Russian independent TV station Dozhd (TV Rain) resumed broadcasting on Monday evening from abroad after being forced to shut its Moscow studio due to the Ukraine war. The European Union and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to double gas imports from the energy-rich Caspian nation to Europe, which seeks non-Russian suppliers after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
This live page is no longer being updated. For more of our coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
05:23am: Ukrainian couples on edge as men head to front lines
Soon after Russia invaded, Ukraine banned most men ages 18 to 60 from leaving the country. That has left many couples facing difficult choices: some have been split across continents as women and children seek refuge abroad, while others have stuck together near the front lines as bombs rain down.
FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg, Ludovic de Foucaud and Denys Denysov report from Kramatorsk:
4:32am: Yellen says US will impose harsh consequences on countries abusing global economic order
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the United States will impose harsh consequences on those countries that abuse or break international economic order.
“Economic integration has been weaponized by Russia,” she said, calling for all responsible countries to unite in opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
She said she was heartened by conversations with Korean counterparts on a proposed cap on Russian oil price while visiting South Korea, the final leg of her 11-day visit to the Indo-Pacific region.
03:15am: Russia continues to pummel cities across Ukraine
Russian forces kept up their bombardment of cities across Ukraine, with intense shelling of Sumy in the north, cluster bombs targeting Mykolaiv and a missile strike in Odesa in the south, authorities said on Tuesday.
After failing to capture the capital Kyiv at the outset of the invasion on February 24, Russia has shifted to a campaign of devastating bombardments to cement and extend its control of Ukraine’s south and east.
In Odesa, a Russian missile strike injured at least four people, burned houses to the ground and set other homes on fire, Oleksii Matsulevych, a spokesman for the regional administration, said on his Telegram channel.
Russian forces targeted Mykolaiv with cluster shells Monday, injuring at least two people and damaging windows and roofs of private houses, the Ukrainian city’s mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said in a social media post.
More than 150 mines and shells had been fired on the Sumy region, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the head of the Sumy regional military administration, said on Telegram.
1:11am: EU countries agree to open accession talks with Albania, N. Macedonia
The 27 member states of the European Union agreed on Monday to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia after Skopje resolved a long dispute with its EU neighbour Bulgaria.
The EU’s member states have “just agreed to open accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia!” tweeted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
“We have taken another important step towards bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU,” he added after the green light was approved in a meeting of EU envoys in Brussels.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his North Macedonian counterpart Dimitar Kovacevski were expected in Brussels on Tuesday to formally start the accession talks that will take years.
July 19, 12:18am: Russia mulls expanding ‘gay propaganda’ law, cuts ECHR ties
Russia’s parliament moved Monday to tighten already stringent restrictions on the discussion of LGBTQ rights and relationships.
A draft bill calling for the broadening of a 2013 ban on the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations” to minors, widely referred to as the “gay propaganda” bill, was announced on the website of the parliament, or Duma.
Introduced by a cross-party group of six Communist and socially conservative deputies, the bill would ban public discussion of LGBTQ relationships in a positive or neutral light, and any LGBTQ content in cinemas.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the parliament speaker and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, proposed similar measures earlier this month. On July 8, he spoke in favor of a broad ban on disseminating information on LGBTQ relationships after Russia had withdrawn from the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog, in March.
On the same day the bill was submitted for consideration, Putin formally recalled Russia’s representative at the European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, via a decree published Monday on the Russian government portal for legal information.
9:23pm: Russian independent broadcaster TV Rain relaunches from abroad
The liberal-leaning Russian independent TV station Dozhd (TV Rain) resumed broadcasting on Monday evening from abroad after being forced to shut its Moscow studio following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Dozhd, portrayed in the 2021 film "Tango with Putin", was visited and praised in 2011 by then-President Dmitry Medvedev when it was just a year old, and largely apolitical.
But like all Russian independent media, it has been harassed relentlessly since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in 2012.
On Monday, it said it had received a European Union broadcasting licence and would be working from studios in Latvia, France and the Netherlands — as well as Georgia, where many Russians uncomfortable with the invasion have moved since February.
It will also stream on YouTube, which is not censored in Russia and is likely to be the only way most people in Russia will be able to see it.
9:19pm: US to continue offering intelligence to Ukraine after recent staff changes
The United States will continue to proceed with providing intelligence to Ukraine after recent personnel changes in the inner circle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the US State Department said on Monday.
Zelensky sidelined his childhood friend as head of Ukraine's security service, and another close ally as top prosecutor, in Kyiv's biggest internal purge of the war, citing their failure to root out Russian spies.
