Closing summary
It’s just past midnight in Kyiv. That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today.
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
The Kremlin said it was impossible for Russia to return to the Black Sea grain export deal for now, as an agreement related to Russian interests was “not being implemented”. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, however, that Vladimir Putin had made it clear that the deal could be revived if the Russia-focused part of the agreement was honoured.
Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain initiative could drive global grain prices up by 10 to 15%, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned. IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters that the UN-brokered deal, which allowed Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea, had been “instrumental in making sure that there will be ample grain supply to the world in the last year”.
The US state department confirmed reports that a former marine, who was released from Russia in a prisoner swap last year, has been injured while fighting in Ukraine. Trevor Reed was taken to Germany for medical care, a state department spokesperson said, adding that Reed was not acting on behalf of the US government.
The US has announced a new $400m military assistance package for Ukraine featuring ammunition for artillery and air defence systems. The military aid package includes air defence munitions, artillery rounds, armoured vehicles, and anti-armour capabilities to help Ukraine’s forces.
Russian claims that the deaths of at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war being held in occupied Donetsk region were caused by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket have been rejected by the UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, whose office has been investigating the incident.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “hid” and could not act decisively when the head of the Wagner mercenary group launched his attempted rebellion in June, with some critics saying Putin has now lost his reputation as the “toughest man in town” due to the incident. according to a Washington Post report.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has shared with Ukraine intelligence that Russia has laid additional mines in the Black Sea and may attack civilian shipping in the region, the UK’s ambassador to the UN has said. “We agree with the US assessment that this is a coordinated effort to justify and lay blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea,” Barbara Woodward said.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, will lead a government delegation to visit North Korea this week, Shoigu’s ministry has said. The Russian delegation will join a Chinese group, led by Chinese Communist party politburo member Li Hongzhong, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of “Victory Day” on Thursday in Pyongyang, state media KCNA reported.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned that “no one will forgive” any of his country’s politicians or officials if they “oppose” the state following the arrest of a Ukrainian MP suspected of collaborating with Russia. Oleksandr Ponomaryov, a Ukrainian member of parliament, was placed in detention without bail by Kyiv’s Pechersk district court pending trial on treason allegations, the prosecutor general’s office said on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has warned that “no one will forgive” any of his country’s politicians or officials if they “oppose” the state following the arrest of a Ukrainian MP suspected of collaborating with Russia.
Oleksandr Ponomaryov, a Ukrainian member of parliament, was placed in detention without bail by Kyiv’s Pechersk district court pending trial on treason allegations, the prosecutor general’s office said on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s security service said in a statement that Ponomaryov had “willingly collaborated” with Russia when he was in the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region. The agency accused him of re-registering his businesses in the area under Russian laws, transferring money into local branches of Russian banks, supplying the Russian military with “fuel-oil materials” for their vehicles and of providing equipment used to make fortifications, Reuters reported.
Ponomaryov’s arrest comes days after Yevhen Borysov, the former head of Odesa’s regional centre for recruitment and social support, was also detained by Ukrainian authorities on suspicion of illicit enrichment amounting to hundreds of millions of hryvnias and for deliberately evading his official duties.
In his nightly address, Zelenskiy said he wanted “to warn all MPs, officials, and everyone else in public office” that “any personal enrichment instead of Ukraine’s interests triggers fury at the very least”.
The Ukrainian leader said:
No one will forgive MPs, judges, ‘military commissars’ or any other officials for putting themselves in opposition to the state. For some, it’s about islands and resorts during the war, for others it’s about lining one’s pockets in the military enlistment office, for others it’s about bribes in the courts. For any public official, this is a betrayal of state principles, a betrayal of the interests of society.
Grain prices could rise up to 15% from Russia's exit from Black Sea grain deal, warns IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain initiative could drive global grain prices up by 10 to 15%.
IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told reporters on Tuesday that the UN-brokered deal, which allowed Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea, had been “instrumental in making sure that there will be ample grain supply to the world in the last year”. He added:
The same mechanics work in reverse and it’s likely to put upward pressure on food prices.
The IMF was still assessing its forecasts on the effects of Russia’s actions, he said, but “somewhere in the range of 10 to 15% increase in prices of grains is a reasonable estimate”.
Last week, the IMF said Russia’s decision to pull out of the initiative would hit regions that rely heavily on shipments from Ukraine, including North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
A US official has said “of course” they are concerned that the development with Trevor Reed could negatively impact ongoing negotiations aimed at securing the release of two US citizens who remain wrongfully detained in Russia: Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich.
The US state department has confirmed reports that Reed, the former US marine who was detained in Russia for nearly three years before being released in a high-profile prisoner swap last year, was injured while fighting in Ukraine.
The official told CNN:
This was something an individual did of their own volition and should be treated entirely separately from negotiations for the release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.
Updated
According to a Pentagon statement, the Biden administration’s new $400m military aid package for Ukraine includes:
Additional munitions for Patriot air defence systems and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS)
Stinger anti-aircraft systems
Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
120mm and 60mm mortar rounds
32 Stryker Armoired Personnel Carriers
Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
Javelin and other anti-armour systems and rockets
Hornet Unmanned Aerial Systems;
Hydra-70 aircraft rockets
Tactical air navigation systems
Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing
Over 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades
Night vision devices and thermal imagery systems
Spare parts, training munitions, and other field equipment
The EU is looking at helping fund the costly transportation of grain out of Ukraine after Russia withdrew from the UN-backed Black Sea grain deal, the bloc’s agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said earlier today.
Wojciechowsk, speaking to reporters, said the EU is ready to export almost all of Ukraine’s farm produce via “solidarity lanes” and help cover costs. He said:
We are ready to export almost everything. This is about 4m tonnes per month of oilseeds and grains and we achieved this volume in November last year.
