Ukraine-Russia war – live: Lukashenko and Putin taunt Poland with Wagner troops at border

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Russian president Vladimir Putin have taunted Poland over the presence of Wagner troops near Poland’s border.

Lukashenko said 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,” reported state news agency Belta.

Since staging a brief mutiny in Russia in June, an unspecified number of Wagner fighters have moved to Belarus to begin training Lukashenko’s army. As such, Poland has moved over 1,000 of its own troops closer to the 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.”

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

Key Points

• Drones target Moscow, high-rise building hit

• Russian forces battling fatigue and attrition in southern Ukraine, says UK MoD

• Russian missiles kill 10-year-old girl and her mother in Zelensky’s hometown

• Ukraine says Russian missiles hit another apartment building and likely trapped people under rubble

• Fierce fighting engulfs Ukraine’s northeast where Russia gathered tanks and troops

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.”