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Latest Developments in Ukraine: Oct. 3


Neighbors embrace each others after they return from evacuation to the liberated village of Kamianka in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Oct. 2, 2022.
Neighbors embrace each others after they return from evacuation to the liberated village of Kamianka in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Oct. 2, 2022.

For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

10:55 p.m.: Britain has the "strategic endurance" to stand by Ukraine until the war with Russia is won, British foreign minister James Cleverly will say on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Britain has been one of Kyiv's most vocal international backers sending thousands of anti-tank weapons, hundreds of missiles and armored fighting vehicles as well as training Ukrainian soldiers.

In a speech to the ruling Conservative Party conference, Cleverly will say that the British were not "commentators" on world events but "players on the pitch," believing that aggressors could not invade their neighbors with impunity.

"This is why we stand shoulder to shoulder with those brave Ukrainians defending their homeland. And Britain has the strategic endurance to see them through to victory," Cleverly will say according to extracts of his speech released by the Conservatives.

9:20 p.m.: Serhiy Volynskyy was one of the military commanders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Ukrainian fighters holed up in the heavily fortified plant and withstood a month of Russian attacks before finally surrendering. He was recently released after spending months in Russian captivity. VOA's Lesia Bakalets talked to his wife, Ruslana Volynska. Anna Rice narrates her story.

8:36 p.m.:

7:25 p.m.: The Biden administration's next security assistance package for Ukraine is expected to include four High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, munitions, mines and mine-resistant vehicles, two sources briefed on the $625 million package told Reuters.

The package, expected to be announced as soon as Tuesday, is the first aid package since Russia's most recent declared annexation of Ukrainian territory and the second Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) since Ukraine made large battlefield gains in mid-September.

Russia's declared annexations followed what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.

6:40 p.m.: A Russian court on Monday set Oct. 25 as the date for American basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession, The Associated Press reported.

Griner, an eight-time all-star center with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was convicted Aug. 4 after police said they found vape canisters containing cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

The Moscow region court said it will hear her appeal.

5:57 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military draft “changed everything” for the tens of thousands of Russians who have fled their country since the mobilization was announced last month, according to recent arrivals in Istanbul, The Associated Press reported.

Eva Rapoport, the Istanbul coordinator for The Ark, a group helping Russians fleeing their country, said there had been a significant increase in the numbers arriving in Turkey since Putin’s mobilization declaration.

While those who left Russia in the immediate aftermath of its February invasion of Ukraine were a “well-educated, Western-oriented, cosmopolitan crowd,” now her organization was seeing “just about everyone who can escape the country.”

“Many of these people used to support Putin, they used to cheer for the war,” she said. “When it was from the safety of their homes and there was nothing at stake for them it was fine. But now they don’t want to support this by their actions.

“They don’t want to support it with their lives. They don’t want to go and fight and die in this war.”

Likening the situation to the aftermath of Russia’s 1917 revolution, when hundreds of thousands of “white Russians” found refuge in Istanbul while fleeing the Bolsheviks, Rapoport said those fleeing felt they no longer had a future in their homeland.

5:01 p.m.:

4:09 p.m.: More than half a century after gangrene claimed his legs up to his hips and all of his fingers, Hryhoriy Yanchenko joined the Ukrainian resistance to Russia's invasion, Reuters reported.

Now 75, he put on the blue-striped jersey and sky-blue beret of the Soviet paratroop unit in which he served and drove his electric mobility cart through the occupied southern city of Kherson collecting donations.

He said that, with a speaker at his side playing Ukraine's national anthem, he collected more than 600,000 hryvnias ($16,400) over six months before fleeing in September to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia.

The cash - including some inadvertently donated by Russian soldiers - has been used by a Ukrainian group to buy sniper scopes, rifle accessories, clothing and vehicles to ferry Ukrainian troops to frontlines, he said.

3:15 p.m.: Europe faces “unprecedented risks” to its natural gas supplies this winter after Russia cut off most pipeline shipments and could wind up competing with Asia for already scarce and expensive liquid gas that comes by ship, The Associated Press reported.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency said in its quarterly gas report released Monday that European Union countries would need to reduce use by 13% over the winter in case of a complete Russian cutoff amid the war in Ukraine. Much of that cutback would have to come from consumer behavior such as turning down thermostats by 1 degree and adjusting boiler temperatures as well as industrial and utility conservation, the group said.

The EU on Friday agreed to mandate a reduction in electricity consumption by at least 5% during peak price hours.

