End of day summary
Here is the latest from our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
- Eight people have been killed and four have been wounded in Russian artillery shelling in the eastern Ukrainian town of Toretsk in Donetsk oblast on Thursday, the regional governor has said. The shelling hit a public transport stop where people had gathered, the governor for the area, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote on Telegram. Three children were among the wounded, he said.
- The UN is conducting a fact-finding mission in response to requests from Russia and Ukraine after 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion at a barracks in separatist-controlled Olenivka. The warring nations have accused each other of carrying out the attack. Ukraine claims it was a special operation plotted in advance by the Kremlin, and carried out by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group. Russia’s defence ministry, however, claims the Ukrainian military used US-supplied rockets to strike the prison.
- A US official accused Moscow of preparing to plant fake evidence to make it look like the recent mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners in an attack on a Russian-controlled prison was caused by Ukraine. Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame over the strikes on the prison in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka, in eastern Ukraine, which Russia said took place overnight on 29 July.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wants to talk directly to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the hope China can use its influence with Russia to bring the war to an end. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, Zelenskiy said: “It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy. So [it] can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the UN security council.” So far, China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion and Xi Jinping told Putin it would support Russia’s “sovereignty and security”.
- Amnesty International has said the Ukrainian army is endangering the life of civilians by basing itself in residential areas, in a report rejected by Ukrainian government representatives as placing blame on it for Russia’s invasion. The human rights group’s researchers found that Ukrainian forces were using some schools and hospitals as bases, firing near houses and sometimes living in residential flats. Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, accused Amnesty of “distorting the real picture”.
- A Moscow court has convicted the US basketball player Brittney Griner on drug charges, sentencing her to nine years in prison and a 1m rouble fine in a politically charged verdict that could lead to a prisoner swap with the United States. Griner, a basketball talent who played in Russia during off-seasons from the Phoenix Mercury, was arrested for cannabis possession in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February.
- The US Senate has ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession to Nato, voting 95-1 in support. The US is the 23rd member state to ratify what would be the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “This historic vote sends an important signal of the sustained, bipartisan US commitment to Nato, and to ensuring our alliance is prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow,” the president, Joe Biden, said in a statement. All 30 Nato members must ratify the accession before Finland and Sweden can become members.
- Ukraine is pulling out its 40 peacekeepers from the Nato-led mission in Kosovo, which totals 3,800 members, according to Ukrainian news. In March, Zelenskiy issued a decree for all missions to return to Ukraine to support the war.
- The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has again appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger. Contact with the Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which is at Zaporizhzhia and is being operated by Ukrainian technicians under occupation, was “fragile” and communications did not function every day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head, Rafael Grossi, told a Swiss newspaper.
- 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 UN. The ship has been inspected by members of the joint coordination centre, and is now expected to move through the Bosphorus Strait “shortly”.
- Ukraine failed to stop a Syrian-flagged vessel claimed to be carrying stolen Ukrainian grain from leaving Lebanon. The Lebanese government reported on Thursday that the Syrian-flagged Laodicea had left its territorial waters, despite appeals from Kyiv to reverse a court decision allowing its departure. Russia has denied stealing the grain on the ship, which was reported to be sailing to its ally, Syria.
- The Kremlin said on Thursday that the Turkish-brokered deal to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports from the Black Sea was not a “one-off mechanism”, and that it hoped it would continue to work effectively. The deal, which allows for Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets via Turkey, must be renewed every 120 days by agreement of the parties.
- The first shipment of Ukrainian grain to the UK since the war began is expected to arrive in 10 days, western officials said. Millions of tonnes of grain have been stuck in Ukraine since Russia invaded just over six months ago.
- The UN has said that there have been more than 10m border crossings into and out of Ukraine since Russia launched its 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.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called the behaviour of the ex German chancellor Gerhard Schröder “disgusting”. The former German leader has come under fire after he went on holiday to Moscow and had a private meeting with Vladimir Putin. Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with the Russian president.
- Nato members are working closely with defence companies to ensure Ukraine gets more supplies of weapons and equipment to be prepared for the long haul in its war with Russia, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday. Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview: “We are providing a lot of support but we need to do even more and be prepared for the long haul.”
We’re closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us. Our blog on the situation in Taiwan is still live:
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Russia may launch an offensive in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson to try to wrest back momentum from Kyiv and has been visibly building up forces, the Ukrainian general Oleksiy Hromov said on Thursday.
Russia holds swathes of Ukraine’s south that it captured in the early phases of its 24 February invasion, but Kyiv has vowed to mount a major counter-offensive and used sophisticated western weapons to hit Russian supply lines and ammo dumps, Reuters reports.
Hromov said Russia had brought in a large amount of weapons and hardware to the north-east of the strategically important southern region of Kherson, much of which is occupied by Russia.
