Russia struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa for the fourth consecutive night after pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal. Odesa’s regional governor Oleh Kiper said that 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley were destroyed in a strike on an agriculture facility which injured two people, and saw damage to emergency equipment after it was struck twice in a “double-tap” attack. Ukrainian military spokesperson Nataliya Gumenyuk saying “The enemy is continuing terror, and it’s undoubtedly related to the grain deal.”
US-supplied cluster bombs, which are banned by more than 120 countries, have been deployed in Ukraine against Russian forces, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby has said. “We have gotten some initial feedback from the Ukrainians, and they’re using them quite effectively,” Kirby told reporters.
Russia’s navy carried out a live fire “exercise” in the north-west Black Sea, Moscow’s defence ministry has said, days after the Kremlin said it would consider ships travelling to Ukraine through the waterway to be potential military targets. The Black Sea Fleet “carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship in the combat training range in the north-western part of the Black Sea”, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram according to AFP. “The target ship was destroyed as a result of a missile strike,” it said.
Ukraine had warned that it could target all shipping out of Russian and Russian-occupied ports and signalled its readiness to fight on the Black Sea, after Moscow’s declaration of a naval blockade and bombardment of Ukrainian ports. The tit-for-tat moves come after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea deal.
Poland has decided to move military formations from the west to the east of the country due to the potential threat posed by the Wagner group’s presence in neighbouring Belarus. “Training or joint exercises between the Belarusian army and the Wagner group is undoubtedly a provocation”, PAP quoted Zbigniew Hoffmann as saying.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed Vadym Prystaiko as Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain. Prystaiko was recently critical of Zelenskiy on television in the UK over comments the president had made after UK defence secretary had called for a show of more gratitude from Ukraine.
CIA head William Burns has suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin is biding his time over deciding what to ultimately do with Yevgeney Prigozhin. In comments at the Aspen security forum Burns said “What we are seeing is a very complicated dance. Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold. In my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback so I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution”. He added “If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster.”
The UN’s atomic watchdog says it has been unable to inspect the roofs of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russian forces. Ukraine accuses Russia of turning the plant into a shield for its artillery guns and dynamiting the reactor roof, turning the site into an atomic bargaining chip.
The US imposed Russia-related sanctions against nearly 120 individuals and entities aimed at blocking Moscow’s access to electronics and other goods that aid its war against Ukraine. The new measures are designed to “reduce Russia’s revenue from the metals and mining sector, undermine its future energy capabilities and degrade Russia’s access to the international financial system,” the treasury department said in a statement.
Russia said Thursday it was imposing restrictions on British diplomats, requiring them to give five days’ notice of any plans to travel beyond a 120km radius, due to what it called London’s “hostile actions”.
Ukraine’s deputy economy minister held talks with China’s vice-commerce minister in Beijing in the first high-level visit by a Ukraine government official to the country since 2019.
