Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv says gains made against Putin’s forces in ‘fruitful’ days of counteroffensive

Ukraine has made gains against Vladimir Putin’s forces in a “particularly fruitful” few days in the war with Russia, a top official has said.

Oleksiy Danilov, one of Ukraine’s most senior security officials, said Ukraine’s army were achieving their “main tasks” as he spoke about the counteroffensive on Tuesday.

“At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s Defense Forces are fulfilling the number one task - the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army,” Mr Danilov wrote on Twitter.

“The last few days have been particularly fruitful,” he said, without providing any details from the battlefield.

His comments come after Ukraine’s president Zelensky said on Monday his troops had made progress after a “difficult” week.

Ukraine said on Monday its troops had regained more ground on the eastern and southern fronts although deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said fighting had surged around the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May.

Maliar said the Ukrainian military had taken back 37.4 square kilometres of territory in the past week.

Key Points

• Putin claims Russia ‘united’ days after mutiny

• Putin’s troops ‘suffering key weaknesses’

• Moscow intercepts ‘5 drones', one in neighbouring Kaluga region

• Ukraine writer Victoria Amelina dies after Kramatorsk restaurant attack

• Ukraine war having ‘corrosive’ effect on Vladimir Putin’s leadership, CIA director

• Kyiv says gains made against Putin’s forces in ‘fruitful’ few days of counteroffensive

Putin’s ‘General Armageddon’ missing for over 10 days now, says UK MoD

09:48 , Tara Cobham

The British Ministry of Defence says that Russia's General Sergei Surovikin, commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces and deputy commander of Russia's forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the 23-24 June Wagner Group mutiny.

His deputy defence minister Colonel General Yunus-bek Yevkurov was also “notably absent from a televised appearance by the Ministry of Defence’s leadership on 3 July”, the ministry said.

“Reports of Surovikin’s arrest cannot be confirmed, but authorities will likely be suspicious of his long association with Wagner dating back to his service in Syria from 2017...."

China’s position on Russian nuclear threat ‘important’, says top Zelenskiy adviser

09:19 , Tara Cobham

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff said on Wednesday that China's position in the face of a potential nuclear threat from Russia was "important".

Andriy Yermak posted a screenshot of an article from the Financial Times about Chinese leader Xi Jinping's reported warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin against a nuclear attack in Ukraine.

"(This is) an important position of (China) regarding the nuclear threat from the insane Russian terrorist," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Inside Ukraine's tech push to counter Russian 'suicide' drone threat

08:14 , Tara Cobham

In a basement in downtown Kyiv late last month, away from prying eyes, hundreds of engineers and innovators met senior military officials to brainstorm ways to better neutralise the cheap Russian suicide drones that still devastate Ukrainian cities.

It was a rare, close-up glimpse into Ukraine's technology arms race with Russia that draws on private sector innovation seeded with state venture capital, and which is pumping out thousands of combat drones in a booming wartime industry.

"The war today is technological, with changes in technology and on the battlefield happening every day," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's deputy prime minister and minister for digital transformations, said on the sidelines of the gathering.

High-ranking army officials and ministers mingled with engineers and eccentric enthusiasts at the event. One man arrived in shorts and a baseball cap with a large drone under his arm.

Organisers distributed $3 million in prize money among three teams of experts deemed to have presented the best drones or electronic warfare technology against Russia's "Shahed", drones of Iranian origin which cruise in swarms to their targets and detonate on impact.

In May, Russia attacked Ukraine with a record monthly total of more than 300 drones, official data shows, a challenge for planners anxious to protect energy supplies this winter. Last winter Russia tried to cripple the power grid with air strikes.

"We want to prepare for the... next winter to respond to these challenges," Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

The Iranian drones fly so low that they can avoid detection by air defences, while their navigation systems are robust enough to make it hard to take them down with anti-drone electronic warfare weapons that disrupt radio frequencies.

The West has supplied sophisticated air defence systems to counter missile attacks, but taking down swarms of drones that cost $50,000 a piece with $1 million missiles is not ideal, officials say.

"That's not profitable, so we need to constantly cut the cost of the tools we use to destroy Shaheds," said Fedorov.

"We're talking about detection (of drones) using acoustic as well as other means, and also about actual destruction."