He told a news conference:
It’s possible the enemy may or will try to carry out offensive operations deep into our territory in order to seize the initiative and threaten the development of our success in order to force the [Ukrainian army] to stop expanding bridgeheads and go on the defensive.
In the east, he said Ukraine had improved its tactical position around the eastern city of Sloviansk, recapturing two villages, but that Russian forces had been trying to take the eastern city of Avdiivka and village of Pisky.
Ukrainian forces had been forced to concede territory there, switching to defending south of the city of Avdiivka and leaving the Butivka coal mine, he said.
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Full story: Ukraine ‘endangers civilians’ with army bases in residential areas, says Amnesty
Amnesty International has said the Ukrainian army is endangering the life of civilians by basing themselves in residential areas, in a report rejected by Ukrainian government representatives as placing blame on it for Russia’s invasion.
The human rights group’s researchers found that Ukrainian forces were using some schools and hospitals as bases, firing near houses and sometimes living in residential flats. The report concluded that this meant in some instances Russian forces would respond to an attack or target residential areas – putting civilians at risk and damaging civilian infrastructure.
It also criticised the Ukrainian army for not evacuating civilians who could be caught up in the crossfire.
“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, accused Amnesty of “distorting the real picture” and of failing to understand the situation on the ground. She said Ukrainian soldiers were deployed in cities and populated areas to defend them from Russian attack.
“There is no chronology of events [in the report]. The Russian Federation is committing the crime here. Ukraine is protecting its land. Moscow ignores all the rules of war. And unlike Ukraine, it doesn’t let in international organisations like Amnesty,” said Maliar.
Speaking at a briefing in Kyiv, Maliar stressed that the Ukrainian armed forces laid on buses to evacuate civilians from the frontline. Some refused to go, despite repeated pleas and offers of transport to safer regions. Ukraine gave access to outside agencies, including the international criminal court, and carried out its own investigations into abuses committed by its troops, she said.
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s minister of defence, said “any attempt to question the right of Ukrainians to resist genocide, to protect their families and homes … is a perversion”, and presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that “the only thing that poses a threat to Ukraine is a Russian army of executioners and rapists coming to Ukraine to commit genocide”.
Amnesty researchers investigated Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions between April and July. They found 19 villages and towns from where the Ukrainian forces had either launched strikes or were basing themselves. In these three regions, Amnesty found five locations where hospitals were “de facto” used as bases, and out of 29 schools visited by Amnesty, they concluded 22 had been used as bases.
Schools were closed on the first day of the invasion and pupils have been learning remotely, where possible.
The report noted that most of the civilian infrastructure repurposed by the Ukrainian army was located kilometres from the frontlines and argued that alternative locations were available.
Maliar argued at the briefing that Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems needed to be based in towns to protect civilian infrastructure, and if Ukrainian forces were only based outside urban settlements “Russian armed forces would simply sweep in unopposed”.
Ukrainian social media users also responded with examples of when Russian forces have hit buildings being used by civilians, as well as the scores of crimes committed against Ukrainian civilians under Russian occupation.
Read more from my colleagues Isobel Koshiw and Luke Harding in Kyiv here:
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A US official accused Moscow of preparing to plant fake evidence to make it look like the recent mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners in an attack on a Russian-controlled prison was caused by Ukraine.
Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame over the strikes on the prison in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka, in eastern Ukraine, which Russia said took place overnight on 29 July.
On Thursday the US official, who asked not to be named, said that intelligence reports show Russia will doctor the scene at the prison ahead of the possible visits by outside investigators.
The official told AFP, without sharing the evidence:
We expect that Russian officials are planning to falsify evidence in order to attribute the attack on Olenivka prison on 29 July to the Ukrainian armed forces.
We anticipate that Russian officials will try to frame [Ukraine’s military] … in anticipation of journalists and potential investigators visiting the site of the attack.
More than 50 soldiers died in the strike, including troops who had surrendered after weeks of defending the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol.
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Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.
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Nato members are working closely with defence companies to ensure Ukraine gets more supplies of weapons and equipment to be prepared for the long haul in its war with Russia, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday.
Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview:
We are providing a lot of support but we need to do even more and be prepared for the long haul.
Therefore we’re also now in close contact and working closely with the defence industry to produce more and to deliver more of different types of ammunition, weapons and capabilities.
Stoltenberg said separately in a speech in Norway to local Labour party activists on Thursday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”, had created the most dangerous moment for Europe since the second world war and that Russia could not be allowed to win.
He also accused Vladimir Putin of engaging in “reckless and dangerous” rhetoric regarding the potential use of nuclear arms.
While Nato members are not directly involved in the war, the alliance is closely involved in coordinating the western response to the invasion.
Stoltenberg reiterated his position that the war would probably end only after negotiations.
He told Reuters:
We know most wars end at the negotiating table. We also know that the outcome of those negotiations will be totally dependent on the strength on the battlefield.
