Summary
It is now approaching 9pm in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. Here is a summary of the main stories from today:
Ukraine’s city of Odesa was hit by two waves of attacks overnight: a total of 15 drones, and 8 Kalibr missiles, according to the governor of the local region. The governor of the region on the Black Sea said falling rocket fragment had resulted in fires breaking out. “Windows in buildings were blown out by the blast wave,” Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops at brigade headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian frontline region of Donetsk on Monday, his website said. According to the site, Zelenskiy visited brigades involved in attacks on the section of the frontline facing Soledar, the Russian-held town north of Bakhmut, Reuters reports.
The rouble has fallen to its weakest point in almost 17 months as a collapse in export revenues and growing military spending increase pressure on Russia’s economy. The currency, which has been steadily losing value in a long fall since the beginning of the year, slid past the psychologically important level of 100 to the dollar on Monday morning.
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised justice after Russian shelling killed seven people – including a 22-day-old infant – and wounded at least 22 others Kherson on Sunday. Local officials in the southern region, which Kyiv liberated part of last year, have declared a day of mourning for Monday.
On Sunday, a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea as it made its way north, the first time Russia has fired on a merchant ship since exiting the UN-backed grain deal last month.
Christian Lindner, German’s finance minister, said his country stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine, as he arrived in Kyiv for his first visit since the start of the war. Lindner said he would hold “very concrete” talks with Ukrainian officials on how the German finance ministry can support Ukraine now and in the future, AFP reports.
The Ukrainian military said on Monday it had pushed Russian forces out of pockets of territory along frontlines in the east and south of the country, building on a gruelling counteroffensive launched two months ago.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Monday that Russian weapons were showing their effectiveness in Ukraine. In remarks shown on state television, Shoigu said that “much-hyped” western weaponry had shown itself to be “far from perfect” in the course of fighting in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Mykhailo Fedorov, the minister of digital transformation of Ukraine, said that Russia lost 116 units of equipment, including 33 armoured vehicles, 29 trucks and 20 tanks last week. In a tweet, he said: “This hardware will no longer kill Ukrainians. My gratitude to the warriors who work for our victory 24/7.”
Russia’s seaborne oil product exports in July rose by 3.8% month on month to 10.533m metrictonnes as seasonal refinery maintenance slowed down, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed.
The Dutch defence ministry said it scrambled two F-16s early Monday when two Russian bombers were tracked flying toward Dutch airspace as Russia launched an overnight attacks against Odesa, Ukraine.
Britain said its Typhoon fighter jets intercepted two Russian maritime patrol bomber aircraft in international airspace north of Scotland on Monday, within Nato’s northern air policing area.
Twenty-two Russian diplomats flew out of the Moldovan capital of Chisinau on Monday, leaving behind a skeleton staff as relations between the two countries deteriorated after Moldova last month ordered Moscow withdraw most of its delegation. In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said: “This unfriendly step of official Chisinau will undoubtedly have consequences for Russian-Moldovan relations.”
22 Russian diplomats fly out of Moldova as relations between two countries deteriorate
Twenty-two Russian diplomats flew out of the Moldovan capital of Chisinau on Monday, leaving behind a skeleton staff as relations between the two countries deteriorated after Moldova last month ordered Moscow withdraw most of its delegation.
Moldovan officials have said the reduction of staff at the Russian embassy to 25 from 80 will establish parity with Moldova’s embassy in Moscow.
Moldovan media outlets published a video of two buses being escorted out of the Russian embassy by police and driving in the direction of the airport.
A source at Chisinau airport told Reuters that the plane carrying the embassy staff had left for the Russian city of Sochi, from where it would continue to Moscow. Twenty-three technical support staff and their families were also asked to leave along with the diplomats.
According to Moldova’s foreign ministry, no more than 10 Russian diplomats and 15 support staff can remain in Chisinau from Tuesday.
In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said:
This unfriendly step of official Chisinau will undoubtedly have consequences for Russian-Moldovan relations.
Updated
More in the meeting with US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, who met with jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on Monday.
