Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- 7 civilians have been evacuated from Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donetsk. Among those evacuated include a family with three children and two elderly people, according to Ukraine’s defense ministry intelligence directorate. The youngest evacuee was born just a few days earlier at a monastery.
- The armed forces of Ukraine are advancing “confidently” towards Kherson, according to a Ukrainian military spokesperson. Natalia Hemeniuk, the head of the press center of Operation Command South, “Speaking about what is happening directly in Kherson direction, we are advancing there. Maybe we are not moving as fast as those who present positive news would like, but believe me, these steps are very confident.”
- The war in Ukraine “concerns the West as a whole” but at the same time must not lead to “forgetting Africa’s security” needs, France’s armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said Saturday. “We have a form of myopia in Europe and France, where the Ukraine war mobilises all our energy, and that is natural - it is a conflict that concerns the West as a whole,” said Lecornu in Ivory Coast after a visit to Niger.
- “No Russian missiles or artillery can break our unity,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement on Saturday. In an address on the anniversary of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, Zelenskiy added, “It should be equally obvious that it cannot be broken with lies or intimidation, fakes or conspiracy theories.”
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All bodies have been identified after the Vinnytsia missile strike, the region’s governor announced. According to Vinnytsia oblast governor Serhii Borzov, 68 people are currently hospitalized, 14 of them are in serious condition.
- Rescue operations after Russian missiles struck the west central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia have concluded. 23 people have been killed, 202 have been injured, one person is missing and three others have been rescued, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service.
- Russian forces are preparing for a new offensive, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to Vadym Skibitsky, a representative of the intelligence directorate at Ukraine’s defense ministry, Russian activity signal that “undoubtedly, preparations for the next stage of offensive actions are underway.”
- Around 100 to 150 civilians were killed by Russian military strikes in Ukraine over the past two weeks, according to the Pentagon. In a briefing on Friday, a senior US military official said, “And I think all told over the week...we’re looking at between 100, 150, somewhere in there, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, this week in Ukraine as a result of Russian strikes.”
That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates. I’ll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Updated
7 civilians have been evacuated from Sviatohirsk Lavra in Donetsk, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Among those evacuated include a family with three children and two elderly people, according to Ukraine’s defense ministry intelligence directorate. The youngest evacuee was born just a few days earlier at a monastery.
Ukraine is attempting to facilitate a ceasefire and create a humanitarian corridor to evacuate up to 600 civilians, including over 50 children, sheltering at the monastery.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 16, 2022
The armed forces of Ukraine are advancing “confidently” towards Kherson, according to a Ukrainian military spokesperson.
Natalia Hemeniuk, the head of the press center of Operation Command South said on Espresso TV, “Speaking about what is happening directly in Kherson direction, we are advancing there. Maybe we are not moving as fast as those who present positive news would like, but believe me, these steps are very confident. And that is why they are taken in silence and certain confidentiality – in order to gain a foothold in these territories and then announce our victories.”
Hemeniuk also said that Ukrainian defenders came across an enemy armored vehicle on Friday while clearing out the territory of Potiomkyne village which the Ukrainian military liberated a few weeks ago.
The vehicle turned out to not pose any threats and was transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces.
“But we understand that the enemies may leave more threatening ‘surprises’ in the territories they left. Like it was with Snake Island, which the Russians continue to attack with aircraft and try to find out what is actually happening there and bomb it from time to time though failing to hit the island,” Humeniuk said.
Deputies in Ukraine’s parliament have formed a new group in attempts to urge the Ukrainian parliament to approve a resolution that declares Russia’s expulsion of Circassians in 1864 an act of genocide.
Ten deputies in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada have formed a new group, For a Free Caucasus, to press the Ukrainian parliament to approve a resolution declaring Russia’s expulsion of Circassians in 1864 to have been an act of genocide.https://t.co/cHWEpAzmen
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 16, 2022
The war in Ukraine “concerns the West as a whole” but at the same time must not lead to “forgetting Africa’s security” needs, France’s armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu said Saturday.
Agence France-Presse reports:
“We have a form of myopia in Europe and France, where the Ukraine war mobilises all our energy, and that is natural - it is a conflict that concerns the West as a whole,” said Lecornu in Ivory Coast after a visit to Niger.
