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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

9:20 a.m. Ukraine’s armed forces have started an offensive action on several fronts in the south of the country, a military spokesperson said, launching a much-anticipated counteroffensive to regain the Kherson region from invading Russian forces, RFE/RL reported.

“Today we started offensive actions in various directions, including in the Kherson region,” Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne cited Southern Command spokesperson Natalya Humenyuk as saying. She confirmed the news minutes later at a briefing.

Russia captured swathes of southern Ukraine in the first phase of its February 24 invasion. Ukraine has been pledging for weeks now to conduct a major counteroffensive to retake land and has used Western-made, long-range weapons to hit Russian supply lines.

Humenyuk said that Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russia’s southern logistical routes had “unquestionably weakened the enemy,” adding that more than 10 Russian ammunition dumps had been hit over the last week.

However, she declined to disclose more details about the new offensive.

9:00 a.m.: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Monday of economic terrorism by trying to prevent European nations from stocking up on gas ahead of a winter when the impact of soaring energy bills is set to hit households and businesses hard, according to Reuters.

How to respond to the rise in gas prices, which has been made worse by a squeeze on supplies from Russia, is top of the political agenda across the continent as autumn approaches.

Zelenskyy spoke in a video address to an energy conference in Norway. His comments come as Russia’s Gazprom plans maintenance this week that will halt gas flows along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that links Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea.

The outage has fueled fears that Russia is curbing supply to put pressure on Western nations opposed to its invasion of Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies.

8:30 a.m.: Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has promised to provide a further $46.75 million in military assistance to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia’s ongoing invasion, RFE/RL reported.

Speaking to journalists after meeting in Stockholm with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday, Andersson said that a total additional aid package to Ukraine will reach about $94 million, when funds for the armed forces and the reconstruction of the country are combined.

“Borders must never be changed by force or war,” Andersson said.

Kuleba thanked Sweden for its support since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February, adding that the best way to save Ukrainian lives is to supply it with weapons such as howitzers and shells.

“As long as the war continues, we will be asking for more weapons”,” Kuleba said at the press conference.

6:05 a.m.: Speaking at an oil and gas conference in Norway via video link, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy said Monday that Russia is trying to prevent European nations from filling their gas storages enough to cope with the coming winter, Reuters reported.

5:45 a.m.: The director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Robert Mardini, is in Ukraine this week to take stock of the ICRC’s humanitarian activities, the ICRC said in a statement on Monday.

While in Ukraine, Mardini will “meet Ukrainian communities supported by the ICRC, including family members of prisoners of war,” the statement said, adding that he “will reiterate our [the ICRC’s] long-standing commitment to helping all victims of the international armed conflict in Ukraine.”

The ICRC said Mardini has plans to travel to Russia, tn an effort to continue the humanitarian organization’s work on “bilateral discussions on humanitarian issues.”

Mardini is scheduled to hold a news conference for the media on August 31.

5:15 a.m.: Germany will keep up its support for Ukraine’s defense for as long as it takes, and it will send state-of-the-art weapons to Kyiv in the coming weeks, Reuters reported Monday, citing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s text of a speech prepared for delivery.

Apart from sending advanced air defense, radar systems or drones, Germany could assume special responsibility in terms of building up Ukraine’s artillery and air defense capacities, Scholz said during his visit to the Czech capital.

5 a.m.: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters Monday in Stockholm that the international community should be united in demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying that is the only way to ensure security at the site. The plan is situated near the front line of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We expect from the mission a clear statement of facts of violation of nuclear safety protocols. We know that Russia is putting not only Ukraine but also entire world at threat, at risk of nuclear accident,” Kuleba said.

4:30 a.m.: Russia’s top security agency has identified a second Ukrainian who it alleges was involved in the killing of the daughter of a Russian nationalist ideologue, The Associated Press reported.

The FSB said that Bogdan Tsyganenko helped prepare the killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, who was described by some in the West as “Putin’s brain.”

The FSB charged that Tsyganenko provided the main suspect with a fake ID and fake license plates and helped her assemble an explosive device that was planted in Dugina’s car.

Dugina died when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up on the night of August 20 as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow.

4:15 a.m.: Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday Sweden would provide a further $46.75 million (500 million crowns) in military assistance to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported.

Andersson told reporters after hosting Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for talks that her government would provide a total additional aid package of 1 billion crowns, both military and civilian assistance, to Ukraine.

Kuleba called on Sweden to provide the country with weapons such as howitzers and shells. “As long as the war continues, we will be asking for more weapons,” Kuleba told reporters.

4 a.m.: The Group of Seven’s Non-Proliferation Directors’ Group on Monday welcomed a trip by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and reiterated concerns about the safety of the plant under the control of Russian armed forces, according to Reuters.

