United News of Bangladesh

Ukraine’s allies vowed Thursday to supply the besieged nation with advanced air defence systems as Russian forces attacked the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and fired missiles elsewhere at civilian targets, payback for the bombing of a strategic bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea. Missile strikes killed at least five people and destroyed an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv, while heavy artillery damaged more than 30 houses, a hospital, a kindergarten and other buildings in the town of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia has intensified its bombardment of civilian areas in recent weeks as its military lost ground in multiple occupied regions of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally annexed. Kremlin war hawks have urged Putin to escalate the bombing campaign even more to punish Ukraine for Saturday’s truck bomb attack on the landmark Kerch Bridge. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack. “We need to protect our sky from the terror of Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskky told the Council of Europe, a human rights organization. “If this is done, it will be a fundamental step to end the entire war in the near future.” Responding to Zelenskyy’s repeated pleas for more effective air defences, the British government announced it would provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. The U.K. also is sending hundreds of aerial drones for information-gathering and logistics support, plus 18 howitzer artillery guns. “These weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defence alongside the U.S. NASAMS,” U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said. Other NATO defence ministers meeting this week promised to supply systems offering medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks. Germany has delivered the first of four promised IRIS-T air defense systems, while France pledged more artillery, anti-aircraft systems and missiles. The Netherlands said it would send missiles, and Canada is planning about $50 million more in military aid, including winter equipment, drone cameras and satellite communications. Speaking in Berlin, German German Olaf Scholz said Putin “and his enablers have made one thing very clear: this war is not only about Ukraine,” but rather “a crusade against our way of life and a crusade against what Putin calls the collective West. He means all of us.” NATO plans to hold a nuclear exercise next week against the backdrop of Putin’s insistence he would use any means necessary to defend Russian territory, including the illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. The exercise takes place each year. On the battlefield Thursday in Ukraine, Russian forces hit a five-story apartment building in Mykolaiv with an S-300 missile, regional Gov. Vitaliy Kim said, a weapon ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft. An 11-year-old boy was pulled alive from the building’s rubble after six hours but later died. “No words. Creature terrorists,” Kim wrote on Telegram. Video showed rescuers working by flashlight to pull the boy out of the concrete and metal debris. As they carried him on a stretcher through the building’s front door to an ambulance, a man who appeared to be his father leaned over to kiss the boy’s head, then place a blanket on him. Four other people were reported killed in Mykolaiv. Residents of Ukraine’s capital region, whose lives had regained some normalcy when war’s front lines moved east and south months ago, were jolted by air raid sirens multiple times Thursday after explosives-packed Iran-made drones found their targets. Ukrainian officials said Iranians in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine were training Russians how to use the Shahed-136 systems, which can conduct air-to-surface attacks, electronic warfare and targeting. The low-flying drones keep Ukraine’s cities on edge, but the British Defense Ministry said they’re unlikely to strike deep into Ukrainian territory because many are destroyed before hitting their targets. Ukraine’s air force command said Thursday its air defense units shot down six drones over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions during the night. Ukrainian authorities also reported knocking down four Russian cruise missiles. Describing the scope of Russia’s retaliatory attacks, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said Russian forces struck more than 70 energy facilities in Ukraine this week. State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin threatened an “even tougher” response to future Ukrainian attacks. The 12-mile Kerch Bridge is a prominent symbol of Moscow’s power. Kyiv’s troops have recaptured villages and towns in a fall offensive but that has been revealing the trauma of residents who lived for months under Russian occupation. In one liberated town, Velyka Oleksandrivka in the annexed Kherson region, seven months of Russian occupation left bridges blasted into pieces, blackened vehicles on pockmarked roads and shelling scars on buildings. “It’s a disaster,” resident Tetyana Patsuk said of her house. “I’ve been crying for a month. I am still shocked. I can’t recover from that feeling that I have lost everything now that I am 72 years old, and that’s it.” As Ukraine’s military claimed more success Thursday in forcing its enemy to retreat from Kherson-area positions, Moscow authorities promised free accommodation to Kherson residents who choose to evacuate to Russia. The Russia-backed leader of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, cited possible missile attacks on civilians in suggesting the move. Saldo’s deputy, Kirill Stremousov tried to play down the move, saying, “No one’s retreating ... no one is planning to leave the territory of the Kherson region.” But the British military suggested the move reflected Russian fears that fighting was coming right into the city of Kherson. Russia has repeatedly characterized the movement of Ukrainians to Russia as voluntary but reports have surfaced that many have been forcibly deported from occupied territory to Russian “filtration camps,” under harsh conditions. In most cases, the only way out of the camps is to Russia or Russian-controlled areas. Among those forced out have been children. An Associated Press investigation found that officials have deported Ukrainian children without consent, lied to them that their parents didn’t want them, used them for propaganda, changed their citizenship to Russian and gave some to Russian families. On the Russian side of the border, the Ukrainian military blew up an ammunition depot and damaged a multi-story building in Russia’s Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram. The village where the depot is located was evacuated. The director general of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Thursday that fighting around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, remained “concerning.” A Russian missile strike on a distant electrical substation Wednesday caused the plant temporarily to lose its last external power source, which is needed to prevent reactors from overheating. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said in Kyiv after returning from Russia that his organization is pushing for a demilitarization zone around the plant, but that said he did not receive any indications that Putin was ready to discuss the definitive “parameters” of such an agreement.

