Ukraine latest news: Russian general admits situation 'difficult' in Kherson - as residents being evacuated amid claim 'something big is going on' (2023)

As Kyiv is hit by more Russian strikes,the latest edition of the Sky News Ukraine War Diaries podcast hears from people in the city re-adjusting to a new reality.

This episode hears stories from those caught up in last week's attacks on the capital - the first since the early part of the war.

The airstrikes, and the panic which ensued, is brought into sharp focus by a real time diary recorded by Kyiv resident Ilyas Verdiev and hours later, by Oksana Koshel.

Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone.

Click to subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries wherever you get your podcasts

Four people were killed in the eastern region of Donetsk on Tuesday, as Russian strikes continued across Ukraine.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the deaths were noted in the towns of Kurakhovo, Bakhmut, Kurdyumivka, and Siversk.

Meanwhile, another eight people killed by the Russians were found in Lyman, which was liberated from Russian occupation a few weeks ago.

Mr Kyrylenko said: "On 18 October, the Russians killed four civilians of Donetsk region: in Kurakhovo, Bakhmut, Kurdyumivka, and Siversk.

"In addition, eight more civilians killed by the Russians during the occupation were found in Lyman. Another 12 people were injured yesterday.

"Currently, it is impossible to establish the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovas. Every war criminal will be punished!"

A dozen Iranian-made drones were shot down in the southern region of Mykolaiv overnight on Tuesday, the region's governor said.

Russia is accused of deploying the Shahed-136 drones in large numbers in renewed bombardment across Ukraine. It has denied this is the case.

However, Vitaliy Kim said that 12 were shot down overnight.

"At night from 18 to 19 October, the enemy attacks the Mykolaiv region with Shahed-136 kamikaze drone," he said.

"Eleven drones were shot down by the forces and means of air defence of the Southern Air Command and one by soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine."

Earlier, Ukraine claimed to have shot down around 80% of weapons fired at major cities.

The photographs below capture the scene in the town of Kupiansk, which was recaptured by Ukrainian troops after weeks of Russian occupation.

The town, in the Kharkiv region, is littered with rubble, while a destroyed road bridge has been painted in the colours of the Russian flag.

Russia has claimed this morning that a Ukrainian attempt to recapture the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was repelled.

"Several hours of fighting" took place near the site, the Russian state-run RIA news agency said.

"After shelling the city, a landing attempt was launched,including an attempt to seize Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," Russian-installed official Vladimir Rogov claimed.

He said the attempt was "repelled".

For context: Russian forces captured the plant in southern Ukraine in March and have controlled it since, although it is still operated by Ukrainian technicians.

The two sides have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the site.

Nuclear experts have warned of the risk of damage to the Zaporizhzhia plant's spent nuclear fuel pools or its reactors.

This month, the Zaporizhzhia site has faced three power outages, the latest of which was restored on Monday evening.

As we have reported, Russian-installed officials in the occupied region of Kherson have warned of "difficult" times ahead as Ukrainian troops push forward.

Moscow last night confirmed evacuations will take place from towns on the right bank of the Dnipro river, due to fears around a nearby dam.

This morning, the Russian-installed chief Vladimir Saldo said between 50,000 and 60,000 people will be moved to Russia - and the left bank.

The evacuation will likely last six days, the TASS news agency reported Mr Saldo as saying.

Earlier, Russian-installed official Kirill Stremousov said the "battle for Kherson" will begin in the "very near future".

In the last hour, Mr Stremousov said the situation is "unchanged".

"The defence on the outskirts of the Kherson region stands still and is ready to repel any attacks of the Ukro-Nazi mercenaries," he said.

"We do not remove the issue of possible shelling of the right-bank part of the Kherson region from the agenda, therefore we ask civilians to cross to the left bank in order to avoid civilian casualties."

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is on a visit to Washington to talk with his counterpart and White House officials about "shared security concerns" including Ukraine and Russia, Sky News learned last night.

The secretive, last-minute nature of the trip and a comment by Armed Forces minister James Heappey - who said the conversations that Mr Wallace would be having on Tuesday were "beyond belief" - suggested particularly sensitive and serious issues would be discussed.

Sky's Kay Burley asked Foreign Secretary James Cleverly whether the trip was arranged due to concerns over possible nuclear attacks.

But Mr Cleverly sidestepped the question, insisting trips of this nature are common.

"We speak to our European counterparts, our American counterparts, our Ukrainian counterparts regularly and we do so because we have seen a shift in tactics from Russia that they are moving towards more attacks on civilian infrastructure rather than on military targets," he told Sky News.

"So, these conversations are a normal and regular part of what is frankly a very abnormal and perverse situation.

"There's urgency because civilians are being targeted in a new way and so we have to respond to that, and our response has to be done at pace. There are conversations which frankly you don't want to have over the telephone."

Pressed on whether the visit is due to a nuclear threat, Mr Cleverly said a "full range of how we help the Ukrainians defend themselves" is discussed.

"I'm here rather than in the States so I'm not going to speculate," he said.

"We talk about a range of issues every time we speak. What we are seeing in Ukraine is brutality at a scale we are not used to in Europe."

Russia last night told citizens to evacuate as officials warned of Ukrainian attacks on the southern occupied region of Kherson.

Russian-installed regional official Kirill Stremousov said the "battle for Kherson" will begin in the "very near future" in a statement on Telegram overnight.

In the last hour, Mr Stremousov said the situation is "unchanged".

"The defence on the outskirts of the Kherson region stands still and is ready to repel any attacks of the Ukro-Nazi mercenaries," he said.

"We do not remove the issue of possible shelling of the right-bank part of the Kherson region from the agenda, therefore we ask civilians to cross to the left bank in order to avoid civilian casualties."

Power has been restored at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine after a series of outages, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Director-general Rafael Grossi said connection to its last remaining power line was restored at 9.30pm on Monday, almost 18 hours after it was disrupted.

These outages show how precarious the nuclear safety and security situation remains at the power plant, as the war with Russia continues.

Mr Grossi said the disruption also "underlines the need to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the facility, following frequent shelling at or near the plant in recent months".

There were previously power cuts on 8 and 12 October.

Yesterday, the Zaporizhzhia site "continued to receive power from an off-site 330 kV line that supplies electricity through a back-up system that wasrestored late last week".

The IAEA added that, although there was no shelling overnight, four land mine explosions were spotted in the area on Tuesday.