“We reaffirm that the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and the electricity that it produces rightly belong to Ukraine and stress that attempts by Russia to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid would be unacceptable,” it said in a statement.

A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog headed on Monday to the plant, captured by Russian troops in March but run by Ukrainian staff, and will reach it later this week.

3 a.m.: Ericsson said on Monday it will gradually wind down business activities in Russia over the coming months as the Swedish telecom equipment maker completes its customer obligations, Reuters reported.

The company, which suspended its business in Russia indefinitely in April, said it has about 400 employees in Russia and it would provide financial support to affected employees.

2 a.m.:

1 a.m.: European Union defense and foreign ministers, meeting in Prague this week, will discuss options for setting up an EU military training mission for Ukrainian forces and also look into calls by some members to ban Russian tourists from entering the bloc.

Several EU countries have been training Ukrainian troops for a while, mainly enabling them to operate weapons Western nations are delivering to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia’s invasion.

It is not clear yet where an EU training program could be based and what mandate it might have, EU diplomats told Reuters ahead of the defense ministers’ meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

The bloc’s foreign policy and security chief, Josep Borrell, has given few details of his plans so far, merely stating such a program would not be based in Ukraine but in neighboring countries. Reuters has the story.

12:05 a.m.: The head of the U.N.’s atomic energy agency said it has a team on the way to visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant where there has been weeks of international concern that the facility could be hit and cause a radiation leak.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi tweeted that he is leading the team that will be at the power plant “later this week.”

“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Grossi said.

The IAEA said the mission will focus on assessing physical damage at the plant, determining the functionality of safety and security systems, evaluating staff conditions and performing “urgent safeguards activities.”

Russia has controlled the plant site since early in its six-month invasion, but the plant has been operated by Ukrainian engineers.

Despite numerous attacks in the area that Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other, Grossi said Ukraine had told it that “all safety systems remained operational and there had been no increase in radiation levels.”

Some information in this report came from Reuters.

That’s according to Raphaël Glucksmann, a French MEP, who spoke at a press conference set up by Guildhall, Ukrinform reports.

“Ukrainians are showing us not only courage but also dignity (…). The worst thing on Earth today is Russian fascism and the crimes that have been conceived by the regime that Russia’s had for the past 20 years. And in fact, what the Ukrainians are doing is crucial for yourself, but it is also crucial for the whole of Europe, because if Putin is not defeated, if the Russian fascists are not defeated in Ukraine, Europe will not know peace anymore,” said the MEP.

Read also: Zelensky, Macron discuss situation at front, Russia’s nuclear terrorism at ZNPP

“The problem we’re having now is much deeper than just a problem with Putin plus some hundred people around him. It’s a problem with the (Russian – ed.) society, which has become fascist and there’s support for the war. Those who don’t support it actively, have an illusion that their country can invade Ukraine, rape children, kill people, destroy cities, and at the same time they can live a normal life. We should break this illusion. If you want a normal life, you should stop the war,” concluded Raphaël Glucksmann.

Earlier, the MEP called for recognizing Russia a terrorist state, saying that the Russian Federation finances terrorism, carries out terrorist acts in Ukraine and around the world, and therefore should be recognized as a terrorist state. The European Parliament, he said, would support such move.

PRAGUE: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday pledged emphatic backing for Ukraine and other hopefuls to join the European Union, but stressed that enlarging the bloc to “30 or 36” members would require reforms.

Scholz said he was “committed to” having the six nations of the western Balkans, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine accede to the EU.

But as the bloc widened, each member’s veto right would have to go, he added, with a transition to a “majority voting” system so as not to slow EU decision-making down.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 was already putting the system of unanimity to the test, at a time when swift action was all the more necessary.

“Let’s seek compromises together. I could imagine, for example, starting with majority voting in areas in which it is particularly important that we speak with one voice — in sanctions policy for example, or on issues relating to human rights,” the German leader said.

He also said that member states were not faced with only two options of voting yes or no, but can also adopt “constructive abstention.”

In the speech on his vision for the bloc at Charles University in the Czech Republic’s capital Prague, Scholz also underlined that the war in Ukraine has laid bare the “uncoordinated shrinkage of European armed forces and defense budgets,” which has to be rectified with “coordinated growth.”

This meant greater cooperation between European businesses on armaments projects, joint manufacturing and procurement.

Germany, he said, will be ramping up “very significantly” on its air defense system, and also design it in a way that it could also be a shield for European neighbors from the Baltics to Scandinavia.

Scholz did not give details about the system, but he had in March revealed plans to purchase an Israeli anti-missile shield system that could also offer protective cover for neighboring EU states.

