Nov 3 (Reuters) – Russian forces are likely to abandon their foothold on the west bank of Ukraine’s Dnipro River, a Russian-installed occupation official said, signalling a massive Russian retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war.
FIGHTING
* Russian attacks were reported across large areas of Ukraine, damaging infrastructure, Ukrainian officials said.
* Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has again been disconnected from the power grid after Russian shelling damaged the remaining high voltage lines, leaving it with just diesel generators, Ukraine nuclear firm Energoatom said.
* Ukrainian forces have destroyed 278 Russian aircraft during eight months of fighting, more than twice as many as the Soviet Union lost in its 1979-89 military intervention in Afghanistan, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief said.
* The streets and boulevards of the Russian-held port of Kherson are virtually empty. Many shops and businesses have been closed. Evacuations have picked up as Ukrainian forces have advanced to the north and east of the strategic city.
GRAIN DEAL
* The Russian delegation resumed work at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) that runs the Black Sea grain deal operations in Istanbul and joined vessel inspections on Thursday, the U.N. Secretariat at the centre said. Russia said on Wednesday it would resume its participation in a deal to free up vital grain exports from Ukraine, after suspending it over the weekend, saying it had received guarantees from Ukraine that it would not use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia.
* Ukraine said it had made no commitments to Russia that go beyond the terms of the Black Sea Grains Initiative agreed in July to persuade Moscow to resume its participation in the deal.
* Moscow urged the United Nations to help fulfil the parts of the deal intended to ease Russia’s food and fertiliser exports.
DIPLOMACY
* Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it had delivered a protest to the British ambassador after summoning her over its allegation that British specialists had been involved in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea..
* Foreign ministers from the G7 group of rich democracies were discussing how best to coordinate further support for Ukraine at a meeting in Germany.
* G20 summit host Indonesia is waiting to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend, Indonesia’s foreign minister said, adding that differences over Ukraine had made preparations for the meeting particularly fraught.
QUOTE
“The entire front line is subject to constant shelling around the clock,” Donetsk region Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, told Ukrainian television.
“There is practically not a single dwelling that hasn’t been damaged in Avdiivka, in Maryinka, in Krasnohorivka. Selydove, even closer to the front line, took a direct hit this week. The enemy’s strategy of artillery strikes tactic is to destroy these towns and wipe then off the face of the Earth. Nothing else works for them.”
Compiled by Angus MacSwan and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Simon Cameron-Moore
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