Russia-Ukraine war updates: One person killed in Zaporizhzhia attack

Ukraine’s foreign minister has played down the notion that Kyiv’s slow-moving counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory could dampen Western support for Ukraine at a critical time and force it into negotiations.

While acknowledging that certain public voices in the West were questioning the logic of their governments’ support for Ukraine, Kuleba told Reuters that he saw no signs from officials that support was waning.

“The key thing for us is to keep governments on track – and they are on track so far.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged continued military support to Ukraine but noted his government will act “responsibly” to avoid a confrontation between NATO and Russia.

“We always pay attention that the decisions we take would not escalate this into a war between Russia and NATO. Ukraine is attacked by Russia, Ukraine is defending itself, and it will be supported by us,” he said.

The Social Democrat politician made the remarks during a citizen’s dialogue meeting in the eastern city of Erfurt, where he addressed questions from participants.

United States President Joe Biden has said he was sending Congress a request for about $40bn in additional spending, including $24bn for Ukraine and other international needs related to the war.

White House budget director Shalanda Young, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, urged swift action to follow through on the U.S. “commitment to the Ukrainian peoples’ defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world” as well as other needs.

Biden and his senior national security team have repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine “as long as it takes” to remove Russia from within its borders.

Saudi-hosted talks last weekend were a “breakthrough” for Kyiv that showed it is possible to rally global support around the 10-point plan proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end Russia’s war, Ukraine’s foreign minister has said.

“If a country wants to be in the front seat of world politics, it has to become part of these coordination meetings,” Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with the Reuters news agency, referring to the talks in Jeddah and a smaller event earlier this year in Copenhagen.

Officials from more than 40 countries – including China, India, Brazil, the United States, and European countries, but not Russia – took part in the talks, which were seen as an attempt by Kyiv to build a broader coalition of powers to support its vision of peace.

A Russian strike on a civilian building has killed at least one person and wounded nine in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials say.

“A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile. One person is currently reported dead,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

The head of the city’s military administration, Anatoli Kurtiev, added that nine people had been wounded in the strike.

Zelenskyy posted a video showing a burning car near the Reikartz hotel in Zaporizhzhia, which was also hit by a Russia missile strike on Wednesday that killed two people and wounded seven.

Ukraine says it is facing intense combat on the northeastern front line near Kupiansk, where Ukrainian officials have urged civilians to evacuate as Russia ramps up its assaults.

“Russians are trying to prevail [in the Kupiansk area] and break through our defence. … The situation remains difficult but under control,” Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces, said on national television.

A civilian was killed in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in southern Ukraine, Russian-appointed authorities said on Telegram.

The Russian-backed town administration said a civilian had been killed in a Ukrainian attack on a business, and another had been wounded.

Al Jazeera was unable to verify the details of the incident.

Another person has been killed by Ukrainian shelling in the Russian border region of Bryansk, its governor says in an update on social media.

“At present, two civilians have been killed by the Ukrainian armed forces,” he said.

The attack took place in the village of Chausy, 5km (3 miles) from the Ukrainian border, he said.

Al Jazeera was unable to verify the governor’s post.

Despite the objections of lawmakers and some allies, the United States government is providing Ukraine with cluster bombs that the US itself hasn’t used since 2003.

The US says it’s a necessary measure to help Ukraine protect itself – but the bombs, which are known to often cause civilian deaths, are banned by more than 100 countries. The Ukrainian government has promised that the weapons will not be used in populated areas, but there are already reports to the contrary.

So has the US crossed an ethical line by sending these weapons to Ukraine?

Ukrainian shelling has killed one person and injured at least two in the Russian border region of Bryansk, its governor says.

“Unfortunately, as a result of the shelling, one man was killed and two local residents were wounded,” Alexander Bogomaz said on social media.

Al Jazeera was unable to verify the governor’s post.

Russia says it will deliver grain to African countries in the “near future” without any charge.

“While we are talking about six countries and supply volumes from 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes, this is being worked out now. I think that these deliveries will be carried out in the near future,” Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev told journalists during a visit to the Omsk region.

Patrushev said Russia exported 60 million tonnes of grain last year and expected to export about 55 million tonnes this year, which he said could be adjusted upwards.

