Russia under pressure in Kherson, UK says – DW – 10/31/2023

Russian invasion forces in Ukraine have come under increased pressure in the southern Kherson region on the Dnipro River, according to the intelligence update released by the UK Ministry of Defence. 

According to the update, the deputy commander of Russian troops in Ukraine, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, has personally taken command of the Dnipro River military group.

Teplinsky was responsible for the relatively successful Russian withdrawal to the east bank of the Dnipro in November 2022. There has been increased fighting there in recent weeks due to Ukrainian attempts to wrest control from the Russians, the update added.

“Teplinsky’s appointment is likely an indication of increased pressure on Russian forces defending the area,” according to the intelligence update. 

Repulsing Ukrainian attacks across the Dnipro and holding the occupied territory remains a high priority for Russian forces, the update concluded. 

French police detained Russian billionaire Alexei Kuzmichev, a co-founder of the Alfa Group targeted by EU sanctions, in connection with alleged tax evasion and money laundering and for violating international sanctions, the French Financial Prosecutors’ office said.

Kuzmichev was arrested in the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez, a source who asked not to be named told AFP. Police raided several locations linked to the tycoon, including his Paris home.

Kuzmichev was still being detained on Tuesday but has not yet been charged in the case.

The European Union put Kuzmichev on a list of Russian nationals to be sanctioned in March 2022, following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Alfa Bank — in which Kuzmichev has a large stake — is one of Russia’s biggest taxpayers, according to the EU, and the businessman himself is among the “most influential people in Russia” with close ties to President Vladimir Putin. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Monday he was confident that the US House of Representatives, which has been in turmoil for weeks over the speaker’s job, would support a request for additional funds for Ukraine’s military.

“At the moment we have every reason to believe that there are votes in the US House of Representatives for the bill providing Ukraine with additional support,” he said.

The US House of Representatives last week elected Republican Mike Johnson, a conservative with little leadership experience, as the speaker. 

Johnson said last week that funding to support Ukraine and Israel should be handled separately, suggesting he would not back President Joe Biden’s $106 billion aid package for both countries.

Russian investigators in a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow said that they had detained two soldiers on suspicion of killing a family of nine, including two children.

The statement said the soldiers were from a region in Russia’s Far East and that the reason for the killings appeared to be some kind of personal conflict.

The killings took place in Volnovakha, an industrial town between Donetsk and Melitopol.

The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it had also opened an investigation into the crime.

dh/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)