Ukraine war: Russia claims advances in northeast, Zelenskyy assassination plot, POW exchange

Moscow said on Monday it had advanced 3km towards Kupiansk in northeast Ukraine. 

The area was recaptured by Ukrainian forces last September and has faced a Russian offensive for several weeks.

"Over the past three days, Russian soldiers have made an advance... of more than three kilometres on an 11-kilometre-long stretch of the front," the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin.

Kyiv admitted in July it was in a "defensive position" in the Kupyansk region, amid a Russian push in the area. Since then, Moscow has alleged it is nibbling away on the ground.

Kyiv forces began a massive counteroffensive in June to try to retake the eastern and southern territories held by the Russian army.

Progress so far has been limited, with Ukrainian forces coming up against deeply entrenched Russian troops who have had months to build strong lines of defence, made up of trenches, anti-tank booby traps and minefields. 

Ukraine's security services said Monday they arrested a woman accused of helping Russia plan an attack on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

In a statement, the SBU said it had detained a "Russian secret service informant who was gathering intelligence on the president's planned visit to the Mykolaiv region," close to the front line. 

Moscow then had in view a "massive air attack", it claimed. 

The SBU said the woman, who worked in a store on a military base, "tried to establish the time and the list of places of the provisional itinerary" of Zelenskyy. 

She was arrested while passing information to Russian spies and now faces 12 years behind bars, it said. 

The SBU released a blurred photo of the woman, held by officers, along with phone messages and handwritten notes about military activities.

Zelenskyy said on