It’s not for me to tell Ukraine what those terms exactly should be. It’s for me and Nato to support them to strengthen their hands, so we maximise the likelihood of an acceptable solution.
The war has led previously non-aligned Finland and Sweden to seek Nato membership, with the request so far ratified by 23 of the 30 member states, including the United States.
Stoltenberg said:
This is the fastest accession protocol in Nato’s modern history. I expect the other seven remaining allies to do the same.
He said Turkey’s demand for extraditions from Sweden and Finland of terrorism suspects would have to be decided by courts in the two Nordic nations.
“The rule of law applies in Finland and Sweden,” Stoltenberg said.
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Finland’s foreign minister has presented a plan for limiting tourist visas issued to Russians, after increasing tourism from its eastern neighbour spurred discontent due to the war in Ukraine.
As flights from Russia to the EU have been halted, Finland has become a transit country for many Russians seeking to travel further into Europe.
“Many saw this as a circumvention of the sanctions regime,” the foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, told AFP.
Finland is seeking Nato membership after political and popular support for the alliance soared following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but the Nordic country remains Russia’s only EU neighbour without restrictions on tourist visas to Russian citizens.
Although the Schengen regime and Finnish law do not allow for a outright ban on visas based on nationality, Finland can reduce visa numbers issued based on category, Haavisto noted.
“Tourism category can be restricted in the terms of how many visas can be applied for in a day,” Haavisto said.
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Joe Biden said on Thursday that the sentencing of basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on drugs charges in Russia was “unacceptable” and called on Moscow to release her immediately.
Biden said a statement:
Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney.
It’s unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates.
Griner’s defence said they will file an appeal on behalf of the US basketball star.
Griner’s defence team said that in sentencing the court had ignored all evidence they had presented as well as Griner’s guilty plea.
They said they were “disappointed” by the verdict.
Russian court jails US basketballer Brittney Griner for nine years on drug charges
A Moscow court has convicted the US basketball player Brittney Griner on drug charges, sentencing her to nine years in prison and a 1m rouble fine in a politically charged verdict that could lead to a prisoner swap with the United States.
Griner, a basketball talent who played in Russia during off-seasons from the Phoenix Mercury, was arrested for cannabis possession in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February.
Her arrest came just days before Russia invaded Ukraine, launching frantic backdoor negotiations between the US and Russian intelligence services as her trial played out in a small courthouse just outside the Moscow city limits.
Her formal conviction, which was a foregone conclusion, would be a necessary step towards a prisoner exchange. US officials say Russia wants to swap Griner and Paul Whelan, a former US marine arrested on spying charges in 2020, for the convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.
While she pleaded guilty to the drug charges, the US has classified Griner as “wrongfully detained”, launching a process similar to hostage negotiations with Iran and other countries. A senior US embassy official attended Thursday’s hearing and verdict, where police spetsnaz (special forces) and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolled the hallways.
Prosecutors asked for a nine-and-a-half year prison sentence for Griner and a hefty fine, nearly the maximum in her case.
In an emotional closing statement on Thursday, Griner apologised to her teammates and told the courtroom that she had made an “honest mistake”, adding “that is why I pled guilty to my charges but I had no intent of breaking the law”.
She has also rejected the political implications of her case, making an emotional appeal directly to the judge, Anna Sotnikova.
“I know everybody keep talking about ‘political pawn’ and ‘politics,’ but I hope that is far from this courtroom,” she said, asking for leniency.
In the end, it was not shown.
Read the full story here:
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The first shipment of Ukrainian grain to the UK since the war began is expected to arrive in 10 days, western officials said.
Millions of tonnes of grain have been stuck in Ukraine since Russia invaded just over six months ago.
A UN-brokered agreement last month allowed the first Ukrainian shipment to be cleared for travel this week, with the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni carrying corn and entering the Bosphorus strait on the way to Lebanon on Wednesday.
Speaking about the newly re-established Ukrainian grain exports, a western official said the Malta-flagged Rojen is “due to arrive in the UK on August 14”, PA News reports.
The official said:
This will almost certainly be the first shipment from Ukraine to arrive in the UK since the end of February and the start of the invasion.
The bulk carrier is expected to travel from the Port of Chornomorsk in Ukraine, where it is thought to be berthed and loaded, to the UK, but the official could not say which UK port is expected to receive it.
However, according to the VesselFinder website, the ship is due to arrive in Teesport on August 17.
The cargo is “probably corn or grain”, the official said, adding:
What it does show is that there is – which perhaps people don’t realise – direct supply of agricultural produce to the UK from the Ukraine.
Addressing the first shipment to leave Ukraine since the agreement, the official said:
It is almost certain the success of its transit will result in more frequent transits.
Clearing the backlog caused by the blockade that’s been in place since February will almost certainly remain a major logistical challenge.
But another western official, when asked about the shipment, said there is limited information available about when ships will be leaving Ukraine, and decisions are still be negotiated among the parties to the agreement.
