<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Kyiv accused Russia of planning to destroy a hydroelectric dam in the eastern Kherson region, where Ukrainian soldiers have been steadily advancing and Moscow-installed authorities have begun evacuations.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces had mined the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant with the intent of blowing it up, in what would amount to a "catastrophe on a grand scale".</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hundreds of thousands of people around the lower Dnipro River would be in danger of rapid flooding if the dam was destroyed, Zelensky warned in a speech Thursday to European leaders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said cutting water supplies to the south could also impact the cooling systems of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And the North Crimean canal, which provides a crucial water supply to Crimea -- occupied since 2014 by Russia -- could be destroyed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's goal is to halt the Ukrainian advance in the region and protect Russian troops, according to Zelensky's adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- Energy battlefield-</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cities across Ukraine began curbing electricity consumption ahead of winter Thursday as authorities warned that heavy damage to the country's energy grid by Russian attacks would spark a new wave of refugees from the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Russia's leadership has given the order to turn the energy system itself into a battlefield. The consequences of this are very dangerous, again for all of us in Europe," Zelensky said in an address to the EU council</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Energy-saving measures were put in place across the country after Russian missile and drone strikes destroyed at least 30 percent of the country's power stations in a week, according to authorities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following blackouts in parts of Kyiv overnight, the city's mayor Vitali Klitschko urged businesses to limit screens and signage lights "as much as possible".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Even small savings and a reduction in electricity consumption in every home will help stabilise the operation of the national energy system," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainians responded defiantly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's not going to change our attitude, maybe we will only hate them more," said Olga, a resident of Dnipro in central Ukraine who declined to give her last name.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I would rather sit in the cold with no water and electricity than be in Russia," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People were rushing to buy auxiliary power supplies like generators and batteries, according to Kyrylo, an electronics vendor.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking of the coming winter, he said: "I think that there will be nothing that we cannot survive."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There will be some kind of heating in any case, and the fact that it will be 16 (degrees Celsius, or 61 Fahrenheit) instead of 20 doesn't matter much. Just put on a thermal and socks," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- Iranians on the ground -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The White House meanwhile said it had evidence of Iranians taking a direct role in the war, helping Russians direct their Iranian-made "kamikaze drones" -- which are destroyed in attacks on Ukrainian targets such as power stations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Tehran is now directly engaged on the ground, and through the provision of weapons that are impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine," said White House national security spokesman John Kirby.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He added that there was also concern Iran might supply surface-to-surface missiles to Russia for use in the war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The United States is going to pursue all means to expose, deter and confront Iran's provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people," he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The European Union and United Kingdom announced sanctions on three Iranian generals and an arms firm accused of supplying Russia with drones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, bipartisan support for military aid to Ukraine is starting to wane in Washington, with Republicans signalling that funding could be cut after congressional midterm elections next month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"They said that if they win they're not likely to fund, to continue to fund Ukraine," US President Joe Biden said while campaigning in Pennsylvania.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"They have no sense of American foreign policy."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- Kherson evacuation-</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Little changed along the long front lines, where Russia has been sending many of the 200,000 troops newly called up to the fight.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday visited a training centre for mobilised troops south-east of Moscow where he embraced soldiers and fired a gun.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some fighters opened their rucksacks to show him what they had been equipped with, and he asked one about his family, who replied he had a five-year-old daughter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Putin hugged him and wished him "good luck."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile Russia continued to evacuate people from Kherson city as Ukrainian forces inched closer to the southern hub, in Moscow's hands since the earliest days of the invasion in February.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow-installed authorities in Kherson said that around 15,000 people have been moved out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's Rossiya 24 TV showed images of people waiting to board ferries, unable to use bridges damaged by Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kirill Stremousov, a pro-Russian official, said on Telegram that the evacuations would give Russian forces more room to fight, and said they would not cede the city back to the Ukrainians.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Remember, nobody is going to give up Kherson," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Ukrainians said the exit of civilians from the area was in fact forced deportations to Russia.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The US-based Institute for the Study of War, in its daily analysis, said that as Ukrainian forces continue to close in on Kherson city, Russian authorities "are likely setting information conditions to justify planned Russian retreats and significant territorial losses." BSS/AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>