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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Nicola Slawson, Martin Belam and Samantha Lock

First shipment of Ukrainian grain reaches Turkish waters; Kremlin accuses US of direct role in war – as it happened

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul.
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul. Photograph: Yoruk Isik/Reuters

End of day summary

  • Russia’s supreme court has designated the Azov regiment – a former volunteer battalion that was incorporated into Ukraine’s army – a “terrorist” organisation, allowing for lengthy jail terms for its members. On Tuesday, the court ruled to “recognise the Ukrainian paramilitary unit Azov a terrorist organisation and to ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation”, the judge said.
  • The role of American intelligence in the war in Ukraine is under scrutiny on Tuesday after Russia accused the White House of supplying targeting information used by Kyiv to conduct long-range missile strikes. Russia’s defence ministry claimed Washington was “directly involved” in the war, and had passed on intelligence that had led to the “mass deaths of civilians”. The US was responsible for rocket attacks by Kyiv on populated areas in the eastern Donbas and in other regions, it said.
  • Deadly strikes have been carried out against Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region and eastern Kharkiv region, Russia said on Tuesday. The defence ministry also said it destroyed seven ammo depots in the east and south of the country, including in Zaporizhzhia region.
  • The US announced Monday a new tranche of weapons for Ukraine’s forces fighting Russia, including ammunition for increasingly important rocket launchers and artillery guns. The $550m package will “include more ammunition for the high mobility advanced rocket systems otherwise known as Himars, as well as ammunition” for artillery, national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
  • Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that Russia had destroyed six US-made Himars missile systems since the beginning of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • Three people have reportedly been killed by Russian shelling while evacuating in a minibus near Kherson, Ukraine’s military is reporting. Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” reported that three people died from the attack on the bus near Dovhove.
  • Ukrainian officials say they are struggling to establish the truth surrounding an explosion in a prison that killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by the Russians following the fall of Mariupol. Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, said he has tried to establish a direct link with his Russian counterpart in order to arrange a joint visit to the prison in Olenivk.
  • Turkey’s representative at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul has said that the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets was expected to anchor at Istanbul on Tuesday night. At a briefing held at the JCC, general Özcan Altunbulak said the course of the ship was going as planned. Another official said “The plan is for a ship to leave every day. If nothing goes wrong, exports will be made via one ship a day for a while.”
  • Ukraine’s state security service says it is investigating 752 cases of treason and collaboration. According to the agency, the greatest amount of cases have been documented in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
  • The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, has warned that a misunderstanding could spark nuclear destruction, as the US, Britain and France urged Russia to stop “its dangerous nuclear rhetoric and behaviour”.
  • Sabina Higgins, the wife of Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, has triggered a political row in Ireland by urging Russia and Ukraine to call a ceasefire and enter negotiations. Critics said the intervention amounted to Kremlin propaganda because it appeared to equate Moscow’s aggression with Kyiv’s fight for survival.
  • The US has accused Russia of using Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant as a “nuclear shield”. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that Moscow was now using the plant as a military base and firing on Ukrainian forces from around it and called Russia’s actions around the plant “the height of irresponsibility”.
  • The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to ease Russia’s naval blockade has reached Turkish waters and is expected in Istanbul “after midnight”. The Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, set sail from Odessa port for Lebanon Monday under an accord brokered by Turkey and the United Nations that it is hoped will get millions of tonnes of trapped Ukrainian produce to world markets and curb a global food crisis.

We’re closing the liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us.

Updated

Italy’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill on Tuesday to ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, Reuters reports.

The lower house voted by 398 votes to 20 in favour of the bill which now needs a second, final green light from the Senate.

Meloni said in a statement:

In the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, strengthening the European front of the Alliance is an important step that can act as a deterrent to new Russian threats.

The accession needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the NATO defence clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all.

Sabina Higgins, the wife of Irish president Michael D Higgins, has condemned Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and said she was “dismayed” at criticism she has received in recent days.

Government senators and commentators have criticised Higgins for writing a letter that called for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which critics said amounted to Kremlin propaganda because it appeared to equate Moscow’s aggression with Kyiv’s fight for survival.

Sabina Higgins made the call in a letter to the Irish Times that was published last week – and also posted on the president’s official website.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Higgins said she was “dismayed” at the criticism.

She said:

I have from its outset strongly condemned the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and I cannot be but dismayed that people would find anything unacceptable in a plea for peace and negotiations when the future of humanity is threatened by war, global warming and famine.

The statement follows fter an outcry from Ukrainians – including a member of Ukraine’s parliament – the letter disappeared from the website but the president has resisted a clamour to publicly disown the letter or clarify his views on it.

A spokesperson for the president on Monday said he had been “unequivocal” in condemning Russia’s invasion as illegal, immoral and unjustifiable. “He has called for an immediate Russian withdrawal and end to the violence.”

Irish politicians said the statement was insufficient and that Higgins – and the government – needed to explicitly distance the Irish state from the letter.

The cargo ship Razoni that left the port of Odesa with the first grain shipment for export carries over 26,000 tons of corn and is bound for Tripoli, Lebanon with a stopover in Istanbul for inspection. It is the first ship exporting Ukrainian grain since a safe passage deal was signed between Ukraine and Russia on 22 July in Istanbul. Russian troops on 24 February entered Ukrainian territory, starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. EPA/ERDEM SAHIN
The cargo ship Razoni that left the port of Odesa carries over 26,000 tons of corn and is bound for Tripoli, Lebanon with a stopover in Istanbul for inspection. It is the first ship exporting Ukrainian grain since a safe passage deal was signed between Ukraine and Russia on 22 July in Istanbul. Photograph: Erdem Şahin/EPA

First shipment of Ukrainian grain reaches Turkish waters

The first official shipment of Ukrainian grain since Russia’s invasion reached Turkish territorial waters on Tuesday near the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, AFP reports.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni is due to be inspected on Wednesday near Istanbul by a team that includes Russian and Ukrainian officials before delivering its cargo of 26,000 tonnes of maize to Tripoli, Lebanon.

“The inspection of the ship by the joint inspection team will begin (Wednesday) morning,” the Turkish defence ministry said.

The delivery, which set off from the Black Sea port of Odessa on Monday, is the first under a UN-backed deal brokered with the help of Turkey last month.

Updated

Full story: Russia claims US ‘directly involved’ in Ukraine war

The role of American intelligence in the war in Ukraine is under scrutiny on Tuesday after Russia accused the White House of supplying targeting information used by Kyiv to conduct long-range missile strikes.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed Washington was “directly involved” in the war, and had passed on intelligence that had led to the “mass deaths of civilians”. The US was responsible for rocket attacks by Kyiv on populated areas in the eastern Donbas and in other regions, it said.

“All this undeniably proves that Washington, contrary to White House and Pentagon claims, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Biden administration has so far given more than $8bn (£6.55bn) in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s February invasion, including an additional $550m tranche unveiled on Monday. But it strongly denies it is a participant in the conflict or is at war with Russia.

The Kremlin’s comments follow an interview given to the Telegraph on Monday by Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s acting deputy head of military intelligence. Skibitsky said the US-made long-range Himars artillery systems had been extremely effective in wiping out Russian fuel and ammunition dumps.

He said excellent satellite imagery and real-time information had helped. He denied US officials were providing direct targeting information. But he acknowledged there was consultation between US and Ukrainian intelligence officials before strikes, so Washington could vet and if necessary veto intended targets.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, leaped on the remarks. She told the RIA Novosti news agency: “No other confirmation of the direct involvement of the United States in the hostilities on the territory of Ukraine is required.

“The supply of weapons is accompanied not only by instructions on its use, but in this case they perform the function of gunners in their purest form.”

Read more here:

A report by Yale University’s School of Management in the United States says Russia’s economy has been deeply damaged by Western sanctions and the departure of multinationals since the invasion, AFP reports.

The report, which was compiled using data from companies, banks, consultants and Russian trading partners, concludes:

Not only have sanctions and the business retreat worked, they have thoroughly crippled the Russian economy at every level.

The report challenges the belief that Russia is riding out the economic storm thanks to the tens of billions of dollars the country reaps each month from oil and gas exports.

It estimates that Russian retail sales and consumer spending have fallen at an annual rate of 15-20%, and that car sales have shrunk from 100,000 a month to 27,000 a month.

Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Zbigniew Rau, OSCE Chairman-in-Office and foreign minister of Poland during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Zbigniew Rau, OSCE Chairman-in-Office and foreign minister of Poland during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine on Tuesday. Photograph: Presidential Press Service Handout Handout/EPA
Havrysh, left, is comforted by her husband, Vadim, as she weeps while watching her elderly parents helped into a van to be evacuated to a safer part of the country in the west from their home in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. “I understand that this will be the last time I ever see them,” she said. “You see their age, I can’t give them the proper care.” (AP Photo/David Goldman)
Havrysh, left, is comforted by her husband, Vadim, as she weeps while watching her elderly parents helped into a van to be evacuated to a safer part of the country in the west from their home in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
Local resident Olexander inspects his beverages plant that was destroyed by a Russian missile on Monday night in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
Local resident Olexander inspects his beverages plant that was destroyed by a Russian missile on Monday night in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
A woman carries a box after receiving humanitarian food aid in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
A woman carries a box after receiving humanitarian food aid in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine on Tuesday. Photograph: Andriy Andriyenko/AP
A Ukrainian serviceman looks though the aiming circle before shooting by MSLR BM-21 “Grad” toward Russian positions at the frontline in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.(AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A Ukrainian serviceman looks though the aiming circle before shooting by MSLR BM-21 “Grad” toward Russian positions at the frontline in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Photograph: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

Updated

Ukrainian officials say they are struggling to establish the truth surrounding an explosion in a prison that killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by the Russians following the fall of Mariupol, the Associated Press reports.

Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, said he has tried to establish a direct link with his Russian counterpart in order to arrange a joint visit to the prison in Olenivka, a town in eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists.

Lubinets said:

Dialogue is when there is a conversation between two parties. At this moment, this is an official request from me, which remains unanswered.

Separatist authorities and Russian officials say 53 Ukrainian POWs were killed and a further 75 were wounded in the blast on Thursday night that ripped through a building at the prison. Both sides have blamed the other for the attack, saying it was premeditated with the aim of covering up atrocities.

Moscow opened an investigation, sending a team to the site from its Investigative Committee, the country’s main criminal investigation agency. The state-run RIA Novosti agency claimed that fragments of US-supplied precision High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rockets were found at the site.

The Ukrainian military, however, denied conducting any rocket or artillery strikes in Olenivka, and it accused the Russians of attacking the prison to cover up the torture and execution of Ukrainians there.

Lubinets said:

Based on the analysis of the photos and videos that we have access to, we can say that it was an explosion from the inside of this barrack.

He said images from the scene show damage to only one building and not all the windows were blown out something he says would not be possible if the complex was shelled.

Ukraine has appealed to the United Nations and to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help in investigating the blast and to find out more about the condition of the injured.

Updated

Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kharkiv regionUkrainian servicemen fire with a BM21 Grad multiple launch rocket system in a frontline in Kharkiv region, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Ukrainian servicemen fire with a BM21 Grad multiple launch rocket system in a frontline in Kharkiv region, as Russia’s attack continues. Photograph: Reuters

The former UK Labour leader has urged western countries to stop arming Ukraine in a TV interview likely to underscore Keir Starmer’s determination not to readmit him to the Labour party.

“Pouring arms in isn’t going to bring about a solution, it’s only going to prolong and exaggerate this war,” Jeremy Corbyn said. “We might be in for years and years of a war in Ukraine.”

Corbyn gave the interview on Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV channel that has carried pro-Russia reporting since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

He said:

What I find disappointing is that hardly any of the world’s leaders use the word peace; they always use the language of more war, and more bellicose war.

This war is disastrous for the people of Ukraine, for the people of Russia, and for the safety and security of the whole world, and therefore there has to be much more effort put into peace.

He called for the UN to be “much more centre stage”, and suggested involving other international bodies such as the African Union or the League of Arab States if the UN were unable to help negotiate a ceasefire.

Read more here:

A group of Russian soldiers have accused their commanders of jailing them in eastern Ukraine for refusing to take part in the war, in a rare public exposure of tensions inside the ranks of Russia’s army over the invasion.

Maxim Grebenyuk, a lawyer who runs the Moscow-based advocacy organisation Military Ombudsman, said that at least four Russian soldiers had filed written complaints with the prosecutor general’s office, demanding punishment for the superiors who oversaw their detainment.

“We already have a list of 70 Russian soldiers who were held as prisoners. In total, about 140 soldiers were held,” added Grebenyuk, who represented the soldiers.

In one written testimony sent to Russian prosecutors on 1 August and reviewed by the Guardian, a soldier described how, after refusing to return to the battlefield, he was jailed for more than a week in different cells in the Russian-controlled separatist Luhansk People’s Republic.

Vladimir, a soldier whose name has been changed at his request, said:

As a result of what I believe were tactical and strategic mistakes made by my commanders … and their total disregard for human life … I made the decision not to continue in the military operation.

Vladimir said he was detained on 19 July and placed in a room with window bars where he was held without food with 25 other soldiers from his unit who also refused to fight.

Shortly after, Vladimir said he was transferred to the town of Bryansk in Luhansk, where he was held in a former school, which had been turned into a military base, with about 80 other soldiers from different units who had similarly refused to continue participating in the invasion.

He said they were guarded there by members of the private military firm Wagner, a notorious organisation that has been accused of committing human rights abuses while fighting alongside the Russian military in Ukraine.

The soldier wrote:

They [Wagner soldiers] told us that mines had been placed outside the military base and that whoever tried to flee would be considered an enemy and shot on the spot.

We were fed once a day at lunchtime. There was no basic hygiene.

The whole time, not a single document was provided that would explain our arrest.

“We were illegally jailed,” Vladimir wrote, asking the prosecutors to start a criminal investigation into two Russian colonels and a major who he said were responsible for his jailing.

Russia’s defence ministry did not respond to the Guardian’s questions for this article.

Read the full story here:

Updated

Canada said it was imposing more sanctions on Russia that would affect 43 military officials and 17 entities.

“The Russian war machine’s egregious actions will not be forgotten, and Canada will continue to work with its partners in the international community to hold it to account,” Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly said in a statement, Reuters reports.

Canada has so far imposed sanctions on more than 1,150 individuals and entities in response to Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

Updated

Russia accuses US of direct involvement in Ukraine war over intelligence

Russia has accused the US of direct involvement in the Ukraine war after claims the US was sharing targeting intelligence with Ukrainian forces.

Russia said it was responding to comments by Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence, about the way Kyiv used US-supplied long-range Himars rocket launch systems based on what he called excellent satellite imagery and real-time information.

Skibitsky had said in an interview with a British newspaper that there was consultation between US and Ukrainian intelligence officials before strikes, and that Washington had an effective veto on intended targets, though he said US officials were not providing direct targeting information.

Russia’s defence ministry said the interview showed that Washington was directly involved despite repeated assertions that it was limiting its role in the conflict to arms supplies because it did not want a direct confrontation with Moscow.

“All this undeniably proves that Washington, contrary to White House and Pentagon claims, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

“It is the Biden administration that is directly responsible for all Kyiv-approved rocket attacks on residential areas and civilian infrastructure in populated areas of Donbas and other regions, which have resulted in mass deaths of civilians,” the defence ministry said.

Reuters reports there was no immediate reaction to the defence ministry’s allegations from the White House or Pentagon.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, is additonally quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying: “No other confirmation of the direct involvement of the United States in the hostilities on the territory of Ukraine is required. The supply of weapons is accompanied not only by instructions on its use, but in this case they perform the function of gunners in their purest form.”

Updated

While all eyes have been on the Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, which set sail from Odesa for Lebanon on Monday, there have been further developments with the seized ship Laodicea, which is already in Lebanon.

Reuters reports the country’s top prosecutor has lifted his seizure order on the ship, which is accused by Ukraine of carrying stolen flour and barley, allowing it to sail after finding “no criminal offence committed”.

Syrian cargo ship Laodicea is being held at Tripoli.
Syrian cargo ship Laodicea is being held at Tripoli. Photograph: AP

However, the ship remains unable to sail for the time being due to another seizure order issued by a judge in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where the ship is docked, on Monday. That seizure order was only valid for 72 hours, the judge who issued it previously told Reuters.

An official at the Ukrainian embassy in Beirut said it could not immediately comment, and that the embassy would hold a news conference tomorrow.

Ukraine has said that the Syrian-flagged ship was carrying 10,000 tonnes of flour and barley plundered by Russia from Ukrainian stores. Moscow has denied stealing any grain.

Updated

Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.

An image supplied by Ukraine’s state emergency service shows a fuel reservoir damaged by a Russian military strike in Mykolaiv.
An image supplied by Ukraine’s state emergency service shows a fuel reservoir damaged by a Russian military strike in Mykolaiv. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine/Reuters
General secretary of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Helga Maria Schmid and Chairman-in-office and Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau visit the site of a mass grave in the town of Bucha.
General secretary of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Helga Maria Schmid and Chairman-in-office and Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau visit the site of a mass grave in the town of Bucha. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
Former engineer Maria Nikolaevna, 92, eats as her daughter Natalya, 58, watches, inside a basement where they have lived since the beginning of the war, in northern Saltivka in Kharkiv.
Former engineer Maria Nikolaevna, 92, eats as her daughter Natalya, 58, watches, inside a basement where they have lived since the beginning of the war, in northern Saltivka in Kharkiv. Photograph: Nacho Doce/Reuters
Communal workers remove the debris of a student hostel destroyed as a result of shelling in Mykolaiv.
Communal workers remove the debris of a student hostel destroyed as a result of shelling in Mykolaiv. Photograph: Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP/Getty Images

Here is the full text of that statement by the Azov regiment, a grouping of the Ukrainian armed forces which retains some far-right affiliations. It says:

After the public execution of the prisoners of war of the “Azov” regiment in Olenivka, Russia is looking for new excuses and explanations for its war crimes. The Supreme Court of Russia recognised the “Azov” regiment as a “terrorist organisation”.

This pathetic empire, which every day threatens to destroy the civilised world with nuclear weapons, whose president said he will “slay his opponents in their outhouse”, blew up houses with its own citizens, suffocated its own and Syrian women and children with poisonous gas, must be punished once and for all.

We call on the US State Department and authorised bodies of other states that consider themselves civilised to recognise the Russian Federation as a terrorist state!

Russia has been proving this status with its daily actions for many years. Its army and special services commit war crimes every day. Acquiescence to these crimes or silence is complicity!

The whole world must unite once and for all against the terrorist state!

The reference to Olenivka is about the deaths of prisoners of war that were being held there. Both Russia and Ukraine have blamed the other side for an attack which burnt down part of the building, and which Russia claims killed at least 50 and wounded at least 75 others.

Yesterday evening the Institute for the study of war published a report in which it said it “assesses that Russian forces were responsible for the killing of 53 Ukrainian POWs in an explosion at a Russian-controlled prison in Olenivka.”

It said:

Satellite and other imagery from the site indicate that the attack only damaged one building, did not collapse the walls of that building, and did not leave any shell craters in the vicinity, very strongly suggesting that the destruction of the prison was the result of either a precision strike or an internally planted incendiary or explosive.

However, the report was based in part on US-supplied intelligence, which denied that US-manufactured Himars systems were involved in the incident.

Ukraine’s Azov regiment issued a response on Tuesday to its designation as a “terrorist” group by Russia’s highest court, decrying the move as a justification for Russia to commit war crimes, Reuters reports.

In a post on its Telegram page, the Azov regiment also called for the US state department to declare Russia a “terrorist state” in response to alleged war crimes by Moscow during its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia claims to have carried out deadly strikes in Mykolaiv and Kharkiv

Deadly strikes have been carried out against Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region and eastern Kharkiv region, Russia said on Tuesday.

The defence ministry also said it destroyed seven ammo depots in the east and south of the country, including in Zaporizhzhia region, Reuters reports.

Ukraine, which has stepped up its drive to retake Russian-controlled regions in the south, said last week it saw evidence Moscow was redeploying its forces to defend the captured territory.

Reuters was not able to immediately verify battlefield reports.

