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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Jane Clinton, Mattha Busby and Adam Fulton

Russia-Ukraine war: arrest of Russian pro-war blogger likely to trigger fury in military, says UK – as it happened

Russia Ukraine United States United Kingdom Igor Girkin Volodymyr Zelenksyy NATO Jens Stoltenberg Vladimir Putin Crimea
Vladimir Putin on a train
Igor Girkin was arrested after criticising the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool/EPA

The time is just after 8.30pm in Ukraine. Here is a closing summary of events:

Updated

Residents of Mykolaiv collecting clean water from the special tram driving daily around the city of Mykolaiv, Ukraine. A key pipeline to the southern Ukrainian port city was hit by a missile in the early days of the invasion, but for now at least people are managing to keep vital services running.
Residents of Mykolaiv collecting clean water from the special tram driving daily around the city of Mykolaiv, Ukraine. A key pipeline to the southern Ukrainian port city was hit by a missile in the early days of the invasion, but for now at least people are managing to keep vital services running. Photograph: Kasia Strek/The Observer

Ludmyla Osadchuk put her foot to the pedal and the rickety red-and-white tram edged forward, exiting the depot with a crunching of wheels and a rattle of the old, loosely fitting doors. On board were three blue canisters, each holding 1,000 litres of water.

With a “Special route” sign attached to the front window, the tram trundled to the first of four stops in different parts of Mykolaiv. The only passenger was former tram driver Serhiy Vytstyna, who hopped out at the stop and connected a set of pumps to the canisters.

For the next hour, the tram remained stationary, as people came to collect water: some had trolleys with a dozen five-litre bottles to fill; one elderly lady shuffled away holding just one bottle in her hand, as much as she could carry.

Then the pumps were disconnected and the tram carried on to its next distribution point. The water tram has been running through Mykolaiv for a year now, and everyone knows the timetable.

The war has affected every city in Ukraine, but in each place the experience has been different. For Mykolaiv, a southern port city of nearly half a million inhabitants, which the Russians bombarded heavily at the start of the invasion but failed to occupy, a large part of the story has been about water.

Read the full report here.

Updated

Moscow says West ‘responsible’ for death of Russian journalist in Ukraine

The death of a Russian journalist in Ukraine was “a heinous, premeditated crime” committed by Western powers and Kyiv, Russia’s foreign ministry has said, vowing a “response” against those to blame.

As we reported earlier the Russian military announced that Rostislav Zhuravlev, a war correspondent working for the state RIA Novosti news agency, had been killed in a Ukrainian strike in the southern Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday.

Three other journalists were allegedly wounded.

The Russian foreign ministry said:

Everything indicates that the attack on the group of journalists was not carried out by chance.

The competent international organisations prefer, as before in such cases, to turn a blind eye to this heinous crime.

Reuters reported that Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced what she called “criminal terror” by Ukraine and said, without providing evidence, the attack appeared deliberate.

The perpetrators of the brutal massacre of the Russian journalist will inevitably receive the punishment they deserve … those who supplied cluster munitions to their proteges in Kyiv will also share the full measure of responsibility.

Ukraine’s air defence units shot down five Russian combat and nine reconaissance drones over the past 24 hours, Euromaidan Press has reported, citing the air force.

Updated

Here are some of the latest pictures coming to us over the wires.

Residents carry their belongings as they evacuate in the small town of Oktyabrskoye near Simferopol, following a reported Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea. The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the attack.
Residents carry their belongings as they evacuate in the small town of Oktyabrskoye near Simferopol, following a reported Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea. The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the attack. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
The 35th Marine Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces carry out military activities as mechanical engineers supporting the brigade’s troops repair military equipment near the front line in Donetsk.
The 35th Marine Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces carry out military activities as mechanical engineers supporting the brigade’s troops repair military equipment near the front line in Donetsk. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The recruitment centre of the Third Separate Assault Brigade – a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces – opens in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv is the third city where their recruiting centre will operate.
The recruitment centre of the Third Separate Assault Brigade – a brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces – opens in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv is the third city where their recruiting centre will operate. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

President Zelenskiy said he has spoken with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on the phone about sustaining the Black Sea grain initiative as well as agreements reached during the Vilnius summit and “further actions regarding the integration of Ukraine into Nato”.

