Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv troops retreat from key eastern town as Moscow conducts nuclear drills

Ukraine has pulled back its soldiers from the outskirts of eastern Chasiv Yar town where they are losing territory to Russian forces.

Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 255th assault battalion, which has been fighting in the area for six months, claimed the Russians burned every building not destroyed by shelling after capturing the neighbourhood.

“I regret that we are gradually losing territory,” he said, speaking by phone from Chasiv Yar, but added, “we cannot hold what is ruined”.

He said Russia is using scorched-earth tactics in an attempt to destroy anything that could be used as a military position in an attempt to force the Ukranian troops to retreat from the strategic town.

Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. The intensity of the Russian strikes on Ukraine’s defensive line in the area has increased over the past month, Kyiv said.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces were carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.

Key points

• Ukraine’s army retreats as Russia gets closer to seizing town

• Putin says he thinks Trump is sincere about ending Ukraine war

• Russian strikes kill elderly woman and wound eight people

• Hungary's Orban arrives in Moscow to meet Putin

• Ukraine navy chief says Russia is losing Crimean hub in Black Sea

Modi to focus on trade imbalance, Indian soldiers in talks with Putin - part one

Friday 5 July 2024 15:45 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Fixing India’s trade imbalance with Russia and securing the discharge of Indians misled into fighting in the Ukraine war will be among Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s priorities during talks in Moscow next week, a top official said on Friday.

Modi will visit Russia on July 8-9 for talks with President Vladimir Putin as part of annual summits between New Delhi and Moscow, launched in 2000.

Modi’s visit coincides with the July 9-11 NATO summit in Washington at which the Ukraine war will hold centre stage, and the timing has raised questions about the signal India could be sending.

But Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, the most senior diplomat in the foreign ministry, rejected any connection and said Modi’s visit was part of the calendar of summits between the two countries.

“The bilateral visit this time is just a scheduling priority that we have undertaken and that’s what it is,” he told reporters in response to a question at a briefing on Modi’s visit.

Ukraine receives third Patriot air defence system from Germany

Friday 5 July 2024 15:12 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine said on Friday it had taken receipt of its third German-supplied Patriot air defence system following months of pleas for equipment to protect its civilians and infrastructure from Russian air strikes.

Moscow renewed its aerial assaults on Ukraine‘s national power grid in the spring, causing sweeping blackouts. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier this year his country needed at least seven additional Patriot systems to protect itself.

The Ukrainian defence ministry said on X the system had already been delivered and thanked Germany for “unwavering support”.

“It will help improve the protection of civilians and infrastructure. The Ukrainian crew has successfully completed appropriate training in Germany,” German Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Jaeger said on X.

Kyiv has indicated it hopes for progress on the matter of air defence supplies at a NATO summit in Washington next week. A senior U.S. State Department official has said Kyiv is expected to get “good news” at the summit.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and regularly uses its arsenal of missiles and drones to conduct long-range strikes.

Russian forces launch recruitment drive in Africa to fight war in Ukraine

Friday 5 July 2024 14:52 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In case you missed it...

Russia is conducting a new recruitment drive for fighters in Africa for its war in Ukraine after suffering heavy casualties on the ground in lethal combat, according to Western intelligence officials.

The enrolment campaign has intensified following the rapid spread of Moscow’s influence on the continent, boosted by the overthrow of pro-Western governments in several countries by military regimes and the subsequent withdrawal of US and European forces.

Mercenaries formerly with the Wagner Group – which was disbanded after the failed coup attempt by its Russian leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was subsequently killed along with his senior hierarchy in an air crash – are training young men, some from tribal militias, for battle in Europe.

Putin’s forces launch recruitment drive in Africa to fight war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s foreign ministry criticises Orban’s visit to Moscow

Friday 5 July 2024 14:32 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine‘s foreign ministry said on Friday that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to Moscow to discuss peace following his trip to Kyiv earlier this week was not coordinated with Ukraine.

