Ukraine updates: Russian city targeted by Ukrainian drone

Two people have been killed and several injured in Russian airstrikes on the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, according to local authorities. 

A woman was killed in the town of Beryslav and a man in the village of Lvowe. Several people were also injured in the shelling by Russian aircraft.

The Russian military abandoned positions on the west bank of the river and in Kherson city late last year.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia also attacked the Odesa region on the Black Sea and other regions in southern Ukraine from the air on Sunday.

Jailed Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr. has been transferred to a maximum security prison in Siberia, his lawyer said.

The 42-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in prison last year for publicly denouncing his country's invasion of Ukraine.

Kara-Murza was found guilty of spreading "false information" about the Russian army and of having links to an "undesirable organization" in a closed-door trial.

This week he was sent to IK-6, a maximum security penal colony in the Siberian city of Omsk, and was placed in a tiny "punishment cell," his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said in a Facebook post. Omsk is some 2,700 kilometers (1,670 miles) east of Moscow.

The Kremlin has carried out a relentless crackdown on dissent since invading Ukraine in February last year.

Russian civilians are "highly likely" to have been going thorugh petrol and diesel shortages in recent weeks, the UK Ministry of Defence said Sunday in its daily intelligence bulletin.

"The shortages are unlikely to be a direct result of the war," the ministry posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"They are probably being caused by a range of factors including short-term demand increases from the agricultural sector, annual summer maintenance of refineries and attractive prices for export."

Russia announced a suspension on nearly all diesel and petrol exports on Thursday in a bid to stabilize rising domestic prices and improve the country's fuel supply.

"The move will almost certainly further constrain supplies in a tight global market, likely having the greatest impact on countries currently dependent on Russian fuel supplies," according to the ministry.

Poland remains ready to help export grain from Ukraine to global markets outside of Europe despite an ongoing dispute over access to the Polish market. 

Nevertheless, Polish President Andrzej Duda defended his government's decision to maintain a ban on the sale of Ukrainian grain in Poland.

Duda told Polish broadcaster TVP1 that radical measures were needed in order to back Warsaw's farmers and agricultural market. 

But he also said that Poland would do everything it could to enable Ukrainian grain to be transported through the EU to reach some of the world's poorest countries.

Mike Martin, a War Studies Senior Fellow at King's College London, speaks to DW about a Ukrainian breakthrough near Verbove in the south, military operations near Bakhmut and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement that Ukraine's 10-point peace plan is "not feasible."

Watch the full interview here: 

Russian airstrikes on Sunday killed two people and injured three others in southern Ukraine's Kherson province, the region's governor reported.

According to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin, Moscow's forces attacked the city of Beryslav, destroying some private houses. A woman was killed and three people were wounded, including a police officer, he said.

Another airstrike also killed a 67-year-old man in the village of Lvove, Prokudin added.

The communities struck are both situated in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Kherson, where the Dnieper River that bisects the region has marked a battle line since Russian forces withdrew from it in November 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday he met with billionaire financiers during his visit to the United States this week.

Among them were Michael Bloomberg, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, BlackRock chairman and CEO Larry Fink, and top hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

"The American entrepreneurs and financiers confirmed their readiness to make large-scale investments in our country immediately after the end of the war and the receipt of security guarantees," he posted on Telegram.

"We are working for the victory and reconstruction of Ukraine."

A Ukrainian drone reportedly hit a government building in the Russian city of Kursk, local authorities said on Sunday.

Kursk lies around 90 kilometers (50 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

"In Kursk, a Ukrainian drone attacked an administrative building in the central district," governor Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram.

"The roof was slightly damaged. Employees of the emergency services are working at the scene."

Last month, a Ukrainian drone strike damaged Kursk's railway station. Five people were injured and the building suffered significant damage.

Kyiv typically does not comment on reports of drone attacks within Russia's borders.

A 74-year-old woman was killed due to a fire that brokeout after Russia launched an attack in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, a spokesperson for the regional prosecutor's office told the Suspilne Donbass broadcaster.

The attack targeted the village of Elizavetivka. 

Previous attacks by Russia on the town of Kurakhove in Donetsk had left 16 people injured, per official reports.

Because of high risk in the conflict-ridden region of Donetsk, Ukraine's government has recommended civilians to evacuate the region before winter starts.

About 250,000 people have since moved to other regions, among them 50,000 children, according to the Ukrainian Unian news agency.
 

Despite Russia's threats to attack boats, the second shipment of Ukraine's wheat reached Turkey via Black Sea on Sunday.

The bulk-carrier Aroyat departed from the port city of Chornomorsk on Friday with 17,600 tons of wheat.

Since Russia withdrew from a UN-backed grain export deal, Ukraine has had to try a new sea route which passes through waters controlled by NATO member states.

The Aroyat was headed towards the Dardanelles Strait to reach the Mediterranean,  according to the websites Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder.

The first shipment of wheat carrying 3,000 tons of wheat had safely arrived in Istanbul on Thursday. Global supplies of agricultural produce have taken a hit since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Ukraine has been trying to weaken Russia's hold of Black Sea.

The Ukrainian military has been able to advance on the south front near the village of Verbove, it said on Sunday.

"[Ukrainian] troops are pushing the enemy out of their positions near Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region," the General Staff in Kyiv said in a statement.

Ukraine has breached through the strongest Russian defenses in the region which included minefields, manned trenches, anti-tank trenches and concrete barriers, according to US-based Institute for the Study of War.

Under their counteroffensive strategy, Ukrainian troops aim to reach the Sea of Azov.

The breakthrough near Verbove was also confirmed by Brigadier General Olexander Tarnavskyj in an interview with US broadcaster CNN.