Leading Ukrainian judge killed by Russian drone while delivering food aid in Kharkiv

The Telegraph:  A Ukrainian Supreme Court judge on a food aid mission in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region has been killed by a Russian drone.

Leonid Loboyko was one of at least 15 civilians killed by Russian attacks on Ukraine over the weekend.

The 61-year-old had been travelling in a car to a village north of Kharkiv city when the Russian drone struck. Three women, also in the car, were injured during the attack.

“In the hearts of all who knew Leonid Loboyko, he will always be remembered as a kind, wise and compassionate person,” the Supreme Court’s press office said in a statement.

Leonid Loboyko was described by the Supreme Court as a ‘kind, wise and compassionate person’

The largest death toll of the weekend came on Saturday from a drone attack on a hospital in Sumy, near the border with Russia, that killed 10 people.

A Russian missile attack also killed four people in a village in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine and Russian glide bombs, standard bombs fitted with fins and a basic GPS device, smashed into the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, injuring 15 people.

On the front lines, Russian military bloggers said Russian forces had been making progress but slowly, because of Ukraine’s heavy drone coverage.

“The advance is extremely cautious because of the difficulties in supplying forward units under enemy drone fire,” said Two Majors, a Russian military blog channel.

‘Victory plan’

Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has also travelled back to Ukraine from the United States, where he met with Joe Biden as well as with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the two presidential candidates, to present his “victory plan”.

Although US officials were reportedly unimpressed with his “victory plan”, and Mr Biden did not agree to allow Ukraine to fire Western-made missiles at Russia, Mr Zelensky was still upbeat about continued US support.

“Many tasks have been accomplished during this visit,” he said. “October is the time for decisions.”

Russia has also been ramping up its diplomatic efforts focused on a summit of the Brics, a group of wealthy developing nations, in central Russia next month.

Brics is an economic club set up in 2009 and named after its first members, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Russia is keen to expand the group into an anti-Western bloc.

In January this year, it admitted Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

It is expected formally to admit 12 more members in October, including Turkey, Azerbaijan and Libya.