Ukraine-Russia war – live: Explosion at Moscow factory that supplies Putin’s security services
45 people have been injured in a blast at a night-vision goggle factory in Moscow, The Moscow Times reports.
The explosion rocked the town of Sergiev Posad, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Moscow on Wednesday, with emergency services reporting that the blast appeared to have taken place in a warehouse containing pyrotechnic equipment.
23 people were hospitalised, with six in intensive care, the Sergiev Posad mayor’s office said. Unverified footage on social media showed a huge column of smoke, and high-rise buildings with windows blown out.
The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant produces optical equipment for industrial and healthcare applications as well as for the Russian security forces.
However, TASS cited emergency services as saying they did not believe the blast had been caused by a Ukrainian drone attack - many of which have taken place in Moscow and the surrounding area in recent weeks and months.
The news comes as Russia claimed it shot down two Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow, one near a major airport to the south of the city and one to the west of the capital.
Key Points
Russia claims two Ukrainian drones downed near Moscow
New Wagner ‘tent city’ being built 15 miles from Belarus-Ukraine border, Kyiv group claims
Ukraine detains woman accused of spying on Zelensky for Russia
Independent TV: Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska’s interview with Bel Trew
Ukraine and Russia confirm Kyiv hits Chonhar bridge to Crimea
Forty-five injured in blast at optics factory northeast of Moscow
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
10:56 , 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
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on verge of blackout - Energoatom
10:21 , Eleanor Noyce
Ukraine‘s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant again lost connection to its last remaining main external power line overnight and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said on Thursday.
Energoatom said Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was on the verge of a blackout as the reserve line had less than half the power capacity of the main power line.
“Such a regime is difficult for the reactor plant, its duration is limited by the project’s design and it can result in failure of the main equipment of the energy unit,” Energoatom said on Telegram.
The Zaporizhzhia plant with its six reactors has been controlled by the Russian military since the early days of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
It has become one of the focal points of the conflict, with both sides blaming each other for shelling around the site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been trying to set up a safety mechanism to prevent accidents.
None of the plant’s six reactors produce electricity.
Separately, the station’s Russian-installed administration said the Number 4 reactor had been moved from a “hot” to a “cold” shutdown because of signs of a steam leak.
One of the six reactors needs to be in “hot shutdown” to produce steam for the plant’s own needs.
“Plant personnel found signs of leaks in the pipe section of steam generator No. 3,” the administration said on Telegram. “To meet the steam auxiliary needs of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the transfer of power unit No. 6 to a ‘hot shutdown’ state is being considered.”
Yandex co-founder Volozh slams Russia's 'barbaric' invasion of Ukraine
10:06 , Eleanor Noyce
The co-founder of Russian internet giant Yandex, Arkady Volozh, on Thursday condemned what he described as Russia’s “barbaric” invasion of Ukraine, days after criticism in Russia over his apparent efforts to distance himself from the country.
Volozh described himself as a “Kazakhstan-born Israeli tech entrepreneur” on a personal website, drawing some criticism in Russian media and on the Telegram messaging platform for apparently playing down his links to Russia.
He has also been criticised by those opposed to Russia’s actions for not speaking out more forcefully against the war.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is barbaric, and I am categorically against it,” Volozh said in a statement. “I am horrified about the fate of people in Ukraine, many of them my personal friends and relatives, whose houses are being bombed every day.
“Although I moved to Israel in 2014, I have to take my share of responsibility for the country’s actions,” wrote Volozh, who holds both Russian and Israeli passports.
Volozh developed Yandex in Russia, creating the country’s largest tech company and ultimately taking it public on the U.S. Nasdaq stock exchange in 2011.
He stepped down as CEO and left the board of directors after the European Union included him on its list of sanctions against Russian entities and individuals in June 2022. Volozh called the EU’s decision “misguided”.
Yandex is pursuing a corporate restructuring that should ultimately see its main revenue-generating businesses inside Russia spun off from its Dutch-registered parent company, Yandex NV.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Yandex has sought to balance domestic pressure on one side with its Western investors on the other.
ICYMI: Ukrainian troops launch surprise raid across Dnipro River and break through some of Russia’s defences
09:50 , Eleanor Noyce
Ukrainian forces broke through Russia’s defensive lines after launching a surprise raid across the Dnipro River.
The river divides liberated Ukrainian territory on one bank and Russian-occupied land on the other, and for months it has served as part of the front line in southern Ukraine.
Russian military bloggers said that up to seven boats, each carrying up to six troops, arrived on the Russian-occupied bank, apparently under the cover of darkness, and advanced 800m. Blogger Trinadtsatyi, posting on the Telegram messaging app to more than 150,000 followers, said a number of Russian soldiers were allegedly killed or taken captive during the raid. Images circulating on social media appeared to show captured soldiers.
My colleague Chris Stevenson reports:
Ukraine’s troops launch surprise raid across Dnipro River
Russia intercepts drones heading for Moscow for the second straight day
09:36 , Eleanor Noyce
Russian air defense systems on Thursday shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for the second straight day, officials said, with the attack disrupting flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil.
One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine.
No casualties or damage were immediately reported.
Read more:
Russia intercepts drones heading for Moscow for the second straight day
How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?
09:20 , Eleanor Noyce
Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons. The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale – especially at a time when the war is entering a pivotal new stage.
The Kremlin, in particular, is unlikely to admit to high fatality rates among its troops because to do so would amount to a confession that Vladimir Putin’s spurious war to “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbour state is not going according to plan and, in fact, represents a monumental miscalculation on the part of its leader, who is already under pressure at home over the attempted uprising by Wagner Group mercenaries.
Moscow is more likely to downplay its own (rarely offered) numbers – putting the official number at around 6,000 – and accuse its enemies of dishonestly briefing against it whenever outside estimates are offered that imply significant Russian losses.
Joe Sommerlad reports:
How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?
Three dead after Russian attack on Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia
09:05 , Eleanor Noyce
Two young women and a man were killed and nine other people were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia late on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.
