Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that liberating settlements from Russian occupation is now “the trend” as his forces press further into the eastern Donetsk region and seek gains in the south.

His comment comes after the strategic eastern town of Lyman was “fully cleared”, the president said in a brief video. The town is part of the regions Putin annexed following referendums termed illegal by Ukraine and its allies.

Key developments

• Ukraine advances in south after hammering Russians in northeast
• Russia says annexed zones’ borders not set as Ukraine army gains
• Chief Putin critic clinches key election victory in Latvia 
• EU aims to exempt maritime pilot services from Russia oil ban
• Another defeat in Ukraine undermines Putin’s ‘forever’ goals

On the ground

Ukrainian forces resumed a counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region and have secured positions in Zolota Balka and Khreshchenivka, the US-based Institute for the Study of War said. Ukrainian forces continued to win back settlements east and northeast of Lyman and have taken Torske in the Donetsk region.

Infrastructure in the city of Zaporizhzhia was damaged by missile strikes on Monday morning. Over the past day, Russia launched 11 missile and 10 air strikes and more than 65 rocket attacks, attacking some 35 Ukrainian settlements, Ukraine’s General Staff said.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant chief released from captivity 

Russian forces “dumped” Ihor Murashov, director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, on Ukraine-controlled territory after holding him captive, according to the country’s nuclear operator Energoatom.

Murashov was kidnapped by Russian forces on 30 September as he was heading from the plant seized by Russia to the nearby city of Energodar, according to Energoatom. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, played a significant role in his release, the company said.

Ukraine advances in southern Kherson region 

Following something of a pause in offensive operations in the south, Ukrainian troops have begun a renewed counteroffensive in the Kherson region. According to Russian military bloggers, by Monday morning they had made significant inroads along the northern reaches of the massive Dnipro river’s western bank.

Russia’s Defence Ministry conceded that its forces pulled back after “superior tank units were able to pierce deep into our defences” near Zolota Balka and Oleksandrivka.

Although Putin last week annexed four Ukrainian provinces, including Kherson and Donetsk, Moscow’s forces don’t fully control any of the areas and are being pushed out of some towns they’ve held for months, raising concerns over Putin’s threats of escalation, including the potential use of nuclear weapons.

Russia puts anti-war TV journalist on wanted list

The Russian Interior Ministry put on its wanted list a journalist who gained international attention for staging an anti-war protest on the main TV news channel.

Marina Ovsyannikova, accompanied by her daughter, fled house arrest in Moscow, her ex-husband said at the weekend. Her lawyer said he couldn’t confirm whether this is true or not.

Ovsyannikova faced prosecution under a law on spreading information discrediting the Russian army, an offence punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

French PM warns Ukraine conflict will last

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne warned legislators that the war in Ukraine would last, while defending Emmanuel Macron’s choice to continue talking to Putin.

The future “will be written around a negotiation table, and not on the battlefield”, she told the National Assembly before a debate about Ukraine. These talks “must allow Ukraine to be fully heard”, she added.

“The war in Ukraine will last, but we are ready,” she said, adding that France had already sent €200-million worth of equipment to Ukraine totalling 2,500 tonnes.

Europe keeps importing Russian LNG

The first liquefied natural (LNG) gas shipment from Russia’s newest plant is nearing Greece, as Europe continues to import the super-chilled fuel despite Moscow imposing severe curbs on pipeline gas flows.

Moscow is throttling gas shipments to the region following its invasion of Ukraine, but Europe continues to import Russian LNG.

Kyiv calls for masks in public amid Covid rise 

Kyiv city authorities cited a rising Covid-19 case rate in calling for a return to wearing masks in public places.

“We recommend wearing masks in transport, public service places and educational institutions”, according to a statement on Kyiv’s Telegram account. “The incident rate in Kyiv is increasing rapidly — up to 2,515 cases of Covid-19 within a week, 22 people died.”

EU aims for Russia sanctions deal, including oil price cap  

The European Union is aiming for a preliminary deal as soon as Monday on a new sanctions package meant to punish Russia for escalating its war in Ukraine and illegally annexing four occupied territories there.

“I am hopeful in a couple of hours we can have a unanimous agreement on the sanctions package,” the Polish ambassador to the EU, Andrzej Sados, told reporters. “We are very close to it and there is determination to clinch a deal ASAP.

Member states are eager to reach an agreement before EU leaders meet in Prague on 7 October, said people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Russia says annexed zones’ borders not final yet

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call that Moscow will continue to consult with people who live in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to determine the boundaries of territories Russia seeks to annex.

He declined to elaborate on how that might take place or whether the new frontiers would be set out in separate laws. “I’ve said all I can say on that,” he said when pressed by reporters for clarification.

His comments fuel the uncertainty around Russia’s hastily organised drive to absorb the four regions that its troops still partially occupy in Ukraine. Putin signed documents on Friday to make them part of Russia “forever”, but the Kremlin at the time said it couldn’t say precisely what the borders of the annexed zones were.

Ukrainian refugees held up at Russian-Estonian border

The flow of Ukrainian refugees over the Russian-Estonian border has surged to an average of 550 crossings in recent days, with migrants arriving hungry after days of waiting in line, Estonian authorities said.

“The wait time for people who crossed the border from Russia has sometimes been as long as two days, and many have waited there without eating or drinking in the cold,” Peter Maran, a border official, said by email. “People are afraid of the consequences of the Russian mobilisation.”

Russian diplomats summoned over annexations

Russian diplomats are being summoned across Europe to hear of displeasure over sham referendums and the subsequent annexation by Moscow.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told TVN24 television that with colleagues at the European level, they agreed to “at the same time, more or less on the same day, to present this position to the Russian ambassadors residing in our respective countries”.

Trend is to free more settlements, says Zelensky 

Last week, the focus of military reports was the list of settlements won back from the Russian army as part of Ukraine’s ongoing defence operation, President Zelensky said in a video posted on Telegram late Sunday.

“This, you know, is the trend,” he said. “Recently, someone somewhere held pseudo-referendums, and when the Ukrainian flag is returned, no one remembers the Russian farce with some pieces of paper and some annexations.” DM