Russia’s Kursk, Belgorod regions come under fire from Ukraine - governors

07:34 , Tara Cobham

Russia's Kursk and Belgorod regions came under fire from Ukrainian forces across the border in the early hours of Wednesday, the regions' governors said, adding that no casualties were reported.

"The town of Valuyki is under fire from Ukraine's armed forces," Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on the Telegram messaging app at 07:36 a.m. local time (0436 GMT).

He did not specify whether it was rocket fire, artillery shelling or some other form of attack.

"Air defence system worked, but there is destruction on the ground," Gladkov said.

Separately, Roman Starovoyt, the governor of the Kursk region, north of Belgorod and also bordering Ukraine, said that a school and a private house were damaged when the village of Tyotkino came fire, again without specifying the form of attack.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the 16-month war that Russia launched on its neighbour in February 2022.

Blasts and attacks on Russian regions bordering Ukraine have been occurring on nearly daily in recent months, with Russian officials blaming either Ukrainian forces or pro-Ukrainian saboteurs.

Putin’s ‘General Armageddon’ missing for over 10 days now, says UK MoD

07:15 , Arpan Rai

The British Ministry of Defence says that Russia’s General Sergei Surovikin, commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces and deputy commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the 23-24 June Wagner Group mutiny.

His deputy defence minister Colonel General Yunus-bek Yevkurov was also “notably absent from a televised appearance by the Ministry of Defence’s leadership on 3 July”, the ministry said.

“Reports of Surovikin’s arrest cannot be confirmed, but authorities will likely be suspicious of his long association with Wagner dating back to his service in Syria from 2017. Similarly, Yevkurov was filmed talking to Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin during the group’s uncontested take-over of Rostov-on-Don,” the MoD said in its latest intelligence update.

It added that although General Surovikin is largely known in the West by his brutal reputation, he is “one of the more respected senior officers within the Russian military; any official sanction against him is likely to be divisive”.

“The suspicion that has potentially fallen on senior serving officers highlights how Prigozhin’s abortive insurrection has worsened existing fault lines within Russia’s national security community,” the ministry said.

Putin’s army has lost half its combat effectiveness in Ukraine, says UK admiral

06:49 , Arpan Rai

The Russian army has lost half of its combat effectiveness in the continuing invasion of Ukraine,the head of British armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said.

“Russia has lost nearly half the combat effectiveness of its army,” Sir Radakin told a parliamentary hearing.

He added: “Last year it fired 10 million artillery shells but at best can produce one million shells a year. It has lost 2,500 tanks and at best can produce 200 [new] tanks a year.”

“Russia is now so weak that it does not have the strength for [its own] counter-offensive,” he said.

He added that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was never meant to be “a singular act” but the military strategy was to “starve, stretch and strike” on Russian forces to break the defensive lines put up by the invading troops.

“The question is, how do you take a front line that is more than a thousand kilometres long and turn it into more of a problem for Russia than for Ukraine?” he said.

“That is why you are seeing multiple axes being probed and feints by Ukraine.”

Russian forces placing explosive-like objects on roof of nuclear power plant, says Zelensky

06:16 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that the Russian forces are covering the roof of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with explosive-like objects.

“Now we have information from our intelligence that the Russian troops have placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Perhaps to simulate an attack on the plant. Perhaps they have some other scenario,” Mr Zelensky said.

Talking about the situation at the Ukrainian nuclear facility under Russia’s control for 16 months now, he said: “The whole world must now realise that common security depends entirely on global attention to the actions of the occupiers at the plant.”

“Russia must clearly realise that the world sees what scenarios terrorists are preparing for, and the world is ready to respond,” he said.

Mr Zelensky added that radiation is a “threat to everyone in the world, and the nuclear power plant must be fully protected from any radiation incidents”.

Ukraine facing ‘serious resistance’ from Russia in battlefield

04:43 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has said the country’s forces were making gains every day in areas outside Bakhmut.

“We are advancing on the southern flank of Bakhmut. To the north, to be honest, there is heavy fighting and so far no advance,” Maliar told national television in the latest assessment of the battlefield situation.

“... Our forces are encountering serious resistance. The enemy is pouring in all its forces to stop in the south and in the east.”

She added that Russian forces were also making advances further north, near Lyman and in Svatove, where Russian troops have recently been particularly active.

Ukraine’s military reported success in repelling Russian attacks in Kupiansk in the north, Bakhmut and near the contested towns of Avdiivka and Maryinka to the south.