A Reuters reporter at the scene saw emergency workers lifting a body, putting it on a stretcher, and wrapping it into a black body bag. Rescuers sifted through debris and an ambulance was parked near damaged buildings.
“Three people dead and nine people injured including an 11-month baby - this is the result of the strike on the regional centre,” a statement from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said. “The Russian shell took away the lives of a 43-year-old man and young women who were 19 and 21.”
Officials said two of the people had been killed on the spot and a woman had died overnight at a hospital.
A video posted by Zelensky showed smoke rising from burning and badly damaged buildings next to a church.
Zaporizhzhia city council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said the church had been destroyed and about 15 high-rise buildings had been damaged. The authorities received requests from residents of at least 400 apartments to repair smashed windows and damaged balconies.
Pictures posted by city officials on the Telegram messaging app showed several buses and a row of foldable tables and chairs set up outside near damaged buildings where residents and city workers were filling in papers to record the damages.
Ukrainian officials have reported a recent increase in the amount of Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia region in the south.
Zelensky’s office said the Russian military over the past 24 hours had conducted 82 strikes on 21 villages and towns across the Zaporizhzhia region, using artillery, missiles and drones.
The Ukrainian military launched an offensive on occupying Russian forces in the key Zaporizhzhia region at the start of the summer and reported steady advances in that direction.
Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war
08:50 , Eleanor Noyce
Since Vladimir Putin rose to power as Russia’s president 23 years ago, few things have rocked his leadership as much as Saturday 24 June when Wagner mercenaries barrelled towards Moscow.
The “army within an army” who had been ruthlessly grinding away for months at the vanguard of some of the bloodiest fighting in eastern flanks Ukraine were now on the verge of triggering a war within a war - this time, against the Kremlin.
But the Russian president was spared that when the mutiny was halted in its tracks about 125 miles from the capital, in a deal between the leader of the mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Putin – brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Prigozhin himself was due to head to Belarus – although he has been pictured in Russia since – with an invitation for Wagner fighters to gather in Belarus. Thousands are set to enter the country since.
Read more:
Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group through the Ukraine war
Russia shot down two military drones heading towards Moscow - mayor
08:40 , Eleanor Noyce
Russia’s air defence systems shot down two military drones heading towards Moscow on Thursday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Air defence systems shot down two combat drones flying towards the city, Sobyanin said on his official channel in Telegram.
Sobyanin said the drones were shot down around 4 a.m. Moscow time (0100 GMT), one of them near the town of Kaluga, and the second over Central Ring Highway surrounding the Russian capital.
Gazprom to send 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday
08:35 , Eleanor Noyce
Russia’s Gazprom said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday versus 42.3 million cubic metres a day earlier.
Kyiv says Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant switched to reserve power line
08:29 , Eleanor Noyce
Ukraine‘s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant again lost connection to its last remaining main external power line overnight and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said on Thursday.
Energoatom said that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was on the verge of a blackout as the reserve line had less than half of the power capacity of the main power line.
“Such a regime is difficult for the reactor plant, its duration is limited by the project’s design and it can result in failure of the main equipment of the energy unit,” Energoatom said on Telegram.
Zaporizhizhia nuclear power plant with its six reactors has been controlled by the Russian military since the early days of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
The plant has become one of the focal points of the conflict, with both sides blaming each other for shelling around the plant. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been trying to set up a safety mechanism to prevent accidents.
None of the plant’s six reactors produce electricity.
Poland plans to send up to 10,000 soldiers to border with Belarus
08:19 , Tara Cobham
Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the Border Guard, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Thursday.
"About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, of which 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve," the minister said in an interview for public radio. "We move the army closer to the border with Belarus to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare to attack us.”
Deputy interior minister Maciej Wasik said on Wednesday that Poland would send 2,000 additional troops to its frontier with Belarus.
Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarus continues its military exercises near the border this week, and President Alexander Lukashenko has said several times that he was restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland.
Poland has also seen an increase in the number of mainly Middle Eastern and African migrants trying to cross the border in recent months. The head of the Border Guard, Tomasz Praga, said earlier this week that 19,000 people have tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally this year, up from 16,000 last year.
How Ukraine’s first lady struck a hammer blow against Putin via the UK
07:38 , Bel Trew in Kyiv
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska has repeatedly said that one of the most unexpected outcomes for Moscow after invading Ukraine is that “soft power fought back”.
I hadn’t quite appreciated what she meant until I interviewed her from the heart of Kyiv. There I learned firsthand how soft diplomacy can have an instant impact on the world stage.
Sitting in the bunker-like command centre in Kyiv, Mrs Zelenska was clear that one of the keys to ending this war was ending sanctions dodging by countries trading with Moscow through third nations.
Without cutting this funding to the Kremlin’s war machine, the invasion will drag on endlessly – undermining the money and weapons being poured into Ukraine's military by Western allies. And, ultimately, meaning Moscow might win.
Read more:
How Ukraine’s first lady struck a hammer blow against Putin via the UK
Russia says 13 Ukrainian drones downed near Crimea and Moscow
06:52 , Arpan Rai
At least 13 drones headed towards illegally-occuiped Crimea and Moscow, officials in Moscow said.
Of these, two drones were hit by air defences near Sevastopol, the city in Crimea which serves as Russia’s Black Sea navy base, and nine more were jammed and crashed into the Black Sea.
“Today... attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles were thwarted,” the defence ministry said. It said there were no casualties due to the drones.
One drone was shot down as it approached the Russian capital over the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, and another was shot down over the prestigious Odintsovo district of Moscow region, the defence ministry said.
Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory, although officials have publicly expressed satisfaction over them.
In recent days, Ukrainian remotely piloted boats, also referred to as drones, have attacked a Russian fuel tanker and a navy base at Russia’s Novorossiysk port on the Black Sea.
Russian drones destroy fuel depot in Ukraine, says governor
05:34 , Arpan Rai
Russian drones destroyed a fuel depot in Ukraine’s western Rivne region tdaoy, governor Vitaly Koval wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
There were no casualties from the attack, he said.