“We remind you that for our state, the principle of ‘no agreements on Ukraine without Ukraine‘ remains unshakable and call on all states to observe it strictly,” the ministry said in a statement.

Olena Zelenska falls victim to deepfake video claiming she bought a Bugatti

Friday 5 July 2024 14:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska is the latest victim of deepfake after an online video falsely claimed that she had purchased a rare Bugatti sports car worth €4.5m (£3.8m).

The video, suspected to be from Russian propaganda sources, claimed Ms Zelenska was given a closed presentation to buy a Bugatti Tourbillon for the use of the Ukrainian delegation during her visit to Paris for D-Day commemorations in June last week.

“This is a fake and another attempt by Russians to discredit the family of the President of Ukraine,” said Ukrainian fact-checking unit Centre for Countering Disinformation (CCD), under the national security and defence council.

Olena Zelenska falls victim to deepfake video claiming she bought a Bugatti

A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine

Friday 5 July 2024 13:30 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

On his way to the Kyiv train station to greet his wife and daughter returning from Poland to Ukraine, Oleksander Tryfonov made a stop.

He bought two red roses from one of a half-dozen flower shops lining a dimly lit underpass — something beautiful for the two most precious people in his life.

“I haven’t seen them for two years,” Tryfonov, a burly 45-year-old driver said of his family. “Flowers are important for women.”

Flowers have always been linked with Ukraine’s culture, but since Russia’s 2022 invasion, their significance has only grown, with blooms becoming a symbol of both resistance and hope.

A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine

Ukraine’s forces pull back from part of key eastern town of Chasiv Yar

Friday 5 July 2024 13:09 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine’s troops had pulled back from part of the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region – having faced a months-long Russian assault.

Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy and compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes.

The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighborhood in the town, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, told The Associated Press in a written message Thursday.

Ukraine’s defensive positions in the town were “destroyed,” he said, adding that there was a threat of serious casualties if troops remained in the area and that Russia did not leave “a single intact building.”

Putin tells Orban he is ready to discuss 'nuances' of Ukraine conflict

Friday 5 July 2024 12:47 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Friday that he was ready to discuss the “nuances” of peace proposals to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin, who received Orban in the Kremlin, said he was ready to hear the Hungarian leader’s position on Ukraine and to get a readout from Orban on the views of other European partners.

“I hope we will have an opportunity to exchange views on building bilateral relations in this difficult situation and, of course, to talk about the prospects for the development of the biggest European crisis, I mean in the Ukrainian direction,” Putin told Orban.

Putin, who noted that Hungary currently held the European Union’s rotating presidency, made the comments ahead of Kremlin talks between the two leaders.

US citizen Robert Woodland convicted of drug-related charges by a Moscow court

Friday 5 July 2024 12:16 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Robert Woodland, a Russia-born U.S. citizen, was convicted of drug-related charges by a Moscow court and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison on Thursday, court officials and his lawyers said.

He was found guilty of attempted trafficking of large amounts of illegal drugs as part of an organized group, according to an online statement released by court officials. His lawyers told reporters after the verdict was delivered Thursday that they will appeal the ruling because Woodland’s guilt hasn’t been proven.

Lawyer Stanislav Kshevitsky also said that Woodland has been suffering from unspecified mental health issues. He didn’t provide any details, but said that the court didn’t take those issues into account.

US citizen Robert Woodland convicted of drug-related charges by a Moscow court

Orban: ‘Hungary will slowly become the last European country that can talk to everyone’

Friday 5 July 2024 11:57 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who arrived in Moscow on Friday, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he wants to discuss issues which are important for Europe.

“Hungary will slowly become the last European country that can talk to everyone,” Orban said in a live feed of their meeting on Russian site Ria Novosti.

Putin and Orban to discuss Ukraine at Moscow talks

Friday 5 July 2024 11:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will discuss the conflict in Ukraine at talks in Moscow on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin.