It’s General Staff also claimed to have destroyed a formation of Russian forces in Makiivka, a town in the Russian-controlled part of Donetsk region.

Russia-installed officials said one civilian died and 36 were injured in the attack.

While both sides continue to claim that the other is suffering heavy losses, no detailed statistics have been presented by either Kyiv or Moscow.

In the Russian defence ministry’s accounts of frontline fighting, it claimed its forces foiled Ukraine’s in five areas of the eastern Donetsk region.

It also reported repelling attacks near Lyman and disrupting enemy operations in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Ukraine says its forces have captured a cluster of villages.

Ukraine seeing ‘particularly fruitful’ few days in counteroffensive

04:15 , Arpan Rai

The continuing Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces has been “particularly fruitful” in the past few days, a senior security official has said.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council said that Ukrainian troops are fulfilling their main tasks.

“At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s defence forces are fulfilling the number one task – the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defense forces of the Russian army,” Mr Danilov said on Twitter.

“The last few days have been particularly fruitful,” he said, without providing any details from the battlefield.

Kremlin open to talks over potential prisoner swap involving detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

04:00 , Martha Mchardy

The Kremlin on Tuesday held the door open for contacts with the U.S. regarding a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held out of the public eye.

Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow and Washington have touched on the issue.

“We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.”

Kremlin open to talks over potential prisoner swap involving detained WSJ reporter

Putin says Russian economy faring better than expected

03:52 , Arpan Rai

The Russian economy, expected to bleed from hundreds of sanctions from the West, was performing better than expected, Vladimir Putin claimed.

He has been briefed by his prime minister Mikhail Mishustin on the “surprisingly positive” gross domestic product growth and inflation in a meeting at the Kremlin.

Mr Putin has been told the GDP growth may exceed 2 per cent this year and consumer price inflation may not rise above 5 per cent in annual terms.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the Russian economy is expected to grow 0.7 per cent this year.

“Our results, at least for the time being, let’s say, cautiously, are better than previously expected, better than predicted,” Putin said, according to a transcript on the Kremlin’s website.

After contracting 2.1 per cent in 2022, the Russian economy was under particular pressure in spring last year when Kyiv’s allies imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow over its military campaign in Ukraine.

Putin claims Russia is united than ever just days after Wagner troops march on Moscow

03:30 , Martha Mchardy

Vladimir Putin claimed that Russians were more united than ever after responding to the short-lived but dramatic mutiny by his private mercenary Wagner group and its march on Moscow.

The Russian president was speaking alongside Asian leaders such as his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi at the virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday. He was delivering his first remarks outside of Moscow acknowledging June’s aborted coup – the biggest challenge to the Russian leader’s rule in decades.

“The Russian people are consolidated as never before,” he said.

Arpan Rai reports:

Putin claims Russia more united than ever just days after Wagner’s failed mutiny

Ukrainians honor award-winning writer killed in Russian missile attack on restaurant

02:30 , Martha Mchardy

Dozens of people with flowers, many unable to hold back tears, bid farewell Tuesday to an award-winning Ukrainian writer who was among those killed by a Russian missile attack on a popular restaurant in eastern Ukraine.

The memorial service for Victoria Amelina, 37, was held in the crowded main hall of Saint-Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, where ceremonies are usually held for soldiers who were killed on the battlefield.

Amelina died in a hospital from injuries sustained in the June 27 strike on a popular restaurant frequently visited by journalists and aid workers in the city of Kramatorsk. Twelve other people also lost their lives in the attack.

Read the full story:

Ukrainians honor award-winning writer killed in Russian missile attack on restaurant

Georgia condemns Ukraine for its protests over health of former president Saakashvili

01:30 , Martha Mchardy

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry criticized Ukraine on Tuesday for urging the Georgian ambassador to return to Tbilisi for consultations over the poor health of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also a Ukrainian citizen.

The Foreign Ministry called Ukraine’s action “an extreme form of escalation.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry had summoned Georgian Ambassador George Zakarashvili to express its protest over the apparent significant deterioration in the health of Saakashvili, who was convicted of abuse of power while he was president in 2004-2013.

Read the full story:

Georgia condemns Ukraine for its protests over health of former president Saakashvili

Today in pictures

Wednesday 5 July 2023 00:30 , Martha Mchardy

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of plotting imminent attack on nuclear station

Tuesday 4 July 2023 23:30 , Martha Mchardy

Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday accused each other of plotting to stage an attack on the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, long the subject of mutual recriminations and suspicions.