Ukrainian troops launch surprise raid across Dnipro River, break through some of Russia’s defences
04:50 , Arpan Rai
Ukrainian forces broke through Russia’s defensive lines after launching a surprise raid across the Dnipro River.
The river divides liberated Ukrainian territory on one bank and Russian-occupied land on the other, and for months it has served as part of the front line in southern Ukraine.
Russian military bloggers said that up to seven boats, each carrying up to six troops, arrived on the Russian-occupied bank, apparently under the cover of darkness, and advanced 800m.
Blogger Trinadtsatyi, posting on the Telegram messaging app to more than 150,000 followers, said a number of Russian soldiers were allegedly killed or taken captive during the raid. Images circulating on social media appeared to show captured soldiers.
Chris Stevenson reports:
Ukraine’s troops launch surprise raid across Dnipro River
Russia says 11 drones downed near Sevastopol, blames Ukraine
04:21 , Arpan Rai
Russian forces downed 11 Ukrainian drones near Sevastopol, the city in Crimea which serves as Russia’s Black Sea navy base, the Russian defence ministry claimed today.
Two drones were hit by air defences and nine more by electronic countermeasures, it said, reported RIA news agency.
Ukraine to get more Patriot air defence systems from Germany, says Zelensky
04:07 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine will be supplied additional Patriot air defence missile systems under a deal with Germany, president Volodymyr Zelensky said last night.
“Today we have good news from Germany - exactly what we agreed upon with Olaf Scholz. We have additional Patriot launching stations. Thank you very much, Olaf, for this - it is necessary to protect our people from Russian terror,” Mr Zelensky said.
Earlier in the day, Germany announced its decision to ship two more Patriot launchers to Ukraine.
“This will definitely bring us closer to creating a full-fledged air shield for Ukraine. This will help people, cities, villages,” the war-time president said.
Raytheon’s Patriot, among the West’s top ground-based air defence systems, are built to intercept incoming missiles.
They are, however, in short supply across Nato since many allies scaled down the number of air defence units after the Cold War.
Poland doubles troops at Belarus border amid illegal migration fears
04:00 , Jane Dalton
The Polish government announced Wednesday that it is planning to deploy an additional 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus, twice the number the Border Guard agency had requested, as fears of illegal migration rise:
Poland to double troops number at border with Belarus, accuses it of organizing illegal migration
Blaze reported near major Russian airport - RIA
03:46 , Arpan Rai
A blaze near one of Russia’s major airports was reported in the early hours today after an auto repair shop caught fire in Domodedovo, reported RIA news agency.
The size of the fire is 1,000 square metres, the report added.
It gave the address of the repair shop, which is 10 kilometres away from the Domodedovo airport.
Videos of the fire posted online show thick black smoke and a flame, seen from hundreds of metres away.
Two explosions were heard before the fire, according to posts on Russian social media.
Russia shot down two military drones heading towards Moscow - mayor
03:39 , Arpan Rai
At least two military drones headed towards Moscow have been downed in the early hours today by Russia’s air defence systems, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
The two combat drones were flying towards the city, the mayor said.
“At about four o’clock in the morning, air defense shot down two strike UAVs flying towards the city. One in the Kaluga region, the other in the Central Ring Road,” the mayor wrote on his Telegram channel.
This is the second such attack in 24 hours as the defence ministry had said a similar interception was made yesterday.
Germany arrests military officer suspected of spying for Russia
03:00 , Jane Dalton
German prosecutors have arrested an officer of the military procurement agency on suspicion of passing secret information to Russian intelligence, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
The German national, whom the prosecutor’s office identified only as Thomas H, repeatedly approached Russia’s consulate in Bonn and embassy in Berlin from May on his own initiative and offered his cooperation, the office said.
“The Federal Prosecutor has arrested a German officer on suspicion of working for a foreign secret service,” wrote Justice Minister Marco Buschmann on social media. “Vigilance is the order of the day.”
Germany, one of the largest providers of military hardware to Ukraine, is a major target of Russian spying operations, which have grown in scale since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, authorities have warned.
On one occasion, the man handed over information obtained during the course of his work with the intention that it be passed to a Russian intelligence service, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
US and Canada issue new sanctions on Belarus
01:00 , Jane Dalton
The United States and Canada have issued new sanctions against Belarus, designating several entities and individuals over alleged human-rights abuses and support for Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
The US Treasury Department said it designated eight individuals and five entities to a sanctions list for allegedly funding the Belarusian government.
“This action targets several entities involved in the Belarusian regime’s continued civil society repression, complicity in the Russian Federation’s unjustified war in Ukraine, and enrichment of repressive Belarusian regime leader Alexander Lukashenko,” the Treasury Department said.
Canada imposed sanctions against nine individuals and seven entities, the list including government officials, judges, the head of Belarusian state television, the country’s defence ministry, and military manufacturing and technology firms, the Canadian government said.
Germany to send Kyiv more air-defence systems
Thursday 10 August 2023 00:01 , Jane Dalton
Germany and Ukraine have agreed on the supply of additional Patriot air defence missile systems to Kyiv, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address.
“Today there is good news from Germany – exactly what we agreed with (German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz. There are additional Patriot systems. Thank you very much, Olaf, it is necessary for the defence of our people against Russian terror,” Zelensky said.
Earlier, Germany announced its decision to ship two more Patriot launchers to Ukraine.
“This will definitely bring us closer to creating a full-fledged air shield for Ukraine. This will help people, cities, villages,” Zelensky said.
Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon’s Patriot are built to intercept missiles.
They are, however, in short supply across Nato since many allies scaled down the number of air defence units after the Cold War.
Two dead and seven wounded in missile attack on Zaporizhia
Wednesday 9 August 2023 23:00 , Jane Dalton
Two people were killed and seven injured in an apparent missile attack by Russia on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian officials had earlier reported three deaths.
“Fortunately, one person was resuscitated. Doctors were assisted by police paramedics at the scene,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app.
Zaporizhia city council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev earlier said that Russia had hit a residential area of the city. According to him, windows were blown out in several buildings.
A video posted by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky showed smoke billowing from burning and badly damaged buildings next to a church.
How Ukraine’s first lady struck a hammer blow against Putin via the UK
Wednesday 9 August 2023 22:00 , Jane Dalton
Sitting in a bunker-like command centre in Kyiv, Olena Zelenska was clear that one of the keys to ending this war was ending sanctions-dodging by countries trading with Moscow through third nations, writes Bel Trew:
How Ukraine’s first lady struck a hammer blow against Putin via the UK
Ukrainian troops break through Russian defences
Wednesday 9 August 2023 20:35 , Jane Dalton
Ukrainian forces launched a daring surprise raid across the Dnipro river, breaking though Russian lines of defence.
Russian military bloggers said that up to to seven boats, each carrying up to six troops, arrived on the Russian-occupied bank, apparently under the cover of darkness, and pushed forward up to 800 metres.
Ukraine’s troops launch surprise raid across Dnipro River
Top US and EU lawmakers say West is too soft on Serbia when it comes to easing Kosovo tensions
Wednesday 9 August 2023 17:30 , Eleanor Noyce
Senior lawmakers from the United States and Europe are calling for a change in the Western diplomatic approach toward Serbia and Kosovo amid concern that tensions between the two could rapidly spiral out of control.
In the letter, signed by U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his counterparts in Germany, the U.K., Ukraine and other countries, the lawmakers said U.S. and European Union negotiators were not putting enough pressure on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
Serbia and its former province of Kosovo have been at odds for decades. Their 1998-99 war left more than 10,000 people dead, mostly Kosovo Albanians. Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in 2008 but Belgrade has refused to recognise the move.
Lorne Cook reports:
Top US and EU lawmakers say West is too soft on Serbia when it comes to easing Kosovo tensions
‘Ukraine did not carry out any kind of drone attack on the ZNPP’, says Kyiv
Wednesday 9 August 2023 17:00 , Eleanor Noyce
A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied a Russian assertion on Wednesday that Kyiv had tried to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) with a drone.
Europe’s largest nuclear plant is currently offline, under Russian control in Ukraine‘s Zaporizhzhia region, near the front line of Russia’s conflict with Kyiv.
The Russian state news agency RIA had cited Russian security forces, without naming any specific source, as saying Ukraine had tried to attack a spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the plant with a strike drone, which had been forced down.
“Ukraine did not carry out any kind of drone attack on the ZNPP, was not planning and will not even in theory do so,” the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in a statement.
RIA distributed a photograph of the purported downed drone, a quadcopter, and said security forces had reached their conclusion by analysing its flight path.
But later the Russian state news agency TASS cited Renat Karchaa, adviser to the general director of the Russian nuclear utility Rosenergoatom, as saying the apparent target had been outside the nuclear compound.
“According to the information we have, the purpose of this drone was other important objects located outside the Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Karchaa said.
Suspected spy for Russia arrested in Germany - prosecutors
Wednesday 9 August 2023 16:45 , Eleanor Noyce
Prosecutors have arrested an official of the German military procurement agency whom they suspect of passing secret information to Russian intelligence, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.
The man, a German national that the prosecutor’s office identified only as Thomas H., approached Russia’s consulate in Bonn and embassy in Berlin on his own initiative and offered his cooperation, it said.
On one occasion, the man passed information obtained during the course of his work to a Russian intelligence service, it said.
Germany, one of the largest providers of military hardware to Ukraine, is a major target of Russian spying operations, which have grown in scale since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, authorities have warned.
In December, authorities arrested a German Foreign Intelligence Service (BND) employee they suspected of spying for Russia.
A spokesperson for the Berlin defence ministry declined to comment.
US issues new sanctions against top Russian ally Belarus
Wednesday 9 August 2023 16:30 , Eleanor Noyce
The United States issued new sanctions against Belarus on Wednesday, the Treasury Department said, adding it was designating eight individuals and five entities to a list for allegedly funding the Belarusian government.
“This action targets several entities involved in the Belarusian regime’s continued civil society repression, complicity in the Russian Federation’s unjustified war in Ukraine, and enrichment of repressive Belarusian regime leader”, Alexander Lukashenko, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Lukashenko has repeatedly accused the West of trying to topple him after mass protests against his rule erupted in 2020 in the wake of a presidential election the opposition said he had fraudulently won. Lukashenko said he had won fairly, while conducting a sweeping crackdown on his opponents.
Western sanctions have been imposed on Belarus over the years in relation to that alleged crackdown and election fraud. Minsk also allowed Moscow to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine on 24 February last year.
The individuals and entities targeted in the sanctions include three state-owned enterprises and the director and a subsidiary of one of those enterprises, the Treasury Department said.
It added the sanctions also targeted four employees of a Belarus government agency, three individuals facilitating sanctions evasion in support of Lukashenko’s government, and one aircraft identified as blocked property.
Among the companies targeted was the state-owned Belavia Belarusian Airlines and Byelorussian Steel Works Management Company, which produces steel products and was previously sanctioned by the European Union as well.
A Florida-based joint venture with Byelorussian Steel Works named BEL-KAP-STEEL LLC was also sanctioned by the Treasury Department, the department said.
Belarus, led by Lukashenko since 1994, is Russia’s staunchest ally among ex-Soviet states. In May, Russia moved ahead with a decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.
The Treasury Department on Wednesday also issued two general licenses related to Belarus.
Kremlin aide who brings Ukrainian children to Russia associated online with neo-Nazism
Wednesday 9 August 2023 16:19 , Eleanor Noyce
A Kremlin official involved in what international prosecutors call the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia was associated online as a teenager with white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements, Reuters has found.
The material posted online by Alexei Petrov between 2011 and 2014 remained on his social media account until late July this year when, following questions posed by Reuters, he deleted some videos, unsubscribed from two far-right online groups, and made one of his accounts private.
Petrov is a 27-year-old advisor in the office of Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights. In March, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Lvova-Belova, along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on charges of committing a war crime by forcibly deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine and taking them to Russia.
