Summary
Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
It’s 2am in Kyiv and we will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.
You can read our comprehensive summary of the day’s events below.
- Ukraine’s defence ministry on Saturday urged citizens in Enerhodar, a key area seized by Russia, to reveal where Russian troops were living and who among the local population was collaborating with the occupying authorities. “Please let us know as a matter of urgency the exact location of the occupying troops’ bases and their residential addresses…and the places of residence of the commanding staff,” it said, adding that exact coordinates were desirable.”
- The governor of the Zaporizhizhia has said that Russia is keeping 170 people captive in the Zaporizhizhia oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to governor Oleksandr Starukh, Russian forces have abducted at least 415 people in the southern region since February 24 - the day Russian forces invaded Ukraine - and at least 170 individuals are still being kept captive.
- The US Secretary of State has condemned the Russian attack against Odesa, accusing Russia of deepening the global food shortage. “In a statement posted on Twitter, Anthony Blinken said, “The United States strongly condemns Russia’s attack on the port of Odesa today. It undermines the effort to bring food to the hungry and the credibility of Russia’s commitments to the deal finalized yesterday to allow Ukrainian exports.”
- 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees have received temporary protection status in the European Union, according to the UNHCR. In a new report released Friday, the UNHCR cited that 3.7 million Ukrainians have registered for Temporary Protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe.
- Video footage has emerged of a powerful explosion that took place in the Russian-occupied territory of Horlivka on Saturday in the Donetsk Oblast, Euromaidan reports. Emerging reports from outlets have been claiming that Ukrainian armed forces have hit a Russian ammunition depot.
- The former deputy secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council has been suspected of high treason, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to a report released on Saturday by the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigations, Volodymyr Sivkovych is suspected of collaborating with Russian intelligence services and managing a network of agents in Ukraine that spied on behalf of Russia.
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Germany has delayed defense weapon delivery to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports.The outlet, sourcing German media organization German Welt, cites that anonymous Ukrainian officials have reported that Ukraine’s application for eleven IRIS-T air missile defense systems is currently being held up by Germany’s Federal Security Council.
- Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban Saturday called for US-Russian peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, lashing out at the European Union’s strategy on the conflict. In a speech in Romania, the 59-year-old ultra-conservative leader also defended his vision of an “unmixed Hungarian race” as he criticised mixing with “non-Europeans.” Orban has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, but maintains an ambiguous position on the conflict.
Updated
Two US citizens recently died in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, CNN reported on Saturday, citing a U.S. State Department spokesperson.
Reuters reports:
The spokesperson, not named in the report, did not provide any details about the individuals or the circumstances of their deaths but said the US administration was in touch with the families and providing “all possible consular assistance,” according to CNN.
“Out of respect to the families during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by CNN.
The State Department did not respond to emailed queries from Reuters on Saturday.
Ukraine has been under siege by Russia for nearly five months in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented by the West. Kyiv and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war.
Several Americans have volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainian forces despite warnings not to take up arms. A US citizen was killed in combat in May after he joined thousands of foreign fighters who have volunteered to help Ukraine fend off Russian forces.
Ukraine’s defence ministry on Saturday urged citizens in Enerhodar, a key area seized by Russia, to reveal where Russian troops were living and who among the local population was collaborating with the occupying authorities.
“Please let us know as a matter of urgency the exact location of the occupying troops’ bases and their residential addresses ... and the places of residence of the commanding staff,” it said, adding that exact coordinates were desirable.
The statement by the ministry’s defence intelligence directorate was posted on Telegram and was directed towards Enerhodar residents and those around the city, which is home to a major nuclear power station.
The statement also asked residents for details “of local collaborators who went over to the side of the enemy,” including where they lived and worked, as well as information about “people who ‘sympathise’ with the occupiers.”
Russian forces captured Enerhodar in early March and in May, the Russian-appointed head of the city was injured in an explosion. Russia has identified the explosion as a “terrorist attack.”
The intelligence directorate’s appeal also asked for the routes that Russian military equipment was using in Enerhodar.
“Together, let’s kick the occupants out of our homeland!” it said, adding people could either provide details via WhatsApp or Signal or by phone calls.
Enerhodar had a pre-war population of more than 50,000. Many residents work at the two power plants near the town, one of which is the Zaporizhzhia facility, the largest nuclear power station in Europe.
The governor of the Zaporizhizhia has said that Russia is keeping 170 people captive in the Zaporizhizhia oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports.