2:30 p.m.:



2 p.m.: The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Russian oil company Tatneft in a dispute with Ukraine over the payment of a multimillion-dollar judgment awarded years ago by an arbitration panel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

The high court on Monday did not comment on the case except to say that it would not hear it. The decision, a win for one of Russia's largest oil companies as Moscow continues to wage war in Ukraine, means the case will continue in U.S. lower courts, which also have sided with the company and have declined to dismiss it.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled in Tatneft's favor in 2020, and an appeals court in Washington subsequently affirmed the enforcement of the judgment.

In its decision on Monday, the Supreme Court turned away Ukraine's attempt to avoid a Paris-based arbitration panel's order saying the Ukrainian government must pay a $173 million judgment to Tatneft.

The panel was established by the parties to consider Tatneft's accusations of Ukrainian wrongdoing over the handling of shares in an oil refinery.

1:35 p.m.: People in the Ukrainian capital are making preparations for a possible nuclear strike amid strong suggestions that Moscow is considering such an attack as its military falters. Some residents of Kyiv have stocked up on iodine tablets to help treat radiation poisoning while others are using a dose of humor to cope with the threat of nuclear war. Current Time, a co-production between Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA, has this report.


1:20 p.m.: A record 83% of Ukrainians would like their country to join NATO, a Kyiv-based opinion pollster said on Monday, citing a survey conducted after Kyiv applied to join the military bloc, Reuters reported.

The October 1-2 poll of 2,000 respondents by Rating Group was conducted after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday that Ukraine was submitting an expedited application for NATO membership.

Rating Group said the percentage of those supporting NATO membership was the highest ever recorded by a survey in Ukraine. Only 4% said they would vote against joining the bloc and 9% said they would not vote.

1:05 p.m.: The head of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been released, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday.


12:45 p.m.: The International Monetary Fund said on Monday that up to 20 countries, many in Africa, could need emergency assistance to cope with the global food crisis, Reuters reported.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking at a conference in Saudi Arabia, also said that 141 million people across the Arab world are exposed to food insecurity.

The IMF on Friday approved a new food shock borrowing window under its existing emergency financing instruments to help vulnerable countries cope with food shortages and high costs stemming from Russia's war in Ukraine.

12:25 p.m.:


12:10 p.m.: The Joint Expeditionary Force group of northern European nations will meet Monday to discuss the safety of undersea pipelines and cables after blasts ruptured two natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, The Associated Press reported.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the virtual meeting has been called by the U.K. and the Netherlands. The force brings together troops from 10 countries, including the Baltic and Nordic nations, and has seen its importance increase since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Wallace also said Britain will acquire two specialist ships to protect undersea cables and pipes, with the first “multi-role survey ship for seabed warfare” operational by the end of next year.

Undersea blasts that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines last week have led to huge methane leaks. Nordic investigators said the blasts involved several hundred pounds of explosives.

11:50 a.m.:


11:35 a.m.: White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says Ukraine has made gains in the northeast of the country where they are pushing up against the Luhansk region, and he said they are making gains in the south, too, The Associated Press reported.

“They’re absolutely on the move here,” Kirby said on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program. “And like you’ve heard President Biden saying, we’re going to continue to make sure we can give them the weapons and capabilities so they can continue that sign of progress.”

11:20 a.m.: Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak on Monday condemned attempts by Russia to automatically give Ukrainians in occupied territories Russian passports and frighten civilians there with stories of persecution if Ukraine re-takes the territory.

11:00 a.m.: Countries across Europe are ramping up diplomatic pressure on Moscow in condemnation of Russia’s attempt to illegally annex an additional four Ukrainian regions through referendums widely seen as sham events, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

Lithuania on Monday said it had declared Russia's envoy to the Baltic state persona non grata in the wake of last week's votes in four Ukrainian regions where Moscow has wrested at least partial control. The Kremlin used the votes as a pretense to then illegally seize the regions.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry in Helsinki said in a tweet on Monday that it had summoned the Russian ambassador "to express the strongest condemnation of the referendums and the subsequent announcement of the "illegal annexation of occupied Ukrainian regions by Russia, a blatant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the UN Charter."

In Warsaw, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told TVN24 on Monday that Russia's ambassador had been summoned to discuss "Russia’s actions last week."

The Czech Republic’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday calling on Czech citizens to leave Russia as soon as possible due to a "worsening of security" in Russia for citizens of the European Union and NATO member-states.

10:45 a.m.:



10:25 a.m.: European Union member states have agreed to host training for up to 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers as soon as possible, Spiegel magazine reported on Monday, according to Reuters.

According to the plan, whose final details will be negotiated in Brussels next week, Poland will receive EU funds to set up a headquarters for the scheme while some parts will be run in other EU states, Spiegel added, citing EU sources.