While that will be a long-term project, Berlin was already coordinating with the Netherlands on a “division of labor” on arming Ukraine, the chancellor said as he urged other allies to join in the coordination.

“I can, for example, imagine that Germany would assume special responsibility in terms of building up Ukraine’s artillery and air defense capacities,” he said, vowing support for Kyiv for “as long as it takes.”

Er ist der General, der Putins Truppen die Stirn bietet: Walerij Saluschnyj (49), Oberbefehlshaber der Streitkräfte der Ukraine.

Er gilt als Patriot und erfahrener Kampfoffizier, stellte seine Führungsqualitäten und seinen militärischen Scharfsinn während der russischen Invasion 2014-2015 unter Beweis. Seither genießt er höchstes Ansehen in der Truppe.

Lesen Sie mit BILDplus alles zum General, der der Ukraine Hoffnung schenkt.

What had started as an effort to retrieve national security documents has now been transformed into one of the most challenging and complicated criminal investigations in recent memory.

When the F.B.I. searched Mar-a-Lago this month, federal agents recovered 11 sets of classified material.Credit…Josh Ritchie for The New York Times

The UK appears to have just seen off its fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, although experts continue to fear that another could arrive this autumn once the weather turns unless proper precautions are taken.

The country saw a 43 per cent spike in coronavirus cases at the beginning of June, seemingly caused by people coming together to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee over the course of a four-day weekend.

Driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron – the strain that spread so rapidly across the UK in December 2021 and January 2022 before gradually falling away – cases continued to rise to a peak of around 4.6m cases in mid-July before gradually beginning to decline.

While August finds Britain in a much better place in terms of infections, closer to just 120,000 per day according to the ZOE Health Study, the recent spike was a timely reminder that Covid has not gone away and that we still need to be vigilant as new mutations continue to emerge around the world.

The approval of Moderna’s new Omicron-specific jab is a welcome development for the UK and the shot could end up playing a significant role in any further vaccine drives to come.

With that in mind, what follows is an overview of some of the most common symptoms associated with that variant and its offspring for the fully-vaccinated – and two early warning signs that you might have it.

Most common symptoms for the fully vaccinated

Researchers in Norway conducted a study interviewing 111 out of 117 guests to a party on 26 November 2021 where there was an Omicron outbreak.

Of the group interviewed, 66 had definitive cases of Covid and 15 had possible cases of the virus.

Of the 111 participants, 89 per cent had received two doses of an mRNA vaccine and none had received a booster shot.

According to the findings published in the infectious disease and epidemiology journal Eurosurveillance, there were eight key symptoms experienced by the group of fully-vaccinated partygoers.

These were: a persistent cough, runny nose, fatigue, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, fever and sneezing.

The study found that coughs, runny noses and fatigue were among the most common symptoms in the vaccinated individuals while sneezing and fever were least common.

Public health experts also added nausea to this list of symptoms in vaccinated people who have contracted the Omicron variant.

Although the vaccine protects against the more serious risks of the virus, it is still possible to contract Covid even if you have both jabs and a booster shot.

The mild nature of the symptoms makes it hard for people to distinguish the virus from a common cold.

But, according to Professor Tim Spector of the Zoe Covid project, around 50 per cent of “‘new colds’ currently are, in fact, Covid”.

Two early warning signs you may have Omicron

Experts also suggest there are two distinct symptoms that could be a sign a positive test is around the corner: fatigue and spells of dizziness or fainting.

More than simply feeling tired, fatigue can translate to bodily pain by causing sore or weak muscles, headaches and even blurry vision and loss of appetite.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, a private practitioner and chair of the South African Medical Association, told Good Morning Britain that fatigue was one of the main symptoms of Omicron when the variant broke out in South Africa.

In fact, 40 per cent of women reported they struggled with fatigue due to Covid compared to one-third of men, according to a poll by WebMD that asked users how often they had suffered fatigue from 23 December 2021 to 4 January 2022.

Dizziness or fainting is the second sign that you may have Omicron.

A report from Germany recently suggested that there could be a link between fainting spells and Omicron after doctors in Berlin found that Covid was triggering recurrent dizzy spells in a 35-year-old patient admitted to hospital.

German newspaper Arztezeitung said that the doctors could see a “clear connection” between the infection and the fainting spells.

The judge, an appointee of President Donald J. Trump, indicated she was prepared to grant Mr. Trump’s request for an arbiter, or special master, to review the documents seized by the F.B.I.

Judge Aileen M. Cannon set a hearing for arguments in the matter for Thursday in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Fla.Credit…Jim Rassol/Associated Press