Ukraine news – live: Zelensky says Russia made Soviet famine memorial ‘a day of terror’

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) says it has provided Ukraine with Brimstone 2 missiles as part of its aid package.

“This aid has played a crucial role in stalling Russian advancements.”

Alongside it, the MOD shared a video explaining that a Brimstone 2 missile is a precision-guided missile originally designed for use for air-to-ground stikes.

Here are some new and striking images of the Antonivsky Bridge, the main crossing in Kherson across the Dnipro River, which was blown up as Russian forces retreated from the city earlier this month.

Rybar, an influential Russian military blog, reported that Russia had destroyed the bridge, and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky had accused Moscow of destroying critical infrastructure during the retreat.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen, has compared Russia’s tactics in Ukraine with that of the man-made famine implemented by Josesph Stalin.

“Under President @ZelenskyyUa‘s Grain from Ukraine initiative, the @EU_Commission will pay to ship 40,000 tons of Ukrainian grain via two boats.”

Thirteen people have been injured by a Russian rocket attack in Dnipro on Saturday, the regional govenor has said.

A 17-year-old boy is among four who were taken to hospital, said Valentyn Reznichenko, warning that another person may be beneath the debris being cleared by rescuers.

Seven civilians were killed and 19 injured by Russian attacks across four regions on Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff has alleged.

Five people were killed in Donetsk, one in Kharkiv and one in Kherson, while 10 were injured by Russian missile strikes in Dnipropetrovsk, the Kyiv Independent said in a report citing presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

The Kremlin has insisted that the Russian-led security alliance CTSO remains in high demand – after Armenia called its effectiveness into question.

Armenia requested assistance from the six-nation organisation in September but received only a promise to send observers, contrasting with the alliance’s rapid decision in January to send troops to Kazakhstan to help its president survive a wave of unrest.

“There have always been attempts to [bring about] the CSTO’s disintegration,” news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying in an interview broadcast on state television.

“But at least now we see that, despite all the difficulties, despite the possible contradictions even between member countries, this structure remains in high demand,” he said. “And it fully demonstrated its relevance and effectiveness, meaning the resolution of the situation in Kazakhstan.”

Kazakhstan’s president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who has openly defied Russia over its actions in Ukraine, won re-election this month and is set to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Orenburg on Monday.

Russia risks losing sway in parts of the former Soviet Union that it has long seen as its sphere of influence, as Mr Putin’s war in Ukraine drags into its 10th month.

Russian officials may be attempting to counterbalance the growing influence of the powerful oligarch and founder of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, it has been claimed.

With Vladimir Putin’s position weakened by Russia’s failures on the battlefield, Mr Prigozhin has sought during the war to further establish himself as a central figure in the Russian pro-war ultranationalist community.

But in a possible attempt to counter his influence, Russian officials have appointed pro-Kremlin businessman Armen Sarkisyan as its new administrator for prisons in occupied parts of Ukraine, who intends to use the role to create a new “private military company”, the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed.

The GUR suggested that Mr Sarkisyan is modelling his effort to create a new private military company on the Wagner Group’s recruitment of prisoners in Russia.

The US-based Institute of War think-tank said it is likely that high-ranking Russian officials have approved Mr Sarkisyan’s efforts as private military companies are illegal in Russia.

The Pentagon has set up a repair facility in Poland to fix the high-tech weapons given to Ukraine, according to a report.

A third of the roughly 350 Western-made howitzers donated to Kyiv are out of action at any given time, US defence officials and other sources told the New York Times, and keeping Western-made artillery pieces in action has become as important for Ukraine’s allies as providing the country with enough ammunition.

Weapons are burning out after months of overuse, or being damaged or destroyed in combat, and dozens have been taken off the battlefield for repairs, according to US and Ukrainian officials.

Residents in Kyiv should have access to at least four hours of power per day, an energy provider in the capital has said.

“If you haven’t had at least four hours of electricity in the past day, write to DTEK Kyiv Electric Networks, colleagues will help you figure out what the problem is,” Mr Kovalenko wrote on social media.

It cited the Ukrainian Resistance Centre as alleging that Russian-backed authorities in occupied Luhansk had conducted medical examinations of 15,000 children and concluded that 70 per cent of them were in need of “special medical care” requiring them to be removed to Russia for “treatment”.

Kyiv alleges that Russian officials intend for these forced deportation schemes to lure children’s families to Russia to collect their children, at which point it is feared they will be prevented from returning home.