Russian forces launched a renewed offensive push near Avdiivka on Friday, according to a US war think tank.

The Insitute for the Study of War (ISW) said Moscow’s troops had “marginally advanced”.

It added the latest offensive indicated that the Russian military command “remains committed to offensive operations in the area despite heavy materiel and personnel losses”.

This includes the damage and destruction of almost 50 Russian tanks and over 100 armored vehicles by Ukrainian forces during the past day of fighting near Avdiivka, reported the Ukrainian General Staff on Friday, according to the ISW.

A Russian-American journalist working for a U.S. government-funded media company has been detained in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, according to her employer.

Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva is the second U.S. journalist to be detained in Russia this year. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested for alleged spying in March.

Full report:

A Russian missile hit a postal distribution centre in Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv on Saturday, killing six people and injuring 14, Kharkiv region governor Oleh Synehubov said.

Synehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said several of the injured were in serious condition in hospital.

“This is strictly a civilian site,” Synheubov said. “The Russians have inflicted more terror on Kharkiv‘s peaceful population.”

While the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, result in an additional threat, the weapon would not change the situation along the 1,500km (932 mile) frontline, Mr Putin told reporters in Beijing. He said his forces will be able to repel attacks by the top-tier missile system.

Arpan Rai reports:

Ukrainian forces are fighting off a new Russian military onslaught in the bombarded eastern city of Avdiivka where intense fighting has been concentrated this month, senior military officials said.

“The enemy is not relenting in attempts to break through our defences and surround (Avdiivka),” Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhnyi said in a video posted on Telegram in which he is seen conferring with officers in Avdiivka and Kupiansk.

Apran Rai reports:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone with U.S. President Joe Biden about Washington’s future support for Kyiv, and Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a military base near the Ukrainian border, as the warring countries laid plans for the winter and next year’s combat operations.

Almost 20 months of war have sapped both sides’ military resources. The fighting is likely to settle into positional and attritional warfare during the approaching wintry weather, analysts say, with little change along the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.

Illia Novikov reports:

A Russian-American journalist was ordered Friday to be detained for another three days on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, Russian media reported.

Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, appeared in court in the central Russian city of Kazan, according to the state news agency Tass.

Full report:

The British Army’s Royal Engineers have trained Ukrainian civilian engineers how to defend their energy sector from Russian attacks this winter.

Damage and destruction of critical national infrastructure (CNI) by Russian missile and drone attacks has represented one of the greatest threats to the lives and safety of Ukrainian civilians since the invasion.

The two-week training package was developed after a request from Ukraine.

Trainees were taught how to identify potential blast ranges and the impacts of different weapons and explosives, and where best to locate physical and aerial barriers to help protect sites from Russian attacks, the Ministry of Defence said.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said the training was “essential” to protect Ukrainian civilians as winter approaches.

Mr Shapps said: “Ukraine’s civilian population faces mortal danger on a daily basis from Putin’s forces and their indiscriminate campaign of bombardment against its critical infrastructure.

“The Ukrainian people have demonstrated unwavering resilience in the face of this illegal invasion and this tailored package of training will help save lives during the bitterly cold winter months, where access to reliable energy is of vital importance.”

The White House on Friday released a sweeping set of proposals to bolster Israel and Ukraine in the midst of two wars as well as invest more in domestic defense manufacturing, humanitarian assistance and managing the influx of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The total cost of the supplemental funding request was pegged at just over $105 billion. President Joe Biden hopes Congress will move urgently on the legislation, and he made the case for deepening U.S. support for its allies during a rare Oval Office address on Thursday night.

At least two civilians were killed and others wounded across Ukraine as Russian forces continued to shell frontline areas and other parts of the country, local Ukrainian officials reported.

In Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown in central Ukraine, a 60-year-old man died on Friday evening when a Russian missile slammed into an industrial facility, according to Telegram posts by Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul.

Mr Vilkul added that the man’s wife was taken to hospital with serious shrapnel wounds.

Early on Saturday, Mr Vilkul reported that Russian missiles and drones overnight hit the same site again, causing unspecified damage and sparking a fire that was put out by morning.

Mr Vilkul did not elaborate on the site’s nature or whether it was linked to Ukraine’s war effort. He said nobody was hurt in the second strike.

In Ukraine’s frontline Kherson region to the south, one civilian was killed and another suffered wounds as Russian forces launched "mass shelling" attacks, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Saturday.

In a Telegram post, Mr Prokudin said that Russian troops used mortars, artillery, tanks, drones, and multiple-rocket launchers to target the province, striking some residential areas.