Orban arrived in Moscow earlier on Friday, days after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and said on X that he was on the second stop of what he called “the peace mission.”

In a post on X earlier today, Orban said: “You cannot make peace from a comfortable armchair in Brussels”.

He added that “we cannot sit back and wait for the war to miraculously end”.

Hungary's Orban arrives in Moscow to meet Putin

Friday 5 July 2024 11:01 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, drawing rebukes from fellow EU leaders and a warning that he did not speak for the European Union.

Hungary assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the bloc on Monday. Five days in and Orban has visited Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv and formed the “Patriots for Europe” alliance with other right-wing nationalists.

Now, he has chosen to go to Moscow on a “peace mission”, days before a NATO summit.

“With such a meeting the Hungarian presidency ends before it has really begun,” one EU diplomat said.

“Hungary does not seem to have understood its role... The scepticism of EU member states was unfortunately justified – it’s all about promoting Budapest’s interests.”

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Orban in Moscow was “not representing the EU in any form”. Finland Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described news of the visit as disturbing.

“His visit would show disregard for the duties of the EU Presidency and undermines interests of the European Union,” he said in a tweet on Thursday.

Hungarian government plane lands in Moscow, flight-tracking website shows

Friday 5 July 2024 10:26 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

A plane used by the Hungarian government landed in Moscow on Friday, flight-tracking website Flightaware.com showed, following media reports that Prime Minister Viktor Orban is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin later in the day.

Hungary’s government did not reply to emailed questions about who is on the plane, and Reuters could not verify whether Hungary’s prime minister is on board.

Friday 5 July 2024 10:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia‘s Defence Ministry said on Friday it was conducting drills involving Yars mobile nuclear missile launchers, less than a month after it held tactical nuclear weapons deployment exercises alongside ally Belarus.

The ministry said Yars missile launcher crews in at least two different regions were set to move over 100 kilometres (62 miles) and practice camouflage and deployment.

It published a video showing a mobile launcher manoeuvering along forest roads and taking up position before troops covered it in camouflage netting.

“Similar exercises will be held by other missile units in the near future,” the defence ministry said.

In June, Russia conducted tactical nuclear weapons drills with Belarus after what Moscow said were threats from Western powers.

Vladimir Putin said then that Moscow had no need to use nuclear weapons to secure victory in Ukraine, but added that he did not rule out changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine.

Lord Coe says Ukraine trip reaffirmed his Russian and Belarusian athletes stance

Friday 5 July 2024 09:44 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

World Athletics president Lord Coe revealed a trip to Ukraine reaffirmed his stance that the governing body remains right to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from its competitions.

Coe, who also met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, praised the resilience of athletes he met at the country’s national championships, which also served as trials for this summer’s Paris Olympics.

Lord Coe says Ukraine trip reaffirmed his Russian and Belarusian athletes stance

Russia carries out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, Interfax says

Friday 5 July 2024 09:20 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia‘s defence ministry is carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency cited the ministry as saying on Friday.

Yars missile launcher crews from two units are set to move over 100 kilometres and practice camouflage and deployment, it said, with more crews joining drills in the future.

Hungary’s Orban says he is in no position to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia

Friday 5 July 2024 09:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he was not in a position to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia following media reports that he would travel to Moscow during the day to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban, a critic of Western military aid to Ukraine who has the warmest relations of any EU leader with Putin, said the fact that Hungary currently holds the bloc’s rotating presidency does not give him a mandate to negotiate on its behalf.

“I do not need a mandate as I do not represent anything,” Orban said on his regular Friday morning radio interview, without saying whether he would travel to Moscow later in the day.

“All I do is go to places where there is a war or threat of war that threatens the European Union and Hungary, or has a negative consequence on them, and ask questions,” he added.

Russia warships taken defensive posture, Ukraine’s navy chief says

Friday 5 July 2024 08:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

In a sign of their more defensive posture, some Russian warships that seldom entered the Sea of Azov to the east of Crimea are now stationed there regularly, Ukraine’s navy chief said.