He added on Twitter:

We shared assessments of the current situation in the Black Sea and the risks it poses for global food security.

We also identified with Mr. Stoltenberg the priority and future steps necessary for unblocking and sustainable operation of the Black Sea grain corridor.

Updated

Summary

  • A drone attack on an ammunition depot in Crimea has prompted authorities to evacuate everyone within a 3-mile (5km) radius and briefly suspend road traffic on the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia, the Moscow-installed regional governor has said.

  • The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target.

  • Russia criticised the US after the alleged death of war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency after what was claimed to have been the use of cluster bombs near the frontline in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.

  • The US plans to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine worth up to $400m as Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, it was reported. Zelenskiy also said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was about to “gain pace”.

  • Unesco has condemned Russia’s attack on the historic centre of Odesa, which is protected under the World Heritage Convention. Last night the city’s residents were told to head to bomb shelters for a fourth successive night.

  • Russia’s arrest of Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and leading nationalist military blogger, will probably infuriate elements in the military as well as his fellow bloggers, according to UK intelligence.

  • The Polish deputy foreign minister, Pawel Jablonski, has said his meeting with the Russian ambassador to Poland – after he was summoned after Vladimir Putin alleged Poland harboured territorial ambitions in western Ukraine – was “very brief”.

  • The director of the CIA has been made a cabinet member by the US president, Joe Biden, who said the agency has been providing “good intelligence, delivered with honesty and integrity”.

Updated

A drone attack on an ammunition depot in Crimea has prompted authorities to evacuate everyone within a 3-mile (5km) radius and briefly suspend road traffic on the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia, the Moscow-installed regional governor has said.

Here’s the full story:

Updated

A photographer working for German newspaper Deutsche Welle in Donetsk was reportedly wounded in a Russian cluster bomb attack.

One Ukrainian officer was also said to have been killed, while several others were reportedly left seriously injured.

Earlier today, Russia criticised the US after the alleged death of a war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency after what was claimed to have been the use of cluster bombs by Ukraine near the frontline.

Updated

The Chilean president Gabriel Boric speaks on the war in Ukraine.

Russia has criticised the US after the alleged death of a war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency after what was claimed to have been the use of cluster bombs near the frontline in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region today.

The deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, tweeted:

Updated

We seemingly have confirmation that a Ukrainian drone hit an ammunition depot in central Crimea on Saturday, sparking an explosion.

AP reports that the Ukrainian military appeared to confirm it had launched the drone strike, claiming through its press service that it had destroyed an oil depot and Russian arms warehouses in the Krasnohvardiiske area, although without specifying what weapons were used.

Social media posts circulating today had earlier referenced unconfirmed reports of “several” drones targeting an oil depot and airstrip, as well as a loud blast resembling the sound of detonating shells.

Updated

Brady Africk from the American Enterprise Institute has this map showing the expansion of frontline Russian defences in occupied Ukraine.

The Polish deputy foreign minister, Pawel Jablonski, has said his meeting with the Russian ambassador to the country – after he was summoned after Vladimir Putin alleged Poland harboured territorial ambitions in western Ukraine – was “very brief”.

“The frontiers between countries are absolutely untouchable and Poland is opposed to any kind of revision thereof,” Jablonski said.

The Russian ambassador, Sergei Andreev, told Russian state-owned Tass media:

Naturally, he received a proper rebuff, explanations about how we see both the history of the 20th century and the behaviour of the Polish authorities now in connection with the conflict in Donbass, New Russia and Ukraine.

We recorded a complete lack of mutual understanding and completely different approaches to both issues of modern politics and issues of history.

Updated

A war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency was killed and three other Russian journalists were wounded by shelling near the frontline in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Saturday, according to Russia’s defence ministry.