Ukraine’s capital region was struck by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early Thursday, officials said, sending rescue workers rushing to the scene as residents awoke to air raid sirens for the fourth consecutive morning following Russia’s major assault across the country earlier this week. Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said the strike occurred in the area around the capital. It wasn’t yet clear if there were any casualties. Deputy head of the presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Telegram that “critical infrastructure facilities” in the area were hit, without offering any details on which ones. In the southern city of Mykolaiv, overnight shelling destroyed a five-story apartment building as fighting continued along Ukraine’s southern front. Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim said that an 11-year-old boy was rescued from under the rubble, where he had spent six hours, and rescuers on Thursday morning were searching for seven more people, Kim said. He said that the building was hit by an S-300 missile which is ordinarily used for targeting military aircraft, but Russians have apparently been increasingly using them for unprecise ground strikes. Early morning attacks on Ukraine’s southern front have become a daily occurrence in Russia’s war as Kyiv’s forces push a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory occupied by Moscow. Attacks on Kyiv had become rare before the capital city was hit at least four times during Monday’s massive strikes, which killed at least 19 people and wounded more than 100 across the country. Western leaders this week pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine, including air defense systems and weapons Kyiv has said are critical to defeating the invading Russian forces. Britain said Thursday that it will provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine in coming weeks. It’s also sending hundreds of additional aerial drones for information gathering and logistics support, plus 18 more howitzer artillery guns. U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that “these weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their overall missile defense alongside the U.S. NASAMS.” The systems, which Kyiv has long wanted, will provide medium- to long-range defense against missile attacks. The offer comes as NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels, aiming to help bolster Ukraine’s aerial defenses after Monday’s widespread Russian assault. Ukraine’s military said this week that its current air defenses have shot down dozens of incoming Russian missiles and Shahed-136 drones, the so-called kamikaze drones that have played an increasingly deadly role in the war.

Russia retaliated Monday for an attack on a critical bridge by unleashing its most widespread strikes against Ukraine in months, a lethal barrage that smashed civilian targets, knocked out power and water, shattered buildings and killed at least 14 people. Ukraine’s Emergency Service said nearly 100 people were wounded in the morning rush hour attacks that Russia launched from the air, sea and land against at least 14 regions, spanning from Lviv in the west to Kharkiv in the east. Many of the attacks occurred far from the war’s front lines. Though Russia said missiles targeted military and energy facilities, some struck civilian areas while people were heading to work and school. One hit a playground in downtown Kyiv and another struck a university. The attacks plunged much of the country into a blackout, depriving hundreds of thousands of people of electricity into Monday night and creating a shortage so severe Ukrainian authorities asked people to conserve and announced they will stop power exports to Europe starting Tuesday. Power outages also often deprive residents of water, given the system’s reliance on electricity to run pumps and other equipment. Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the strikes had no “practical military sense” and that Russia’s goal was to cause a “humanitarian catastrophe.” Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces targeted key energy infrastructure and military command facilities with “precision weapons” in retaliation for what he claimed were Kyiv’s “terrorist” actions — a reference to Ukraine’s attempts to repel Moscow’s invasion, including an attack Saturday on a key bridge between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Putin alleged the bridge attack was masterminded by Ukrainian special services. Putin vowed a “tough” and “proportionate” response if further Ukrainian attacks threaten Russia’s security. “No one should have any doubts about it,” he told Russia’s Security Council by video. The Russian president has been under intense domestic pressure to take more aggressive action to stop a largely successful Ukrainian counteroffensive and to react forcefully to Saturday’s attack on the Kerch bridge, whose construction he used to cement his 2014 annexation of Crimea. Putin’s increasingly frequent descriptions of Ukraine’s actions as terrorist could portend even more bold and draconian actions. But in Monday’s speech, Putin — whose partial troop mobilization order last month triggered an exodus of hundreds of thousands of men of fighting age — stopped short of escalating his “special military operation” to a counterterrorism campaign or martial law. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on world leaders to declare Russia a terrorist state because of its attacks on civilians and alleged war crimes. Moscow’s war in Ukraine is approaching its eight-month mark, and the Kremlin has been reeling from humiliating battlefield setbacks in areas of eastern Ukraine it is trying to annex. The head of Ukraine’s law enforcement said Monday’s attacks damaged 70 infrastructure sites, of which 29 are critical. Zelenskyy said that of the 84 cruise missiles and 24 drones Russia fired, Ukrainian forces shot down 56. Blasts struck in the capital’s Shevchenko district, which includes the historic old town and government offices, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Some of the strikes hit near the government quarter in the capital’s symbolic heart, where parliament and other major landmarks are located. A glass-covered office tower was significantly damaged, with most of its blue-tinted windows blown out. Zelenskyy, in a video address, referred to the rush hour timing of Monday’s attacks, saying Russia “chose such a time and such targets on purpose to inflict the most damage.” The strikes sent residents of Ukraine’s two largest cities — Kyiv and Kharkiv — into bomb shelters, including subway stations. Zelenskyy’s wife, Olena, posted a video showing people sheltering on the stairs of a Kyiv subway station singing a Ukrainian folk song, “In a Cherry Garden,” whose final lines are: “My dear mother, you are old and I’m happy and young. I want to live, to love.” While air raid sirens have continued throughout the war, in Kyiv and elsewhere many Ukrainians had been ignoring the warnings after months of calm. Just as traffic was picking up Monday morning, a commuter minibus was struck near Kyiv National University. Nearby, at least one missile landed in Shevchenko Park, leaving a large hole near a children’s playground. Another target was the Klitschko pedestrian bridge — a central Kyiv landmark with glass panels. Video footage showed a huge explosion under the bridge, with smoke rising, and a man running away, apparently unhurt. The mayor posted a video later while walking on the bridge, pointing out a crater on a sidewalk below and broken glass and missile fragments on the bridge surface. Air raid sirens sounded in every region of Ukraine except Russia-annexed Crimea for four straight hours. Associated Press journalists saw bodies at an industrial site on the outskirts of Dnipro. Four people were killed and 19 injured in the city, officials said. Witnesses said one missile landed in front of a bus, damaging the vehicle but not killing any passengers. Natalia Nesterenko, a mathematician, saw one missile fly by her Dnipro apartment balcony as she was in her kitchen, then she heard two explosions. “It’s very dangerous. I immediately called my kids to see how they are because anyone can be hit — women, children,” she said. Kharkiv was hit three times, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The strikes knocked out the electricity and water supply. Energy infrastructure was also hit in Lviv, regional Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three cruise missiles launched against Ukraine from Russian ships in the Black Sea crossed Moldova’s airspace, said the country’s foreign affairs minister, Nicu Popescu. The attacks prompted fresh international condemnation of Russia. The Group of Seven industrial powers scheduled a video conference Tuesday on the situation, which Zelenskyy will address. U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement the missile attacks that killed civilians “again demonstrate the utter brutality of Mr. Putin’s illegal war on the Ukrainian people.” He said the United States and its allies will ”continue to impose costs on Russia for its aggression, hold Putin and Russia accountable for its atrocities and war crimes, and provide the support necessary for Ukrainian forces to defend their country and their freedom.” In a phone call later Monday, Biden told Zelenskyy the United States agreed to his request to provide advanced air defense systems. French President Emanuel Macron expressed “extreme concern.” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted that “Russia’s firing of missiles into civilian areas of Ukraine is unacceptable.” Some feared Monday’s attacks may represent the start a new Russian offensive. As a precaution, Ukraine switched all schools to online learning. In an ominous move, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced that he and Putin agreed to create a joint “regional grouping of troops.” He offered no details. Lukashenko repeated his claims that Ukraine is plotting an attack on Belarus, sparking fears he would take preemptive action. His defense minister, Viktor Khrenin, later issued a video warning Ukraine not to provoke Belarus, but added: “We don’t want to fight.”

