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Aug 10 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged on Saturday to "strengthen our Ukrainian spiritual independence", suggesting that the country's leadership was moving towards effectively banning the branch of the Orthodox Church that has links to Moscow.

A majority of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, but the faith is split into one branch with traditional links to the Russian Orthodox church and an independent church, recognised by the world Orthodox hierarchy since 2019.

Membership of the independent church loyal to the Kyiv patriarchate has swelled since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022. But the minority Moscow-linked church retains influence and Ukrainian leaders accuse it of abetting the invasion and trying to poison public opinion.

"I have just held a meeting -- a preparatory one -- regarding a decision that will strengthen our Ukrainian spiritual independence," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

• Russia imposes security regime on border regions
  • Ukrainian forces battling inside Russia
  • Belarus destroys suspected drones from Ukraine
  • IAEA calls for restraint around Kursk nuclear station

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Russia was fighting intense battles on Saturday against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region after Ukraine's biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia's Kursk region, a surprise attack that may be aimed at gaining leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the U.S. election.

Supported by swarms of drones and heavy artillery fire, Ukrainian units moved quickly to carve out a sliver of the Western Russian territory beside the border while sabotage units pierced deeper inside Russia, according to Russian war bloggers.

"The armed forces continue to repel the attempted invasion by the Ukrainian armed forces," Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday, adding that intense battles were focused around Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Ivashkovskoye, settlements around 10-20 km inside Russia.

In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday while Belarus said it had repelled what it thinks was a major drone attack from Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin cast the Ukrainian attack as a major provocation and though Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday that Ukraine's incursion had been halted, Russia has thus far failed to push the Ukrainian forces back over the border.

Russian military bloggers said on Saturday the situation had stabilised after Russia rushed in forces to halt the surprise advance, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.

The Ukrainian attack has prompted some in Moscow to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily after more than two years of the most intense land war in Europe since World War Two.

• Russia imposes security regime on border regions
  • Ukrainian forces battling inside Russia
  • Belarus destroys suspected drones from Ukraine
  • IAEA calls for restraint around Kursk nuclear station

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Russia was fighting intense battles on Saturday against thousands of Ukrainian troops as deep as 20 km (12 miles) inside the Kursk region after Ukraine's biggest attack on Russian sovereign territory since the start of the war in 2022.

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border early on Tuesday and swept across some Western parts of Russia's Kursk region, a surprise attack that may be aimed at gaining leverage in possible ceasefire talks after the U.S. election.

Supported by swarms of drones and heavy artillery fire, Ukrainian units moved quickly to carve out a sliver of the Western Russian territory beside the border while sabotage units pierced deeper inside Russia, according to Russian war bloggers.

"The armed forces continue to repel the attempted invasion by the Ukrainian armed forces," Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday, adding that intense battles were focused around Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Ivashkovskoye, settlements around 10-20 km inside Russia.

In a sign of the gravity of the situation, Russia imposed a sweeping security regime in three border regions on Saturday while Belarus said it had repelled what it thinks was a major drone attack from Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin cast the Ukrainian attack as a major provocation and though Russia's top general, Valery Gerasimov, said on Wednesday that Ukraine's incursion had been halted, Russia has thus far failed to push the Ukrainian forces back over the border.

Russian military bloggers said on Saturday the situation had stabilised after Russia rushed in forces to halt the surprise advance, though they said Ukraine was swiftly building up forces.

The Ukrainian attack has prompted some in Moscow to question why Ukraine was able to pierce the Kursk region so easily after more than two years of the most intense land war in Europe since World War Two.

Bangladesh Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan is leaving his position, with other Supreme Court justices also likely to resign. Student protesters are still making demands after they pressured PM Sheikh Hasina to flee.

What do we know so far?

Asif Nazrul, an adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, said in a Facebook video message that Obaidul resigned after he was cautioned by student protesters of "dire consequences" if he stayed put in his role.

Nazrul cautioned demonstrators to not "damage any public property" in his video message.