According to governor Oleksandr Starukh, Russian forces have abducted at least 415 people in the southern region since February 24 - the day Russian forces invaded Ukraine - and at least 170 individuals are still being kept captive.
Key event
The US Secretary of State has condemned the Russian attack against Odesa, accusing Russia of deepening the global food shortage.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Anthony Blinken said, “The United States strongly condemns Russia’s attack on the port of Odesa today. It undermines the effort to bring food to the hungry and the credibility of Russia’s commitments to the deal finalized yesterday to allow Ukrainian exports.”
The United States strongly condemns Russia’s attack on the port of Odesa today. It undermines the effort to bring food to the hungry and the credibility of Russia’s commitments to the deal finalized yesterday to allow Ukrainian exports.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 23, 2022
Blinken also said that the attack undermines the diplomacy of the UN, Turkey and Ukraine in formulating the deal in attempts to alleviate the growing food crisis around the world.
“This attack casts serious doubt on the credibility of Russia’s commitment to yesterday’s deal and undermines the work of the UN, Turkey and Ukraine to get critical food to world markets,” he added.
The Secretary of State went on to blame Russia for the global food shortage and said “Russia bears responsibility for deepening the food crisis and must stop its aggression.”
Updated
3.7 million Ukrainian refugees have received temporary protection status in the European Union, according to the UNHCR.
In a new report released Friday, the UNHCR cited that 3.7 million Ukrainians have registered for Temporary Protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe.
Additionally, the organization cited that there are now nearly six million individual Ukrainian refugees across Europe since the war began in February.
In total, nearly one-third of Ukrainians have been forced from their homes since the Russian invasion, making the conflict the “largest human displacement crisis in the world today.”
Video footage has emerged of a powerful explosion that took place in the Russian-occupied territory of Horlivka on Saturday in the Donetsk Oblast, Euromaidan reports.
Emerging reports from outlets have been claiming that Ukrainian armed forces have hit a Russian ammunition depot.
A powerful explosion occurred today in the Russian-occupied Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 23, 2022
As "Novosti Donbasa" reports, the explosion occurred on the territory of the Mashzavod after shelling pic.twitter.com/2ttphj23Ep
Massive explosions in the occupied Horlivka again. Reportedly, Ukraine's armed forces have hit a concentration of Russia's equipment pic.twitter.com/qMTC5bbxBI
— UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) July 23, 2022
The former deputy secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council has been suspected of high treason, the Kyiv Independent reports.
According to a report released on Saturday by the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigations, Volodymyr Sivkovych is suspected of collaborating with Russian intelligence services and managing a network of agents in Ukraine that spied on behalf of Russia.
The outlet also reported the bureau saying that Ukraine’s former deputy head of security service in Crimea, Oleh Kulinich, was detained due to him allegedly being part of the same network of spies.
Germany has delayed defense weapon delivery to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The outlet, sourcing German media organization German Welt, cites that anonymous Ukrainian officials have reported that Ukraine’s application for eleven IRIS-T air missile defense systems is currently being held up by Germany’s Federal Security Council.
The council is led by German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who in recent weeks defended his country’s record of delivering weapons to Ukraine, saying that Germany began sending weapons to Ukraine as soon as the war began in February.
Germany’s ministry of economy had previously approved of Ukraine’s application for the defense systems and passed the decision onto the Federal Security Council, German Welt reported.
Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban Saturday called for US-Russian peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, lashing out at the European Union’s strategy on the conflict.
Agence France-Presse reports:
In a speech in Romania, the 59-year-old ultra-conservative leader also defended his vision of an “unmixed Hungarian race” as he criticised mixing with “non-Europeans.” Orban has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, but maintains an ambiguous position on the conflict.
Before Moscow sent in troops, he had sought close ties with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. And last week, he said Europe had “shot itself in the lungs” by imposing sanctions against Moscow over the military operation.
“We’re sitting in a car with four flat tyres”, he said on Saturday, of efforts to stem the bloodshed. He went on to add, “A new strategy is needed, which should focus on peace negotiations instead of trying to win the war.”
Orban said “only Russian-US talks can put an end to the conflict because Russia wants security guarantees” only Washington can give. The EU, he added, “should not side with the Ukrainians, but position itself” between both sides.
The sanctions “will not change the situation” and “the Ukrainians will not come out victorious”, he said, adding, “The more the West sends powerful weapons, the more the war drags on.”
Orban claimed the “war would never have broken out if Donald Trump were still head of the United States and Angela Merkel were the German Chancellor.”
Hi everyone, this is Maya Yang and I’ll be taking over the blog for the next few hours with the latest updates. Stay tuned.
Three people were killed and 19 others were injured when 13 Russian missiles hit a military airfield and railway infrastructure in Ukraine’s central region of Kirovohrad, the regional governor has said.
A soldier and two security guards were among those killed at an electricity substation, Andriy Raikovych said on television.
Raikovych said the strikes had disrupted the electricity grid and that one district of the regional capital, Kropyvnytskyi, had been left without power as a result, Reuters reported.
Updated
Under the threat of imprisonment and interrogation, and the constant pressure of searches by Russian soldiers, six artists secretly met in a basement studio in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson.
In the months after their homes were taken over by Putin’s forces, the artists formed a residency during which they created dozens of works, including drawings, paintings, video, photography, diary entries and stage plays.
The results, which they have named Residency in Occupation, offer a harrowing insight into the horrors endured by millions of Ukrainians living under the Russian invasion.
Updated
Turkey’s defence minister, Hulusi Akar, has said Turkish officials are “concerned” following the Russian missile attack on Odesa, highlighting that the attack occurred a day after a deal to safely export Ukrainian grain was signed in Istanbul.
Akar said the Turkish defence ministry spoke to the Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, and infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s signatory for the grain deal yesterday.
“We received the necessary information,” said Akar. “There was a missile attack there. They stated that one of the missile attacks hit one of the silos there, and the other one fell in an area close to the silo, but that there was no negativity in the loading capacity and capability of the docks, which is important, and that the activities there can continue.”
Akar added that he had also spoken with the Russian side: “In our contact with Russia, the Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail.
“The fact that such an incident occurred right after the agreement we made yesterday regarding the grain shipment really worried us.
“However, we continue to fulfil our responsibilities within the agreement we made yesterday, and we also expressed in our meetings that we are in favour of the parties to continue their cooperation calmly and patiently here.”
The text of the agreement states that the deal to export the grain from three Ukrainian ports including Odesa should last for a period of 120 days, unless one party officially notifies the others of its intent to pull out.
However, it also states that “the parties will not undertake any attacks against merchant vessels and other civilian vessels and port facilities engaged in this initiative”.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has pushed to position Turkey as a key diplomatic partner for both Russia and the west on Ukraine and hosted multiple sets of talks, mentioned the grain deal during a speech to workers in a small central Turkish town, but with no reference to the port attack.
Updated
Updated
The UK’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has described a Russian attack on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa as “absolutely appalling”.
The attack came hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals to allow grain exports to resume from the southern city.
Speaking at a campaign event in Kent, the Conservative leadership candidate said: “It is absolutely appalling that only a day after striking this deal, Vladimir Putin has launched a completely unwarranted attack on Odesa.
“It shows that not a word he says can be trusted. And we need to urgently work with our international partners to find a better way of getting the grain out of Ukraine that doesn’t involve Russia and their broken promises.”
Updated
Ukrainian forces struck a bridge in the occupied Black Sea region of Kherson, targeting a Russian supply route as Kyiv prepares for a major counteroffensive, a Ukrainian regional official has said.
The strike hit the Daryivskyi Bridge, which crosses the Inhulets River and is used for supplies by Russian troops, days after a key bridge over the nearby Dnieper River was hit, said an adviser to the region’s governor who is on Ukrainian-held territory, Reuters reported.
“Every bridge is a weak point for logistics and our armed forces are skilfully destroying the enemy system. This is not yet the liberation of Kherson but a serious preparatory step in that direction,” the official, Serhiy Khlan, wrote on Facebook.
The deputy head of the Russian-installed regional authority said the bridge had been hit by seven rockets from western-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), but that the bridge was still functioning, Russia’s Tass news agency reported.
Updated
Updated
Summary
- Three people were killed as 13 Russian missiles hit a military airfield and railway infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Kirovohrad region on Saturday, the local governor has said.
- Heavy fighting has been taking place in the last 48 hours as Ukrainian forces continued their offensive against Russia in Kherson province, west of the Dnipro River, British military intelligence said on Saturday.
- Portugal is analysing the citizenship applications of two Russian oligarchs – one of whom is under US sanctions, the government said late on Friday, as a law granting passports to descendants of Sephardic Jews faces growing scrutiny.