“Yet it should not lead to forgetting about news on security in Africa,” he argued ahead of meeting with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
Earlier, Lecornu had talks with Ivorian counterpart Tene Birahima Ouattara on African security, notably in the Sahel.
While hailing France’s counter-terrorism efforts with Paris’ partners in the region in recent years, he said Paris had now embarked on a “new agenda” with its main friends and allies in West Africa.
Earlier this year, Paris announced the withdrawal of its troops from Mali following the breakdown in relations with the ruling junta in the former French colony.
That ended a nearly 10-year deployment against jihadist groups that pose a growing threat in the region.
“No Russian missiles or artillery can break our unity,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement on Saturday.
In an address on the anniversary of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine, Zelenskiy added, “It should be equally obvious that it cannot be broken with lies or intimidation, fakes or conspiracy theories.”
All bodies have been identified after the Vinnytsia missile strike, the region’s governor announced.
According to Vinnytsia oblast governor Serhii Borzov, 68 people are currently hospitalized, 14 of them are in serious condition.
Serhii Morhunov, Vinnytsia’s mayor said that the families of those killed and injured would received $1,700 and $850 in assistance, respectively.
Updated
Rescue operations after Russian missiles struck the west central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia have concluded, the Kyiv Independent reports.
23 people have been killed, 202 have been injured, one person is missing and three others have been rescued, according to Ukraine’s state emergency service.
Additionally, the strikes, which hit the city center on July 14, destroyed 55 residential houses and 42 vehicles.
Key event
Russian forces are preparing for a new offensive, the Kyiv Independent reports.
According to Vadym Skibitsky, a representative of the intelligence directorate at Ukraine’s defense ministry, Russian activity signal that “undoubtedly, preparations for the next stage of offensive actions are underway.”
He also added that the threat of an invasion from Belarus is no longer as high as it previously was prior to the start of Russia’s invasion in February.
Updated
Around 100 to 150 civilians were killed by Russian military strikes in Ukraine over the past two weeks, according to the Pentagon.
In a briefing on Friday, a senior US military official said: “And I think all told over the week ... we’re looking at between 100, 150, somewhere in there, civilian casualties, civilian deaths, this week in Ukraine as a result of Russian strikes.
The recent increase in civilian deaths comes as Russian and Ukrainian military forces remain in a fierce battle on the frontlines of Ukraine’s eastern territories.
When asked whether the war had entered a stalemate, the official said: “It’s probably too early to make a determination like that. I think, you know, again, in terms of where you are on the battlefield, I would – I have to believe that the HIMARS have had an effect. I don’t know that that’s – you know, we didn’t think that would be a silver bullet, certainly.”
He went on to add: “I think what you’re seeing is ... a matchup between bad morale and strong will.”
Hi everyone, this is Maya Yang and I will be taking over the blog and bringing you the latest updates. Stay tuned.
Updated
On the Russian missiles hitting the city of Dnipro, which killed three people and wounded 15, a local woman who gave her name as Klavdia told Reuters: “When the blast wave hit, there were few shards because all my windows were taped up.
“I have a small injury on the left of my body but the people whose windows were not protected like this, there was a lot of blood, their injuries were horrible.
“I saw a small child all covered in blood. It was awful.”
Russia said it had destroyed a factory in Dnipro making missile parts.
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US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said she had productive meetings with a number of countries on the sidelines of the G20 finance leaders meeting about a proposed price cap on Russian oil.
Yellen said her bilateral meetings and the overall G20 sessions in Indonesia focused on the human and economic cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the US and other countries “unequivocal in condemning their [Russia’s] shameful actions”.
Russia says it is engaged in a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The US treasury department said Yellen met finance leaders from Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Africa, Turkey, and Singapore.
She also had dinner with Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, a treasury official said.
“On energy costs, I had productive bilateral meetings with over a half dozen of my counterparts where we discussed the merits of a price cap and how it can help us achieve our goals of denying Putin revenue for his war machine, while dampening energy costs,” Yellen told reporters outside the meeting venue.
She said a price cap was one of “our most powerful tools to address the high prices people are facing in America and around the world”.
