Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that the geographical objectives of Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine are no longer limited to the eastern Donbas region but have expanded to other territories. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our live blog. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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3:39am: Volunteers evacuate Ukrainians from Donbas front lines
Despite repeated appeals from Ukrainian authorities to evacuate front-line cities, many residents stay in their homes until the last moment. By then, escape routes may already be under intense shelling. But some locals have made it their mission to rescue their neighbours from the toughest spots. FRANCE 24’s team reports from Slovyansk, in Ukraine’s Donbas region:
1:32am: Zelensky calls new EU sanctions ‘inadequate’
EU diplomats meeting in Brussels Wednesday agreed a new round of sanctions against Moscow, including a ban on importing gold from Russia and freezing the assets of top lender Sberbank. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the sanctions as inadequate.
“Russia must feel a much higher price for the war to force it to seek peace,” Zelensky said in a late-night video address.
July 21, 12:43am: CIA estimates 15,000 Russian deaths in Ukraine
The United States estimates that Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached around 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded, CIA Director William Burns said on Wednesday, cautioning that Kyiv has endured significant casualties as well.
“The latest estimates from the US intelligence community would be something in the vicinity of 15,000 (Russian forces) killed and maybe three times that wounded. So a quite significant set of losses,” Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
“And, the Ukrainians have suffered as well—probably a little less than that. But, you know, significant casualties.”
11:55pm: Russia won’t supply oil to the world market if price is capped below production cost, deputy PM says
Russia will not export oil to the world market if the price is capped below the cost of production, Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak as telling Russian television on Wednesday.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing for a cap to make it harder for Moscow to fund its war in Ukraine. Officials say the goal is to set the price at a level that covers the marginal cost of production so Moscow is incentivized to continue exporting oil.
“If these prices that they are talking about are lower than the cost of producing oil, then of course Russia will not ensure the supply of this oil to world markets. This means we are simply not going to work at a loss,” Interfax cited Novak as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters earlier in the day that oil prices would skyrocket if a cap were imposed.
Brazil, China, India and some African and Middle Eastern countries have increased energy imports from Russia, which sells at deep discounts to global benchmarks because many European refiners have stopped buying Russian oil.
10:15pm: Mercosur trade bloc denies Zelensky request to address summit
South America's Mercosur trade bloc has declined a request by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address its upcoming summit, host Paraguay has announced.
Bloc members Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay failed to reach an agreement on Zelensky's request, made to the host country last week, according to deputy foreign minister Raul Cano, who declined to say which states were against it.
Zelensky has addressed several national parliaments as well as regional and international forums since Russia's invasion of his country in February, including NATO, the G7, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations and even the Cannes Film Festival.
The Ukrainian leader spoke to Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez last week, asking to be allowed to address a Mercosur summit to be held on Thursday, following a ministerial meeting on Wednesday.
"There was no consensus," said Cano, adding the decision had been communicated to Kyiv.
9:38pm: US to send more precision rocket systems
The United States will provide four more precision rocket systems to Ukraine to help it battle Russia's invasion, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said.
His Ukrainian counterpart asked on Wednesday for Washington to send more M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars), saying Kyiv's forces have used them to destroy some 30 Russian command stations and ammunition depots so far.
Washington will send "four more Himars advanced rocket systems for a total of 16. The Ukrainians have made excellent use of Himars, and you can see the impact on the battlefield," Austin told journalists at the Pentagon.
"Russia is keeping up its relentless shelling, and that's a cruel tactic that harkens back to the horrors of World War I. So Ukraine needs the firepower and the ammunition to withstand this barrage and to strike back," he added.
The United States will also send additional GMLRS ammunition, which can precisely strike targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
6:45pm: Germany expects Nord Stream gas flows to resume at pre-maintenance levels
Deliveries via Nord Stream 1, which accounts for more than a third of Russian gas exports to the EU, are due to resume on Thursday after a 10-day halt for annual maintenance.
German gas network operator Gascade has said it expects flows to resume at pre-maintenance levels based on current requests for gas.
Earlier in the day, the EU told member states to cut gas usage by 15% until March as an emergency step after Russia's Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent via the biggest pipeline to Europe could be reduced further and might even stop.
Supplies via the route had been reduced even before the maintenance outage in a dispute over sanctions, and may now be cut further, while flows via other routes, such as Ukraine, have also fallen since Russia invaded its neighbour in February.
The disruptions have hampered Europe's efforts to refill gas storage before winter, raising the risk of rationing and another hit to fragile economic growth if Moscow further restricts flows in retaliation for Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
6:20pm: Ukraine's first lady appeals to US Congress for more weapons
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska has appealed to US lawmakers to provide more help to her country, saying weapons could help assure a "joint great victory".
"We remain completely broken when our world is destroyed by war. Tens of thousands of such worlds have been destroyed in Ukraine," she said through a translator, in an emotional 15-minute speech to members of the US House of Representatives and Senate.
Zelenska, the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, showed videos of children she said had been wounded or killed, including a three-year-old boy now in Germany learning how to use prosthetic limbs.
"How many children like him are there in Ukraine? How many families like this may still be destroyed by war? These are Russia's 'Hunger Games'," she said.
"I am asking for weapons, weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else's land, but to protect one's home and the right to wake up alive in that home," Zelenska added, pleading with Washington to help "stop this terror against Ukrainians".
5:15pm: EU adopts embargo on Russian gold
EU countries have agreed to target Russian gold exports and freeze assets at Russia's largest bank in an update to the sanctions imposed on Moscow.
"The main goal is to align with G7 partners, reinforce the implementation and close the loopholes where necessary," the Czech government, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, has tweeted.
The EU has so far approved six packages of sanctions on Russia. The last one passed in June imposed a ban on most Russian oil imports.
As she proposed the measures to member states last week, EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the measures would help enforce earlier sanctions more effectively and extend them until January 2023.
"Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression," she added.
2:56pm: US to send four more HIMARS to Ukraine
The United States will send four more high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday, in the latest military package to bolster Kyiv as it confronts heavy pounding by Russian forces.
Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier this week ordered generals to prioritize destroying Ukraine's long-range missile and artillery weapons after Western-supplied weapons were used to strike Russian supply lines.
The West has supplied Ukraine with longer-range heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems to help Kyiv hold out despite Russian artillery supremacy in numbers and ammunition.
The latest package would bring the total number of HIMARS the United States has provided to Ukraine to 16.
>> Read more: Can US-supplied HIMARS be a game changer for Ukraine?
2:35pm: Moscow asks UN chief to intervene in grain talks
Russia has asked UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to intervene in grain talks with Ukraine to facilitate Moscow's exports, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
Ukraine and Russia have held talks under Turkish and UN mediation to unblock crucial grain exports as shipments from Ukrainian ports are disrupted by Moscow's military offensive.
Lavrov said Moscow had agreed to "basic principles" on a grain agreement with Ukraine, but that Kyiv's delegation had refused to include a clause to protect Russian exports.
"The UN delegation simply kept silent," he told state media in an interview. "Yesterday we sent a signal to the (UN) Secretary General, saying how is this possible, this is your initiative after all."
His comments came a day after President Vladimir Putin said on a visit to Iran that the West must remove restrictions on exports of Russian grain.
"We will facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain, but we are proceeding from the fact that all restrictions related to possible deliveries for the export of Russian grain will be lifted," Putin told reporters in Tehran after talks with the presidents of Iran and Turkey.
2:15pm: Ukraine border crossings top 9.5 million since invasion
The number of border crossings from Ukraine has surpassed 9.5 million for the first time since Russia invaded the country, the UN Refugee Agency reports.
A total of 9,547,969 border crossings from Ukraine have been recorded since February 24, the agency's tally shows.
The largest share (4.7 million) have crossed into Poland, where more than 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees have been given temporary protection.
1:21pm: Russia military aims no longer focused 'only' on east: Lavrov
Russia's military aims in Ukraine are no longer focused "only" on the country's east, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding that supplies of Western weapons had changed the Kremlin's calculus.
"The geography is different now. It is not only about the DNR and LNR," said Lavrov, referring to the Donetsk and Luhansk areas of the Donbas, "but also the Kherson region, the Zaporizhzhia region and a number of other territories."
"This process is continuing, consistently and persistently," Lavrov told state media in an interview.
Lavrov added that Russia's objectives will expand still further if the West delivers long-range weapons to Kyiv, the agency said.
11:36am: Clip of fidgeting Putin waiting for Erdogan goes viral
Russian President Vladimir Putin was left waiting and fidgeting for 50 seconds by Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of talks in Tehran on Tuesday, prompting Turkish media to draw parallels with Putin making Erdogan and other leaders stand by in the past.
A video released by the Turkish presidency showed Putin standing in front of his chair and the nations' two flags, his hands clasped, mouth twitching and his stance shifting before Erdogan appears. Putin then raises his hands to his sides.
"Hello, how are you, good?" Erdogan said as they then smiled at each other and shook hands.
Media reports compared the incident with others of Putin letting world leaders cool their heels in the past, notably in Moscow in 2020 when Erdogan was left waiting for about two minutes by the Russian leader ahead of a meeting.
10:27am: Key bridge in Kherson region 'badly damaged' by Ukraine shelling
Ukrainian shelling has badly damaged the crucial Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, according the Moscow-installed regional authorities.
The bridge – one of only two crossing points for Russian forces to territory they have occupied on the western bank of the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine – has been a key target for Ukrainian forces in recent days, with Kyiv using high-precision US-supplied rockets to try to destroy it.
The Russian-backed head of the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, closed the bridge to cargo traffic on Wednesday morning in what he called a "temporary restriction" to allow repair works.
Passenger cars were still able to use the bridge, which is more than a kilometre long, according to Saldo.
Britain's defence ministry described the bridge as a "key vulnerability for Russian forces".
7:11am: Britain says Russia's Donbas offensive makes 'minimal gains'
Russia's offensive in the Donbas region continues to make minimal gains as Ukrainian forces hold the line, according to British military intelligence.
The Antonovskiy bridge over the Dnieper River that was struck by Ukrainian forces is probably still usable, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.
"It is highly likely that the bridge remains usable – but it is a key vulnerability for Russian Forces," the ministry added in the regular bulletin.
6:54am: Ukraine's first lady to address US Congress
US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden welcomed Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, to the White House on Tuesday for a visit ahead of her address to Congress later today.
Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, embraced Jill Biden and received flowers from the US president, who met her vehicle outside.
Zelenska is in Washington DC in a bid to increase US support for Ukraine, obtaining additional support to "protect people from Russian terror" and boosting humanitarian assistance, said her husband in a late-night video address.
He said the address to Congress would be important, adding "I strongly believe it will be heard by those people responsible for making decisions in the United States".
Welcoming the Ukrainian first lady to the White House, President Biden said Zelenska "embodies the same tenacity and resilience as the country she hails from" in a Twitter post.
2:25am: Sloviansk reels from second Russian strikes
Reporting from a residential area in Sloviansk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg said the latest Russian strikes on the neighbourhood were the second in recent days.
Russia's defence ministry on Tuesday said its aircraft had shot down a Ukrainian MI-17 helicopter near the eastern town of Sloviansk. The report could not be verified, but residents of the area that was struck said there were no military targets around.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)
