Drone footage appears to show Russian tanks under attack on the outskirts of Kyiv.

Ukrainian forces are dug in around the village of Krasnopillia in the Donbas as they brace for an anticipated Russian offensive to take the eastern region. "We know the Russians are reinforcing and are getting ready to attack," a senior Ukrainian officer on the ground told AFP, echoing other sources who warned of a Russian assault in the Donbas that could begin at any moment. The village sits on the road between the Ukrainian-held cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, and Izyum, to the northwest, recently captured by the Russian army. On Tuesday, AFP journalists in Krasnopillia heard artillery explosions but not the sound of shots fired from automatic weapons, a sign of ground combat. While the front was stable for the moment, Russian helicopters have increased the number of flights they were making over the area, the Ukrainian officer said, often a harbinger of a large-scale operation.

Eastern Ukraine: Russian forces take small towns west of Izium to outflank Ukrainian defensive positions. Ukrainian media reports that Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov will take personal command of the Russian offensive in Izium, which aims to encircle Ukrainian forces in the Donbas. Russia struggles to make headway against Ukrainian forces holed up in Mariupol's Azovtsal plant, despite continued indiscriminate bombardment, and prepares to advance on parts of Kherson oblast still held by Ukrainian forces. Transnistria: Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of preparing false flag operations in Transnistria, a Russian-controlled sliver of neighbouring Moldova, to involve that country in the war. Russian anti-aircraft fire purportedly shoots down two drones in Kursk and Voronezh, two other Russian provinces bordering Ukraine.

Warning: Some readers may find the descriptions in this article disturbing. A video posted online and verified by the New York Times appears to show troops fighting under a Ukrainian banner shooting what is believed to be a captured Russian soldier outside of a village west of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. In the clip, which was posted online on Monday, the Russian soldier is seen with a jacket pulled over his head, apparently wounded but still breathing, the newspaper reported on Wednesday. He's gasping," a man is heard saying. A soldier then shoots the man twice.

Balakliya, Ukraine – After months of living in fear, Olga Ivanova says she was shocked to see how hastily the Russian forces who occupied her village had withdrawn. "We found 16 of them hiding in a cellar; they had nowhere to go," said the elderly resident of Verbivka, in northeastern Ukraine. "The others stole cars to leave, they also took bicycles. That's how the Russian retreat was." That was on September 6, the day Ukraine launched a counteroffensive that took Russia by surprise.