Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s forces claim key town of Vuhledar in east Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops withdraw
Vuhledar has been a bastion of Ukrainian resistance since Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion in February 2022
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Vladimir Putin’s forces have claimed a key town in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops were forced to withdraw from the area after years of fighting.
The Russian Army said it had seized Vuhledar, Donetsk, on Wednesday, a bastion that had resisted intense attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Kyiv’s eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the hilltop coal mining town to avoid encirclement by Russian troops.
The town, which had a population of over 14,000 before the war, has been devastated, with Soviet-era apartment buildings smashed apart and scarred.
Control of the area, which lies at the intersection of the eastern and southern battlefields, is significant because it will ease Russia’s advance as it tries to pierce deeper behind the Ukrainian defensive lines.
Putin has said his primary goal is to take the whole of the Donbas region - the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk - in southeastern Ukraine.
His forces control about 80 per cent of this area, a heavy industry hub where the conflict began in 2014 after Moscow supported pro-Russian separatist forces after pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was toppled.
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The Russian government is rapidly pushing its defence spending for next year to a record high as it pursues victory in Ukraine.
Moscow wants to earmark 32.5 per cent of its spending next year for defence, a record amount and up from a reported 28.3 per cent this year, according to the draft budget released yesterday.
The government’s draft proposes spending just under 13.5 trillion roubles (over $145bn) on national defence. This is about 3 trillion roubles ($32bn) more than was set aside for defence this year – itself a record.
According to the draft budget, spending on defence should decline in 2026.
Vladimir Putin is also looking at how to sustain his war effort as military spending has placed a huge strain on the Russian economy.
Zelensky commends ‘superhuman’ combat medics and doctors
President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the “professional, brave and resilient” Ukrainian medics, who are central in helping the country “stand against Russian territory”.
He posted a handful of powerful pictures alongside the message on Monday.
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Elina Svitolina, 30, accused Russia of genocide and urged the West to help bring back roughly 20,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russian camps since Putin’s invasion in February 2022.
More than 70 camps used to forcibly “re-educate” children have been found across Russia, Belarus and occupied Crimea, according to the Ukrainian government.
Svitolina stunned the sporting world in 2023 after she beat world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon quarter-finals just eight months after giving birth to her daughter.
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Three killed and at least 45 injured in past day, Ukraine says
Russian attacks on Ukraine killed three people and injured at least 45 more over the past day, regional authorities said on Sept 30.
Two people were killed in the villages of Lysivka and Shevchenko in the Donetsk region, with three injured across the region.
One person was killed and 12 injured in the Kherson region, where Russian forces targeted 17 towns and cities including Kherson city itself.
An air strike on Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine injured at least 16 people, including two boys aged 17 and eight, while damaging residential buildings and a railway.
Ten people were injured in the northeastern Sumy region as a result of guided aerial boom and FPV drone attacks, The Kyiv Independent reported.
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