Summary
It’s 19:45 in Kyiv, and here’s a summary of the key developments from the day:
Ukraine says fighting has intensified on the eastern front as further details emerged about the number of Wagner fighters who have relocated to Belarus. “The situation has somewhat intensified in the east,” the Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday. She added that Ukrainian forces were on the defensive near the eastern city of Kupiansk but making advances near Bakhmut.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia had a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and that Moscow reserved the right to use them if such munitions were used against Russian forces in Ukraine. He added that Russia had not yet used the weapons despite a “certain shortage of munitions at some point”. However, in April 2022, Russia was accused of using cluster munitions in the Kramatorsk railway station attack, which killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children).
Russia said it downed at least 10 Ukrainian drones around Sevastopol on the Crimea peninsula.
Vladimir Putin said a Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory was “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defences had failed.
A Chinese naval flotilla set off on Sunday to join Russian naval and air forces in the Sea of Japan in an exercise aimed at “safeguarding the security of strategic waterways”, according to China’s defence ministry.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman who was riding her bike.
South Korea will provide more mine-clearing equipment to Ukraine, a South Korean official said on Sunday.
The Russian state has taken control of French yoghurt maker Danone’s Russian subsidiary along with beer company Carlsberg’s stake in a local brewer, according to a decree signed by Vladimir Putin on Sunday. The decree said that foreign-owned stakes in Danone Russia and Baltika breweries were being put under the ‘temporary management’ of government property agency Rosimushchestvo.
One man was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, while seven were injured in a village in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
Russia’s security apparatus entered a period of confusion and negotiations after the Wagner group’s mutiny and an interim arrangement for the future of the group had started to form in recent days, according to the UK Ministry of Defence’s latest intelligence update.
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said redoubling support for Ukraine was the “single best” way to aid the global economy, AFP reported.
Wagner group fighters have arrived in Belarus from Russia, according to Ukrainian and Polish officials, a day after Minsk confirmed the mercenaries were training the country’s soldiers south-east of the capital, Reuters reported.
UK defence secretary Ben Wallace walked back on his remarks that Ukraine should show “gratitude” for the military support it had received, saying they were “misrepresented”. Wallace tweeted a clarification in Ukrainian to pledge his support for the invaded country and said his comments were not about governments, but more about “citizens and members of parliaments”.
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair said it would be “completely disastrous” if the US rowed back support for Ukraine in the event of Donald Trump being re-elected as US president. He also told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that said Ukraine had done an “extraordinary” job in defending itself but when asked what the endgame looked like he said the path would be “extremely difficult”.
That’s it for today from me. Thank you for following along. For more updates, follow our live coverage tomorrow.
Updated
Here’s more from Reuters about the subsidiary of the French yoghurt maker Danone that is being taken under Russian state control:
The Russian state has taken control of French yoghurt maker Danone’s Russian subsidiary along with beer company Carlsberg’s stake in a local brewer, according to a decree signed by Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
The decree said that foreign-owned stakes in Danone Russia and Baltika breweries were being put under the ‘temporary management’ of government property agency Rosimushchestvo.
The move comes after the Russian subsidiaries of Germany’s Uniper and Finland’s Fortum were taken under state control in April.
The Kremlin warned at the time it could seize more western assets on what it said was a temporary basis in retaliation for foreign moves against Russian companies abroad.
Danone said last October it was seeking a buyer for its dairy food business in Russia, in a deal that could lead to a write-off of up to €1bn (£860m).
The decree published on Sunday said also that Danish brewer Carlsberg’s stake in Russian-based Baltika breweries had been put under state management.
Carlsberg said in June it had signed an agreement to sell its Russian business, subject to regulatory approvals.
Danone and Carlsberg were not immediately available for comment.
Updated
Ukraine says fighting has intensified on the eastern front as further details emerged about the number of Wagner troops who had relocated to Belarus.
“The situation has somewhat intensified in the east,” the Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Sunday. She added that Ukrainian forces were on the defensive near the eastern city of Kupiansk but making advances near Bakhmut.
Maliar wrote on Telegram:
For two days in a row, the enemy has been actively attacking in the Kupiansk sector in the Kharkiv region. We are on the defence.