Updated

BP will hand billions of pounds to shareholders after tripling its profits to nearly £7bn in the second quarter of the year amid high oil prices during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even as families struggle in a cost of living crisis.

The FTSE 100 oil company on Tuesday said its preferred measure of profit, which it describes as its underlying replacement cost profit, rose to $8.5bn (£6.9bn) between April and June. That is up from $6.2bn in the first three months of the year, and three times BP’s underlying profits of $2.8bn in the second quarter of 2021.

It was the second highest quarterly profit in BP’s history, behind only its $8.8bn underlying profit in the summer of 2008.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said the “eye-watering profits” showed that the government was “totally wrong” to have given significant tax breaks to oil companies. However, the government’s Brexit opportunities minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said he was not in favour of an extra windfall tax.

BP also said it would hand investors $3.5bn through a share buyback programme, while it increased its total dividend payout by 10% to about $1.1bn.

Oil companies in the UK and beyond have enjoyed booming earnings in recent months on the back of rising energy prices as households around the world have struggled with soaring bills. As Russia’s invasion grinds on, the research firm Cornwall Insight predicts the energy price cap on bills in Great Britain is on track to rise to £3,615 a year from January.

Read more here:

Updated

Russia’s supreme court has designated the Azov regiment – a former volunteer battalion that was incorporated into Ukraine’s army – a “terrorist” organisation, allowing for lengthy jail terms for its members.

On Tuesday, the court ruled to “recognise the Ukrainian paramilitary unit Azov a terrorist organisation and to ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation”, the judge said, state news agency Tass reported. The decision takes immediate effect.

According to Russia’s criminal code, members of “terrorist” groups can face up to 10 years in jail, while their leaders and organisers can be jailed for up to 20 years, AFP reports.

Ukraine’s Azov regiment has drawn controversy for its links to far-right figures, with Russia calling it a “neo-Nazi” group.

The battalion was formally incorporated into Ukraine’s national guard in 2014 as it helped fight Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Azov fighters have been fighting alongside Ukrainian troops to repel Russia’s offensive in Ukraine that Moscow launched in February.

In May, Ukrainian soldiers, including members of Azov, ended a weeks-long siege of the vast Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol by agreeing to surrender.

About 2,500 people were taken captive by Moscow’s forces after calling a halt to their resistance.

Updated

A boy ride his scooter in front of the destroyed building of the city hall in the city of of Okhtyrka, Sumy region on August 1, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - As towns and villages across Ukraines eastern countryside fell to the swift Russian invasion on February 24, Okhtyrka, a city of 48,000 on the Vorskla River, in Sumy region, resisted occupation. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP) (Photo by GENYA SAVILOV/AFP via Getty Images)
A boy ride his scooter in front of the destroyed building of the city hall in the city of of Okhtyrka, Sumy region on amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images

Russia views Nancy Pelosi’s expected visit to Taiwan as a “provocation” aimed at pressuring Beijing, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

China has been furious about the US House speaker’s potential visit to Taiwan. On Monday, China’s spokesperson warned its military would “not sit idly by” if the visit happened.

In a press briefing, Zakharova said that Russia supports Beijing’s One China principle, and opposes Taiwanese independence “in any form”.

My colleague Vincent Ni has this analysis of the situation and how China may be inspired by Russia’s actions in Ukraine:

Beijing today sees the unification with Taiwan as a part of Xi Jinping’s project national rejuvenation. The Chinese president has on several occasions expressed his preference for peaceful unification but, as has been the case with previous Chinese leaders, he has also vowed not to rule out a military option as a last resort. Unfortunately, as relations between China and the west deteriorate, talk of a potential move on Taiwan has been on the increase, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Updated

The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to ease Russia’s naval blockade was expected in Istanbul “after midnight”, AFP reports.

The Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, set sail from Odessa port for Lebanon Monday under an accord brokered by Turkey and the United Nations that it is hoped will get millions of tonnes of trapped Ukrainian produce to world markets and curb a global food crisis.

Turkish officials said it would arrive in Istanbul “after midnight”.

The ship had cautiously made its way through a specially cleared corridor in the mine-infested waters of the Black Sea.

First grain shipment starts from Odesaepa10102526 Rear Admiral Ozcan Altunbulak, Turkey’s representative speaks to media about the Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni that left the port of Odesa with the first grain shipment for export, at the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul, Turkey, 02 August 2022. The Razoni carries over 26,000 tons of corn and is bound for Tripoli, Lebanon with a stopover in Istanbul for inspection. It is the first ship exporting Ukrainian grain since a safe passage deal was signed between Ukraine and Russia on 22 July in Istanbul. Russian troops on 24 February entered Ukrainian territory, starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis. EPA/ERDEM SAHIN
Rear Admiral Ozcan Altunbulak, Turkey’s representative, speaks to media about the Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni that left the port of Odesa with the first grain shipment for export on Tuesday. Photograph: Erdem Şahin/EPA

The Marine Traffic website showed the vessel – which is carrying 26,000 tonnes of maize – off the coast of Bulgaria by 9am GMT.

It will be inspected by a special coordination centre involving representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN at sea in the mouth of the Bosphorus before being allowed to progress.

The five-month halt of deliveries from Ukraine – one of the world’s biggest grain exporters – has contributed to soaring food prices, hitting the world’s poorest nations especially hard.