Ukrainian troops have apparently entered Russia's Belgorod Oblast during the ongoing incursion into Kursk oblast, Ukrainian media reported based on a video published on the morning of Aug. 10.

In the video, posted by Ukrainian media, five uniformed men with blue tape armbands are standing outside the building as one of them says: "I wish you health, the 252nd battalion is in the village of Poroz, Belgorod Oblast. Glory to Ukraine!"

The soldiers in the video held the battalion's flag and a Georgian flag, and the sign on the building behind them reads "Porozovsky Village Club."

According to the Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne, the Ukrainian-based fact-checking project VoxCheck confirmed the video as filmed in Poroz, three kilometers away from the Ukrainian border.

The date of the video's filming is unknown. It is also unknown whether it was a raid or an expansion of the ongoing cross-border incursion into Russia, Suspilne said.

DALLAS (AP) — The uncle of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter who killed 19 students and two teachers begged police to let him try to talk his nephew down, according to a 911 call included in a massive trove of recordings and transcripts released by city officials Saturday.

“Maybe he could listen to me because he does listen to me, everything I tell him he does listen to me,” said the man, who identified himself as Armando Ramos. “Maybe he could stand down or do something to turn himself in,” Ramos said, his voice cracking.

identified as Salvador Ramos, was with him at his house the night before. He said his nephew stayed with him in his bedroom all night, and told him that was upset because his grandmother was “bugging” him.

“Oh my god, please, please don’t do nothing stupid,” the man says on the call. “I think he’s shooting kids.”

The call came in at about 1 p.m. on May 24, 2022, about 10 minutes after the shooting had stopped. Salvador Ramos was fatally shot by officials at 12:50 p.m.

Susan Wojcicki, a pioneering tech executive who helped shape Google and YouTube, has died, her husband said. She was 56.

Wojcicki played a key role in Google’s creation and served nine years as YouTube’s CEO, stepping down last year to focus on her “family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she said at the time.

Susan Wojcicki, a pioneering tech executive who helped shape Google and YouTube, has died, her husband said. She was 56.

Wojcicki played a key role in Google’s creation and served nine years as YouTube’s CEO, stepping down last year to focus on her “family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about,” she said at the time.

Firefighters and police officers work at a site of a supermarket heavily damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine

Aug 9 (Reuters) - A Russian missile struck a supermarket in the Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka in the front-line Donetsk region on Friday, killing at least 14 people and injuring 43 others, Ukrainian officials said.

Heavy black smoke clouds rose from the destroyed building in images and videos posted by officials. The interior minister later said the blaze was put out.

"Russian terrorists hit an ordinary supermarket and a post office. There are people under the rubble," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X. Emergency services continued working out the rubble looking for survivors, he added.

The unprecedented assault entered its fourth day Friday with Moscow rushing reinforcements and bombing its own territory to try to contain the Ukrainian advance.

A convoy of burnt-out military trucks, some bearing the "Z" symbol of the Kremlin’s war and appearing to contain bodies, sits along the side of a highway.

The video, circulating on social media Friday and geolocated by NBC News, doesn’t show a beleaguered section of the front lines in eastern Ukraine. It is a village in Kursk, across the border in southern Russia.

For days now Vladimir Putin’s forces have struggled to put down an incursion into Russian territory by Ukrainian troops, after a surprise attack that threatened to upend the war’s status quo and open a new front in a daring challenge to the Kremlin.

The Pentagon has expressed no concern regarding the advance of Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk Oblast, the Pentagon's press service reports.

Source: European Pravda, citing Sabrina Singh, Deputy Spokesperson for the Pentagon

Details: "No, because at the end of the day, Ukraine is fighting for its sovereign territory that its neighbour invaded. So, if we want to de-escalate tensions, as we've said from the beginning, the best way to do that is Putin can make that decision today to withdraw troops from Ukraine," Singh stated, when asked about the potential escalation of tensions due to Ukrainian forces entering Kursk Oblast