Russia’s military hurled a barrage of missiles against Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, early Monday, striking civilian targets in what could be Moscow’s retaliation for the bombing of a key bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea. The first strikes on Kyiv in four months targeted the center of the city and left dead and wounded, an Emergency Service spokesperson told the AP. Blasts were reported in the city’s Shevchenko district, a large area in the center of Kyiv that includes the historic old town as well as several government offices, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Lesia Vasylenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, posted a photo on Twitter showing that at least one explosion occurred near the main building of the Kyiv National University in central Kyiv. After the first early morning strikes in Kyiv, more loud explosions were heard later in the morning in an intensification of Russia's attack that could spell a major escalation in the war. Meanwhile, Associated Press journalists in the center of Dnipro city saw the bodies of multiple people killed at an industrial site on the city’s outskirts. Windows in the area had been blown out and glass littered the street. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in a number of other locations, including the western city of Lviv that has been a refuge for many people fleeing the fighting in the east, as well as Kharkiv, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi. In Lviv, energy infrastructure was hit, Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. The explosions were heard by AP journalists and appeared to be the result of missile strikes. The multiple strikes came a few hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a meeting with his security council, as Moscow's war in Ukraine approaches its eight-month milestone and the Kremlin reels from humiliating battlefield setbacks in areas it is trying to annex amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent weeks.   A day earlier, Putin had called the attack on the Kerch Bridge to Crimea a terrorist act carried out by Ukrainian special services. In a meeting Sunday with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Putin said “there’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday called the attack that damaged the huge bridge connecting Russia to its annexed territory of Crimea “a terrorist act” masterminded by Ukrainian special services. The Kerch Bridge, which holds important strategic and symbolic value to Russia in its faltering war in Ukraine, was hit a day earlier by what Moscow has said was a truck bomb. Road and rail traffic on the bridge were temporarily halted, damaging a vital supply route for the Kremlin’s forces. “There’s no doubt it was a terrorist act directed at the destruction of critically important civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a meeting with the chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin. "And the authors, perpetrators, and those who ordered it are the special services of Ukraine.” Bastrykin said Ukrainian special services and citizens of Russia and other countries took part in the attack. He said a criminal investigation had been launched into an act of terror. “We have already established the route of the truck,” he said, saying it had been to Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, North Ossetia and Krasnodar, a region in southern Russia. In Kyiv, presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak called Putin's accusation “too cynical even for Russia.” “Putin accuses Ukraine of terrorism?" he said. "It has not even been 24 hours since Russian planes fired 12 rockets into a residential area of Zaporizhzhia, killing 13 people and injuring more than 50. No, there is only one state terrorist and the whole world knows who he is.” Podolyak referred to missile strikes on the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight that brought down part of a large apartment building. The six missiles were launched from Russian-occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukrainian air force said. The region is one of four Russia claimed as its own this month, though its capital of the same name remains under Ukrainian control. Russia has suffered a series of setbacks nearly eight months after invading Ukraine in a campaign many thought would be short-lived. In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have staged a counteroffensive, retaking areas in the south and east, while Moscow's decision to call up more troops has led to protests and an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Russians. Recent fighting has focused on the regions just north of Crimea, including Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented the latest attack. “Again, Zaporizhzhia. Again, merciless attacks on civilians, targeting residential buildings, in the middle of the night,” he wrote. At least 19 people died in Russian missile strikes on apartment buildings in the city on Thursday. “From the one who gave this order, to everyone who carried out this order: They will answer,” he added. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the attacks on civilians in Zaporizhzhia a war crime and urged an international investigation. Stunned residents watched from behind police tape as emergency crews tried to reach the upper floors of a building that took a direct hit. A chasm at least 12 meters (40-feet) wide smoldered where apartments had once stood. In an adjacent apartment building, the missile barrage blew windows and doors out of their frames in a radius of hundreds of feet. At least 20 private homes and 50 apartment buildings were damaged, a local official said. Regional police reported Sunday afternoon that 13 people had been killed and more than 60 wounded in the latest Zaporizhzhia attack, at least 10 of them children. Tetyana Lazunko, 73, and her husband, Oleksii, took shelter in the hallway of their top-floor apartment after hearing air raid sirens. The explosion shook the building and sent their possessions flying. Lazunko wept as the couple surveyed the damage to their home of nearly five decades. “Why are they bombing us? Why?” she said. Others called the missile attack relentless. “There was one explosion, then another one,” 76-year-old Mucola Markovich said. In a flash, the fourth-floor apartment he shared with his wife was gone. “When it will be rebuilt, I don’t know,” Markovich said. “I am left without an apartment at the end of my life.” In another nearby neighborhood ravaged by a missile, three volunteers dug a shallow grave for a German shepherd killed in the strike. Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and a former speechwriter for Putin, said prior to his declaration that it was a terror attack, the Russian president had not responded forcefully enough to satisfy angry war hawks. The attack and response, he said, has “inspired the opposition, while the loyalists are demoralized.” “Because once again, they see that when the authorities say that everything is going according to plan and we’re winning, that they’re lying, and it demoralizes them," he said. Putin personally opened the Kerch Bridge in May 2018 by driving a truck across it as a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea. No one has claimed responsibility for damaging the 12-mile (19-kilometer) bridge, the longest in Europe. Traffic over the bridge was temporarily suspended after the blast, but both automobiles and trains were crossing again on Sunday. Russia also restarted a car ferry service. Crimea is a popular vacation resort for Russians and people trying to drive to the bridge and back onto the Russian mainland encountered hours-long traffic jams Sunday. “We were a bit unprepared for such a turn,” said one driver, Kirill Suslov, sitting in traffic. “That’s why the mood is a bit gloomy.” The Institute for the Study of War said videos of the bridge indicated that damage from the explosion “is likely to increase friction in Russian logistics for some time” but not cripple Russia’s ability to equip its troops in Ukraine.

