Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin ‘may have ordered capture of key city’ in time for March election

Russia faces the prospect of Vladimir Putin extending his two-decade stranglehold on power until at least 2030, with an announcement that he will run for president again in March 2024.

The 71-year-old Russian autocrat has been in power since 1999, bar a four-year stint as prime minister under Dmitry Medvedev, during which he was widely regarded to still be at the helm of the Kremlin.

Given Mr Putin’s domination of the Russian political and media landscape – and the jailing of opposition figures like Alexei Navalny who could challenge him on the ballot – there is little doubt about the result when the elections take place next year.

My colleague Tom Watling has more in this report:

Ukrainian officials pressed on with a campaign to remove Soviet-era monuments on Saturday as authorities in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv dismantled a statue of a Red Army commander from a central boulevard.

Ukraine has doubled down on efforts to erase all traces of Russian rule amid a full-scale invasion by Kremlin troops, now nearing its two-year mark.

Municipal workers on Saturday carefully hoisted the hulking statue of Mykola Shchors, a Soviet field commander during the Russian Civil War, off its pedestal. The structure had occupied a prominent spot on a central artery named after Ukraine’s national poet.

“We need to educate our youth so that they know our history,” said Zoya Kobyliukova, 82, who described communism as a “utopia” that led to many people being killed. “They’re doing the right thing to be taking him down.”

Thousands of Ukrainian streets and settlements have also been renamed in recent years as part of a de-communisation campaign launched after the 2014 Maidan Revolution, which toppled a pro-Russian leader.

Russian police have put prominent Russian-American journalist and author Masha Gessen on a wanted list after opening a criminal case against them on charges of spreading false information about the Russian army.

The independent Russian news outlet Mediazona was the first to report Friday that Gessen’s profile has appeared on the online wanted list of Russia’s Interior Ministry, and The Associated Press was able to confirm that. It wasn’t clear from the profile when exactly Gessen was added to the list.

Russian media reported last month that a criminal case against Gessen, an award-winning author and an outspoken critic of president Vladimir Putin, was launched over an interview they did with the prominent Russian journalist Yury Dud.

In the interview, which was released on YouTube in September 2022 and has since been viewed more than 6.5 million times, the two among other things discussed atrocities by Russian armed forces in Bucha, a Ukrainian town near Kyiv that was briefly occupied by the Russian forces.

Dasha Litvinova has the report:

Ukraine’s first lady has appealed to the international community to keep up financial support for its war with Russia, after Republican senators blocked the passage of a multi-billion-dollar US aid bill.

Calling the political row in America “a matter of life” for Ukrainians, Olena Zelenska said: “We really need the help. In simple words, we cannot get tired of this situation, because if we do, we die.

“And if the world gets tired, they will simply let us die.”

My colleague Namita Singh has the full report:

Russian forces have been taking advantage of the reduced tempo of Ukrainian offensive operations in Zaporizhia – where Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces breached the frontline earlier this year – to reorganise their forces and create operational reserves, a Ukrainian military observer has said.

However, Russian forces currently cannot allocate significant resources to these reserves, Kostyantyn Mashovets was cited as saying by the Institute for the Study of War.

Vladimir Putin’s troops have recently advanced in the region, with geolocated footage published on Thursday showing that forces made an advance south of Robotyne towards Novoprokopivka, the think-tank said. The Ukrainian military said on Friday that it had repelled Russian ground attacks in the area.

The Kremlin may have ordered the Russian military to capture the key Donetsk city of Avdiivka in time for the presidential elections in March, the Institute for the Study of War has said.

Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Friday that he will stand again, at a military awards ceremony, suggests he could make the war in Ukraine more central to his re-election campaign than previously anticipated, the Washington-based think-tank said.

“The Kremlin may be using Putin’s military-focused announcement in an attempt to convince this large group of voters that the Russian military writ large supports Putin,” according to the think-tank’s daily update.

“Putin’s announcement may alternatively aim to demonstrate that he has the support of the Russian military in order to make any further discussion of the war in Ukraine during his campaign unnecessary.

“The Kremlin may have tasked the Russian military with capturing Avdiivka, and possibly Kupyansk, before the March 2024 elections, and this exhibition of the military’s support for Putin’s candidacy is possibly meant as a hedging strategy should the Russian military be unable to meet these given deadlines.”

Russia has used the Cop28 climate conference to claim it is looking into whether its gold reserves – half of which were frozen by the West in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine – could be used to fund the climate damage fund to help developing countries.

Kyiv wants the proceeds from the $300bn in frozen Russian assets to be used to help rebuild the country – something many in the West want to happen but which has been complicated by legal questions and the move’s possible future ramifications.

“We are ready to announce that Russia is looking into the voluntary contribution of finance to the loss and damage fund from the frozen national gold reserves held by international organisations,” Ruslan Edelgeriev, Russia’s climate representative, said on the main stage at COP28 in Dubai.

“It is a step dictated by the need to close the gap between developing and developed countries.”

Ukraine has strongly condemned Russian plans to hold presidential elections next spring on occupied territory, declaring them “null and void” and pledging to prosecute any observers sent to monitor them.

Russia’s upper house set the country’s presidential election this week for next March, and chair Valentina Matviyenko said residents would be able to vote for the first time in four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson – which Russia claims to have annexed despite not fully controlling any of them.

“We call on the international community to resolutely condemn Russia’s intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories, and to impose sanctions on those involved in their organization and conduct,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

It also warned countries against sending observers to the “pseudo-elections”, saying offenders would “face criminal responsibility”.

“Any election in Russia has nothing to do with democracy. They serve only as a tool to keep the Russian regime in power,” the ministry said.

Pickup trucks and tourniquets bound for Ukraine’s battlefield are stuck in a mileslong line at the border with Poland. Components to build drones to fight off Russian forces are facing weeks of delays.

Ukrainian charities and companies supplying the war-torn country’s military warn that problems are growing as Polish truck drivers show no sign of ending a border blockade that has stretched past a month. The Polish protesters argue that their livelihoods are at stake after the European Union relaxed some transport rules and Ukrainian truckers undercut their business.

While drones will make it to the front line, they’re delayed by two to three weeks, said Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, operational director of the Kolo foundation, which helps the Ukrainian army with battlefield tech, including drones and communications equipment.

“This means that Russian army will have the ability to kill Ukrainian soldiers and terrorize civilians for several weeks longer,” he said.

Hanna Arhirova, Karl Ritter and Monika Scislowsk have the full report: