Russia Ukraine war live: Putin’s forces pushed back as Kyiv make grounds towards key city

Ukrainian forces advanced near Bakhmut amid continued offensive operations on Sunday, according to the war monitoring think-tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

They reported that geolocated footage indicated that Ukrainian forces advanced over a railway line south of Andriivka – 10km southwest of Bakhmut.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces continued assault operations south of Bakhmut and offensive operations in the Melitopol direction.

A prominent Russian milblogger also claimed that Ukrainian forces established control over unspecified positions in the Zaporizhia direction over the past week.

Ukraine says a “terrifying night” of Russian shelling has killed a 91-year-old woman in the southern Kherson region.

The overnight shelling set fire to a high-rise apartment building, blew out windows and reduced some apartments to rubble, according to video footage posted by Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

The woman died when an apartment wall fell on her, according to her daughter, who lived with her on the ninth floor.

The daughter of the woman killed in Kherson said the destruction caused by the missile blast enabled her to get out of the building alive.

“I don’t know how I would have gotten out if (the) doors hadn’t been blown out,” Nataliia, who gave no surname, told Radio Liberty. “I would have burned to death in there, too.”

The victim was one of three Ukrainian civilians killed in the east and south of the country over the previous 24 hours, with at least five people hurt, Ukraine‘s presidential office reported on Monday.

The commander of Russia’s airborne forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, has been named as the new commander of Russia’s Dnipro military group in Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Monday, citing a source.

Teplinsky replaces Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, who will be moved to other duties, the newspaper Izvestiya reported separately.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Makarevich’s dismissal could indicate that the Kremlin or Russian military command may be “sufficiently worried of his ability to repel recent larger-than-usual Ukrainian ground operations in east bank Kherson Oblast” according to Russian millbloggers.

A Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time, the UK’s latest defence intelligence update says.

The information posted by the Ministry of Defence says that recent social media adverts have appealed for female recruits to join Borz Battalion, a part of Russian PMC Redut, to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators.

They added that Redut is likely directly sponsored by the Russian Main Directorate of Intelligence.

In March 2023, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which would equate to only around 0.3 per cent of its force. But, as Redut’s advert points out, they currently serve in mostly medical support and food service roles.

The Defence Ministry said that it “remains unclear” whether official Russian defence forces will seek to follow suit and open more combat roles to women.

Russian air defence systems destroyed eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles launched at targets in Crimea by Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would hold a meeting with senior officials later on Monday to discuss what it called Western attempts to “divide” Russian society.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s defence minister and the heads of the intelligence services would attend the meeting.

It comes after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the storming of an airport in the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of “outside influence”.

Here is a map, created by war monitoring think-tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), showing the latest update of the assessed control-of-terrain in Ukraine.

The map is accurate as of 3pm on Sunday 29 October.

The Kremlin said on Monday that the storming of an airport in the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of “outside influence”.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “ill-wishers” had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up in the predominantly Muslim region in the north Caucasus.

At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region, reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.

Investigators have identified 150 people who were the most active protesters, the RIA news agency reported early on Monday morning. Nine police officers sustained injuries in the incident, two of whom were being treated in hospital, the authorities said.

Protesters stormed an airport in the southern Russian city of Makhachkala, Dagestan, on Sunday pouring onto the runway. The crowd was reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.

Responding to the reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the incident was “part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations”.

The governor of the Odesa region in Ukraine said two people have been wounded and buildings have been damaged in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard in the region.

While details are yet to be confirmed, Governer Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram: “As a result of the attack, a fire broke out, which was promptly extinguished by our rescuers. The administrative building and equipment of the enterprise were damaged.

“Two people were injured. A man born in 1961 and a woman born in 1966 were taken to hospital in moderate condition. They are provided with all the necessary medical care.”