They said:
At some point soon they will agree which ships will leave and when. We don’t have those details yet.
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Kyiv calls Amnesty report that says Ukrainian forces are endangering citizens 'unfair' and a 'perversion'
Ukraine has slammed a report by Amnesty International (See 13:56) which found that Ukrainian forces are endangering civilians as “unfair” and a “perversion”.
Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba says in a video posted on Facebook:
This behaviour of Amnesty International is not about finding and reporting the truth to the world, it is about creating a false equivalence - between the offender and the victim, between the country that destroys hundreds and thousands of civilians, cities, territories, and a country that is desperately defending itself.
Top presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak insisted Ukraine’s armed forces take all measures to move civilians to safer areas and suggested Amnesty was complicit in spreading Kremlin disinformation.
He tweeted:
The only thing that poses a threat to Ukrainians is (Russian) army of executioners and rapists coming to (Ukraine) to commit genocide.
The only thing that poses a threat to Ukrainians is 🇷🇺 army of executioners and rapists coming to 🇺🇦 to commit genocide. Our defenders protect their nation and families. People's lives are the priority for Ukraine, that is why we are evacuating residents of front-line cities. 1/2
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 4, 2022
Today, Moscow tries to discredit the Armed Forces of 🇺🇦 in the eyes of Western societies and disrupt weapons supply using the entire network of influence agents. It is a shame that the organization like @amnesty is participating in this disinformation and propaganda campaign. 2/2
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 4, 2022
Meanwhile, defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov called the report a “perversion” as he said it questioned the right of Ukrainians to defend their country.
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Back in the courtroom in Russia, US basketball player Brittney Griner has said she made an “honest mistake”.
In a closing statement, Griner added, “that is why I plead guilty to my charges but I had no intent of breaking the law”.
“I know everybody keep talking about ‘political pawn’ and ‘politics,’ but I hope that is far from this courtroom,” she said, asking the judge for leniency.
In February, Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport after authorities found vape canisters containing cannabis oil – for which she had a doctor’s recommendation – in her bags.
A verdict is expected later on Thursday.
Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk, says Amnesty International
Ukrainian forces are violating international law and endangering civilians by establishing bases in residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
The defenders’ tactics “in no way justify Russia’s indiscriminate attacks”, the rights group said in a new report, and some Russian “war crimes”, including in the city of Kharkiv, were not linked to the tactics, AFP reports.
⚡️ Ukrainian forces have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas.
— Amnesty International (@amnesty) August 4, 2022
But Amnesty listed incidents when Ukrainian forces appeared to have exposed civilians to danger in 19 towns and villages in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions.
Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard said:
We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas.
Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.
The report was met with anger on Twitter.
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Russian prosecutors want 9.5 year jail term for US basketball player Brittney Griner
Russian prosecutors have asked for the US basketball player Brittney Griner to be sentenced to nine and a half years in prison, as the Kremlin wraps up her politically charged trial before a potential prisoner exchange.
Griner was arrested just days before Russia invaded Ukraine, which saw an already tense relationship between Washington and Moscow break down.
Prosecutors in the Russian court said Griner’s arrest on drug charges was “fully proven” and demanded she serve nearly a decade in a high-security prison and pay a large fine.
A verdict in Griner’s case was expected on Thursday evening, her lawyer, Maria Blagovolina, said.
A guilty verdict appears to be a foregone conclusion as Griner’s conviction would be a necessary step towards a prisoner exchange with the US. US officials say Russia is seeking to exchange Griner and Paul Whelan, a former US marine arrested on spying charges in 2020, for the convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.
A lawyer for Whelan told the Guardian, however, that a final agreement did not seem to have been reached.
Long lines of Russian shoppers formed outside H&M stores in Moscow shopping centres this week when the Swedish fashion retailer reopened its doors to sell off stock before pulling out of the country for good.
Along with a spate of other western brands, including Ikea, Nike and Zara owner Inditex, H&M halted operations in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, but the retailer opened its doors one last time this week to clear out remaining goods.
Exiting Russia, its sixth-biggest market, is costing the company 2bn Swedish krona (nearly £170m) and affecting 6,000 staff.
Long queues were seen outside H&M stores at Moscow’s Aviapark shopping centre, according to footage posted on Telegram by news outlet Baza, and at the Metropolis mall.
One customer, Irina, told Reuters:
Well, it is closing, that’s why we are standing here. I’m going to buy whatever there is.
Another shopper, Ekaterina, said:
Sadly, the reason why all this is happening is awful. Everything else is meaningless, like how we are going to manage [without H&M].
While the Swedish furniture chain Ikea opted to hold an online-only sale from 5 July, H&M decided to temporarily reopen its stores in August. The world’s second-biggest fashion retailer after Spain’s Inditex rents 170 stores in Russia and has operated them directly.