Monitoring data compiled by the Ukrainian Navy and provided to Reuters showed that as of June 27, 10 Russian warships were stationed in the Sea of Azov compared with none in 2023.

Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said the Black Sea Fleet is primarily used now for logistics, a small amount of coastal territorial control and for firing Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukraine.

He declined to say what Ukraine‘s future plans in the Black Sea would involve.

Ukraine‘s operations in the Black Sea have allowed it to establish and secure its own shipping corridor without Russia‘s blessing after Moscow pulled out of the wartime food export deal brokered by the United Nations last year.

Neizhpapa said the delivery of U.S.-made F-16 fighter aircraft, expected to happen soon, would be a boost allowing it to challenge what he called Russia‘s “full dominance” of the skies over the Black Sea.

“F-16s with the right armaments will be able to push away Russian warplanes. The northwestern part of the Black Sea, particularly the corridor for civilian ships, will be almost 100% secure,” he said.

Ukraine navy chief says Russia is losing Crimean hub in Black Sea

Friday 5 July 2024 08:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

The Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations, and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv, Ukraine’s navy chief said.

Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said Ukrainian missile and naval drone strikes had caused heavy damage to the Sevastopol base, a logistics hub for repairs, maintenance, training and ammunition storage among other important functions for Russia.

“They were established over many decades, possibly centuries. And clearly they are now losing this hub,” Neizhpapa told Reuters in a rare interview in the port city of Odesa ahead of Ukraine Navy Day on Sunday.

“Almost all the main combat-ready ships have been moved by the enemy from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, and the ships are kept in Novorossiisk, and some of them are kept in the Sea of Azov,” he said.

Neizhpapa said Ukraine had destroyed or damaged 27 naval vessels, including five that he said were destroyed by sea mines laid by Ukrainian naval drones near the Bay of Sevastopol.

Russia says it thwarted attack on defence facility in Samara, RIA reports

Friday 5 July 2024 08:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia‘s Federal Security Service said it had prevented an attack on a defence facility in the Samara region in southwest Russia, the RIA state news agency reported on Friday.

Ukraine’s forces pull back from part of key eastern town of Chasiv Yar

Friday 5 July 2024 07:39 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine’s troops had pulled back from part of the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region – having faced a months-long Russian assault.

Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy and compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes.

The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighborhood in the town, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, told The Associated Press in a written message Thursday.

Ukraine’s forces pull back from part of key eastern town of Chasiv Yar

Child killed after Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Krasnodar

Friday 5 July 2024 07:15 , Arpan Rai

A six-year-old girl died in hospital after a Ukranian drone attack on the town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia’s Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor, said on Friday.

He said six people were hospitalised after the attack. Ukraine has not commented on the incident so far.

Russian court detains air commander linked to Bucha killings

Friday 5 July 2024 07:00 , Jane Dalton

A Russian military court has placed the commander of the country’s 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade in pre-trial detention for two months on charges of large-scale fraud, the Tass state news agency reported.

In 2022, The New York Times reported that Colonel Artyom Gorodilov was in command of Russia’s 234th Air Assault Regiment which Ukraine and the West say killed Ukrainian civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in March that year.

Vladimir Putin has dismissed the Bucha allegations as “a provocation” and said the Russian army had nothing to do with the killings which Russian officials have suggested were staged for propaganda purposes.

Gorodilov, who was promoted for his exploits in what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, is the latest in a series of high-ranking Russian military officers and senior defence officials to be arrested on charges of corruption in recent months.

Ukrainian military says it downed all 32 drones launched by Russia overnight

Friday 5 July 2024 06:49 , Arpan Rai

The Ukrainian air force said it downed all 32 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack. Three drones were shot down over the southern region of Mykolaiv, its governor said.

Three more were downed over Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the governor.

The Kyiv region governor reported that the air defence was at work to shoot down the drones in the early hours today.

