Russia-Ukraine war - live: Putin scales back Avdiivka attacks as weather hampers fighting in Kherson

Ukrainian and Russian forces have continued to conduct offensive operations in eastern and southern Ukraine despite rainy and snowy weather conditions, a war monitoring think tank said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Ukrainian Kherson Oblast Military Administration Advisor Serhiy Khlan stated on Monday that the Russian shelling of the west (right) bank of Kherson Oblast had decreased due to poor weather conditions.

Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade Spokesperson Nadiya Zamryha also said on Tuesday that Russian forces continue to conduct assaults in the Kupyansk direction despite the snow and frost.

Zamryha added that the number of Russian attacks will likely decrease due to weather conditions but that Russian forces will not stop offensive operations completely.

Vladimir Putin has scaled back his assault on Avdiivka, said Kyiv’s military officials who also warned that the attacks have not fully stopped yet.

Mr Putin is pouring in fewer troops and equipment in an attempt to seize the battered but strategic Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk oblast that has largely been occupied by Russia.

“Russian occupying forces have reduced the number of ground and air attacks, though they still violate the rules of war by shooting at medical teams and evacuation vehicles,” said Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun.

Avdiivka, that has a vast coking plant, has seen fierce fighting and is now down to just 1,500 residents compared to its pre-war population of about 32,000.

“The invaders are not abandoning their plans to surround Avdiivka. Eight attacks were repelled today,” the spokesperson said.

Vladimir Putin has scaled back his assault on Avdiivka, said Kyiv’s military officials who also warned that the attacks have not fully stopped yet, reports my colleague Arpan Rai.

Mr Putin is pouring in fewer troops and equipment in an attempt to seize the battered but strategic Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk oblast that has largely been occupied by Russia.

“Russian occupying forces have reduced the number of ground and air attacks, though they still violate the rules of war by shooting at medical teams and evacuation vehicles,” said Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun.

Avdiivka, that has a vast coking plant, has seen fierce fighting and is now down to just 1,500 residents compared to its pre-war population of about 32,000.

“The invaders are not abandoning their plans to surround Avdiivka. Eight attacks were repelled today,” the spokesperson said.

A Ukrainian sniper claims to have broken the world record by killing a Russian soldier almost 2.5 miles away, with a custom rifle called ‘Lord of the Horizon’.

The previous record was held by a Canadian special operations sniper at a distance of 2.2 miles in Iraq in 2017.

In a press statement, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said: “The SBU sniper set a world record for a successful shot.

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Poland is set to receive more than 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in EU funds after the European Commission gave a positive assessment Tuesday of the country’s revised recovery plan that includes green reforms and investments.

The 5.1 billion euros pre-financing is part of the bloc’s REPowerEU program aimed at helping the 27 EU nations recover from the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, and reduce their dependance to Russian fossil fuels.

The announcement came a month after an election in Poland secured a parliamentary majority to pro-EU parties aligned with Donald Tusk.

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The Queen has commended journalists “risking their lives” reporting from the Middle East and Ukraine, as she celebrated the 135th anniversary of the Foreign Press Association (FPA) at its annual awards ceremony.

Camilla was made an honorary member of the FPA at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel in Piccadilly, west London, “following in the footsteps” of the King, who has also received honorary life membership.

The FPA in London is the oldest and largest association of foreign correspondents in the world, founded in 1888 by foreign journalists who came to London to cover the case of Jack the Ripper.

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Tatyana Prima thought she’d left the bombs behind when she fled Ukraine more than a year and a half ago, after Russia decimated her city, Mariupol. The 38-year-old escaped with her injured husband and young daughter, bringing the family to safety in southern Israel.

The calm she was slowly regaining shattered again on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants invaded.

“All these sounds of war that we hear now, they sometimes work as a trigger that brings back memories of what we’ve gone through in Mariupol,” she said. “It’s hard feeling like that you’re the one responsible for your child, the one who wants what’s best for them, and in some way like you’ve failed them.”

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the important role of the world’s media in fostering international support for Ukraine, as he met representatives of Fox News and The Sun, including Fox Corporation chief executive Lachlan Murdoch.

He met Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall and The Sun journalist Jerome Starkey in his Kyiv office and thanked them for “comprehensive coverage” of the war, including shining light on “Russian atrocities” despite personal risks, the president’s official website said in a statement.

He also told The Sun how he has survived at least five assassination attempts by Russian President Vladimir Putin, likening his reaction to the attempts as “just like Covid”.

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It happens every November, when the cold descends on Kyiv. The change in weather always makes Dmytro Riznychenko think back, and he is overwhelmed by his emotions.

“This is where it truly began,” Riznychenko said, walking through central Kyiv’s Independence Square recently, reflecting on the uprising that unleashed a decade of momentous change for Ukraine, eventually leading to the current war with Russia.

“Ten years of war and struggle,” the 41-year-old psychologist continued, wearily and reluctantly. “And it seems like the blood has only just begun to flow, truly. I regret nothing. But, God, it’s just so tiresome.”

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German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius vowed Tuesday to keep supporting Ukraine’s efforts to win its war against Russia, pledging further military aid worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

The new support is to include further Iris-T SLM anti-aircraft missile systems as well as anti-tank mines and 155-millimeter artillery shells, German news agency dpa reported.

“We are talking about 20,000 additional shells,” Pistorius said at a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, in Kyiv, according to dpa.

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