea Fleet to rain down missiles on Ukrainian targets from afar.

Ukraine‘s embattled navy has used sea drones to strike back, hitting the Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship near Russia’s naval base at Novorossiysk early last month and a Russian fuel tanker.

Senior presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was focused on three key tasks aimed at the de-occupation of the peninsula, which lies far behind the battlelines of southern Ukraine.

Kyiv, he said, was targeting air defence systems to open up the path to more strikes on Russian military and warehouse infrastructure. Kyiv was also attacking transport logistics to “stop the large-scale continuous supply of resources and reserves into the area of active hostilities,” he said

“We need to chase away remnants of the Russian Black Sea fleet from Crimean territorial waters and beyond and reinstate the status of the Black Sea as the sea of external jurisdiction,” he wrote in English.

Russia regards the peninsula as strategically important and uses its Black Sea Fleet to project power.

Ukraine said on Thursday it attacked two Russian patrol ships and destroyed a sophisticated air defence system in the west of occupied Crimea, ramping up its strikes to challenge Moscow’s dominance in the Black Sea region.

The attacks come a day after Kyiv said it seriously damaged a Russian submarine and landing ship undergoing repairs in a missile strike on a shipyard in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The Ukrainian military, in a post on Telegram messenger, said it hit two Russian patrol boats in the southwest of the Black Sea, causing “certain damage” in a morning attack.

“The (Sergei) Kotov was hit,” military intelligence official Andriy Yusov told Reuters, sharing a grainy video circulated online by a Ukrainian government minister that appeared to show sea drones attacking a vessel at sea.

The Russian Defence Ministry confirmed an attack on the Sergei Kotov in a morning statement, but said the assault involving five sea drones was repelled. It made no mention of damage.