Germany plans to offer troop training at a combat simulation center, while Ukrainian engineers, medics and other specialists will be also be trained in the country, the magazine said.

10:10 a.m.: The Russian military on Monday acknowledged that Kyiv’s forces have broken through Moscow’s defenses in the Kherson region, The Associated Press reported.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in his daily briefing that “with superior tank units in the direction of Zolotaya Balka, Aleksandrovka, the enemy managed to penetrate into the depths of our defense.”

Konashenkov added that “Russian troops have occupied a pre-prepared defensive line and continue to inflict massive fire damage” on Kyiv’s forces.

9:55 a.m.: Russia's Gazprom said on Monday that gas had stopped leaking from three ruptured Nord Stream gas lines under the Baltic, and that it might be possible to resume pumping through the remaining single line, Reuters reported.

In a statement, it said the pressure in the three lines had stabilized and it was working to reduce environmental risks.

Nord Stream 1 reported a significant pressure drop on both of its lines, presumed to be caused by ruptures, while Nord Stream 2 reported a similar sharp pressure drop in its 'A' line. Gazprom said Nord Stream 2's 'B' line could still export gas to Europe, if a decision were made to start deliveries.

But the recently completed Nord Stream 2 has never come online, since Germany, where it makes landfall, froze the authorization process as Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine.

"If a decision is made to start deliveries through Nord Stream 2's line B, natural gas will be pumped into the pipeline after the integrity of the system has been checked and verified by supervisory authorities," it said.

9:40 a.m.: Most of Europe's leaders will gather for two meetings in Prague this week to discuss the war in Ukraine and the hard winter ahead. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty takes a closer look at what to expect.


9:20 a.m.: Reuters reports that the withdrawal of Russian forces from a strategically important town in eastern Ukraine has prompted two powerful allies of President Vladimir Putin to do something rare in modern Russia: publicly ridicule the war machine's top brass.

Russia's loss of the bastion of Lyman, which puts western parts of Luhansk region under threat, touched a nerve for Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the southern Russian republic of Chechnya.

"Nepotism in the army will lead to no good," Kadyrov said, adding that the commander of Russian forces in the area should be stripped of his medals and sent to the front line with a gun to wash away his shame with blood.

Asked about Kadyrov's remarks, the powerful founder of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, congratulated the Chechen leader. "Ramzan - you rock man!" Prigozhin, known as Putin's chef due to his company's Kremlin catering contracts, said in a statement. "All these bastards should be sent barefoot to the front with automatic guns."

When asked if his words should be considered criticism of the defense ministry, Prigozhin doused his reply with irony: "God forbid."

Such public contempt for the generals running Russia's war is significant because it indicates the level of frustration within Putin's elite over the conduct of the war while also piercing the Kremlin's carefully controlled narrative.

9:05 a.m.: In its latest report, The Institute for the Study of War focuses on the dramatic changes in the Russian information space following recent Russian battlefield defeats in Ukraine, and Russia’s continuing failures with its partial mobilization effort at home.


8:50 a.m.: Ukrainian forces achieved their biggest breakthrough in the south of the country since the war began, bursting through the front and advancing rapidly along the Dnipro River on Monday, threatening supply lines for thousands of Russian troops, Reuters reported.

Kyiv gave no official confirmation of the gains, but Russian sources acknowledged that a Ukrainian tank offensive had advanced dozens of kilometers along the river's west bank, recapturing a number of villages along the way.

The breakthrough mirrors recent Ukrainian successes in the east that have turned the tide in the war against Russia, even as Moscow has tried to raise the stakes by annexing territory, ordering mobilization and threatening nuclear retaliation.

"The information is tense, let's put it that way, because, yes there were indeed breakthroughs," Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in occupied parts of Ukraine's Kherson province told Russian state television.

While Kyiv maintained almost complete silence, as it has in the past during major offensives, some officials did describe what they referred to as unconfirmed reports of gains. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry, posted a photo of Ukrainian soldiers posing with their flag draping a golden statue of an angel. He said it was the village of Mikhailivka, around 20 km beyond the previous front.

8:30 a.m.:

8:10 a.m.: The lower house of Russia's parliament approved laws on Monday on annexing four occupied Ukrainian territories into Russia, following hastily organized votes that Ukraine and the West denounced as coercive and illegitimate, Reuters reported.

No lawmakers in the State Duma voted against the resolutions, which sought to formally incorporate Ukraine's Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia.

"The decision was taken unanimously. There are 89 entities in the Russian Federation," parliament speaker Vyacheslav Volodin posted on Telegram, along with a map of Russia including the four regions, as well as Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine without international recognition in 2014.