Zelensky acknowledged that his two allies — SBU security service chief Ivan Bakanov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova — had failed to root out "traitors" in their organizations.
7:46pm: Ukraine's first lady makes US visit
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday as she began a series of high-profile appearances in Washington that will include a session with U.S. counterpart Jill Biden.
Blue and yellow Ukrainian flags flew alongside American ones on Pennsylvania Avenue as Zelenska headed for her first announced event in the United States, the meeting with Blinken.
The State Department announced and then canceled a planned brief appearance by Blinken and Zelenska before photographers there. The low-key arrival reflects that Zelenska is not traveling as an official representative of the government of her husband, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
7:03pm: EU efforts insufficient to get through winter without Russian gas: IEA
Europe's efforts to diversify suppliers will not be enough to get it through winter without Russian gas, the head of the International Energy Agency warned Monday, urging immediate efforts to cut demand.
The comments by the IEA's director Fatih Birol came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed an energy deal in Baku, under which deliveries of Azerbaijani gas will double over the next few years.
But Birol said in an article published by the IEA: "It is categorically not enough to just rely on gas from non-Russian sources — these supplies are simply not available in the volumes required to substitute for missing deliveries from Russia.
"This will be the case even if gas supplies from Norway and Azerbaijan flow at maximum capacity, if deliveries from North Africa stay close to last year's levels, if domestic gas production in Europe continues to follow recent trends, and if inflows of LNG increase at a similar record rate as they did in the first half of this year," he added.
Europe is also waiting to see this week if Russia resumes gas shipments via Gazprom's key Nord Stream 1 pipeline, on which 10 days of scheduled maintenance will soon be completed.
5:55pm: EU to double gas imports from Azerbaijan within 'few years'
On a visit to Baku, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev a memorandum on "a strategic partnership in the field of energy."
In a few years, "we will double the supply of gas from Azerbaijan to the EU" to compensate for cuts in supplies of Russian gas, von der Leyen told a news conference alongside Aliyev.
"From next year on, we should already reach 12 billion cubic meters" per year, she said.
The agreement also provides for the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor running through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Greece — "to 20 billion cubic metres per year in a few years."
4:21pm: Russia says fines Google $360 million over Ukraine content
A Moscow court has fined Google 21 billion rubles ($360 million) for failing to remove content concerning Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, the telecommunications regulator said Monday.
Roskomnadzor said the Google-owned video platform YouTube failed to block "false information" on the offensive in Ukraine, as well as "extremist and terrorist propaganda" and content "calling on minors to participate in unauthorised demonstrations".
3:20pm: Putin, Erdogan to discuss Ukrainian grain exports in Tehran on Tuesday
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan will discuss the export of Ukrainian grain at their meeting in Tehran on Tuesday, a Kremlin aide has told reporters.
"The issue of Ukrainian grain shipment will be discussed with Erdogan ... We are ready to continue work on this track," Yuriy Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Putin, said on Monday.
Ukraine's Black Sea ports, until now the main conduit for its agricultural exports, have been blocked since Russia began what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are both major suppliers of wheat to global markets.
11:21am: Deadly Russian shelling in Toretsk in eastern Ukraine
Six people were killed in Russian shelling of the town of Toretsk in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service.
Rescuers retrieved five bodies from the rubble of a two-storey house and another person died in hospital, it said on Facebook. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in what it calls a special military operation, denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Reporting from Kramatorsk, FRANCE 24's correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports that people in the area say they've got nowhere to go and they can't afford to live anywhere else. The Ukrainian authorities would reply that there are many free services in place: evacuation trains, buses, governmental and non-governmental programs, but people reply that these are short-term solutions and they need a long-term solution to live somewhere else.
10:16am: Borrell warns Russia's block on Ukraine grain could starve thousands
Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports threatens grain supplies to tens of thousands of people vulnerable to starvation and must end, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Monday.
"It's an issue of life and death for many human beings. And the question is that Russia has to de-block and allow Ukrainian grain to be exported," Borrell told reporters.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will meet UN and Turkish diplomats in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible agreement to end the months-long blockade of Ukraine's ports.
Borrell spoke as he arrived at a meeting in Brussels of EU foreign ministers to discuss closing loopholes in their sanctions regime to punish Russia for the invasion.
9:34am: ‘Buck stops at the top’: Likely reasons for sacking of top Ukrainian officials
Reporting from Ukraine, FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg discusses likely reasons for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to sack his security chief Ivan Bakanov and prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova.
“One of main criticisms against Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration, which does remain very popular, is that they ceded territory primarily in south, particularly in the Kherson region, very quickly, without much of a fight,” explained Cragg.