The Wall Street Journal quoted the US embassy in Moscow as saying:
Once again, the United States calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release Evan Gershkovich and also to release wrongfully detained US citizen Paul Whelan.
Russia has said Gershkovich was caught trying to obtain military secrets while on a trip to the Russian city of Ekaterinburg, but has provided no details supporting that assertion. The Wall Street Journal also denies the allegations.
The state department has designated Gershkovich and Whelan as wrongfully detained and described the charges against both men as baseless. Whelan, a former US Marine detained in Moscow in 2018, is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges.
Russia has agreed in the past to high-profile prisoner exchanges with the US, most recently last year when American basketball star Brittney Griner, sentenced in Russia on a drug charge, was exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trafficker convicted in the United States.
But Moscow has said no exchange could take place in Gershkovich’s case until a verdict has been reached. No date has so far been set for his trial.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) reports more than 70 people came to the evacuation hub in Kharkiv over the weekend, after people were evacuated from the north-eastern city of Kupyansk due to constant shelling.
Igor Bodina, IRC’s Field Manager in Kharkiv, said:
Many people were forced to flee their homes again after surviving intense hostilities last year, having their hopes of recovery brutally shattered by constant shelling.
We saw many families who were able to take only what fit in their suitcases. Some did not take even the most necessary things, rushing to leave in fear their homes or cars might come under a barrage of missile strikes.
The humanitarian hub in Kharkiv is now a temporary home to many. Yesterday we saw single women with babies in their arms who had neither diapers, nor baby food.
We saw disabled people who were simply unable to leave earlier and suffered for a very long time. Visibly distressed women and men who could no longer live under the bombs. Most people were just crying. Evacuees tell us they have no idea what tomorrow will bring.
The charity also reiterated that the international humanitarian law and international human rights law must be respected at all times, which includes protection of civilian life and infrastructure such as schools and hospitals.
The US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, met with jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on Monday in her third such visit since his March detention on espionage charges he denies, the newspaper reported.
The Wall Street Journal quoted the US embassy in Moscow as saying:
Ambassador Tracy reported that Evan continues to appear in good health and remains strong, despite the circumstances.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits troops in the Donetsk region
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited troops at brigade headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian frontline region of Donetsk on Monday, his website said.
According to the site, Zelenskiy visited brigades involved in attacks on the section of the frontline facing Soledar, the Russian-held town north of Bakhmut, Reuters reports.
Pictures on the website showed the president and his top aide talking to soldiers in a room with screens which had been pixellated out.
Updated
The US on Monday said it will send Ukraine new security assistance valued at $200m.
The aid includes air defense munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities, and additional mine-clearing equipment, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in a statement.
Updated
Britain said its Typhoon fighter jets intercepted two Russian maritime patrol bomber aircraft in international airspace north of Scotland on Monday, within Nato’s northern air policing area.
James Heappey, British armed forces minister, said:
Pilots launched in their Typhoon jets to intercept two Russian long-range bombers this morning, monitoring them as they passed north of the Shetland Islands, ready to counter any potential threat to UK territory.
Romania’s navy said it deployed a ship and a helicopter on Monday to scout for stray mines on the country’s Black Sea coast, after a pier in the seaside resort of Costinesti was lighly damaged in an explosion.
According to Reuters, Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams have been defusing those that have drifted into their waters. The sea is also shared by Ukraine and Russia and is crucial for shipments of grain, oil and oil products.
Russian strategic bombers have carried out routine flights over international waters in the Arctic, the defence ministry said on Monday.
Russia regularly flies its Tu-160 and Tu-95’S long-range bombers, which are capable of carrying nuclear cruise missiles, over international waters.
In a statement, the ministry said:
All the flights were carried out in strict compliance with international airspace regulations.
It added that the longest flight had lasted for more than seven hours.
Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmygal has thanked the German government for its support after Christian Lindner, Germany’s finance minister visited Kyiv this morning.
Shmygal wrote on the messaging app Telegram that he had had “an important meeting” with Lindner.