An explosion Saturday caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, damaging an important supply artery for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine and hitting a towering symbol of Russian power in the region. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed three people. The speaker of the Russian-backed regional parliament in Crimea accused Ukraine, but Moscow didn’t apportion blame. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge, and some lauded the destruction on Saturday. But Kyiv stopped short of claiming responsibility. The explosion, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, risked a sharp escalation in Russia’s eight-month war, with some Russian lawmakers calling for President Vladimir Putin to declare a “counterterrorism operation,” shedding the term “special military operation” that had downplayed the scope of fighting to ordinary Russians. Putin signed a decree late Saturday tightening security for the bridge and for energy infrastructure between Crimea and Russia, and put Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, in charge of the effort. Hours after the explosion, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that the air force chief, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, would now command all Russian troops in Ukraine. Surovikin, who this summer was placed in charge of troops in southern Ukraine, had led Russian forces in Syria and was accused of overseeing a bombardment that destroyed much of Aleppo. Moscow, however, continues to suffer battlefield losses. On Saturday, a Kremlin-backed official in Ukraine’s Kherson region announced a partial evacuation of civilians from the southern province, one of four illegally annexed by Moscow last week. Kirill Stremousov told Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti agency that young children and the elderly could be relocated because Kherson was getting “ready for a difficult period.” The 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge, on a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea and an essential link to the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The $3.6 billion bridge, the longest in Europe, is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine. Putin himself presided over the bridge’s opening in 2018. The attack on it “will have a further sapping effort on Russian morale, (and) will give an extra boost to Ukraine’s,” said James Nixey of Chatham House, a think tank in London. “Conceivably the Russians can rebuild it, but they can’t defend it while losing a war.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video address, indirectly acknowledged the bridge attack but did not address its cause. “Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants a future “without occupiers. Throughout our territory, in particular in Crimea.” Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian forces advanced or held the line in the east and south, but acknowledged “very, very difficult, very tough fighting” around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have claimed recent gains. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said a truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in the “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” A couple riding in a vehicle on the bridge were killed, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. It didn’t say who the third victim was. All vehicles crossing the bridge are supposed to undergo state-of-the-art checks for explosives. The truck that exploded was owned by a resident of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia, the Investigative Committee said, adding that the man’s home was searched and experts were looking at the truck’s route. Train and automobile traffic over the bridge was temporarily suspended. Automobile traffic resumed Saturday afternoon on one of the two links that remained intact, with the flow alternating in each direction, said Crimea’s Russia-backed leader, Sergey Aksyonov. Blast on bridge to Crimea hurts Russian supply lines, pride By ADAM SCHRECK and VASILISA STEPANENKO yesterday Flame and smoke rise fron Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, Crimea, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. Russian authorities say a truck bomb has caused a fire and the partial collapse of a bridge linking Russia-annexed Crimea with Russia. Three people have been killed. The bridge is a key supply artery for Moscow's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. (AP Photo) 1 of 24 Flame and smoke rise fron Crimean Bridge connecting Russian mainland and Crimean peninsula over the Kerch Strait, in Kerch, Crimea, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. Russian authorities say a truck bomb has caused a fire and the partial collapse of a bridge linking Russia-annexed Crimea with Russia. Three people have been killed. The bridge is a key supply artery for Moscow's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. (AP Photo) An explosion Saturday caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia, damaging an important supply artery for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine and hitting a towering symbol of Russian power in the region. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed three people. The speaker of the Russian-backed regional parliament in Crimea accused Ukraine, but Moscow didn’t apportion blame. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge, and some lauded the destruction on Saturday. But Kyiv stopped short of claiming responsibility. The explosion, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, risked a sharp escalation in Russia’s eight-month war, with some Russian lawmakers calling for President Vladimir Putin to declare a “counterterrorism operation,” shedding the term “special military operation” that had downplayed the scope of fighting to ordinary Russians. ADVERTISEMENT Putin signed a decree late Saturday tightening security for the bridge and for energy infrastructure between Crimea and Russia, and put Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, in charge of the effort. Hours after the explosion, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that the air force chief, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, would now command all Russian troops in Ukraine. Surovikin, who this summer was placed in charge of troops in southern Ukraine, had led Russian forces in Syria and was accused of overseeing a bombardment that destroyed much of Aleppo. RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR Ukrainian authorities take stock of ruins in liberated Lyman UN: Ukraine nuclear power plant loses external power link Russia adds popular rapper, writer to "foreign agent" list Some Ukrainians voice mixed reactions to Nobel prize winners Moscow, however, continues to suffer battlefield losses. On Saturday, a Kremlin-backed official in Ukraine’s Kherson region announced a partial evacuation of civilians from the southern province, one of four illegally annexed by Moscow last week. Kirill Stremousov told Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti agency that young children and the elderly could be relocated because Kherson was getting “ready for a difficult period.” The 19-kilometer (12-mile) Kerch Bridge, on a strait between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, is a symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea and an essential link to the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The $3.6 billion bridge, the longest in Europe, is vital to sustaining Russia’s military operations in southern Ukraine. Putin himself presided over the bridge’s opening in 2018. ADVERTISEMENT The attack on it “will have a further sapping effort on Russian morale, (and) will give an extra boost to Ukraine’s,” said James Nixey of Chatham House, a think tank in London. “Conceivably the Russians can rebuild it, but they can’t defend it while losing a war.