Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday said his forces were “strengthening” their positions in Russia’s Kursk region, where Kyiv has been mounting a major ground offensive.
His comments came a day after Russian officials accused Ukraine of destroying a key bridge across the Seym River, which cuts through the border region, as Kyiv seeks to disrupt the movement of Moscow’s troops in the area.
Ukranian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky “reported on the strengthening of the positions of our forces in the Kursk region and the expansion of stabilized territory,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
Photo: Reuters
“As of this morning, we have replenished the exchange fund for our country,” he said, referring to Russian soldiers Ukraine has captured to be used in prisoner swaps.
“I thank all the soldiers and commanders who are taking Russian soldiers prisoner and thus bringing the release of our soldiers and civilians held by Russia closer,” Zelenskiy said.
On Friday, Syrsky said that Ukrainian troops had advanced 1km to 3km into Russian territory.
Photo: AP
He said earlier this week that Ukraine controlled more than 1,000km2 inside Russia, but Moscow disputes the claim and it cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine’s army launched its surprise offensive into Russia on Tuesday last week, claiming to capture several dozen villages in the biggest cross-border attack on Russian soil since World War II.
However, Russia yesterday said it had repelled Ukrainian forces near the town of Korenevo and the villages of Russkoye and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye in the Kursk region.
Zelenskiy separately said the situation on the eastern front near the towns of Pokrovsk and Toretsk was “under control,” after Russia said that it had made a string of advances toward them in the past few weeks.
There were “dozens of Russian assaults on our positions over the last day, but our soldiers and units are doing everything to destroy the occupier and repel the attacks,” Zelenskiy said.
Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike sparked a blaze in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.
Two people were injured in the strike, which also damaged cars and nearby buildings, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said.
It said that the hit had involved an Iskander-K cruise missile and an aerial bomb.
The Ukrainian Air Force also said it had shot down 14 Russian drones overnight, including over the Kyiv region.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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