Read the full story here:
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Russian shelling of a bus stop on Thursday in the frontline east Ukraine town of Toretsk killed eight people and wounded four, the regional governor said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Ukraine-run Donetsk region administration, wrote on Telegram:
According to preliminary information, there was artillery fire. They hit a public transport stop, where there was a crowd of people at that time.
He said that there were three children among the wounded.
The attack comes as Kyiv orders civilians to leave the war-torn Donetsk region bearing the brunt of Moscow’s gruelling offensive in the east of the country, AFP reports.
Kyrylenko wrote:
I appeal to all residents of the region: do not turn yourself into a target for the Russians! Evacuate in a timely fashion!
Ukrainian officials said Russian strikes continued to rain down on towns and cities across the sprawling frontline.
The mayor of southern city Mykolaiv said early morning shelling had damaged residential buildings in two districts.
Mykolaiv is the closest city to where Ukrainian forces are looking to launch a major counter-offensive and has been frequently hit by Moscow’s forces.
Officials in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv said missiles launched from Russian territory across the nearby shared border had hit industrial areas.
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The UN is setting up a fact-finding mission to investigate the killing of dozens of prisoners of war at a prison in a Russian-occupied region of eastern Ukraine that Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of carrying out.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, told reporters he did not have authority to conduct criminal investigations but could conduct fact-finding missions, and terms of reference were being prepared for the governments of Ukraine and Russia to approve. The mission was set up in response to requests from Russia and Ukraine.
Russia claimed that Ukraine’s military used US-supplied rocket launchers to strike the prison in Olenivka, a settlement controlled by Russian-backed separatists. The attack killed 53 Ukrainian PoWs and wounded another 75, separatist authorities and Russian officials said.
The Ukrainian military denied carrying out any rocket or artillery strikes in Olenivka. The intelligence arm of the Ukrainian defence ministry claimed in a statement on Wednesday to have evidence that local Kremlin-backed separatists colluded with the Russian FSB, the KGB’s main successor agency, and mercenary group Wagner to mine the barrack before “using a flammable substance, which led to the rapid spread of fire in the room”.
The Ukrainian military on Tuesday likewise claimed that the barrack had been blown up from the inside, citing the nature of damage, which it said was inconsistent with Russian claims that Ukraine had shelled the building. It was not immediately possible to verify these claims.
The US, meanwhile, believes Russia is preparing to fabricate evidence pointing the finger at Ukraine.
Guterres said he took the requests from Russia and Ukraine for a UN investigation of last Friday’s attack “very seriously” and expressed hope that both countries would agree to the terms of reference. At the same time, he said, the UN was looking for “competent, independent people” to take part in the mission.
The UN chief also expressed hope the warring countries would facilitate the mission’s access and provide the data required “to clarify the truth about what happened”.
Read more here:
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Here are some of the latest images sent to us from Ukraine over the news wires.
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The Kremlin said on Thursday that the Turkish-brokered deal to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports from the Black Sea was not a “one-off mechanism”, and that it hoped it would continue to work effectively.
The deal, which allows for Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets via Turkey, must be renewed every 120 days by agreement of the parties.
The EU intends to put together another financing package for Ukraine by September that will amount to about €8bn (£6.7bn), German government sources said.
Part of the package would be made up of grants that do not have to be repaid while another part will consist of loans, a government official told journalists on Thursday.
Eight people have been killed and four have been wounded in Russian artillery shelling in the eastern Ukrainian town of Toretsk in Donetsk region on Thursday, the regional governor said.
The shelling hit a public transport stop where people had gathered, the governor for the area, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote on Telegram. Three children were among the wounded, he said.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said the attack was “another terrorist act” by Russia, and repeated his calls for other nations to declare Russia a state sponsor of terror, a move that would bring further sanctions on Moscow.
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Mykolaiv rattled by explosions - Ukrainian officials
Powerful explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Thursday amid Russian attacks in several regions, Associated Press reports.
The agency is reporting the latest overview of the war from Ukraine’s presidential office.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 more wounded over the past 24 hours, with nine Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the office said in its daily update.
Two districts of Mykolaiv, which has been targeted frequently in recent weeks, were shelled.
Russian forces reportedly fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Some 50 residential buildings were damaged in the city of 107,000 and some projectiles hit power lines, leaving city residents without electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Nikopol is located across the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was taken over by Russian troops early in the war.
Experts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War believe that Russia is shelling the area intentionally, “putting Ukraine in a difficult position”.
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Summary
It is nearly 1pm in Kyiv. Here is the latest from our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
- The UN is conducting a fact-finding mission in response to requests from both Russia and Ukraine after 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion at a barracks in separatist-controlled Olenivka. The warring nations have accused each other of carrying out the attack. Ukraine claims it was a special operation plotted in advance by the Kremlin, and carried out by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group. Russia’s defence ministry, however, claims the Ukrainian military used US-supplied rockets to strike the prison.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wants to talk directly to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the hope China can use its influence with Russia to bring the war to an end. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, Zelenskiy said: “It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy. So (it) can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the UN security council.” So far, China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion and its president, Xi Jinping, told Putin it would support Russia’s “sovereignty and security”.