Yellen said she also underscored the importance of taking action at the G20 to address the global food security crisis, Reuters reports.
Yellen met Saudi finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, Australian treasurer, Jim Chalmers, South African finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, the deputy prime minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong, and the Turkish finance minister, Nureddin Nebati, the treasury said.
Updated
Joe Biden says US 'will not walk away' from Middle East
Speaking at a summit of Arab leaders, US president Joe Biden has said the United States “will not walk away” from the Middle East and let “China, Russia or Iran” fill a power vacuum in the region.
President Biden delivered his remarks at the Gulf Cooperation Council on the final leg of a four-day tour of the Middle East.
Biden’s trip aimed to secure stability and a new axis of cooperation in light of growing concerns over Iran’s leadership and Russian president Vladimir Putin. It also aimed to boost the global flow of oil to bring down rising gas prices.
A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters before the summit, said Moscow’s efforts to acquire drones from Tehran show that Russia is “effectively making a bet on Iran”.
Biden said:
We will not walk away and leave a vacuum to be filled by China, Russia or Iran.
We will seek to build on this moment with active, principled, American leadership.
Today, I’m proud to be able to say that the era of land wars in the region, wars that involved huge numbers of American forces, is not under way.
Biden announced a $1 bn US aid package to tackle a worsening hunger crisis in the region, and pressed his counterparts to ensure human rights are realised, and allow their citizens to speak openly.
“The future will be won by the countries that unleash the full potential of their populations,” he said, adding that people should be allowed to “question and criticise leaders without fear of reprisal”.
Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, convened the summit and hinted that the kingdom could put out more oil than it does currently, something Biden is hoping to see when an existing production deal among OPEC+ member countries expires in September, the Associated Press reports.
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German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has reiterated Germany’s climate protection goals despite growing concerns about the country’s energy supply as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a video published on Saturday, Scholz said:
Our goal is that we will be one of the first countries to be CO2-neutral and, at the same time, globally competitive and successful as an economic nation, as an industrial country.
We will make sure now that the development of renewable energies finally progresses – wind power at sea, on land solar energy, biomass ... We need all this to produce electricity and hydrogen so that we will have an industrial future without CO2 emissions. We want to accomplish this by 2045.
The first cluster of corresponding laws, he added, had begun to be introduced. More laws would follow later this year so that plans could stay on schedule.
The federal government, the chancellor said, had initially failed on its plan for an overarching and immediate climate programme and had only presented a strategy for transport and construction at first.
He added:
It’s bitter that we now have to temporarily use some power plants that we have already shut down because of Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine.
But it’s only for a very short time. Because we are really getting started now and want to do everything we can to fight the climate crisis.
Scholz did not comment on energy security for the winter.
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IMF chief, Kristalina Georgieva, has warned officials from the G20 to take urgent action to combat inflation, warning that the “exceptionally uncertain” global economic outlook could worsen if higher prices persist.
Speaking at a G20 meeting of finance officials in Indonesia, Georgieva said Russia’s intensifying war in Ukraine had increased pressure on commodity and energy prices, and that global financial conditions were tightening more than expected.
At the same time, pandemic-related disruptions and renewed supply-chain bottlenecks continued to weigh on economic activity.
Pressure was mounting on heavily indebted countries, and the debt situation was “deteriorating fast”, she said.
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UK says Russian momentum has slowed
In its daily update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence says Russia’s momentum has slowed in recent days, with Ukrainian forces “successful in repulsing Russian attacks since Lysychansk was ceded and the Ukrainian defensive line was shortened and straightened”.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 16 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 16, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/CkouEyTZAD
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Z0M9tGmMN7
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Ukraine could sue top US and EU banks over oil and gas trade with Russia that has effectively financed “war crimes”, the Financial Times reports (£).
The Ukrainian government has told US and European bank bosses, including JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and HSBC’s Noel Quinn, to stop financing companies that trade Russian oil.
Oleg Ustenko, economic adviser to president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused the lenders of “war crimes”. He wrote to them this week asking them to cut ties with groups that trade Russian oil and sell shares in the state-backed oil and gas groups Gazprom and Rosneft.
In the letters, also sent to Citigroup and Crédit Agricole, banks were accused of “prolonging” the war by providing credit to companies that ship Russian oil, and were told they would be blocked from participating in the postwar reconstruction of Ukraine.