The German minister had stressed during the talks “that Germany will further support Ukraine, and our cooperation projects will be long term”, according to Shmygal.
The two countries were already working on five investment projects worth around 247 million euros, and were looking at three more projects totalling more than 70 million euros, Shmygal added.
He said:
We expect the participation of German business” in Ukraine’s post-war rebuilding.
I emphasised that it is necessary to strengthen sanctions against the Russian Federation and confiscate Russian assets, which will be the main source of financing for reconstruction.
Lindner’s visit comes as Germany is under growing pressure from Ukraine to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to boost its struggling counter-offensive against Russian troops.
The German government has so far resisted the pleas, on concerns that the missiles could reach Russian territory and widen the conflict.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, told Germany’s Bild newspaper that the Taurus missiles were “crucial” to Ukraine’s fightback.
Seeking to ease concerns about the long reach of the weapons, Podolyak said they would be used “exclusively on the territory of Ukraine, within the internationally recognised borders of 1991”.
Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko added to the calls on Monday, saying he had told Lindner during their meeting in the capital that Ukraine was “in dire need of the necessary armaments”.
Klitschko said on Telegram:
These are air defence systems and long-range weapons. And we count on the understanding of the situation by our partners, that it cannot be delayed.
Rouble falls to 16-month low against dollar as Russian exports collapse
The rouble has fallen to its weakest point in almost 17 months as a collapse in export revenues and growing military spending increase pressure on Russia’s economy.
The currency, which has been steadily losing value in a long fall since the beginning of the year, slid past the psychologically important level of 100 to the dollar on Monday morning.
It has weakened 26% this year, making it the third-worst-performing global currency in 2023.
Russia’s central bank said on Monday said it was considering raising its key interest rate at its next scheduled meeting to stabilise inflation, but added that it saw no threat to the country’s financial stability from the rouble’s fall. The central bank blamed the slide in the value of the currency on a drop in export volumes and growing internal demand for imports.
The rouble has experienced a turbulent course since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2021, dropping to a record low of 150 to the dollar two weeks after the start of the war before sharply recovering after the Russian central bank imposed strict capital controls that limited the flow of money out of the country.
By last summer the rouble had rebounded to a seven-year high as a spike in oil and gas prices, partly a result of the invasion, helped Russia raise export revenue as consumer imports fell.
Russian oil revenues have been drastically reduced sincesince western price caps and embargos were imposed, while imports have recovered. The government has also spent billions on the defence industry to continue the war in Ukraine, with many critical goods still coming from abroad.
The fall in the rouble accelerated after the aborted uprising in June by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group of mercenary fighters caused Russians to move money into foreign accounts.
Dr Janis Kluge, a researcher who focuses on the Russian economy at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, a thinktank, said:
The Russian rouble is still searching for its appropriate long-term war-sanctions exchange rate. Without capital controls, speculators would have priced in the poor outlook last year.
Read the full story here:
The Dutch defence ministry said it scrambled two F-16s early Monday when two Russian bombers were tracked flying toward Dutch airspace as Russia launched an overnight attacks against Odesa, Ukraine.
In a statement, the ministry said:
This doesn’t happen often, but today’s incident demonstrates the importance of rapid deployment.
The F-16s are on standby 24 hours a day and can take off within minutes and intercept an unidentified aircraft.
According to AP, the two planes were identified by Danish F-16s in international airspace over the Baltic Sea but did not enter Danish airspace, the Danish air force said.
Updated
These images from the wire show Ukrainian army personnel preparing artillery in the Donetsk oblast region.
Russia’s seaborne oil product exports in July rose by 3.8% month on month to 10.533m metrictonnes as seasonal refinery maintenance slowed down, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed.
Last month, the country’s offline primary oil refining capacity was at 2.458m tonnes, down 37.3% from June, according to the data and Reuters calculations.
Fuel exports via the Baltic ports of Primorsk, Vysotsk, St. Petersburg and Ust-Luga on a daily basis in July increased by 13.4% month on month to 6.016m tons, data from market sources showed.
