Here is where the war stands on Saturday, July 13, 2024:
Fighting
- Russian attacks killed at least six people and injured 13 in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, regional prosecutors said.
- Three civilians were injured by a mine in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, a few kilometres from the Russian border. The regional administration has warned of mine clearances taking place in other areas along the Russian border.
- Ukraine’s domestic security service said it has documented the deaths of nearly 300 civilians from mines left by Russia and is collecting evidence for the International Criminal Court (ICC).
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed an allegation by a Russian official that Kyiv was planning to stage attacks on its own power dams to blame Russia for the assault, describing it as a new intimidation tactic.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, condemned a missile strike on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, earlier this week and blamed Russia, which has denied attacking civilian targets.
- Ukraine asked the IAEA’s governing board to consider the matter because the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital had received support from the agency for cancer diagnostics and treatment.
- Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, called on the ICC to prosecute Russia over the attack on the children’s hospital.
Diplomacy
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia does not rule out any scenarios regarding the possible resumption of the now-defunct Black Sea grain deal.
- Russia accused Australia of inciting “anti-Russian paranoia” for charging a Russian-born couple – an army private and her husband who are Australian citizens – with espionage.
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese rejected Russian criticism over the arrest of the Brisbane-based couple, telling the Kremlin to “back off”. Albanese said Russia had “no credibility”, accusing Moscow of engaging in “espionage here and around the world”.
- United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov spoke for a second time in just over two weeks and discussed lowering tensions, the Pentagon said.
- “The issue of preventing security threats and reducing the risk of possible escalation was discussed,” Russia’s Ministry of Defence said of the talks. The two sides have held occasional phone calls despite tensions over the Ukraine war, including one in June where Moscow criticised Washington’s arms supplies to Ukraine.
- Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow was not planning to attack NATO, and the military alliance was aggravating tensions.
- The Russian Foreign Ministry accused South Korea of blackmail and threats over potential weapons supplies to Ukraine.
- China said it was conducting joint military drills with Russia along its southern coast after the NATO meeting in Washington warned of a growing threat from Beijing’s strong ties with Moscow.
Politics
- A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s Donetsk region sentenced an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) official to 14 years in prison on charges of spying, Russia’s prosecutor general said.