Only a “few hundred” fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group have so far relocated to Belarus, a Ukrainian official said on Sunday, leaving the eventual fate of the fighting force unclear.
The Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was given free rein to build a mercenary army of tens of thousands of contractors and prisoners, agreed to relocate his forces to Belarus as part of a deal to end his mutiny against the Kremlin last month.
Since then, however, there has been conflicting messaging about the fate of Wagner, which has carried out some of the most fierce fighting for the Russian side in Ukraine. Belarusian authorities say Wagner trainers have arrived in the country, and both Polish and Ukrainian authorities have confirmed this, but so far there does not appear to have been a mass relocation. The whereabouts of Prigozhin also remain a mystery.
Andrii Demchenko, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s border guards, told Ukrainian television on Sunday:
There are some groups of mercenaries on the territory of Belarus, but we are not talking about any massive or large-scale deployment … we are talking about a few hundred.
On Thursday, the Pentagon briefed that while the majority of Wagner forces were still in Russian-occupied Ukraine, they were “effectively are no longer contributing as a significant combat capability”, according to a spokesperson. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed Wagner has handed over thousands of tonnes of weaponry to the regular Russian army.
Read the full story here:
Updated
Andrew E Kramer in the The New York Times [paywall] has written about the deadly landmines that are slowing the progress of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
It was a grisly scene of bloody limbs and crumpled vehicles as a series of Russian mines exploded across a field in southern Ukraine.
One Ukrainian soldier stepped on a mine and tumbled onto the grass in the buffer zone between the two armies. Nearby lay other Ukrainian troops, their legs in tourniquets, waiting for medical evacuation, according to videos posted online and the accounts of several soldiers involved …
Five weeks into a counteroffensive that even Ukrainian officials say is off to a halting start, interviews with commanders and soldiers fighting along the front indicate the slow progress comes down to one major problem: landmines.
The full report is here.
Updated
The Russian state has taken control of shares in the Russian subsidiary of French food producer Danone, according to a decree signed by Vladimir Putin on Sunday.
The decree also said that shares in Baltika Breweries, a Russian-based brewing company, would be transferred to state management, Reuters reported.
Updated
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has “somewhat intensified” as Ukrainian and Russian forces clash in at least three areas on the eastern front, a senior Ukrainian defence official said on Sunday.
The deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram that Russian forces had been attacking in the direction of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region for two successive days.
Maliar wrote:
We are on the defensive. There are fierce battles, the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day.
She also said the two armies were pummelling one another around the ruined city of Bakhmut but that Ukrainian forces were “gradually moving forward” along its southern flank, Reuters reported.
She added that Kyiv’s troops were also fending off Russian attacks near Avdiivka and Maryinka.
Updated
Accompanied by images from the war, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has tweeted:
The world believes in Ukraine. The world is inspired by our courage, inspired by our heroes. And most importantly, Ukrainians believe in Ukraine, Ukrainians see what we are all capable of when we are together. We are the strongest when we are united.
The world believes in Ukraine. The world is inspired by our courage, inspired by our heroes. And most importantly, Ukrainians believe in Ukraine, Ukrainians see what we are all capable of when we are together. We are the strongest when we are united. pic.twitter.com/YoisWrTbZ0
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 16, 2023
Updated
Here is a summary of events so far:
President Vladimir Putin said Russia had a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and that Moscow reserved the right to use them if such munitions were used against Russian forces in Ukraine. He added that Russia had not yet used the weapons despite a “certain shortage of munitions at some point”. However, in April 2022, Russia was accused of using cluster munitions in the Kramatorsk railway station attack, which killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children).
Russia said it downed at least 10 Ukrainian drones around Sevastopol on the Crimea peninsula.
Vladimir Putin said a Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory was “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defences had failed.
A Chinese naval flotilla set off on Sunday to join Russian naval and air forces in the Sea of Japan in an exercise aimed at “safeguarding the security of strategic waterways”, according to China’s defence ministry.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman who was riding her bike.
South Korea will provide more mine-clearing equipment to Ukraine, a South Korean official said on Sunday.