Russian troops seized the station, Europe’s largest nuclear facility with six reactors, in the days following the Kremlin’s invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.

Each side has since regularly accused the other of shelling around the plant, situated in Ukraine’s south, and risking a major nuclear mishap.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the head of Rosenergoatom, which operates Russia’s nuclear network, said Ukraine planned to drop on the plant ammunition laced with nuclear waste transported from another of the country’s five nuclear stations.

“Under cover of darkness overnight on 5th July, the Ukrainian military will try to attack the Zaporizhzhia station using long-range precision equipment and kamikaze attack drones,” Russian news agencies quoted Karchaa as telling Russian television. He offered no evidence in support of his allegation.

A statement issued by the Ukrainian armed forces quoted “operational data” as saying that “explosive devices” had been placed on the roof of the station’s third and fourth reactors on Tuesday. An attack was possible “in the near future”.

“If detonated, they would not damage the reactors but would create an image of shelling from the Ukrainian side,” the statement on Telegram said. It said the Ukrainian army stood “ready to act under any circumstances”.

The military also provided no evidence for its assertions.

None of the reactors at the plant is producing electricity.

The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been trying for more than a year to clinch a deal to ensure the plant is demilitarised and reduce the risks of any possible nuclear accident.

Netherlands and Luxembourg leaders tell Kosovo and Serbia to normalize ties for EU hopes

Tuesday 4 July 2023 22:30 , Natalie Crockett

The leaders of the Netherlands and Luxembourg on Tuesday said that normalizing ties between Kosovo and Serbia would serve not only regional peace and stability but also their prospects of future integration into the European Union.

Prime ministers Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and Xavier Bettel of Luxembourg were on a trip to Pristina after a visit to Belgrade on Monday

They both called on Kosovo and Serbia to deescalate recent tensions that have threatened to push the Balkan region into instability as Europe faces Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

“We are here to listen. And we are here to try to build these bridges which are sometimes between neighbors. Not that easy to build,” said Bettel, adding “so we have to avoid every new crisis.”

Read more here:

The leaders of the Netherlands and Luxembourg tell Kosovo and Serbia to normalize ties for EU hopes

Ukraine’s Zelensky warns France’s Macron about Russian ‘provocations’ at nuclear plant

Tuesday 4 July 2023 21:57 , Martha Mchardy

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he had warned his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, about attempts by Moscow to stage “dangerous provocations” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant occupied for a year by Russian troops.

“I warned my colleague that the occupation troops are preparing dangerous provocations at the Zaporizhzhia (nuclear plant),” Zelensky tweeted of his telephone call with Macron.

“We agreed to keep the situation under maximum control together with the IAEA,” he said, referring to the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

Ukraine and Russia accused each other on Tuesday of plotting to attack the plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility.

38 people, including 12 children, injured in a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv region

Tuesday 4 July 2023 21:30 , Natalie Crockett

At least 38 people, including 12 children, were injured in a Russian missile strike on Tuesday which an officer said targeted a military funeral in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian officials have said.

Television footage from the small town of Pervomaiskyi showed a tall residential building with smashed windows and black smoke pouring out. Mangled cars were in flames nearby, and a man sat in an ambulance with blood over his face.

Regional governor Oleh Synehubov said an Iskander missile had slammed into a residential quarter in Pervomaiskyi at 1.35 pm. Kyiv time.

“We weren’t at home, we went for a walk in the park. I don’t know what happened, I heard an explosion, probably a missile,” a local resident, who gave her name only as Alla, said on the street as she hugged her granddaughter.

“I only remember that when the explosion sounded, we were thrown up into the air. Then we continued walking, we saw blown out windows everywhere, I saw cars on fire. I just can’t get a grip of myself, my legs are still shaking.”

Prosecutors said the youngest of the 38 people hurt in the attack was a child of three months. The child’s condition was not immediately clear.

Russia and Syria to hold military drills

Tuesday 4 July 2023 20:50 , Natalie Crockett

Joint Russian-Syrian air force and air defence exercises will begin in Syria on July 5 and last six days.

Rear Admiral Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria, announced the drills on Tuesday, according to Russian news agencies.