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video address, indirectly acknowledged the bridge attack but did not address its cause. “Today was not a bad day and mostly sunny on our state’s territory,” he said. “Unfortunately, it was cloudy in Crimea. Although it was also warm.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine wants a future “without occupiers. Throughout our territory, in particular in Crimea.” ADVERTISEMENT Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian forces advanced or held the line in the east and south, but acknowledged “very, very difficult, very tough fighting” around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have claimed recent gains. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said a truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in the “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” A couple riding in a vehicle on the bridge were killed, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. It didn’t say who the third victim was. All vehicles crossing the bridge are supposed to undergo state-of-the-art checks for explosives. The truck that exploded was owned by a resident of the Krasnodar region in southern Russia, the Investigative Committee said, adding that the man’s home was searched and experts were looking at the truck’s route. Train and automobile traffic over the bridge was temporarily suspended. Automobile traffic resumed Saturday afternoon on one of the two links that remained intact, with the flow alternating in each direction, said Crimea’s Russia-backed leader, Sergey Aksyonov. ADVERTISEMENT Rail traffic was resuming slowly. Two passenger trains left the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol and headed toward the bridge Saturday evening. Passenger ferry links between Crimea and the Russian mainland were being relaunched Sunday. While Russia seized areas north of Crimea early in its invasion of Ukraine and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim that territory. The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops in the south were receiving necessary supplies through that corridor and by sea. Russian war bloggers responded to the bridge attack with fury, urging Moscow to retaliate by striking Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Putin ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency. Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Russian Communist Party, said the “terror attack” should serve as a wake-up call. “The special operation must be turned into a counterterrorist operation,” he declared. Leonid Slutsky, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian parliament’s lower house, said “consequences will be imminent” if Ukraine was responsible. And Sergei Mironov, leader of the Just Russia faction, said Russia should respond by attacking key Ukrainian infrastructure. Such statements may herald a decision by Putin to declare a counterterrorism operation. The parliamentary leader of Zelenskyy’s party cast the explosion as a consequence of Moscow’s takeover of Crimea. “Russian illegal construction is starting to fall apart and catch fire. The reason is simple: If you build something explosive, then sooner or later it will explode,” said David Arakhamia of the Servant of the People party. The Ukrainian postal service announced it would issue stamps commemorating the blast, as it did after the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian flagship cruiser, by a Ukrainian strike. The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, tweeted a video with the Kerch Bridge on fire and Marilyn Monroe singing her “Happy Birthday Mr. President” song. Putin turned 70 on Friday. In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said “the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure shows its terrorist nature.” The Crimean Peninsula is a popular destination for Russian tourists and home to a Russian naval base. A Russian tourist association estimated that 50,000 tourists were in Crimea on Saturday. Elsewhere, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has lost its last remaining external power source as a result of renewed shelling and is now relying on emergency diesel generators. Ukrainian authorities were also just beginning to sift through the wreckage of the devastated city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, assessing the humanitarian toll and possible war crimes after a months-long Russian occupation. “Some people died in their houses, some people died in the streets, and the bodies are now being sent to experts for examination,” said Mark Tkachenko of the Kramatorsk district police. Explosions also rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering secondary explosions. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of using surface-to-air missiles in two largely residential neighborhoods. Kharkiv resident Tetiana Samoilenko’s apartment caught fire in the attack. She was in the kitchen when the blast struck, sending glass flying. “Now I have no roof over my head. Now I don’t know what to do next,” the 80-year-old said.    

An explosion caused the partial collapse of a bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with Russia on Saturday, damaging a key supply artery for the Kremlin's faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. Three people were killed in the blast, Russian authorities said. The speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament immediately accused Ukraine, though Moscow didn't apportion blame. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly threatened to strike the bridge and some lauded the attack, but Kyiv stopped short of claiming responsibility. The bombing came a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70, dealing him a humiliating blow that could lead him to up the ante in his war on Ukraine. Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that a truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in a “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” A man and a woman who were riding in a vehicle across the bridge were killed by the explosion and their bodies were recovered, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. It didn’t provide details on the third victim. The 19-kilometer (12-mile) bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov opened in 2018 and is the longest in Europe. The $3.6 billion project is a tangible symbol of Moscow’s claims on Crimea and has provided an essential link to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The peninsula holds symbolic value for Russia and is key to sustaining its military operations in the south of Ukraine. If the bridge were made inoperable, it would make it significantly more challenging to ferry supplies to Crimea. While Russia seized the areas north of Crimea early on during the invasion and built a land corridor to it along the Sea of Azov, Ukraine is pressing a counteroffensive to reclaim them. The bridge has train and automobile sections. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee specified that the explosion and fire led to the collapse of the two sections of one of the two links of the automobile bridge, while another link was intact. Russia’s Energy Ministry said Crimea has enough fuel for 15 days, adding that it was working on ways to replenish stock. Authorities suspended passenger train traffic across the bridge until further notice. Putin was informed about the explosion and he ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency. The speaker of Crimea’s Kremlin-backed regional parliament blamed Ukraine for the explosion, but downplayed the severity of the damage and said the bridge would be promptly repaired. “Now they have something to be proud of: over 23 years of their management, they didn’t manage to build anything worthy of attention in Crimea, but they’ve managed to damage the surface of the Russian bridge,” Vladimir Konstantinov, chairman of the State Council of the Republic, wrote on Telegram. The parliamentary leader of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party on Saturday stopped short of claiming that Kyiv was responsible but appeared to cast it as a consequence of Moscow’s takeover of Crimea and attempts to integrate the peninsula with the Russian mainland. “Russian illegal construction is starting to fall apart and catch fire. The reason is simple: if you build something explosive, then sooner or later it will explode,” David Arakhamia, the leader of the Servant of the People party, wrote on Telegram. “And this is just the beginning. Of all things, reliable construction is not something Russia is particularly famous for,” he said. Other Ukrainian officials were more celebratory while still stopping short of claiming responsibility. The Ukrainian postal service announced that it would issue stamps commemorating the blast, saying in a statement that the images would draw on classic film posters to highlight the bridge's “sacred significance” to Moscow. The postal service previously released a set of stamps commemorating the sinking of the Moskva, a Russian flagship cruiser, by an Ukrainian strike in late May. The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, posted a video on Twitter with the Kerch Bridge on fire on the left side and video with Marilyn Monroe singing her famous “Happy Birthday Mr. President” on the right. An advisor to Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted: “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled:” In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “the reaction of the Kyiv regime to the destruction of civilian infrastructure shows its terrorist nature.” In August, Russia suffered a series of explosions at an airbase and munitions depot in Crimea, which underlined its vulnerability. Local authorities in Crimea made conflicting statements about what the damaged bridge would mean for residents and their ability to buy consumer goods on the peninsula, a popular sun-and-sea destination for Russian tourists year-round that is home to Sevastopol, a key city and a naval base. Reflecting the tensions, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the head of Sevastopol, initially announced a ban on sales of car fuel in canisters and said that the sales of groceries will be limited to 3 kilograms per person to avoid a panicky run on supplies, but then changed course just an hour later, saying that there will be no restrictions. At the same time, he sought to assuage residents, insisting they weren't cut off from the mainland. “There are land corridors via the new territories, and the ferry crossing near the Crimean Bridge has started operating,” he said. The Association of Russia’s tourist agencies estimated that about 50,000 tourists were in Crimea on vacation at the time of the blast. The head of Russia’s top tourism body, Ilya Umansky, told the Interfax agency that ferry links had been relaunched Saturday between the peninsula and the mainland but admitted that those seeking to enter Crimea in the coming days were set to experience “some discomfort.” The blast on the bridge occurred hours after explosions rocked the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early Saturday, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky and triggering a series of secondary explosions. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of pounding Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, with surface-to-air missiles and said at least one person was wounded. The strikes targeted the largely residential neighborhoods of Saltivka and Osnovianskiy, the regional governor, Oleh Sinehubov, said on Telegram. Sinehubov said Russia had deployed S-300s missiles in the strike. If true, this would mark the latest in a series of instances when Moscow was reported to have repurposed a weapon originally designed for air defense to strike ground targets, possibly because of a shortage of more suitable munitions. Ukrainian authorities in the northern Sumy region, west of Kharkiv and a frequent target of Russian shelling and missile attacks, also reported on Saturday that five towns and villages had been hit overnight. Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the regional governor, said on Telegram that a 51-year-old civilian man had been killed. Russian rockets also slammed into three towns facing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest. The regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said that nobody was injured in the strikes on the towns of Marganets, Chervonohryhorivka, and Myrove. The death toll, meanwhile, from earlier missile strikes on apartment buildings in Zaporizhzhia rose to 17, Ukrainian emergency services reported. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine wrote on Telegram that 21 people had been rescued from the rubble of a four-story apartment block, and that search and rescue work was continuing. Russian missiles damaged more than 40 apartment buildings on Thursday in the Ukrainian-controlled city, which is nevertheless the official capital of a region Moscow moved to illegally annex last week. Zaporizhzhia lies across a wide reservoir on the Dnieper river from the nuclear plant with the same name, one of the world’s largest. The deadly strikes came hours after Ukraine’s president announced that his military had retaken three more villages in another of the four regions claimed by Russia, Moscow’s latest battlefield reversal.

The back-to-back shipwrecks of migrant smuggling boats off Greece has once again put the spotlight on the dangers of the Mediterranean migration route, the risks migrants and refugees are willing to take and the political infighting that has thwarted a safe European response to people fleeing war, poverty and climate change. Here’s a look at the migration situation across the Mediterranean Sea: WHAT HAPPENED TO TWO SMUGGLERS’ BOATS OFF GREECE? Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage off a Greek island on Thursday as the death toll from separate sinkings of two migrant boats rose to 22, with about a dozen still missing. The vessels went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs. The Greek shipwrecks came just days after Italy commemorated the ninth anniversary of one of the deadliest Mediterranean shipwrecks in recent memory, the Oct. 3, 2013 capsizing of a migrant ship off Lampedusa, Sicily, in which 368 people died. WHAT ARE THE TRENDS IN MEDITERRANEAN MIGRANT ARRIVALS? So far this year, the International Organization of Migration has recorded around 109,000 “irregular” arrivals to the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta by land or sea. This has made immigration a hot political topic in those European Union nations. U.N. refugee officials note that overall numbers of migrants seeking to come to Europe this way has decreased over the years, to an average of around 120,000 annually. They call that a relatively “manageable” number, especially compared to the 7.4 million Ukrainians who have fled their homeland this year to escape Russia’s invasion, and were welcomed by European countries. “We’ve seen how quickly and how rapidly a response was mounted to deal with that situation in a very humane and commendable way,” said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva. “If we can see that happen very concretely in this situation, why can’t it be applied for 120,000 people that are coming across to Europe on a yearly basis?” Others see Europe’s harsh response to Mediterranean migrants, who often come from Africa, and its welcoming of Slavic Ukrainian migrants as racist. HOW DANGEROUS IS THE MEDITERRANEAN? Read: 13 Bangladeshis rescued in Mediterranean return home So far this year the IOM has reported 1,522 dead or missing migrants in the Mediterranean. Overall, the IOM says 24,871 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, with the real number believed to be even higher given the number of shipwrecks that never get reported. “The voyage toward Italy has been confirmed to be the most dangerous,” said the ISMU foundation in Italy, which conducts research on migration trends. The Central Mediterranean migration route that takes migrants from Libya or Tunisia