Situation at a glance: Ukraine sinks Russian ferry with oil in the port

While the Ukrainian army’s offensive in the western Russian region of Kursk continues, it has now also managed to land a spectacular blow in southern Russia. According to official reports, a ferry loaded with fuel tanks caught fire and sank in a port in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar due to Ukrainian shelling. According to the district administration, there were a total of 30 tanks on board the railway ferry.

The attack was captured on video by local residents, showing large flames and huge clouds of black smoke rising from a building in the port. “At this point, 17 crew members have already been rescued,” wrote the governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, on his Telegram channel. The search is still underway for two missing people.

Strike against fuel supply of Russian troops

The port of Kavkaz in the Krasnodar region is located opposite the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and is used intensively to supply Russian troops in the war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, there was a missile alert in Crimea.

According to unofficial information from Moscow and Kiev, the ferry was attacked with a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile. However, the official range of this weapon is 300 kilometers. The front line is further away.

Ukrainian army remains under pressure in the east of the country

Meanwhile, heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine. According to the General Staff in Kiev, there were more than 130 clashes during the day. The focus of the Russian attacks was in the Pokrovsk area, according to the evening situation report. More than 50 attacks were reported from there.

Further north, near the small town of Toretsk, fighting continues around the town of Nju-York, according to the General Staff, on whose capture Russia’s Defense Minister had already congratulated the Russian troops the day before.

Fighting also continues in the western Russian region of Kursk. There, Ukrainian forces are trying to cut off supplies to Russian troops south of the river.

Energy crisis: Ukraine fears worst winter

The Ukrainian government is expecting a cold and dark winter, given that the country’s electricity and energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian attacks. “We are facing the harshest winter in our history,” said Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko in a video conference. This winter will be much harder than the previous one because the damage from the ongoing Russian attacks has accumulated. The Russian army is combining the use of various weapons to cause as much destruction as possible.

Although Ukrainians are trying to repair power plants and import electricity from neighboring EU countries, there remains a huge supply gap to the 18 to 19 gigawatts demand predicted by Halushchenko – depending on how frosty the winter is. Ukrainians must therefore expect massive power outages and heating failures during the cold season.

Harris: Stand firmly with Ukraine and NATO

Meanwhile, Democratic US presidential candidate Kamala Harris has clearly declared her support for NATO and has also promised to continue to support Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia. “I will stand firmly with Ukraine and our NATO allies,” she said in her eagerly awaited speech at the end of the four-day Democratic Party convention in Chicago. Her Republican opponent Donald Trump, on the other hand, has threatened to abandon NATO, said Harris. He has also encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.

This will be important on Friday

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Kiev. The focus is on a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Indian Prime Minister visited Moscow just in July. Images of the meeting, during which Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin embraced, provoked criticism in Ukraine. India describes itself as neutral.