He added the EU was looking at several initiatives from member states to come up with a joint plan to cover the additional transport costs.
Solidarity lanes are rail and road transport connections through EU member states that border Ukraine, such as Poland and Hungary. The most significant lane is through Romania, according to Reuters.
Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are seeking to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports until the end of the year, but would still allow food to move through their countries to the world.
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, will lead a government delegation to visit North Korea this week, Shoigu’s ministry has said.
The Russian delegation will join a Chinese group, led by Chinese Communist party politburo member Li Hongzhong, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of “Victory Day” on Thursday in Pyongyang, state media KCNA reported.
Russia’s defence ministry said the visit came as a result of an invitation by its North Korean counterpart. The delegation are expected to visit from Tuesday to Thursday.
In a statement, the Russian ministry said:
This visit will contribute to strengthening Russian-North Korean military ties and will be an important stage in the development of cooperation between the two countries.
In a statement following the announcement of a new $400m military aid package for Ukraine, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said:
The people of Ukraine continue to bravely defend their country against Russia’s aggression while Russia continues its relentless and vicious attacks that are killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civil infrastructure. Ukraine’s steadfast courage continues to inspire the world.
The military assistance package includes air defence munitions, artillery rounds, armoured vehicles, and anti-armour capabilities, as well as other equipment “essential to strengthening Ukraine’s brave forces on the battlefield, helping them retake Ukraine’s sovereign territory, and defend their fellow citizens”, Blinken continued.
Russia could end this war at any time by withdrawing its forces from Ukraine and stopping its brutal attacks against Ukraine’s cities and people. Until it does, the United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes.
US announces new $400m military aid package for Ukraine
The US has announced a new $400m military assistance package for Ukraine featuring ammunition for artillery and air defence systems.
The package includes munitions for both Patriot and NASAMs air defence systems as well as Stinger missiles, 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, 32 Stryker armoured personnel carriers, and more than 28m rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Updated
Summary
It is now approaching 9pm in Kyiv. Before I hand over to my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong, here’s a recap of today’s developments:
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was impossible for Russia to return to the Black Sea grain export deal for now, as an agreement related to Russian interests was “not being implemented”. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, however, that President Vladimir Putin had made it clear that the deal could be revived if the Russia-focused part of the agreement was honoured, Reuters reports.
The US state department confirmed reports that a former marine, who was released from Russia in a prisoner swap last year, has been injured while fighting in Ukraine.
Senior Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday that a visit by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to Turkey is in both countries’ plans. Putin also plans to visit China in October.
Russia said on Tuesday that its forces had progressed by up to 2km (1.2 miles) along a section of the front in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, according to AFP.
The Washington Post reports that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “hid” and could not act decisively when the head of the Wagner mercenary group launched his attempted rebellion in June, with some critics saying Putin has now lost his reputation as the “toughest man in town” due to the incident.
The UK’s ambassador to the UN has said that the British prime minister Rishi Sunak has shared with Ukraine intelligence that Russia has laid additional mines in the Black Sea and may attack civilian shipping in the region.
The UN human rights chief on Tuesday called for accountability for the deaths of at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war last year in an explosion in a Donetsk region detention facility, rejecting Moscow’s claim that they were killed by a rocket.
Moldova’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it would summon Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov for an explanation of media reports that equipment has been installed on the Russian embassy’s rooftop that could be used for spying.
A Russian fighter jet flew within a few metres of a US drone over Syria and fired flares at it, striking the American aircraft and damaging it, the US military said on Tuesday.
Germany and France opposed a push to extend restrictions on sales of Ukrainian grain exports in five eastern European countries that have enraged Kyiv, according to AFP.
The Russian ministry of defence has claimed that it destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian boats which were engaged in an attack on one of its Black Sea fleet patrol ships. In a statement the ministry said: “In the course of repulsing the attack, both enemy remote-controlled boats were destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ship at a distance of 1,000m and 800m. There were no casualties. The Sergey Kotov continues to fulfil its tasks.”
The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported making small advances against Russian forces in parts of southern Ukraine. Andriy Kovaliov, spokesperson for the armed forces general staff, said Ukrainian troops had moved forward in the direction of the south-eastern village of Staromayorske, near settlements recaptured by Ukraine last month in the Donetsk region. He said the Ukrainian troops were reinforcing the positions they had taken, and Russian forces were mounting strong resistance.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that Ukraine is also claiming a territorial gain near Bakhmut having “knocked out the Russian military from positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction”.
The UN’s atomic watchdog said it saw anti-personnel mines at the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russian forces. The statement did not say how many mines the team had seen. The devices were in “restricted areas” that operating plant personnel cannot access, Grossi said, adding the IAEA’s initial assessment was that any detonation “should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems”.
Updated
On the matter of former US marine Trevor Reed, who was released from Russia in a prisoner swap last year and injured in Ukraine, Vedant Patel said in a statement:
I want to be explicitly clear about something. Mr Reed was not engaged in any activities on behalf of the US government.
And as I indicated, we have been incredibly clear warning American citizens, American nationals, not to travel to Ukraine, let alone participate in fighting. As you know, we are not in a place to provide assistance to evacuate private US citizens from Ukraine, including those Americans who may decide to travel to Ukraine to participate in fighting.
Former US marine freed from Russia in prisoner swap injured fighting in Ukraine, US says
The US state department confirmed reports that a former marine, who was released from Russia in a prisoner swap last year, has been injured while fighting in Ukraine.
Trevor Reed was injured several weeks ago, according to a person familiar with the incident, who was not authorised to discuss the matter by name and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The state department spokesperson Vedant Patel said Reed was taken to Germany for medical care. He said Reed was not acting on behalf of the US government.