7:45 a.m.: Russia has funds to support four Ukrainian regions which President Vladimir Putin began annexing last week and these funds are part of the country's budget, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told parliament, according to Reuters.

Russia declared the annexations of the regions after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.

Priority for the next three years will be the full integration of the new regions," Siluanov said, without saying how much would be spent. "The federal budget has necessary resources for this, both for the current provision of social standards... as well as funds for the economic restoration of the new regions of the Russian Federation."

7:20 a.m.: The Kremlin says no final decision has been made on the territory of two of the four regions it plans to incorporate into Russia, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Donetsk and Luhansk regions would joining Russia as defined by administrative borders that existed before a conflict erupted there in 2014. He noted that the issue of the borders of the two other regions – Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – remains open. “We will continue to discuss that with residents of those regions,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties on Friday to make the four regions part of Russia in a move rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies. The lower house of Kremlin-controlled parliament is set to ratify the treaties Monday and the upper house will follow Tuesday.

Russia controls virtually all of the Luhansk region and about 60 percent of the Donetsk region that together makes Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. In the south, Russia controls most of the Kherson region and a significant part of the Zaporizhzhia region.

7:15 a.m.: Norway's military said on Monday it had posted soldiers to help guard major onshore oil and gas processing plants, part of a wider effort to boost security amid suspicion that sabotage caused leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines last week, Reuters reported.

Russia's Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines burst on September 26, draining gas into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists registered explosions in the area, and police in several countries have launched investigations.

Norway, Europe's largest gas supplier and a major oil exporter, last week deployed its navy and air force to patrol offshore petroleum fields and announced it would receive assistance from Britain, Germany and France in doing so.

At the request of Norwegian police, the Norwegian Home Guard, a rapid mobilization force, on Monday began to deploy troops at plants responsible for processing and exporting oil and gas.

Although the Norwegian government has said it was not aware of any specific threats to oil and gas infrastructure, it still found it prudent to beef up security and sought to calm concerns among workers.

Among the onshore facilities receiving police and military protection on Monday were the Kollsnes and Nyhamna gas export terminals, the Kaarstoe gas and condensate plant and the Mongstad oil refinery.

A spokesperson for the armed forces declined to say how many soldiers were deployed, citing security concerns.

6:50 a.m.: Sweden has sent a vessel capable of “advanced diving missions” to the Baltic Sea area where ruptured undersea pipelines had leaked natural gas for days, the Swedish navy said Monday, according to The Associated Press.

Last week, undersea blasts damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines off southern Sweden and Denmark and have led to huge methane leaks, with those governments saying that several hundred pounds of explosives was involved. The emissions leaks occurred in international waters.

Capt. Jimmie Adamsson, a spokesman for the Swedish navy, told The Associated Press that a submarine rescue ship had been sent to the site of the leaks off Sweden and was supporting the Swedish coast guard, which is in charge of the work.

It was unclear when anyone or anything would be able to go down to the pipelines, either divers or a submarine. The coast guard said one of its vessels, Amfritrite, was at the site to monitor nearby sea traffic. It added that bad weather is expected, which will complicate the situation.

6:40 a.m.: Authorities in Denmark said that the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipelines have stopped leaking, a day after officials said that the ruptured Nord Stream 2 pipelines also appeared to stop leaking, The Associated Press reported.

The Nord Stream AG company informed the Danish Energy Agency that a stable pressure now appears to have been achieved on the Nord Stream 1 pipelines.

“The Nord Stream AG company has informed the Danish Energy Agency that a stable pressure now appears to have been achieved on the two Nord Stream 1 pipelines. This indicates that the blowout of gas from the last two leaks has now also been completed,” the Danish agency tweeted Sunday.

The Danish agency said Saturday the Nord Stream 2 ruptured natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea appears to have stopped leaking natural gas.

Undersea blasts that damaged the Nord Stream I and 2 pipelines this week have led to huge methane leaks. Nordic investigators said the blasts have involved several hundred pounds of explosives.


6:30 a.m.:

6:20 a.m.: The Kremlin on Monday said it favored a "balanced approach" to the issue of nuclear weapons, not based on emotion, after a key ally of President Vladimir Putin called over the weekend for Russia to use a "low-yield nuclear weapon" in Ukraine Reuters reported.

Asked about the comments by Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Chechnya region, who also criticized Russia's military leadership over battlefield setbacks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had the right to voice his opinion, but that Russia's military approach should not be driven by emotions.

Peskov said the basis for any use of nuclear weapons was set down in Russia's nuclear doctrine.

6 a.m.: Ukrainian forces made further gains Monday in the Kherson region in the country’s south, adding to their gains in the east in recent days as they push a counteroffensive against Russia.

