Closing summary
The Russian defence ministry said that Russian forces had taken control of the settlement of Lozuvatske in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.
The Ukrainian maritime corridor transported 60 million tonnes of cargo, mainly from the Greater Odesa ports, in the last 11 months, the Ukrainian sea ports authority said, despite attacks on port infrastructure. 40.6 million tonnes of this total amount were grain exports delivered to 46 countries.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is scheduled to travel to Kyiv in August, marking his first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion two years ago.
The air force of the armed forces of Ukraine said Russia has increased the number of “ballistic” strikes over the past few months, forcing Ukrainian forces to think more about “passive defence” tactics such as camouflage and using “false positions”.
The governor of the Bryansk region in southern Russia, Alexander Bogomaz, reported a “massive” drone attack on the region yesterday evening and overnight. No casualties were reported. “22 unmanned aircraft-type aerial vehicles have been intercepted and destroyed,” Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.
Thank you for following today’s latest news. This blog is closing now but you can read all our Ukraine coverage here.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has said he “does not listen” to what he called Ukraine’s contradictory statements on peace talks.
He was referring to comments made by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who said on Friday that Kyiv could not be forced to negotiate and that China, which has sought to paint itself as a mediator in the conflict, respected Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Kuleba “is saying this not for the first time and has sometimes said completely opposite things,” Lavrov said.
“Not long ago they were talking about negotiations. Zelenskiy talked of readiness to finally sit at a table with Russian representatives. I don’t listen to them, to be honest,” he added.
Lavrov said that during talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Laos, they discussed what was said during Kuleba’s visit to China last week.
Kuleba said last week that Kyiv was prepared for talks on the war, provided Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity were fully respected. Kuleba was the highest ranking Ukrainian official to travel to China since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. He reportedly held talks with Wang Yi for more than three hours.
Vladimir Putin said in June that Moscow would end the war if Kyiv retreated from and handed over the rest of four partially-occupied Ukrainian provinces, and dropped its Nato ambitions, ideas rejected by Kyiv.
Kyiv plans a second summit later this year to advance its vision for peace after an initial gathering in Switzerland in June drew dozens of delegations, but not from Russia or China.
Russia takes control of Lozuvatske settlement in eastern Ukraine - report
The Russian defence ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Lozuvatske in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, according to the Interfax news agency. The Guardian has not yet independently verified this claim.
Russian forces have captured a number of villages since seizing the strategic city of Avdiivka in Donetsk region in February. The region is the focal point of Russia’s slow advance through eastern Ukraine along the 1,000km (600 mile) front.
Since last October, Ukraine has lost large swathes of territory in the east of the country to Russian forces - primarily because of a lack of artillery.
60m tonnes of cargo exported through Ukrainian maritime corridor despite 'insidious attacks' on infrastructure, sea ports authority says
The Ukrainian maritime corridor transported 60 million tonnes of cargo, mainly from the Greater Odesa ports, in the last 11 months, the Ukrainian sea ports authority has said, despite attacks on port infrastructure. 40.6 million tonnes of this total amount were grain exports delivered to 46 countries.
In a Facebook post, the Ukrainian sea ports authority wrote:
The bulk carrier Manta Hacer with 25.2 thousand tonnes of Ukrainian humanitarian wheat to Yemen, is moving through the Ukrainian corridor. This is another vessel chartered by the UN World Food Programme.
Even despite the war and the enemy’s insidious attacks on port infrastructure, including storage hangars for agricultural products, Ukraine remains a key player in the global food security. Especially concerning the export of grain to countries in Asia and Africa.
After launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Moscow closed off the Black Sea ports from one of the world’s biggest suppliers of grain, in what Kyiv called an attempt to use global food supplies as blackmail. Ukraine subsequently had to find alternative routes and markets.
Updated
A Ukrainian court has remanded an 18-year-old man in custody over the murder of a nationalist former lawmaker, state media reported.
Iryna Farion – a campaigner against the use of Russian language – was shot near her flat in the western city of Lviv on 19 July.
A Lviv court on Friday ordered the suspect, who gave his name as Vyacheslav Zinchenko, to be remanded in custody for at least 60 days, the state-run Suspline media outlet reported.
Zinchenko was arrested this week in Dnipro, 800km (500 miles) east of Lviv. Investigators said they are working to determine the motive behind the attack.
Interior minister Igor Klymenko said they were inclined to believe the shooter had acted on orders.
Farion, a language professor, had served in Ukraine’s parliament for the ultra-nationalist Svoboda party and became well-known for calling out public figures for speaking Russian instead of Ukrainian.
You can read the full story here:
Russian forces launched 408 strikes on ten settlements in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Friday, injuring two women and one man, the regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, said. Russian troops carried out eight airstrikes on Kamianske, Lobkove, Robotyne, Mala Tokmachka and Malynyvka, he wrote in a post on Telegram.