- The Odesa attack threatens the landmark grain deal. Ukraine has continued to prepare to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports despite a Russian missile strike that hit the port of Odesa on Saturday, said the Ukrainian infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov.
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Russia’s missile strike on the port of Odesa on Saturday demonstrated that Moscow would find ways not to implement the grain deal struck with the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine.
Updated
You can read Peter Beaumont’s full report on the bombing of Odesa here.
Barely 12 hours after Moscow signed a deal with Ukraine to allow monitored grain exports from Ukraine’s southern ports, Russia targeted the country’s main port of Odesa – through which grain shipments would take place – with cruise missile strikes.
The attack raised new doubts about the viability of the deal, which was intended to release about 20m tonnes of grain to ward off famine in parts of the developing world.
In one of the largest attacks on the city since the war began, the airstrikes rattled buildings in the city centre and sent up a plume of smoke that was visible across the city.
The United Nations has condemned the Russian attack on Odesa.
A spokesperson said: “The secretary general unequivocally condemns reported strikes today in the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Yesterday, all parties made clear commitments on the global stage to ensure the safe movement of Ukrainian grain and related products to global markets. These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe.”
Updated
Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, has tweeted the following in response to the bombing of Odesa by Russian forces.
ODESA BOMBED:
— Tobias Ellwood MP (@Tobias_Ellwood) July 23, 2022
Two days after I depart the city it’s attacked.
As I said in my previous tweet - you cannot trust Russia.
Baffled by how the international community was bluffed by Russia’s plan to re-open the port.
More courage & leadership please from the West to help Odesa. pic.twitter.com/jv9M5Iqgxb
Updated
Updated
Oleg Nikolenko, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson, has said of the Russian strike on Odesa: “The Russian missile is Vladimir Putin’s spit in the face of UN secretary general António Guterres and Turkish president Recep Erdoğan, who went to great lengths to reach an agreement and to whom Ukraine is grateful.”
Updated
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said Russia’s missile strike on the port of Odesa on Saturday demonstrated that Moscow would find ways not to implement the grain deal struck with the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine.
“This proves only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it,” Zelenskiy said in a video posted on Telegram.
Updated
Odesa attack threatens landmark grain deal - Kyiv
Ukraine continues to prepare to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports despite a Russian missile strike that hit the port of Odesa on Saturday, the Ukrainian infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said.
Reuters reports:
Russian missiles hit the southern port of Odesa, the Ukrainian military said, threatening a landmark deal signed just the day before to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and ease global food shortages caused by the war.
“We continue technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports,” Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.
Updated
Updated
Portugal is analysing the citizenship applications of two Russian oligarchs – one of whom is under US sanctions, the government said late on Friday, as a law granting passports to descendants of Sephardic Jews faces growing scrutiny.
Reuters reports:
Russian-Israeli diamond oligarch Lev Leviev and Russian property developer God Nisanov are the latest high-profile Russians known to have applied for citizenship under the legislation.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month that Nisanov, who was hit by sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was “one of the richest men in Europe and a close associate of several Russian officials”.
The two men’s citizenship applications are “pending analysis”, Portugal’s Justice Ministry said in a statement, without giving further details. Representatives for Leviev and Nisanov did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Sanctions-hit Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was granted citizenship in April 2021 under the same law, a process that triggered an ongoing inquiry at a state agency and forced the government to tighten the rules.
Two years earlier, Russian businessman Andrei Rappoport, who has a net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, also got a Portuguese passport.
Civic Front, an association that denounces wrongdoing in public life, said all pending nationality processes based on the law in question should be suspended until the state agency inquiry has concluded.
“It is increasingly evident that the naturalisation of Roman Abramovich is not an isolated case,” it said in a letter to the justice minister this week.
A spokeswoman for Abramovich previously said he obtained citizenship “in accordance with the rules”.
Odesa attack 'outrageous', says US ambassador
The US ambassador to Kyiv said Moscow should be held to account for what she said was an “outrageous” Russian strike on the port city of Odesa on Saturday.
Russian missiles hit infrastructure in Odesa a day after Russia and Ukraine, with mediation by the United Nations and Turkey, signed a deal to reopen Black Sea ports and resume grain exports.
Outrageous. Russia strikes the port city of Odesa less than 24 hours after signing an agreement to allow shipments of agricultural exports. The Kremlin continues to weaponize food. Russia must be held to account.
