End of day summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments from today:
- The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to ease Russia’s naval blockade has reached Turkey. The Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, set sail from Odesa port for Lebanon on Monday under an accord brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. The ship has been inspected by members of the Joint Coordination Centre, and is now expected to move through the Bosporus Strait “shortly”.
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The Ukrainian president has dismissed the importance of the first grain export shipment from his country since Russia invaded, saying it was carrying a fraction of the crop Kyiv must sell to help salvage its shattered economy. In downbeat comments, Volodymr Zelenskiy’s, via video to students in Australia on Wednesday said more time was needed to see whether other grain shipments would follow.
- The UN has said that there have been over 10m border crossings into and out of Ukraine since Russia launched its latest invasion of the country on 24 February. Data gathered by the UNHCR states that 6,180,345 individual refugees from Ukraine are now recorded across Europe. Ukraine’s neighbours have taken the largest individual numbers. Poland has 1.25 million refugees.
- In its latest operation briefing, Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that its strike on Radekhov in the Lviv region “destroyed a storage base with foreign-made weapons and ammunition delivered to the Kyiv regime from Poland”. Earlier today, Lviv’s governor acknowledged the strike, and said “one building was damaged. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”
- The UK’s ministry of defence says there is likely to be an increase in civilians attempting to flee Kherson and the surrounding area as hostilities continue and food shortages worsen, putting pressure on transport routes. They have also said that a Ukrainian strike against a Russian ammunition train in Kherson oblast, southern Ukraine, means it is “highly unlikely” the rail link between Kherson and Crimea is operational.
- Mykola Tochytskyi, deputy minister of foreign affairs, has repeated Ukraine’s request for the skies over nuclear installations to be closed to prevent a potential accident and their misuse. He said “For the first time in history, civil nuclear facilities have been turned into military targets and springboards for the Russian army in breach of the non-proliferation provisions on peaceful use of nuclear energy. The world witnesses how nuclear terrorism, sponsored by the nuclear-weapon state, is arising in reality. The robust joint actions are needed to prevent nuclear disaster at global scale. We ask to close the sky over the nuclear power plants in Ukraine.”
- The US embassy in Kyiv has criticised what it says is a decision by Roskomnadzor, the Russian government’s media agency, to block a US government website – share.america.gov.
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said the US has not offered Russia to resume talks on the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty.
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, has spoken to the Australian National University, thanking Australia for its support against the Russian invasion.
- The former German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder has come under fire for a private meeting held with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, after he travelled on holiday to Moscow to meet him. Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with Putin, whom he met last week during a visit to the Russian capital.
- German chancellor Olaf Scholz has insisted that Russia had no reason to hold up the return of a gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline. The turbine is stranded in Germany, following servicing in Canada, in an escalating standoff that has seen has flows to Europe fall to a trickle, just 20% of capacity.
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has been accused of glorifying war after she retweeted a Ukrainian tweet listing Russia’s war dead – described in an embedded graphic as “eliminated personnel”, before she quickly deleted it. The original tweet from the Ukrainian defence ministry quoted a Robert Burns poem saying “tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty’s in every blow! Let us do or die!”
- Ukrainian refugees are likely to become victims of rising tensions and disinformation campaigns in their host countries, a report has warned. False reports exaggerating how much aid refugees receive compared with local people, as well as linking refugees with violent crime and political extremism, could cause a breakdown in relations with local communities, the charity World Vision said.
- UK lawmaker, the Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who is chair of the Commons defence committee in the British parliament in London, has repeated his appeals that Ukraine needs more weapons. Ellwood told viewers of the GB News channel in the UK that the country was “getting better supporting Ukraine, but it’s coming very, very late in the day.”
- Russia has started creating a military strike force aimed at Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih and warned that Moscow could be preparing new offensive operations in southern Ukraine, Ukraine said on Wednesday. Russia holds swathes of Ukraine’s south that it captured in the early phases of its invasion, but Kyiv has said it will mount a counter-offensive. It said on Tuesday it had already recaptured 53 villages in occupied Kherson region, Reuters reports.
We are closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us.
Russian energy giant Gazprom has said that delivery of a turbine needed to keep gas flowing to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was “impossible” due to sanctions on Moscow.
Gazprom said in a statement:
Sanctions regimes in Canada, in the European Union and in Britain, as well as the inconsistencies in the current situation concerning the contractual obligations of (turbine maker) Siemens make the delivery impossible.
The statement risks further increasing concern in European countries who suspect Moscow is looking for an excuse to delay the turbine’s return to Russia and further reduce its gas deliveries, AFP reports.
Earlier on Wednesday, German chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Russia of blocking the delivery of the key turbine to throttle gas supplies to Europe, as he raised the possibility of keeping nuclear plants going.
The continent’s biggest economy has been scrambling for energy sources to fill a gap left by a reduction in gas supplies from Moscow.
The delayed return of the turbine from Canada, where the unit was being serviced, was behind an initial reduction in gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline in June, according to Gazprom.
Supplies via the energy link were further reduced to around 20 percent of capacity in late July, after Gazprom halted the operation of one of the last two operating turbines due to the “technical condition of the engine”.
Blast that killed Ukraine PoWs was Kremlin operation, Kyiv claims
The Ukrainian prisoners of war killed last week in an explosion at their barracks were the victims of a Kremlin special operation plotted in advance and approved at the highest levels, senior government officials in Kyiv have claimed.
Citing intelligence, satellite data and phone intercepts, the officials said the inmates were killed in a callous and premeditated war crime. They suggested it was carried out by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, working closely with Vladimir Putin’s FSB spy agency.
The dead Ukrainians were members of the Azov battalion, who defended the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol until their capture in May. They were being held at a prison in Olenivka, close to the frontline and about 10 miles south of occupied Donetsk.
An adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said multiple clues pointed to Moscow’s guilt. They said graves were dug next to the barracks shortly before the attack, and a Russian information campaign was launched describing the fighters as terrorists.
The prisoners were moved to the building the day before Friday’s explosion. The Russians rebased their artillery near the prison complex in an unsuccessful attempt to draw return Ukrainian fire. “This was a provocation and mass killing by the Russian side. It was organised by Putin’s regime,” claimed the official, who declined to be named.
Putin may have personally authorised the attack, they speculated, adding: “Russia is not a democratic state. The dictator is personally responsible for everything, whether it’s the shooting down of MH17, Bucha or Olenivka. For some time we have not seen Mr Putin. When is he going to recognise the atrocities he has committed?”
Russia’s defence ministry says Ukrainians destroyed the building using a Himars long-range missile made and supplied by the US. Footage broadcast on Russian television on Friday showed charred bodies, dismembered limbs and tangled metal from bunkbeds, as well as a hole in the prison’s roof.
The Biden administration says there are no indications that Ukraine attacked the site. Satellite photos released by Maxar Technologies reveal that surrounding buildings were wholly undamaged. Russian guards escaped without injury.
Read the full story here:
Ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schröder under fire for meeting Putin
The former German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder has come under fire for a private meeting held with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, after he travelled on holiday to Moscow to meet him.
Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with Putin, whom he met last week during a visit to the Russian capital.
Schröder has come under fierce criticism for his business links to the Russian state-run gas company Gazprom. He was one of the driving forces behind the construction of two Baltic Sea pipelines to carry gas to Europe, one of which was mothballed following the invasion of Ukraine, the other, Nord Stream 1, is only currently delivering 20% of the level of gas expected.
Schröder is facing an investigation by the Social Democrats of which he has been a member since 1963, over his Kremlin links and his refusal to distance himself from Putin, and could yet be ejected from the party.
In a five-hour long interview with the magazine Stern and the broadcaster RTL he gave no direct insight into the mindset of the Russian leader, but said following his discussions with him he thought the conflict with Russia was “resolvable” but required more negotiations – which Germany and France should lead – and a greater display of sensitivity by the west towards Russia’s “real fears of being hemmed in” by hostile countries, which “feed off historical events” and were “unfortunately also valid”.
Looking to the future, Schröder recommended an Austria-style neutrality status for Ukraine, and a Swiss-style arrangement of cantons for what he referred to as the “more complicated” Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. He said that both sides needed to show a willingness to compromise.
But he would apparently not be drawn into talking about the atrocities which have been carried out by Russian troops since the start of the most recent stage in the conflict, including the massacre in Bucha, the deaths of thousands of civilians across the country, the occupation of eastern and southern regions, the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainians and allegations the Kremlin is trying to eradicate the population.
Regarding the row over why only a fifth – or 30m cubic metres a day – of the expected amount of gas is currently flowing through the Nord Stream pipeline, Schröder said the blame lay at the door of the German company Siemens, which he blamed for failing to deliver a recently serviced turbine to Russia.
But according to the German government and to Siemens, it is Moscow that is to blame for its refusal to take delivery of the turbine, which was recently transported from Canada to Germany after a special dispensation was given allowing sanctions against Russia to be temporarily suspended.
Read more here:
Updated
Ukraine’s forecast for its wartime 2022 harvest has increased to 65-67 million tonnes of grain from 60 million tonnes, Denys Shmygal said on Wednesday.
In a Telegram message, the prime minister praised farmers for pressing ahead with the harvest despite the war, even in areas where shelling continues.
Updated
Ukraine has said any negotiated peace settlement with Moscow would be contingent on a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops, brushing off comments by ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Schroeder, who is a friend of Vladimir Putin, said he met the Kremlin leader in Moscow last week, that Russia wanted a “negotiated solution” to the war and that there was even the possibility of slowly reaching a cease-fire.
In response on Wednesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described Schroeder derisively as a “voice of the Russian royal court”.
Moscow is raising the terror level with one hand, and inviting to surrender with the other. Shredder — a well-known herald of the Empire and a voice at the ru-tsar's court. If Moscow wants dialogue, it is up to them. First, a cease-fire and troops withdrawal, then – constructive. pic.twitter.com/uo8SphEJlv
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 3, 2022
Updated
Russia has started creating a military strike force aimed at Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih and warned that Moscow could be preparing new offensive operations in southern Ukraine, Ukraine said on Wednesday.
Russia holds swathes of Ukraine’s south that it captured in the early phases of its invasion, but Kyiv has said it will mount a counter-offensive. It said on Tuesday it had already recaptured 53 villages in occupied Kherson region, Reuters reports.
In its regular update on the war in the south, Ukraine’s southern military command described the situation as tense and said Russia attacked along the frontline on Aug. 2.
The steel-producing city of Kryvyi Rih where the Ukrainian president grew up lies around 50 km (30 miles) from the southern frontline.
The southern military command said:
(Russia) has begun creating a strike group in the Kryvyi Rih direction. It’s also quite likely that the enemy is preparing a hostile counter-offensive with the subsequent plan of getting to the administrative boundary of Kherson region.
Ukraine has been trying to ratchet up pressure on Russia’s positions in the strategically important Black Sea region of Kherson and has used Western-supplied long-range weapons to conduct strikes on Russian supply lines and ammunition dumps.
Ukraine’s military said in a statement that Russian forces were scoping out basements in the region to turn them into bomb shelters to store military hardware.
Updated
UK lawmaker, the Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who is chair of the Commons defence committee in the British parliament in London, has repeated his appeals that Ukraine needs more weapons.
Ellwood told viewers of the GB News channel in the UK that the country was “getting better supporting Ukraine, but it’s coming very, very late in the day.”
“Let’s recognise we still see Nato sitting on its hands,” he said. “There’s a fire in Ukraine, and we won’t put it out. My concern is that fire will spread beyond Ukraine and we really will have to wake up.”
Ellwood raise concerns about possible further Russian expansion westwards, saying “There’s always a risk when you take on an adversary. There’s also risk in doing nothing allowing Russia to expand not just in Ukraine. I was recently in Moldova next door, which is not part of Nato, a very small country, very limited armed forces. They feel very, very vulnerable indeed.”
Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, has posted to Telegram to say that an older man has been injured in a Russian attack this afternoon. He told his followers:
In the afternoon, the enemy twice covered Kryvorizky district with fire. Hit the Zelenodolsk community with cluster shells from the “Hurricanes”. A 73-year-old man was injured. He is in the hospital. Several dozen private houses were damaged. Specialists are working on the spot.
The claims have not been independently verified.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz insists gas turbine at centre of row with Russia works
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has insisted that Russia had no reason to hold up the return of a gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
The turbine is stranded in Germany, following servicing in Canada, in an escalating standoff that has seen has flows to Europe fall to a trickle, just 20% of capacity.
Standing next to the turbine on a factory visit to Siemens Energy in Muelheim an der Ruhr, Scholz said it was fully operational and could be shipped back to Russia at any time – provided Moscow was willing to take it back.
“The turbine works,” Scholz said, telling reporters:
It’s quite clear and simple: the turbine is there and can be delivered, but someone needs to say ‘I want to have it’.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blamed a lack of documentation for holding up the turbine’s return to Russia.
Updated
The first shipment of over 26,000 tons of Ukrainian food under a Black Sea export deal was cleared to proceed on Wednesday, towards its final destination in Lebanon, according to the United Nations.
A team carried out a three-hour inspection and confirmed the crew and cargo are authorized and were consistent with the information received by the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) before the vessel left Odesa, said a statement from the United Nations Information Service Vienna.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.
Vladimir Putin’s purported lover has been hit with sanctions from the US government’s treasury department over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Alina Kabaeva, 39, landed on the latest update to the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control’s specially designated nationals list, freezing any of her assets in the US and generally prohibiting Americans from dealing with her.
The move came a little more than three months after the White House said Kabaeva, a famed former rhythmic gymnast, nor anyone else was safe from sanctions, even after her last-minute removal from a round of such penalties in April.
UK officials had similarly sanctioned Kabaeva – who now is chairperson of Russia’s New Media Group, the country’s largest private media company – in May.
Western countries have levied economic penalties at associates and loved ones of Putin to punish the Russian president, 69, for his decision to invade Ukraine in February. The US has avoided a direct confrontation with Russia over the invasion, though it has provided billions of dollars in weapons and other resources to help Ukraine.
The Kremlin has long denied that Putin, who is divorced, is romantically involved with Kabaeva, but various published reports suggest that she is the mother of at least some of his children. A Moscow newspaper which, in 2008, reported that Putin and Kabaeva were involved despite his still being married at the time was shut down soon after for unclear reasons.
Updated
Ukrainian refugees are likely to become victims of rising tensions and disinformation campaigns in their host countries, a report has warned.
False reports exaggerating how much aid refugees receive compared with local people, as well as linking refugees with violent crime and political extremism, could cause a breakdown in relations with local communities, the charity World Vision said.
In its report, Warm Welcomes, Lurking Tensions, the humanitarian organisation said anti-refugee messaging was already spreading on social media and “niche media outlets” in neighbouring countries.
About 8.8 million people, mainly women, children and elderly people, have left Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on 24 February, with many making their way to border countries such as Romania, Moldova and Poland.
The report said:
Messaging that could stoke anti-refugee tensions is already being spread in Romania, Moldova, Poland and across central and eastern Europe
Whilst not a major issue yet, tensions are beginning to develop in some host countries.
Children may face risks such as verbal and physical abuse between refugee and host communities, human trafficking and more as early as February 2023.
The international community needs to act now in order to prevent the situation deteriorating to dangerous levels like in Lebanon and Bangladesh.
Read the full story here:
The level of tension provoked by US house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan “should not be underestimated,” the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Responding to a question about whether the world was closer to war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that he was not in favour of using that word but reiterated that the visit was a “provocation”.
He added that no additional contacts between Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were planned in light of the visit.
Pelosi’s arrival on Tuesday in Taiwan prompted a furious response from Beijing at a time when international tensions were already elevated by the conflict in Ukraine.
Updated
The Ukrainian president has dismissed the importance of the first grain export shipment from his country since Russia invaded, saying it was carrying a fraction of the crop Kyiv must sell to help salvage its shattered economy.
Volodymr Zelenskiy’s downbeat comments, via video to students in Australia on Wednesday, came as an inspection of the ship was completed in Turkey before it continues to its final destination in Lebanon under a deal aimed at easing a global food crisis.
The ship, Razoni, departed from Ukraine’s Odesa port on the Black Sea early on Monday carrying 26,527 tonnes of corn to Lebanon’s Tripoli. It followed a U.N.-brokered grain and fertiliser export agreement between Moscow and Kyiv last month - a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a drawn-out war of attrition, Reuters reports.
But Zelenskiy, speaking via an interpreter, said more time was needed to see whether other grain shipments would follow.
He told the students:
Just recently, thanks to the UN in partnership with Turkey, we had a first ship with the delivery of grain, but it’s still nothing. But we hope it’s a tendency that will continue.
He said Ukraine had to export a minimum 10 million tonnes of grain to urgently help bring down its budget deficit which was running at $5bn (£4.1bn) a month.
Summary of today so far …
- The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to ease Russia’s naval blockade has reached Turkey. The Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, set sail from Odesa port for Lebanon on Monday under an accord brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. The ship has been inspected by members of the Joint Coordination Centre, and is now expected to move through the Bosporus Strait “shortly”
- The UN has said that there have been over 10m border crossings into and out of Ukraine since Russia launched its latest invasion of the country on 24 February. Data gathered by the UNHCR states that 6,180,345 individual refugees from Ukraine are now recorded across Europe. Ukraine’s neighbours have taken the largest individual numbers. Poland has 1.25 million refugees.
- In its latest operation briefing, Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that its strike on Radekhov in the Lviv region “destroyed a storage base with foreign-made weapons and ammunition delivered to the Kyiv regime from Poland”. Earlier today, Lviv’s governor acknowledged the strike, and said “one building was damaged. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”
- The UK’s ministry of defence says there is likely to be an increase in civilians attempting to flee Kherson and the surrounding area as hostilities continue and food shortages worsen, putting pressure on transport routes. They have also said that a Ukrainian strike against a Russian ammunition train in Kherson oblast, southern Ukraine, means it is “highly unlikely” the rail link between Kherson and Crimea is operational.
- Mykola Tochytskyi, deputy minister of foreign affairs, has repeated Ukraine’s request for the skies over nuclear installations to be closed to prevent a potential accident and their misuse. He said “For the first time in history, civil nuclear facilities have been turned into military targets and springboards for the Russian army in breach of the non-proliferation provisions on peaceful use of nuclear energy. The world witnesses how nuclear terrorism, sponsored by the nuclear-weapon state, is arising in reality. The robust joint actions are needed to prevent nuclear disaster at global scale. We ask to close the sky over the nuclear power plants in Ukraine.”
- The US embassy in Kyiv has criticised what it says is a decision by Roskomnadzor, the Russian government’s media agency, to block a US government website – share.america.gov.
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said the US has not offered Russia to resume talks on the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty.
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, has spoken to the Australian National University, thanking Australia for its support against the Russian invasion.
- Gerhard Schroeder, a former German chancellor and friend of Vladimir Putin, said the Russian president wanted a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine and last month’s agreement on grain shipments might offer a way forward. “The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” Schroeder told Stern weekly and broadcasters RTL/ntv, adding he had met Putin in Moscow last week. “A first success is the grain deal, perhaps that can be slowly expanded to a ceasefire.”
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has been accused of glorifying war after she retweeted a Ukrainian tweet listing Russia’s war dead – described in an embedded graphic as “eliminated personnel”, before she quickly deleted it. The original tweet from the Ukrainian defence ministry quoted a Robert Burns poem saying “tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty’s in every blow! Let us do or die!”
- Ukrainian refugees are likely to become victims of rising tensions and disinformation campaigns in their host countries, a report has warned. False reports exaggerating how much aid refugees receive compared with local people, as well as linking refugees with violent crime and political extremism, could cause a breakdown in relations with local communities, the charity World Vision said.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Nicola Slawson will be here to take you through the next few hours coverage.
Updated
Reuters has a quick snap to say that the inspection of the ship Razoni, the first to leave Ukraine under the Turkey-brokered grain export deal, has been completed.
Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires
In its latest operation briefing, Russia’s Ministry of Defence has claimed that its strike on Radekhov in the Lviv region “destroyed a storage base with foreign-made weapons and ammunition delivered to the Kyiv regime from Poland.”
Earlier today, Lviv’s governor acknowledged the strike, and said “one building was damaged. Fortunately, no one was hurt.”
Russia also claims to have shot down five unmanned drones overnight.
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has been accused of glorifying war after she retweeted a Ukrainian tweet listing Russia’s war dead – described in an embedded graphic as “eliminated personnel”, before she quickly deleted it.
The original tweet from the Ukrainian defence ministry quoted a Robert Burns poem saying “tyrants fall in every foe! Liberty’s in every blow! Let us do or die!”, and then listed what the Ukrainian government calculates as Russia’s total combat losses so far.
Sturgeon, who presumably wanted to celebrate the Burns quote in the tweet, added a strong arm and Ukrainian flag emoji to her retweet along with the hashtags #RobertBurns and #solidarity. At least one of her Scottish National party allies retweeted it too, with a strong arm emoji.
is it just me, or has @NicolaSturgeon deleted this tweet? pic.twitter.com/EpIqajUol8
— Kevin Hague (@kevverage) August 2, 2022
The first minister was quickly accused by her political opponents, and also some pro-independence supporters, of a significant misjudgement.
Mercedes Villalba, a left-wing Labour MSP, said: “The first minister of Scotland should not be glorifying war. It is possible to oppose Putin’s invasion of Ukraine without celebrating the deaths of 41,000 people. Take down the post and apologise for this lapse in judgement. This is not what solidarity means.”
Here are some of the images that have been sent to us of the inspection delegation boarding the Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni off the coast of north-west Istanbul.
Ukrainians at risk from anti-refugee tensions in host countries, report warns
Ukrainian refugees are likely to become victims of rising tensions and disinformation campaigns in their host countries, a report has warned.
False reports exaggerating how much aid refugees receive compared with local people, as well as linking refugees with violent crime and political extremism, could cause a breakdown in relations with local communities, the charity World Vision said.
In its report, Warm Welcomes, Lurking Tensions, the humanitarian organisation said anti-refugee messaging was already spreading on social media and “niche media outlets” in neighbouring countries.
“Messaging that could stoke anti-refugee tensions is already being spread in Romania, Moldova, Poland and across central and eastern Europe,” the report said. “Whilst not a major issue yet, tensions are beginning to develop in some host countries.
“Children may face risks such as verbal and physical abuse between refugee and host communities, human trafficking and more as early as February 2023.
“The international community needs to act now in order to prevent the situation deteriorating to dangerous levels like in Lebanon and Bangladesh.”
The report’s lead author, Charles Lawley, an advocacy, policy and external engagement senior adviser at World Vision, said disinformation campaigns would change attitudes if misreporting was allowed to continue unchallenged.
Read more of Tom Ambrose’s report: Ukrainians at risk from anti-refugee tensions in host countries, report warns
Mykola Tochytskyi, deputy minister of foreign affairs, has repeated Ukraine’s request for the skies over nuclear installations to be closed to prevent a potential accident and their misuse. He posted to Twitter saying:
The Russian leadership openly threatens the world with its ability to use nuclear weapons, backed by the clear calls to do so by the Russian state media.
For the first time in history, civil nuclear facilities have been turned into military targets and springboards for the Russian army in breach of the non-proliferation provisions on peaceful use of nuclear energy.
The world witnesses how nuclear terrorism, sponsored by the nuclear-weapon state, is arising in reality.
The robust joint actions are needed to prevent nuclear disaster at global scale. We ask to close the sky over the nuclear power plants in Ukraine. To provide air defence systems.
Global community need to prove by deeds that aggressor cannot remain utterly safe and unpunished because it possesses nuclear arms.
Updated
The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, has spoken to the Australian National University, thanking Australia for its support against the Russian invasion.
Zelenskiy decried “hundreds thousands of military crimes” and Russian atrocities in what is the 161st day of the illegal invasion of Ukraine. These included “mass execution of a peaceful population, handcuffing people, put them on their knees, kill them with a shot on their back; and [raping] them in front of the eyes of their own children”.
Zelenskiy said: “We are shocked by messages of new Russian atrocities. It shouldn’t be a common thing for the world, that would mean the world had put up with it.”
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Zelenskiy thanked Australia, saying: “I’m very thankful to Anthony Albanese for the significant support, the full-scale humanitarian assistance, sanctions against Russian entities; cancelling of [taxes on] Ukrainian goods, [provision of] coal for Ukrainian energy. [Australia has given] the biggest military support from non-Nato members.
“We will be thankful for the continuation of this support. We today need your help, the help of all the civilised countries. We must conquer evil. Thank you for attention – glory to Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s president rejected the idea the world needed to allow Russia or Vladimir Putin to save face to bring an end to the war. He said: “One who wants to save face, doesn’t launch rockets from from multi-rocket systems, hit households, doesn’t hit living quarters … doesn’t drop bombs on maternity hospitals, kindergartens, museums, theatres, and temples.”
Zelenskiy called again on the US to declare Russia a state-sponsor of terrorism.
Updated
The UN has said that there have been over 10m border crossings into and out of Ukraine since Russia launched its latest invasion of the country on 24 February.
Data gathered by the UNHCR states that 6,180,345 individual refugees from Ukraine are now recorded across Europe.
Ukraine’s neighbours have taken the largest individual numbers. Poland has 1.25 million refugees.
The UNHCR states that Russia has taken in 1.85 million people from Ukraine, but notes: “The figure for individual refugees recorded in the country is an estimate as potential further movements of returns cannot be factored in for the time being.”
Slovakia, Moldova and Romania have taken in excess of 80,000 each.
Among countries not bordering Ukraine, Germany (670,000), Czech Republic (400,402) and Italy (146,451) have the most Ukrainians “registered for temporary protection or similar schemes”.
- An earlier headline on this live blog erroneously said 10 million people had left Ukraine, rather than there having been 10m border crossings.
Updated
The US embassy in Kyiv has criticised what it says is a decision by Roskomnadzor, the Russian government’s media agency, to block a US government website – share.america.gov.
It quotes Ned Price, US state department spokesperson, accusing Roskomnadzor of being an agency that “monitors, controls and censors” the media, and describing the website as one that “spreads stories about American ingenuity and values and reports the truth about the war in Ukraine”.
“The Kremlin is afraid of this,” it adds.
Роскомнагляд, російське федеральне агентство, яке здійснює моніторинг, контроль та цензуру ЗМІ, заблокувало сайт https://t.co/bDWBvrap8m, який поширює історії про американську винахідливість й цінності та повідомляє правду про війну в Україні. Кремль боїться цього. https://t.co/Pr5XLAAF5O
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) August 3, 2022
Russia made the move to block the website this week.
Earlier in the war, Russia cut access to several foreign news organisations’ websites, including the BBC and Deutsche Welle, for spreading what it alleged was false information about its war in Ukraine.
Updated
Another Ukrainian governor, Vitaly Kim of Mykolaiv, has posted his operational status update for the day. Among a detailed list of areas and buildings struck in his region, he says that in all cases there were either no casualties, or information about casualties is still being gathered.
He says that in the early hours of today four cruise missiles were intercepted and destroyed over the region.