The frontline Zaporizhzhia region is reported to be under regular bombardment by rockets, drones and cannons launched by Russia.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, is scheduled to travel to Kyiv in August, marking his first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion two years ago.
India has become a key buyer of Russian oil after sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that shut most western markets for Russian exports.
Under Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine while emphasising the need for a peaceful settlement.
The Kyiv Independent has this report on Modi’s upcoming visit:
The visit, still in the planning stages, is expected to occur in the third week of August, likely sometime around Ukraine’s Independence Day, according to WION, India’s English language news channel, who spoke with several sources in Delhi’s diplomatic circles.
Earlier this year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy extended an invitation to Modi during a telephone conversation.
In June, Modi met with Zelensky in Italy during the G7 summit. They discussed the ongoing situation in Ukraine, with Modi emphasising the importance of “dialogue and diplomacy”. He reiterated that India would continue to support a peaceful resolution, according to the meeting’s official handout.
This marked the second in-person meeting between the two leaders since the all-out war began, the first being at last year’s G7 summit in Japan. Given the closure of Ukrainian airspace, world leaders have been traveling to Ukraine via Poland.
It is expected that Modi will follow this route and hold discussions with Polish leadership, including prime minister Donald Tusk, ahead of his visit to Ukraine.
Updated
Serhiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said the Russian army attacked the Nikopol district at night with a kamikaze drone and then with artillery. No casualties have so far been reported.
Ukrainian forces to consider using more 'camouflage' tactics to counter increasing threat of ballistic strikes
The air force of the armed forces of Ukraine has written on Telegram that Russia has increased the number of “ballistic” strikes over the past few months, forcing Ukrainian forces to think more about “passive defence” tactics such as camouflage and using “false positions”.
Over the past few months, the enemy has increased the number of “ballistic” strikes. So in addition to active defence, we have to think about passive defence - camouflage, shelter and... false positions.
Current government funding is currently sorely lacking, so join fund and community initiatives that will raise funds for air force mock-ups.
Russia, which has been making incremental gains in the east in recent months, says its long-range aerial attacks are used to degrade Ukraine militarily.
Kyiv has poured energy into domestic drone production to narrow the gap between its strike capabilities and Moscow’s, staging long-range drone attacks on Russian targets including oil refineries.
Updated
Ukraine war an existential threat to the EU - Borrell
We are restarting our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine and will give you the latest updates throughout the day.
The EU’s most senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, warned that Russia’s war against Ukraine is an “existential threat” to Europe as he urged China to support the peace process to end the conflict during a meeting with the country’s foreign minister, Wang Yi.
China, a close ally of Moscow, has not publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beijing has set out a 12-point paper setting out general principles for ending the war.
In comments made on the sidelines of the the association of southeast Asian nations in Laos, Borell also urged Beijing to halt the export of dual-use goods to Russia, which bolster its military capabilities.
According to a press release from the EU’s diplomatic service, Borell, who is also a vice-president of the European Commission, told Wang Yi:
The EU high representative/vice-president explained why the European Union considers Russia’s war against Ukraine is an existential threat to Europe. He expressed his concern because China’s exports of large amounts of dual-use goods and items represent a support to Russia to build up its military equipment.
The EU high representative/vice-president asked China to use its influence on Russia to contribute to end the war. He asked China to support the Ukraine peace process and considered that the joint statement with Brazil of May 2024 does not go in that direction.
In other developments:
Ukraine’s air defences shot down four attack drones and one missile fired by Russia in an overnight attack on Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said.
“All targets were shot down by the Ukrainian defence forces in Dnipro, Poltava, Kharkiv and Kyiv regions,” the military said in a statement.The governor of the Bryansk region in southern Russia, Alexander Bogomaz, reported a “massive” drone attack on the region yesterday evening and overnight. No casualties were reported. “22 unmanned aircraft-type aerial vehicles have been intercepted and destroyed,” Bogomaz wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian missile forces struck a Russian military airfield in Crimea that had been used for long-range attacks, Ukraine said on Friday, in the latest in a series of blows to the Russian military on the occupied peninsula. Russia’s Saky airfield in western Crimea was targeted, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said, adding it was assessing the aftermath. “This is one of the operational airfields that Russia uses to control the airspace, in particular the Black Sea, and for launching airstrikes on Ukrainian territory.” There was no immediate comment from Russia’s defence ministry or local Moscow-installed officials.
The US Treasury secretary said “things look good” for Group of Seven wealthy democracies to agree the terms of a $50bn loan to Ukraine backed by Russian assets by October. Janet Yellen told Reuters on the sidelines of a G20 finance leaders meeting in Brazil that talks to advance the loan were constructive, including over US demands for reassurances that the assets would stay frozen for a longer period of time. The $50bn loan, agreed in principle by G7 leaders in June, would be serviced with proceeds generated by about $300bn of Russian central bank assets frozen in the west after Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Updated
