In Bakhmut and Kherson, Ukrainian forces advance against Russian fighters

Away from the battlefield, the Kremlin continued to push a claim, asserted repeatedly without evidence, that Kyiv was preparing to use a “dirty bomb,” a weapon that combines conventional explosives with radioactive material — an accusation that was dismissed by the United States and other Western nations.

U.S. officials said that Moscow’s allegations raised a risk that Russia itself was planning to carry out a radiation attack, potentially as a pretext to justify further escalation of the war amid its continuing territorial setbacks.

In a statement on Tuesday, Ukraine’s nuclear energy operator, Energoatom, issued a similar warning, citing the Russian military’s control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar. “Energoatom assumes that such actions of the occupiers may indicate that they are preparing a terrorist act using nuclear materials and radioactive waste stored at the ZNPP site,” the statement said.

The renewed fears of some kind of radiation attack added to the ominous sense that Putin’s war in Ukraine is growing even more deadly and dangerous as each side seeks to redraw facts on the ground before winter. Russia this month began a relentless bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy system, using missiles and attack drones in an apparent bid to plunge the country into cold and darkness.

In Washington, President Biden faced pressure from some liberal Democrats in Congress to push for negotiations with Russia alongside the unprecedented U.S. financial and military aid for Ukraine, though Putin has left little room for diplomacy by illegally annexing four Ukrainian regions, in addition to his 2014 invasion and seizure of Crimea.

Putin failed in his initial plan to conquer Kyiv and topple the Ukrainian government, and Ukrainian officials say that given his refusal to withdraw his troops and end the war, there is now no alternative but to defeat Russia on the battlefield.

Biden and Group of Seven leaders this month endorsed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for a “just peace” that involves restoration of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty, future security guarantees, reconstruction potentially paid for by Russia, and accountability for Russian war crimes.

As Ukraine continued its military gains, pro-Kremlin military bloggers and analysts confirmed new setbacks for Russia’s forces Tuesday, including in Luhansk, the easternmost occupied region of Ukraine, where Russia has had its firmest grip.

“The Ukrainian army has resumed its counteroffensive in the Luhansk direction,” the pro-Russian WarGonzo project said in its daily military update, adding that Ukrainian forces took control of a key highway between the Luhansk towns of Svatove and Kreminna.

Russia’s methodical attacks exploit frailty of Ukrainian power system

“The Russian artillery is actively working on the left bank of Zherebets river and is trying to stop the transfer of reinforcements to the enemy but the situation is very difficult,” WarGonzo added.

In the Donetsk region, the Wagner paramilitary force, controlled by St. Petersburg businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin appeared to be getting pushback from Bakhmut, where the mercenaries had spent weeks pummeling the city and making small gains. Military experts said there was little strategic value in the push to seize Bakhmut, but Prigozhin appeared to see the fight as a chance to claim a political prize, while regular Russian military units have lost ground in other combat zones.

Ukrainian forces recaptured a concrete factory on Bakhmut’s eastern outskirts, the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported in a Monday update. On Sunday, Prigozhin had acknowledged the slow pace of Wagner’s advances, saying they are gaining only “100-200 meters a day.”

“Our units are constantly meeting with the most fierce enemy resistance, and I note that the enemy is well prepared, motivated, and works confidently and harmoniously,” Prigozhin said in a statement published by his catering company’s press service. “This does not prevent our fighters from moving forward, but I cannot comment on how long it will take.”

The Washington Post also reported that Prigozhin recently vented personally to Putin about his military’s handling of the war in Ukraine, a sign of his growing assertiveness in Kremlin circles as he…