Clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces near the southern city of Kherson over the next two to three weeks could determine control of the only regional capital Russia has seized since its invasion in February, according to a Defense Department official.
Kherson lost power and water service Sunday after an attack that Russian-appointed authorities blamed on Ukrainian forces without providing evidence. Tens of thousands of residents have been evacuated to Russian-held territory in anticipation of a fierce battle for control of the crucial city, the largest in the province of the same name.
Elsewhere, battle lines appear to have stabilized in the north near Kharkiv and in central Ukraine as winter nears, according to the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Both sides continue to fire enormous amounts of artillery rounds, the official said. Russians fire about 20,000 shells a day, and Ukraine counters with as many as 7,000.
Ukraine will need the U.S. and its Western allies to continue supplying artillery cannons and ammunition, the official said.
The Russians have been unable to destroy any of about 20 rocket-assisted artillery systems known as HIMARS. The Pentagon and U.S. allies began providing Ukraine with the truck-mounted weapons over the summer. Ukrainians have used the artillery system, which can strike targets more than 40 miles away with accuracy, to destroy supply depots and command posts.
Latest developments:
►Russia has endured more than 76,000 casualties and lost nearly 2,800 tanks in the war, according to the Kyiv Independent, which cited figures from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
►Turkey, which helped broker the grain agreement that lifted a Russian blockade and allowed Ukraine to ship agricultural goods, will propose a one-year extension, Turkish media reported. The deal expires Nov. 19.
►Ukraine’s presidential office said Russian strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region targeted a cultural center, farmers’ warehouses and private residences. Three people died and seven were wounded.
Much-needed air defense weapons arrive in Ukraine
Ukraine has been pleading for air-defense help ever since the Kremlin started focusing on destroying the country’s energy infrastructure nearly a month ago. That aid has finally arrived.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Monday acknowledged receiving NASAMS and Aspide missile systems from the U.S. and its allies, the Kyiv Independent reported.
“These weapons will significantly strengthen the Ukrainian army and will make our skies safer,” Reznikov said.
Ukrainian cities have been subjected to an onslaught of Russian drones and missiles that have damaged 40% of the energy system and left more than 4.5 million people without power, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the Kyiv province has been particularly impacted.
Seven provinces, including Kyiv and Kharkiv, are enduring rolling blackouts and sometimes emergency outages, at a time when nighttime temperatures are dipping into the 30s.
Ground ‘littered with bodies’ of new Russian draftees who were killed
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that 80,000 civilians from his Sept. 21 mobilization have been sent to Ukraine, and 50,000 of them have joined “combat units.”
Increasing accounts indicate a large number of them are getting killed, often after getting little training for battle.
One such report, by the Russian online news outlet Vyorstka, said hundreds of newly called-up fighters were recently killed in the Luhansk province by Ukrainian shelling. Survivors and their relatives told the outlet that officers abandoned them on the front line, and that an entire battalion was only equipped with three shovels to dig trenches.
After Russian war correspondents reported about 300 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing in four days in the heavily contested Donetsk region, Primorye Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako said an investigations confirmed “losses, but not nearly…