Ukraine-Russia warfare dwell: Putin warfare lifeless tops 70,000 as Kursk incursion anticipated

Ukraine has banned numerous government employees from installing the popular Telegram messaging app on state-issued devices citing national security reasons.

Ukraine‘s National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre said it issued the ban for the official devices of government employees, military personnel, security and defence workers and critical infrastructure employees.

The ban was announced on Friday by Ukraine‘s Security and Defence Council in a statement on Facebook.

During a meeting on Thursday, the Security Service of Ukraine and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Telegram is actively used by Russia for cyber attacks, phishing, spreading malware, establishing user locations and calibrating missile strikes.

An exception to the ban will be allowed for people who use the app in their official duties. Ukrainians are free to use the app in their personal devices.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia’s forces would restore control of its Kursk region “in a timely manner”, declining to say how soon this could be achieved.

Russia has been reacting slowly to the first occupation of its territory since World War II, when thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed the border from Ukraine’s Sumy region on 6 August.

On Thursday, a senior Russian commander said Russian troops had recaptured two villages in the Kursk region.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov added on Friday that Russian authorities did not doubt that its forces would return control over the region, though the situation there was “extreme”.

He said: “Our military is doing its job. They will accomplish it. Control will be restored.” While adding that the army would obviously not discuss publicly how it planned to achieve that.

Ukraine‘s “victory plan” in the war against Russia will rest on quick decisions being taken by allies this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Zelenskiy told a joint press conference with von der Leyen that Ukraine planned to use a proposed multi-billion dollar European Union loan for air defence, energy and domestic weapons purchases.

Russia said on Friday that the West should stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and sponsoring “terrorist activity” if it wanted to send a signal it was serious about seeking an end to the war.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that a peace plan put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had nothing to do with settling the conflict.

Full details of Zelensky’s “victory plan” are yet to be disclosed but he is due to present it to US President Joe Biden and to address a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

In response, Ms Zakharova told reporters that the plan looked like a self-interested gambit from the Ukrainian leader whom Moscow accuses of trying to drag the West into a full-blown war against Russia.

The European Commission is set to announce a €35 billion ($39 billion) loan to Ukraine as part of a G7 scheme to raise $50 billion on the back of future profits from frozen Russian state assets, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing three people.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to discuss Europe’s support, winter preparedness for defence and progress on the G7 loans.

She wrote on X: “My 8th visit to Kyiv comes as the heating season starts soon, and Russia keeps targeting energy infrastructure.”

The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink said that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky plans to present his fully completed victory plan first to US president Joe Biden.

In an interview with The Kyiv Independent, she said that while she has some idea of its framework, she looks forward to reviewing the plan’s details to work together on its implementation.

When asked about her expectations from it, she said: “President Zelensky has been very clear that he is going to show this plan first to President Biden. He and his team have been true to that. We have some sense of the contours of this plan, and of course, we’re working hand in glove with the government to support your victory in many different ways. It’ll be very positive for us to receive the details of the victory plan and be able to work together to follow up on this.”

She was also asked if the US remained committed to supporting Ukraine’s complete victory, which would include reclaiming all territories, including Crimea, and fully defeating Russia militarily. Ms Brink said: “Our position has been very clear as articulated by the president, as articulated by Secretary Blinken when he was just here last week in Kyiv. We support Ukraine and its victory in its win against Russia’s aggression.

“Now our support is in support of a vision of Ukraine – sovereign, independent, democratic, prosperous, integrated into Europe and into Nato. So that vision is a vision from Ukrainians, and it’s a vision of the future that we support. That’s our position. We’re leaving the details of the war, the details of when and how to negotiate up to your democratically elected president.”

As the conflict reaches its grim milestone, The Independent’s frontline reporter Askold Krushelnycky explains why Russian forces are taking the brunt of the damage:

Five Ukrainians have been killed in the past day by Russian attacks and at least 33 have been injured, regional authorities have reported.

Some of those deaths include one in the Sumy Oblast where 17 people were injured, the regional military administration reported.

In Donetsk Oblast, three people were killed and eight injured over the past day, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported.

Russian attacks against Kharkiv Oblast killed an 85-year-old man in the town of Vilcha near Vovchansk, injured a 65-year-old man in Kupiansk, and wounded two people in the village of Shestakove, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Five people were injured during Russian attacks against Kherson Oblast over the past day, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. A critical infrastructure facility, five multi-story buildings, and 14 houses were damaged.

A senior Russian lawmaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, warned that if Ukraine were to strike deep into Russian territory using Western missiles, it could trigger a global conflict involving nuclear weapons.

He stated that Russia would respond forcefully with more powerful weapons. “Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons,” the speaker of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament said.

His remarks followed a European Parliament vote supporting Ukraine’s ability to target Russian sites with Western weapons.

Mr Volodin emphasised the historical sacrifices of the Soviet Union in World War II, urging Europeans to recognise the speed at which Russia could retaliate with its RS-28 Sarmat missile, which could reach Strasbourg in just over three minutes.