Russia-Ukraine war live: Blinken decries ‘Russia’s sham elections’ in occupied areas of Ukraine | Ukraine #RussiaUkraine #war #live #Blinken #decries #Russias #sham #elections #occupied #areas #Ukraine #Ukraine

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.

Our top story this morning: Russian authorities are holding local elections this weekend in occupied parts of Ukraine in an effort to tighten their grip on territories Moscow illegally annexed a year ago and still does not fully control. The voting for Russian-installed legislatures in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions begins Friday and concludes Sunday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that, “Russia’s sham elections in occupied areas of Ukraine are illegitimate”.

More on this shortly. Meanwhile:

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy singled out for praise on Thursday three military units for “very, very effective” action against Russian troops on the front in eastern and southern Ukraine. Zelenskiy provided few details in his nightly address, but said one national guard unit was fighting in the east and two in the south – the focal points of Kyiv’s three-month-old counter offensive. “Results are precisely what Ukraine needs now from everyone,” Zelenskiy said.

• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, praised Ukraine’s strength in the face of the Russian invasion during a visit to the Chernihiv region, which was occupied by Moscow at the beginning of the war.

• Blinken and Romanian foreign minister Luminita Odobescu also held a call to discuss Romania’s investigation into drone debris found in Romania close to its border with Ukraine, the US state department said. Romania’s defence ministry said on Thursday that the country did not face any direct threat to its territory or territorial waters from Russian strikes on Ukraine on Wednesday night.

• Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday there was no sign Russia had launched a deliberate attack on alliance member Romania, after the possible drone debris was found near its border with Ukraine. Stoltenberg said Romania on Wednesday informed its Nato allies of the discovery and that it “demonstrates the risk of incidents and accidents”.

• Some of the victims of a deadly Russian missile attack at a busy market in eastern Ukraine yesterday were buried. At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded in the attack in Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donestsk region.

• Russia has maintained its bombing campaign against Ukrainian food exports with the fourth drone attack in five days on grain silos and other infrastructure around the port of Izmail along the Danube river. The governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said Thursday’s attack lasted three hours.

• Ireland said that about 500 Ukrainians were arriving in the country a week, joining tens of thousands of their compatrior who fled to the island over the last 18 months. But growing pressure on services will mean more will have to be temporarily housed in tents.

• French president Emmanuel Macron said the Russian flag has no place at next year’s Paris Olympics because of the war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s regime in Ukraine.

• The head of the US senate foreign relations committee has demanded that the US’s top three oilfield services companies “cease all investments” in Russia’s fossil fuel infrastructure.

• British American Tobacco said it would sell its last cigarette in Russia within a month, ending its presence in the world’s fourth-largest tobacco market a year and a half after it first promised to do so in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

• For the first time in nearly four years new staff have been allowed at the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the delegation has said, after anti-pandemic measures blocked most travel and led many embassies to close.

• Zelenskiy and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday discussed ways in which Israel can support Kyiv in its conflict with Russia, the Ukrainian leader’s office said. Zelenskiy has previously urged Israel to provide more open support for Kyiv and criticised its attempts to maintain an even-handed approach in the 18-month-old war.