Lvova-Belova has denied committing any war crime. She has said vulnerable children were taken to Russia to shelter them from violence and protect them from a leadership in Ukraine that she has described as “Fascists” who have allowed “the virus of Nazism” to make a comeback.
Reuters found that when Petrov was aged between 16 and 19 he made at least three posts on social media containing videos, images or messages from a far-right organization that originated in Russia and promotes white racial supremacy, as well as three images and slogans associated with neo-Nazism.
Petrov’s Skype handle incorporates the name of the white supremacist organization, Wotanjugend, and his Instagram handle contains a coded reference to Adolf Hitler widely used in far-right circles.
He had not changed his Skype handle as of 31 July this year. His Instagram account was disabled but Reuters was able to discern the handle because Petrov linked to it from his account on the VKontakte social media app. He deleted that link the day Reuters submitted its questions about his online activity to his employer.
Poland to double troops number at border with Belarus, accuses it of organising illegal migration
Wednesday 9 August 2023 16:10 , Eleanor Noyce
The Polish government announced Wednesday that it is planning to deploy an additional 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus, twice the number the Border Guard agency had requested, as fears of illegal migration rise.
In an interview with state news agency PAP, a deputy interior minister, Maciej Wasik announced the decision and accused the Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal migration.
He said migration pressure on the Polish-Belarusian border area is growing, although it cannot compare to the situation two years ago.
Read more here:
Poland to double troops number at border with Belarus, accuses it of organizing illegal migration
Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war
Wednesday 9 August 2023 15:50 , Eleanor Noyce
Since Vladimir Putin rose to power as Russia’s president 23 years ago, few things have rocked his leadership as much as Saturday 24 June when Wagner mercenaries barrelled towards Moscow.
The “army within an army” who had been ruthlessly grinding away for months at the vanguard of some of the bloodiest fighting in eastern flanks Ukraine were now on the verge of triggering a war within a war - this time, against the Kremlin.
But the Russian president was spared that when the mutiny was halted in its tracks about 125 miles from the capital, in a deal between the leader of the mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Putin – brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Prigozhin himself was due to head to Belarus – although he has been pictured in Russia since – with an invitation for Wagner fighters to gather in Belarus. Thousands are set to entered the country since.
Read more:
Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group through the Ukraine war
Ukraine denies Russian allegation it tried to attack Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Wednesday 9 August 2023 15:39 , Eleanor Noyce
A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied a Russian assertion on Wednesday that Kyiv tried to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) with a drone.
“Undoubtedly, Ukraine did not carry out any kind of drone attack on the ZNPP, was not planning and will not even in theory do so,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters in a statement.
Ukrainian artillery shell hits two-storey building in Donetsk
Wednesday 9 August 2023 15:30 , Eleanor Noyce
A child was killed and two people were injured when a Ukrainian artillery shell hit a two-storey building in Donetsk, the Russian-appointed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, said on Wednesday on his Telegram channel.
The Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine had been partly under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014 until Moscow announced last year that it was annexing the province.
Russia, which early last year launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that it calls a “special military operation”, says Ukrainian forces shell the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region on a daily basis.
Separately, the Interfax news agency cited Russian-appointed officials in Ukraine‘s southerly Zaporizhzhia region as saying four civilians had been killed and two wounded by Ukrainian shelling in the village of Trudove, about 15 km (9 miles) east of the town of Tokmak.
Russia accuses Ukraine of targeting nuclear plant with strike drone - RIA
Wednesday 9 August 2023 15:12 , Eleanor Noyce
Russian security forces said on Wednesday that Ukraine had attempted to attack a spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with a strike drone, the state news agency RIA reported, without citing any named source or official.
Russian security forces reached their conclusion by analysing the flight path of the drone, which they downed, RIA said. It distributed a photograph of the purported downed drone, a quadcopter.
Child killed, two injured by shelling in Donetsk - Russian-installed official
Wednesday 9 August 2023 14:30 , Eleanor Noyce
A child was killed and two people were injured when a Ukrainian artillery shell hit a two-storey building in Donetsk, the Russian-appointed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, said on Wednesday on his Telegram channel.
The Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine had been partly under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014 until Moscow announced last year that it was annexing the province.
Russia, which early last year launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine that it calls a “special military operation”, says Ukrainian forces shell the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region on a daily basis.
Missile depot workers to escalate strike action
Wednesday 9 August 2023 14:00 , Eleanor Noyce
Workers at a Ministry of Defence missile depot have voted to escalate strike action in a dispute over pay.
GMB Scotland members at the munitions complex in Beith, North Ayrshire, which supplies missiles to Ukraine, will walk out for two weeks from 21 August.
The union warned the strike at the complex, which is run by Defence, Equipment & Support, will disrupt shipments.
However, the Ministry of Defence said the walkout will have “no effect on our ability to provide capability to Ukraine“.
The forthcoming action comes after four days of targeted strikes in recent weeks failed to secure a resolution.
The union claims a “two-tier culture” has developed at the depot and said the pay gap between craft workers who assemble the munitions and non-craft colleagues, who support their work and prepare equipment for transport, has tripled to £18,000.
According to the union, extra payments and bonuses have been made to managers and craft workers in recent years but not to non-craft colleagues earning less than £21,000 a year.
Ukraine has ‘partial success’ in south, deputy defence minister confirms
Wednesday 9 August 2023 13:30 , Eleanor Noyce
Ukraine has had “partial success” in the south of the country, the deputy defence minister has confirmed.
“Our defenders had partial success in the direction of Urozhayne, Priyutne and Verbove. Now they are fixed at the achieved boundaries,” Hanna Maliar said.
“All the necessary decisions to strengthen our stability were quickly made on the spot by the commanders and command of the eastern group of troops,” Ms Maliar added.
“Both in the east and in the south, the enemy is currently suffering significant losses in personnel, weapons and equipment.”
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska warns children are ‘losing the will to live’ over Russia’s war
Wednesday 9 August 2023 13:00 , Eleanor Noyce
Ukraine’s children are “losing the will to live” – the country’s first lady has warned – in an emotional plea for help over the struggle to retrieve tens of thousands of children disappeared into Russia.
