Ukraine-Russia war – live: First lady issues sobering warning in rare interview

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska has issued a sobering warning to the world as the conflict enters its 18 month, in an exclusive interview with Independent TV.

Speaking from the command centre in Kyiv, Ms Zelenska warned that her country is in desperate need of “faster” support to enable it to fight Vladimir Putin’s troops.

“We keep hearing from our Western partners that they will be with us as long as it takes. ‘Long’ is not the word we should use. We should use the word ‘faster’,” she told Independent TV.

“Ukrainians are paying for this war with the lives of our compatriots. The rest of the world pays with its resources. These are incomparable things, so we urge you to speed up this help,” she added.

A comedy screenwriter and the childhood sweetheart of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Ms Zelenska gave up her day job to become an ambassador for Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Founding the Olena Zelenska Foundation in September 2022, the organisation’s work is wide-ranging, encompassing everything from reconstructing hospitals to supporting those suffering with their mental health.

Key Points

• Explosions and drone debris hit Kyiv in overnight attacks

• Poland rushes troops to border with Belarus

• Russia strikes port, grain storage in Odesa

• Putin ‘unlikely to find enough new troops to resource even one new army’, says UK MoD

• Torture, sexual violence commonly used by Russian forces in Ukraine, say experts

Putin reaffirms Russian stance on grain deal in call to Erdogan

15:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian president Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday that Moscow was ready to return to the Black Sea grain deal as soon as the West met its obligations with regard to Russia’s own grain exports.

The deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, allowed for the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Last month Moscow exited the deal, accusing the West of hampering Russia’s own grain and fertiliser exports.

In a statement on Putin’s call with Erdogan, the Kremlin said: “It was noted that in the conditions of a complete lack of progress in the implementation of the Russian part of the ‘grain deal’, its further extension has lost all meaning.”

It added that Russia would return to the deal “as soon as the West actually fulfils all the obligations to Russia” contained within it.

Russia’s grain and fertiliser exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine. But Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have been a barrier to shipments.

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday there were “indications” that Russia might be interested in returning to talks about the deal. Asked about those comments on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed the need for the West to honour parts of the deal concerning Russian exports.

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

22:07 , Eleanor Noyce

In a rare interview the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, has spoken to Independent TV about her work rebuilding Ukraine in the middle of war, the pressures on her family and concerns for the future of her country.

From the presidential palace, she told The Independent’s Bel Trew about the need to reconstruct cities despite the fighting raging on, about building cutting-edge facilities to treat the country’s’ war-wounded and fighting stigma on trauma around the country.

Watch:

What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know

If Russia wins now it’s the worst-case scenario for humanity, warns Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska

22:06 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukraine’s first lady has warned that Russia winning the war it started is “the worst-case scenario for all humanity”, in a heartfelt plea for the world not to lose interest in her country as its soldiers are fighting for “the democratic balance of the world”.

Speaking exclusively to Independent TV, Olena Zelenska said Ukraine is deeply concerned that the world is underestimating the wider threat from Moscow as the conflict grinds into its 18th month.

“If the aggressor wins now, it will be the worst-case scenario for all of humanity,” Ms Zelenska said from the heavily guarded presidential palace in Kyiv.

“This will mean that global deterrents aren’t working. This will mean that anyone with power, strength and sufficient financial capacity can do whatever they want.”

Watch:

If Russia wins it’s humanity’s worst-case scenario, says Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska

Ukraine’s Zelensky: Russia wants ‘global catastrophe,’ collapse of food markets

21:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that Russia’s attacks on port infrastructure showed Moscow was intent on creating a “global catastrophe,” with a crisis in food markets, prices and supplies.

“For the Russian state, this is not just a battle against our freedom and against our country,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“Moscow is waging a battle for a global catastrophe. In their madness, they need world food markets to collapse, they need a price crisis, they need disruptions in supplies.”

Russian guards ‘using torture and genital electrocution on Ukrainian prisoners’ – investigators

21:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian guards subjected Ukrainian prisoners to torture and sexual violence – including genital electrocution – according to a team of international experts investigating conditions in makeshift detention centres.

Almost half of Ukrainian prisoners held in Kherson, in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, said such tactics were frequent, according to the Mobile Justice Team, which was established by international humanitarian law firm Global Rights Compliance and is working with war crimes prosecutors.

Researchers said at least 36 victims described the use of electrocution while being interrogated.

Maya Oppenheim reports:

Russian guards using torture and genital electrocution on Ukrainian prisoners – study

Ukrainians forced to become Russian citizens, U.S.-backed research finds

20:53 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainians living in Russian-occupied territory are being forced to assume Russian citizenship or face harsh retaliation, including possible deportation or detention, U.S.-backed research published on Wednesday said.

Yale University researchers said that as part of a plan by Moscow to assert authority over Ukrainians, residents of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions are being targeted by a systematic effort to strip them of Ukrainian identity.

A series of decrees signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin compel Ukrainians to get Russian passports, in violation of international humanitarian law, the report said.

The Kremlin has consistently denied allegations of war crimes in Ukraine by forces taking part in a “special military operation” it says was launched to “de-Nazify” its neighbour and protect Russia.

Ukrainians in occupied territory who do not seek Russian citizenship “are subjected to threats, intimidation, restrictions on humanitarian aid and basic necessities, and possible detention or deportation – all designed to force them to become Russian citizens,” the report said.

“What is concerning here is that it represents, basically, a violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions,” Executive Director Nathaniel Raymond of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, told Reuters. “It is very widespread and very ongoing.”

Ukrainians in areas under Russian control have no choice but to accept a Russian passport if they want to survive, or they face potential detention and, as the team has documented, deportation into Russia if they fail to comply,” Raymond said.

Responsibility lies at the Kremlin with President Putin, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children and occupation authorities, he said.

The Kremlin has said that the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin is a sign of the “clear hostility” that exists against Russia and against Putin personally.

The report was released as part of the Conflict Observatory program, with the support of the U.S. State Department and conducted by research partner the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab.

Nervous NATO nations are beefing up security due to Wagner fighters across their borders in Belarus

20:00 , Eleanor Noyce

NATO allies located along the alliance’s eastern front are growing increasingly worried about the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus, where some have been deployed since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June.

Poland, Lithuania and Latvia — members of NATO and the European Union which border Belarus — had already been on alert since large numbers of migrants and refugees began arriving at their borders from Belarus two years ago. They have accused Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of “hybrid warfare” aimed at creating instability in the West.

Now concerns have grown further since the Wagner troops began arriving in Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.

Vanessa Gera reports:

Nervous NATO nations are beefing up security due to Wagner fighters across their borders in Belarus

Russia attacks grain port across River Danube from Romania amid Black Sea blockade

19:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia attacked Ukraine’s main inland port across the River Danube from Romania on Wednesday, sending global food prices higher as it ramps up its use of force to prevent Kyiv from exporting grain.

The attacks destroyed buildings in the port of Izmail, south of Moldova, and halted ships in their tracks as they prepared to arrive there to load up with Ukrainian grain in defiance of a de-facto Black Sea blockade reimposed by Russia last month.

The port, which lies across the river from Nato-member Romania, is the main alternative route for exports.

Alastair Jamieson reports:

Russia attacks grain port across River Danube from Romania

ICYMI: Drone attacks in Moscow’s glittering business district leave residents on edge

19:15 , Eleanor Noyce

The glittering towers of the Moscow City business district dominate the skyline of the Russian capital. The sleek glass-and-steel buildings -- designed to attract investment amid an economic boom in the early 2000s – are a dramatic, modern contrast to the rest of the more than 800-year-old city.

