Russia-Ukraine war latest updates – The Washington Post

Meanwhile, Russian authorities in illegally annexed Kherson urged civilians to leave the city “immediately” Saturday afternoon in an effort to portray Kyiv as an aggressor in southern Ukraine. Ukrainian troops have been pushing out Russian forces in the country’s south and east, with clashes in cities it seeks to liberate.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of seeking to blow up a major hydroelectric dam in Nova Kakhovka near Kherson, potentially flooding southern areas. “Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster,” he warned in a television address, urging the West to act “powerfully and quickly” to prevent such an outcome. Russia has denied the accusations.

Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.

• Concern is growing about the Kakhovka dam this weekend as a potential target. Earlier in the week, Zelensky accused Russian forces of mining the hydroelectric plant, one of Ukraine’s largest power facilities, in preparation for a “false flag” attack. He did not provide evidence of the Russian plot but told European Council leaders that the infrastructure attack could lead to flooding in 80 settlements and destroy much of southern Ukraine’s water supply. Kremlin-backed officials have instead claimed that Ukraine is planning to blow up the 1956 dam on the Dnieper River to flood Russian-occupied Kherson and has evacuated thousands of people from the city in preparation. The Washington Post could not independently verify the claims.
• Occupying Russian authorities told residents to flee Kherson Saturday afternoon, urging them to take “documents, money, valuables and clothes.” Ukrainian troops have been advancing toward the city in an effort to upend the Russian-backed administration that was installed there under an orchestrated annexation violating international law. In an effort to lure Kherson residents into places with stronger Kremlin footholds, Russian cities and the occupied Crimean region were offering incentives such as payments and housing assistance, according to Moscow-backed authorities’ Telegram accounts.
• Washington sees no evidence of Moscow ending the war soon, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Friday alongside his French counterpart. Instead, he said the Kremlin was “doubling and tripling down” on its aggression in Ukraine. “Every indication is that far from being willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy, President [Vladimir] Putin continues to push in the opposite direction,” Blinken said.
• A bipartisan congressional delegation met Zelensky in Kyiv, including Reps. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), Jim Himes (D-Conn.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). The group “talked about financial support, about our political interaction, about what new anti-European and anti-democratic steps to expect from Russia,” Zelensky said. The visit came after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) this week signaled that the GOP would oppose more aid to Ukraine. President Biden said this week said he was worried that Republicans may cut aid to Ukraine if they win back the House.

• Russian forces have erected a “barge bridge” across the Dnieper River as they struggle to retain control of Kherson, according to a daily intelligence update from Britain’s Defense Ministry. The use of heavy barge bridges was common in Soviet-era operations, it said, but this is probably “the first time the Russian military have needed to utilise this type of bridge for decades,” and will have material and logistic benefits.
• Nearly 16,000 civilian casualties in Ukraine were recorded by the U.N. Human Rights Office, U.N. Undersecretary Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council on Friday. DiCarlo said that figure included 6,322 deaths and that “the actual figures are considerably higher.”
• Russia has begun to withdraw from Kherson’s western region, the Institute for the Study of War said. Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command said the same day that Russian forces were “actively” moving military equipment and several units to the east bank of the Dnieper River.
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a rare call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Shoigu, on Friday: It was the first conversation since May. Officials from both sides have offered few details about the call, but Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said Austin “emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amid the ongoing conflict.”

• Iran hits back at European calls for a U.N. investigation into Iranian-made drones they say are being used by Russia in Ukraine. On Saturday, Tehran said it strongly condemned the “false and baseless” accusations as France, Germany and Britain called for a probe. Britain sanctioned Iran this week, while the Canadian government also condemned Iran’s “active support of Russian atrocities.” Moscow denies that it is using the Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.
• The European Union has pledged to give Ukraine 1.5 billion euros ($1.48 billion) a month in 2023, a total of 18 billion euros. “It is very important for Ukraine to have a predictable and stable flow of income,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a European Council meeting in Brussels.
• Zelensky accused Russia of “deliberately inciting” a food crisis by slowing down global grain shipments. The Ukrainian president said more than 150 ships were in an “artificial queue” caused by Russia delaying their passage. The Washington Post could not confirm the veracity of his statement. “Russian attempts to exacerbate the food crisis are also aggression against every person on earth,” Zelensky said, adding that countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, China and Bangladesh were most affected by delayed food exports. The two warring countries agreed this summer to allow agricultural exports after a Russian blockade locked more than 20 million tons of grain in Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

4. From our correspondents on the ground

In a bloody battle for Bakhmut, Russian mercenaries eye a symbolic prize. The crash and roar of artillery rarely stops in one eastern Ukrainian city, located roughly 10 miles from the border of Donetsk and Luhansk, which has been locked in heavy fighting for four months — with the front line barely nudging.

Residents of Bakhmut huddle by candlelight and pray they have safety in numbers, while on the battlefield soldiers on both sides are dying in droves, Louisa Loveluck and Robyn Dixon report.

Nonetheless, a founder of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, continues to pour fighters into Bakhmut, though the city is no longer a strategic military target, say experts. Instead the shattered region appears to be a military trophy for the Russian oligarch, seemingly eclipsing all strategic logic.