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Here's your afternoon round-up
While our team hasn't been able to bring you rolling coverage on the war in Ukraine today, we have been keeping an eye on the major updates.
Here's a round-up of what you need to know today:
Biggest prisoner swap since Cold War
As we reported in our last post, a prisoner swap deal between the US and Russia has been agreed.
Jailed Westerners - including American reporter Evan Gershkovich - have been freed in exchange for Russian prisoners.
Read more.
F-16 fighter jets finally arrive in Ukraine
The first F-16 fighter jets have been delivered to Ukraine to help in its defence against the Russian invasion.
Some of the long-awaited 'Fighting Falcon' warplanes promised to Ukraine are now in the country, officials say, in a move that Kyiv hopes will boost its air force.
The F-16s have been on Ukraine's wishlist since the outbreak of the full-scale war in 2022 due to their ability to carry out multiple types of missions.
The jets are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles.
Russia has said it has offered rewards for shooting the new planes down.
Read foreign news reporter Michael Drummond's report to learn about the planes and the impact they could have on the war below...
Zelenskyy tells China to apply pressure to Russia
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected the idea of China acting as a go-between in ceasefire talks between Kyiv and Moscow, instead calling on Beijing to use its "no-limits" partnership with Russia to end the war outright.
"If China wants to, it can force Russia to stop this war," he said.
"Ido not want [China] to act as a mediator, I would like it to putpressure on Russia to put an end to this war."
"Just as the US is applying pressure, just as theEU is applying pressure - the more influence acountry has, the greater should be its pressure on Russia."
Moldova expels Russian diplomat
Moldova has expelled a Russian diplomat after two Moldovan officials were detained on suspicion of treason and conspiracy.
Both were detained earlier this week and were allegedly collaborating with a foreign embassy in Moldova's capital, Chisinau.
One of the Moldovan officials is suspected of treason for allegedly collecting and providing information to an embassy employee that could be used against Moldova's interests and the other is accused of plotting against the country for personal gain, according to prosecutors.
One of the suspects works in the country's parliament and the other for the border police.
Prisoner swap deal between US and Russia agreed
By Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter
A prisoner swap deal between the US and Russia has been agreed.
The parties have agreed to a prisoner transfer and a number of individuals are expected to soon be in US custody, Sky News' US partner network NBC News is reporting.
It comes amid speculation that jailed Westerners including American reporter Evan Gershkovich could be freed in exchange for Russian prisoners.
Details of the possible exchange remain scarce.
You can read about who is included in the swap here...
Here's your afternoon round-up
While our team hasn't been able to bring you rolling coverage on the war in Ukraine today, we have been keeping an eye on the major updates.
Here's a round-up of what you need to know today:
Ukraine repels 'one of the biggest drone attacks of the war'
Ukraine said it had repelled one of Russia's largest long-range drone attacks of the war overnight.
The air force said it had shot down all 89 drones sent at the capital Kyiv and surrounding areas.
"This is one of the most massive attacks by Shahed-131/136 strike drones," the air force said, referring to the Iranian-made drones Russia uses.
Military spy agency spokesman Andriy Yusov said Russia had used a "significant" number of decoy drones that were not loaded with explosives - an apparent attempt to try to deplete Ukraine's air defences and also identify their locations.
Russia-West Prisonerswap could be close
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national jailed on treason charges for 25 years, has been moved from his prison in Siberia and is being sent elsewhere, Russia's prison service told Reuters.
He's the latest of several prisoners to effectively go missing in recent weeks, leading activists to suggest that a prisoner swap with the West may be close.
Putin doubles signing bonuses for Ukraine volunteers
In the latest in a series of moves to increase the size of his fighting forces in Ukraine, Vladimir Putindoubled upfront payments for volunteers to fight inUkraine.
All Russians who sign a contract with the army will nowreceive an upfront payment of 400,000 roubles (£3,628).
With the minimum monthly payment set at204,000 roubles (£1,850), the new decree raises the minimum annual wagein the first year of service to 3.25m roubles (£29,484).
Russia starts third stage of tactical nuclear drills
Russia began the third stage of drills to practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, the defence ministry said earlier.
Soldiers from the Southern and Central military districts will train how to deploy dummy warheads for Iskander-M operational and tactical missile systems and covertly moving them to launch sites, the defence ministry said.
Russia held the first stage of the drills in May and ally Belarus joined the second stage in June.
Here's your afternoon round-up
While our team hasn't been able to bring you rolling coverage on the war in Ukraine today, we have been keeping an eye on the major updates.