Now they are a sign of its vulnerability, following a series of drone attacks that rattled some Muscovites and brought the war in Ukraine home to the seat of Russian power.

The attacks on Sunday and Tuesday aren’t the first to hit Moscow — a drone even struck the Kremlin harmlessly in May. But these latest blasts, which caused no casualties but blew out part of a section of windows on a high-rise building and sent glass cascading to the streets, seemed particularly unsettling.

Read more:

Drone attacks in Moscow’s glittering business district leave residents on edge

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

18:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Joe Sommerlad and Thomas Kingsley report:

Here’s why Putin really invaded Ukraine

‘Brazil’s role is to try to arrive at a peace proposal together with others for when both countries want it’, says Brazil’s president

18:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country is working for peace in Ukraine but neither its leader nor Russia’s are prepared to talk peace.

“Neither Putin nor Zelenskiy are ready,” Lula told foreign correspondents in a news conference, adding that peace proposals he is seeking with other countries will be ready when Russia and Ukraine are willing to negotiate.

“Brazil’s role is to try to arrive at a peace proposal together with others for when both countries want it,” he said.

Lula has tried to form a group of neutral countries to get peace talks going. He has been criticized for saying that Ukraine and Russia are equally responsible for the war.

The leftist president, who was elected last year for a third term, lashed out at the Western powers backing Ukraine and the permanent U.N. Security Council members for not stopping war.

“The U.N. Security Council has not worked. United States invaded Iraq, France and England invaded Libya, now Russia. And everyone has veto power,” he stated.

Lula said the G7 group of advanced economies should no longer exist since the creation of the larger G20 group of leading and emerging economies.

“I hope once and for all that people see that discussing politics in the G7 is out of date. After the G20 there shouldn’t even be the G7,” he said.

Lula said the BRICS group of emerging economies should allow new members “as long as they meet the requirements.”

His country has become the main opponent of expanding BRICS, but the Brazilian president indicated that could change to make the five-country group stronger.

“I think it’s extremely important for Saudi Arabia to join the BRICS (and) for the United Arab Emirates join, if they want to. Argentina too,” he said.

Lula said the New Development Bank created by the BRICS should be more generous than the International Monetary Fund.

“The bank exists to help save countries and not to help sink countries, which is what the IMF often does,” he said.

Russia limits movement in Kerch Strait near Crimea - TASS cites defence ministry

17:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that it had imposed restrictions on movement of ships and aircraft in the Kerch Strait, the TASS news agency reported.

It did not immediately give a reason for the move. The Kerch Strait connects the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, to the east of the Crimean peninsula.

Ukraine’s Zelensky says he hopes for peace summit this autumn

17:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday he hoped a Peace Summit could be held this autumn, and that talks in Saudi Arabia this week were stepping stone towards that goal.

Zelensky told Ukrainian diplomats in a speech that almost 40 countries would be represented at the meeting in Saudi Arabia.

“We are working on making it (the summit) happen this fall,” he said.

Drones, military confusion and cracks in Putin’s authority: Ukraine’s push to sow discord in Russia’s ranks

17:00 , Eleanor Noyce

With Moscow facing a flurry of drone attacks in recent weeks – the latest over the weekend – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said the war in his country is “returning to Russia”.

While Kyiv is always very cagey about claiming direct responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, the number of incidents has coincided with the Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Moscow’s forces. All while the Kremlin is still dealing with the fallout from a mutiny last month by the battle-hardened mercenaries of the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Askold Krushelnycky speaks to Ukrainian officials about the ongoing counteroffensive and how Kyiv is seeking to exploit the extended fallout from Wagner’s short-lived mutiny:

Drones and discord: Ukraine’s push to spread anxiety in Russia’s ranks

Moment Russian shell explodes in Ukrainian port captured by nearby Romanian fisherman

16:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia attacked Ukraine‘s main inland port across the Danube River from Romania on Wednesday, sending global food prices higher as it ramps up its use of force to prevent Ukraine from exporting grain.

The attacks destroyed buildings in the port of Izmail and halted ships in their tracks as they prepared to arrive there to load up with Ukrainian grain in defiance of a de-facto blockade Russia reimposed in mid-July.

Ukrainian deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the Russian drone attacks damaged almost 40,000 tons of grains which had been destined for countries in Africa as well as China and Israel.

“Russian terrorists have once again attacked ports, grain, global food security,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

Russian state news agency RIA said the port and grain infrastructure hit at the port was housing foreign mercenaries and military hardware and a naval ship repair yard had also been targeted. Reuters was not able to verify the report.

Video released by the Ukrainian authorities showed firefighters on ladders battling a blaze several storeys high in a building covered with broken windows. Several other large buildings were in ruins, and grain spilled out of at least two wrecked silos.

There were no reports of casualties, Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Watch:

Ukraine removes Soviet emblem from Kyiv’s Motherland Monument

16:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Workers removed a Soviet emblem from the shield of the “Motherland” monument in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Created by Soviet sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich in 1981, the original monument featured a hammer and sickle, which were taken down on Tuesday, 1 August at a compound of the World War II museum in the capital city.

They will be replaced by a tryzub, a three-pronged emblem of Ukraine, in time for the country’s Independence Day on 24 August.

Yuriy Savchuk, director of the Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II, said: “This is the moment that millions of Ukrainians, generations of Ukrainians have dreamed about.”

Ukraine removes Soviet emblem from Kyiv’s Motherland Monument

Russian guards ‘using torture and genital electrocution on Ukrainian prisoners’ – investigators

16:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian guards subjected Ukrainian prisoners to torture and sexual violence – including genital electrocution – according to a team of international experts investigating conditions in makeshift detention centres.

Almost half of Ukrainian prisoners held in Kherson, in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, said such tactics were frequent, according to the Mobile Justice Team, which was established by international humanitarian law firm Global Rights Compliance and is working with war crimes prosecutors.

Researchers said at least 36 victims described the use of electrocution while being interrogated.

Maya Oppenheim reports:

Russian guards using torture and genital electrocution on Ukrainian prisoners – study

Brazil's Lula says 'neither Putin nor Zelensky ready for peace'

15:58 , Eleanor Noyce

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his country is working for peace in Ukraine but neither its leader nor Russia’s are ready to talk peace.

“Neither Putin nor Zelensky are ready for peace,” Lula told foreign correspondents in a news conference, adding that peace proposals he is seeking with other neutral countries will be ready for when Russia and Ukraine are ready to negotiate.

Lula said the BRICS group of emerging economies should allow new members “as long as they meet the requirements.” His country has been the main opponent of expanding BRICS.

The Crimean Peninsula is both a playground and a battleground, coveted by Ukraine and Russia

15:20 , Eleanor Noyce

Its balmy beaches have been vacation spots for Russian czars and Soviet general secretaries. It has hosted history-shaking meetings of world leaders and boasts a strategic naval base. And it has been the site of ethnic persecutions, forced deportations and political repression.

Now, as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 18th month, the Crimean Peninsula is again both a playground and a battleground, with drone attacks and bombs seeking to dislodge Moscow’s hold on the territory and bring it back under Kyiv’s authority, no matter how loudly the Kremlin proclaims its ownership.

Read more:

The Crimean Peninsula: playground and battleground, coveted by Ukraine and Russia

Nervous NATO nations are beefing up security due to Wagner fighters across their borders in Belarus

14:58 , Eleanor Noyce

NATO allies located along the alliance’s eastern front are growing increasingly worried about the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus, where some have been deployed since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June.

Poland, Lithuania and Latvia — members of NATO and the European Union which border Belarus — had already been on alert since large numbers of migrants and refugees began arriving at their borders from Belarus two years ago. They have accused Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of “hybrid warfare” aimed at creating instability in the West.

