Russian forces dig in after retreat from Ukraine’s east

Russian forces in eastern Ukraine are fortifying their defences and it will be hard for Kyiv's troops to repeat the rapid success of their recent lightning counter offensive, a senior regional Ukrainian official warned yesterday.

The sobering assessment was issued as Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, was holding talks in Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelensky about helping Ukraine move closer to joining the European Union.

Kyiv says it recaptured more than 8,000 sq km, nearly equivalent to the size of the island of Cyprus. The speed of the advance has lifted Ukrainian morale, pleased Western backers who have provided arms, intelligence and training, and raised hopes of further significant gains before the winter sets in.

But Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, warned that it would be a tough fight to wrest control of his region back from Russia, which recognises it as an independent state controlled by separatists.

"Here the Russians are digging in at Svatove and Troitske," Gaidai told Ukrainian TV, referring to two settlements in Luhansk.

"Heavy fighting continues in many directions, including in (the) Luhansk region. The Kharkiv 'instant scenario' will not be repeated. We will have to fight hard for our region. The Russians are preparing for defence."

There was no let-up either in Russia's daily missiles strikes on Ukraine, a day after it fired cruise missiles at a reservoir dam near Kryvyi Rih, President Zelensky's hometown, reports Reuters.

Authorities in the city of Kharkiv said Russian shells had hit a high-pressure gas pipeline, while a rescue operation was underway in the city of Bakhmut with four people suspected to be trapped under rubble after a strike, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the Donetsk regional governor, said.

Russian forces had launched attacks on several settlements on the Kharkiv frontline in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said yesterday.

But Britain's defence ministry said in an update that Ukraine's forces were continuing to consolidate their control of newly liberated land in the region.

The United States is expected to deliver a new security assistance package soon, White House spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC in an interview yesterday. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned Washington to tread carefully.

After a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres lamented that the prospects for peace in Ukraine are "minimal" at present.

In Germany, G7 ministers said they would seek to crank up the pressure on Russia and limit Moscow's means of financing its war in Ukraine, reports AFP.

The G7 would "maintain and expand our coordinated efforts to prevent Russia from profiting from its illegal aggression" and curtail Russia´s ability to carry on the war, trade ministers said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the first teams of war crimes prosecutors gained early access to begin investigating the vast swathes of recently liberated territory in Ukraine.

They said initial indications were that widespread atrocities appear to have taken place.