Here's a round-up of what you need to know today:
Russia claims to have taken Ukrainian settlement
Russia's defence ministry has said its forces have taken control of Pivdenne in the eastern Donetsk region.
The settlement, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name ofLeninskoe, joins up to Toretsk - a Ukrainian stronghold and coalmining town.
Kyiv didnot immediately comment on Pivdenne's status.
The towns are located close to the long-time frontline inplace since 2014, when Russian-backed forces seized parts of theDonetsk region from Pivdenne.
Russian forces have been staging heavy assaults close to the nearby city of Pokrovsk in recent days.
Well-known Kremlin critic moved to unknown prison
A prominent Kremlin critic has been moved from his prison to an unknown destination, his lawyer has said.
Ilya Yashin was arrested in June 2022 in a Moscow park and subsequently convicted of spreading false information about Russian soldiers, and sentenced to eight and a half years in prison.
The charge stemmed from a YouTube livestream in which he talked about civilians slain in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.
The statement from his lawyer also noted that several other figures imprisoned for criticising the military or for alleged extremist activity because of their work with the organisation of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny also were moved.
Among them are Oleg Orlov, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, musician Alexandra Skochilenko, and former Navalny regional coordinators Lillia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeyeva.
Russian oil depot hit
The Ukrainian military said it had successfully hit a Russian oil depot in the Kurskregion overnight.
"According to intelligence data, as a result of the attack,a fire broke out at the enemy facility," the General Staff saidon Facebook.
Several oil facilities in Russia have been targeted in recent months.
Russian navy begins drills with most of its fleet
The Russian navy started plannedexercises involving most of its fleet as well as 20,000personnel and 300 ships today.
Russia's Navy is made up of four fleets, the Caspianflotilla and several task forces.
The Northern Fleet in Russia's Arctic, the Pacific Fleet inthe Pacific Ocean, the Baltic Fleet in the Baltic Sea as well asthe Caspian Flotilla in the Caspian Sea will participate in thedrills, TASS state news agency reported.
About 300 surface ships and boats, submarines and supportvessels, some 50 aircraft and more than 200 units of militaryand special equipment will be involved in the combat training.
The big picture: What you need to know as the week begins
We're not bringing you live updates on the war in Ukraine today, but in the meantime here is an overview of what has been happening.
Russia is continuing with its biggest offensive operation since the invasion began, during which it had hoped to achieve a grand breakthrough or even a general collapse of the Ukrainian frontline.
It has not managed to achieve either so far, despite Ukraine being short of men, ammunition and defences.
However, Russian forces are staging heavy assaults near the strategic city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine's east.
The Ukrainian military said fighting on the Pokrovsk front was the fiercest of anywhere across the country.
Five years for Russia to achieve goals
Meanwhile, the new head of the British army has said it will likely take Russian troops five years to "grind their way" to Moscow's minimum goal of fully capturing four Ukrainian regions.
General Sir Roly Walker said there would likely be 1.8 million soldiers left dead or wounded.
"If they carry on as they are, it would probably take the Russians five years to grind their way to their minimum objectives of the four oblasts [regions]," he told a conference in London.
He was referring to the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south. They are all partially under Russian control already following more than two and a half years of fighting and more than half a million casualties.
Supersonic bomber hit
Despite fierce assaults on its eastern front, Ukraine saw some military success last week when one of its drones reportedly struck a Russian strategic supersonic bomber.
The Tu-22M3 bomber was parked at an airfield in Russia's Arctic region, some 1,100 miles from Ukraine.
The strike represented a rare success against one of the Kremlin's most hated and effective weapons.
Ukrainian sources told media outlets that two other airfields in the Saratov and Ryazan regions in south-central Russia, where bombers are also parked, were targeted on Saturday morning.
Russia claims it killed 100 soldiers in single strike
Elsewhere, Russia's defence ministry claimed its forces had killed more than 100 Ukrainian troops in a single strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
"An Iskander crew launched a missile strike on a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries in the building of the Scorpion construction company in the industrial zone of Kharkiv," a statement read.
"Up to 100 militants were killed, including 40 foreign instructors, as well as about 60 servicemen of the 151st Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
The report was not independently verified and Ukraine did not confirm any casualties.
Car bomb attack
A suspected car bomb attack in Moscow left two people injured on Wednesday.
Initial reports in state media outlets named the two victims as Andrei Torgashov, a GRU military intelligence officer, and his wife.
Citing anonymous law enforcement sources, the Kommersant newspaper reported Mr Torgashov had both feet blown off and was in a critical condition in hospital.
