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Chosen by us to get you up to speed at a glance4:39amRussia suffers from dozens of losses in past 24 hours2:38amUkraine considers restarting Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant1:38amZelensky thanked Biden for $625m security aid package in ‘meaningful phone call’1:19amRussian frontline collapses in south Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the Ukrainian army for carrying out a “fast and powerful advance” in Ukraine’s south that has led to the liberation of dozens of towns over the past week.
Speaking in his evening address on Tuesday, Mr Zelensky said dozens of villages have been freed across the Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions this week from Russian occupiers.
He cited eight small towns in the Kherson region, including Lyubymivka, Khreshchenivka, Zolota Balka, Bilyaivka, Ukrainka, Velyka and Mala Oleksandrivka, and Davydiv Brid, as those that have been recently recaptured.
“The Ukrainian army is carrying out a pretty fast and powerful advance in the south of our country,” he said.
“Dozens of settlements have already been liberated from the Russian sham referendum this week alone. Our warriors do not stop. And it’s only a matter of time before we oust the occupier from all our land.”
Russia suffers from dozens of losses in past 24 hours
Ukraine’s rapid advances have forced Russian forces to retreat as Moscow suffers significant losses.
“In some areas of the front line it was possible to extend the area we hold from between 10 to 20 km,” the southern Operational Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) said on Wednesday.
Russian forces were destroying their reserves of ammunition and trying to destroy bridges and crossings in order to slow the Ukrainian advance, the UAF said in its daily report.
According to the UAF, in the past 24 hours Russia had lost 31 servicemen, more than 40 pieces of equipment, including eight tanks, 26 armoured vehicles, and a large calibre howitzer.
In pictures: Ukrainian soldiers prepare to fire rocket launcher in Kharkiv
Ukraine considers restarting Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine could restart to protect safety installations ahead of winter, just weeks after fears of a radiation disaster at the Russian-occupied facility.
Ukraine is considering restarting the Zaporizhzhia power plant, the president of the company that operates the plant said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom shut down the last of the plant’s six reactors on September 11 because Russian military activity had cut reliable external power supplies for cooling and other safety systems, threatening a potentially catastrophic meltdown.
Energoatom President Petro Kotin told AP the company could restart two of the reactors in a matter of days to protect safety installations as winter approaches and temperatures drop.
“If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged,” he said in his office at the company’s Kyiv headquarters.
“So you need heating and the only heating is going to come from the working reactor.”
Zelensky thanked Biden for defence support in ‘meaningful phone call’
President Zelensky said he had a “meaningful phone call” with Joe Biden on Tuesday night, where he thanked the US President for providing Ukraine with a $625 million security aid package.
The package will include High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, the White House said.
“I thanked him for another package of defence support for our country, in particular for new HIMARS. And in general, I noted that the successes of our military – all successes in returning freedom to our people – are our joint successes, our joint victories,” Mr Zelensky said in his evening address.
“Due to the unity of Ukraine, the United States of America and all our partners in the free world, today freedom has the highest strength in decades and demonstrates concrete victories in the confrontation with tyranny.”
Thank you @POTUS for a substantial support for , including a new $625 million security assistance package! As usual, we had a meaningful phone call today. Our victories within the ongoing defense operation are a joint success of , and the entire free world.
Total Victory for ALL Ukraine!!!🇺🇦
Death to the temporary ruZZian occupiers!!!💥🔥☠️