Live: Zelensky claims gains in south Ukraine, ‘dozens’ of villages retaken

Issued on: 05/10/2022 – 09:01

8:35am: One injured in attack by Iran-made drones near Kyiv

One person was injured in an attack with Iranian-made drones on the town of Bila Tserkva southwest of Kyiv, the region’s governor said Wednesday.

“During the night, the enemy carried out strikes with Shahed-136 type kamikaze drones against Bila Tserkva,” governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on social media, adding that the attack left one person injured and damaged infrastructure.

8:32am: Gazprom says it will resume gas exports via Austria

Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Wednesday it is set to resume gas exports via Austria, mainly to Italy.

It added that the company and Italian customers have found a solution on gas sales following regulatory changes in Austria.

7:35am: Ukraine forces approaching borders of Luhansk region, UK says

The Ukrainian armed forces have advanced up to 20 km (12 miles) beyond the Oskil river in the northeastern Kharkiv region into Russia’s defensive zone towards the town of Svatove in Luhansk region, Britain said on Wednesday.

“Politically, Russian leaders will highly likely be concerned that leading Ukrainian units are now approaching the borders of Luhansk Oblast, which Russia claimed to have formally annexed last Friday,” the British Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence bulletin.

The intelligence update added that it was highly likely that Ukraine could now strike the Svatove-Kremina road in Luhansk region and added that Ukraine continued to make progress is its operations in the southern front as well.

6:09am: Hungary says new EU price cap on Russian oil will not apply to pipeline shipments

A price cap for Russian oil proposed as part of the European Union’s eighth round of sanctions against Russia will not apply to pipeline shipments, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a statement late on Tuesday.

Hungary, which has been the most vocal critic of sanctions against Russia in the EU, largely relies on Russian crude shipments and Russian gas, both imported via pipelines.

12am: Zelensky claims gains in south Ukraine, ‘dozens’ of villages retaken

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said his forces were making “rapid and powerful” gains in southern Ukraine and that they had retaken “dozens” of villages from Russia this week.

“The Ukrainian army is quite rapidly and powerfully advancing in the south,” Zelensky said in his daily address on social media, adding that “dozens of settlements” had been recaptured in the south and east.

Some of the territory was taken back in the regions of Kherson, Lugansk and Donetsk, he said, where referendums were held last week on being annexed by Russia.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)