Hours later, reports emerged purporting Mr Torgashov was perfectly well.
Footage of the blast, posted on Telegram, appears to show a man and a woman getting into a vehicle before it suddenly explodes.
Assad visits Moscow
Controversial Syrian President Bashar al Assadtravelled to Moscow for a meeting with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.
The Kremlin said the pair discussed the Ukraine war and the situation in the Middle East during the surprise visit.
Russia has been a key ally for Mr Assad during the Syrian civil war, helping him regain control over the country following an uprising that began in 2011.
The Syrian leader is the latest in a string of global strongmen to meet the Russian president, which will likely be a cause for concern among Western diplomats.
We're pausing our live coverage
That brings an end to our live coverage of the Ukraine war for this evening.
Before we go, here's a brief round up of the day's events:
- Controversial Syrian president Bashar al Assad travelled to Moscow for a meeting with Vladimir Putin, in which the pair discussed the Ukraine war and the situation in the Middle East, the Kremlin said;
- The US and Canada intercepted Russian and Chinese military aircraft flying in international airspace near Alaska, the North American Aerospace Defence Command reported. Russia's defence ministry said the bombers were carrying out joint air patrols.
- Meanwhile, after two more nights of Russian attacks on Ukraine, Romania's defence ministry said it found fragments of a Russian attack drone in a rural village near the Danube river and the country's border with Ukraine this morning. A NATO spokesperson said there was no evidence that its territory was intentionally targeted;
- Russia said senior US and Russian officials have been holding unofficial diplomatic talks on Ukraine, with the Kremlin later claiming it was open to negotiations with Kyiv about ending the conflict on the condition it was given more details about Ukraine's preparedness for such discussions.
You can scroll through the blog below to catch up on the full day's updates.
Ukrainian boxing champion says he cries about war in his home country
Ukrainian professional boxer Oleksandr Usyk says he has cried about the war in his country behind closed doors.
Usyk, the first undisputed heavyweight champion in almost 25 years, said it was "hard" to see the recent Russian attack on Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv.
"Yes [I cry], because it's children, it's not soldiers, it's not a big person. They are 10 years, six, 15 - it's only the start of life. But for these people it's the last. It's hard for me," he said, in an interview with Sky News.
Usyk was speaking at the departure of 50 vehicles from London to Kyiv as part of the ULEZ scrappage scheme. The vehicles will be used to support humanitarian and medical needs in Ukraine.
Russia orders arrest of high-ranking defence ministry official
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of one of its senior defence ministry staff on suspicion of abuse of power, according to Russian state news agencies.
Andrei Belkov, who heads the ministry's military construction company, is the latest in a string of high-ranking ministry officials to be detained this year.
The company builds bases, hospitals, schools and other facilities for the military, according to its website.
Mr Belkov's boss, former Russian deputy defence minister Timur Ivanov, was also arrested in April on suspicion of taking bribes.
Russia will soon be forced to scale down attacks and be on defensive - Ukrainian commander
Russia won't be able to keep up its offensive attacks in the long term because its "capabilities are not limitless", a Ukrainian commander has said.
Oleksandr Pivnenko, commander of Ukraine's National Guard, said he believes Russian forces "will not be able to conduct active assaults in many directions" after the next several weeks and will move to being "on the defensive".
"The enemy's offensive capabilities are not limitless, considering the losses they suffer," he said in an interview with Ukrainian outlet Ukrinform.
Mr Pivnenko said Ukraine's military needed to use the time until Russia scales down its attacks to form divisions "and prepare them".
But he warned there would be no "radical" change or any major imminent breakthrough by Kyiv's troops, with forces continuing to look for Russia's "weak points" and "bypass the strong ones".
Moscow will deliberately slow YouTube speeds to pressure company, politician says
Russia is planning to slow YouTube speeds on desktop computers in the country by up to 70% in a bid to penalise the video-sharing site, a senior politician has said.
YouTube is one of just a few social media sites still available in Russia, after Moscow blocked other popular apps such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Since the 2022 Russian invasion, the Google-owned company has blocked a host of Russian channels and removed thousands of videos related to the war - including some pro-Kremlin content.
Alexander Khinshtein, a Russian politician in the State Duma lower house of parliament, said the "degradation" of YouTube was a "forced step" against a company he claims "continues to believe it can violate and ignore our legislation with impunity".
He said speeds could drop by 40% by the end of this week and 70% by the end of next week.
Russia has repeatedly fined YouTube forfailing to take down content Russia considers illegal orundesirable.