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) July 23, 2022
Updated
Ukraine has called on the United Nations and Turkey to ensure that Russia fulfills its commitments under the agreement for a safe corridor for grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the foreign ministry said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Russian missiles hit infrastructure in Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Saturday, a day after Russia and Ukraine, with mediation by the United Nations and Turkey, signed a deal to reopen Black Sea ports to resume such exports.
Odesa attack like Putin spitting in UN's face, says Ukraine
The Ukrainian embassy in Ankara has posted the following statement regarding the Russian strike on the port of Odesa.
It took less than 24 hours for the Russian Federation to launch a missile attack on Odesa port in order to question the agreements and promises made to the UN and Turkey in the document signed in Istanbul yesterday.
The Russian missiles fired at Odesa are basically like the spit of Vladimir Putin thrown in the faces of UN secretary general António Guterres and Turkish president Recep Erdoğan, who made great efforts to reach an agreement for which Ukraine is grateful.
Ukraine emphasizes the need for strict implementation of agreements on the renewal of safe exports of Ukrainian agricultural products from three ports (Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhnoye) across the Black Sea.
We call on the UN and Turkey to ensure that Russia fulfils its obligations within the framework of the safe operation of the grain corridor.
Russia will take full responsibility for the deepening of the global food crisis in case the agreements reached are not fulfilled.
Updated
Russian missiles strike Odesa port hours after grain export deal agreed
Barely twelve hours after Moscow signed a deal with the Ukraine to allow monitored grain exports from Ukraine’s southern ports, Russia targeted Ukraine’s main port of Odesa – through which grain shipments would take place – with cruise missile strikes.
The enemy attacked the Odesa sea trade port with Kalibr cruise missiles,” the Operational Command South wrote on Telegram app, raising new doubts about the viabiltiy of the deal which was intended to release some 20 million tonnes of grain to ward of famine in large parts of the developing world.
In one of the largest attacks on the city since the war began, the air strikes rattled buildings in the city centre and sent up a plume of smoke that was visible across the city.
On Odesa’s seafront, beachgoers applauded as the city’s air defences brought down two of four missiles, with the remaining two hitting the port. The attack on Odesa was one of a series of Russian strikes across Ukraine, with the city of Kropyvnytsky being hit by 13 missiles on Saturday morning.
The new attacks came hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals with the United Nations and Turkey that were intended to avert a global food crisis. The agreements clear the way for the shipment of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and some Russian exports of grain and fertilizer held up by the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the agreements offer “a chance to prevent a global catastrophe a famine that could lead to political chaos in many countries of the world, in particular in the countries that help us.”
Despite the progress on that front, fighting raged unabated in eastern Ukraine’s industrial heartland of the Donbas, where Russian forces tried to make new gains in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance.
Russian troops also have faced Ukrainian counterattacks but largely held their ground in the Kherson region just north of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Moscow has denied responsibility for the crisis, blaming sanctions for slowing its own food and fertiliser exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its Black Sea ports.
Senior U.N. officials, briefing reporters on Friday, said the deal was expected to be fully operational in a few weeks and would restore grain shipments from the three reopened ports to pre-war levels of 5 million tonnes a month.
Updated
Joanna Partridge has written some analysis regarding the deal Ukraine and Russia signed on Friday which would allow Ukraine’s wheat, maize and oilseeds to be shipped amid fears over a global food crisis.
The agreement to move Ukraine’s grain may have been signed, but the challenge of moving millions of tonnes from blockaded Black Sea ports is only just beginning.
On Friday, Ukraine and Russia signed a UN-backed deal to allow Ukraine’s wheat, maize and oilseeds to be shipped amid fears over a global food crisis.
But finding vessels and crew available to transport these cargoes is no overnight job.
Shipping companies, as well as grain traders, have welcomed the deal as a positive step, but warned that several obstacles remain, including ensuring the safety of seafarers and vessels, along with securing adequate and affordable insurance to cover the transport.
As a first step, Ukraine’s coastal waters will need to be de-mined, or at the very least a corridor stretching several kilometres will need to be cleared. There have been mixed reports from Kyiv over how long this would take, with estimates ranging from 10 days to several months.
Russian missiles hit infrastructure in Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Saturday, a day after Russia and Ukraine signed a deal to reopen Black Sea ports to resume grain exports, the Ukrainian military said according to Reuters.
