Latest news about the war in Russia and Ukraine

Five ships carrying 97,600 metric tons of grain and other food products have left Ukrainian ports, a body that oversees exports of agricultural products from the country said.

These vessels are bound for the Netherlands, Libya and the UK and carry maize, barley, rapeseed, soybeans and sunflower seeds.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement reached in July between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States, eased Russia’s naval blockade and reopened three key Ukrainian ports. The deal ends this month.

So far more than 780 ships have departed from Ukrainian ports.

– Amanda Macias

“The energy system has suffered significant damage” in the eastern Ukrainian city after it was hit by a wave of Russian missile and drone strikes on Thursday, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Sinyehubov said.

“However, critical infrastructure has already been restored in the city, and the water supply has been almost completely restored,” Sinyehubov wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app. However, public transport has been closed, he added.

A Russian military spokesman confirmed that its strikes targeted Ukrainian critical infrastructure in several cities across the country.

– Natasha Durak

Russian mercenary group Wagner’s forces – thousands of whom are fighting in Ukraine – are believed to be taking a “tactical pause” in the eastern city of Bagmut, which has been almost completely destroyed by the fighting. War, an American think tank.

“Wagner Group’s offensive activity in eastern Pakmut appears to have entered a temporary tactical pause, and it remains unclear whether Wagner fighters will retain their operational priority in future Russian attacks in the city,” ISW wrote in a Twitter post.

The bloody battle for Bakmut has been going on for months and has been compared to a “meat grinder” due to the level of casualties caused by the fighting. Moscow says Ukrainian forces have been encircled, which Kiev denies.

Ukrainian officials say they are determined to hold the ruined city because a Russian victory there would mean direct access for its forces to the rest of eastern Ukraine.

– Natasha Durak

At least nine people have been confirmed killed in a Russian hypersonic missile attack in Ukraine on Thursday. It was the first time Russia had used its powerful Kinsale missiles, which can get past air defense systems, since the early months of its invasion – and the most intense strikes since late January.

The strikes affected critical Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and local emergency services were quickly making repairs.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said of the attack: “High-precision long-range air, sea and land-based weapons, including the Kinzel hypersonic missile system, hit key elements of Ukraine’s military infrastructure.”

Ukraine’s military said it was unable to intercept six Kinzhal ballistic missiles.

“This is a major attack and the first time with multiple types of missiles,” a Ukrainian military spokesman was quoted as saying by Reuters. “It’s unprecedented.”

– Natasha Durak

Maxar satellite images depict how the Battle of Bakhmut changed the landscape near the city.

Before: Images show only a few craters in fields east of Bagmut, Ukraine

Back: Photos show hundreds of craters in fields.

One person was killed and another injured in an artillery attack in Volnovaka, Ukraine.

– Anadolu Agency | Good pictures