Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky claims there is ‘toxic atmosphere’ in Putin’s inner circle after battlefield failures

Ukrainian president says Kremlin aides signalling Russian leader alone responsible for frontline losses Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed aides to his counterpart in Moscow Vladimir Putin have signalled to him that the Kremlin leader is isolated over the war, and said a “toxic atmosphere” surrounded the Russian president. “The situation on the front, together with our long-range sanctions and mid-range strikes, is creating a new atmosphere around Putin, Mr Zelensky wrote on social media. “A very toxic atmosphere... Putin alone is responsible for the losses Russians continue to suffer.

“His retinue understands this – they are signalling it to us and to our partners. Earlier, Ukraine ’s new top commander said the armed forces had been told to press harder with their counteroffensives as Kyiv navigated the fallout of a major shake-up at the top of its military leadership. Mykhailo Drapatyi replaced sacked general Oleksandr Syrskyi as commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, Russia has struck an energy facility in Ukraine ’s northern Chernihiv region, leaving more than 100,000 people without power. One person was killed and four injured in a Ukrainian attack on the Russian-controlled peninsula of Crimea, the Russian-installed governor said this morning. There ⁠are ​two children ⁠among the injured, Crimean ⁠governor Sergei Aksyonov wrote on ​Telegram.

Air defence ‌units downed ⁠223 Ukrainian drones ⁠overnight, Russian news agencies said, ‌citing ​the defence ‌ministry. The governor of the Ulyanovsk region east of Moscow said that Ukrainian drones had attacked an energy facility, adding it had caught fire. Civilian sites were attacked in Russia's Voronezh region during the night, governor Alexander Gusev said, adding ‌that some people were ​injured.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and US secretary of state Marco Rubio have held their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN forum in Manila, the TASS news agency reported. The meeting lasted ⁠over half an hour, it added. Details of what was discussed are yet to be released.

Earlier Rubio told reporters in Manila that he planned to raise the conflict in Ukraine with Lavrov, saying that the US remained open to playing a role in ending the conflict “if that opportunity presents itself”. A German nuclear fuel assembly plant has won regulatory approval to jointly produce fuel with Russia's state-owned Rosatom, underscoring how the nuclear sector remains largely exempt from European sanctions on Russia. A federal state regulator cleared Advanced Nuclear Fuels, part of French nuclear power company Framatome, a subsidiary of EDF, to produce fuel rods in Lingen, Lower Saxony, for Russian-designed nuclear power plants with Rosatom, Germany's federal environment ministry said on Wednesday.

The federal ministry said it regretted the collaboration but added the regulator legally had no choice but to give its go-ahead. There is so far no EU agreement on an extension of sanctions on Russia to the nuclear power sector but Germany was working towards that, a ministry spokesperson told. Russian president Vladimir Putin still insists he will keep all occupied Ukrainian territory as part of any peace deal to end the war, according to a report.

Sources close to the Kremlin said Putin wants to hold these occupied regions near the border and use them as buffer zones, reported Bloomberg. At the same time, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has also ruled out formally ceding any territory illegally occupied by Russia since the war began in 2022. In June Putin signalled that Russia was ready to reach a compromise to end the war, but no details were shared. Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is under pressure as a result of his country's losses in the war on Ukraine.

“He alone is the reason this war began and hasn't ended. Putin alone is responsible for the losses Russians continue to suffer, Zelensky said in his nightly address. “The situation on the front, together with our long-range sanctions and mid-range strikes, is creating a new atmosphere around Putin.

A very toxic atmosphere, he said. Zelensky said Russian society is starting to feel the impacts of the war more than ever. “His retinue understands this – they are signalling it to us and to our partners.

Russian society is beginning to feel it more and more as well. We need decisions to bring about peace. Russia has introduced a temporary ban on vessel movements in ​and out of the port of Novorossiysk between ‌midnight and 5am because of Ukrainian drone attacks, three grain industry sources said on Wednesday. Novorossiysk is Russia's biggest ​port by volume and handles up to one ​third of Russia's grain exports.