“The enemy attacked the Odesa sea trade port with Kalibr cruise missiles; 2 missiles were shot down by air defense forces; 2 hit the infrastructure of the port,” the Operational Command South wrote on Telegram.
Some pictures from the conflict today
Updated
Russia at risk of significant setback in Kherson, says UK
The UK Ministry of Defence has posted its latest intelligence update regarding the war in Ukraine.
It says Russia is using artillery in an attempt to slow Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Kherson.
It adds that if Russian forces in the region are facing a “significant military and political setback” if they are cut off due to a lack of crossings over the Dnipro River.
A key bridge over the river has been damaged.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 23 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 23, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/m5gfsJnVfM
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/RWnJFR8WY1
Updated
Three people were killed as 13 Russian missiles hit a military airfield and railway infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Kirovohrad region on Saturday, the local governor said.
Reuters reports that speaking on television, governor Andriy Raikovych said two security guards at an electricity substation had been killed. He also said that one Ukrainian soldier had been killed and nine more wounded.
Raikovych said the strikes had disrupted the electricity grid and that one district of the regional capital Kropyvnytskyi had been left without power as a result.
Heavy fighting has been taking place in the last 48 hours as Ukrainian forces continued their offensive against Russia in Kherson province, west of the Dnipro River, British military intelligence said on Saturday.
Reuters reports:
Russian forces are using artillery fire along the Ingulets River, a tributary of the Dnipro, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
“Supply lines of the Russian forces west of the river are increasingly at risk,” the ministry said in an intelligence update.
It added that additional Ukrainian strikes have caused further damage to the key Antonivsky Bridge, though Russia has conducted temporary repairs.
Russian rockets targeted a town and nearby villages in the Dnipropetrovsk region of central-eastern Ukraine, the region’s governor, Valentyn Reznychenko, said on Saturday.
In the country’s north-east, “several powerful strikes” hit the centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Saturday morning, Reuters reported the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, as writing on Telegram.
Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment outside regular hours.
Kyiv hopes that its gradually increasing supply of western arms, such as Himars (high mobility artillery rocket systems) from the US, will allow it to recapture territory.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed four Himars systems between 5 July and Wednesday, a claim the US and Ukraine rejected.
Isonew Koshiw has written some analysis of how the war has robbed Ukraine’s oligarchs of political influence.
“Ukraine’s richest people, known in the country as oligarchs, are used to dominating political and economic life. But in the five months since Russia’s full-scale invasion started, they have gone quiet.
Political analysts and experts attribute this loss of influence to the fact that oligarchs and their businesses – like all Ukrainian citizens – need protection in the form of the military and diplomacy, state functions they have no control over.
Mykyta Poturyaev, an MP and former election campaign adviser to several Ukrainian oligarchs and politicians including the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said oligarchs are in the unusual position of not being able to influence the country at the moment.”
Boris Johnson has told Volodymyr Zelenskiy that the UK support will “not waver” regardless of who becomes the next leader of Britain.
In a call between the UK and Ukrainian leaders on Friday, Johnson “stressed the UK’s ongoing determination to support the Ukrainian people and said that resolve will not waver, no matter who becomes the next UK prime minister”, a Downing Street spokesperson said.
PA Media reported Johnson also welcomed news of the deal to get grain out of Ukraine, amid hopes the agreement can avoid a global food crisis.
Johnson also spoke with Zelenskiy about plans to host Eurovision and the treatment of UK prisoners being held by Russian-backed forces.
Updated
In the southern Ukrainian town of Nikopol on the Dnipro river, continued Russian shelling killed at least one person, a Ukrainian official said on his Telegram channel.
“A 60-year-old woman died,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine.
Reuters reported him as saying the Russian attack on Nikopol in the south – the target of more than 250 rockets in the past week – damaged 11 homes and farm buildings, cut off gas and water pipes and destroyed a railway track.
Fatalities reported as 13 missiles hit Ukrainian airfield
Thirteen Russian missiles hit a military airfield and railway infrastructure in Ukraine’s central Kirohovrad region on Saturday, killing and wounding a number of people, the local governor has said.
Andriy Raikovych wrote on Telegram that rescue teams were working at the impact sites, and that one small district of the regional capital, Kropyvnytskyi, had been left without electricity by the strikes.
Updated
Wheat prices have fallen to levels last seen before Russia invaded Ukraine four months ago after Friday’s mediated deal between Kyiv and Moscow to allow the export of Ukrainian grain from blockaded ports in the Black Sea.