The ministry claims Ukraine launched an artillery strike on the journalists using cluster munitions. Reuters was not able to immediately verify the ministry’s account.

Updated

A murdered writer's secret diary of the war

Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, a patriot, was last year taken away by pro-Russia forces never to return. When soldiers first came to look for him at his home, he buried his diary outside.

Several months later, the Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina dug it up, and was working with the Guardian’s chief culture writer, Charlotte Higgins, on an article. But on the day she finished writing her piece, on 27 June, the Russian military targeted a pizza restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

More than 60 people were injured and 13 killed in the cruise missile attack, among them 14-year-old twin girls. The Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina was there, accompanying a delegation of Colombian writers. Though the others at her table walked away unharmed, Amelina was severely injured, and she died on 1 July.

Updated

Explosions reported in Crimea

A suspected Ukrainian attack on Crimea has reportedly led authorities to evacuate people within 5km of the site of the strikes, where an ammunition depot is said to have been hit.

Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula was briefly suspended earlier amid the attack. It came after the region’s Russian-installed governor said infrastructure facilities in the Krasnogvardeisky district had been targeted.

Updated

Reuters is now reporting on comments from the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region who said that Ukraine fired cluster munitions at a village near the Ukrainian border yesterday, but that there were no casualties or damage.

The news agency was not able to independently verify the governor’s statement, which he made in a daily briefing on his Telegram channel, without providing visual evidence. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Ukraine received cluster bombs from the US this month, but it has pledged to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers. They contain scores of small bomblets that rain shrapnel over a wide area, but are banned in many countries due to the potential danger they pose to civilians. Ukraine has repeatedly said their use will be limited to the battlefield.

Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, has been repeatedly targeted by what Russia says is indiscriminate shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Arsenal and Ukraine defender, has organised a ‘Game4Ukraine’ charity match at Stamford Bridge on 5 August with retired legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko.

He told the BBC:

We are using football to represent our country in the best way. It’s so important not just to raise funds to build a school, but to send a message to the rest of the world and to the Ukrainian people, staying there and fighting for their independence, to say: ‘You are not alone’.

Some people have fatigue from this war but we cannot give up. We need to fight for our freedom and independence. I couldn’t imagine in 2023 this could happen - the place where you were born and raised, and one day the other country comes and destroys everything. We need to stick together and fight until the end.

I want, when they grow up and ask what I did when this war happened in our homeland, to look into my daughter’s eye and say ‘Me and your mum tried to do our best’.”

Ukraine's Oleksandr Zinchenko holds a Ukrainian flag ahead of a match in June 2022.
Ukraine's Oleksandr Zinchenko holds a Ukrainian flag ahead of a match in June 2022. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Russian attacks on 11 regions across Ukraine overnight killed at least eight civilians and wounded others, authorities have said.

AP reports that the regional prosecutor’s office in the eastern Donetsk region said that at least four people, including a married couple, were killed as Russian forces last night shelled the settlement of Niu-York, south of the city of Bakhmut — the site of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle until it fell to Moscow in May. Three other Niu-York residents were hospitalized.

This morning, Ukraine’s interior ministry said two civilians died as Russian forces struck Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donetsk region, from multiple rocket launchers last night. In a post on its official Telegram channel, the ministry said that another civilian was wounded in the same attack, which also destroyed 20 private homes, cars and a gas pipeline.

Two people were also killed near the northern city of Chernihiv, some 100km from the Russian border, as Russian cruise missiles destroyed the local cultural centre and damaged apartment blocks, the regional military administration reported on Saturday morning. It did not specify the exact time of the attack, saying only that it took place within the previous 24 hours.

Updated

Twelve settlements in the Belgorod region of Russia, 40km north of the border with Ukraine near Kharkiv, were hit by Ukraine over the last 24 hours, the head of the region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has said.

BBC Russia reports that Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel:

In the Belgorod region, 21 artillery shells and three cluster munitions from MLRS were fired at the village of Zhuravlevka. Also, the village was attacked with the help of one kamikaze drone and fired from a grenade launcher – 10 shots were recorded.

