Each week, we round up the must-read articles about the war in Ukraine, from news and feature stories to analysis, visual guides and opinion pieces.
‘We won’t win anytime soon’: Ukraine launches Kherson counterattack
As the war enters its seventh month, attention shifts to the Southern Front, where a Ukrainian counterattack is expected. Kyiv says recapture attempts are already underway, but Russia has denied any chance of success.
Natalya Khmenyuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Southern Command, announced on Monday that the offensive had begun in Kherson, the only regional capital Russia has been able to secure since the war began.
Oleksiy Arrestovich, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, claimed that Ukrainian forces had begun attacking Russian defenses along the front lines, breaking through in several places.
However, the two front-line Ukrainian fighters in Kherson, who are monitoring the event, Isobel Kosiu The situation differs from the statements of Ukrainian officials. According to them, fighting is taking place in the Kherson area, but it is not the major counterattack that Kyiv is promoting.
Kherson has symbolic and practical significance, and if Ukraine can completely cut off enemy forces on the west bank of the Dnieper, it would have real prospects of success. Archie Brand I will explain.
Kyiv also needs to show that it can do more than resist Russian advances. It can seize the initiative – thus boosting the morale of its own population ahead of a harsh winter, while at the same time maintaining support for Western leaders.
UN team leads mission to Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectorate inspected the Russian-held Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Thursday amid calls from President Zelensky and the international community to demilitarize and protect the site from a potential radiological disaster. Arrived.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said ahead of the visit that it was a “technical mission” to prevent a nuclear accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, adding: “We are going to a war zone. Isobel Kosiu Reported from Kyiv.
In the days leading up to the visit, Ukraine accused Russia of deliberately shelling corridors along pre-agreed routes to prevent IAEA inspectors from safely entering the factory.
The nearby city of Enerhodar came under attack hours before the team moved from Ukraine into Russian-held territory. John Henry report.
A defiant Grossi told reporters: The IAEA is now out there, in the factory, not working. Stay there. ”
The nuclear director confirmed that after returning to Ukrainian territory, an IAEA expert group would remain at the plant to provide an impartial, neutral and technically sound assessment of the situation.
“It is clear that plants and their physical integrity have been violated many times,” he added. “I’m worried, I’m worried. Until we have a more stable and more predictable situation, I will continue to worry about the plant.”
Children return to Ukrainian schools destroyed by occupied Russian forces
On Thursday morning, children and teachers gathered on the lawn outside Volodyanka School No. 2 to welcome the first day of the new school year. Isobel Kosiu I am writing from a former Russian-occupied town just north of Kyiv.
There was a speech and a recital of the Ukrainian national anthem, traditionally the girls wore white scrunchies in their hair and the boys white shirts.
However, there will be no classes in the second school classroom this year. Invading soldiers used the school as a base and destroyed it when they left.
If enough students opt for face-to-face classes and schools are fit for use, school administrators will be able to: We are getting ready for the new school year. All children attending in person have been told to carry an emergency bag with a change of clothes, any medications they may need, a note from their parents, and, for younger children, a favorite toy. will be broken.
Putin: trapped and desperate
The Russian president is trapped and desperate. Will his friends in the west help him? Simon Tisdal I ask.
Unsurprisingly, Putin continues to chat about his “special military operations.” But an indefinite stalemate is not what he expected, and an endless military quagmire is not a scenario he can afford. Supplies are steadily running out. So what are his options?
As the pressure on him builds to produce a breakthrough, Putin, amid growing fears of Europe’s energy and cost of living crisis, caused largely by aggression and the Kremlin, urges Ukrainian supporters to pay for the war. You may decide that pulling up is your best option.Reducing your gas supply.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dies at 91
Meanwhile in Russia Andrew Ross When Luke Harding reported the death of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Gorbachev’s reforms brought about the unexpected collapse of the country and the end of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.
The last leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, died in Moscow at the age of 91 after a “difficult and protracted illness,” Russian news agency quoted hospital officials on Tuesday.
He would become involved in an attempt to modernize and improve the Soviet Union, a process that eventually went out of his control and led to the country’s collapse.
In his later years, Gorbachev was a paradoxical figure. Abroad, he is regarded as a Cold War hero whose actions (or lack thereof) led to a freer world. In Russia, he was largely reviled and unloved, unmanned at best and a traitor at worst. Peter Sauer I will explain.
The Kremlin this week appeared to be at a loss as to how to commemorate Gorbachev’s death, issuing a statement that Putin would not attend his funeral or public farewell ceremony.
But Putin visited the former Soviet leader’s open coffin on Thursday morning and left flowers in the memorial hall of Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital.
