Latest news from Russia and the war in Ukraine

Stephen Lovegrove, Britain’s national security adviser, has warned against the accidental escalation of nuclear war with Russia or China, saying global communication channels from the Cold War are no longer available.

“The two homogeneous Cold War blocs of the Soviet Union and NATO – although there were no alarming obstacles – were able to come to a common understanding of the doctrine that is absent today,” he said Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the US.

“Doctrine is opaque in Moscow and Beijing, not to mention Pyongyang or Tehran.”

He added that during the Cold War, the world benefited from “a series of negotiations and dialogues that improved our understanding of Soviet doctrine and capabilities, and vice versa.”

“This has given us a higher level of confidence that we will not misjudge our path to nuclear war.”

Watch the full video over here.

– Matt Clinch

A British intelligence update on Thursday spoke of “increasing momentum” in Ukraine’s attempts to retake the southern city of Kherson from Russian forces.

The British Ministry of Defense said the city, captured early in the Russian invasion and the most politically important area occupied by Moscow, was now “virtually isolated” from other occupied Russian territories.

“they [Ukraine] It is very likely that the troops erected a bridge south of the Ingolets River, which forms the northern border of Russian-occupied Kherson.”

Ukraine confirmed on Wednesday that it had attacked the Antonevsky Bridge, a major supply route for Russian forces in Kherson.

– Matt Clinch

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces have captured Ukraine’s second largest power plant, according to NBC News.

In an interview uploaded to YouTube, presidential advisor Oleksiy Aristovich also said that Moscow would do it Redeployment of large numbers of forces in three southern regions.

Russian-backed forces have previously said they have captured the factory. The British Ministry of Defense said a Russian private military company “He most likely succeeded in making a tactical advance in the Donbass around the Vohlherska Power Plant,” adding that some Ukrainian forces “probably withdrew from the area.”

It is often difficult or impossible to confirm developments on the front lines because the situation in Ukraine can change quickly.

– Natalie Tham

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he would discuss a US proposal to release WNBA star Britney Grenier and ex-Marine Paul Whelan with his Russian counterpart.

Blinken said that in his phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, he would discuss the immediate release of Paul Whelan and Britney Greiner who were “unjustly detained and must be allowed to return home.”

“When it comes to our efforts to secure the repatriation of Paul Whelan and Britney Greiner, you know that I cannot and will not go into any of the details of what we proposed to the Russians over the course of many weeks,” he said.

Blinken told reporters at the State Department that he would also discuss the UN-brokered plan to resume agricultural exports from Ukrainian ports.

– Amanda Macias