In an exclusive interview for Independent TV from the heavily-guarded presidential office in Kyiv, Olena Zelenska said the Ukrainian authorities will soon be launching a new initiative with international partners to try to find and return at least 19,500 children they believe have been abducted into Russian territory.
This estimate is woefully low, the first lady said, as Kyiv has received reports that Russia had “cleared out whole orphanages”. So far Ukraine has only managed to bring home 380 of the missing children.
Bel Trew has the exclusive:
Ukraine’s Olena Zelenska warns the country’s children are ‘losing the will to live’
ICYMI: Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting rescue workers in latest missile strikes
Wednesday 9 August 2023 12:25 , Eleanor Noyce
Kyiv has accused Moscow of targeting rescue workers after an eastern Ukrainian city was hit with two missiles in quick succession – the first destroying buildings before the second hit emergency crews clearing the scene.
The strikes on the downtown district of the city of Pokrovsk – in the Donetsk region – killed at least seven people, including an emergency official, and wounded more than 80 others, most of them police officers, emergency workers and soldiers who rushed to assist residents, Ukrainian officials said.
The Iskander missiles used in the strikes on Monday evening have an advanced guidance system that increases their accuracy. The two strikes hit within 40 minutes of each other, said Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. The tactic is called a “double tap” in military jargon. It is one that Russia has previously used during Syria’s civil war.
My colleague Chris Stevenson reports:
Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting rescue workers in latest missile strikes
Forty-five injured in blast at optics factory northeast of Moscow
Wednesday 9 August 2023 11:56 , Eleanor Noyce
A blast rocked an optics and optical electronics factory in the town of Sergiev Posad, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Moscow, on Wednesday, injuring at least 45 people, local authorities said.
Emergency services said the blast appeared to have occurred in a warehouse containing pyrotechnic equipment, the state news agency TASS reported. The popular online news channel Mash said it had been rented by a pyrotechnics firm.
Twenty-three people were admitted to hospital, including six in intensive care, the Sergiev Posad mayor’s office said.
Unverified footage on social media showed a huge column of smoke, and high-rise buildings with windows blown out.
The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant produces optical equipment for industrial and healthcare applications as well as for the Russian security forces.
However, TASS cited emergency services as saying they did not believe the blast had been caused by a Ukrainian drone attack - many of which have taken place in Moscow and the surrounding area in recent weeks and months.
Russia to build up forces in west to counter NATO threat - Shoigu
Wednesday 9 August 2023 11:48 , Eleanor Noyce
Russia will build up forces at its western borders following Finland’s accession to the U.S.-led NATO alliance, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the governing board of the ministry on Wednesday.
In opening remarks to the Collegium of the Defence Ministry, Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and that he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, whose inclusion has almost doubled the length of Russia’s land border with NATO.
“The collective West is waging a proxy war against Russia,” he said, according to his ministry, pointing to its “unprecedented support” for Ukraine in supplying tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry to help Kyiv repel Russian forces.
Shoigu called the entry of Finland into NATO and the future entry of Sweden “a serious destabilising factor”. The two Nordic states abandoned generations of neutrality that had held throughout the Cold War to seek NATO membership following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early last year.
“On Finnish territory, it is likely that additional military contingents and strike weapons of NATO will be deployed, capable of hitting critical targets in the northwest of Russia at a considerable depth,” Shoigu said.
“Today, at the meeting of the Board, we will consider issues related to the creation of the Leningrad and Moscow military districts with the simultaneous strengthening of groupings of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on our western borders.”
He said Poland had announced its intention to build the most powerful army on the continent, and had become “the main instrument of the anti-Russian policy of the United States of America”.
Shoigu said the number of NATO military units from outside the region stationed in eastern Europe had increased by two-and-a-half times since February last year and that they were now 30,000-strong in total.
“These threats to Russia’s military security require a timely and adequate response. We will discuss the necessary measures to neutralise them at the meeting and make appropriate decisions,” he said.
ICYMI: Foreign Office to act over sanction-busting by Russian allies after dramatic plea from Ukraine’s first lady
Wednesday 9 August 2023 11:45 , Eleanor Noyce
The government is reviewing its sanctions on Russia after a dramatic intervention from Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska condemning loopholes that allow Moscow to fund its invasion.
The Foreign Office has expressed its fury over sanctions-busting efforts by Russian allies to use a third country to continue trading with Moscow despite the hefty economic measures imposed since Russian president Vladimir Putin launched his invasion.
The government is weighing how it can act and hopes to move imminently, The Independent can reveal.
Read more:
Foreign Office fury at sanctions-busting by Russian allies – after Zelenska’s plea
Russia to reinforce western borders following surge in drone attacks on Moscow
Wednesday 9 August 2023 11:28 , Eleanor Noyce
Russia has pledged to reinforce western borders following reinforcement from Nato, with the ramped-up security arriving after a surge in drone attacks on Moscow.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed the plans at a meeting with the Collegium of the Defence Ministry on Wednesday.
Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, which has just joined the U.S.-led Western alliance.
On Wednesday, Russia claimed it shot down two Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow, one near a major airport to the south of the city and one to the west of the capital.
Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said whilst one drone was shot down near Domodedovo, where one of Russia’s biggest international airports is located. Another was downed near the Minsk motorway.
Kyiv has never claimed responsibility for attacks inside Russian territory, but the Russian defence ministry dubbed the incident a “terrorist attack.”
Meanwhile, Poland has confirmed it will send 2.000 troops to its frontier with Belarus, twice the number requested by the Border Guard, to stem illegal crossings and maintain stability.
Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarus started military exercises near the border this week, and Lukashenko said several times that he is restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland.
What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know
Wednesday 9 August 2023 11:15 , 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 the full interview on Independent TV, across mobile and connected TV.
What Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska wants the world to know
Russia to build up forces at western borders - Shoigu
Wednesday 9 August 2023 10:59 , Eleanor Noyce
Russia will build up forces at its western borders, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Collegium of the Defence Ministry on Wednesday, according to the ministry.
Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, which has just joined the U.S.-led Western alliance.
Russian officials say 2 drones approaching Moscow were shot down overnight, blame Ukraine
Wednesday 9 August 2023 10:45 , Eleanor Noyce
Russian air defenses shot down two drones aimed at Moscow overnight, officials said Wednesday, in what they described as Ukraine’s latest attempt to strike the Russian capital in an apparent campaign to unnerve Muscovites and take the war to Russia.
The drones were intercepted on their approach to Moscow and there were no casualties, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. The Russian Defense Ministry described it as a “terrorist attack.”
One of the drones came down in the Domodedovo region south of Moscow and the other fell near the Minsk highway, west of the city, according to Sobyanin. Domodedovo airport is one of Moscow’s busiest.
Read more:
Russian officials say 2 drones approaching Moscow were shot down overnight, blame Ukraine
Poland to send 2,000 troops to Belarus border - PAP
Wednesday 9 August 2023 10:28 , Eleanor Noyce
Poland will send 2,000 troops to the Belarus border to support the Border Guard, Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik told state-run news agency PAP on Wednesday.
How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?
Wednesday 9 August 2023 10:15 , Eleanor Noyce
Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons. The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale – especially at a time when the war is entering a pivotal new stage.
The Kremlin, in particular, is unlikely to admit to high fatality rates among its troops because to do so would amount to a confession that Vladimir Putin’s spurious war to “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbour state is not going according to plan and, in fact, represents a monumental miscalculation on the part of its leader, who is already under pressure at home over the attempted uprising by Wagner Group mercenaries.
Joe Sommerlad reports:
How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?
Sixteen injured in blast at factory northeast of Moscow - TASS
Wednesday 9 August 2023 09:59 , Eleanor Noyce
A blast rocked an optical-mechanical factory in the town of Sergiev Posad, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Moscow, on Wednesday, injuring at least 16 people, TASS cited emergency services as saying.
It said the blast appeared to have occurred in a warehouse containing pyrotechnic equipment. The popular online news channel Mash said the warehouse had been rented by a pyrotechnics firm.
Unverified footage on social media showed a huge column of smoke, and high-rise buildings with windows blown out.
The facility was being evacuated, TASS said.
The factory in Sergiev Posad produces optical equipment, with the Russian security forces among its clients.
However, TASS cited emergency services as saying they did not suspect that the blast had been caused by a Ukrainian drone attack - many of which have taken place in Moscow and the surrounding area in recent weeks and months.
Voices: Britain and the West must win the economic war for Ukraine and freedom
Wednesday 9 August 2023 09:45 , Eleanor Noyce
It is heartening that the government has responded with such alacrity to calls from Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, to tighten the sanctions regime on Russia. As she pointed out so forcefully in her exclusive interview with The Independent, many states friendly to Russia are assisting the Kremlin in getting around international sanctions imposed on key individuals and on the wider Russian economy.
Sanctions have had an impact on the Russian war machine, and the exit of many Western industrial groups has denuded its ability to manufacture weapons. However, as Ms Zelenska reminds us, it is tempting for states such as Turkey, Kazakhstan and Armenia to try to leverage some short-term tactical gains from covert assistance to Russia. Even more damaging to Ukraine has been the studied yet misguided neutrality of the likes of South Africa, Brazil and India, while Iran and North Korea, experts in the field of sanctions-busting, have given Vladimir Putin plenty of advice as well as hardware.
Read more:
Britain and the West must win the economic war for Ukraine and freedom
Eleven injured in blast at factory northeast of Moscow - TASS
Wednesday 9 August 2023 09:42 , Eleanor Noyce
A blast rocked an optical-mechanical factory in the town of Sergiev Posad, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Moscow, on Wednesday, injuring at least 11 people, TASS cited emergency services as saying.
It said the blast appeared to have occurred in a warehouse containing explosive equipment.
The authorities were evacuating the facility, TASS said.
Fortum fights to sell seized Russian assets and get compensation
Wednesday 9 August 2023 09:20 , Eleanor Noyce
Finnish utility Fortum still hopes to sell its Russian assets and get compensation for their seizure by the Kremlin via arbitration, its chief executive told Reuters.
Fortum is one of a handful of companies with assets placed under “temporary control” by Moscow in response to the European Union’s sanctions since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which prompted over a thousand Western firms to exit Russia.
In the second quarter, Fortum wrote off the entire value - 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion) - of its seven thermal power plants and a joint-venture portfolio of wind and solar plants in Russia, after Moscow placed them under its control by presidential decree in April.
“We still hold legal ownership of the businesses, but we don’t get any information, dividends or loan paybacks from there,” CEO Markus Rauramo said in his first interview about the subject.
“We do still pursue their sale,” he added.
Rauramo did not give further details about that, but said Fortum had been in advanced talks with a potential buyer for the asset portfolio, which he described as “well-invested, profitable, efficient and the best that exists in Russia”.
Before the seizure, Fortum and its unidentified potential buyer had presented their plans to the Russian government commission that gives permission for foreign-owned asset sales.
Instead of approving the deal, Russia announced the seizure, which came as a surprise and without any warning, Rauramo said.
Finding the right buyer is crucial, experts and executives at companies that have successfully left Russia have told Reuters, with close relations to government officials seen as a real advantage.
President Vladimir Putin’s seizure decree was published late on 25 April and new management took control of the Russian unit, PAO Fortum, the following lunchtime.
Fortum has started legal proceedings to seek compensation for the seizure on the basis of international investment protection agreements which Russia has signed, Rauramo said, adding the arbitration would begin next year.
“We aim to get the value of our possessions back and we believe that we will get some compensation,” he said.
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Wednesday 9 August 2023 09:12 , 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
Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting rescue workers in latest missile strikes
Wednesday 9 August 2023 08:50 , Eleanor Noyce
Kyiv has accused Moscow of targeting rescue workers after an eastern Ukrainian city was hit with two missiles in quick succession – the first destroying buildings before the second hit emergency crews clearing the scene.