Reed was released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap last year in exchange for a Russian pilot imprisoned in the US for a drug trafficking conspiracy, according to AP.
The Messenger was first to report Reed’s injury.
Updated
UN rejects Russian claims Ukrainian rocket launcher behind prison massacre
Russian claims that the deaths of at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war being held in occupied Donetsk region were caused by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket have been rejected by the UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, whose office has been investigating the incident.
The killings, which took place at a penal colony at Olenivka in the Donetsk region of Ukraine which is under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation, took place in August 2022 almost a year ago, leading to Türk’s office announcing an investigation.
In a statement issued by his office, Türk rejected Russia’s claims that a US supplied HIMARS missile was responsible as claimed by Moscow.
The statement said:
While the precise circumstances of the incident on the night of 28-29 July 2022 remain unclear, the information available and our analysis enable the office to conclude that it was not caused by a HIMARS rocket.
Based on the information available, it is not possible at this stage to establish either the specific source of the explosion, nor the exact direction from which a weapon may have been fired. The office will continue to follow up on the incident consistent with its expertise and mandate.
Türk’s office also complained about lack of access to the site from Russian occupying forces.
It added:
The Russian Federation provided neither satisfactory assurances about secure access for the United Nations to visit the particular site, nor granted general requests by the UN Human Rights Office to access areas of Ukraine under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation.
The office, however, has been able to conduct extensive interviews with survivors of the incident at Olenivka and undertaken detailed analysis of available additional information, in line with … established methodology.
Commenting on the inability to pursue some lines of investigation, Turk said: “The prisoners of war who were injured or died at Olenivka, and their family members, deserve the truth to be known, and for those responsible for breaches of international law to be held accountable,” he said.
Our office has met with the families of the victims and heard their pleas for truth and justice – and indeed, they have a right to truth, justice and reparations. For all those affected by this tragedy, we must do all we can to ensure justice is done.
Prisoners of war are protected under international humanitarian law. Deaths or serious injury of PoW must be followed up by an official and thorough inquiry on the part of the Detaining Power.
Any suspicion of criminal conduct must be promptly, thoroughly, independently, impartially and transparently investigated and those responsible prosecuted.
CNN reports that Trevor Reed, the former US Marine who was wrongfully detained in Russia for nearly three years before being released in a prisoner swap, was injured while fighting in Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Reed, who was released in a prisoner swap in April 2022, was transported to a hospital in Kyiv and was evacuated to Germany for medical care, the source said.
The circumstances around Reed’s injury in combat were not immediately clear.
More information to come …
AFP reports that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is planning to visit China in October, the Kremlin said Tuesday, as Russia aims to strengthen ties with one of its closest allies.
In comments carried by Russian news agencies, Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the president on international affairs, said:
It is known that we have received an invitation and that we intend to go to China when the Belt and Road Forum is held in October.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, made a state visit to Moscow in March and declared relations between the two countries were entering a new era.
China and Russia are strategic allies, with both sides frequently touting their “no limits” partnership and cooperation in the economic and military spheres.
Beijing has declined to condemn Russia’s offensive against Ukraine.
Putin last visited China in 2022, attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Senior Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday that a visit by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to Turkey is in both countries’ plans, but no firm date has yet been agreed, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.
Here are some photos from the wires, showing volunteers and officials clearing debris and repairing buildings damaged in Odesa, Ukraine after Russian missile attacks yesterday.
Russia said on Tuesday that its forces had progressed by up to 2km (1.2 miles) along a section of the front in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, according to AFP.
The defence ministry said in a statement:
The total advance of our units amounted to up 2km in depth along up to 4km of the front [in the direction of Lyman].
The army also said it took control of the village of Sergiivka as part of “successful counteractions”.
Russia began a new assault along a northeastern stretch of the frontline a few weeks after Ukraine began its own attacks further south in early June.
Moscow claimed on 11 July to have advanced 1.5km closer to Lyman – a rail hub Ukraine reclaimed in October.
The Russians seem intent on forcing the Ukrainians to abandon their advance on captured cities such as Bakhmut and redeploy troops to defend the Lyman front
According to Reuters, a Ukrainian lawmaker suspected of collaboration with Russia was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said on Tuesday.
The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that Oleksandr Ponomaryov, a lawmaker elected for a now-banned party accused of ties to Russia, was placed in detention without bail by Kyiv’s Pechersk district court.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will discuss Ukraine with a group of African leaders in a working dinner at a summit in St Petersburg on 28 July, Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov, as saying on Tuesday.
The state news agency RIA quoted Ushakov as saying that 17 African heads of state would speak at the Russia-Africa summit, which takes place this Thursday and Friday, according to Reuters.
Updated
Here is some more from ambassador Barbara Woodward, the UK’s permanent representative to the UN, on intelligence that Russia has laid additional mines in the Black Sea and may attack civilian shipping in the region.
Woodward said Russia has “ramped up” its attacks on grain stores in Odesa, and across Ukraine, including right across the border from Romania, which is a Nato country.
She added:
Following Russia’s sabotage of the Black Sea grain deal last week, the price of grain has risen by 8%, which will impact developing countries the most.
I think the absurdity of using such heavy duty weaponry to destroy food shows that weaponising global food supplies is a calculated part of Russia’s strategy.
And it demonstrates that for all its rhetoric, Russia doesn’t care one bit about people across Africa, Asia and Latin America facing famine and drought.
Russia has also announced that all ships proceeding to Ukrainian ports will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo.
Woodward said Putin has the power to “end this war tomorrow”, but said he has “shown no sign that he is willing to do so”.
In fact, he seems dead set on causing as much suffering around the world as he can.