Ustenko said Ukraine’s ministry for justice intends to sue the banks at the International Criminal Court once the war ends, and that Ukraine’s security services were collecting information on financial institutions supporting Russian fossil fuels.
“In my view, they are committing war crimes because they are helping the Putin regime in this specific way,” he said, arguing that Russian oil and gas revenues fund the purchase of rockets and missiles used against Ukrainians.
Although the ICC cannot investigate or prosecute governments or corporations, it can do so with individuals from those organisations.
The Ukrainian government is reportedly particularly angry with JP Morgan because the company published an analyst note warning that a price cap on Russian oil could drive global prices to a “stratospheric” $380 a barrel.
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Finance ministers of the G20 agreed on most issues, including efforts to tackle food insecurity, despite failing to reconcile differences regarding members’ views about the war in Ukraine, Indonesia said on Saturday.
Hosting the meeting in Bali, Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, said finance leaders also agreed to maintain the spirit of collaboration and multi-lateralism.
Updated
Russian armed forces have destroyed a factory in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that produced parts for Tochka-U ballistic missiles, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Russian forces have also shot down three Ukrainian airplanes and two helicopters, the ministry said.
Updated
The number of people killed after a Russian missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday has risen to 24, after a woman died in hospital of her burn wounds, a Ukrainian official has told Agence France-Presse.
Russia claims the strikes – hundreds of kilometres from the front lines – had targeted a meeting of Ukrainian military officials and foreign arms suppliers. Kyiv has denied these claims.
UN secretary-general, António Guterres, said he was “appalled” by the attack, while the EU has condemned it as an “atrocity”.
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Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Saturday that it had asked German group Siemens to return a turbine it has repaired in Canada to ensure the Nord Stream gas pipeline to Europe works.
Gazprom began 10 days of scheduled annual maintenance on the pipeline on Monday, with EU countries – particularly gas-reliant Germany – waiting nervously to see if the taps will be turned back on.
Moscow had already wound down supplies by 60% in recent weeks, blaming the absence of the turbine.
Despite western sanctions on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine, Canada has agreed to grant what it has described as a time-limited and revocable permit for Siemens Canada to allow the machine’s return, AFP reports.
But Gazprom claims it has received no guarantees of it being sent back.
It said in a statement:
On July 15, Gazprom submitted an official request to Siemens to obtain the documents ... to allow the export of the gas turbine engine of the Portovaya station, a critical facility for the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Gazprom is counting on the Siemens group to unconditionally fulfil its obligations relating to the repair and maintenance of gas turbine engines on which the reliability of Nord Stream gas pipeline operations and natural gas deliveries to European consumers rely.
The maintenance work on the gas link was scheduled long in advance, but amid hostile relations between Russia and the west, some fear Gazprom might seize the opportunity to cut the supply through the pipeline for good.
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US teasury secretary, Janet Yellen, told reporters on Saturday that finance officials from the G20 reached strong consensus on many issues, including the need to address a worsening food security crisis, despite differences over Russia’s war in Ukraine that prevented leaders from issuing a joint statement, the Associated Press reports.
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Key event
Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has ordered Russian military units operating in Ukraine to step up their operations to prevent strikes on eastern Ukraine and other territories controlled by Russia, the ministry said in a statement on its website on Saturday.
It said Shoigu “gave the necessary instructions to further increase the actions of groups in all operational areas in order to exclude the possibility of the Kyiv regime launching massive rocket and artillery strikes on civilian infrastructure and residents of settlements in Donbas and other regions,” Reuters reports.
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Two people were killed in Nikopol on Saturday when heavy Russian shelling hit the southern Ukrainian town, the emergency services and regional governor said.
The regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Russia fired 53 Grad rockets at the town, Reuters reports.
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Key event
The White House says Russian officials have visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice in recent weeks to view attack-capable drones for use in its war in Ukraine.
Joe Biden’s administration released the intelligence information as he was due to meet leaders of six Arab Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, for a summit about regional missile and defence capabilities on Saturday.