Orban’s plans to visit Moscow sparks concern

Friday 5 July 2024 06:40 , Arpan Rai

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today, Radio Free Europe and the Financial Times reported.

Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as neither confirming nor denying the visit. State news agency RIA cited Peskov as saying that Putin had a “busy schedule” on Friday about which the Kremlin would inform reporters later.

It would be the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Putin and Orban have met inside Russia.

Orban, who has maintained a closer relationship to Moscow than other EU nations since the invasion, visited Russia in 2022 without meeting Putin and has met him in other countries.

From the start of this month, Hungary has taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union, a largely ceremonial role tasked with agenda-setting and brokering agreements in legislative affairs.

Earlier this week, Orban visited Kyiv where he urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to consider a ceasefire to accelerate an end to the war with Russia.

“The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU,” Charles Michel, president of the Council of European Union leaders, said on X.

“No discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine,” he said, reacting to Orban‘s visit to Moscow. Hungary, a member of the EU and Nato, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine and vocally criticised EU sanctions against Russia, while stopping short of using its veto power to block them.

Trump camp plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks

Friday 5 July 2024 05:45 , Jane Dalton

Donald Trump has been presented with a plan to bring an end to the war in Ukraine by two key advisers that would require Kyiv to sit down for peace talks with Russia or receive no further US weapons:

Trump military aides give him plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks with Putin

Modi to meet Putin during 2-day visit to Russia

Friday 5 July 2024 05:40 , Arpan Rai

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next Monday and Tuesday and hold talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said yesterday. The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month, but the dates have not been previously disclosed.

Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War and New Delhi’s importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.

Under Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s action in Ukraine while emphasizing the need for a peaceful settlement.

The partnership between Moscow and New Delhi has become fraught, however, since Russia started developing closer ties with India’s main rival, China, because of the hostilities in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s army retreats as Russia gets closer to seizing strategically important town

Friday 5 July 2024 05:28 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble during a months-long Russian assault, a military spokesperson said yesterday.

Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle.

The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighbourhood of the town, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia ground forces formation said yesterday.

Ukraine’s defensive positions in the town were “destroyed”, he said, adding that there was a threat of serious casualties if troops remained in the area and that Russia did not leave “a single intact building”.

Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated Chasiv Yar, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.

Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 255th assault battalion which has been based in the area for six months, said after Russian troops captured the neighbourhood, they burned every building not already destroyed by shelling.

Shyriaiev said Russia is using scorched-earth tactics in an attempt to destroy anything which could be used as a military position in a bid to force Ukranian troops to retreat. “I regret that we are gradually losing territory,” he said, speaking by phone from the Chasiv Yar area, but added, “we cannot hold what is ruined”.

For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.

Russia broke international law by jailing reporter, UN experts say

Friday 5 July 2024 04:30 , Jane Dalton

UN experts say Russia violated international law by imprisoning Wall Street Journal reporter

Putin says he thinks Trump is sincere about ending Ukraine war

Friday 5 July 2024 04:24 , Arpan Rai

Vladimir Putin said he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was sincere about wanting to end the war in Ukraine, but expressed ignorance about the former US president’s plan.

“The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, we take this completely seriously,” the Russian president said at a news conference in Kazakhstan.

“I am not, of course, familiar with possible proposals for how he plans to do this. This is the key question. But I have no doubt that he means it sincerely, and we support it” he said when asked about Mr Trump’s statement.

The Washington Post reported in April that Trump had privately spoken about allowing Russia to keep Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the Donbas area, which Russian forces partially control, in return for peace, something that Trump’s campaign has not confirmed.

Russia holds drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers – report

Friday 5 July 2024 04:12 , Arpan Rai

Russia’s defence ministry has said its forces are carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.

Yars missile launcher crews from two units are set to move over 100 kilometres and practice camouflage and deployment, it said, with more crews joining drills in the future.