On the upcoming Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg, Woodward said:
I think the Russia-Africa summit this week is a very important one. It would be wonderful if African leaders were really strong in their messaging to President Putin.
I think it’s worth looking at the history here. At the last Russia-Africa summit, the Russians promised $40bn (31bn) worth of extra trade deals. What materialised? About 14 [billion]. Russia’s investment is about 1% of Africa’s FDI. Russia is not driving Africa’s growth. Russia is driving Africa into poverty.
The Washington Post reports that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “hid” and could not act decisively when the head of the Wagner mercenary group launched his attempted rebellion in June, with some critics saying Putin has now lost his reputation as the “toughest man in town” due to the incident.
Intelligence shared with the Post suggests that Putin had been warned by security services days before Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close confidant of the president, was preparing for a potential mutiny, which took place the morning of 24 June.
The Russian president had been warned by the Russian security services at least two or three days ahead of time that Prigozhin was preparing a possible rebellion, according to intelligence assessments shared with The Washington Post. Steps were taken to boost security at several strategic facilities, including the Kremlin, where staffing in the presidential guard was increased and more weapons were handed out, but otherwise no actions were taken, these officials said.
This apparent inaction and lack of direction from the Kremlin during the crisis has left Putin significantly weakened, according to his critics.
Gennady Gudkov, an opposition politician in exile and former colonel in the Russian security services, said:
Putin showed himself to be a person who is not able to make serious, important and quick decisions in critical situations. He just hid.
This was not understood by most of the Russian population. But it was very well understood by Putin’s elite. He is no longer the guarantor of their security and the preservation of the system.
A senior Moscow financier with links to Russian intelligence services said echoed Gudkov’s concerns and said: “[Putin] lost his reputation as the toughest man in town.”
Ukraine is not 'slowing down the pace' of its ambitions to join Nato, says Volodymyr Zelenskiy
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the country is not “slowing down the pace” of its ambitions to join Nato.
In a tweet, he said:
We are not slowing down the pace of our integration with Nato. I brought together representatives of the Verkhovna Rada and government officials to prepare practical steps to implement the decisions of the Vilnius summit.
In particular, we have a clear plan to launch the Nato-Ukraine council at all levels. We will see its work at the ambassadorial level tomorrow during an urgently convened meeting on the situation in the Black Sea.
We are also starting to jointly prepare an interoperability plan with the Alliance.
We are not slowing down the pace of our integration with NATO. I brought together representatives of the Verkhovna Rada and government officials to prepare practical steps to implement the decisions of the Vilnius Summit.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 25, 2023
In particular, we have a clear plan to launch the… pic.twitter.com/I29vgaq7P5
Updated
UK's UN ambassador: Russia has laid additional Black Sea sea mines and may attack civilian shipping
The UK’s ambassador to the UN has said that prime minister Rishi Sunak has shared with Ukraine intelligence that Russia has laid additional mines in the Black Sea and may attack civilian shipping in the region.
Reuters reports Barbara Woodward said the UK has information indicating “the Russian military may expand their targeting of Ukrainian grain facilities further, to include attacks against civilian shipping in the Black Sea.”
“Our information also indicates that Russia has laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports. We agree with the US assessment that this is a coordinated effort to justify and lay blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea.”
Woodward said Sunak shared the information with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a phone call earlier on Tuesday.
The UN human rights chief on Tuesday called for accountability for the deaths of at least 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war last year in an explosion in a Donetsk region detention facility, rejecting Moscow’s claim that they were killed by a rocket.
“The prisoners of war who were injured or died at Olenivka, and their family members, deserve the truth to be known, and for those responsible for breaches of international law to be held accountable,” Reuters reports high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk saying in a statement to journalists.
The UN rights body, which said it has conducted extensive interviews with survivors and analysed additional information, added that the incident “was not caused by a Himars rocket”.
It said that it has not identified the source of the explosion but would continue to follow up on the incident. Russia has not granted requests to access parts of Ukraine under temporary Russian control nor given the satisfactory safety assurances for a site visit, the statement added.
Kyiv officials have maintained that those killed in an explosion at their barracks were the victims of a Kremlin special operation plotted in advance and approved at the highest levels, in order to hide mistreatment of the Ukrainian captives held inside.
Updated
In an expected move, Russia’s lower house of parliament voted on Tuesday to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted to 30 years from 27, increasing the number of men liable for a year of compulsory military service at any one time.
The new legislation, which comes into effect on 1 January, means men will be required to carry out a year of military service, or equivalent training during higher education, between the ages of 18 and 30, rather than 18 and 27 as now.
The law also bans men from leaving Russia from the day they are summoned to a conscription office. In April, Reuters notes, legislation was passed allowing conscription summonses to be served online instead of in person.
Moldova’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it would summon Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov for an explanation of media reports that equipment has been installed on the Russian embassy’s rooftop that could be used for spying.
Reuters reports the ministry said: “We consider espionage or foreign interference in the internal affairs of Moldova to be absolutely unacceptable, which represents a direct challenge to the sovereignty and national security of the Moldovan state.”
The Insider media outlet and television channel Jurnal TV said 28 satellite dishes, masts, and transmitting and receiving devices had been installed on the embassy and a neighbouring residential building used by diplomats and technical personnel.
⚡️Breaking, How #Russia is spying on moldovan authorities.
— Denis Dermenzhi (@iamdenya_de) July 24, 2023
On the roof of the Russian embassy in Chisinau, #Moldova, the number of sattelite dishes and transmitting devices grows every year, and some mysterious people constantly appear. pic.twitter.com/V5egPMjt3n
The embassy and Moscow did not immediately comment on the ministry statement or on the media report and Russia has denied repeated Moldovan accusations of meddling in its affairs. Russia has troops stationed in the breakaway Transnistria region of Moldova, which borders Ukraine.