Nine artillery shells and two grenade launchers were fired at the village of Shchetinovka. The enemy also dropped one explosive device from a drone. There are no victims or destructions in any of the settlements of the region.

Updated

Poland has said it has summoned the Russian ambassador to the country’s foreign ministry after allegations that Polish forces sought to occupy part of Ukraine’s territory.

Putin said yesterday: “The western territories of present-day Poland are a gift from Stalin to the Poles, have our friends in Warsaw forgotten about this? We will remind you.”

But in the evening, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said:

Stalin was a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Poles. The historical truth is not subject to discussion. The ambassador of the Russian Federation will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Updated

Crimea bridge reopens

Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has now resumed after being briefly suspended, an official Telegram channel has said.

It did not state the reason for the road closure. Ukraine attempted to launch a drone attack on the Crimean peninsula today, the region’s Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov said earlier. He called on Crimeans to “remain calm”.

He gave no details on exactly what Kyiv attempted to hit and did not report casualties. Crimea has been targeted throughout Moscow’s 17-month Ukraine offensive but attacks have in recent weeks intensified.

Updated

The director of the CIA was yesterday made a cabinet member by the US president, Joe Biden, who said the agency has been providing “good intelligence, delivered with honesty and integrity”.

Biden said:

Bill [William Burns] has always given me clear, straightforward analysis that prioritises the safety and security of the American people, reflecting the integral role the CIA plays in our national security decision-making at this critical time.

Under his leadership, the CIA is delivering a clear-eyed, long-term approach to our nation’s top national security challenges.

CIA directors automatically sat at cabinet in Washington DC until 2005 when the national intelligence director, a post not long created, effectively took its place. Donald Trump put both intelligence directors in his cabinet, but Biden reverted upon taking office. Before then changing it back, now.

Yesterday, Burns – who travelled to Russia before the war began and has since visited Ukraine several times – suggested that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is biding his time over deciding what to ultimately do with Yevgeny Prigozhin.

In comments at the Aspen security forum, Burns said:

What we are seeing is a very complicated dance. Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold. In my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback so I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution … If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster.

Updated

Ukraine attempted to launch a drone attack on the Crimean peninsula today, the region’s Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov has said.

“The enemy attempted a raid using drones on infrastructure facilities in the Krasnogvardeisky district of the Republic of Crimea,” he said, referring to an inland area of the Black Sea peninsula.

He said the attack targeted infrastructure in the district of Krasnohvardiiske, near the centre of the peninsula, without providing detail. “Emergency workers are on the spot to eliminate possible consequences,” he said.

Updated

Also last night, during a video call to international security leaders at the four-day Aspen Security Forum, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s counteroffensive was about to “gain pace” (as per the FT).

We are approaching a moment when relevant actions can gain pace because we are already going through some mines locations and we are demining these areas.

Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said:

It is at that moment when they make that commitment that we will really see what the results of the counteroffensive will be … The view of our military commanders is that the notion that F-16s would play a decisive role in this counteroffensive given that fundamental reality … They have a different view than what you have heard from some Ukrainian voices.

It is responsible for every member of Nato, including the United States, to think about the Russian reaction when we choose to do something because that matters for our security, it matters for global stability.

However, senator Jim Risch, a senior Republican who sits on the Senate foreign relations committee, said:

I’m tired of hearing about escalation. Stop talking about escalation. If you don’t escalate, you’re gonna lose. I want [Vladimir] Putin to wake up in the morning worried about what he’s going to do that’s gonna cause us to escalate instead of us wringing our hands.

Updated

Crimea bridge 'temporarily closed'

Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has been temporarily blocked, an official Telegram channel has said.

“Those on the bridge and in the inspection area are asked to remain calm and follow the instructions of transportation security officers,” it said.

No reason for the halting of traffic was stated, according to Reuters. A suspected Ukrainian drone attack this week on the Crimean bridge killed two civilians and put part of the road bridge out of service, which had only recently returned to full operation after being severely damaged in a similar attack in October, which Ukraine eventually claimed.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said last night that the bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target.

