Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s troops disguised as Ukrainians in assault on key city
Putin’s troops attacked Kupiansk outskirts in four waves and used troops disguised as Ukrainian soldiers
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Your support makes all the difference.Russian troops disguised themselves as Ukrainian soldiers as they launched new attacks in the outskirts of the northeastern city of Kupiansk, Kyiv said while confirming a frontline breach.
The Russians attacked in four waves and used troops disguised as Ukrainian soldiers but were repelled from the city, Ukraine’s General Staff said.
“They partially entered the suburbs, the industrial zone, and were destroyed by our troops,” the city’s military administration chief Andriy Besedin said. “There were assault actions using heavy armoured vehicles, there were attempts to bring in infantry.”
Kupiansk was captured by Russian forces in the early days after the February 2022 invasion but liberated by Ukraine in a counteroffensive a few months later. The Russians are now making a renewed bid to recapture the region.
The attack came as Russia signalled it was open to negotiations mediated by US president-elect Donald Trump to end the Ukraine war.
Gennady Gatilov, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, said any talks would have to be based on the realities of Russian advances, a claim pushed by Vladimir Putin for territory grab in Ukraine.
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Putin and Saudi crown prince discussed Ukraine conflict, Kremlin says
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed developments in the conflict in Ukraine when they spoke this week, the Kremlin said on Thursday, declining to provide further details.
It had previously said the two men discussed the importance of continuing “close coordination” within the OPEC+ group of oil producers during Wednesday’s call.
A military court in Moscow sentenced a 43-year-old woman to eight years in a penal colony on Thursday for posting anti-war comments online, including several calling for the assassination of President Vladimir Putin, Russian news agencies reported.
Anastasia Berezhinskaya, a Moscow-based theatre director and mother of two young children, was found guilty of two wartime censorship laws - discrediting the Russian army and spreading false information about it --as well as justifying terrorism.
In the first months following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Berezhinskaya published dozens of posts online against the conflict. The Russian army, the Interior Ministry and Putin himself, she said, were waging a "genocide" against the Ukrainian people.
On May 14, 2022, she posted over three dozen times on VKontakte, a social network, hurling insults at Putin and saying he bore personal responsibility for the deaths of men, women and children whose bodies were being pulled from under the rubble of Ukrainian apartment blocks.
As Berezhinskaya continued to post that day in May, she began to call for the death of Putin.
“Shoot that stupid bastard Putin, how many more murders of civilians do we have to bear?” she wrote. “Wipe him off the face of the earth.”
Berezhinskaya admitted guilt under the charges of spreading "fakes" and discrediting the army, independent news outlet Mediazona reported, but only partially admitted guilt under the justifying terrorism charge.
Berezhinskaya suffers from a mixed personality disorder, independent Russian news site Mediazona said, citing the case materials. She has two children, aged eight and ten, and a husband who has epilepsy, the outlet reported.
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