- The US Senate has ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession to Nato, voting 95-1 in support. The US is the 23rd member state to ratify what would be the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “This historic vote sends an important signal of the sustained, bipartisan US commitment to Nato, and to ensuring our alliance is prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow,” the president, Joe Biden, said in a statement. All 30 Nato members must ratify the accession before Finland and Sweden can become members.
- Ukraine is pulling out its 40 peacekeepers from the Nato-led mission in Kosovo, which totals 3,800 members, according to Ukrainian news. In March, Zelenskiy issued a decree for all missions to return to Ukraine to support the war.
- The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has again appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger. Contact with the Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which is at Zaporizhzhia and is being operated by Ukrainian technicians under occupation, was “fragile” and communications did not function every day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told a Swiss newspaper.
- 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 UN. The ship has been inspected by members of the joint coordination centre, and is now expected to move through the Bosphorus Strait “shortly”.
- Ukraine failed to stop a Syrian-flagged vessel claimed to be carrying stolen Ukrainian grain from leaving Lebanon. The Lebanese government reported on Thursday that the Syrian-flagged Laodicea had left its territorial waters, despite appeals from Kyiv to reverse a court decision allowing its departure. Russia has denied stealing the grain on the ship, which was reported to be sailing to its ally, Syria.
- The UN has said that there have been over 10m border crossings into and out of Ukraine since Russia launched its 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.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has branded “disgusting” the behaviour of the ex German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The former German leader has come under fire, after he went on holiday to Moscow and had a private meeting with Vladimir Putin. Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with the Russian president.
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Ship with contested grain leaves Lebanon
A Syrian ship that Ukraine says is carrying stolen Ukrainian grain has left a Lebanese port after officials in Lebanon allowed it to sail following an investigation, Associated Press reports.
Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamie, tweeted on Thursday that the ship was now outside his country’s territorial waters.
The Syrian-flagged Laodicea had been anchored at the port of Tripoli since it arrived last Thursday, carrying 10,000 tons of wheat flour and barley. Ukraine said the ship’s cargo had been stolen by Russia and urged Lebanon not to allow the vessel to leave the port.
A court decided on Wednesday, however, that the vessel could sail, after Lebanon’s prosecutor-general concluded it was not carrying stolen Ukrainian grain.
Russian diplomats have denied stealing the grain, while accusing Ukraine of lying and trying to damage relations between Moscow and Beirut.
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Young Ukrainians have been helping rebuild places destroyed during the Russian invasion. This photo essay from EPA shows a group of young people working in Ivanivka, a village in southern Ukraine that was under Russian occupation for months.
Around 200 people work at weekends to repair war-damaged buildings and restore places that were under Russian occupation.
Most of the volunteers are young Ukrainians from Kyiv, but some come from other parts of the country or abroad.
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Ukraine reports explosions in occupied Donetsk
Ukraine’s armed forces have reported explosions in the occupied city of Donetsk this morning.
According to the Telegram channel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “there are already victims and wounded”. The post reported explosions in the city centre near a hotel and a theatre.
The reports have not been independently verified.
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Estonia calls for further sanctions on Russia
Estonia’s foreign minister has called for further western sanctions against Russia to pressure President Vladimir Putin to end the war.
In an interview with Politico’s National Security Daily newsletter, Ernas Reinsalu said the war would get worse for Ukraine and is partners, the longer the west waits to transfer weapons and impose further sanctions.
My message is indeed that there is an immediate need for an additional package of sanctions, or several packages.
The war will not end by itself. The war will only end if Putin ends the war. And Putin ends the war not because he somehow feels a sentiment about [what has changed in the] international order or his reputation.
The EU has passed seven rounds of sanctions against Russia, but momentum is flagging as governments worry about a looming energy crisis. Estonia, one of the bloc’s smallest member states, which spends 0.8% of GDP on military aid for Ukraine, has long been in the vanguard of tougher action against Russia.
Reinsalu made the comments, shortly before meeting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.
Met with the president of #Ukraine @ZelenskyyUa in #Kiyv today to discuss #Estonia´s 🇪🇪 continued aid to 🇺🇦 especially for the coming winter, and ramping up defensive aid.
— Urmas Reinsalu (@UrmasReinsalu) August 3, 2022
We must also start with Ukraine´s reconstruction despite Russia's brutal war. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/7eRmWar7o2
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Zelenskiy brands ex German chancellor's behaviour 'disgusting'
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the behaviour of Gerhard Schröder was “disgusting”, after the former German chancellor went to Moscow last week and claimed Russia wanted a “negotiated solution” to the war.