Updated
Germany and France on Tuesday opposed a push to extend restrictions on sales of Ukrainian grain exports in five eastern European countries that have enraged Kyiv, according to AFP.
Brussels struck a compromise in April that allowed Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to prohibit sales on their local markets while keeping transit routes open for Ukrainian grain to cross their territories.
The measures are currently set to run out in mid-September, but the five countries have called for them to be prolonged to the end of the year.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday branded any extension “absolutely unacceptable and frankly anti-European”.
Kyiv’s opposition was echoed by EU countries including Germany and France at a meeting of the bloc’s agricultural ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.
German agriculture minister Cem Ozdemir said the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, needed to make clear any extension was “not possible”.
He insisted that Poland’s internal political disputes ahead of elections later this year should not be played out “on Ukraine’s back”.
France’s agricultural minister, Marc Fesneau, said:
There can be no unilateral measures, no individual adventures, only a collective response to the challenge of destabilising the markets.
A spokesperson for the commission said Brussels was working “very intensively” with the five EU member states and Ukraine to try to find a solution.
Spokesperson Miriam Garcia Ferrer said:
These measures are targeted and temporary. They were put in place for a very specific situation of logistical bottlenecks and facilitation of trade that was happening in these bordering countries.”
Updated
Russian fighter jet fired flares at US drone over Syria and damaged it, US military says
A Russian fighter jet flew within a few meters of a US drone over Syria and fired flares at it, striking the American aircraft and damaging it, the US military said Tuesday.
A senior air force commander said the move on Sunday was an attempt by the Russians to knock the MQ-9 Reaper drone out of the sky and came just a week after a Russian fighter jet flew dangerously close to a US surveillance aircraft carrying a crew in the region, jeopardizing the lives of the four American crew members, according to AP.
Lt Gen Alex Grynkewich, the head of US Air forces Central, described it as a close call. In a statement, he said:
One of the Russian flares struck the US MQ-9, severely damaging its propeller.
We call upon the Russian forces in Syria to put an immediate end to this reckless, unprovoked, and unprofessional behavior.
Grynkewich said one of the crew members operating the drone remotely kept it in the air and flew it back to its home base.
Updated
Meanwhile, the Kremlin on Tuesday accused the west, and in particular the US, of trying to sabotage its showcase Russia-Africa summit later this week by pressuring African countries not to take part.
The summit, which will take place in St Petersburg on Thursday and Friday, will be attended by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is expected to hold intensive one-on-one talks with individual African leaders focusing on everything from trade to security, arms deals, and grain supplies, Reuters reports.
Forty-nine African delegations have confirmed their participation, around half of whom will be represented by their heads of state or government, Russian diplomat Alexander Polyakov was cited as saying by the state Tass news agency earlier this month.
But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the west was doing its best to wreck the Russian event.
He said:
Virtually all African states have been subjected to unprecedented pressure from the US, and French embassies on the ground have not been sleeping either along with other western missions who are also trying to do their bit to prevent this summit from taking place.
In essence, they do not accept the sovereign right of African states to independently determine their partners for cooperation and mutual interaction in various fields.
The US president, Joe Biden, hosted a US-Africa leaders summit in Washington last year, seeking to bolster alliances amid growing Russian and Chinese presence on the continent.
Speaking in April after Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, complained the west was trying to wreck this week’s Russia-Africa summit, the US state department said that Washington “[doesn’t] want to limit African partnerships with other countries. We want to give African countries choices.”
Anton Gerashchenko, official adviser and a former deputy internal affairs minister in Ukraine, posted about a trial that has started in Russian Rostov-on-Don, over 18 “Ukrainian defenders”.
In the tweet, he said:
They [the people on trial] look so thin and exhausted.
According to Geraschenko, they are accused of forcible seizure of power and change of the constitutional order of the DPR, as well as participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation.
A "trial" started in Russian Rostov-on-Don over 18 Ukrainian Defenders. They look so thin and exhausted.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) July 25, 2023
Russians accuse them under several articles of the criminal code of the "DPR" - so-called "forcible seizure of power and change of the constitutional order of the DPR", as… pic.twitter.com/zdIRx9y5BQ
Two former defence workers were sentenced in Russia to 17 and 13 years in prison for treason on Tuesday after being found guilty of passing military intelligence to Ukraine and planning to blow up railway lines, the Kursk regional court said in a statement, Reuters reports.
The couple, who were formerly married, were arrested last month by the FSB Security Service in the Kursk region, near the border with Ukraine, and accused of handing over technical documents and models used in the manufacture of weapons systems for Russia’s air force.
In a statement announcing their arrests, the FSB had said the pair, identified as RA Sidorkin and TA Sidorkina, had been involved in plans to blow up railway lines in the Kursk and Belgorod regions that are used to supply Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
It said it had seized more than 4kg (9lb) of plastic explosives, four detonators, military design documentation and $150,000 (£116,000) in cash.
Sidorkin, 50, was additionally charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and sentenced to 17 years. Sidorkina, 41, was sentenced to 13 years.
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Unilever says 'least bad' option is to 'pursue business in Russia but in highly constrained manner'
Unilever, which has faced criticism for over a year for remaining in Russia, said on Tuesday that it could abandon, sell or retain its operations there but the “least bad” option is to “pursue our business but in a highly constrained manner”, Reuters reports.
The Russian state this month took control of French yoghurt maker Danone’s Russian subsidiary along with Carlsberg’s stake in a local brewer.
Unilever CEO, Hein Schumacher, said:
The first option is to abandon our business. We feel that, in effect, that could result in it being nationalised, given all of the developments that have recently taken place.
