People on the street in the historic part of Kyiv, Ukraine, November 9, 2023 (Reuters)

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Friday’s Coverage: Kyiv’s Forces Expand Foothold East of Dnipro River

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1724 GMT:

A Russian freight train has derailed, with authorities suspecting sabotage and “unauthorized interference”, in the Ryazan region in the center of the country.

The train’s assistant conductor was injured, as up to 19 carriages left the tracks.

The train was carrying fertilizer near Rybnoye, about 200 kilometers southeast of Moscow. Residents said an explosion was heard just before the derailment at 7:12 a.m., and local authorities said “an improvised explosive device was detonated”.

Another suspected sabotage incident was reported at a munitions factory in Kotovsk in the Tambov region on Saturday.

Witnesses said a fire broke out after an explosion was heard.

In June, four people were killed at the factory by an unexplained explosion.

UPDATE 0931 GMT:

Ukraine military intelligence has
confirmed the sinking of two small Russian landing craft in occupied Crimea early Friday.

The agency said naval drones struck an Akula class vessel and another from the Serna class: “Both vessels went to the bottom, the Akula straight away and the Serna after attempts to save it.”

UPDATE 0755 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 19 of 31 Iranian-made attack drones and 1 of 2 Kh-59 missiles launched by Russia overnight.

The Russians also fired an Onyx anti-ship missile, an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile, and a Kh-31 guided missile in an attack from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

UPDATE 0739 GMT:

The diplomatic service of the European Union has informed EU countries that the bloc is unlikely to meet a commitment to provide Ukraine with a million artillery shells by March 2024.

Kyiv has received only 30% of the promised ammunition. Several EU countries have asked the European External Action Service to extend the deadline for deliveries.

The EU made the 1 million pledge in March 2023. Deliveries would be initially from existing stocks, with plans for joint purchases and increased industrial capacity.

In August, EU spokesman Peter Stano said more than 200,000 artillery shells and more than 2,000 missiles had been transferred to Ukraine. At the end of October, Lithuania Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis raised the figure to 300,000.

Sources said EU Defense Ministers plan to discuss further supplies next week.

UPDATE 0725 GMT:

Bogdan Yermokhin, 17, an orphan from Mariupol in southeast Ukraine, will be returned by Russian authorities.

Yermokhin was seized after Russia overran Mariupol following 12 weeks of bombing, ground assaults, and siege in spring 2022. Together with other Ukrainian juveniles, he was placed in a Russian foster family.

Russian officials claimed earlier this year that the teenager had tried to escape to Ukraine but was stopped near the Belarus border.

Yermokhin’s lawyers told Ukrainian media this week that the Russians, declaring Yermokhin a Russian citizenship, had sent him the call-up order for the military ahead of his 18th birthday.

Ukraine’s rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets posted on social media:

Bogdan Yermokhin will soon be in Ukraine! I officially confirm that we have agreements on Bogdan’s return to Ukraine, and his reunification with his sister.

Ukrainian officials says they have confirmed the deportation of about 20,000 children to Russia or Russian-occupied territory. In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrents for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s “Children’s Rights” Commission Maria Lvova-Belova.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia has carried out another missile and drone assault on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv overnight.

The head of Kyiv military administration, Serhiy Popko, posted on Telegram that all the Iranian-made Shahed attack drones, launched from the south, were downed by air defense.

However, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported at least two explosions as the defenses tried to down ballistic missiles. He said air raid sirens only sounded after the blasts.

“Take shelter,” he wrote.

Vladimir Putin’s “energy war” last winter on Kyiv and across Ukraine, with thousands of drones and missiles, failed to break resistance. However, Ukrainian officials have warned of a second campaign against infrastructure and other civilian sites this year.