“In the course of training it is planned to work out the issues of joint actions of aviation, air defense and electronic warfare forces in repulsion of air strikes,” Gurinov said.

Putin claims Russia ‘united as never before’ as journalist is beaten

Tuesday 4 July 2023 20:10 , Natalie Crockett

Russians are “united as never before,” Vladimir Putin said at his first international summit since an armed revolt that briefly triggered fears of a coup.

“Solidarity and responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly shown,” he said, “by the entire society by standing as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion.”

He was speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, hosted via videoconference by India and one of the few remaining global platforms where he can get a sympathetic hearing.

Read more from Alastair Jamieson:

Putin claims Russia ‘united as never before’ as prominent journalist is beaten

Kremlin ‘open to talks’ over prisoner swap for detained Wall Street Journal reporter

Tuesday 4 July 2023 19:30 , Natalie Crockett

The Kremlin on Tuesday held the door open for contacts with the US regarding a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held out of the public eye.

Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow and Washington have touched on the issue.

Read more here:

Kremlin open to talks over potential prisoner swap involving detained WSJ reporter

After the flood: The nightmare is just beginning for those left to rebuild after the Ukraine dam explosion

Tuesday 4 July 2023 18:45 , Martha Mchardy

Bel Trew travels the Dnipro River speaking to some of those who have been left with nothing after the floodwaters wrecked their homes, and hears from officials warning of the extreme long-term consequences that could be felt by the rest of the world.

The unfolding nightmare for those left to rebuild after the Ukraine dam explosion

Pope envoy working on ‘mechanism’ to return children to Ukraine

Tuesday 4 July 2023 18:21 , Martha Mchardy

Pope Francis’ peace envoy for Ukraine, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, said on Tuesday he is working on a “mechanism” that could ensure the return of children who according to Kyiv have been abducted to Russia.

“We’ll see how we can start the mechanism for the children (and) help as we have said on the humanitarian front, particularly the children that must be able to return to Ukraine”, Zuppi said at a book presentation in Rome.

He said he had personally discussed the issue with Francis.

The Italian cardinal visited Moscow last week, and was previously in the Ukrainian capital. The Vatican has described his efforts as “aimed at identifying humanitarian initiatives, which could open roads to peace”.

Speaking to Italian public broadcaster RAI on Sunday, Zuppi clarified he was not working on a “peace plan” or a “mediation” between Kyiv and Moscow, saying he was focusing on “humanitarian aspects”.

Ukrainians honor award-winning writer killed in Russian missile attack on restaurant

Tuesday 4 July 2023 17:59 , Martha Mchardy

Dozens of people with flowers, many unable to hold back tears, bid farewell Tuesday to an award-winning Ukrainian writer who was among those killed by a Russian missile attack on a popular restaurant in eastern Ukraine.

The memorial service for Victoria Amelina, 37, was held in the crowded main hall of Saint-Michael’s Cathedral in Kyiv, where ceremonies are usually held for soldiers who were killed on the battlefield.

Amelina died in a hospital from injuries sustained in the June 27 strike on a popular restaurant frequently visited by journalists and aid workers in the city of Kramatorsk. Twelve other people also lost their lives in the attack.

Ukrainians honor award-winning writer killed in Russian missile attack on restaurant

Twelve children among 38 wounded by Russian strike in Ukraine

Tuesday 4 July 2023 17:13 , Martha Mchardy

Ukrainian officials said at least 38 people, including 12 children, were wounded in a Russian missile strike on Tuesday which an officer said targeted a military funeral in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

ICYMI: Vladimir Putin claims Russia ‘united as never before’ as prominent journalist is beaten

Tuesday 4 July 2023 17:01 , Martha Mchardy

Russians are “united as never before,” Vladimir Putin said at his first international summit since an armed revolt that briefly triggered fears of a coup.

“Solidarity and responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly shown,” he said, “by the entire society by standing as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion.”

He was speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, hosted via videoconference by India and one of the few remaining global platforms where he can get a sympathetic hearing.

Alastair Jamieson reports:

Putin claims Russia ‘united as never before’ as prominent journalist is beaten

Russia’s Medvedev: 185,000 new contract soldiers have joined armed forces this year

Tuesday 4 July 2023 16:31 , Martha Mchardy

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that 185,000 new recruits had joined the Russian army as professional contract soldiers since the start of the year.