Russia-installed officials in Kherson said Ukraine’s military had recaptured some settlements in Kherson.

The region is one of four that Russia illegally claimed last week it annexed to be Russian territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that his forces in Kherson had liberated the settlements of Arkhanhelske and Myroliubivka.

The developments in Kherson followed Sunday’s announcement by Ukrainian forces that they had retaken full control of Lyman, the eastern logistics hub that is also within territory Russia claimed last week was its own.

5:25 a.m.: The Kremlin said on Monday that it will consult with residents living in two of the Ukrainian regions it moved to annex last week — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — on how their borders should be defined, Reuters reported.

"We will continue to consult with people who live in these areas," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia formally claimed to annex four Ukrainian territories last week, but none are fully under the control of Moscow's forces and Ukraine continues to advance in the south

4:25 a.m.: Prominent Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak faces a criminal investigation over a story that police suspect was “fake,” Reuters reported Monday, citing an unidentified source in law enforcement who spoke to state news agency TASS.

Sobchak, whose late father was the mayor of St Petersburg in the 1990s and worked closely with Vladimir Putin, hosts a YouTube channel with over 3 million subscribers. She also founded a popular Telegram account which regularly shares stories critical of Russia's mobilization efforts.

TASS reported that Sobchak's story related to "state funding of festivals" and that she could be charged under an article of Russian law that provides for three-year jail sentences.

Neither Sobchak, 40, nor representatives of her news site immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment on the TASS report.

Sobchak has so far avoided prosecution, but authorities have scrutinized her in the past for sharing so-called "LGBT propaganda" and declaring that Crimea was still Ukrainian after its annexation by Russia in 2014.

Since invading Ukraine in February, Russia has cracked down on independent media and prosecuted numerous journalists for spreading “fake” news about what it calls its “special military operation.”

3:45 a.m.:

3 a.m.: Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Monday its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was 41.8 million cubic meters on Monday, compared with 41.7 million cubic meters on Sunday, Reuters reported.

An application to supply gas via the Sokhranovka entry point had again been rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said.

2:30 a.m.: An investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has documented a sophisticated Russian-run smuggling operation that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth at least $530 million.

The AP and “Frontline” used satellite imagery and marine radio transponder data to track three dozen ships making more than 50 voyages carrying grain from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to ports in the Middle East.

The ongoing theft is being carried out by wealthy businessmen and state-owned companies in Russia and Syria. Some of them already face financial sanctions from the United States and European Union. Legal experts say the theft is a potential war crime.

2:10 a.m. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense tweets an update on the situation in Ukraine.

1:30 a.m.: The military commissar of Russia's Khabarovsk region was removed from his post, the region's governor said early on Monday, after half of the newly mobilized personnel were sent home as they did not meet the draft criteria, Reuters reported.

Russia's first mobilization since World War II, declared by President Vladimir Putin on September 21, has led to widespread discontent among officials and citizens over the way the draft has been handled, including complaints about enlistment officers sending call-up papers to clearly ineligible men.

"In 10 days, several thousand of our countrymen received summons and arrived at the military registration and enlistment offices," Mikhail Degtyarev, the governor of the Khabarovsk region in Russia's Far East, said in a video post on the Telegram messaging app.

"About half of them we returned home as they did not meet the selection criteria for entering the military service."

Degtyarev said the removal of the commissar, Yuri Laiko, would not affect the mobilization plan set by Putin.

The chaotic mobilization of men to fight in Ukraine has also prompted thousands of fighting-age men to flee from the country to avoid a draft that was billed as enlisting those with military experience and specialties but has often appeared oblivious to service records, health, student status and even age.

Some 2,000 people have been arrested at anti-war protests in more than 30 towns and cities, and some of them promptly given call-up papers — something the Kremlin said was perfectly legal.

12:30 a.m.: Germany, Denmark and Norway will supply 16 armored car artillery guns from next year to Ukraine, which is seeking to bolster its heavy military arsenal to fend off Russia, Berlin said, according to Agence France-Presse.

This announcement follows a visit this weekend to Ukraine by German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, a first since the Russian invasion launched on February 24.

The three supplier countries have agreed to finance together the delivery of Zuzana-2 guns, of Slovak manufacture, for a cost of 92 million euros, specified the Ministry of Defense in Berlin. Ukraine is expected to start receiving them in 2023.

12:03 a.m.: In southern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Krivyi Rih came under Russian attack by a suicide drone that destroyed two stories of a school early Sunday, the regional governor said, according to The Associated Press.

The Ukrainian air force said Sunday it shot down five Iranian-made drones overnight, while two others made it through air defenses.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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