Oil product exports via Russia’s Black Sea and Azov seaports in July declined by 11.5% to 3.707 million tonnes from 4.053m in June.
Oil product export loadings at Russia’s far east ports rose by 25.9% from June on a daily basis to 747,600 tonnes, data from sources and Reuters calculations showed.
Updated
The official Twitter page of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has said several Russian tanks were destroyed and abandoned near the village of Andriivka, in the Donetsk region.
It said:
Three T-90M “Breakthrough” tanks, a transporter-tractor MT-LB and an IFV [infantry fighting vehicle] are knocked out and abandoned near the village of Andriivka, Donetsk region.
Aerial video footage appears to show the stationary, abandoned vehicles.
A breakthrough has failed.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 14, 2023
Three Russian T-90M "Breakthrough" tanks, a transporter-tractor MT-LB and an IFV are knocked out and abandoned near the village of Andriivka, Donetsk region. pic.twitter.com/V1QhCxeGo7
Updated
Mykhailo Fedorov, the minister of digital transformation of Ukraine, said that Russia lost 116 units of equipment, including 33 armoured vehicles, 29 trucks and 20 tanks last week.
In a tweet, he said:
This hardware will no longer kill Ukrainians. My gratitude to the warriors who work for our victory 24/7.
These claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Monday that Russian weapons were showing their effectiveness in Ukraine.
In remarks shown on state television, Shoigu said that “much-hyped” western weaponry had shown itself to be “far from perfect” in the course of fighting in Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Updated
The Ukrainian military said on Monday it had pushed Russian forces out of pockets of territory along frontlines in the east and south of the country, building on a gruelling counteroffensive launched two months ago.
The gains – announced by Ukraine’s deputy defence minister – came as Russia claimed its forces had progressed in the eastern Kharkiv region, undermining Kyiv’s highly anticipated campaign, AFP reports.
Ukraine kicked off its counteroffensive against Russian forces in June after building up assault battalions and stockpiling western-donated weapons.
But Kyiv has acknowledged that movement against heavily fortified Russian positions has been slow and said it had gained only a clutch of land around the war-battered city of Bakhmut last week.
“In the Bakhmut sector, three sq km (1.2 sq miles) were liberated last week,” deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar told state television, adding that Ukrainian forces had clawed back 40 sqkm there since June.
She explained that Ukrainian forces had been diverted from offensive operations around the town – captured by Russian forces in May – citing building Russian pressure in the Kharkiv region.
Malyar said:
It was important for the enemy to divert our forces in other directions, so we could not concentrate our forces for the offensive in the Bakhmut sector.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images to come out of Ukraine.
Ukraine said on Monday its forces had recaptured a clutch of territory around the war-battered eastern town of Bakhmut last week, wresting back land taken by Russian forces this summer.
Here’s the AFP news agency’s report:
Kyiv launched a highly-anticipated counter-offensive in June after building up assault battalions and stockpiling Western-donated weapons but has acknowledged slow progress.
“In the Bakhmut sector, three square kilometres (1.2 square miles) were liberated last week,” deputy defence minister Ganna Malyar told state television.
“In total, 40 square kilometres have been liberated on the southern flank of the Bakhmut sector,” she added.
Russian forces, spearheaded by the Wagner mercenary group, captured the town of some 70,000 in May after months of fierce fighting.
Ukrainian forces have also been pressing against deeply entrenched Russian forces in the south of the country, in two regions the Kremlin said it had annexed last year.
Malyar said Ukrainian forces had been pushing towards the captured towns of Melitopol and Berdyansk, adding that “hostilities are continuing in Urozhaine”, a settlement on the southern front in the Donetsk region.
“We have certain successes there. Our forces also had certain successes on the south of Staromayorsk,” the deputy defence minister said, referring to another nearby town.
Malyar also confirmed that Ukrainian troops had conducted “certain tasks” on the left bank of the Dnipro river in the Kherson region.
The river was rendered the de facto front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces in the region after Kyiv recaptured the territory’s main city, also called Kherson, in November.