In a video posted on Telegram, Medvedev, who was earlier this year appointed to a role overseeing Russia’s domestic military production, said that almost 10,000 new recruits had joined up in the last week, after a mutiny by the Wagner Group mercenary organisation was quelled and its fighters were given the option of signing on as regular soldiers.

Latest pictures from Kharkiv as Russian shelling injures 31, including 9 children

Tuesday 4 July 2023 16:10 , Martha Mchardy

European bank to lend Ukrainian city of Dnipro 25mil euros as wartime population swells

Tuesday 4 July 2023 15:24 , Martha Mchardy

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Tuesday it was lending 25 million euros ($27.24 million) to the Ukrainian city of Dnipro to help it cope with an influx of people fleeing fighting.

It said the loan would help ensure the continuous provision of vital municipal services in the southeastern city following the arrival of people forced to flee other locations because of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“Dnipro and its key municipal utilities have been seriously affected by the war and are struggling to keep day-to-day operations functioning,” the EBRD said in a statement.

Dnipro’s pre-war population of about one million people has been swollen by constant inflows of internally displaced people even though the city has also come under fire since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

In December, the EBRD also provided a 25-million-euro loan to Lviv, the biggest city in the western part of Ukraine.

Government officials have said there are about 4.8 million registered internally displaced people in Ukraine.

Ukrainians bid farewell to writer killed in Russian air strike

Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:54 , Martha Mchardy

Tearful mourners filled one of central Kyiv’s main cathedrals on Tuesday to honour a prominent Ukrainian writer and war-crimes researcher killed in a Russian missile strike on a cafe in eastern Ukraine.

Victoria Amelina, 37, died on July 1 from injuries sustained during the June 27 attack, which killed 12 others when Russian forces hit a restaurant packed with civilians in the frontline city of Kramatorsk.

She was an award-winning writer and novelist who also began researching Russian atrocities after the Kremlin’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Colleagues described Amelina, who was born in the western city of Lviv, as fiercely dedicated to seeking justice and promoting Ukraine’s cause on the international stage.

“She was a real crusader for truth. She was extraordinarily persistent,” Roman Avramenko, executive director of Truth Hounds, an NGO that documents Russian war crimes, told reporters after the service.

A wide array of writers, journalists and other public intellectuals streamed into the golden-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral to pay tribute. Relatives and friends broke down as they filed past Amelina’s coffin.

Outside, a pair of musicians then sounded traditional Ukrainian alpine horns, called trembitas, as it was loaded into a hearse.

Military plane crashes in Russia’s Far East - RIA

Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:48 , Martha Mchardy

A Russian MIG-31 military interceptor plane crashed while on training flight over the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia’s Far East, the RIA news agency cited the Russian Pacific navy as saying on Tuesday.

Rescuers are searching for the crew, it said. The plane had no ammunition loaded.

Kyiv says gains made against Putin’s forces in ‘fruitful’ few days of counteroffensive

Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:39 , Martha Mchardy

A Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces has been “particularly fruitful“ in the past few days, a senior security official has said.

Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov said Ukraine’s troops were fulfilling their main tasks in the latest positive assessment of the counter-offensive.

“At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s Defense Forces are fulfilling the number one task - the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defence forces of the Russian army,” Danilov wrote on Twitter.

“The last few days have been particularly fruitful,” he said, without providing any details from the battlefield.

His comments come after Ukraine’s president Zelensky said on Monday his troops had made progress after a “difficult” week.

Ukraine said on Monday its troops had regained more ground on the eastern and southern fronts although deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said fighting had surged around the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May.

Maliar said the Ukrainian military had taken back 37.4 square kilometres of territory in the past week.

Russia says EU’s SWIFT proposal for grain deal ‘unworkable’

Tuesday 4 July 2023 14:04 , Martha Mchardy

Proposals to set up a subsidiary of the Russian state agricultural bank for the purpose of the Black Sea grain deal are “unworkable”, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was commenting on a Financial Times report that the European Union had proposed a special subsidiary of the Russian bank could be connected to the SWIFT international payment system from which the bank itself has been cut off.

Russia sees no grounds to renew grain deal - foreign ministry

Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:49 , Martha Mchardy

Russia sees no basis for renewing the Black Sea grain deal, the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday, less than two weeks before the expiration of the agreement which has allowed grain to be shipped out of Black Sea ports despite the war in Ukraine.

