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Russia Insists it is Observing Ukraine Ceasefire Despite Kyiv Attacks

Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters
Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters
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Russia Insists it is Observing Ukraine Ceasefire Despite Kyiv Attacks

Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters
Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas. Reuters

Moscow insisted Saturday its army was observing a ceasefire it unilaterally declared in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas despite artillery attacks by Kyiv troops.

"Despite the shelling of the armed forces of Ukraine of settlements and Russian positions, the implementation of the declared ceasefire will continue," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

The statement however added that over the past 24 hours Russian forces repelled a number of attacks by the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine and killed dozens of its troops.

AFP journalists in the town of Chasiv Yar south of the frontline city of Bakhmut on Saturday heard heavy artillery fire for much of Saturday morning.

On Saturday, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces said that Russia launched one missile strike and fired 20 rounds from multiple rocket launchers over the past 24 hours.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had unilaterally ordered his forces to pause attacks for 36 hours for the Orthodox Christmas.

Ukraine has dismissed the halt -- due to last until the end of Saturday (2100 GMT) -- as a tactic by Russia to gain time to regroup its forces and bolster its defenses following a series of battlefield setbacks.

Orthodox Christians observe Christmas on January 7.

Also Saturday, Putin praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia.

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World

Russian Attack on Bus in Ukraine's Kherson Kills Four

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released August 18, 2026. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv region/Handout via REUTERS
Firefighters work at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released August 18, 2026. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv region/Handout via REUTERS
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Russian Attack on Bus in Ukraine's Kherson Kills Four

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released August 18, 2026. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv region/Handout via REUTERS
Firefighters work at a site of a Russian drone attack, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Kyiv region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released August 18, 2026. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv region/Handout via REUTERS

A Russian drone attack on a bus in the frontline city of Kherson in southern Ukraine killed four people on Wednesday and left another four wounded, the regional prosecutor's office said.

"Russian military forces attacked a bus travelling down a street in Kherson with a drone. As a result of the attack, according to preliminary information, four civilian passengers were killed.

Four more people sustained injuries of varying severity," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ousted Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov called Tuesday for elections to be held even as the war against Russia continues, saying the country was gripped by a crisis of governance.

The move by one of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's most loyal and longstanding team members until recently could become the most significant internal challenge Zelenskyy has faced since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The appeal came in a video address posted to YouTube by Fedorov, who lost his post in July.
“We must find a legal, safe, and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov said.

Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately comment on Fedorov’s address.

Ukrainian law prohibits elections while the country is under martial law, which was imposed on Feb. 24, 2022, the day that the Russian invasion began.

Fedorov said the country was facing a systemic crisis in how it is governed, arguing the current system is oriented toward protecting itself and resisting change. He also condemned corruption among officials without naming anyone, saying it had weakened Ukraine’s ability to fight the war.

Fedorov has said he believes a factor in his removal was an overhaul he led of the Defense Ministry’s procurement system, which oversees billions of dollars in equipment purchases.

“Corruption in wartime is not merely a financial issue. It is a matter of our capability to survive and win,” said Fedorov. “Every single hryvnia intended for defense must work for defense. Not for a private pocket.”

Fedorov released the address hours after Ukraine’s Parliament received a submission from Zelenskyy nominating Yevhenii Khmara to be the new defense minister, Parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on Facebook Tuesday.

World

China’s Torrential Rains Kill 10 in Southwest as Thousands Evacuated

A person rides an electric bike through a flooded street after Typhoon Dolphin brought heavy rain to Shanghai, China, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
A person rides an electric bike through a flooded street after Typhoon Dolphin brought heavy rain to Shanghai, China, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
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China’s Torrential Rains Kill 10 in Southwest as Thousands Evacuated

A person rides an electric bike through a flooded street after Typhoon Dolphin brought heavy rain to Shanghai, China, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)
A person rides an electric bike through a flooded street after Typhoon Dolphin brought heavy rain to Shanghai, China, August 10, 2026. (Reuters)

Torrential rains lashed China's southwest to kill 10 in a house collapse and a landslide, state broadcaster CCTV said on Wednesday, with tens of thousands also evacuated as a precaution.

Disaster prevention authorities evacuated 21,784 people following heavy downpours in several areas in China's southwest, including the areas of ‌Chengdu and Zigong.

Five died in Sichuan ‌province ⁠after accumulated rainwater caused ⁠the collapse of a roof and wall during a dinner party to celebrate children's college entrance results on Tuesday, CCTV said.

Three died at the home in Sichuan's county of Changning, while two ⁠died in hospital where 17 ‌injured were ‌being treated, but it was unclear if the tallies ‌included children or young people.

Sichuan authorities ‌declared a heavy rain alert this week and warned about disaster risks. Torrential rain since Tuesday unleashed two disasters that cut off ‌roads in the mountainous Garze and Aba areas, CCTV said.

Authorities ⁠are ⁠investigating the cause of Monday's landslide at a construction site in Guangxi region that buried five people, later pulled out lifeless by rescue workers, CCTV said.

Loose sand and gravel in the high mountain canyon area could unleash landslides, authorities said earlier.

Since the start of summer, Guangxi, like many parts of China's southwest, has received heavy rain.

World

Hormuz Traffic Slows as Uncertainty Over Waterway Persists

FILE - Cargo ships are seen at sea in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
FILE - Cargo ships are seen at sea in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
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Hormuz Traffic Slows as Uncertainty Over Waterway Persists

FILE - Cargo ships are seen at sea in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
FILE - Cargo ships are seen at sea in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz, from a rocky shoreline near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, May 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz slowed, data showed on Wednesday, as most shipowners avoided the key waterway because of a lack of clear signaling on its reopening from a blockade during the Iran war.

Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, Kpler data showed by 0258 GMT, down from nine a day earlier and below the 10-day daily average of 11.

Inbound traffic included an empty very large crude ⁠carrier that followed the ⁠Omani side of the strait, as well as two tankers, one of medium-range and the other intermediate, the data showed, according to Reuters.

Two medium-range fuel tankers and a post-Panamax vessel exited the strait.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said no talks ⁠were taking place with Iran and insisted the Strait of Hormuz was open, contradicting Iran's assertion that it remained shut to shipping.

The waterway handled a fifth of the world's shipments of crude oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

As security concerns curb oil shipments to the world's largest importer, two Chinese shipping giants that used to carry half its imports of Middle Eastern oil ⁠before ⁠the war have kept their tankers out of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb since late July, say tanker tracker Vortexa and a ship broker.

At the Bab el-Mandeb strait on the Red Sea, Kpler data showed 30 weekend transits by commodity vessels, up from 19 in the prior week.