Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
BATTLEFIELD ADVANCES * Ukrainian forces captured the town of Dudchany on the west bank of the Dnipro River in their major advance in Kherson region, according to the Russian-installed head of the administration of occupied areas in the province.
Russian President Vladimir Putin may finalise his plan to annex four Ukrainian regions later on Tuesday, even as his forces are being pushed back by Ukraine on two separate battlefield fronts shrinking the amount of seized territory he controls. BATTLEFIELD ADVANCES
* Ukrainian forces captured the town of Dudchany on the west bank of the Dnipro River in their major advance in Kherson region, according to the Russian-installed head of the administration of occupied areas in the province. * Russian military bloggers described a Ukrainian tank advance through dozens of kilometers of territory along the west bank of the Dnipro. Kyiv has so far maintained almost complete silence about the situation in Kherson.
* In the east, Ukrainian forces were advancing after capturing Lyman, the main Russian bastion in the north of Donetsk province. The pro-Russian leader in Donetsk said forces were forming a new defensive line around the town of Kreminna. * Kyiv appears on course to achieve several of its key battlefield objectives as it strengthens its military position against Russia ahead of the winter, a senior Pentagon official said.
* Russia has sacked the commander of its Western military district, news outlet RBC reported, after a series of painful battlefield reverses in Ukraine. ANNEXATION, MOBILISATION
* Russia's Federation Council upper house of parliament ratified the annexation
of four regions of Ukraine. * Russia said
200,000 reservists out of a planned 300,000 have already been called up since Putin announced a mobilisation 10 days ago.
* Russian lawyers say they have been overwhelmed
by requests for support from Russians seeking help to avoid being drafted in the call-up. DIPLOMACY
* Billionaire Elon Musk asked Twitter users to weigh in on a plan to end Russia's war in Ukraine, including proposing U.N.-supervised elections in the four occupied regions that Moscow annexed last week and formally recognising Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014. The plan drew immediate condemnation from Ukrainians. The Kremlin applauded it. * The International Monetary Fund's executive board will consider Ukraine's request for $1.3 billion in additional emergency funding on Friday, two sources familiar with the matter said. (Compiled by Gareth Jones, Lincoln Feast, Peter Graff)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ALSO READ
Russia intensifies crackdown on dissent by placing additional Kremlin critics on wanted list
Kremlin says Putin will soon talk to the governors of flooded regions
Aborted peace deal could be basis for Ukraine talks, says Kremlin
Kremlin says Russia's enemies see Putin inauguration as pretext to try to destabilise things
Aborted peace deal could be basis for Ukraine talks, says Kremlin