Latest news from Russia and the war in Ukraine

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in Kyiv on Thursday to discuss how to progress Ukraine’s membership bid to join the European Union.

“In Kyiv, for my 3rd visit since the start of Russia’s war. So much has changed,” von der Leyen said on Twitter.

“Ukraine is now a candidate” for EU membership, she said, adding that she would hold talks with President Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal about progressing its membership application.

The Ukraine’s membership bid was formally accepted earlier this year but it’s expected that it will take years for it to join the union.

— Holly Ellyatt

The manner in which Russian forces withdrew, and fled, from the region of Kharkiv on northeastern Ukraine suggests a breakdown in command structures, the U.K. said in its latest intelligence update Thursday.

“Ukrainian forces continue to consolidate their control of newly liberated areas of Kharkiv Oblast. Russian forces have largely withdrawn from the area west of the Oskil River,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Twitter.

“The way in which Russian forces have withdrawn in the last week has varied. Some units retreated in relatively good order and under control, while others fled in apparent panic,” it said.

“Such abandonment highlights the disorganised retreat of some Russian units and likely localised breakdowns in command and control.”

High-value equipment abandoned by withdrawing Russian forces included capabilities essential to enable Russia’s artillery-centric style of warfare, the ministry noted, including at least one Zoopark counter-battery radar and at least one IV14 artillery command and control vehicle.

— Holly Ellyatt

De-occupied settlements in the region of Kherson in southern Ukraine are coming under Russian fire, a regional official warned on Thursday as he told residents to evacuate.

“The situation in the de-occupied settlements of the Kherson region is extremely difficult,” Yaroslav Yanushevych, head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said on Telegram, noting that one town had seen all of its houses damaged or destroyed while another had seen 80% of its properties destroyed.

Ukraine recently launched a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine to reclaim Russian-occupied territories. Unlike its counterattack in northeastern Ukraine, which has seen most of the region of Kharkiv de-occupied, a significant part of Kherson — the region above Russian-annexed Crimea — remains occupied by Russian forces although Ukraine has launched a series of counterattacks there and has made some gains.