Biden is expected to make a “major statement” at the end of his four-day trip, aimed at “laying out clearly” his strategy for America’s engagement in the Middle East and bolstering a unified new regional axis, largely driven by shared concerns over Iran.
The US believes Iran showcased the drones to Russian officials at Kashan airfield on 8 June and 15 July.
The administration also released satellite imagery of Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones on display and in flight at the airfield while a Russian delegation plane was on the ground, the Associated Press reports.
White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the administration has “information that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with several hundred UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles]”.
He added:
We assess [that] an official Russian delegation recently received a showcase of Iranian attack-capable UAVs.
We are releasing these images, captured in June, showing Iranian UAVs that the Russian government delegation saw that day.
This suggests ongoing Russian interest in acquiring Iranian attack-capable UAVs.
Sullivan said US officials believe the June visit “was the first time a Russian delegation has visited this airfield for such a showcase”.
In a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Friday, Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, rejected reports about exporting Iranian drones to Russia, calling them “baseless”.
“This sort of claims parallel with Biden’s visit to occupied Palestine, or Israel, are in direction of political intentions and purposes,” the website of Iran’s foreign ministry quoted Amir-Abdollahian as saying.
“We oppose any move that could lead to continuation and intensifying conflicts.”
President Biden plans to announce on Saturday that the US is committing $1bn in food aid to the Middle East and North Africa amid rising food insecurity caused by the war in Ukraine, a senior official told reporters.
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The G20 will discuss post-pandemic financial stability, crypto-assets and climate-related financial risks among other topics on Saturday, but sources said the two-day meeting in Bali would probably end without a formal communiqué as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to divide the group.
Indonesia urged G20 finance leaders to stay focused on their goals for global economic recovery.
Senior western officials, including US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, and Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, condemned the war on Friday and blasted Russian officials for the economic fallout it has caused, Reuters reports.
Ukraine’s finance minister, Serhiy Marchenko, who addressed the meeting virtually, called for “more severe, targeted sanctions” against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Western countries have enforced strict sanctions on Russia and accused it of war crimes in Ukraine, which Moscow has denied.
Other G20 nations, including China, India and South Africa, have been more muted in their response.
“We are in a rudderless moment in the world economy with the G20 paralysed by Putin’s war and the G7 unable to lead on global public goods,” said Kevin Gallagher, director of the Global Development Policy Centre at Boston University.
Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, had hoped delegates would address rising commodity prices, the worsening food security crisis and the knock-on effects of the ability of low-income countries to repay debt.
Updated
A Russian strike hit the north-eastern Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv in Kharkiv overnight, killing three people including a 70-year-old woman and wounding three more, the regional governor said.
The strike damaged a residential block, a school and a shop, and rescuers were going through the rubble, governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.
Russia denies targeting civilians, Reuters reports.
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Moldova received about €600m in pledges at a donors conference on Friday, an official said, to help the country overcome rising inflation and the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
More than 500,000 refugees have fled to Moldova, which borders Ukraine, since the Russian invasion began on 24 February. The situation has put a huge strain on resources in Europe’s poorest country, which is looking to forge closer ties with the west, the Associated Press reports.
Moldova is also fully dependent on Russian gas supplies – prices of which have increased four-fold in the past year – and is now contending with skyrocketing inflation.
The Moldova Support Platform donor meeting was held in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, on Friday and was co-chaired by the Romanian foreign minister, Bogdan Aurescu, his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, and the French secretary of state for development, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou. Delegates from the G7 and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe also attended the event.
Baerbock wrote online after the event:
We may not have the power to stop the war in Ukraine today or tomorrow, due to Russia’s brutality. But we do have the means to help a democratic country to prevent it from being crushed by the effects of this war.
I’m Jedidajah Otte and taking over this live blog for the next few hours.
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Russia storing weapons in European nuclear plant – Ukrainian official
Russia is using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant as a base to store weapons, including “missile systems”, and shell surrounding areas in Ukraine, an official with Kyiv’s nuclear agency said.
The president of the Ukrainian state nuclear agency, Energoatom, said on Friday that the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was “extremely tense”, with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The occupiers bring their machinery there, including missile systems, from which they already shell the other side of the River Dnipro and the territory of Nikopol,” Pedro Kotin said in a televised interview.
