Ukrainian defenders battled to contain Russian forces along several fronts, officials said, as the United States urged China to align itself with the West in opposing the invasion following an ill-tempered G20 meeting
1. Russia is moving reserve forces from across the country and assembling them near Ukraine for future offensive operations, British military intelligence said.
2. Donetsk regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on the Telegram messaging service that a Russian missile had struck Druzhkivka, a town behind the front line, and reported shelling of other population centres.
3. Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Telegram that Russian forces were “firing along the entire front line”, though a subsequent Ukrainian counter-attack that hit weapons and ammunition stores had forced Moscow to halt its offensive.
4. A missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv wounded three civilians, its governor said, though Russia’s main attacks appeared focused southeast of there in Luhansk and Donetsk.
5. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces hit two “bases of foreign mercenaries deployed near Kharkiv”.
6. Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov also said two Ukrainian Su-25 aircraft had been shot down in the southern Mykolaiv region, and that it had destroyed ammunition depots there and in the eastern regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk.
7. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts.
8. Russia’s ambassador to Britain told Reuters on Friday that Russia is unlikely to withdraw from a swathe of land across Ukraine’s southern coast and will defeat Ukrainian forces in the entire Donbas region.
9. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the international community to join forces to condemn Russian aggression, told journalists he had raised concerns with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi over Beijing’s alignment with Moscow.
10. G20 foreign ministers called on Friday for an end to the war and grain blockade in Ukraine, as Russia’s top diplomat walked out of a meeting and denounced the West for “frenzied criticism” and squandering a chance to tackle global economic problems. read more
11. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that continued sanctions against Russia could lead to “catastrophic” energy price rises for European consumers. read more