north to Europe is the deadliest known migration route in the world, accounting for more than half of the reported deaths in the Mediterranean that IOM has tracked since 2014. The route has Italy as its prime destination. WHAT ARE THE DEADLIEST KNOWN SMUGGLING SHIPWRECKS? On April 18, 2015, the Mediterranean’s deadliest known shipwreck in living memory occurred when an overcrowded fishing boat collided 77 nautical miles off Libya with a freighter that was trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived. At first it was feared the hull held the remains of 700 people. Forensic experts who set out to try to identify all the dead concluded in 2018 that there were originally 1,100 people on board. On Oct. 3, 2013, a trawler packed with more than 500 people, many from Eritrea and Ethiopia, caught fire and capsized within sight of an uninhabited islet off Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa. Local fishermen rushed to try to help save lives. In the end, 155 survived and 368 people died. One week later, a shipwreck occurred on Oct 11, 2013, further out at sea, 60 miles south of Lampedusa in what has become known in Italy as the “slaughter of children.” In all, more than 260 people died, among them 60 children. The Italian newsweekly L’Espresso in 2017 published the audio recordings of the migrants’ desperate calls for help and Italian and Maltese authorities seemingly delaying the rescue. WHAT ARE OTHER MEDITERRANEAN MIGRATION ROUTES TO EUROPE? The Western Mediterranean route is used by migrants seeking to reach Spain from Morocco or Algeria. The Eastern Mediterranean route, where the shipwrecks occurred this week off Greece, has traditionally been used by Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other non-African migrants who flee first to Turkey and then try to reach Greece or other European destinations. Read: 49 Bangladeshi migrants rescued from Mediterranean Greece was a key transit point for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees entering the EU in 2015-16, many fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria, though the numbers dropped sharply after the EU and Turkey reached a deal in 2016 to limit smugglers. Greece has since toughened its borders and built a steel wall along its land border with Turkey. Greece has also been accused by Turkey and some migration experts of pushing back migrants, a charge it denies. For its part, Greece says Turkey has failed to stop smugglers active on its shoreline and has been using migrants to apply political pressure to the whole European Union. HOW HAS MIGRATION DIVIDED THE EU’S 27 NATIONS? Mediterranean countries have for years complained that they have been left to bear the brunt of welcoming and processing migrants, and have long demanded other European countries step up and take them in. Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European nations refused an EU plan to share the burdens of carrying for the migrants. Human rights groups have condemned how the EU in recent years has outsourced migrant rescues to the Libyan coast guard, which brings the migrants back to horrific camps on land where many are beaten, raped and abused.   “Over the years, the routes have changed but not the tragedies,” said the Sant’Egidio Community as it commemorated the 2013 Lampedusa anniversary this week. Working with other Christian groups, the Catholic charity has brought more than 5,000 refugees to Italy via “humanitarian corridors” and has called for more safe passages to be organized so migrants don’t have to risk dangerous Mediterranean crossings with smugglers.

Even as the Kremlin moved to absorb parts of Ukraine in a sharp escalation of the conflict, the Russian military suffered new defeats that highlighted its deep problems on the battlefield and opened rifts at the top of the Russian government. The setbacks have badly dented the image of a powerful Russian military and added to the tensions surrounding an ill-planned mobilization. They have also fueled fighting among Kremlin insiders and left Russian President Vladimir Putin increasingly cornered. Here is a look at the latest Russian losses, some of the reasons behind them and the potential consequences. STRING OF DEFEATS IN THE NORTHEAST, SOUTH Relying on Western-supplied weapons, Ukraine has followed up on last month’s gains in the northeastern Kharkiv region by pressing deeper into occupied areas and forcing Russian troops to withdraw from the city of Lyman, a key logistical hub. The Ukrainian army has also unleashed a broad counteroffensive in the south, capturing a string of villages on the western bank of the Dnieper River and advancing toward the city of Kherson. The Ukrainian gains in the Kherson region followed relentless strikes on the two main crossings over the Dnieper that made them unusable and forced Russian troops on the western bank of the Dnieper to rely exclusively on pontoon crossings, which also have been repeatedly hit by the Ukrainians. Phillips P. O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews, predicted more Russian failures in Kherson, noting that it’s “hard to stabilize a line when your logistics are stretched, your troops are exhausted and your opponent is much, much smarter.” Pressed against the wide river and suffering severe supply shortages, Russian troops face a looming defeat that could set the stage for a potential Ukrainian push to reclaim control of the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Read: Ukraine says Russia smuggling its grain; Moscow says allegation “baseless” MILITARY SHORTAGES AND COMMAND WOES Military reporters and bloggers embedded with Russian troops in Ukraine have painted a bleak picture of an ill-equipped and poorly organized force under incompetent command. With the war in its eighth month, the Russian military suffers from an acute shortage of personnel, lack of coordination between units and unstable supply lines. Many Russian units also have low morale, a depressed mood that contrasts sharply with Ukraine’s well-motivated forces. Unlike the Ukrainian military, which has relied on intelligence data provided by the U.S. and its NATO allies to select and strike targets, the Russian army has been plagued by poor intelligence. When Russian intelligence spots a Ukrainian target, the military engages in a long process of securing clearance to strike it, which often drags on until the target disappears. Russian war correspondents particularly bemoaned the shortage of drones and noted that Iranian-supplied drones have not been used for maximum effectiveness due to the poor selection of targets. KREMLIN CALLS UP MORE TROOPS, ANNEXES TERRITORY Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the Ukrainian counteroffensive by ordering a partial military mobilization, which aims to round up at least 300,000 reservists to beef up forces along the 1,000-kilometer front line in Ukraine. At the start of the invasion, Ukraine declared a sweeping mobilization, with a goal of forming a 1 million-member military. Russia until that moment had tried to win the war with a shrinking contingent of volunteer soldiers. The U.S. put the initial invading force at up to 200,000, and some Western estimates put Russian casualties as high as 80,000 dead, wounded and captured. While the hawkish circles in Moscow welcomed the mobilization as long overdue, hundreds of thousands of Russian men fled abroad to avoid being recruited, and protests flared up across the country, raising new challenges to the Kremlin. Fresh recruits posted images showing them being forced to sleep on the floor or even in the open air. Some reported being handed rusty weapons and told to buy medical kits and other basic supplies themselves. In a tacit recognition of supply problems, Putin dismissed a deputy defense minister in charge of military logistics. Read: If Putin deploys nuclear weapons in Ukraine, US will destroy Russia’s forces: Ex-CIA director The mobilization offers no quick fix for Russia’s military woes. It will take months for the new recruits to train and form battle-ready