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6:25pm: Russian-installed official killed in car bomb attack

Andrei Shtepa, a local official in a part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region controlled by Russian forces was killed on Thursday in a car bomb attack. The Russian occupation authorities blamed his death on “Ukrainian terrorists”.

Ukrainian media reports about Shtepa’s death referred to him as “an occupier” and as someone who had actively collaborated with Russian forces.

4:22pm: Zelensky meets Polish president Duda on return journey from US

Polish president Andrzej Duda and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy talked on Thursday about Zelensky’s visit to the United States, Duda’s top aide said after the two met as Zelenskiy was travelling back from Washington.

“They talked for a long time, almost two hours. First of all, about President Zelenskiy’s visit to the United States and the importance of the visit for support for Ukraine, but also about bilateral relations between Poland and Ukraine,” Pawel Szrot told Reuters.

3:22pm: Russia’s army focused on capturing Donetsk region, says military chief

Russia’s army chief said Thursday his troops in Ukraine were “focused on completing the liberation” of Donetsk, an eastern Ukrainian region Moscow claims to have annexed.

“The situation on the frontline has stabilised and the main efforts of our troops are now focused on completing the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said in a briefing; referring to the eastern Ukrainian region Moscow claims as its own. 

Gerasimov added that the line of combat stretches over 815 kilometres (506 miles). Russian armed forces have “hit more than 1,300 critical targets … significantly reducing the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces”, Gerasimov said.

1:37pm: Kremlin says Biden, Zelensky refusing to hear ‘Russia’s concerns’

Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine and the United States of turning a deaf ear to its concerns after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a historic visit to Washington.

Zelensky enjoyed a hero’s welcome on a lightning trip on Wednesday in which US President Joe Biden committed nearly $1.8 billion in military supplies including, for the first time, the Patriot missile defence system.

“We can say with regret that so far neither President Biden nor President Zelensky have said even a few words that could be perceived as potential readiness to listen to Russia’s concerns,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

1:32pm: IAEA discusses Ukraine nuclear plant protections with Russia

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog met Thursday in Moscow with officials from Russia’s military and state atomic energy company as he pursues a long-running drive to set up a protection zone around a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

Russian company Rosatom described the talks on measures needed to safeguard Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and the surrounding region as “substantive, useful and frank.” International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi indicated that more negotiations were needed after “another round of necessary discussions”.

12:04pm: Russian defence minister visits troops in Ukraine

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited army units fighting in Ukraine, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

RIA cited the ministry as saying that Shoigu had visited Russian units deployed to the “area of the special military operation”, using Moscow’s term for the war in Ukraine. It did not specify where the visit took place.

10:48am: Patriot missiles will not stop Russia from ‘achieving its goals’ in Ukraine, Russia says

Russia said Thursday that US supplies of Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, announced during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington, would not contribute to settling the conflict or prevent Russia from achieving its goals.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the Patriot shipment: “This is not conducive to a speedy settlement, quite the contrary. And this cannot prevent the Russian Federation from achieving its goals during the special military operation,” using Russia’s term for the conflict.

10:47am: Kremlin says US fighting ‘indirect war’ against Russia 

“We can say with regret that so far neither President Biden nor President Zelensky have said even a few words that could be perceived as potential readiness to listen to Russia’s concerns,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“Not a single word was heard warning Zelensky against the continued shelling of residential buildings in towns and villages in Donbas and there were no real calls for peace,” Peskov said.

“This suggests that the United States is continuing its line of de facto fighting an indirect war with Russia to the last Ukrainian,” he added.

10:27am: Belarus’s Lukashenko dismisses ‘conspiracy theories’ about manoeuvres

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that recent military manoeuvres were not aimed at Ukraine and dismissed “conspiracy theories” about  deployments of Belarusian armed forces at the border.

Speaking at a conference of military leaders, Lukashenko also said that he could not rule out “aggression” against Belarus on the part of unspecified “neighbours”.

”If you want peace, prepare for war,” Lukashenko added, saying that military moves were limited to Belarusian territory and did not threaten anyone else.

Belarus has in recent weeks announced a flurry of military activity, including readiness checks and a fresh deployment of Russian troops to the country.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

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