Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces suffer ‘significant losses’ as Kyiv vows more drone strikes

Armenia has sent “proposals” to Russia on its plans to come under the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, Russian state news outlets have claimed.

Relations between the traditional allies have frayed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Moscow has warned of “serious consequences” if Yerevan presses ahead with the plans, after the court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes.

The warrant, concerning the forcible transfer of thousands of children from Ukraine to Russia, obliges the court’s 123 member states to detain and transfer Putin if he sets foot on their territory.

The ambassador-at-large of Armenia’s foreign ministry, Edmon Marukyan, said Yereven has sent “proposals” on the issue to Moscow, Tass reported. “A meeting was held and the process is underway,” it quoted him as saying.

Mr Marukyan said Armenia’s plan to become a party to the Rome Statute, bringing it under the international court’s remit, was “not against the Russian Federation but because of war crimes committed on territory of the Republic of Armenia by the Azerbaijani side”, Tass reported.

“Our Russian partners are well aware of this.”

Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine early this morning, largely targeting the southern parts of Odesa and hitting an agriculture facility there, Ukraine’s Air Forces said.

Russia used six Iranian-made Shahed drones and 10 cruise missiles in the attack, with Ukraine’s forces destroying six drones and six missiles before they hit their target, Kyiv’s troops claimed.

The situation in Odesa and its ports has been watched carefully by grain markets, as Kyiv said on Saturday that two cargo vessels arrived there to use a temporary corridor to sail into Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets.

“Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, mobile fire groups and other means of attack were involved in repelling the air attack,” the Air Force said.

The extent of the damage was not immediately known and it was not clear what facility was hit. The Air Force said only that emergency services were on the site. The entire territory of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for several hours.

Ukraine has released footage of troops moving through a war-ravaged settlement in the Donetsk Oblast after Kyiv announced its recapture.

Video published by Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade showed troops moving through rubble in Andriivka, 6 miles (10km) south of the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut after three months of intense fighting.

The clip also shows soldiers taking cover behind a broken wall amid mortar fire.

Watch here.

Following Ukraine’s breach of Russia’s heavily mined and fortified front line near the Zaporizhzhia village of Robotyne, Vladimir Putin’s troops have likely been creating new defences in the area, with nearby Tokmak set to become a “lynchpin” of their second line, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

“In recent days, Russian forces have likely reinforced their defences around the occupied town of Tokmak in southern Ukraine, which is approximately 16 km behind the current front line,” the ministry said.

“Russia is likely deploying additional checkpoints, ‘hedgehog’ anti-tank defences and digging new trenches in the area, which is held by its 58th Combined Arms Army.

“Tokmak is preparing to become a lynchpin of Russian’s second main line of defences. Improvements to the town’s defences likely indicates Russia’s growing concern about Ukrainian tactical penetrations of the first main defensive line to the north.”

The UK has formally banned Russia‘s mercenary Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation weeks after the death of its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The government order, approved on Friday, makes it a criminal offence to be a member or a supporter of the paramilitary group in the UK.

“The Russian mercenary organisation, Wagner Group, has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation today after an order was laid in Parliament on Wednesday September 6,” the Home Office said in a statement.

More here.

Two cargo boats arrived in Ukraine on Saturday, Ukrainian port authorities said, the first ships to use a temporary corridor to sail into Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets.

Ukraine last month announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to release ships trapped in its ports since the start of the war in February 2022 and to circumvent a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned a deal to let Kyiv export grain.

Five vessels have so far left the port of Odesa, using the corridor which hugs the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.

Ukraine, a leading global food producer and exporter, also wants to use the corridor for its food exports. The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, in a post on Facebook, said the bulk carriers “Resilient Africa” and “Aroyat” had arrived in the port of Chernomorsk.

Russia’s air forces thwarted a Ukrainian attack on Crimea this morning, destroying at least six drones that were targeting the peninsula from different directions, the Russian defence ministry said.

Two drones were destroyed at 1.15am (local time) off the western coast of Crimea and four more half an hour later off the northwestern and eastern coasts, the ministry said on Telegram.

The reports come after a series of strikes this week on Russian military targets on the Crimean Peninsula, seen as Kyiv’s increased attempts to break down Russia’s war efforts.

Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014.

Ukraine released footage on Saturday (16 September) of troops moving through a war-ravaged settlement in the Donetsk Oblast after Kyiv announced its recapture.

Video published by Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade showed troops moving through rubble in Andriivka, 6 miles (10km) south of the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut after three months of intense fighting.

The clip also shows soldiers taking cover behind a broken wall amid mortar fire.

It comes after Ukraine announced a tactical victory in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, taking back the village of Robotyne in late August.

The world must recommit to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals if the ambitious targets are to be met, UK ministers and diplomats will urge at a UN summit next week.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has been accused of snubbing the gathering in New York, blaming diary pressures for his absence and instead sending a team headed by his deputy Oliver Dowden.

He is not the only world leader expected to miss the summit, which is set to see discussions on the war in Ukraine, artificial intelligence and the threat of climate change.

More here.

The UN’s World Heritage Committee has placed two major historical sites in Ukraine on its list of such sites that it considers to be in danger.

The iconic Saint Sophia Cathedral in the capital, Kyiv, and the medieval centre of the western city of Lviv, are Unesco World Heritage Sites central to Ukraine’s culture and history.

The decision announced on Friday to put those two on the body’s list of sites “in danger” has no enforcement mechanism, but could help deter Russian attacks.

More here.