Ukraine said it was retaking ground in the southeast as two foreign aid workers were killed in shelling, and Kyiv disagreed with allies over when its counteroffensive would end and about a G20 summit declaration that did not explicitly condemn Russia’s invasion.
Officials said air defence units destroyed 26 of 33 attack drones fired by Russia at Kyiv in the early hours of Sunday, and that an unnamed infrastructure facility was damaged along with apartment blocks, cars and power lines for public transport.
There were no reports of casualties in Kyiv, but four civilians were killed and eight injured over the previous 24 hours in shelling and missile attacks on several regions of Ukraine, 18 months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its pro-western neighbour.
Spanish aid worker Emma Igual (32) of the Road to Relief group was killed in shelling in eastern Ukraine on Saturday alongside Canadian colleague Anthony Ihnat. German citizen Ruben Mawick and Swedish volunteer Johan Mathias Thyr were injured in the strike.
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Road to Relief said that after passing through the Ukrainian-controlled town of Chasiv Yar near the occupied frontline city of Bakhmut, “their vehicle came under Russian attack … flipped over and lit on fire”.
Kyiv’s military said it had retaken another 1.5 sq km of territory near the recently liberated village of Robotyne in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, which is the focus of a counteroffensive launched in June against Russia’s occupation force.
Ukraine hopes to punch through Russia’s lines and reach the Azov Sea, cutting the land link between the Russian border and occupied Crimea, but its troops have made slow progress amid deep minefields and heavily fortified enemy positions.
“That offensive kicked off about 90 days ago. It has gone slower than the planners anticipated … So we’ll see, it’s too early to say how this is going to end,” Gen Mark Milley, the most senior officer in the US military, told the BBC on Sunday.
“They at least have achieved partial success in what they set out to do, and that’s important. And then the rains will come in. It’ll become very muddy,” he added, estimating that there were “probably about 30 to 45 days’ worth of fighting weather left,” this year before wet autumn weather hampered movement and then freezing winter set in.
On Saturday, however, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence vowed that the country’s forces would not let deteriorating weather halt operations.
“Combat actions will continue in one way or another. In the cold, wet and mud, it is more difficult to fight. Fighting will continue. The counteroffensive will continue,” Kyrylo Budanov said.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said there was “nothing to be proud of” in a declaration made by G20 states after a summit in India that “highlighted the human suffering” of the war and denounced attacks “on the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state,” but did not mention Russia’s role as invader.
Moscow hailed the meeting and declaration as a success for states of the “global south” that “were able to prevent the West’s attempts to ‘Ukrainianise’ the summit agenda.”
Western officials played down the summit’s failure to explicitly condemn Russian aggression.
“This G20 confirms once again the isolation of Russia. Today, an overwhelming majority of G20 members condemn the war in Ukraine and its impact,” said French president Emmanuel Macron.