The United States will allow administrative transactions involving Russia’s central bank, National Wealth Fund and Ministry of Finance until 12:01am on November 8, according to the Department of Treasury’s website.

The Treasury Department allowed the extension in an updated Russia-related general licence notice posted to its website.

Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk have urged vulnerable residents to leave the area, citing an uptick in Russian attacks on the settlement.

“Vulnerable citizens: women with children, the elderly, the sick and those with limited mobility. Given the difficult security situation and the increasing number of attacks by Russian terrorist forces on the territory of the Kupiansk community, you have the opportunity to evacuate to a safer place,” the Kupiansk city council said in a statement on social media.

Kupiansk and surrounding areas of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region were retaken by Kyiv’s forces last September, but Moscow has since renewed its assault on the region.

Russia’s prosecutor has declared the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) an “undesirable” organisation, criminalising the work of the group that investigates armed conflicts involving Moscow.

The label, often used by authorities to crack down on dissent, also puts CIT staff members at risk and outlaws sharing its content online.

“The main purpose of the group of pseudo-journalists is to collect and publish information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” the Russian prosecutor’s office said on Telegram.

It accused the group of Russian open source investigators, which monitors Moscow’s Ukraine offensive, of “participating in propaganda campaigns” against Russia.

CIT was created by Ruslan Leviev, who is wanted for spreading fake news against the Russian army, including an investigation on the Mariupol theatre bombing.

The Russian army says it has improved its positions on the front line in northeastern Ukraine around Kupiansk, where Kyiv has reported increasing Russian attacks.

“In the course of offensive operations near Kupiansk, assault teams of the Western battle group improved their positions along the forward edge of the front line,” the Russian Defence Ministry said.

In the 76th week of the war, Ukraine has sought to gain an advantage by attacking Russian shipping at range, and was accused of drone attacks targeting Moscow.

Drone footage Ukraine released on August 4 showed the prow of a surface drone approaching the Olenegorsky Gornyak, a Ropucha-class Russian landing ship, before going blank at contact range.

The attack happened just outside Novorossiysk harbour, supposedly a safe port on the eastern edge of the Black Sea.

So what does this mean for Russia?

Read more here.

Ukraine’s navy said a new temporary Black Sea “humanitarian corridor” had started working and that the first ships were expected to use it within days.

Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, told Reuters that the corridor would be for commercial ships blocked at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and for grain and agricultural products.

The navy said in a separate statement that the risk posed by mines in the Black Sea and the military threat from Russia remained.

The co-founder of Russian internet giant Yandex, Arkady Volozh, condemned what he described as Russia’s “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine.

Volozh described himself as a “Kazakhstan-born Israeli tech entrepreneur” on a personal website, drawing some criticism in Russian media and on the Telegram messaging platform for apparently playing down his links to Russia.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is barbaric, and I am categorically against it,” Volozh said in a statement. “I am horrified about the fate of people in Ukraine – many of them my personal friends and relatives – whose houses are being bombed every day.

“Although I moved to Israel in 2014, I have to take my share of responsibility for the country’s actions,” wrote Volozh, who holds both Russian and Israeli passports.

Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant again lost connection to its last remaining main external power line overnight and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said on Thursday.

Energoatom said that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was on the verge of a blackout as the reserve line had less than half of the power capacity of the main power line.

“Such a regime is difficult for the reactor plant, its duration is limited by the project’s design, and it can result in failure of the main equipment of the energy unit,” Energoatom said on Telegram.

The nuclear power plant, with its six reactors, has been controlled by the Russian military since the early days of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

The plant has become one of the focal points of the conflict, with both sides blaming each other for shelling around the plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been trying to set up a safety mechanism to prevent accidents.

None of the plant’s six reactors produce electricity.

Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the Border Guard, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak has announced.

“About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, of which 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard, and 6,000 will be in the reserve,” the minister said in an interview for public radio.

“We move the army closer to the border with Belarus to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare to attack us,” Blaszczak said.

Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik said on Wednesday that Poland would send 2,000 additional troops to its frontier with Belarus.

Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Belarus continues its military exercises near the border this week, and Lukashenko has said several times that he was restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland.