Battle | Melnik: Thousands of artefacts stolen from gallery in Kherson

Day 263 since start of war: Ukraine’s central bank expects blackouts, Lavrov makes accusations All information on news blog.

1.30 pm: Ukrainian Railways is already issuing tickets for trips to Russian-occupied cities in the event of the recapture of Cherson. The railway operator announced on the Telegram messaging service that these tickets can also be used in these cities after the expected release. They applied for the first three trains from Kiev to liberated Cherson, and to Mariupol, Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Simferopol in Crimea. It is a symbol of faith in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the liberation of Ukraine from the invaders. Advance booking prices are equivalent to around 26.50 euros. The port city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov was occupied by Russian troops in May. Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine came under the control of Russian-backed separatists in 2014. The Simferopol Peninsula in Crimea has been under Russian control since its annexation in 2014.

10:17 am: Andriy Melnyk, a former ambassador to Ukraine, tweeted that an art gallery had been “completely ransacked and looted.” Apparently, Russian troops stole more than 13,000 artifacts.

Melnyk can’t help but make a Gaelic comment: “But Russia is a ‘great cultural nation’, isn’t it, dear Germany?” It is not clear what he means by this. Users under the post suspect that this may be a reference to the Nazis who stole, for example, Jewish owners of numerous works of art in Germany during World War II.

9:32 am: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the US and NATO of seeking hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region by militarising it. “The United States and its allies, as well as NATO, are now trying to devour this region,” Lavrov said on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, according to Russian state news agency TASS. The goal is the militarization of the region “with an obvious focus on containing Chinese and Russian interests in the region,” he stressed in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

The summit’s joint final declaration failed due to disputes over the wording of the situation in Ukraine, Lavrov said. “No joint decisions were made today as the United States and its Western allies insist on completely unacceptable language regarding the situation in and around Ukraine.”

8:58 am: Ukraine’s central bank is preparing the banking system to operate under emergency conditions as Russian attacks on power plants threaten to cut off power. “The objective is to ensure the viability of 14 systemically important banks in the country. If absolutely necessary, the National Bank will primarily ensure the essential operations of state-owned banks,” the central bank said via the Telegram messaging service. Russia has been systematically attacking the Ukrainian energy sector, causing repeated blackouts in large parts of the country.

7.05 am: After the recapture of Kherson, the regional capital of southern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj announced the liberation of other areas currently occupied by Russia. “We will not forget anyone, we will not leave anyone behind,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video address on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Ukrainian police officers and representatives of the military administration returned to Cherson. Read more about it here.