Now concerns have grown further since the Wagner troops began arriving in Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on the weekend that some 100 Wagner fighters in Belarus had approached the border with Poland, specifically a strategically sensitive area known as the Suwalki Gap.

“Now the situation becomes even more dangerous,” Morawiecki told reporters. “This is certainly a step towards a further hybrid attack on Polish territory.”

In pictures: Russia strikes Ukraine's Danube port, sending global grain prices higher

14:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia attacked Ukraine’s grain ports in the early hours of Wednesday, including an inland port across the Danube River from Romania, sending global food prices soaring as Moscow ramps up its use of force to reimpose a blockade of Ukrainian exports.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said a grain silo was damaged in the Danube port of Izmail in the Odesa region: “Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide,” the ministry wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

There were no reports of casualties, Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app. Kiper posted several photos showing firefighting crews trying to put out a fire in a blighted high-rise building next to a river.

“Unfortunately, there are damages,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram.

“The most significant ones are in the south of the country. Russian terrorists have once again attacked ports, grain, global food security.”

An industrial source also confirmed Izmail was the main target of the attack, describing the level of damage as “serious”.

Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office released pictures showing a war crimes investigator outside a ruined building, and at least two damaged silos with wheat tumbling out.

The port, across the river from NATO-member Romania, has served as the main alternative route out of Ukraine for grain exports since Russia reimposed its de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in mid-July.

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

14:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has cheered the recent flurry of drone strikes on Moscow as evidence that Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his country is backfiring and that its consequences are becoming ever clearer to the Russian people.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said in a video address from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Russia’s defence ministry conceded on Sunday (30 July) that a 50-storey building containing the offices of a number of government agencies and a shopping precinct in the capital’s western Moskva-Citi business district were both hit by drone strikes it blamed on Ukraine, claiming to have brought down three more devices.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

Why are Wagner mercenaries in Belarus – and would they try to invade Poland?

14:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Thousands of Wagner mercenaries have arrived in Belarus since the group’s failed mutiny against Moscow led by its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin – leading to Nato member Poland reinforcing its eastern border against the “potential threat” they pose.

Adding to the tension, Poland’s government said that two Belarusian helicopters entered Poland’s airspace on Tuesday, with Warsaw authorities saying it is rushing more troops to the border in light of the incident. It said it had informed Nato of the border violation, which Belarus denies.

The country’s defence ministry said: “There was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters that were carrying out training near the border.” It added that Belarus had earlier informed Poland of plans to carry out training exercises in the area. It said they were flying at a low altitude and were not picked up by radar.

Read more:

Why are Wagner mercenaries in Belarus – and would they try to invade Poland?

Poland says it protests against Belarus actions near border

14:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Poland issued a protest against Belarusian actions near its border, Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski said on Wednesday, after the country accused Belarus of violating its airspace with military helicopters.

“Poland has issued a firm protest against Belarus’ actions, which we perceive as provocations,” Jablonski said after the Belarusian charge d’affaires was summoned to the ministry.

The Belarusian military denied any such violation took place.

Putin reaffirms Russian stance on grain deal in call to Erdogan

13:35 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday that Moscow was ready to return to the Black Sea grain deal as soon as the West met its obligations with regard to Russia’s own grain exports.

The deal, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, allowed for the safe export of grain from Ukraine‘s Black Sea ports. Last month Moscow exited the deal, accusing the West of hampering Russia’s own grain and fertiliser exports.

In a statement on Putin’s call with Erdogan, the Kremlin said: “It was noted that in the conditions of a complete lack of progress in the implementation of the Russian part of the ‘grain deal’, its further extension has lost all meaning.”

It added that Russia would return to the deal “as soon as the West actually fulfils all the obligations to Russia” contained within it.

Russia’s grain and fertiliser exports are not subject to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its military actions in Ukraine. But Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have been a barrier to shipments.

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday there were “indications” that Russia might be interested in returning to talks about the deal. Asked about those comments on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed the need for the West to honour parts of the deal concerning Russian exports.

Russia says a Ukrainian naval drone tried to attack one of its warships in Black Sea - RIA

13:24 , Eleanor Noyce

A Ukrainian naval drone tried to attack a Russian warship escorting a civilian transport ship in the Black Sea early on Wednesday, the RIA news agency cited Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying.

The warship destroyed the drone, it was quoted as saying.

Former Russian reporter loses appeal against 22-year jail sentence

13:07 , Andy Gregory

Former Russian defence reporter Ivan Safronov has lost his latest Supreme Court appeal against a 22-year jail sentence on charges of treason, Reuters reports.

A former reporter for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, Mr Safronov later worked as an adviser to the head of Russia’s space agency, but was arrested in 2020 and accused of disclosing classified information.

His was sentenced last September over accusations of handing military secrets to the Czech Republic, but his defence team said the case was revenge for his journalistic reporting on Russian plans to sell fighter jets to Egypt.

Mr Safronov was transferred in February to a high-security prison in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, and was not present for Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision in Moscow.

India’s Modi ‘likely to virtually attend Brics summit'

12:31 , Andy Gregory

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to be a virtual participant at a summit of BRICS nations in South Africa later this month rather than attend in person, sources in New Delhi have told Reuters.

The foreign ministry declined to comment, while the prime minister’s office did not respond when asked by Reuters if Mr Modi would be travelling to Johannesburg for the summit of leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Vladimir Putin has already decided that he will be a virtual participant. China and Russia are keen to discuss expansion of BRICS at the summit, while India has reservations about that idea.

Erdogan tells Putin he will continue diplomacy on Black Sea grain deal

12:01 , Andy Gregory

Turkey's president Tayyip Erdogan has told Vladimir Putin in a phone call that he will continue to engage in diplomacy to reinstate the Black Sea grain initiative, Ankara has announced.

The two presidents also agreed that Mr Putin will visit Turkey, the Turkish presidency's statement said. It is unclear how such plans would be impacted by the arrest warrant for Mr Putin issued by the International Criminal Court.

“President Erdogan expressed the importance of refraining from steps that could escalate tensions during the Russia-Ukraine war, emphasising the significance of the Black Sea initiative, which he described as a bridge of peace,” the statement added.

Poland issues ‘firm protest’ against Belarus

11:24 , Andy Gregory

Poland has issued a protest against Belarusian actions near its border, deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski has said, after the country accused Belarus of violating its airspace with military helicopters.

Speaking after the Belarusian charge d’affaires was summoned to Warsaw’s foreign ministry, Mr Jablonski said: “Poland has issued a firm protest against Belarus’ actions, which we perceive as provocations.”

The Belarusian military has denied any such violation took place.

Russia will return to Black Sea grain deal when its interests are upheld, Kremlin says

10:58 , Andy Gregory

Russia has claimed it is ready to return to the Black Sea grain deal once it believes Moscow’s interests will be upheld as part of the accord.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters that President Vladimir Putin was holding a call on Wednesday morning with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey and the United Nations brokered the Black Sea grain deal last summer. Moscow exited the deal last month, complaining that the international community had failed to ensure that Russia could also freely export its grain and fertiliser as part of that deal.

But analysts have told The Independent that Moscow could seek to ensure a mechanism is in place in time for this month’s Brics summit in South Africa, and on Tuesday Washington’s envoy to the United Nations said there were “indications” Moscow might be interested in returning to negotiations.

Poland rushes troops to border with Belarus

10:38 , Andy Gregory

Poland has rushed more troops to its border with Belarus, after accusing Minsk of violating its airspace with military helicopters.

It comes after Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko joked that Poland should thank him for keeping in check Wagner mercenaries who, without his leadership, “would have seeped through and smashed up Rzeszow and Warsaw in no small way”.

An unspecified number of the Wagner fighters moved to Belarus since the mercenary group’s aborted mutiny and have begun training Lukashenko's army.

Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki warned on Saturday that a group of 100 Wagner fighters had moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border, describing the situation as “increasingly dangerous”.

Warsaw’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it was sending “additional forces and resources, including combat helicopters”, and has informed Nato of the border violation – denied by Belarus.

Watch: Ukraine removes Soviet emblem from Kyiv's Motherland Monument

10:04 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine defence ministry says silo damaged in Russian attack on Izmail port

09:55 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine‘s defence ministry said on Wednesday a grain silo was damaged in the latest Russian attack on the Ukrainian port of Izmail on the Danube river.

“Another elevator in the port of Izmail, Odesa region, was damaged by Russians. Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide,” the ministry wrote on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Young doctor killed as hospital damaged by Russian shelling in Kherson

09:35 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson, Ukraine, on Tuesday 1 August, damaging a medical facility, according to local officials.

A young doctor was killed and a nurse was also injured in the morning attack.

Tetyana Karchevich, head of the Kherson regional health department, said the victim was “a young talented doctor” who was “on his first day of work after an internship.”

“Psychologists from the crisis centre are working with the people who have been affected,” she added.

Photos shared by officials showed the bloodied floor of a balcony and a gaping hole in a roof with debris strewn over the ground.

Young doctor killed as hospital damaged by Russian shelling in Kherson

Ukraine and Poland call in envoys after war support comments

09:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukraine and Poland called in the ambassadors from each other’s countries on Tuesday as a dispute escalated after a foreign policy adviser to Poland’s president said Kyiv should show more appreciation for Warsaw’s support in its war with Russia.

The adviser, Marcin Przydacz, also said the Polish government must defend the interests of the country’s farmers - a reference to a ban on imports of Ukrainian commodities which will expire next month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr issued a plea for unity amid the diplomatic manoeuvring, saying there could be no “crack” in the shield that solid Polish support had provided for Ukraine.

Kyiv and Warsaw have been firm allies throughout the conflict that erupted with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But the exchanges reflected contentious issues.

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said the Polish ambassador was told in the meeting that statements about Ukraine‘s alleged ungratefulness for Poland’s help were “untrue and unacceptable”.

“We are convinced that Ukrainian-Polish friendship is much deeper than political expediency. Politics should not call into question the mutual understanding and strength of relations between our peoples,” a Ukrainian statement said.

Poland also called in the Ukrainian ambassador to Warsaw in response to the “comments of representatives of Ukrainian authorities,” Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Russian strike caused serious damage at Ukraine's Izmail port on Danube - source

08:50 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russia‘s overnight drone strikes caused “serious” damage at the Ukrainian port of Izmail on the Danube river, an industry source told Reuters.

Russia stepped up attacks on Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure after Moscow refused last month to extend the Black Sea grain deal that had allowed for exports of Ukrainian grain.

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

08:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has cheered the recent flurry of drone strikes on Moscow as evidence that Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his country is backfiring and that its consequences are becoming ever clearer to the Russian people.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said in a video address from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Russia’s defence ministry conceded on Sunday (30 July) that a 50-storey building containing the offices of a number of government agencies and a shopping precinct in the capital’s western Moskva-Citi business district were both hit by drone strikes it blamed on Ukraine, claiming to have brought down three more devices.

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

Russian drone strikes target Odesa and Kyiv

08:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain

Russian troops hit port infrastructure in Ukraine‘s Odesa region with Shahed drones overnight, the Ukrainian military reported, damaging a grain elevator and causing a fire at facilities that transport the country’s crucial grain exports.“The goal of the enemy was clearly the facilities of the ports and industrial infrastructure of the region,” Ukraine‘s South operational command wrote in an update on Facebook.

As a result of the attack, a fire broke out at industrial and port facilities, and a grain elevator was damaged.Ukraine‘s Air Force intercepted 23 Shahed drones over Ukraine overnight, according to its morning update, mostly in Odesa and Kyiv.All 10 drones fired at Kyiv were intercepted, reported Serhii Popko, the head of Kyiv City Administration.

Debris from felled drones hit three districts of the capital, damaging a non-residential building, Popko said.“Russian terrorists have once again targeted ports, grain facilities and global food security,” President Volodymyr Zelensky posted Wednesday morning on Telegram. “The world must respond.”

Putin ‘unlikely to find enough new troops to resource even one new army’, says UK MoD

07:24 , Arpan Rai

The British Ministry of Defence said Russia is unlikely to find enough new troops to resource even one new army without a major fresh wave of mandatory mobilisation.

It cited Russia’s activity over the last two months where it has likely started forming up major new formations to add depth to its ground forces, including the 25th Combined Arms Army.

“Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has mainly deployed mobilised reservists to back-fill established formations, or as part of territorial defence infantry regiments. It has rarely established new, all-arms organisations such as combined arms armies which are designed to be a self-sufficient force,” the ministry said.

It noted the exception to this – the 3rd Army Corps – created in summer 2022, which it said has “generally performed poorly”.

“Russia will likely deploy any new formation as a reserve force in Ukraine. However, in the longer term, Russia aspires to strengthen its forces facing Nato,” the ministry said.

Torture, sexual violence commonly used by Russian forces in Ukraine, say experts

06:53 , Arpan Rai

A large number of prisoners held in makeshift detention centres in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine were tortured and sexually violated, a team of international experts said today citing a summary of their latest findings.

Around 320 cases and witness accounts at 35 locations in the Kherson region have been reviewed by the Mobile Justice Team.

Of the victims’ accounts reviewed “43 per cent explicitly mentioned practices of torture in the detention centres, citing sexual violence as a common tactic imposed on them by Russian guards”, a statement said.

At least 36 victims interviewed by prosecutors mentioned the use of electrocution during interrogations, often genital electrocution, as well as threats of genital mutilation. One victim was forced to witness the rape of another detainee, the report said.

Detainees most likely to undergo torture were military personnel, it found, but also law enforcement, volunteers, activists, community leaders, medical workers and teachers. The torture techniques most commonly used were suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings and threats of rape, it found.

The Mobile Justice Team, established by the international humanitarian law firm Global Rights Compliance, has worked with Ukrainian war crimes prosecutors in the Kherson region since it was reclaimed in November after more than eight months under Russian control.

Ukrainian authorities are reviewing more than 97,000 reports of war crimes and have filed charges against 220 suspects in domestic courts. High-level perpetrators could be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which has already sought the arrest of Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programs

06:17 , Arpan Rai

A landmark grain deal that was recently stopped by Russia and that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia is rattling the operations of the UN’s food agency along with donor’s fatigue, the world agency’s deputy executive director said.

“What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program said.

“We don’t know exactly where the market will land, but there might well be an increase in food prices.”

Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programs

Russia strikes port, grain storage in Odesa

06:06 , Arpan Rai

Russian drones attacked port and grain storage facilities in the south of Ukraine’s coastal Odesa region in the early hours today, setting some of them on fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian media reported the drones arrived from the Black Sea and then moved west along the Danube river towards Izmail, a key port from which Ukrainian grain is taken by barge to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

There have been no reports of casualties, he said. Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend the Black Sea grain deal that had allowed for exports of Ukrainian grain.

Also, for the first time since the expiration of the grain deal, several foreign cargo ships arrived in the Izmail port via the Black Sea on Sunday, Ukrainian media reported.

Another Russian attack in late July targeted the Izmail port terminal on the Danube delta, destroying a grain warehouses.

US says signals Russia prepared to return to Black Sea grain deal talks

05:20 , Arpan Rai

The United States has been told that Russia is prepared to return to talks on a deal that had allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, but “we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet,” the US envoy to the UN said.