“We cannot reveal the details but we completed these tasks. In order to entrench there, it is necessary to dislodge the enemy and clear the territory,” Malyar said.
Christian Lindner, German’s finance minister, said his country stood “shoulder to shoulder” with Ukraine, as he arrived in Kyiv for his first visit since the start of the war.
Lindner said he would hold “very concrete” talks with Ukrainian officials on how the German finance ministry can support Ukraine now and in the future, AFP reports.
After arriving in Kyiv by train, Lindner told reporters:
We stand by Ukraine’s side, shoulder to shoulder.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Germany has provided about €22bn (£19bn) to Ukraine in humanitarian, financial and military aid, Lindner said.
The minister said:
Ukraine must not lose this war.
The talks in Kyiv would not just be about the current situation, he said. “We will also look to the future.”
Discussions would focus on possible areas of cooperation, including in direct foreign investment and customs issues, he added.
The surprise visit comes as Germany is under growing pressure from Kyiv to send long-range Taurus cruise missiles to boost its struggling counter-offensive against Russian troops.
The German government has so far resisted the pleas, on concerns that the missiles could reach Russian territory and widen the conflict.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told Germany’s Bild newspaper that the Taurus missiles were “crucial” to Ukraine’s fightback.
Seeking to ease concerns about the long reach of the weapons, Podolyak said they would be used “exclusively on the territory of Ukraine, within the internationally recognised borders of 1991”.
Updated
Russian drone and missile targeted the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa on Monday.
The governor of Odesa oblast, Oleg Kiper, said the country’s air defences had intercepted 15 drones and eight Kalibr missiles. “As a result of the downing of the rockets that the Russians aimed at the centre of Odesa, debris damaged a dormitory of one of the educational institutions, a residential building and a supermarket“, he said.
At least three people were injured.
Updated
Russian warship fires warning shots at cargo ship in Black Sea
A Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea on Sunday as it made its way northwards, the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a landmark UN-brokered grain deal last month.
In July, Russia halted participation in the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Moscow said that it deemed all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons.
On Sunday, Russia said its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship’s captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.
Russia said the vessel was making its way toward the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Refinitiv shipping data showed that the ship was currently near the coast of Bulgaria and heading toward the Romanian port of Sulina.
“To forcibly stop the vessel, warning fire was opened from automatic weapons,” the Russian defence ministry said.
The Russian military boarded the vessel with the help of a Ka-29 helicopter, the ministry said. “After the inspection group completed its work onboard, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail.”
A Turkish defence ministry official said he had heard an incident had taken place involving a ship heading for Romania, and that Ankara was looking into it. Reuters could not immediately reach the vessel or its owners for comment.
A senior adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the incident was a “clear violation of international law of the sea, an act of piracy and a crime against civilian vessels of a third country in the waters of other states.”
The adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted that “Ukraine will draw all the necessary conclusions and choose the best possible response”.
Read more here:
Updated
Ukraine has condemned what it called “provocative” Russian actions, a day after a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.
The ministry said in a statement:
The ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the provocative actions carried out by the Russian Federation on August 13 in the Black Sea in relation to the Turkish dry cargo vessel ‘Sukru Okan,’ which was en route to the port of Izmail,
The Russian Navy grossly violated the UN Charter, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and other norms of international law. These actions exemplified Russia’s deliberate policy of endangering the freedom of navigation and safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea.
Baby among seven people killed in Russian shelling of Kherson
Seven people including a 23-day-old baby girl were killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Sunday, the country’s internal affairs ministry said.
Artillery shelling in the village of Shiroka Balka, on the banks of the Dnipro River, killed a family – a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy and the 23-day-old girl – and another resident.
Two men were killed in the neighbouring village of Stanislav, where a woman was also wounded.
The attack on Kherson province followed Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar’s comments on Saturday attempting to quell rumours that Ukrainian forces had landed on the occupied left (east) bank of the Dnipro in the Kherson region.
“Again, the expert hype around the left bank in the Kherson region began. There are no reasons for excitement,” she said.
