Closing summary
The blog is now closing. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
At least 11 people have been killed after a strike on Tuesday that hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk on Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The dead included at least three children, and more than 60 people are said to have been wounded. Emergency services said seven people had been rescued from under the rubble.
Ukrainian secret service arrested a man it accused of helping Russians carry out attack on Kramatorsk. Ukraine’s counter-intelligence service said it has arrested “an agent of the Russian special services” who it accuses of helping Russia direct a missile strike that killed 11 people in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.
The Ukrainian government appointed a new head of state-owned weapons producer Ukroboronprom on Wednesday. “The newly appointed general director faces three main tasks: to increase the production of ammunition and military equipment, build an effective anti-corruption infrastructure in the company, and transform Ukroboronprom,” said Oleksander Kamyshyn, the minister for Ukraine’s strategic industries. The appointment of Herman Smetanin is part of a broader transformation of the key industry, officials said.
Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, reported that a 70-year-old woman was injured in shelling in the Kupiansk district.
Ukraine’s air force has reported that overnight it destroyed six Shahed drones. Two drones were shot down over Cherkasy region, but two more hit an empty warehouse in the region, it said.
Ukraine’s defence minister said Ukrainian forces have made “certain gains” that have not been made public and that the bulk of its troops reserves have yet to be deployed. Oleksiy Reznikov told the Financial Times the retaking of small villages from Russian occupation in recent weeks were “not the main event” in Kyiv’s planned attack.
One of the Russian-imposed leaders in occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, reported that explosions have been heard in the city of Polohy. On Telegram, he has suggested that three explosions were heard near the train depot there. The claims have not been independently verified.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, claimed more than 200 people had their water supply interrupted after a Ukrainian cross-border strike on the region.
Lithuania’s president, Gitanas Nausėda, has confirmed that his country is to supply Ukraine with two Nasams launchers. Nausėda visited Kyiv on Wednesday ahead of travelling to an EU summit later in the week.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked the parliament of Croatia for recognising the Holodomor as a genocide.
Gen Sergey Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, had advance knowledge that the mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was planning a rebellion against Moscow’s defence officials, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Updated
Support for arming Ukraine among the US public has seen a sharp rise after the attempted mutiny in Russia by the Wagner mercenary group over the weekend.
A two-day poll, carried out by Reuters/Ipsos that concluded on Tuesday, found 65% of respondents backed arming Ukraine and approved of shipments, compared with 46% in a May poll.
The Biden administration has approved 41 weapons packages for Ukraine totalling more than $40bn since the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, launched what he calls “a special military operation” in February 2022.
According to the latest poll, 81% of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of independents favour supplying US weapons to Ukraine.
The survey was conducted just days after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the private Wagner mercenary company, launched and then called off a mutiny over what he charged was the Russian defence ministry’s mishandling of the war in Ukraine.
The survey also found that large majorities of Americans – 67% and 73% – are more likely to support a candidate in next year’s US presidential election who will continue military aid to Ukraine and one who backs the Nato alliance.
A number of US presidential candidates have expressed tepid support for Ukraine, including Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, the Republican party’s frontrunners.
In a CNN town hall last month, Donald Trump did not say whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war. DeSantis labelled the invasion a “territorial dispute” earlier this year, which he later said was misunderstood. He has called Putin a “war criminal”.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is running in the Democratic primary against Joe Biden, caused controversy this week after saying Russia was “acting in good faith” in the Ukraine invasion. He also said the US had spent $8tn in the war. The actual figure is about $77bn spent and $113bn pledged. A CNN poll carried out last month had Kennedy Jr at 20% support among Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters.
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