Russia quit the deal on 17 July.

The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that if Russia wants to get its fertilizer to global markets and facilitate agricultural transactions “they’re going to have to return to this deal.”

“We have seen indications that they might be interested in returning to discussions. So we will wait to see whether that actually happens,” she said, without giving further details.

Ukraine and Poland call in envoys after war support comments

04:21 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine and Poland called in the ambassadors from each other’s countries amid growing tussle after a foreign policy adviser to Poland’s president said Kyiv should show more appreciation for Warsaw’s support in its war with Russia.

The adviser, Marcin Przydacz, also said the Polish government must defend the interests of the country’s farmers – a reference to a ban on imports of Ukrainian commodities which will expire next month.

Volodymyr Zelensky issued a plea for unity amid the diplomatic manoeuvring, saying there could be no “crack” in the shield that solid Polish support had provided for Ukraine.

Kyiv and Warsaw have been firm allies throughout the conflict that erupted with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. But the exchanges reflected contentious issues.

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said the Polish ambassador was told in the meeting that statements about Ukraine’s alleged ungratefulness for Poland’s help were “untrue and unacceptable”.

“We are convinced that Ukrainian-Polish friendship is much deeper than political expediency. Politics should not call into question the mutual understanding and strength of relations between our peoples,” a Ukrainian statement said.

Poland also called in the Ukrainian ambassador to Warsaw in response to the “comments of representatives of Ukrainian authorities,” Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Explosions and drone debris hit Kyiv in overnight attacks – officials

03:57 , Arpan Rai

Debris from drones fell in three districts of Kyiv overnight as anti-aircraft units worked to shoot down the aerial munitions in the Ukrainian capital, mayor Vitali Klitschko and other military officials said.

The residual drone had fallen in the central Solomianskyi district and a non-residential building had been damaged. Emergency services were on site, Mr Klitschko said.

He added that the debris had also fallen in the Svyatoshyn district – further west – and that a tree had caught fire.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said debris also came down in a playground in the Holosiivskyi district, near the city centre, and set fire to a non-residential building. Neither official reported injuries.

Air raid alerts were lifted for the capital, the surrounding Kyiv region and most other parts of the country.

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Read more:

Here’s why Putin really invaded Ukraine

The Crimean Peninsula is both a playground and a battleground, coveted by Ukraine and Russia

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Its balmy beaches have been vacation spots for Russian czars and Soviet general secretaries. It has hosted history-shaking meetings of world leaders and boasts a strategic naval base. And it has been the site of ethnic persecutions, forced deportations and political repression.

Now, as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 18th month, the Crimean Peninsula is again both a playground and a battleground, with drone attacks and bombs seeking to dislodge Moscow’s hold on the territory and bring it back under Kyiv’s authority, no matter how loudly the Kremlin proclaims its ownership.

Read more:

The Crimean Peninsula: playground and battleground, coveted by Ukraine and Russia

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has cheered the recent flurry of drone strikes on Moscow as evidence that Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his country is backfiring and that its consequences are becoming ever clearer to the Russian people.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said in a video address from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Russia’s defence ministry conceded on Sunday (30 July) that a 50-storey building containing the offices of a number of government agencies and a shopping precinct in the capital’s western Moskva-Citi business district were both hit by drone strikes it blamed on Ukraine, claiming to have brought down three more devices.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

ICYMI: Fire rages at Kharkiv college dormitory destroyed by Russian drone strike

Wednesday 2 August 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Educational facilities, including a dormitory, were destroyed in Russian drone attacks in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Tuesday, 1 August.

Footage released by Ukrainian officials shows a bombed building on fire and firefighters tackling the blaze.

One person was injured after a drone hit an empty dormitory building and another three struck a sports facility in a night-time attack, the service said.

According to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Russia attacked the city with five Shahed drones.

Watch:

Fire rages at Kharkiv college dormitory destroyed by Russian drone strike

Russia should expect more drone attacks on its soil after latest Moscow strike, Ukraine warns

Tuesday 1 August 2023 23:31 , Eleanor Noyce

Moscow suffered another drone strike on Monday night when a high-rise building housing a number of government ministries was hit for the second time in two days, with Kyiv warning Russia that it will face further drone attacks.

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted that the Kremlin will soon “collect all of their debts” over the invasion of Ukraine with further strikes on Russian soil. While Ukraine stops short of directly claiming such attacks, of which there have been a flurry in recent weeks, officials often show their satisfaction and seek to undermine Russia in any way they can as Kyiv’s forces press on with their counteroffensive.

Chris Stevenson reports:

Russia should expect more drone attacks after latest Moscow strike, Ukraine warns

Face to face with a mercenary: Inside Wagner and its blood-soaked role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Tuesday 1 August 2023 23:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Amid the ravages of war, Sergey, a seasoned Wagner mercenary, found himself grappling with the relentless violence that has become a way of life and death on the front line. The savage conflict, the sense of betrayal from the Kremlin, and rumours of plots, all combined to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and dread.

At the end he decided to abandon the Wagner group and the savage, meat-grinding combat of Donbas where corpses piled up, and towns and cities were razed.

Kim Sengupta meets a fighter – a father of two – who has recently left the mercenary group and hears about the daily routine of ‘fight, eat, pray’ on some of the fiercest frontlines in the war:

Face to face with a mercenary: Inside Wagner and its bloody role in the Ukraine war

Young doctor killed as hospital damaged by Russian shelling in Kherson

Tuesday 1 August 2023 22:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson, Ukraine, on Tuesday 1 August, damaging a medical facility, according to local officials.

A young doctor was killed and a nurse was also injured in the morning attack.

Tetyana Karchevich, head of the Kherson regional health department, said the victim was “a young talented doctor” who was “on his first day of work after an internship.”

“Psychologists from the crisis centre are working with the people who have been affected,” she added.

Photos shared by officials showed the bloodied floor of a balcony and a gaping hole in a roof with debris strewn over the ground.

More here:

Young doctor killed as hospital damaged by Russian shelling in Kherson

Drones, military confusion and cracks in Putin’s authority: Ukraine’s push to sow discord in Russia’s ranks

Tuesday 1 August 2023 22:00 , Eleanor Noyce

With Moscow facing a flurry of drone attacks in recent weeks – the latest over the weekend – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said the war in his country is “returning to Russia”.

While Kyiv is always very cagey about claiming direct responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, the number of incidents has coincided with the Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Moscow’s forces. All while the Kremlin is still dealing with the fallout from a mutiny last month by the battle-hardened mercenaries of the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Askold Krushelnycky speaks to Ukrainian officials about the ongoing counteroffensive and how Kyiv is seeking to exploit the extended fallout from Wagner’s short-lived mutiny:

Drones and discord: Ukraine’s push to spread anxiety in Russia’s ranks

Russia could be ready for Black Sea grain deal talks, but no evidence yet - US

Tuesday 1 August 2023 21:37 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States has been told that Russia is prepared to return to talks on a deal that had allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, but “we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet,” the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Russia quit the deal on 17 July. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that if Russia wants to get its own fertiliser to global markets and make agricultural transactions “they’re going to have to return to this deal.”

“We have seen indications that they might be interested in returning to discussions. So we will wait to see whether that actually happens,” she said at a press conference, without giving further details.

Moscow has suggested that if its demands to improve its own exports of grain and fertiliser were met it would consider resurrecting the Black Sea agreement, brokered in July 2022 by the U.N. and Turkey to help ease a global food crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia’s grain and fertiliser exports are not subject to Western sanctions but Moscow has said restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have been a barrier to shipments.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres met a week ago with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin - who led Moscow’s negotiations to agree on the Black Sea deal - on the sidelines of a U.N. food systems summit in Rome.