Updated

Unesco has condemned Russia’s attack on the historic centre of Odesa, which is protected under the World Heritage Convention.

Last night the city’s residents were told to head to bomb shelters for a fourth successive night, the culmination of a week in which Russian forces pounded the city with hypersonic missiles and drones in repeated attacks aimed at destroying Odesa’s grain exporting facilities.

Unesco said:

A preliminary assessment in Odesa has revealed damage to several museums inside the world heritage property, including the Odesa Archaeological Museum, the Odesa Maritime Museum and the Odesa Literature Museum. They had all been marked by Unesco and local authorities with the Blue Shield, the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention.

Mattha Busby here picking up the blog from Adam Fulton. I’m on Twitter here.

Updated

Australian farmers are locking in surging grain prices ahead of their imminent harvest after Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian ports and a decision by the Kremlin to pull out of the Black Sea grain deal to allow agricultural exports caused a rally.

For many Australian grain growers, it could represent a fourth consecutive year of healthy harvests backed by strong prices for wheat and other grains.

Rabobank grains analyst Dennis Voznesenski said:

It’s important to tie in the caveat of not being too jolly because horrendous things are happening right now in the Black Sea. But it could lead to another year of possibly elevated pricing and good production.

Tracy Blackburn, who helps run an agricultural operation that includes wheat and other grains in central New South Wales, said the upheaval in the Black Sea should lead to more demand for Australian grain.

The flow-on is that demand for Australian grain will increase because buyers can actually source it from here and that should give things a kick-along.

Russia has been accused at the UN security council of stoking famine by blocking grain exports through the Black Sea, with the aim of profiting from higher global food prices.

Russia’s representative said yesterday that Moscow might consider restarting the scheme if it was given better terms for its own food and fertiliser exports, but was accused by western diplomats of holding the world’s poor to ransom.

The UN head of humanitarian relief, Martin Griffiths, said the Black Sea grain initiative, which Russia ended on Monday, had been a success, allowing the export of 33m metric tonnes of grain from Ukrainian ports to 45 countries on more than a thousand ships, over the course of a year.

Updated

The US plans to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine worth up to $400m as Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, Reuters reports three US officials as saying.

The US was not including cluster munitions in this weapons assistance package, said two of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The package primarily comprised of artillery, air defence missiles and ground vehicles and could be announced as soon as Tuesday, the officials said.

The US first sent dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, a cluster munition fired from a Howitzer cannon, to Ukraine earlier this month.

Included in the coming package are several Stryker armoured personnel carriers, mine-clearing equipment, munitions for national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) and for high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), anti-tank weapons and munitions for Patriot and Stinger anti-aircraft systems, according to the officials.

The package was still being finalised and could change, they said.

A Himars rocket during a US-led training exercise in Denmark in March
A Himars rocket during a US-led training exercise in Denmark in March. Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

Updated

Russian arrest of pro-war blogger likely to trigger fury in military, says UK MoD

Russia’s arrest of Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and leading nationalist military blogger, will probably infuriate elements in the military as well as his fellow bloggers, according to UK intelligence.

The Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update that Girkin had long been a critic of the Russian defence ministry’s conduct of the war in Ukraine, but that in recent days his comments “turned to direct criticism of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his time in power”.

The former battlefield commander of Russia’s proxy forces in eastern Ukraine, who was convicted by a Dutch court over the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, was arrested on “extremism” charges on Friday.

Igor Girkin behind a glass wall in a Moscow court on Friday.
Igor Girkin behind a glass wall in a Moscow court on Friday. Photograph: Yulia Morozova/Reuters

The UK ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter, that Girkin’s arrest “is likely to infuriate fellow members of the mil-blogger community – and elements within the serving military – who largely see Girkin as an astute military analyst and patriot”.

Girkin had played a major role in Russia’s war in the Donbas from 2014 and spent months on the frontline last year, it said.

While Girkin is no ally of the Wagner Group, he was likely only prepared to push the limits of public criticism in the context of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 abortive mutiny. The taboo against unmasked criticism of the Putin regime has significantly weakened.