units. Putin then upped the ante by abruptly annexing the occupied regions of Ukraine and voicing readiness to use “all means available” to protect them, a blunt reference to Russia’s nuclear arsenal. RIFTS OPEN UP AT THE TOP In an unprecedented sign of infighting in the higher echelons of the government, the Kremlin-backed regional leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has scathingly criticized the top military brass, accusing them of incompetence and nepotism. Kadyrov blamed Col. Gen. Alexander Lapin for failing to secure supplies and reinforcements for his troops that led to their retreat from Lyman. He declared that the general deserves to be stripped of his rank and sent to the front line as a private to “wash off his shame with his blood.” Kadyrov also directly accused Russia’s top military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, of covering up Lapin’s blunders — a pointed attack that fueled speculation that the Chechen leader might have forged an alliance with other hawkish members of the Russian elite against the top military leadership. In a blunt statement, Kadyrov also urged the Kremlin to consider using low-yield nuclear weapons against Ukraine to reverse the course of the war, a call that appeared to reflect the growing popularity of the idea among the Kremlin hawks. In a show of continuing support for Kadyrov, Putin promoted him to colonel general to mark his birthday, a move certain to anger the top brass. And while Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Kadyrov’s statement as overly emotional, he strongly praised the Chechen leader’s role in the fighting and his troops’ valor. In another sign of intensifying dissent at the top, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire businessman dubbed “Putin’s chef,” lashed out at the governor of St. Petersburg, charging that his failure to provide assistance for Prigozhin’s Wagner private security company amounts to supporting Ukraine. Some other members of the Russian elite offered quick support for Kadyrov and Prigozhin, who have increasingly served as frontmen for the hawkish circles in Moscow. Read: Impact of Russia-Ukraine War on Asia’s climate goals Retired Lt. Gen. Andrei Gurulev, a senior member of the lower house of Russian parliament, strongly backed the Chechen leader, saying that the Russian defeat in Lyman was rooted in the top brass’ desire to report only good news to Putin.   “It’s a problem of total lies and positive reports from top to bottom,” he said.

French author Annie Ernaux, who has mined her own biography to explore life in France since the 1940s, was awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for work that illuminates murky corners of memory, family and society. Ernaux’s autobiographical books explore deeply personal experiences and feelings – love, sex, abortion, shame – within a changing web of social and class relationships. Much of her material came out of her experiences being raised in a working-class family in the Normandy region of northwest France. The Swedish Academy said Ernaux, 82, was recognized for “the courage and clinical acuity” of her writing. Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel literature committee, said Ernaux is “an extremely honest writer who is not afraid to confront the hard truths.” “She writes about things that no one else writes about, for instance her abortion, her jealousy, her experiences as an abandoned lover and so forth. I mean, really hard experiences,” he said after the award announcement in Stockholm. “And she gives words for these experiences that are very simple and striking. They are short books, but they are really moving.” Ernaux is just the 17th woman among the 119 Nobel literature laureates and is the first French literature laureate since Patrick Modiano in 2014. One of France’s most-garlanded authors and a prominent feminist voice, she expressed surprise at the award, asking a Swedish journalist who reached her by phone: “Are you sure?” “I was working this morning and the phone has been ringing all the time but I haven’t answered,” she told the TT news agency. Read: Nobel in chemistry goes to 3 for “snapping molecules together” Ernaux told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the award was “a great honor” and “a very great responsibility.” Olsson said Ernaux had used the term “an ethnologist of herself” rather than a writer of fiction. Her more than 20 books, most of them very short, chronicle events in her life and the lives of those around her. They present uncompromising portraits of sexual encounters, abortion, illness and the deaths of her parents. Olsson said Ernaux’s work was often “written in plain language, scraped clean.” Ernaux describes her style as “flat writing” — aiming for an very objective view of the events she is describing, unshaped by florid description or overwhelming emotions. Ernaux worked as a teacher before becoming a full-time writer. Her first book was “Cleaned Out” in 1974. Two more autobiographical novels followed – “What They Say Goes” and “The Frozen Woman” – before she moved to more overtly autobiographical books. In the book that made her name, “La Place” (A Man’s Place), published in 1983 and about her relationship with her father, she writes: “No lyrical reminiscences, no triumphant displays of irony. This neutral writing style comes to me naturally.” “Shame,” published in 1997, explored a childhood trauma, while “Happening,” from 2000 depicts an illegal abortion. Her most critically acclaimed book is “The Years,” published in 2008, which described herself and wider French society from the end of World War II to the 21st century. Unlike in previous books, in “The Years,” Ernaux wrote in the third person, calling her character “she” rather than “I”. The book received numerous awards and honors, and Olsson said it has been called “the first collective autobiography.” “A Girl’s Story,” from 2016, follows a young woman’s coming of age in the 1950s. Read: Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to three scientists The Nobel literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers, as well as too male-dominated. Last year’s prize winner, Tanzanian-born, U.K.-based writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, was only the sixth Nobel literature laureate born in Africa. “We try first of all to broaden the scope of the Nobel Prize, but our focus must be on literary quality,” Olsson said. The prizes to Gurnah in 2021 and U.S. poet Louise Glück in 2020 helped the literature prize move on from years of controversy and scandal. In 2018, the award was postponed after sex abuse allegations rocked the Swedish Academy, which names the Nobel literature committee, and sparked an exodus of members. The academy revamped itself but faced more criticism for giving the 2019 literature award to Austria’s Peter Handke, who has been called an apologist for Serbian war crimes. A week of Nobel Prize announcements kicked off Monday with Swedish scientist Svante Paabo receiving the award in medicine for unlocking secrets of Neanderthal DNA that provided key insights into our immune system. Three scientists jointly won the prize in physics Tuesday. Frenchman Alain Aspect, American John F. Clauser and Austrian Anton Zeilinger had shown that tiny particles can retain a connection with each other even when separated, a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, that can be used for specialized computing and to encrypt information. The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to Americans Carolyn R. Bertozzi and K. Barry Sharpless, and Danish scientist Morten Meldal for developing a way of “snapping molecules together” that can be used to explore cells, map DNA and design drugs that can target diseases such as cancer more precisely. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the economics award on Monday. The prizes carry a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (nearly $900,000) and will be handed out on Dec. 10. The money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, in 1895.