“Had there been a breakthrough, I think it would have been shared with you,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

After withdrawing from the Black Sea pact Russia began targeting Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure on the Black Sea and Danube River and global grain prices spiked.

Russia has also threatened to target Ukraine-bound civilian vessels, prompting Kyiv to respond by announcing similar measures against vessels bound for Russia or Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programs

Tuesday 1 August 2023 21:30 , Eleanor Noyce

A halted landmark grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to flow to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, along with donor’s fatigue, is rattling the operations of the United Nations food agency, its deputy executive director said Tuesday.

“What we have to do now is to look elsewhere (for grain) of course,” Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program told The Associated Press. “We don’t know exactly where the market will land, but there might well be an increase in food prices.”

Kareem Chehayeb reports:

Halted Ukraine grain deal, funding shortages rattle UN food aid programs

US says signals Russia prepared to return to Black Sea grain deal talks

Tuesday 1 August 2023 21:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States has been told that Russia is prepared to return to talks on a deal that had allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, but “we haven’t seen any evidence of that yet,” the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Russia quit the deal on 17 July. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said that if Russia wants to get its fertilizer to global markets and facilitate agricultural transactions “they’re going to have to return to this deal.”

“We have seen indications that they might be interested in returning to discussions. So we will wait to see whether that actually happens,” she said, without giving further details.

Belarus says its helicopters did not violate Polish border

Tuesday 1 August 2023 20:31 , Eleanor Noyce

Belarusian military helicopters have not violated the border with Poland, the Defence Ministry said in its Telegram channel on Tuesday.

“Accusations of a violation of the Polish border by Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters of the Belarusian Air Force and air defense forces are farfetched and made by the Polish military and political leadership to justify the build-up of forces and means at the Belarusian border,” the ministry said.

Russia criticises UK sanctions on officials involved in Kara-Murza trial

Tuesday 1 August 2023 20:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s embassy in London on Tuesday said Britain had attempted to interfere in its domestic affairs by imposing sanctions on Russian judges and officials involved in the trial of Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza.

“We regard the British authorities’ recent decision to impose restrictive measures against six Russian nationals as an inadmissible attempt to interfere in the domestic affairs of Russia,” the Russian Embassy said in a post on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Britain said on Monday it had imposed asset freezes and travel bans on six figures, including three judges, for what it called their part in a “politically motivated targeting” of Kara-Murza after he lost an appeal against his 25-year jail sentence.

Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British citizenship, is prominent opposition figures who stayed in Russia and continued to speak out against President Vladimir Putin.

Lukashenko taunts Poland again over Wagner troops near border

Tuesday 1 August 2023 19:52 , Eleanor Noyce

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday taunted Poland over the presence of Russian Wagner mercenaries near the NATO country’s border, saying Warsaw should thank him for keeping them in check.

An unspecified number of the Wagner fighters who staged a brief mutiny in Russia in June have since moved to Belarus and have begun training Lukashenko’s army, prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 of its own troops closer to the border.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, joked at a meeting with him last month that some of the fighters were keen to press into Poland and “go on a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszow”.

State news agency Belta quoted him on Tuesday as saying that the Poles “should pray that we’re holding onto (the Wagner fighters) and providing for them. Otherwise, without us, they would have seeped through and smashed up Rzeszow and Warsaw in no small way. So they shouldn’t reproach me, they should say thank you.”

Rzeszow is a city in southeast Poland near the Ukrainian border.

On Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said a group of 100 Wagner fighters had moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border, describing the situation as “increasingly dangerous”.

Lukashenko, in his latest comments, appeared at first to deny that, then immediately to row back on the denial.

“Suddenly, I hear recently, Poland went berserk that allegedly some detachment is coming here, as many as 100 people,” he said.

“No Wagner detachments of 100 people moved here. And if they did, then only to transfer their military experience to (Belarusian) brigades concentrated in Brest and Grodno.”

Lukashenko has helped Putin in the Ukraine war by letting him launch it in part from Belarusian territory and allowing the use of his bases to train Russian troops.

He has not committed his own troops to the war but has said they will benefit from training by Wagner, which took part in some of the fiercest battles of the conflict.

“I have to teach my military, because an army that does not fight is half an army,” he said.

Poland sending more troops to border after Belarus helicopters violate airspace

Tuesday 1 August 2023 19:37 , Eleanor Noyce

Poland will increase the number of troops at its border with Belarus after two helicopters from Belarus violated Poland’s airspace on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

According to the statement, NATO has been informed of the incident.

Belarus’ charge d’affairs was called in to explain the situation.

Drones, military confusion and cracks in Putin’s authority: Ukraine’s push to sow discord in Russia’s ranks

Tuesday 1 August 2023 19:30 , Eleanor Noyce

With Moscow facing a flurry of drone attacks in recent weeks – the latest over the weekend – Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said the war in his country is “returning to Russia”.

While Kyiv is always very cagey about claiming direct responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, the number of incidents has coincided with the Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Moscow’s forces. All while the Kremlin is still dealing with the fallout from a mutiny last month by the battle-hardened mercenaries of the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Askold Krushelnycky speaks to Ukrainian officials about the ongoing counteroffensive and how Kyiv is seeking to exploit the extended fallout from Wagner’s short-lived mutiny:

Drones and discord: Ukraine’s push to spread anxiety in Russia’s ranks

Russia should expect more drone attacks on its soil after latest Moscow strike, Ukraine warns

Tuesday 1 August 2023 19:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia has been warned that it will face more drone attacks – after a Moscow high-rise housing a number of government ministries was hit for the second time in three days.

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted that the Kremlin will soon “collect all of their debts” over the invasion of Ukraine with further strikes on Russian soil. While Ukraine stops short of directly claiming such attacks, of which there have been a flurry in recent weeks, officials often show their satisfaction and seek to undermine Russia in any way they can as Kyiv’s forces press on with their counteroffensive.

My colleague Chris Stevenson reports:

Russia should expect more drone attacks after latest Moscow strike, Ukraine warns

Russia says it thwarts Ukrainian attacks on navy and civilian ships in Black Sea

Tuesday 1 August 2023 18:30 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it had thwarted attacks by Ukrainian sea drones on its navy and civilian ships in the Black Sea, and a local governor said authorities had also downed a drone over the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

Kyiv denied that it had attacked civilian ships, without directly addressing the claim that it had attacked Russia’s navy.

“During the night the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the Sergei Kotov and Vasiliy Bykov patrol ships of the Black Sea fleet with three unmanned sea boats,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.

It said the two ships were controlling shipping 340 km (211 miles) southwest of Sevastopol and would continue to perform their duties.

Later, in its daily briefing, the ministry said navy ships had destroyed three more sea drones targeting civilian vessels.

“During the night, the Kyiv regime attempted a terrorist attack with three semi-submersible unmanned boats on Russian civilian transport vessels heading towards the Bosphorus Strait in the southwestern part of the Black Sea,” the ministry said.

On Tuesday evening, Russia downed a drone over a district of Sevastopol, local governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said on the Telegram messaging app. He said the downing caused an explosion on the ground and some bushes caught fire.

Ukrainian presidential official Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters: “Undoubtedly, such statements by Russian officials are fictitious and do not contain even a shred of truth. Ukraine has not attacked, is not attacking and will not attack civilian vessels, nor any other civilian objects.”

Russia has said it would treat any ships leaving or entering Ukrainian ports as valid targets after the expiration of a UN-backed deal last month which had allowed for exports of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.

Kyiv has previously used drones to target Russia’s navy base in Crimea and the bridge that Russia has built to the peninsula.

White House says it is not aware of any specific threat Wagner poses to NATO

Tuesday 1 August 2023 18:15 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States is not aware of any specific threat posed to Poland or other NATO allies by the presence of Wagner Group forces in Belarus, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.