Ukraine’s president made the comments on Wednesday during his nightly video address, after Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with Vladimir Putin, whom he met last week during a visit to the Russian capital.
Zelenskiy said:
It is simply disgusting when former leaders of major states with European values work for Russia, which is at war against these values.
As the Guardian’s Kate Connolly reports from Berlin, 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 after the invasion of Ukraine. The other, Nord Stream 1, is only delivering 20% of the level of gas expected.
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. However, he said after his discussions with Putin 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”.
You can read Kate’s full report here: Ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schröder under fire for meeting Putin
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Ukraine urges reversal of court decision on Syrian grain ship
Ukraine has called on Lebanon to reverse a decision by a court in Tripoli to authorise the departure of a seized Syrian ship carrying what Kyiv says is stolen Ukrainian grain, Reuters reports.
In a statement, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said it was disappointed by the court’s decision to clear the Syrian-flagged Laodicea for departure and said that Kyiv’s position had not been taken into account.
The Syrian-flagged vessel has been anchored at the Lebanese port of Tripoli since last week, laden with 10,000 tons of wheat flour and barley. Ukraine has said the grain was stolen by Russia, but Lebanese officials have rejected this claim.
The legal wrangling comes as the first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to to ease Russia’s naval blockade reached Turkey.
AP Photo/Hussein Malla Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
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Russia will introduce duty-free shops selling western imports to diplomats for foreign currency in a practice that will remind many Russians of the infamous beryozka stores that epitomised official privilege during the Soviet era, the Guardian’s Andrew Roth writes from Moscow.
The shops, which could open as soon as the autumn, will sell imported goods that may become hard to find in ordinary Russian shops as foreign brands flee the country over the war in Ukraine.
But in order to make a purchase, visitors will have to provide an official document to prove they are a foreign diplomat, employee of an international organisation or a family member. And the shops will also accept payment in dollars and euro, mimicking the beryozka stores’ function as a magnet for foreign currency.
“It’s a total USSR!” wrote Sergei Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian outlet Mediazona, which wrote about the legislation after its announcement in Russia’s official parliamentary newspaper.
You can read all of Andrew’s report here: Russia to open duty-free shops selling western imports to foreign diplomats
UN watchdog appeals for access to Russian-controlled nuclear plant
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has again appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger.
Contact with the Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which is at Zaporizhzhia and is being operated by Ukrainian technicians under occupation, was “fragile” and communications did not function every day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told Swiss paper Tages-Anzeiger.
“We can’t afford faulty communication with the plant in areas relevant to safety. We know of allegations that live ammunition is stored in the plant, that there are attacks on the power plant,” Reuters reports he said in interview published in German.
“Frankly, if I don’t have access, I can’t determine that. There are contradictions between the accounts of the Russian and Ukrainian sides. I receive information, I also mention it in my situation reports, but I have no way of determining whether it corresponds to the facts.”
Russia has said it has offered for the IAEA to visit the plant, but Ukraine refuses to allow the co-operation. For its part, Ukraine does not want to legitimise the Russian occupation of the facility.
Grossi said the UN discussions with parties to the conflict covered a proposed accord on security zones around nuclear plants but he saw no willingness to strike a deal at this stage.
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Ukraine’s state emergency service has just outlined on Telegram the work it did with discarded explosives and ammunition in the last 24 hours. In a statement it said:
During the day, pyrotechnic units of the state emergency service were involved 117 times, 691 explosive objects were detected, removed and neutralised. The territory with an area of 92 hectares was surveyed.
Japan’s foreign minister, Hayashi Yoshimasa, has raised the issue of Ukraine at a meeting of senior diplomats from the southeast Asian nations that is taking place in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
The Associated Press report he said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had far-reaching effects beyond Europe. It quotes him saying:
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has given rise to many challenges, including soaring prices of energy, food and other commodities, as well as supply chain disruptions.
I think now is the time to address these challenges in a coordinated manner, and it is even more important to maintain and strengthen the free and open international order based on the rule of law.
Among other attendees in Cambodia was China’s foreign minister Wang Yi. China has refused to condemn Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has issued its daily intelligence briefing about how it sees the situation on the ground in Ukraine. It says:
Ukraine’s missile and artillery units continue to target Russian military strongholds, personnel clusters, logistical support bases and ammunition depots. This will highly likely impact Russian military logistical resupply and put pressure on Russian military combat support elements.
It also suggests that Russia is actively defending the crossings over the Dnieper River which link the occupied city of Kherson with the rest of the southern portion of the Kherson region. It says:
Russian forces have almost certainly positioned pyramidal radar reflectors in the water near the recently damaged Antonivskiy Bridge and by the recently damaged nearby rail bridge, both of which cross over the Dnieper River in Kherson, southern Ukraine.
The radar reflectors are likely being used to hide the bridge from synthetic aperture radar imagery and possible missile targeting equipment. This highlights the threat Russia feels from the increased range and precision of Western-supplied systems.