He claims that in an attack at 5am this morning a supermarket was destroyed in Mykolaiv, and “multi-storey buildings, a pharmacy, shops, and the road surface were damaged”. He also says that “the territory of the equestrian sports school was hit”.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted to Telegram to give a status update. He said:
Yesterday, during an air alert, the enemy launched a missile attack on a military infrastructure object near Radekhov (Chervonograd district). As a result of the impact, one building was damaged. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
The Russian occupiers fired eight rockets from the Caspian Sea into the territory of Ukraine. Six of them were shot down by anti-aircraft missile troops, another one was shot down by an Air Force fighter jet. We thank our fighters for protection and efficient work.
Radekhov is in the Lviv oblast and about 75km to the north-east of the city of Lviv.
Kozytskyi also said that 285 people arrived in Lviv on evacuation trains from the east of the country yesterday, and that 795 people departed to Przemyśl in Poland.
In the last few minutes Interfax has reported that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said the US has not offered Russia to resume talks on the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty.
- This is Martin Belam taking over from my colleague Kate Lyons. I will be here for the next few hours.
The latest intelligence update from the UK Ministry of Defence is out.
The ministry says there is likely to be an increase in civilians attempting to flee Kherson and the surrounding area as hostilities continue and food shortages worsen, putting pressure on transport routes.
They have also said that a Ukrainian strike against a Russian ammunition train in Kherson oblast, southern Ukraine, means it is “highly unlikely” the rail link between Kherson and Crimea is operational.
That full update is here:
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 3 August 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 3, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/GfaJRMrKv7
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/1I5Vh63lf8
Gerhard Schroeder, a former German chancellor and friend of Vladimir Putin, said the Russian president wanted a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine and last month’s agreement on grain shipments might offer a way forward.
“The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” Schroeder told Stern weekly and broadcasters RTL/ntv, adding he had met Putin in Moscow last week. “A first success is the grain deal, perhaps that can be slowly expanded to a ceasefire.”
Russia and Ukraine struck a deal last month to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets since Moscow’s invasion five months ago arrived in Turkey overnight.
Schroeder said solutions to crucial problems such as Crimea could be found over time, “maybe not over 99 years, like Hong Kong, but in the next generation”. He said an alternative to Nato membership for Ukraine might be armed neutrality, such as with Austria.
The future of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, the scene of fierce fighting, however, was more complicated.
“A solution based on the Swiss cantonal model will have to be found,” he said, adding it would have to be seen if Putin would go back to a pre-war “contact line” in a ceasefire.
Schroeder, German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, has criticised the war in Ukraine but refused to condemn Putin, whom he still calls a close personal friend.
Increasingly derided in Germany for his pro-Russia stance, Schroeder has been stripped of his right to a publicly funded office.
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Summary
The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to ease Russia’s naval blockade has reached Turkey. The Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, set sail from Odesa port for Lebanon on 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. A senior official said Ankara expected roughly one grain ship to leave Ukraine every day as long as the export agreement holds.
The UN Refugee Agency has reported that the number of border crossings from Ukraine has passed 10m for the first time since Russia invaded the country.
If you’re just waking up or tuning in, here’s some more for you to catch up on:
- A group of Russian soldiers have accused their commanders of jailing them in eastern Ukraine for refusing to take part in the war. About 140 soldiers were detained and four have filed complaints with an investigative committee, said Maxim Grebenyuk, head of Moscow-based group Military Ombudsman.
- Russia has accused the US of being “directly involved” in the war by supplying targeting information for Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes. Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s acting deputy head of military intelligence, denied US officials were providing direct targeting information but acknowledged there was consultation.
- The US has imposed sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s supposed girlfriend. Alina Kabaeva, 39, was mentioned in the latest update to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s specially designated nationals list – freezing any of her assets in the US and generally prohibiting Americans from dealing with her.
- 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.
- The G7 is threatening to further deprive Russia of revenue by blocking services that enable the transportation of its oil globally if it doesn’t heed the proposed oil price cap. Russia has already stated it will not obey the cap and will ship to nations that don’t support the price ceiling.
- Russia has carried out deadly strikes against Ukrainians in the eastern Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions, according to Reuters, which said it was yet to verify the battle reports.
Hello, it’s Kate Lyons here to bring you the latest updates from Ukraine, where the conflict is into its 132nd day.
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