Kyiv says at least a further 16 grain ships are waiting to depart but Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy cautioned it was too early to celebrate.

“Let’s wait and see how the agreement works and whether security will be really guaranteed,” Zelenskiy said in a video address late Monday.

The breakthrough pact signed in July was the first significant accord involving Ukraine and Russia since Moscow invaded its neighbour on 24 February.

Updated

Summary of the day so far …

  • The US announced Monday a new tranche of weapons for Ukraine’s forces fighting Russia, including ammunition for increasingly important rocket launchers and artillery guns. The $550m package will “include more ammunition for the high mobility advanced rocket systems otherwise known as Himars, as well as ammunition” for artillery, national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
  • Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that Russia had destroyed six US-made Himars missile systems since the beginning of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • Three people have reportedly been killed by Russian shelling while evacuating in a minibus near Kherson, Ukraine’s military is reporting. Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” reported that three people died from the attack on the bus near Dovhove.
  • Turkey’s representative at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul has said that the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets was expected to anchor at Istanbul on Tuesday night. At a briefing held at the JCC, general Özcan Altunbulak said the course of the ship was going as planned. Another official said “The plan is for a ship to leave every day. If nothing goes wrong, exports will be made via one ship a day for a while.”
  • Ukraine’s state security service says it is investigating 752 cases of treason and collaboration. According to the agency, the greatest amount of cases have been documented in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
  • The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, has warned that a misunderstanding could spark nuclear destruction, as the US, Britain and France urged Russia to stop “its dangerous nuclear rhetoric and behaviour”.
  • Sabina Higgins, the wife of Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, has triggered a political row in Ireland by urging Russia and Ukraine to call a ceasefire and enter negotiations. Critics said the intervention amounted to Kremlin propaganda because it appeared to equate Moscow’s aggression with Kyiv’s fight for survival.
  • The US has accused Russia of using Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant as a “nuclear shield”. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that Moscow was now using the plant as a military base and firing on Ukrainian forces from around it and called Russia’s actions around the plant “the height of irresponsibility”.

That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be taking over our live coverage of reaction to the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Nicola Slawson will be here with you shortly to continue our Ukraine coverage.

Updated

Sabina Higgins, the wife of Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, has triggered a political row in Ireland by urging Russia and Ukraine to call a ceasefire and enter negotiations.

Critics said the intervention amounted to Kremlin propaganda because it appeared to equate Moscow’s aggression with Kyiv’s fight for survival.

Sabina Higgins made the call in a letter to the Irish Times that was published last week – and also posted on the president’s official website.

After an outcry from Ukrainians – including a member of Ukraine’s parliament – the letter disappeared from the website but the president has resisted a clamour to publicly disown the letter or clarify his views on it.

A spokesperson for the president on Monday said he had been “unequivocal” in condemning Russia’s invasion as illegal, immoral and unjustifiable. “He has called for an immediate Russian withdrawal and end to the violence.”

Irish politicians said the statement was insufficient and that Higgins – and the government – needed to explicitly distance the Irish state from the letter.

“This is very concerning. Diplomats are watching very closely what is being said,” Paul Kehoe, a lawmaker and former government chief whip told reporters. Malcolm Byrne, a senator, said Sabina Higgins was entitled to her opinions but that the Kremlin viewed her her letter as a propaganda tool.

Ireland’s presidency is an independent and largely ceremonial post.

Updated

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said Russia has destroyed six US-made Himars missile systems since the beginning of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Interfax reports that Shoigu also claimed that five anti-ship Harpoon missile launch systems had been destroyed. The claims have not been independently verified.

Updated

There is a further update on the grain export deal that Turkey brokered between Ukraine, Russia and the UN. An official, speaking anonymously to the Reuters news agency, has said that they expect exports to start daily.

“The plan is for a ship to leave every day,” the senior official said, referring to Odesa and two other Ukrainian ports covered by the deal. “If nothing goes wrong, exports will be made via one ship a day for a while.”

Turkey’s representative at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul has said that the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets was expected to anchor at Istanbul on Tuesday night.

At a briefing held at the JCC, Reuters reports general Özcan Altunbulak said the course of the ship was going as planned.

Here are some of the latest images to reach us from Ukraine over the news wires.

Pedestrians walk in front of the city hall building in the city of Okhtyrka, Sumy.
Pedestrians walk in front of the city hall building in the city of Okhtyrka, Sumy. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
A woman pushes her bicycle past a sign which reads I love Okhtyrka in front of the destroyed city hall in the city.
A woman pushes her bicycle past a sign which reads I love Okhtyrka in front of the destroyed city hall in the city. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
This picture taken and released by the Ukrainian emergency service shows firefighters working to put out a fire in a destroyed house after shelling in the Kharkiv region.
This picture taken and released by the Ukrainian emergency service shows firefighters working to put out a fire in a destroyed house after shelling in the Kharkiv region. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
A passenger looks out of a city bus window during a rain shower in Dnipro on Monday evening.
A passenger looks out of a city bus window during a rain shower in Dnipro on Monday evening. Photograph: David Goldman/AP
A Ukrainian gunmen prepares charges on the front line in the Kharkiv region.
A Ukrainian gunmen prepares charges on the front line in the Kharkiv region. Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has claimed that one person was killed and four civilians injured by Ukrainian shelling on territories that the DPR occupies. The DPR is recognised as a legitimate authority by only three UN member states, including Russia.