Updated

Russia has come under pressure at the UN security council from its ally China and developing countries as well as western nations to avert a global food crisis and quickly revive Ukrainian grain shipments.

Associated Press reports that Moscow was also criticised by the UN and council members on Friday for attacking Ukrainian ports after pulling out of the year-old grain deal and destroying port infrastructure.

In response to Russia declaring wide areas in the Black Sea dangerous for shipping, the UN warned that a military incident in the sea could have “catastrophic consequences”.

China’s deputy UN ambassador, Geng Shuang, expressed hope that Russia and the UN would work together to resume exports from both countries “at an early date” in the interest of “maintaining international food security and alleviating the food crisis in developing countries in particular”.

A security guard in Odesa near a ship carrying grain last year
A security guard in Odesa near a ship carrying grain last year. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo strongly condemned Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and urged Moscow to stop them immediately. She said threats to target civilian vessels “are unacceptable” and warned that sea mines could endanger civilian navigation.

She said:

We strongly urge restraint from any further rhetoric or action that could deteriorate the already dangerous situation. Any risk of conflict spillover as a result of a military incident in the Black Sea – whether intentional or by accident – must be avoided at all costs, as this could result in potentially catastrophic consequences to us all.

Russia said it had suspended the Black Sea grain initiative because the UN had failed to overcome obstacles to shipping its food and fertiliser to global markets, the other half of the Ukraine grain deal.

Updated

Russia pounded Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day in a row on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea in an escalation of what western leaders say is an attempt to wriggle out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis.

Reuters reports that the attacks on Ukraine’s grain, a major part of the global food chain, followed a vow by Kyiv to defy Russia’s naval blockade on its export ports after Moscow’s withdrawal this week from a UN-brokered safe sea corridor agreement.

The UN warned that millions of people in poor countries around the world were at greater risk of hunger and starvation from the knock-on effect for food prices.

Part of an exploded rocket at a damaged grain terminal in Ukraine’s Odesa region on Friday
Part of an exploded rocket at a damaged grain terminal in Ukraine’s Odesa region on Friday. Photograph: Igor Tkachenko/EPA

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the security council:

Some will go hungry, some will starve, many may die as a result of these decisions.

In Ukraine, local governor Oleh Kiper said the grain terminals of an agricultural enterprise in Odesa region were hit by air, with 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley destroyed.

Photographs released by the emergencies ministry showed a fire burning among crumpled metal buildings that appeared to be storehouses. Two people were injured, Kiper said, while officials reported seven dead in Russian air strikes elsewhere in Ukraine.

Updated

Zelenskiy says Crimea bridge a legitimate target

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target.

Explosions on the road bridge on Monday killed two civilians and put part of it out of service, after it only recently returned to full operation following damage in a similar attack in October.

Reuters reports that the Ukrainian president said the road and rail bridge was “not just a logistical road”. Zelenskiy told the Aspen security conference in the US via videolink:

This is the route used to feed the war with ammunition and this is being done on a daily basis. And it militarises the Crimean peninsula.

For us, this is understandably an enemy facility built outside international laws and all applicable norms. So, understandably, this is a target for us. And a target that is bringing war, not peace, has to be neutralised.

Ukraine welcomed Monday’s attack on the bridge – built by Russia and brought into service in 2018 – but officials did not directly claim responsibility. Moscow blamed Ukraine.

Russian investigators on the Crimea bridge on Monday after the blasts
Russian investigators on the Crimea bridge on Monday after the blasts. Photograph: Russian investigative committee/UPI/Shutterstock

Updated

Opening summary

Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a roundup of the latest key developments.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said a road bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target that “has to be neutralised”.

The Ukrainian president’s comments followed blasts on the bridge that killed two civilians on Monday.

Russia, meanwhile, continued to hit Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea in an escalation of what western leaders say is a bid to get out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis.

UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo condemned the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, saying: “Any risk of conflict spillover as a result of a military incident in the Black Sea – whether intentional or by accident – must be avoided at all costs, as this could result in potentially catastrophic consequences to us all.”