One man was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, while seven were injured in a village in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
Russia’s security apparatus entered a period of confusion and negotiations after the Wagner group’s mutiny and an interim arrangement for the future of the group had started to form in recent days, according to the UK Ministry of Defence’s latest intelligence update.
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said redoubling support for Ukraine was the “single best” way to aid the global economy, AFP reported.
Wagner group fighters have arrived in Belarus from Russia, according to Ukrainian and Polish officials, a day after Minsk confirmed the mercenaries were training the country’s soldiers south-east of the capital, Reuters reported.
UK defence secretary Ben Wallace walked back on his remarks that Ukraine should show “gratitude” for the military support it had received, saying they were “misrepresented”. Wallace tweeted a clarification in Ukrainian to pledge his support for the invaded country and said his comments were not about governments, but more about “citizens and members of parliaments”.
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair said it would be “completely disastrous” if the US rowed back support for Ukraine in the event of Donald Trump being re-elected as US president. He also told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that said Ukraine had done an “extraordinary” job in defending itself but when asked what the endgame looked like he said the path would be “extremely difficult”.
Updated
Here are some images coming to us over the wires.
Putin says Ukrainian counter offensive 'not succeeding'
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said that a Ukrainian counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory was “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defences had failed.
Putin made the remarks in an interview with state television, excerpts of which were released on Sunday, Reuters reported.
Putin said:
All attempts by the enemy to break through our defence ... have not been successful throughout the entire offensive.
Updated
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken of the 55th separate artillery brigade “Zaporizhzhia Sich” on Twitter.
He posted a thank you to the brigade for a military chevron it gave him, calling them “absolutely heroic”.
Last month, I had the opportunity to personally communicate with them and support our warriors.
They are absolutely heroic. They are tough, strong and confident in their actions.
We will preserve Ukraine’s independence. Because we have such warriors. Because we have a clear understanding of what we are fighting for.
Thank you, guys, for this chevron! And especially thank you for your power and accuracy.
55th separate artillery brigade "Zaporizhzhia Sich".
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 16, 2023
Last month, I had the opportunity to personally communicate with them and support our warriors. They are absolutely heroic. They are tough, strong and confident in their actions.
We will preserve Ukraine's independence.… pic.twitter.com/36jnnkxfQ2
Updated
According to The Kyiv Independent “loud explosions” were reported this morning on social media in occupied Luhansk, Berdiansk, Mariupol.
⚡️Loud explosions heard in occupied Luhansk, Berdiansk, Mariupol.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 16, 2023
Explosions were reported in the occupied cities of Luhansk, Berdiansk, and Mariupol on social media on the morning of July 16.
The reports about Berdiansk and Luhansk, including a video of an explosion in Luhansk, were posted by local residents and pro-Russian propaganda channels.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 16, 2023
Soon after, exiled Mariupol's mayoral adviser, Petro Andriushchenko, posted that loud explosions were heard in Mariupol's seaside district. He said that Russian air defenses are extremely active in that area, remarking that "something very pleasant is happening."
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 16, 2023
There’s been an update on Russia’s announcement regarding Ukrainian drones downed around Sevastopol on the Crimea peninsula.
The number has now risen from nine drones to at least 10, Russian officials have said.
The Russian defence ministry said air defence shot down two unmanned aerial vehicles and electronically disabled five others, Agence France-Presse reported.
The ministry also said its forces destroyed two naval drones and the thwarted attack resulted in “no casualties or destruction.”
The Russian governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, later said on Telegram that a tenth drone had been electronically deactivated.
Updated
Chinese naval flotilla departs for 'safeguarding' drill with Russia
A Chinese naval flotilla set off on Sunday to join Russian naval and air forces in the Sea of Japan in an exercise aimed at “safeguarding the security of strategic waterways”, according to China’s defence ministry.
Codenamed “Northern/Interaction-2023”, the drill marks enhanced military cooperation between China and Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The Chinese flotilla comprising five warships and four ship-borne helicopters left the eastern port of Qingdao and will rendezvous with Russian forces in a “predetermined area”, the ministry said on its official WeChat account on Sunday.
On Saturday, the ministry said Russian naval and air forces would participate in the drill taking place in the Sea of Japan.
This would be the first time both Russian forces take part in the drill, state newspaper Global Times cited military observers as saying.