“A lot of people were asking how come the Russians were able to do that. There have been accusations, basically of sabotaging Ukraine’s defence plans and of collaborating” in the now Russian-controlled areas, said Cragg. “There are several accusations of security officials collaborating and I think Zelensky had to decide that the buck stopped with the man at the top.”
While Venediktova is a childhood friend of Zelensky, the security chief’s sacking was expected, according to Cragg. The firing of Ukraine’s prosecutor general was more surprising, but the accusations against her were similar. “Large numbers of prosecutors have cooperated and collaborated with Russian occupiers,” said Cragg, and Venediktova was “ultimately the person with whom the buck stops”.
8:26am: Russian journalist who interrupted TV broadcast released after brief detention
Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who shot to prominence for interrupting a live TV broadcast to denounce the invasion of Ukraine has been released after a few hours in custody.
"I am at home. Everything is fine," she wrote on Facebook overnight. "Now I know it's better to leave home with my passport and my bag," she added.
Her lawyer, Dmitri Zakhvatov, said she was detained because she was suspected of having "discredited" the army in remarks outside a Moscow court last week in support of opposition activist Ilya Yashin, who is accused of spreading false information about the army.
8:18am: Russian troops ordered to prioritise destroying Ukrainian missiles
As Russia prepares for the next stage of its offensive in Ukraine, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has instructed the military to prioritise destroying Ukraine's long-range missile and artillery weapons, the defence ministrysaid on Monday.
His remarks appear to be a response to Ukrainian claims that it carried out a string of successful strikes on Russian logistics and ammunitions hubs, using several multiple launch rocket systems recently supplied by the West. These include the US-supplied HIMARS High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that have proved very effective in the Donbas frontlines.
Click here for more on whether the HIMARS could be a game changer in Ukraine.
8:04am: EU considers banning gold trade
Reporting from Brussels, FRANCE 24’s Dave Keating provides more details on the EU sanctions up for discussion today.
One of the issues EU foreign ministers will be considering is banning gold purchases from Russia, explains Keating. “According to a draft that’s been circulating, trading gold in jewellery will be allowed, but trading gold in powder form or more pure form won’t be allowed. That has raised concerns that it will probably be a loophole that would still enable the old trade. So, we’re really in the very technical phases right now, where they’re looking at how to implement what’s been agreed at a high level here.”
6:28am: EU mulls tightening sanctions on Russia
The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday.
With the war in Ukraine grinding on and increasingly spilling out into global energy and food crises, EU foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, which would align with sanctions already imposed by G7 partners.
More Russian figures could also be placed on the EU’s blacklist.
“Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures.
Brussels is expected to hold initial sanctions discussions Monday, but not make a same-day decision, according to a senior EU official.
4:22am: Zelensky says he raised Ukraine stance on Russia gas turbine with Trudeau
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday that Ukrainians would never accept Canada’s decision to return a gas turbine intended for a Russian pipeline because it would encourage more sanctions violations.
Zelensky said in his nightly video address that he had talked to Trudeau earlier and thanked him for his support. “However I stressed separately that Ukrainians will never accept Canada’s decision regarding the Nord Stream turbine,” he said. Handing it to Germany violated sanctions, he added.
Trudeau said on Wednesday that it was a “very difficult decision” to grant an exemption from sanctions imposed on Russia for the return of the repaired turbine, needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
But Zelensky, echoing earlier remarks by other Ukrainian officials, said Russia was engaging in blackmail with gas. “If there is one violation now, it is only a matter of time before there will be others,” he said.
12:32am: Russian journalist who protested Ukraine war on TV detained
Russian police on Sunday detained journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who in March interrupted a live TV broadcast to denounce the military action in Ukraine, her lawyer said.
No official statement has been made, but her detention comes a few days after 44-year-old Ovsyannikova demonstrated alone near the Kremlin holding a placard criticising Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin.
“Marina has been detained,” her entourage said in a message posted on the journalist’s Telegram account. “There is no information on where she is.”
The message included three photos of her being led by two police officers to a white van, after apparently having been stopped while cycling.
12:05am: Zelensky sacks Ukraine's top prosecutor, security chief
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sacked his chief prosecutor and the head of the country’s security agency in the largest government shakeup since the start of Russia’s invasion nearly five months ago.
Zelensky said he was firing Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and security chief Ivan Bakanov amid a high number of cases of suspected treason by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.
“Today, I made the decision of relieving of their duties the prosecutor general and the head of Ukraine’s security service,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
Zelensky said over 650 cases of suspected treason and aiding and abetting Russia by Ukrainian security officials are currently being investigated, including 60 cases of officials who have remained in territories occupied by Russia and are working against Ukraine.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)