The second option is to sell the business, but the reality is, we have not found a viable solution that meets our stated objectives.
None of the options are actually good, but the final option of operating our business in a constrained manner is the least bad and that is where we are.
Schumacher said Unilever has not been in touch with the Russian government in the wake of its moves on Danone and Carlsberg.
The company, which owns the Knorr soup and Dove soap brands, employs over 3,000 people in Russia. In March 2022 Unilever became the first major European food company to stop imports into and exports out of Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Unilever said at the time it would not invest further in Russia and would also stop all media and advertising spending there, adding that its Ukrainian operations had also stopped.
However, it continued to supply its everyday essential food and hygiene products made in Russia to people in the country, while saying it would not take any profit from those sales. All earnings made in Russia stay there, the company said.
Unilever had said in February “there is a risk” that it may have to stop doing business in Russia, and that it might have to take a loss or write down its assets there.
Former CEO Alan Jope said at the time “volumes in our Russian business are down significantly, by double digits”.
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Russia and China are sending government delegations to North Korea this week to join commemorations of the signing of the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean war 70 years ago.
The conflict, launched by North Korea in an attempt to conquer South Korea, brought in forces from the newly created People’s Republic of China aided by the then Soviet air force, while South Korea, the US and troops from various countries under the direction of the UN battled to repel the invasion.
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central news agency said a Russian delegation led by defense minister Sergei Shoigu will also make a “congratulatory visit” to the country to mark the anniversary of the armistice, AP reports.
The price of Russia’s flagship Urals oil blend averaged $56 (£43) a barrel in the second quarter and traded almost 30% below the benchmark Brent blend, the Russian central bank said in its review on Tuesday.
It was also about 29% below the average price in April-June 2022.
According to Reuters, the Group of Seven leading western economies, along with the EU and Australia, agreed in December to ban the use of western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and brokering for seaborne Russian oil priced above $60 (£47) a barrel as part of western sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
Russia, for its part, banned companies and individuals from including oil price cap mechanisms in their contracts.
The central bank said:
Oil exports were constrained by the embargo and price cap of some countries.
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The Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba visited Equatorial Guinea yesterday, where he met with the president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
They discussed bilateral cooperation and food security in Africa, which many have said will be affected by Russia’s ending of the Black Sea grain deal last week. The ministry of foreign affairs said Kuleba’s visit was the first bilateral visit to Equatorial Guinea.
This comes as Russia is preparing to host African leaders this week for a summit aimed at strengthening relations.
Kremlin says Russia will not return to Black Sea grain deal because agreement over Russian interests 'not being implemented'
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was impossible for Russia to return to the Black Sea grain export deal for now, as an agreement related to Russian interests was “not being implemented”.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, however, that president Vladimir Putin had made it clear that the deal could be revived if the Russia-focused part of the agreement was honoured, Reuters reports.
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey last July, aimed to help prevent a global food crisis by allowing grain blocked by the conflict in Ukraine to be safely exported.
Peskov said it would be important for Russia to discuss grain supplies with African countries at a Russia-Africa summit later this week.
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Summary of the day so far …
The Russian ministry of defence has claimed that it destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian boats which were engaged in an attack on one of its Black Sea fleet patrol ships. In a statement the ministry said “In the course of repulsing the attack, both enemy remote-controlled boats were destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ship at a distance of 1000m and 800m. There were no casualties. The Sergey Kotov continues to fulfill its tasks.”
The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported making small advances against Russian forces in parts of southern Ukraine. Andriy Kovaliov, spokesperson for the armed forces general staff, said Ukrainian troops had moved forward in the direction of the southeastern village of Staromayorske, near settlements recaptured by Ukraine last month in the Donetsk region. He said the Ukrainian troops were reinforcing the positions they had taken, and Russian forces were mounting strong resistance.
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that Ukraine is also claiming a territorial gain near Bakhmut having “knocked out the Russian military from positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction.”
Russian-imposed authorities in occupied Luhansk have reported on one of their Telegram channels that a post office has been destroyed and a bus station damaged in a Ukrainian strike on occupied Kreminna. No injuries were reported.
The UN’s atomic watchdog said it saw anti-personnel mines at the site of Ukraine‘s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russian forces. On 23 July International Atomic Energy Agency experts “saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Monday. The statement did not say how many mines the team had seen. The devices were in “restricted areas” that operating plant personnel cannot access, Grossi said, adding the IAEA’s initial assessment was that any detonation “should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems”.
Russian state-owned media Tass reports that Russian forces claim to have destroyed two boats and killed nine service personnel while repulsing another Ukrainian attempt to land on the occupied left-bank of the Dniepr River near the Antonovsky bridge in Kherson.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to social media to say that he has spoken to Rishi Sunak and spoke to the UK’s prime minister about “Russia’s daily attempts to destroy Odesa’s historic centre and port infrastructure”. Ukraine’s president said “Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defence to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea grain initiative.”
The UK Ministry of Defence has claimed in its daily operational briefing that Russia is targeting Odesa because “it believes Ukraine is storing military assets in these areas”, but claims that “Since the start of the war, Russia’s strike campaign has been characterised by poor intelligence and a dysfunctional targeting process.”
AP reports, citing US officials, that the Biden administration is sending up to $400m in additional military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of munitions for advanced air defence systems and a number of small, surveillance Hornet drones.
Russian-imposed authorities in occupied Luhansk have reported on one of their Telegram channels that a post office has been destroyed and a bus station damaged in a Ukrainian strike on occupied Kreminna. No injuries were reported.
The same source has also posted images showing damage to local railway tracks and infrastructure in Kreminna following subsequent strikes.
