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Alexander Nezorov fled Russia at the beginning of the war (here in Saint Petersburg in 2015)
Photo: Interpress / Russian Look / IMAGO
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Russian journalist sentenced to prison
10:01 a.m .:
The Russian journalist Alexander Nezorov has been sentenced in absentia by a Moscow court to eight years in prison.
This is reported by the Russian state media.
Nezorov is guilty of spreading "fake news" about the Russian army.
Investigations were launched against him after Nezorov wrote on social media that Moscow had deliberately shelled a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The Kremlin denies that, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) officially assesses the Russian attack as a war crime.
Nezorov fled Russia in March, and Kyiv granted him Ukrainian citizenship in June.
London: Attacks on Cherson probably to weaken morale
9.32 a.m .:
According to the British Ministry of Defense, the ongoing Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson are aimed at weakening Ukrainian morale.
It was also used to deter Ukrainian counterattacks across the Dnipro River, according to the daily intelligence update.
Ultimately, however, it is unclear why Moscow uses up its exhausted ammunition stocks in Cherson of all places.
Outside of the Donbass region, Cherson is the most frequently shelled Ukrainian city.
A few days ago, according to local authorities, three people were killed in a Russian attack in Cherson.
Among other things, a clinic building was hit.
Kyiv: "Russia is preparing for maximum escalation"
9.06 a.m .:
The Ukrainian leadership expects a new Russian offensive and, as a result, the heaviest fighting since the beginning of the war by spring.
"We have come a long, hard road, but I understand that the most important battles are yet to come and will take place this year, in the next two to three months," said Secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov an interview with the British TV channel Sky News.
These are the decisive months of the war.
Danilov did not rule out the start of a Russian offensive in the next two to three weeks.
"Russia is preparing for maximum escalation," he said.
New units would be focused and trained.
Danilov estimates the number of soldiers fighting in Ukraine at around 320,000.
About half of those could take part in the new offensive, he warned.
hba/AFP/dpa/Reuters