The nuclear plant in south-western Ukraine has been under Russian control since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion, though it is still being operated by Ukrainian staff.
The most recent attack in the Dnipro region left three dead and 15 wounded, regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said on Telegram.
The threat of air raids across most of Ukraine was also raised after strikes were reported in areas far from the frontlines. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Russian objective was to “cause maximum damage to Ukrainian cities”.
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Russia and Ukraine have described progress towards an agreement to lift a blockade restricting the export of Ukrainian grain.
Turkey, which is mediating the talks, said a deal could be signed next week.
Asked if that timeline was realistic, a senior Ukrainian official who asked not to be identified told Reuters: “We really hope so. We’re hurrying as fast as we can.”
Russia’s defence ministry said an agreement was close, but Moscow’s negotiator cautioned that a grains deal would not lead to a resumption of peace talks.
A deal would probably involve inspections of vessels to ensure Ukraine was not bringing in arms, as well as guarantees from western countries that Russia’s own food exports be exempt from sanctions.
Moscow welcomed a written clarification from Washington on Thursday that banks, insurers and shippers would not be targeted by sanctions for facilitating shipments of Russian grain and fertiliser.
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Air raid sirens in Kyiv as Russia steps up long-range attacks
Air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv on Saturday as Russia intensified its long-range bombardment of Ukrainian cities that has killed at least 34 people and wounded many more in the past three days.
Late on Friday, Russian missiles hit the central city of Dnipro, killing three people and wounding 15, the regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said. Rockets hit an industrial plant and a street next to it, he said on Telegram.
Reuters posted footage on social media showing thick black smoke rising from buildings and burning cars.
Eight people were killed and 13 were injured in a string of shellings in 10 places in the eastern region of Donetsk, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said in a television interview.
On Thursday, Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea hit an office building in Vinnytsia, south-west of Kyiv, in a strike Ukraine said killed at least 23 people.
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Summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. It is approaching 10am in Kyiv. Here’s a summary of the latest developments.
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At least three people were killed and 15 injured following a missile attack on Friday in Dnipro, central Ukraine. “The rockets hit an industrial plant and a busy street next to it,” the regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, said on his Facebook page.
- The UK said the Kremlin was “fully responsible” for the death of a British captive in eastern Ukraine. The British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said: “I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine. Russia must bear the full responsibility for this.” Rescue workers were still clearing debris in the wake of strikes in Vinnytsia, central Ukraine, that killed at least 23 people.
- A top Ukrainian official has accused Russia of deliberately escalating its deadly attacks on civilian targets. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, told the Guardian that monitoring of Russian strikes suggested an increased emphasis in recent weeks on terrorising Ukraine’s civilian population. “That’s not my emotions but what our monitoring is telling us.”
- A wounded soldier who returned from Russian captivity has recounted how Russian forces would threaten Ukrainian soldiers with the death penalty if they refused to cooperate. Denys Piskun, an Azov soldier, told Azov Media: “They said that if you don’t testify, if you don’t cooperate, there will be the death penalty. You all have the death penalty on trial as a Nazi terrorist organisation.”
- Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the US House of Representatives approved $100m in funding to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American aircraft as part of the National Defence Authorisation Act. The pilots will be trained on F-15 and F-16 jets, according to Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
- Ukraine’s military losses peaked in May, the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said in an interview on Friday. Speaking to the BBC, Reznikov said: “The biggest peak of our losses was in May,” with up to 100 soldiers being killed a day.
- Europe has “shot itself in the lungs” with sanctions aimed at Russia over its war in Ukraine, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said on Friday. Orbán, who has ruled Hungary since 2010 and frequently clashes with Brussels, has been a fierce critic of European Union sanctions on Russian oil. In an address on national radio, Orbán urged EU leaders to change the sanctions policy.
- Ukrainian rocket strikes have destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centres in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia’s attacking potential, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s defence ministry said on Friday. The official, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, emphasised the role played by US Himars (high mobility artillery rocket systems) , one of several types of long-range weapon supplied by the west to assist Ukraine in the war.
- M270 long-range multiple rocket launch systems have arrived in Ukraine, the Ukrainian defence minister announced on Friday. “They will be good company for Himars on the battlefield,” Oleksii Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
Updated