More on those stories shortly. In other news:

  • Russia is “waging war on the world’s food supply” and has “upended peace and security around the world”, the US ambassador to the UN has a told a meeting of the security council. Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Moscow to cease attacking Ukrainian food facilities and reenter the Black Sea grain deal, from which it withdrew on Monday. “Russia has zero legitimate reason to suspend its participation in this arrangement … It is using the Black Sea as blackmail.”

A grain warehouse destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Odesa region.
A grain warehouse destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Odesa region. The governor said that of 21 people wounded in Russian attacks over the past four days, four were still in hospital. Photograph: Reuters

  • Vladimir Putin has said Russia will use “all means at its disposal” to defend Belarus after Poland and other EU countries voiced concerns about the deployment of Russian paramilitaries near their borders. The Russian president claimed at a meeting of the Russian security council that Poland was seeking to invade Belarus, a Russian ally, after Warsaw moved troops nearer the border with Belarus following Minsk’s commencement of exercises with Wagner trainers.

  • Russia has arrested Igor Girkin, who was convicted by a Dutch court over the shooting down of MH17, on extremism charges, probably fuelled by his criticism of the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Girkin is a former battlefield commander of Moscow’s proxy forces in eastern Ukraine.

  • Russia’s navy carried out a live fire “exercise” in the north-west Black Sea, Moscow’s defence ministry said, days after the Kremlin said it would consider ships travelling to Ukraine through the waterway to be potential military targets. The Black Sea Fleet “carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship in the combat training range in the north-western part of the Black Sea”, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

  • The Ukrainian president condemned a Russian artillery attack he said killed two children and damaged a school in the Donetsk region. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a cultural centre and residential buildings were also damaged in the attack on Druzhba village.

A volunteer medic walks past a destroyed building in the Donetsk village of Staryi Karavan on Friday
A volunteer medic walks past a destroyed building in the Donetsk village of Staryi Karavan on Friday. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images

  • An employee of a cultural centre had been found dead after Russian shelling in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, governor Vyacheslav Chaus said. In the Odesa region, governor Oleh Kiper said that out of 21 people wounded in Russian attacks over the past four days, four were still in hospital.

  • The number of ships looking to pick up grain cargoes from the Black Sea area fell 35% week on week amid growing uncertainty over whether commercial traffic could be hit as Russia continues to pound food facilities in Ukraine.

  • Bulgaria said it had decided to send about 100 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine in the Balkan country’s first shipment of heavy equipment to Kyiv. Bulgaria has so far sent only one military aid package to Kyiv, containing mostly flak jackets and helmets, but a pro-EU government took office last month.

  • The top diplomatic adviser to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said China was delivering to Russia items that could be used as military equipment, although not on a big scale. French officials told CNN that Macron was referring to dual-use technologies and non-lethal assistance, such as helmets and body armour.

  • Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, grounded by Covid-19 and then shunned in the west since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will return to international touring next week for the first time since 2020 with a trip to Beijing.

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Wrestler, film star – and future president? Why we should all take Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson seriously
The WWE icon, already one of Hollywood’s highest-paid film stars, has shown himself to be ‘focus group-proof’
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Eating this fruit before bed can help you sleep better – but expert opinions are divided
TikTok strikes again with its avocado sleep hack – but does it actually work?
T3
T3
Cher was ‘shocked’ to discover her legal name after birth certificate mix-up
Pop icon had gone for years without knowing what was written on her birth certificate
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Chuck Woolery, host of ‘Love Connection’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune’, dies aged 83
Woolery played matchmaker on popular dating show ‘Love Connection’ for 11 years
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
How to make your outlets and switches look nicer, according to interior designers
Make the mundane beautiful with these designer-approved methods
Homes & Gardens
Homes & Gardens
The Observer view: Selling a piece of fruit for £4m isn’t bananas, it’s decadent. Art is better than this
The sale of Maurizio Cattelan’s work, Comedian, to a crypto entrepreneur is a grim concept that has little to do with disruption
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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