Kirby told a briefing that the United States was watching the situation closely. An unspecified number of Wagner fighters have begun training the Belarus national army, prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 troops closer to the border.

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

Tuesday 1 August 2023 18:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has cheered the recent flurry of drone strikes on Moscow as evidence that Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his country is backfiring and that its consequences are becoming ever clearer to the Russian people.

“Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” he said in a video address from the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Russia’s defence ministry conceded on Sunday (30 July) that a 50-storey building containing the offices of a number of government agencies and a shopping precinct in the capital’s western Moskva-Citi business district were both hit by drone strikes it blamed on Ukraine, claiming to have brought down three more devices.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

Mapped: The latest strikes on Ukraine and Russia as war rages on

Russia downs drone in Crimean city of Sevastopol - local governor

Tuesday 1 August 2023 17:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia on Tuesday downed a drone over a district of Sevastopol, the city on the Crimean peninsula that is home to the country’s Black Sea naval fleet, the local governor said on the Telegram messaging app.

“An explosion occurred on the ground (after it was downed), and grass and bushes caught fire,” said governor Mikhail Razvozhaev.

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry said three Ukrainian sea drones had attacked two Russian Black Sea navy ships 340 km (211 miles) southwest of Sevastopol and were destroyed.

Dutchman running from Amsterdam to Kyiv to buy ambulances for Ukraine

Tuesday 1 August 2023 17:31 , Eleanor Noyce

A Dutch ultrarunner is running from Amsterdam to Kyiv to raise funds for charity and demonstrate how close the Ukraine war zone is to Western Europe.

Boas Kragtwijk started on 22 July and plans to cover the 2,500 km by running around 50 km each day for 50 days. The aim is to raise money to buy ambulances that Dutch charity Zeilen van Vrijheid (Sails of Freedom) will take to Ukraine.

“By running from Amsterdam to Ukraine, we can show how close this war really is, and hopefully get people’s attention and raise a lot of money,” Kragtwijk, 28, told Reuters before he embarked on his trip.

Followed by his manager and a photographer in a caravan - in which they will eat and sleep - Kragtwijk is running 40 km to 60 km per day, depending on the distance between towns.

Kragtwijk, who is currently running through Germany, has not suffered any blisters yet, his manager said by phone on Tuesday.

So far - after 10 days and about 500 km of running - Kragtwijk has raised 22,000 euros via his Ultra4Ukraine GoFundMe page, nearly enough for one ambulance, which costs 30,000 euros.

Running towards the east, Kragtwijk will pass through Berlin and Warsaw and hopes to reach Kyiv in September.

Kazakhstan denies plans to hand over Russian cyber expert to Moscow

Tuesday 1 August 2023 17:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Kazakhstan has yet to decide whether to hand over a detained Russian cybersecurity expert to Moscow or Washington, the Central Asian nation said on Tuesday, denying Russian claims that the extradition had been agreed.

Kazakhstan detained Nikita Kislitsin, an employee of Russian cybersecurity firm F.A.C.C.T., when he was visiting the country on 22 June and Russia responded by quickly filing its own extradition request for him to compete with one from Washington.

The case could further strain relations between traditional allies Astana and Moscow which have become tense due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Kazakhstan’s refusal to support what Moscow calls its “special military operation” there.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Kommersant daily cited the Russian consulate in Kazakhstan as saying Astana has decided to hand over Kislitsin to Russia.

However, Duisembai Darkhan, a spokesman for the Kazakh Prosecutor General’s office, told Reuters no such decision has been made, and a local court has only ruled to place Kislitsin under arrest pending extradition.

He said prosecutors would decide on where to extradite Kislitsin after studying the case more closely.

Ukraine says doctor killed in Russian shelling of Kherson hospital

Tuesday 1 August 2023 16:31 , Eleanor Noyce

A doctor was killed and five medical workers were wounded in Russian shelling of a hospital in Ukraine‘s southern city of Kherson on Tuesday, regional officials said.

“Today at 11:10 (0810 GMT), the enemy launched another attack on the peaceful residents of our community,” military administration head Roman Mrochko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Photos posted by officials showed the bloodied floor of a balcony and a gaping hole in a roof with debris strewn over the floor.

Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said four medical workers had been wounded in addition to a badly wounded nurse whose injuries were reported earlier.

Mrochko said the young doctor had only worked in his job for a few days and that doctors were fighting for the life of the nurse. The surgery department of the facility was also damaged in the shelling, Prokudin said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the details of the reports.

Medical charity Médecins sans frontières said it had been working at the hospital supplying medical equipment and providing mental health consultations to people displaced by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam.

“We unequivocally condemn this disgraceful attack on a medical facility and extend our condolences to the family of the doctor who died,” MSF said in a post on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

In a separate incident in the northeastern village of Pershotravneve, an elderly woman was killed and a man was wounded in Russian shelling around 12 p.m. (0900 GMT), Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram.

Why is Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin back in Russia after leading a 24-hour mutiny against Vladimir Putin?

Tuesday 1 August 2023 15:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

Mercenary chief was said to have agreed to resettle in Belarus after June’s dramatic attempted uprising, but appeared to be in St Petersburg attending the Russia-Africa Summit a few days ago.

Joe Sommerlad unpacks the reason for Prigozhin’s return to Russia:

Why is Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin back in Russia?

Ukraine calls in Polish envoy over 'unacceptable' comments by president's aide

Tuesday 1 August 2023 15:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Ukraine‘s foreign ministry called in Poland’s ambassador to Kyiv on Tuesday over what it said were “unacceptable” comments made by the Polish president’s foreign policy adviser Marcin Przydacz.

“During the meeting, it was emphasised that statements about the alleged ungratefulness of Ukrainians for Poland’s help are untrue and unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko said.

The Polish foreign ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Kyiv and Warsaw have been staunch allies throughout the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.

Polish media quoted Przydacz speaking on Monday about the possible extension of Poland’s import ban on Ukrainian agricultural produce, and calling on Kyiv to show appreciation for the support shown to it during the war with Russia.

“What is most important today is to defend the interest of the Polish farmer..,” Przydacz was quoted as saying.

“I think it would be worthwhile for (Kyiv) to start appreciating what role Poland has played for Ukraine over past months and years.”

Five central European countries, including Poland, want a European Union ban on grain imports from Ukraine to be extended at least until the end of the year. The ban is set to expire on Sept. 15.

Poland would not lift the ban on 15 September, even if the EU did not agree on its extension, its prime minister said earlier this month.

A parliamentary election is due in Poland, a NATO and EU member, later this year.

People in Ukraine ‘aren’t intimidated’, British ambassador says

Tuesday 1 August 2023 14:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

British ambassador to Ukraine, Dame Melinda Simmons wrote on social media platform X that there have been already been three air raid sirens in Kyiv today but “people aren’t intimidated:.

“Spent more time in hard cover than I have anywhere else. But if that’s how it has to be then that’s how it has to be. people aren’t intimidated. Phones out, carry on working underground,” she continued.

Elon Musk ‘stopped Ukraine military using Starlink for military operation’

Tuesday 1 August 2023 14:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Billionaire Elon Musk reportedly restricted his Starlink internet access multiple times in Ukraine, which has affected Kyiv’s battlefield strategy.

Read the full report here:

Elon Musk ‘stopped Ukraine military using Starlink for military operation’

ICYMI: China imposes curbs on drone exports, citing Ukraine and concern about military use

Tuesday 1 August 2023 13:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

China imposed restrictions Monday on exports of long-range civilian drones, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and concern that drones might be converted to military use.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is friendly with Moscow but says it is neutral in the 18-month-old war. It has been stung by reports that both sides might be using Chinese-made drones for reconnaissance and possibly attacks.