The Antonivskiy Bridge acts as a key Russian resupply route, and was attacked by a Ukrainian missile barrage last week.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 4 August 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 4, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/LBIdEpruIS
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/h2evLmcLBq
- This is Martin Belam on the live blog now, you can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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Russian forces are engaged in considerable military activity, firing from tanks, barrel and rocket artillery in several parts of Ukraine, according to the Ukraine general staff’s Thursday update.
Earlier, Ukraine had warned that Moscow could be preparing new offensive operations in southern Ukraine.
Dmytro Zhyvytsky, governor of Sumy region, which borders Russia, said three towns had been shelled by Russian forces on Wednesday, with a total of 55 missiles fired. There were no injuries, but homes and commercial premises were damaged.
He said eight artillery shells hit residential parts of Krasnopilska community.
Mayor Yevhen Yevtushenko of Nikopol, to the west of Zaporizhzhia in central Ukraine, said on his Telegram channel that his city had been shelled overnight.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview appearing on YouTube that the whole point of the Russian offensive in the east was to force Ukraine to divert troops from the area.
The UN nuclear chief warned earlier this week that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine “is completely out of control” and issued an urgent plea to Russia and Ukraine to quickly allow experts to visit the sprawling complex to stabilise the situation and avoid a nuclear accident.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview Tuesday with the Associated Press that the situation is getting more perilous every day at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the south-eastern city of Enerhodar, which Russian troops seized in early March.
“Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated” at the plant, he said. “What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.”
Russia may fabricate evidence on Olevinka strike, US says
US officials believe Russia is working to fabricate evidence concerning last week’s deadly strike on the Olevinka detention centre that killed 53 prisoners of war in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine.
A US official familiar with the intelligence finding told The Associated Press the classified intelligence – which was recently downgraded – shows that Russian officials might plant ammunition from medium-ranged High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or Himars, as evidence that the systems provided by the US to Ukraine were used in the attack.
Russia is expected to take the action as it anticipates independent investigators and journalists eventually getting access to Olenivka, the official added.
The US Senate delivered near-unanimous bipartisan approval to Nato membership for Finland and Sweden on Wednesday, calling expansion of the western defensive bloc a “slam-dunk” for US national security and a day of reckoning for Vladimir Putin.
The 95-1 vote for the candidacy of two European countries that, until Russia’s war against Ukraine, had long avoided military alliances took a crucial step toward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its 73-year-old pact of mutual defense among the United States and democratic allies in Europe.
Joe Biden, who has been the principal player rallying global economic and material support for Ukraine, has sought quick entry for the two previously non-militarily aligned northern European countries.
Read more here:
Ukraine is seeking an opportunity to speak directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to help end its war with Russia, the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has told the South China Morning Post.
In an interview with SCMP, the Ukrainian leader urged China to use its outsize political and economic influence over Russia to bring an end to the fighting.
“It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy,” the report quoted Zelenskiy as saying. “So (it) can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the UN security council.”
Zelenskiy told the SCMP that Ukraine had officially asked for a conversation with Xi but had so far been unsuccessful.
Summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is what we know so far.
- The UN is conducting a fact-finding mission in response to requests from both Russia and Ukraine after 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion at a barracks in separatist-controlled Olenivka. The warring nations have accused each other of carrying out the attack. Ukraine claims it was a special operation plotted in advance by the Kremlin, and carried out by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group. Russia’s defence ministry, however, claims the Ukrainian military used US-supplied rockets to strike the prison.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wants to talk directly to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the hope China can use its influence with Russia to bring the war to an end. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, Zelenskiy said: “It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy. So (it) can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the UN security council.” So far, China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion and its president, Xi Jinping, told Putin it would support Russia’s “sovereignty and security”.
- The US Senate has ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession to Nato, voting 95-1 in support. The US is the 23rd member state to ratify what would be the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “This historic vote sends an important signal of the sustained, bipartisan US commitment to Nato, and to ensuring our alliance is prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow,” the president, Joe Biden, said in a statement. All 30 Nato members must ratify the accession before Finland and Sweden can become members.
- Ukraine is pulling out its 40 peacekeepers from the Nato-led mission in Kosovo, which totals 3,800 members, according to Ukraine news. In March, Zelenskiy issued a decree for all missions to return to Ukraine to support the war.
- A Russian official in Ukraine has claimed Ukrainian forces are using western arms to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Europe’s largest nuclear plant is now controlled by Russian forces and being used as a military base, according to Reuters. However, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Ukrainian forces are not firing against Russian forces “lest there be a terrible accident involving the nuclear plant”. Reuters was unable to verify battlefield accounts from either side of the war.
- 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 UN. The ship has been inspected by members of the joint coordination centre, and is now expected to move through the Bosphorus Strait “shortly”.
- 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, Zelenskiy, 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 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 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.
- The 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.
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