The UK also has a read-out on the call between Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Rishi Sunak this morning.
PA media reports the UK prime minister’s spokesperson said:
The UK continues to support Ukraine’s air defence and artillery needs with more ammunition and missiles being delivered, the prime minister said.
Reflecting on long-term security assurances, the leaders agreed the number of countries who had put themselves forward to sign up to the multilateral joint declaration was a testament to the international support for Ukraine.
The leaders looked forward to speaking again soon.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to social media that he has spoken to Rishi Sunak. Ukraine’s president said of his conversation with the UK’s prime minister:
Spoke about Russia’s daily attempts to destroy Odesa’s historic centre and port infrastructure. We must defend Odesa. Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defence to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea grain initiative.
We discussed our further defence cooperation, the course of Ukrainian offensive operations. I outlined the current defence needs of Ukraine.
The prime minister of the UK and I noted the adoption by the G7 of the joint declaration of support for Ukraine at the Nato summit in Vilnius and the subsequent accession of other countries to it. We also coordinated future steps to fill it with concrete security guarantees on a bilateral basis.
Russia claims to have repelled drone attack on Black Sea fleet patrol ship
The Russian ministry of defence has claimed that it destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian boats which were engaged in an attack on one of its Black Sea fleet patrol ships.
In a statement the ministry said:
Tonight, the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the patrol ship Sergey Kotov of the Black Sea fleet, which performs the tasks of controlling navigation in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, with two sea-going guided unmanned boats.
In the course of repulsing the attack, both enemy remote-controlled boats were destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ship at a distance of 1000m and 800m. There were no casualties.
The Sergey Kotov continues to fulfill its tasks.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Ukraine claims small advances in south
The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported making small advances against Russian forces in parts of southern Ukraine.
Andriy Kovaliov, spokesperson for the armed forces general staff, said Ukrainian troops had moved forward in the direction of the southeastern village of Staromayorske, near settlements recaptured by Ukraine last month in the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian troops were reinforcing the positions they had taken, and Russian forces were mounting strong resistance, Reuters reports he said.
Kyiv claims to have retaken more than 192 sq km of land in the south and 35 sq km in the east since launching its counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday.
Russian state-owned media Tass reports that Russian forces claim to have destroyed two boats and killed nine service personnel while repulsing another Ukrainian attempt to land on the occupied left-bank of the Dniepr River near the Antonovsky bridge in Kherson.
The area has been contested for several weeks, with repeated reports that Russia has repelled Ukrainian attempts to seize a bridgehead on the southern occupied portion of Kherson region. The Russian Federation claimed to annex Kherson in 2022.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that Ukraine is claiming a territorial gain near Bakhmut. It writes:
The defence forces knocked out the Russian military from positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction, and continue to advance north and south of Bakhmut, said the spokesperson of the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine.
The UK Ministry of Defence has issued its daily intelligence briefing on how it sees the war progressing, and today the focus is on Odesa. The ministry writes that since 18 July 2023, Russia has conducted greater numbers of long-range strikes against Odesa, and puts this down to the end of the Black Sea grain deal.
It says:
Between August 2022 and June 2023, when the Black Sea Grain Initiative was still in force, Russia generally refrained from striking civil infrastructure in the southern ports.
Since Russia failed to renew the deal, the Kremlin likely feels less politically constrained, and is attempting to strike targets in Odesa because it believes Ukraine is storing military assets in these areas.
Since the start of the war, Russia’s strike campaign has been characterised by poor intelligence and a dysfunctional targeting process.
Reuters has a quick snap that Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin said on Tuesday that no talks on resuming the Black Sea grain initiative were currently under way.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
US reportedly to send $400m more in aid to Ukraine
AP reports, citing US officials, that the Biden administration is sending up to $400m in additional military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of munitions for advanced air defence systems and a number of small, surveillance Hornet drones, as attacks in the war escalated to include strikes in Moscow and Crimea.
The package includes an array of ammunition — ranging from missiles for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System to Stingers and Javelins. The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to quickly take items from its own stocks and deliver them to Ukraine, often within days.
Officials said the US is also sending howitzer artillery rounds and 32 Stryker armored vehicles, along with demolition equipment, mortars, Hydra-70 rockets and 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition. The Hornets are tiny nano-drones that are used largely for intelligence gathering. Ukraine has also gotten them in the past from other Western allies. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid package has not yet been announced.
Via Reuters: Kazakh oil shipments via Russia, most of which are headed for a Black Sea terminal, are continuing normally, Kazakh Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said on Tuesday, despite escalating tensions after the breakdown of the Ukrainian grain deal.
Russia and Ukraine have warned they would consider ships headed for each other’s ports in the Black Sea valid targets after Moscow refused to extend a deal which had allowed safe exports of grain from Ukrainian ports.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline terminating at the Russian coast of the Black Sea is the main export route for Kazakh oil, although the Central Asian nation is now trying to increase shipments via alternative routes.
“There are no issues with the CPC pipeline today,” Satkaliyev told reporters.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant blocks put into shutdown mode
The fourth and fifth blocks of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were put in a shutdown mode, according to the Moscow-installed administration of the plant.
Reuters reports that that administration said today on its Telegram channel: “In order to conduct a scheduled technical inspection of the equipment of power unit No. 5, the management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant decided to transfer it to the ‘cold shutdown,’ state,” and that, “in order to provide steam for the station’s own needs, the reactor plant of power unit No. 4 was transferred to the ‘hot shutdown‘ state.”
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Last week the IAEA said its experts had carried out inspections at the plant, without “observing” the presence of any mines, although they had not been given access to the rooftops of the reactor buildings.
The IAEA had still not been given access to the roofs of the reactor buildings and their turbine halls, its latest statement said.