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman riding her bike.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which hardly ever publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia, Reuters reported. The Guardian was not able to verify what happened.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said the Grad missiles had struck a market area, damaging a building and two cars.
Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app:
To much grief, one person was killed – a woman was riding a bicycle on the pavement at the time of the shelling. Injuries she received from shrapnel were incompatible with life.
The Grad (Hail) weapons system is a truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher. Its use against civilian areas is regarded as a war crime by human rights activists.
Updated
South Korea will provide more demining equipment to Ukraine, a South Korean official said on Sunday.
The announcement came after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Kyiv at the weekend where he pledged more military and humanitarian aid in the fight against Russia, Reuters reported.
Yoon’s deputy national security adviser, Kim Tae-hyo, told a briefing:
We are thinking to expand support on mine detectors and demining equipment as Ukraine’s demand for them was assessed to be desperately huge.
More from Tony Blair on Ukraine, who said it would be “completely disastrous” if the US rowed back support for Ukraine in the event of Donald Trump being re-elected as US president.
I hope that a Trump presidency would not mean that …because it would be completely disastrous if America withdrew its support from Ukraine.
I think the way that President Biden has managed to marshal support for Ukraine and keep people pretty much on the same page has been a significant act of statesmanship.
He added:
Talking to Ukrainians … they want an end to this which is on terms that make it clear that no Russian president not this one, or any successive one, can ever come back and do this again. And I think that will be the overwhelming desire in eastern Europe as well. So for that to happen that American support has to firm.
Updated
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair has said Ukraine has done an “extraordinary” job in defending their country but when asked what endgame looked like he said the path will be “extremely difficult”.
He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday:
I think there are two issues … it’s extremely difficult to see how you get a solution to this unless it’s very clear that Ukraine has a clear path to European Union membership, and a clear path to Nato membership.
I think probably people will wait and see what happens after this Ukrainian counter offensive. The Ukrainians have done an extraordinary job in defending their country and by the way, defending us by defending their country, but I think it will be how you deal with those two issues together. This is going to be extremely difficult, but I do think once we take stock after the counteroffensive, we’ve got to see if there was a way to bring it to an end with a negotiated end to it.
On territory, he added:
Territory is going to be the most difficult thing because Ukrainians will never accept the territory that, from an international community point of view has being taken wrongly from them, should be left with with Russia.
Sophy Ridge asks former PM Tony Blair what he thinks the "endgame" is for Ukraine.
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday & The Take (@RidgeOnSunday) July 16, 2023
He responds, it's 'extremely difficult unless Ukraine has a clear path to European Union Membership, and a clear path to NATO membership'.#Ridge https://t.co/ZoMhCmTrtv
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602 pic.twitter.com/cPTTn0xi2v
Updated
Putin says Russia has 'sufficient stockpile' of cluster bombs
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has a “sufficient stockpile” of cluster bombs and that Moscow reserves the right to use them if such munitions are used against Russian forces in Ukraine.
In a state TV interview, excerpts of which were published on Sunday, Putin said:
Of course, if they are used against us, we reserve the right to take reciprocal action.
He added Russia had not yet used the weapons despite a “certain shortage of munitions at some point.”
However, in April 2022, Russia was accused of using cluster munitions in the Kramatorsk railway station attack, which killed 63 civilians (including 9 children) and wounded 150 (including 34 children).
Ukraine has received cluster bombs from the United States, munitions banned in more than 100 countries. Kyiv has pledged to only use them to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers, Reuters reported.
Updated
One civilian was killed and another wounded in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, while seven were injured in a village in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
A 33-year-old man died and a man was wounded in Russian firing at residential buildings in the village of Kolodiazne in the region overnight, Oleh Sinehubov, Kharkiv’s governor, said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported.
He said Russia had launched four S-400 surface-to-air missiles overnight at the city of Kharkiv, slightly damaging a residential building.
The Zaporizhzhia governor, Yuriy Malashko, posted on Telegram that three women and four men were injured and a number of houses damaged in heavy Russian shelling from multiple rocket launchers on the village of Stepnohirske on Saturday afternoon.
The Guardian could not independently verify these accounts.