Updated

Ukraine’s ministry of defence quoted Scots poet Robert Burns’ Scots Wha Hae this morning while issuing what it claims are the latest casualty figures that it has inflicted on Russian forces.

They claim to have killed approximately 41,170 Russian troops, as well as destroying more than 1,750 tanks, 4,014 armoured combat vehicles, 223 jets and 191 helicopters. The claims have not been independently verified.

Updated

The Agence France-Presse news agency is carrying some quotes this morning from people in occupied areas of Ukraine. It says that all have had their names changed to protect them from retribution, and AFP was unable to verify their accounts independently.

One person spoken to was “Oleksandr”, a 25-year-old teacher in a village close to Kherson city. He told the agency:

Liberating the city is one thing, but liberating the whole Kherson region is something else. We know it won’t happen now, but still have hope.

The roads of the region are dotted with numerous checkpoints, and you can always hear bombing raids. There are many soldiers in the cities.

In Kherson itself, it is very depressing. There is no more medicine at all and many elderly people have died because of lack of treatment. For the elderly, it’s hell.

If I had to describe the situation in one word, I would say ‘difficult’. There is a total collapse of public services. The ruble is not circulating. Passports are not being issued – nobody wants them anyway.

We have enough food, although there is very little delivery of humanitarian aid. Many people are left without work, and often only unskilled labourers are left.

In the first weeks of the occupation, a lot of activists were kidnapped. There were big demonstrations against the occupation, but after a month it stopped, because there is no internet, no communication.

And all the activists are either hiding or have been kidnapped or killed, I don’t know.

If the Russians hear you speaking Ukrainian, they think you are a Nazi. They check social networks, tattoos, if you have Ukrainian symbols on your body, you are in trouble. I know that some people have had their tattoos removed.

Zelenskiy warns against 'illusion' that Russia will not disrupt Ukrainian exports

A ship carrying Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion on Monday under an internationally brokered deal to unblock Ukraine’s agricultural exports and ease a growing global food crisis.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the shipment as “the first positive signal that there is a chance to stop the development of a world food crisis” while the Kremlin called the departure “very positive” news.

Zelenskiy’s said that while it is “too early to draw any conclusions”, the shipment was the “first positive signal” to curb a global food crisis in his latest national address.

The implementation of the initiative on the export of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products from our ports in the Black Sea began today. The first vessel carrying 26,000 tons of corn left the port of Odesa.

As of now, it is too early to draw any conclusions and predict further events. But the port started working, the export traffic started, and this can be called the first positive signal that there is a chance to stop the spread of the food crisis in the world.

Currently, everything depends on the implementation of the security parameters of the initiative, which is the responsibility of the partners, primarily the United Nations and Turkey.

We cannot have the illusions that Russia will simply refrain from trying to disrupt Ukrainian exports.

Updated

US to send $550m of new weapons to Ukraine: US official

The US announced Monday a new tranche of weapons for Ukraine’s forces fighting Russia, including ammunition for increasingly important rocket launchers and artillery guns.

The $550m package will “include more ammunition for the high mobility advanced rocket systems otherwise known as Himars, as well as ammunition” for artillery, national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

The assistance includes 75,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition, a statement from the Pentagon said.

“To meet its evolving battlefield requirements, the US will continue to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities,” the statement said.

This brings the total of military assistance committed to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office to more than $8.8bn, according to the Pentagon.

Previous weapons assistance from Washington to Kyiv has included counter-artillery radars, Javelin anti-tank missiles, Soviet-made helicopters, shells and light armoured vehicles.

Updated

The reported strike on the Russian Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol on Navy Day is the latest setback for the Black Sea Fleet in the five-month-old war against Ukraine, which included the loss of its flagship, the cruiser Moskva, in April, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Updated

World ‘one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation’, UN chief says

The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, has warned that a misunderstanding could spark nuclear destruction, as the United States, Britain and France urged Russia to stop “its dangerous nuclear rhetoric and behaviour”.

At the opening of a key nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference in New York, Guterres warned that the world faced “a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the cold war”.

Citing Russia’s war with Ukraine and tensions on the Korean peninsula and in the Middle East, Guterres said he feared that crises “with nuclear undertones” could escalate.

“Today, humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” Guterres told the 10th review conference of the NPT, an international treaty that came into force in 1970 to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.

“We have been extraordinarily lucky so far. But luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict,” he added, calling on nations to “put humanity on a new path towards a world free of nuclear weapons”.

Here are some of the latest images out of Ukraine to come through our news wires today.