Kherson’s regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Sunday that three people had been wounded in Russian attacks on the province on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian military officials said on Saturday evening that Kyiv’s forces had made progress in the south, claiming some success near a key village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and capturing other unspecified territories.
Ukraine’s general staff said they had “partial success” around the tactically important Robotyne area in the Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian stronghold that Ukraine needs to retake in order to continue pushing south towards Melitopol.
“There are liberated territories. The defence forces are working,” Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukraine’s southern forces, said of the southern front.
Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the more than 1,000km (600mile) frontline as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive with western-supplied weapons and western-trained troops against the Russian forces who invaded nearly 18 months ago.
Ukrainian troops have made only incremental gains since launching a counteroffensive in early June.
Read more here:
Updated
Here’s some more analysis on the situation in the Black Sea, courtesy of the Reuters news agency:
Analysts say that Russia firing on a merchant vessel will ratchet up already acute concerns among shipowners, insurers and commodity traders about the potential dangers of getting ensnared in the Black Sea – the main route that both Ukraine and Russia use to get their agricultural produce to market.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s top agricultural producers, and major players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets. Russia is also dominant in the fertiliser market.
Since Russia left the Black Sea grain deal, both Moscow and Kyiv have issued warnings and carried out attacks that have sent jitters through global commodity, oil and shipping markets.
Russia has said it will treat any ships approaching Ukrainian ports as potential military vessels, and their flag countries as combatants on the Ukrainian side. Russia also struck Ukrainian grain facilities on the Danube.
Ukraine responded with a similar threat to ships approaching Russian or Russian-held Ukrainian ports. Ukraine also attacked a Russian oil tanker and a warship at its Novorossiysk naval base, next door to a major grain and oil port, over a week ago.
Ukraine and the west say Russia’s steps amount to a de-facto blockade of Ukrainian ports that threatens to cut off the flow of wheat and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to world markets.
Russia dismisses that interpretation and says the west failed to implement a parallel agreement easing rules for its own food and fertiliser exports.
Updated
On Sunday, a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea as it made its way north, the first time Russia has fired on a merchant ship since exiting the UN-backed grain deal last month.
In July, Russia halted participation in the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Since then, Moscow has said that it deems all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons.
On Sunday, Russia said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship’s captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.
Russia said the vessel was making its way toward the Ukrainian port of Izmail.
The Russian military boarded the vessel with the help of a Ka-29 helicopter, the ministry said.
“After the inspection group completed its work on board, the Sukru Okan continued on its way to the port of Izmail,” the defence ministry said.
A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the incident was a “clear violation of international law of the sea, an act of piracy and a crime against civilian vessels of a third country in the waters of other states”.
Updated
Ukrainian forces are trying to pierce Russian lines in the western parts of Donetsk region, a Russian-installed official has said.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in parts of Zaporizhzhia controlled by Moscow, said that there had been intense fighting south of Velyka Novosilka as Ukrainian troops try to get through Russian lines to push down to the coast on the Sea of Azov as part of Kyiv’s counteroffensive.
“The enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of Urozhaine after two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement,” Rogov said, referring to the same part of the frontline.
He said Russian soldiers still controlled the southern part of Urozhaine, adding that Ukrainian forces were clearly aiming to take control of a town further south, Staromlynivka.
Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in June, attempting to retake swathes of territory captured by Russia in the south and east of the country. It has recaptured several villages in the south and some territory around the ruined city of Bakhmut in the east but has so far not achieved major gains against well-dug-in Russian troops.
Update on Odesa strikes
Odesa was hit by two waves of attacks overnight: a total of 15 drones, and 8 Kalibr missiles, according to the governor of the local region.
Oleg Kiper says that Ukrainian air defences “destroyed everything.”
As a result of the downing of the rockets that the Russians aimed at the centre of Odesa, debris damaged a dormitory of one of the educational institutions, a residential building and a supermarket.
The blast wave knocked out windows in several buildings and damaged cars parked nearby. Fires broke out at three facilities.”
Three employees of the supermarket were injured, two of whom have been hospitalised.