After falling into Russian hands, Europe’s biggest power plant was targeted by gunfire and has been severed from the grid several times, raising fears of a major nuclear accident.
The six reactor units, which before the war produced around a fifth of Ukraine‘s electricity, have been shut down for months.
UN says mines found at Zaporizhzhia plant
The UN’s atomic watchdog said it saw anti-personnel mines at the site of Ukraine‘s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russian forces, AFP reports.
Europe’s largest nuclear facility fell to Russian forces shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in February last year and Kyiv and Moscow have since accused each other of planning an incident at the site.
On 23 July International Atomic Energy Agency experts “saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Monday.
The statement did not say how many mines the team had seen.
The devices were in “restricted areas” that operating plant personnel cannot access, Grossi said, adding the IAEA’s initial assessment was that any detonation “should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems”.
Laying explosives at the site was “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance” and created additional psychological pressure on staff, he added.
The Kyiv regional military administration had earlier issued an alert for drone attacks and warned residents to stay in shelters, AFP reports.
The air force also issued an alert for drone strikes on the southern Odesa and Mykolayiv regions, which share part of Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.
The regions are home to port infrastructure that Moscow has battered regularly with attack drones and missiles since exiting a deal facilitating the safe shipment of grain from Ukraine last week.
Russia launches drone strikes on Kyiv overnight
Russia launched a nighttime drone attack on Kyiv, local authorities said on Tuesday, adding all incoming drones had been shot down and early information indicated no damage or casualties, AFP reports.
The reported attack comes a day after Russia warned of “tough retaliatory measures” after a drone attack on Moscow, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) from Ukraine.
Russia “attacked Kyiv with strike UAVs,” Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said on Telegram, without specifying how many or where they had been launched from.
“The air alert lasted for 3 hours... All air targets were detected and destroyed on the approach to Kyiv,” it said.
“According to the information at this moment, there were no victims or destruction in the capital.”
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Opening summary
This is the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top story this morning: Russia launched a nighttime drone attack on Kyiv, local authorities said on Tuesday, adding all incoming drones had been shot down and early information indicated no damage or casualties.
The reported attack comes a day after Russia warned of “tough retaliatory measures” after a drone attack on Moscow, some 500 kilometres (300 miles) from Ukraine.
And the UN’s atomic watchdog says it has seen anti-personnel mines at the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The plant is occupied by Russian forces.
More on these stories shortly. Elsewhere:
Russia said it had neutralised two Ukrainian drones over Moscow in the early hours of Monday, with one crashing close to the defence ministry in the city centre. Officials said the drones hit non-residential buildings in the capital and that there were no casualties. The attack came one day after Kyiv vowed to “retaliate” for a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa. The White House said it does not support attacks inside Russia.
The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region said Russia was trying to “make the world starve” by attempting to completely block exports of Ukrainian grain to global markets after the latest in a series of Russian air attacks struck grain infrastructure on the Danube River. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, called on Russia to return to a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain in line with a proposal he made to Vladimir Putin after Russia quit the deal a week ago.
A top US Treasury official will highlight Washington’s efforts to facilitate Russian grain and fertiliser exports during a visit to Kenya and Somalia and stress that Moscow’s exit from the Black Sea grain deal will hurt African states, a spokesperson said on Monday.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday it had found anti-personnel mines in an area of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and complained for the second month running that this violated safety procedures.
US officials say the Biden administration is sending up to $400m in additional military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of munitions for advanced air defence systems and a number of small, surveillance Hornet drones. The aid comes as attacks in the war escalated to include strikes in Moscow and Crimea.
Almost 30 ships dropped anchor near Ukraine’s crucial Izmail port terminal after Russia attacked grain warehouses on the Danube River on Monday, data showed, although it is unclear why. Monday’s pre-dawn Russian airstrikes wounded seven people and hit infrastructure along the Danube, a vital alternative route for Ukrainian grain since the year-old deal allowing safe exports via the Black Sea ended last week. Kyiv said the attack was an expansion of an air campaign Russia launched recently after pulling out of the grain deal.
Without providing any evidence, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed the cathedral in Odesa was struck by a Ukrainian air defence missile. Peskov said “Our armed forces never strike at social infrastructure facilities, let alone temples, churches and other similar facilities, so we do not accept such accusations, this is an absolute lie.” Russia reserves the right to take “tough retaliatory measures”, the foreign ministry said, after it accused Ukraine of attacking Moscow and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with drones.
A child was killed and six people wounded in a Russian strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, according to the region’s governor. Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces had fired Smerch rockets at “a local pond, where people were resting”.
The Belarusian ministry of emergency situations is completing the arming and military training of its personnel to be ready to aid the defence and internal ministries in the event of an armed conflict, the head of the emergency ministry said on Monday. Emergency minister Vadim Sinyavsky told state Belarus 1 television that employees will be ready to assist the ministries “in the event of an armed conflict or some kind of riots in which a significant number of personnel must be involved.” While not sending his own troops to Ukraine, Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to launch its invasion.
A journalist working for Agence France-Presse news agency was wounded by a Russian drone attack while reporting from a Ukrainian artillery position near the battle-torn eastern city of Bakhmut, according to AFP reporters who witnessed the attack. Dylan Collins, 35, a US citizen based in Lebanon but on assignment in Ukraine, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries in the attack in a forested area near Bakhmut. He was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he was being treated. Doctors have said his condition was not life-threatening.
The Kremlin on Monday accused Kyiv of carrying out a “deliberate attack on journalists” in Ukraine’s south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region after a reporter for the Russian state news agency RIA was killed. The war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev was killed in a Ukrainian cluster munition strike, according to RIA. He died from his wounds during an evacuation from a special military operation.