Russian attacks kill two and wound 26 in Ukraine

Friday 5 July 2024 03:57 , Arpan Rai

Russian strikes killed two people and wounded 26 in Ukrainian regions stretching from the south to the east and northeast, local authorities said yesterday.

A missile strike in southern Odesa region killed a woman, injured seven people and damaged port infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.

In northeastern Kharkiv region, a second woman was killed and a man wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

Russia claims 190,000 troops join this year

Friday 5 July 2024 01:30 , Jane Dalton

Around 190,000 recruits have signed contracts to join the Russian military so far this year, the state-run RIA news agency has quoted former president Dmitry Medvedev as saying.

Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the current average recruitment rate was about 1,000 people a day.

Russia is encouraging people to sign up for the war in Ukraine by paying them well above average wages.

President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no need to enforce a new round of compulsory mobilisation because so many men are signing up on voluntary contracts.

Putin says he would prefer Biden to Trump

Friday 5 July 2024 00:01 , Jane Dalton

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said his preference for Joe Biden as the next US president remained unchanged.

Asked by a state television reporter whether Mr Biden or Mr Trump was better, and whether his publicly stated preference for Mr Biden had changed after the debate, Mr Putin said: “Nothing has changed.”

“Did we not know what could come? We knew,” he added.

Putin has several times said that he feels Mr Biden is preferable to Mr Trump, even after the US president cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB” [son of a b****].

Zelensky sends American Independence Day message

Thursday 4 July 2024 22:50 , Jane Dalton

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has used American Independence Day to stand up for his own country’s independence.

Wishing Americans a happy 4 July, he wrote: “We understand what independence means to you, Americans, and you can see that it means the same thing to us, Ukrainians...

“True independence is always the result of won battles, and freedom must be reinforced with victories every time tyranny attempts to destroy it.

“Different generations of Americans and Ukrainians have witnessed this firsthand, and it is critical that current generations pass on a sense of confident independence and guaranteed freedom to their children and grandchildren.”

In pictures: A town destroyed

Thursday 4 July 2024 21:30 , Jane Dalton

Chasiv Yar was left in ruins even before Ukrainian troops retreated:

Symbols of tradition, hope and healing

Thursday 4 July 2024 20:15 , Jane Dalton

Flowers have taken on extra significance in Ukraine since the war began. In case you missed it:

A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine

Russian missile kills one person and injures seven in Odesa

Thursday 4 July 2024 19:37 , Jane Dalton

A Russian missile attack killed one person, injured seven and damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, the regional governor has said.

Oleh Kiper did not specify exactly where the strike occurred but he said port facilities and administrative and other buildings were damaged.

In pictures: Destruction in Donetsk

Thursday 4 July 2024 18:45 , Jane Dalton

Belarus prisoners freed

Thursday 4 July 2024 18:05 , Jane Dalton

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has freed at least 10 political prisoners, rights campaigners said on Thursday, including a veteran opposition figure suffering from cancer.

But the rare pardon still leaves some 1,400 people behind bars for political activity, most of them arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted on a range of charges related to alleged extremism.

Human rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been freed. The only one named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition party leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced the following year to 10 years in a penal colony after being convicted of plotting against the government to seize power. Following his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Activists said their happiness at the releases was bitter-sweet.

"This is a very great joy, of course, almost childlike. But it is joy through tears - there is anger too for what people have to go through," said Inna Kovalenok, a representative of a relatives' group that campaigns for the release of prisoners.

Mr Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus's liberation from the Nazis in teh Second World War. State news agency Belta said it was expected to apply to about 7,850 prisoners including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.

Russia launches forces recruitment drive in Africa

Thursday 4 July 2024 17:45 , Jane Dalton

Moscow is turning to a new mercenary group to train paid fighters from across the continent. In case you missed it:

Putin’s forces launch recruitment drive in Africa to fight war in Ukraine

Tally of wounded in Ukraine rises to 19

Thursday 4 July 2024 17:22 , Jane Dalton

The number of people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern, eastern and southern Ukraine on Thursday has risen to 19, local authorities said.