Ukraine’s southern military district command has released these images from Odesa, showing the aftermath of the drone and missile attacks on the port city.
The photos, shared on Telegram, show firefighters trying to extinguish flames engulfing a multi-storey supermarket, with a large plume of smoke rising into the air.
Zelenskiy says Russia's crimes will not go unanswered after seven killed in Kherson on Sunday
Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised justice after Russian shelling killed seven people – including a 22-day-old infant – and wounded at least 22 others Kherson on Sunday.
Local officials in the southern region, which Kyiv liberated part of last year, have declared a day of mourning for Monday.
Five people were killed in the shelling on the village of Shyroka Balka, including a family of four. Two other people, including the pastor of a church, were killed in the neighbouring village of Stanislav.
Later in the evening on Sunday, the local Kherson government said a new airstrike and artillery shelling had injured a 31-year-old woman and a man and damaged at least 12 houses in the town of Bilozerka. It also said three guided aerial bombs had damaged several houses in the village of Odradokamianka.
In his nightly address, Zelenskiy said that by 6 pm there had been 17 reports of shelling in Kherson region alone on Sunday, as well as incidents in the regions of Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donbas, Kharkiv, and in border areas in northeast Ukraine.
“There is no day when Russian evil does not receive our entirely just response,” he said, adding that he would “not leave any of Russia’s crimes unanswered.”
Odesa strikes leave three injured
Ukraine’s city of Odesa has endured another night of Russian drone and missile attacks, the latest of which have left at least three people injured, according to local officials.
The governor of the region on the Black Sea said falling rocket fragment had resulted in fires breaking out.
“Windows in buildings were blown out by the blast wave,” Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s armed forces command in the south said that its air defence forces destroyed all 15 drones and eight Kalibr-type sea-based missiles that Russia launched at the port.
The nearby port city of Mykolaiv was also targeted, with air alarms sounding throughout the night.
Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port and naval base, has been repeatedly attacked with missiles and drones since Moscow last month pulled out of a UN backed agreement that allowed grain to be safely shipped from Ukraine’s ports.
Opening summary
Welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Jonathan Yerushalmy with the latest.
Our top story this morning:
Russian strikes on the southern port city of Odesa overnight left at least three people injured, according to the region’s governor.
“As a result of the enemy attack in Odesa, several fires broke out from falling rocket fragments,” Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The attack comes after a deadly weekend of Russian strikes in Ukraine, with seven people – including a young baby – killed in Kherson. More on that shortly.
In the meantime, here’s a summary of the other main news over the last 24 hours:
A Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea, the first time Russia has fired on a merchant ship since exiting a UN-brokered grain deal last month. Russia said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship’s captain failed to respond to a request to halt for inspection.
Three civilians were injured in the Kursk region from shells coming over the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said. Roman Starovoit said Ukraine was behind the shelling, Ukraine did not claim responsibility and it was unclear where the shelling originated.
Ukrainian forces were trying to pierce Russian lines in the western parts of Donetsk region, a Russian-installed official said. Vladimir Rogov said there had been intense fighting south of Velyka Novosilka as Ukrainian troops tried to push down to the coast on the Sea of Azov. “The enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of Urozhaine after two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement,” Rogov said.
The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod blamed a Ukrainian drone for damage to an apartment building on Sunday, after Russia’s defence ministry said air defences shot down at least four Ukrainian drones close to the border. Russia’s defence ministry said air defences shot down another drone later on Sunday and there were no casualties.
Germany will deliver a Luna New Generation drone system to Ukraine, Bild am Sonntag has reported. The equipment will include a ground control station with several drones, a launch catapult and military trucks.
Authorities briefly halted traffic on the Russian-built Kerch Bridge connecting occupied Crimea with Russia – but did not provide a reason why. It came one day after Russian air defence reportedly thwarted three Ukrainian missile attacks.
Ukraine has become the most heavily mined country on Earth after a year and a half of Russian troops laying them down. Soldiers have been unearthing five mines for every square metre in some places, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, told the Guardian.