Updated
Here are the latest images coming out of Ukraine:
Updated
US treasury secretary Janet Yellen says redoubling support for Ukraine is the “single best” way to aid the global economy, AFP reports.
Yellen, speaking on the sidelines of a G20 finance minister summit in India, said a “key priority” was “to redouble our support for Ukraine” in its defence against Russia.
After visiting Kyiv in February, Yellen said she had seen first-hand “the massive difference” that foreign assistance was making, both to civilians and the Ukrainian military.
“Ending this war is first and foremost a moral imperative,” Yellen told reporters in Gandhinagar. “But it’s also the single best thing we can do for the global economy.”
Budgetary support is critical to Ukraine’s resistance.
By helping keep the economy and the government running, we are giving Ukraine the support it needs so it can fight for freedom and its sovereignty.
She added that one of Washington’s “core goals” was to “combat Russia’s efforts to evade our sanctions”.
Russia’s security apparatus entered a period of confusion and negotiations after the Wagner group’s mutiny and an interim arrangement for the future of the group has started to form in recent days, according to the UK Ministry of Defence’s latest intelligence update.
On 12 July 2023, the Russian MoD announced that Wagner had handed over 2000 pieces of military equipment, including tanks. As of 15 July 2023, at least a small contingent of Wagner fighters have arrived at a camp in Belarus.
Concurrently, some Wagner-associated social media groups have resumed activity, with a focus on highlighting the group’s activities in Africa.
Based on recent announcements by Russian officials, the state is likely prepared to accept Wagner’s aspirations to maintain its extensive presence on the continent.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 16 July 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 16, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/YYqHPvA2gZ
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/R8DZbD036Y
Wagner group fighters have arrived in Belarus from Russia, according to Ukrainian and Polish officials, a day after Minsk confirmed the mercenaries were training the country’s soldiers south-east of the capital, Reuters reports.
“Wagner is in Belarus,” Andriy Demchenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian border agency, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.
Demchenko added that the movement of “separate groups” from Russia has been observed in Belarus. The Belarusian defence ministry released a video on Friday, showing what it said were Wagner fighters instructing Belarusian soldiers at a military range near the town of Osipovichi.
Poland’s deputy minister coordinator of special services, Stanislaw Zaryn, said that Warsaw also has confirmation of Wagner fighters’ presence in Belarus. “There may be several hundred of them at the moment,” Zaryn said on Twitter.
The Belarusian Hajun project, which monitors military activity in the country and is viewed as an extremist formation by Belarusian authorities, said a large column of at least 60 vehicles entered Belarus overnight Friday from Russia.
It said the vehicles, including trucks, pickups, vans and buses, had licence plates of the self-styled Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics in what is internationally recognised as eastern Ukraine.
UK defence secretary says his comments on Ukraine were 'misrepresented'
UK defence secretary Ben Wallace has walked back his remarks that Ukraine should show “gratitude” for the military support it has received, saying they were “misrepresented”.
Wallace tweeted a clarification in Ukrainian pledging his support for the invaded country and said his comments were not about governments, but more about “citizens and members of parliaments”.
My comments about how best to support Ukraine caused a lot of interest and were somewhat misrepresented.
For the record, as someone who has been at the forefront of mobilising support for Ukraine, I have discussed the challenges that may arise as we work towards the common goal of helping Ukraine get what it needs to defeat this illegal invasion.
I said that Ukraine sometimes needs to realise that in many countries and in some parliaments there is not such strong support as in Great Britain.
It was a comment not about governments, but more about citizens and members of parliaments.
We are fortunate that the citizens of the United Kingdom and all parties in our parliament support our efforts to provide Ukraine with the necessary means. Our approval ratings for supporting Ukraine are among the highest in Europe – over 70%.
My comments were meant to reflect that it is important to remember not to talk to yourself, but to make an effort to reach out to other citizens who still need to be convinced.
Wallace also addressed his comments suggesting the UK was not online delivery service Amazon after being handed a wishlist for military supplies.
The comments about Amazon were made last year to emphasise that Britain’s relationship with Ukraine is not ‘transactional’ but more ‘partnership’.
