The Ukrainian army announced Friday morning that it had retaken the village of Andriïvka, some ten kilometers south of the devastated town of Bakhmut on the eastern front, on one of the axes of the difficult counter-offensive by Kiev’s troops.
“The Defense Forces had partial success in the Klichchiivka area during offensive operations. During their assault, they liberated Andriivka in the Donetsk region (and) inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of of personnel and equipment”, communicated the Ukrainian general staff in its daily report posted on Facebook.
Residents of the Kherson region no longer have a choice: they must evacuate. Faced with incessant Russian bombings, Ukrainian authorities on Thursday ordered compulsory evacuations of civilians in the region in the south of the country, partly controlled by Russian forces.
Kim Jong Un in Russian Far East to visit aircraft factory
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived Friday morning in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Russian Far East to visit an aircraft factory, continuing his trip to Russia, a country that Washington suspects of wanting to buy weapons from Pyongyang to support its assault in Ukraine. On Wednesday, during his first official trip abroad since the Covid pandemic, the leader of Pyongyang met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny cosmodrome (East), with the aim of strengthening ties between their two countries , particularly military.
For the moment, nothing has been officially communicated about a possible agreement for the delivery of equipment or military collaboration between the two countries, isolated and under international sanctions. Meeting with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Kim Jong Un declared that rapprochement with Moscow would constitute the “absolute priority” of North Korean foreign policy. The Russian president, who accepted an invitation from Kim Jong Un to visit North Korea, for his part praised the “future strengthening of cooperation” with this country, evoking “prospects” of military cooperation despite international sanctions targeting Pyongyang because of its nuclear programs and missiles in development.
In addition, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un gave each other a rifle during the current visit, the Kremlin said on Thursday, confirming that the Russian president had agreed to visit Pyongyang. These gifts appear to be highly symbolic, at a time when the United States suspects Russia of wanting to buy weapons from Pyongyang to support its assault in Ukraine.
Ukraine: authorities order evacuations in the Kherson region
“The Kherson Regional Defense Council has decided to compulsorily evacuate families with children from localities subject to constant enemy fire,” Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram. In the Kherson region, Russian troops control areas south of the Dnieper River, after their withdrawal last year from the city of Kherson, the regional capital, regularly targeted by bombings.
The Ukrainian authorities had already recommended in August the evacuation of civilians from around ten localities in the Kharkiv region, in the North-East, in the face of a local offensive by Russian forces. However, these evacuations were not obligatory.
Washington considers Moscow’s expulsion of its diplomats “unfounded”
The United States denounced on Thursday Moscow’s “unjustified” decision to expel two of its diplomats stationed in the Russian capital and promised to retaliate in due course. “This unjustified expulsion of our diplomatic personnel is without any basis,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. “We regret that Russia has taken this path and you can certainly expect us to respond to these measures appropriately,” he added.
Russia announced Thursday the expulsion of two American diplomats, accused of having served as “liaison” agents for a former Russian employee arrested at the beginning of the year and suspected of having transmitted information to the United States on the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two diplomats declared “persona non grata” are the first and second secretaries of the American embassy in Moscow, Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein.
The two diplomats “carried out illegal activities by liaising with a Russian citizen, Robert Chonov, accused of confidential cooperation with a foreign state” and who “was given tasks in exchange for financial remuneration with the aim of of undermining Russia’s national security,” the ministry accused. These expulsions come at a time when relations are at their lowest point between Russia and the United States, one of the main financial and military supporters of Ukraine, where Moscow has been leading an offensive since February 2022.