Export controls will take effect Tuesday to prevent use of drones for “non-peaceful purposes,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. It said exports still will be allowed but didn’t say what restrictions would apply.

Full story here:

China imposes curbs on drone exports, citing Ukraine and concern about military use

Inside the Crimean Peninsula, coveted by both Ukraine and Russia

Tuesday 1 August 2023 13:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Its balmy beaches have been vacation spots for Russian czars and Soviet general secretaries. It has hosted history-shaking meetings of world leaders and boasts a strategic naval base. And it has been the site of ethnic persecutions, forced deportations and political repression.

Now, as Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its 18th month, the Crimean Peninsula is again both a playground and a battleground, with drone attacks and bombs seeking to dislodge Moscow’s hold on the territory and bring it back under Kyiv’s authority, no matter how loudly the Kremlin proclaims its ownership.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to retake the diamond-shaped peninsula that Russia’s Vladimir Putin illegally annexed in 2014.

For both presidents, backing off Crimea is hardly an option.

Full story here:

The Crimean Peninsula: playground and battleground, coveted by Ukraine and Russia

Fire rages at Kharkiv college dormitory destroyed by Russian drone strike

Tuesday 1 August 2023 12:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

Educational facilities, including a dormitory, were destroyed in Russian drone attacks in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Tuesday, 1 August.

Footage released by Ukrainian officials shows a bombed building on fire and firefighters tackling the blaze.

One person was injured after a drone hit an empty dormitory building and another three struck a sports facility in a night-time attack, the service said.

Ukraine ‘did not attack and will not attack’ civilian vessels in Black Sea

Tuesday 1 August 2023 12:16 , Maanya Sachdeva

A senior Ukrainian presidential adviser said on Tuesday that Kyiv did not attack and will not attack civilian vessels or any other civilian objects in the Black Sea, calling Russian statements ‘fictitious’.

Russia‘s defence ministry said it had thwarted an attack from Ukrainian drones overnight on civilian transport vessels in the Black Sea, the Interfax news agency reported.

“Undoubtedly, such statements by Russian officials are fictitious and do not contain even a shred of truth. Ukraine has not attacked, is not attacking and will not attack civilian vessels, nor any other civilian objects,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, told Reuters.

Russia should expect more collapse, more civil conflicts, more war”

Tuesday 1 August 2023 12:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Ukrainian presidential adviser has said Moscow should expect more drone attacks and “more war”.

On Tuesday, a skyscraper in Moscow City’s business district became the target of a second drone strike in three days. The building that was hit is known as the “IQ quarter”, which houses the ministry of economic development, the digital ministry and the ministry of industry and trade.

“At the moment, experts are assessing the damage and the state of the infrastructure for the safety of people in the building. This will take some time,” Darya Levchenko, an adviser to the economy minister, said on Telegram. She said staff were working remotely,

While the incidents have not caused casualties or major damage, they have provoked widespread unease and sit awkwardly with the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia‘s “special military operation” in Ukraine is proceeding according to plan.

“Indeed, a threat exists, it is obvious, but measures are being taken,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, declining to comment further.

Ukraine has drawn satisfaction from the attacks, though without directly claiming responsibility for them.

“Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

He said Russia should expect “more unidentified drones, more collapse, more civil conflicts, more war”.

UK sanctions Moscow judges after British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza’s appeal rejected

Tuesday 1 August 2023 11:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

The UK has sanctioned six people following the “unjustifiable” decision to reject an appeal from a British-Russian dissident facing 25 years in jail for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced in April after being convicted of treason and spreading false information about the Russian army in a process he described as a “show trial”.

After Mr Kara-Murza’s appeal was rejected by judges in Moscow on Monday, prime minister Rishi Sunak called the decision “desperate and unfounded”.

Full story here:

UK sanctions Moscow judges after British-Russian dissident’s appeal rejected

Russian shelling of hospital kills young doctor in Kherson: Ukraine

Tuesday 1 August 2023 11:15 , Maanya Sachdeva

A doctor was killed and a nurse was wounded in Russian shelling of a hospital in Ukraine‘s southern city of Kherson on Tuesday, regional officials said.

“Today at 11:10 (0810 GMT), the enemy launched another attack on the peaceful residents of our community,” military administration head Roman Mrochko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Photos posted by officials showed the bloodied floor of a balcony and a gaping hole in a roof with debris strewn over the floor.

The details of the report could not immediately be verified.

Mrochko said the young doctor had only worked in his job for a few days and that doctors were fighting for the life of the nurse.

The surgery department of the facility was also damaged in the shelling, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Kremlin says it’s ‘clear threat exists’ after second drone attack

Tuesday 1 August 2023 11:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

The Kremlin on Tuesday said it was clear that a threat existed after the latest drone attack on Moscow, in which a high-rise building in the city’s business district was struck for the second time in three days. K

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined further comment, as Russia‘s defence ministry called the latest incident an attempted “terrorist attack”

Habitat at risk as Ukrainians crowd river seeking respite from war

Tuesday 1 August 2023 10:30 , Maanya Sachdeva

With most of Ukraine‘s Black Sea Coast either occupied by Russian troops or in their line of fire, families seeking respite from life in a war zone are flocking to the inland shores of the Tylihul, a river that widens into a broad estuary bordered by grassland.

In the summer sunshine, you could almost forget that the front line is a few hours drive away. Visitors say the respite is a desperately needed relief. But authorities and some residents worry that the crowds could damage an important and delicate natural habitat.

“There are two sides of a coin. On one hand, we understand that there is no access to the sea and people still want to relax somewhere. On the other hand, we know that estuary will not survive such amount of people,” said Petro Kalinchuk, on a sandy spit dotted with beach umbrellas and tents.

Inna Tymchenko, deputy head of the Mykolaiv regional department of the National Institute of Ecology, said the problem was not so much the people as their tents and cars.

“They are placed in chaotic order, tourists don’t know where it is alright to leave a car and where it is not, so they park wherever they want. That’s how vegetation cover is being destroyed,” she said. “Noise affects the birds. They partially got used to the noise, but loud noises are unusual for them this year. It will lead to grave consequences in this area.”

There was hope that birds could find refuge here from the Kinburn Spit, a vast Black Sea nature preserve destroyed by flooding after the Kakhovska Dam on the Dnipro River was blown up nearly two months ago. More birds could die if there is no hospitable sanctuary for them here.

Kalinchuk said his family had been coming to the river for nearly 50 years. They used to see birds nesting and brooding eggs on the beach. Now, with the larger crowds, all the birds were gone and there were fewer fish, too.

But as long as the war goes on and there are few other places to rest, families say they will keep coming.

“Access to the rivers and the sea is closed. So this is the only place where we can relax after two years of war against Russia,” said resident Viacheslav Natalenko.

Moscow drone attack shows Kremlin ‘cannot protect privileged class’

Tuesday 1 August 2023 10:00 , Maanya Sachdeva

Ukrainian political adviser Anton Gerashchenko on Tuesday said the drone attacks in Moscow City showed that the Kremlin is “incapable of” protecting Russia’s most privileged class.

“The Moskva-City high-rises were a symbol of Russian economic flourishing and success, as well as Russia’s integration into global economy,” he wrote on Twitter. “After the second drone attack they will symbolise failure of the ‘special military operation’ and lies of the Kremlin regime that promised and keeps promising Moscow residents complete protection.

“Those who work in Moskva-City towers are the privileged class of government officials and business people. They saw with their own eyes that Russian authorities are incapable of and cannot protect even their social group. There is no air defense, air raid alerts, bomb shelters for them.”