The strikes on the downtown district of the city of Pokrovsk – in the Donetsk region – killed at least seven people, including an emergency official, and wounded more than 80 others, most of them police officers, emergency workers and soldiers who rushed to assist residents, Ukrainian officials said.
My colleague Chris Stevenson has more:
Ukraine accuses Russia of targeting rescue workers in latest missile strikes
18-year-old boy killed in Russian shelling attack
Wednesday 9 August 2023 08:41 , Eleanor Noyce
An 18-year-old boy has been killed in a Russian shelling attack on Nikopol, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office has said.
Three men were also wounded in the attack, which damaged a church, private houses, farm buildings, cars and power lines.
“Priority measures are being taken to fix the crimes committed by the army of the aggressor country”, the prosecutor general’s office said.
Nikopol is in southern Ukraine, to the right of the Dnipro River.
Russians blamed for shock cyber attack hitting millions of UK voters
Wednesday 9 August 2023 08:19 , Eleanor Noyce
Russia is suspected of being behind the cyber attack on the Electoral Commission which left the data of 40 million UK voters exposed, sparking fears of an attempt to “interfere” with British democracy.
The elections watchdog apologised after revealing that it first detected the “complex” hack in October 2022. But the breach had happened more than a year before, in August 2021.
Britain’s intelligence services have detected evidence linking the attack to Russians, according to The Times and The Telegraph, after the commission asked GCHQ to investigate the breach.
Adam Forrest reports:
Russians blamed for shock cyber attack hitting millions of UK voters
Poland to hold parliamentary elections in October in shadow of Ukraine war
Wednesday 9 August 2023 06:55 , Eleanor Noyce
Poland’s president announced Tuesday that the country would hold its parliamentary election on Oct. 15, marking the official start of an electoral campaign that has informally been underway for months and is being shaped by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
President Andrzej Duda said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the elections for the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm, and for the 100-seat Senate will both take place on that Sunday. Politicians will be elected for a four-year term.
The election campaign begins during rising anxieties in Poland over the presence of Russia-linked Wagner mercenaries across the Nato nation’s northeastern border in Belarus, where they have arrived by the thousands since a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June.
Tensions have also been growing with ally Ukraine, to the country’s southeast, over grain imports and historical memories of past ethnic conflicts.
Russia claims two Ukrainian drones downed near Moscow
Wednesday 9 August 2023 06:29 , Arpan Rai
Russia has claimed it has shot down two Ukrainian drones near Moscow today, one near a major airport to the south of the city and one to the west of the capital.
“An attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack with unmanned aerial vehicles was prevented over the territory of the Moscow region,” the defence ministry said, adding that two UAVs were destroyed by air defences.
One was shot down near Domodedovo, where one of Russia’s biggest international airports is located, and another near the Minsk motorway, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Kyiv has never claimed responsibility for attacks inside the Russian territory.
Ex-Nato chief says F-16s slowed down due to Putin’s ‘intimidation’
Wednesday 9 August 2023 06:16 , Arpan Rai
Former supreme commander of the Nato allies forces has said the west’s promised assistance with F-16 for Ukrainian pilots has been slowed down as the war-hit nations’ allies do not wish to provoke Russia.
“There is restraint regarding quick action due to fears that Mr Putin may cause certain important events. As I have said many times, the situation with the F-16s is just the case,” retired general Philip Breedlove said.
He added that many countries are prepared to train Ukraine’s pilots on F-16, as confirmed after the Nato summit in Lithuania last month, and preliminary plans to initiate that were developed.
However, the “main slowdown is taking place inside” the US, the former top official said.
Russia’s policy, he said, of intimidating the West on fighter jets is showing effectiveness.
"Mr Putin’s ground forces are failing him on the battlefield. But Putin’s war of intimidation, his war to deter the West, is a resounding success. And this is what he works hard [on],” the former Commander of Nato forces in Europe said.
“This intimidation led to deterrence, and slowed down things like sending the F-16s," he said.
Making liberation of Crimea more achievable, says Zelensky
Wednesday 9 August 2023 05:51 , Eleanor Noyce
Volodymyr Zelensky has said he and his administration are making the liberation of Crimea more achievable as he stressed on details on deoccupation of the illegally annexed peninsula.
“Today, I also held a meeting on the content of our return policy, specifically regarding Crimea and its reintegration. It is obvious that after the liberation of Crimea from occupation, economic opportunities, personal security for people, and a sense of real freedom, which has not been there since 2014, will return there,” Mr Zelensky said in his late night address.
He added: “But all of this should not be just abstract - every detail of the de-occupation of Crimea should have a specific meaning. How exactly normal life returns. What exactly this means for Crimea and for all our people. This should be clear to everyone.”
“Step by step, we are making the de-occupation of Crimea more and more achievable and well-thought-out.”
The Crimean Peninsula has been a battleground, with drone attacks and bombs seeking to dislodge Moscow’s hold on the territory and bring it back under Kyiv’s authority, despite the Kremlin vocally claiming the territory as its own.
Mr Zelensky has vowed to retake the diamond-shaped peninsula that Vladimir Putin had illegally annexed in 2014.
How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?
Wednesday 9 August 2023 05:43 , Andy Gregory
Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons.
The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale – especially at a time when the war is entering a pivotal new stage.
My colleague Joe Sommerlad takes a look here:
How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine?
Zelensky vows retaliation against Putin’s forces in Black Sea
Wednesday 9 August 2023 05:05 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed retaliation from Ukraine against Russia in the Black Sea in a bid to prevent the blockading of its waters that could hurt the import and export of grains and other trade.
“If Russia continues to dominate the Black Sea, outside its territory, blockading or firing at us again, launching missiles at our ports, Ukraine will do the same. This is a just defence of our opportunities, of any corridor,” Mr Zelensky said.
“We don’t have that many ships. But they should clearly understand that by the end of the war, they will have zero ships, zero,” the war-time leader said.
The Ukrainian president has also called on Russia to stop firing at Ukrainian ports which is hindering the trade in the region.