I will personally continue to support Ukraine on its path for as long as it takes, but national parliaments often have competing needs and Ukraine and the UK must continue to encourage this strong support, with facts and friendship.
Міністр оборони Великої Британії Бен Воллес:
— Rt. Hon Ben Wallace MP (@BWallaceMP) July 15, 2023
"Мої коментарі про те, як найкраще підтримати Україну, викликали великий інтерес та були дещо неправильно передані
Russia shoots down nine Ukrainian drones over Crimea, Moscow official says
Russia’s air defence forces and fleet in the Black Sea intercepted nine Ukrainian drones over the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Sunday, a Moscow-installed official said.
“No objects, either in the city or in the water area were damaged,” said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol.
Two aerial drones were shot down over the sea, five were intercepted by Russia’s electronic warfare forces and two water surface drones were destroyed on the outer shore, Razvozhayev added.
The strikes were over the harbour of Sevastopol and the city’s Balaklava and Khersones districts.
Maritime transport, including passenger ferries, was suspended for several hours early on Sunday, authorities said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine, I’m Yang Tian bringing you the latest news.
Russia has shot down nine Ukrainian drones over the Crimean port of Sevastopol early on Sunday, according to a Moscow-installed official. There was no reported damage to the city and surrounding water area.
More details shortly, in other key developments:
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling civilians in a village in Zaporizhzhia after three people were wounded in attacks. The head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, said Russian forces bombed the village of Stepnohirske using multiple rocket launchers, hitting an administrative building. Moscow-backed officials claimed it was Kyiv’s forces that shelled a school in the village of Stulneve and air defence forces intercepted a drone over the city of Tokmak. Both sides have denied targeting civilians.
Russia has issued criminal charges against seven people who planned to kill two prominent Russian journalists in an alleged Ukrainian-backed plot, according to the state-owned Tass news agency. Russia’s FSB security service detained an unspecified number of people who conducted reconnaissance near the homes and workplaces of journalists Margarita Simonyan, head of state media outlet RT, and Ksenia Sobchak, who ran against President Vladimir Putin in 2018. The FSB said detainees had admitted preparing attacks on the two women on behalf of Ukraine and had been promised a reward of 1.5m roubles for each one.
South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has pledged to increase his country’s humanitarian and non-lethal military assistance to Ukraine after a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv. Yoon said Seoul would “expand the scale of supplies from last year, when we provided materials such as helmets and bullet-proof vests”, adding that humanitarian aid would be increased to $150m in 2023, from $100m last year.
Vladimir Putin has said the main objective of the deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports to resume was not achieved, in a call with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa. The Black Sea grain deal that eased fears of a global food crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine is due to expire late Monday unless Russia agrees to renew it. “The main goal of the deal, namely the supply of grain to countries in need, including on the African continent, has not been implemented,” Putin said according to a Kremlin release.
Ukraine has criticised Bulgaria’s president over his remarks that Kyiv is to blame for Russia’s ongoing war and that supplying arms to Ukraine only prolongs the conflict. President Rumen Radev spoke about the recent Nato summit and said that he wanted “to make it clear that Ukraine insists on fighting this war … But it should also be clear that the bill is paid by the whole of Europe.” The embassy of Ukraine in Sofia rejected Radev’s stance that supplying arms to Ukraine fuels and prolongs the war, saying Kyiv was making all possible efforts to restore peace.
Ukrainians have reacted with bemusement, mild irritation and irony to UK defence secretary Ben Wallace’s comments that the country should be more grateful for the help it is receiving from the UK and other allies as it fights off Russian aggression. Kyiv previously regarded Wallace as a staunch supporter and friend. His remarks – on the second day of the Nato summit in Lithuania last week – mystified officials. “Whether we like it or not, people want to see a bit of gratitude,” Wallace said, asked about President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s frustration at not being given a formal invitation to join Nato.
A large convoy carrying fighters from the Wagner private army was spotted entering Belarus from Russia early on Saturday, according to independent monitoring group Belaruski Hajun. At least 60 trucks, buses and other large vehicles crossed into the eastern European country accompanied by Belarusian police. Belarus’s defence ministry said it planned for the mercenaries and Minsk’s own armed forces to conduct joint military drills.
