- The commander of a Russian separatist group said Russia won’t be able to topple Ukraine’s military in the short term and called for a freezing of the conflict.
- Alexander Khodakovsky, who leads the “Vostok” battalion, said Russian forces “are unlikely to easily occupy additional Ukrainian cities”, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
- Drone shot down in Moscow, say Russian officials
- According to Russian state media agency TASS, Moscow’s airspace has been closed as a result.
- Ukraine ‘also targeted Black Sea warships’, Russia claims
The commander of a Russian separatist group said Russia won’t be able to topple Ukraine’s military in the short term and called for a freezing of the conflict.
Alexander Khodakovsky, who leads the “Vostok” battalion, said Russian forces “are unlikely to easily occupy additional Ukrainian cities”, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
He suggested Russia would need to come to a “truce” and that it would enter a phase of “neither peace nor war” with Ukraine. But military analysts have long said a ceasefire along current frontlines would only serve to benefit Russia.
The ISW think tank, which provides daily analysis of the conflict, said: “Khodakovsky suggested that Ukraine would be sufficiently weakened in this state of frozen conflict and that Russia would be able to exert more influence over Ukraine in such a situation than it currently can.” His comments echoed those made earlier in the year by Wagner paramilitary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, and come after Ukrainian troops managed to liberate the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region two days ago.
They suggest “recent Ukrainian advances may be significantly weakening confidence in the Russian defence along the wider front in southern Ukraine”, the ISW added.
A Ukrainian drone attack has hit a building in Moscow, causing a blast that was heard across the city’s business district, Russian officials have said. A witness who was in the area told Reuters it was “a powerful explosion”. According to Russian state media agency TASS, Moscow’s airspace has been closed as a result.
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said: “The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), after being targeted by air defence weapons, changed its flight path and fell on a non-residential building in the Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment area of Moscow.”
Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said on Telegram that “debris of the UAV fell down in the area of Expo centre,” he said referring to a large exhibition space in central Moscow, about 3 miles away from the Kremlin. It “did not cause any significant damage to the building”, he added. A video published by Russian media outlets showed thick smoke rising next to skyscrapers. There has been no immediate comment from Kyiv.
Reports of a Ukrainian “drone attack” on Moscow overnight came hours after Russia’s defence ministry claimed a separate attempted assault on its Black Sea fleet. The ministry said two Russian warships repelled a Ukrainian attack with an unmanned boat near Crimea last night. Patrol ships “Pytlivy” and “Vasili Bykov” reportedly fired at the Ukrainian boat and destroyed it.
(With inputs from agencies)
