War in Ukraine: captured village near Pokrovsk, Russian missile on kyiv, journalists pursued… update on the situation

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Monday, October 7, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.

Ukraine repels Russian missile strike on kyiv

Missile debris fell in three neighborhoods of the Ukrainian capital Monday morning during rush hour after air defenses repelled a Russian strike, according to city authorities.

The Russian attack by Kinzhal hypersonic missiles did not cause any major damage or casualties, Kiev military administration chief Serhiy Popko said, according to a preliminary assessment. According to local authorities, debris damaged the roof of a multi-story residential building in the Solomianskyi district in western Kiev, while another piece of debris fell on a school.

Missile debris also landed on an open area in the Shevchenkivskyi district in the center of the capital. In the south of kyiv, in the Holosiivskyi district, the roof of a car was damaged.

Russia has been striking Ukraine with long-range missiles since the start of the war that began in February 2022, while drone attacks have become frequent. According to the authorities in kyiv, Russia carried out an attack last night with about fifteen drones in an area around the capital.

In Crimea, annexed by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014, the state of emergency "technical&quot has been declared in the city of Feodosia due to a fire at an oil depot, local pro-Russian officials said, without giving further details.

Russia pursues journalists from France 24, CH Media for traveling to Kursk

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday it had opened an investigation into journalists from France 24 and the Swiss media group CH Media for illegally crossing the border from Ukraine into Russia's Kursk region.

A total of 14 foreign journalists have been under investigation since August 17, Russian intelligence said in a statement. In August, Ukraine launched a surprise attack on the Kursk region, seizing territory around the border town of Sudja, the first time since the start of the war.

A team from Italy's Rai was the first to arrive on the scene in mid-August, and a few journalists have since followed suit. In Russia, illegally crossing a border is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Russian Army Claims Capture of New Village Near Pokrovsk

Russia claimed Monday the capture of a new village near Pokrovsk, a town that serves as a logistics hub in eastern Ukraine and which Russian forces have been gradually closing in on for weeks.

“Thanks to the resolute action of the units of the Center group, the village of Grodivka has been liberated”, the Russian Defense Ministry said. This town is located about ten kilometers east of Pokrovsk.

More than 6 years in prison for an American accused of being a mercenary for Ukraine

A 72-year-old American, Stephen James Hubbard, was sentenced Monday by a Russian court to six years and ten months in prison for "mercenaryship" for Ukraine, reports a Reuters journalist present in the courtroom.

The defendant is accused of receiving $1,000 a month to serve in a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in Izium, a city in eastern Ukraine where he had been living since 2014.

Michigan native Stephen Hubbard was arrested by the Russian military on April 2, 2022, according to the Russian news agency RIA. He pleaded guilty, according to Russian media, but his family questioned his alleged “confession”, pointing out that he was a pacifist and incapable of taking up arms at his age. Stephen Hubbard is one of at least ten Americans still imprisoned in Russia.