Russian troops ‘forced to retreat’ as Ukraine ‘retakes key Donetsk village’

Russian troops have been forced to retreat as Ukraine has retaken a key village in Donetsk, according to reports.

Moscow’s forces have abandoned their positions in Urozhaine, which is a strategically-significant southeastern village that Kyiv has been attempting to recapture for days as part of its counteroffensive.

In reports that The Independent has been unable to independently verify, it has been suggested that Ukrainian soldiers used US smart bombs that were shipped over in March.

There is a “realistic possibility” the Russian state no longer funds the Wagner Group, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.

In its latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, it states: “Since the abortive mutiny of June 2023, the Russian state has acted against some other business interests of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin. There is a realistic possibility that the Kremlin no longer funds the group.”

The update suggests the Belarusian authorities are “the second most plausible paymasters”, but adds, “The sizable force would be a significant and potentially unwelcome drain on modest Belarusian resources.”

Overall, the MOD writes of the mercenaries currently experiencing “financial pressure”. It says: “The Wagner Group is likely moving towards a down-sizing and reconfiguration process, largely to save on staff salary expenses at a time of financial pressure.”

Ukrainian forces are trying to pierce Russian lines in the western parts of Donetsk region where waves of Ukrainian fighters were used to gain a foothold to the east of the town of Staromaiorske, a Russian-installed official said.

Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in parts of Zaporizhzhia controlled by Moscow, said that there had been intense fighting south of Velyka Novosilka – in that area – as Ukrainian troops try to pierce Russian lines to push down to the coast on the Sea of Azov.

“The enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of Urozhaine after two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement,” Rogov said, referring to the same part of the frontline.

He said Russian soldiers still controlled the southern part of Urozhaine, adding that Ukrainian forces were clearly aiming to take control of a town further south, Staromlynivka.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June, attempting to retake swathes of territory captured by Russia in the south and east of the country. It has recaptured several villages in the south and some territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east, but has so far not achieved major gains against well-dug in Russian troops.

Moscow says the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed.

Russia’s emergency service said on Sunday that a large fire broke out at a warehouse in the town of Ramenskoye in Moscow region, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

“The size of the fire is 1,800 square metres,” TASS quoted the statement.

Another state news agency, RIA, reported that the fire broke out at a fertiliser storage.

Videos of the fire posted online show thick black smoke and a flame, seen from hundreds of metres away.

The footage below, tweeted by an advisor to the Ukrainian government, has not been independently verified by The Independent.

A Russian warship opened warning fire on a Palau-flagged dry cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea on Sunday as it made its way to Ukraine, the Russian defence ministry has said.

Russia said its Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired with automatic weapons on the “Sukru Okan” vessel after the captain did not respond to a request to halt for an inspection.

The Sukru Okan was making its way towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail, the defence ministry said.

“To forcibly stop the vessel, warning fire was opened from automatic weapons,” the Russian defence ministy said.

The Russian military boarded the vessel with the help of a Ka-29 helicopter.

“After the inspection group completed its work on board, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail,” the defence ministry said.

Shipping databases list the Sukru Okan as a Palau-flagged vessel with a tonnage of 2155 whose home port is Istanbul.

A baby is among the six civilians who were killed when Russian forces shelled two villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Sunday, Ukrainian authorities have said.

A couple, their 23-day-old child and another man were killed in the village of Shyroka Balka, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. The couple’s 12-year-old son was critically wounded.

Two people were killed and one wounded in the neighbouring village of Stanislav, which Klymenko said was struck 12 times with artillery.

“The terrorists will never willingly stop killing civilians,” Klymenko wrote in a Telegram post along with two photos of damaged houses. “The terrorists must be stopped. With force. They don’t understand anything else.”

Ukraine’s military reclaimed the western part of the Kherson region from Russian occupation last November but Kremlin forces have continued regularly shelling the area from across the Dnipro River.

At least three Ukrainian drones have been launched over western regions of Russia on Sunday morning, Moscow’s defence ministry has said.

Russian air defences shot down two drones over the Belgorod region and another over the Kursk region, it said.

Drone air strikes deep inside Russia have increased since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Civilian areas of the capital were hit later in May and a Moscow business district was targeted twice in three days earlier this month.

Russia has vowed revenge after claiming to have shot down Ukrainian missiles targeting a key bridge linking them with the annexed Crimea.

Videos on social media appeared to show smoke rising from near Kerch Bridge, an important resupply route for Russian forces.

The Kremlin accused Ukraine of terrorism, while also claiming to have thwarted an attack by 20 drones targeting Crimea overnight.

Russian foreign spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: “There can be no justification for such barbaric actions and they will not go unanswered.”

Poland’s defence minister said on Saturday that the country has increased the number of troops protecting its border with Belarus as a deterrent amid “destabilising” actions by its pro-Russian neighbour.

Mariusz Blaszczak met in Jarylowka, in eastern Poland, with some of the troops recently deployed close to the Belarus border.

He insisted that the increased military presence is purely a deterrent move, not a hostile act, as Minsk and Moscow are claiming.

“There is no doubt that the Belarus regime is cooperating with the Kremlin and that the attacks on the Polish border are intended to destabilise our country,” Mr Blaszczak said.