Rescue workers work in the aftermath of shelling at Mykolaiv Regional Skin and Venereal Diseases Dispensary, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
Rescue workers work in the aftermath of shelling at Mykolaiv Regional Skin and Venereal Diseases Dispensary, in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Emergency Service Of Ukraine/Reuters
Firefighters extinguish a fire that broke out after the shelling in the Donetsk region, Ukraine on 1 August.
Firefighters extinguish a fire that broke out after the shelling in the Donetsk region, Ukraine on 1 August. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Firefighters working to put out a fire after shelling at an industrial building in Kharkiv region.
Firefighters working to put out a fire after shelling at an industrial building in Kharkiv region. Photograph: UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE/AFP/Getty Images
Ukrainian servicemen fire a M777 howitzer at a position on a front line in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on 1 August.
Ukrainian servicemen fire a M777 howitzer at a position on a front line in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on 1 August. Photograph: Reuters
Ukrainian servicemen rest at a position on a front line in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine.
Ukrainian servicemen rest at a position on a front line in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine. Photograph: Ukrainian Armed Forces/Reuters

Ukraine investigating 752 cases of treason

Ukraine’s state security service says it is investigating 752 cases of treason and collaboration.

According to the agency, the greatest amount of cases have been documented in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office also released a statement, saying:

An investigation is underway into more than 600 prosecutor’s office employees who crossed the border after February 24, 2022.

The work of detecting traitors during the war is a question of the security of our state.”

The office added that five prosecutors and three public officials have so far been reported of suspicion.

Ukraine has also opened 1,451 criminal proceedings investigating crimes against children, deputy prosecutor general Igor Mustetsa said.

At least 668 of the opened proceedings involve violence against children and include injury, murder and sexual violence. Another 777 cases regard attacks on facilities that concern children, Mustetsa added.

Three killed while evacuating in bus near Kherson - reports

Three people have reportedly been killed by Russian shelling while evacuating in a minibus near Kherson, Ukraine’s military is reporting.

Ukraine’s Operational Command ‘South’ reported that three people died from the attack on the bus near Dovhove.

The minibus was reportedly carrying seven people evacuating from the temporarily occupied village of Starosillia in the Kherson region.

The remaining survivors have been hospitalised, according to local media reports.

Summary and welcome

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while.

Three people have reportedly been killed by Russian shelling while evacuating in a minibus near Kherson, Ukraine’s military is reporting.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said it is “too early to draw any conclusions” after a ship carrying Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion on Monday.

“We cannot have the illusions that Russia will simply refrain from trying to disrupt Ukrainian exports,” he cautioned.

It is 8.30am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:

  • The United Nations chief has warned that nuclear annihilation is just one miscalculation away. At the opening of a key nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference in New York, António Guterres warned that the world faced “a nuclear danger not seen since the height of the cold war.” “Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation,” he said citing the war in Ukraine as a significant factor.

  • On Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin said there could be “no winners” in a nuclear war and it should “never be unleashed” in a letter sent to attendees of the NPT conference. In February, Putin pointedly referred to Russia’s nuclear arsenal and warned outside powers that any attempt to interfere would “lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history”. Days later, he ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert.

  • The US will send $550m in a new tranche of weapons to Ukraine, including ammunition for increasingly important rocket launchers and artillery guns. Ukraine received a batch of four more US-made high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), Ukraine’s defence minister said on Monday.

  • The US has accused Russia of using Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant as a “nuclear shield”. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that Moscow was now using the plant as a military base and firing on Ukrainian forces from around it and called Russia’s actions around the plant “the height of irresponsibility”.
  • A ship carrying Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion on Monday under an internationally brokered deal to unblock Ukraine’s agricultural exports and ease a growing global food crisis. The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni was carrying 26,000 tons of corn and destined for Lebanon. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the shipment as “the first positive signal that there is a chance to stop the development of a world food crisis” while the Kremlin called the departure “very positive” news.
  • The daily gas production of Russia’s Gazprom dropped in July to its lowest level since 2008, figures suggest, amid fears that Moscow could cause an energy crisis in Europe by shutting off supply. The state-owned energy firm pumped 774m cubic metres a day last month – 14% less than in June – according to analysis by Bloomberg of data released on Monday. Overall total output for the year was 262.4bn cubic metres, a 12% fall compared with the same period last year.
  • Food inflation has soared across much of the developing world since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has trapped several richer countries in a cycle of rising prices, a report by the World Bank has found. The organisation said the war would hit many countries with an increase in food bills worth more than 1% of their annual national income (GDP), while others would fail to contain the impact and be plunged into a full-blown debt crisis.
  • France will donate a mobile DNA lab to Kyiv authorities in a bid to ensure war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine do not go unpunished, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday.
  • Spanish businesses, restaurants, museums and public transport will be required to adhere to strict temperature requirements under emergency measures the government announced on Monday to save energy. The plan establishes a minimum temperature of 27C (80F) in summer and a maximum of 19C (66F) in winter.
  • The Russian economy has been deeply damaged by sanctions and the exit of international business since the country invaded Ukraine, according to a new report by Yale University business experts and economists. Largely unpublished data shows that much of its domestic economic activity has stalled since the invasion. “Not only have sanctions and the business retreat worked, they have thoroughly crippled the Russian economy at every level,” the 118-page report read. “Russian domestic production has come to a complete standstill with no capacity to replace lost businesses, products and talent.”
A firefighter extinguishes a burning hospital building hit by a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on 1 August.
A firefighter extinguishes a burning hospital building hit by a Russian missile strike in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on 1 August. Photograph: Reuters
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