A woman was killed and a man was wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

Two civilians in the southern city of Kherson were wounded in a drone strike, the local administration said.

Russian bomb on village kills woman

Thursday 4 July 2024 16:31 , Jane Dalton

An elderly woman has been killed and eight people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern and southern Ukraine, local authorities said.

The woman was killed and a man wounded by a guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

Seven others were wounded in the town of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, governor Serhiy Lysak said. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.

Both the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions have been subjected to attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, but thousands of people have been killed and wounded.

Ukraine must take irreversible steps before we end war, says Putin

Thursday 4 July 2024 15:47 , Jane Dalton

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia would not declare a ceasefire in Ukraine until Kyiv took steps that were “irreversible” and acceptable to Moscow.

He has said it was pointless for Russia to attempt to appeal to the Ukrainian Parliament when it came to Moscow’s ideas to end the conflict between the two countries.

The president said he had seen fragments of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump but that he had enough of his own work to attend to, and added that the United States remained a great power.

Asked about Mr Trump’s suggestion that the war could be ended swiftly, Mr Putin said Russia took him seriously.

Russia ‘did not leave one building intact' in Donetsk town

Thursday 4 July 2024 15:15 , Jane Dalton

Ukraine’s defensive positions in Chasiv Yar were destroyed and Russia did not leave “a single intact building”, a spokesperson for the ground forces formation has said.

Nazar Voloshyn said there would have been a threat of serious casualties if Ukrainian troops had remained in the area.

The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighbourhood in Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region.

Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated the town, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.

Belarus leaders continue crackdown on opponents

Thursday 4 July 2024 14:32 , Jane Dalton

The leadership of Belarus has been cracking down on dissent constantly for nearly four years. Several weeks ago, authorities raided homes and seized property belonging to 104 opposition activists who had fled the country:

Belarus targets opposition activists with raids and property seizures

Putin ally Belarus frees political prisoners

Thursday 4 July 2024 13:59 , Jane Dalton

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has freed at least 10 political prisoners, including a veteran opposition figure suffering from cancer, rights campaigners say.

But the rare pardon still leaves some 1,400 people behind bars for political activity, most of them arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted of charges related to alleged extremism.

Human-rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been freed.

The only one named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition party leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced the following year to 10 years in a penal colony. Following his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus’s liberation from the Nazis in World War Two. State news agency Belta said it was expected to apply to about 7,850 prisoners including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.

Trump should come forward with his plan to end war in Ukraine - Zelensky

Thursday 4 July 2024 13:31 , Alex Ross

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky says Donald Trump knows how to end the war in Ukraine, and he should “tell us today”.

Mr Zelensky said if there were risks to Ukrainian independence “we want to be ready for this, we want to know”, in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Mr Trump, who is currently ahead in the polls over US President Joe Biden ahead of November’s election, has previously said he’ll end the war.

The interview comes as Russia’s force slowly advance in the Donetsk region with a new front near the northeastern city of Kharkivopened over recent months.

Russian missile damages gas infrastructure Ukraine, killing one person

Thursday 4 July 2024 13:05 , Alex Ross

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine‘s Poltava region damaged gas infrastructure, killing one person and injuring three more, Ukraine‘s energy ministry said on Thursday.

An unspecified infrastructure as well as the facility of the gas producer Ukrgasvydobyvannia were damaged in the strike on Wednesday, the ministry said on Telegram.

Ukraine‘s air forces said on Wednesday they downed a Russian missile over the region but the regional governor reported damage done by debris.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia

Thursday 4 July 2024 12:27 , Alex Ross

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8-9 and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said.

The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month but the dates have not been previously disclosed.

Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trade partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.

Under Mr Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s action in Ukraine while emphasising the need for a peaceful settlement.