The ministry said in a statement Russia was doing everything so that all ships covered by the deal could leave the Black Sea before it expires on July 17.

Nine children among 31 wounded by Russian shelling in Ukraine

Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:23 , Martha Mchardy

Russian shelling wounded at least 31 people, including nine children, in the small town of Pervomaiskyi in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday, officials said.

The interior ministry said the youngest of the injured children was aged one.

Oleh Synehubov, the Kharkiv region’s governor, said on the Telegram messaging app that the shelling took place at 13:35 Kyiv time (1035 GMT) and several cars were on fire. He said the windows of eight multi-story building were smashed. He posted several pictures of the building with smashed windows, dark smoke clouds, charred trees, and an overturned car.

“As of 3:00 p.m., we know of a significant number of wounded: 31 people were taken to a hospital (nine of them are children, 2 infants - 1 year, and 10 months),” Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy’s office, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately comment on the incident. Moscow has denied deliberately targeting civilians.

Russia ‘united as never before’, claims Putin

Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:17 , Martha Mchardy

Russians are “united as never before”, Vladimir Putin claimed as he sought to project confidence in the wake of a short-lived revolt.

The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) meeting, hosted via videoconference by India, offered the Russian President one of the few remaining platforms in international politics where he can get a sympathetic hearing.

It was his first multilateral summit since an armed rebellion rattled Russia and comes as he is eager to show the West has failed to isolate Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Asian security grouping founded by Russia and China to counter western alliances also welcomed Iran as a new member, bringing its membership to nine nations.

Speaking via video link from the Kremlin, Mr Putin praised the SCO for “playing an increasingly significant role in international affairs, making a real contribution to maintaining peace and stability, ensuring sustainable economic growth of the participating states and strengthening ties between peoples”.

He thanked the SCO nations for supporting Russian authorities during the short-lived armed mutiny mounted by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, and said the West has turned Ukraine into “a virtually hostile state - anti-Russia”.

Mr Putin has frequently lashed out at the West for its support of Ukraine in the war.

The summit presents an opportunity for Mr Putin to show he is in control after an insurrection that left some wondering about divisions among Russian elites.

“The Russian people are united as never before,” he said.

“The solidarity and responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly demonstrated by the Russian political circles and the entire society by standing as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion.”

Ukraine tells Georgian ambassador to go home for ‘consultation'

Tuesday 4 July 2023 12:35 , Martha Mchardy

Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned Georgia’s ambassador on Tuesday to protest against the treatment of jailed former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, and told him to go back to Tbilisi to resolve the situation.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky urged the Georgian authorities on Monday to allow Saakashvili, who has Ukrainian citizenship, to come to Kyiv for medical treatment.

Zelensky made the appeal after a video circulated showing Saakashvili looking emaciated during a court hearing and lifting his shirt to show protruding ribs.

"The Georgian diplomat (ambassador) was told that such treatment of Mikheil Saakashvili was absolutely unacceptable. The Georgian government should stop the abuse of the Ukrainian citizen," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"In this regard, it was proposed to Ambassador of Georgia to Ukraine George Zakarashvili to return to Tbilisi for consultations to find ways of solving the situation."

Masked assailants attack prominent Russian journalist and lawyer in Chechnya

Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:24 , Matt Mathers

Unidentified masked assailants in the Russian province of Chechnya attacked and beat a journalist and a lawyer.

It was an assault that highlights a violent pattern of rampant human rights abuses in the region.

Novaya Gazeta journalist Elena Milashina and lawyer Alexander Nemov had just arrived in Chechnya to attend the trial of Zarema Musayeva, the mother of two local activists who have challenged Chechen authorities.

Just outside the airport, their vehicle was blocked by several cars and they were beaten by several masked assailants, who put guns to their heads and broke their equipment.

Novaya Gazeta said Ms Milashina sustained a brain injury and had several fingers broken, while Mr Nemov had a deep cut on his leg.

They were taken to a hospital in Chechnya’s main city, Grozny, where Ms Milashina repeatedly lost consciousness, according to her newspaper.

Russian human rights ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova asked investigators to look into the attack.

NATO agrees to extend boss Stoltenberg’s term by a year

Tuesday 4 July 2023 11:08 , Matt Mathers

NATO decided on Tuesday to extend secretary seneral Jens Stoltenberg’s contract by a further year, opting to stick with an experienced leader as war rages on the alliance’s doorstep rather than try to agree on a successor.

Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, has been the transatlantic security alliance’s leader since 2014 and his tenure had already been extended three previous times.

The decision means continuity at the top of NATO as its 31 members grapple with the challenge of supporting Ukraine in repelling Moscow’s invasion while avoiding a direct conflict between NATO and Russian forces.

Stoltenberg, 64, is widely seen across the alliance as a steady leader and patient consensus-builder.

In a tweet, Stoltenberg said he was honoured by the decision to extend his term to October 1, 2024.

"The transatlantic bond between Europe and North America has ensured our freedom and security for nearly 75 years, and in a more dangerous world, our Alliance is more important than ever," he said.

Putin claims Russia more united than ever after mutiny

Tuesday 4 July 2023 10:32 , Matt Mathers

President Vladimir Putin told Asian leaders on Tuesday that the Russian people were more united than ever, in his first appearance at an international forum since a short-lived mutiny last month.

"The Russian people are consolidated as never before," Mr Putin told a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a group that also includes China and India, as he tried to reassure his allies at the summit that Russia remains a stable country.

"Russian political circles and the whole of society clearly demonstrated their unity and elevated sense of responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland when they responded as a united front against an attempted armed mutiny,” he added.

Modi avoids direction mention of Ukraine in speech

Tuesday 4 July 2023 09:57 , Matt Mathers

India’s prime minister on Tuesday took a veiled swipe at rival neighbor Pakistan and avoided mentioning the war in Ukraine while addressing a group of Asian countries led by China and Russia.

In his opening speech to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Modi said the group should not hesitate to criticize countries that are "using terrorism as an instrument of its state policy."

"Terrorism poses a threat to regional peace and we need to take up a joint fight," Modi said without naming Pakistan. India regularly accuses Pakistan of training and arming insurgent groups, a charge Islamabad denies.

Key task of SCO is to support security in the East - Putin

Tuesday 4 July 2023 09:38 , Matt Mathers

A key task of the SCO is to support security in the East, Vladimir Putin has said in a speech to the summit.

The Russian president, in his opening remarks, said the global potential for conflicts is rising and that Moscow would stand up to sanctions and what he described as provocations.

We’ll have more from his address shortly.

Russia will boost ties with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - Putin

Tuesday 4 July 2023 09:32 , Matt Mathers

Russia plans to boost tie with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Vladimir Putin has said.

The Russian president is delivering an address to the SCO this morning. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has also spoken at the event via video link,

Mr Putin appeared in at the event with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

ICYMI: Award-winning Ukrainian writer dies of injuries suffered in Russian missile attack on restaurant

Tuesday 4 July 2023 09:20 , Matt Mathers

Award-winning Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina was among those killed by a deadly Russian missile attack on a popular restaurant frequented by journalists and aid workers in eastern Ukraine, PEN America said.

Amelina, 37, who had turned her attention from literature to document Russian war crimes after the invasion, died from her injuries after the June 27 strike in the city of Kramatorsk, the literature and human rights organization said Sunday in a statement.

Full report:

Award-winning Ukrainian writer dies of injuries suffered in Russian missile attack on restaurant

Putin set to address first global summit since Wagner mutiny

Tuesday 4 July 2023 09:05 , Matt Mathers

President Vladimir Putin will participate this week in his first multilateral summit since an armed rebellion rattled Russia, as part of a rare international grouping in which his country still enjoys support.

Leaders will convene virtually on Tuesday for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security grouping founded by Russia and China to counter Western alliances from East Asia to the Indian Ocean.

This year’s event is hosted by India, which became a member in 2017. It’s the latest avenue for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to showcase the country’s growing global clout.

Krutika Pathi reports:

Putin set to address first global summit since Wagner mutiny

Senior Ukrainian official: Last few days 'fruitful' for military

Tuesday 4 July 2023 08:29 , Matt Mathers

A senior Ukrainian security official said on Tuesday that Kyiv’s troops are "fulfilling the number one task" in their counteroffensive against Russian forces and have had a "particularly fruitful" last few days.

"At this stage of active hostilities, Ukraine’s defence forces are fulfilling the number one task - the maximum destruction of manpower, equipment, fuel depots, military vehicles, command posts, artillery and air defense forces of the russian army," Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, wrote on Twitter.

"The last few days have been particularly fruitful."