But Agence France-Press reports that despite the price drop, analysts expressed scepticism about the agreement’s ability to sidestep the realities of the grinding Russia-Ukraine conflict amid doubts over Moscow’s willingness to implement the accord.
Michael Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics and Consulting, said: “I’m still sceptical and I don’t think I’m alone in that in questioning that it will actually move much grain.”
But he said wheat prices might not have much further to fall, given that drought conditions were hitting output in some other parts of Europe.
On Euronext, wheat prices for delivery in September dropped 6.4% to $325.75 a ton, while in Chicago those prices fell 5.9% to $7.59 a bushel – equivalent to about 27kg – in the lowest close since Russia’s invasion on 24 February.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says the United Nations is responsible for guaranteeing the landmark deal between Ukraine and Russia aimed at unblocking Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports and alleviating a global food crisis.
“Russia could engage in provocations, attempts to discredit the Ukrainian and international efforts,” Agence France-Presse reported him as saying on Friday in his daily video address. “But we trust the United Nations. Now it’s their responsibility to guarantee the deal.”
Russia and Ukraine signed the grain exports agreement in Istanbul on Friday, with Turkey and the UN as co-guarantors, in a deal potentially averting the threat of a catastrophic global food crisis.
The warring parties signed two separate but identical texts, with Ukraine refusing to sign the same document as the Russians.
Zelenskiy said about 20m tonnes of produce from last year’s harvest and the current crop would be exported because of the deal, estimating the value of Ukraine’s grain stock at around $10bn.
Updated
Summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Adam Fulton and it’s approaching 10am in Kyiv. Here’s a summary of the latest developments.
- “Several powerful strikes” hit the centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Saturday morning, the mayor, Ihor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram. Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment outside regular hours.
- Lithuania has lifted a ban on the rail transport of sanctioned goods into and out of the Russian territory of Kaliningrad, Russia’s RIA news agency said on Friday. The Baltic state had stopped Russia from sending sanctioned goods via rail to Kaliningrad in June, triggering a promise from Moscow of swift retaliation. RIA cited Mantas Dubauskas, a spokesperson for the state railway company, as saying it had informed customers they could ship goods again. “It is possible that some goods will be transported today,” he was quoted as telling Lithuanian TV.
- Emergency workers recovered three bodies from a school hit by a Russian strike in eastern Ukraine, officials said on Friday, one of a string of attacks as Russia claims its forces destroyed four Himar (high mobility artillery rocket) systems. The casualties in the city of Kramatorsk followed a barrage Thursday on a densely populated area of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, that killed at least three people and wounded 23.
- The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said he had little confidence in Russia fulfilling its side of a bargain reached with Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations on resuming grain shipments from Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported. “Canada’s confidence in Russia’s reliability is pretty much nil,” Trudeau said on Friday.
- The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine had about $10bn worth of grain available for sale in the wake of the deal. “This is another demonstration that Ukraine can withstand the war,” he said in a late-night address on Friday, Reuters reported. Ukraine would also have a chance to sell the current harvest, he said.
- Wheat prices tumbled to levels last seen before the Russian invasion after the deal on resuming grain exports from Ukraine. In Chicago, the price of wheat for delivery in September dropped 5.9% to $7.59 a bushel, which is equivalent to about 27kg and the lowest close since Russia’s invasion on 24 February. On Euronext, wheat prices for delivery in September fell 6.4% to $325.75 a ton.
- The US is exploring whether it can send American-made fighter jets to Ukraine, the White House said on Friday. Joe Biden’s administration had started making explorations into the possibility of providing the jets to Ukraine but the move was not something that would be done immediately, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.
- The US signed off on an additional $270m in military aid to Ukraine, including four new Himar systems. Kirby said on Friday that Russia had “launched deadly strikes across the country, striking malls, apartment buildings, killing innocent Ukrainian civilians”.
- A new statement from Europol said the organisation had no records of weapons being smuggled out of Ukraine. The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation said it has full confidence in Ukraine, especially because the country had started to implement new measures to monitor and track weapons, Euromaidan reports.
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused $5.5bn in damage to Ukraine’s environment, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to Ruslan Strelets, Ukraine’s minister of environmental protection and natural resources, there have been 2,000 recorded cases of damage to nature since Russia invaded on 24 February.
Updated
