Summary
Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.
In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the day’s events below.
- The capture of the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine has given Russian forces “genuine headway”, while its forces in the south have shown signs of “better cooperation”, analysts say. Western officials said the sustainability of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine was “challenging”, but described the impact on their munitions and morale as “remarkable”.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said heavy weapons from western allies have finally begun working at “full capacity” on frontlines. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian military has been able to target Russian warehouses and locations that are “important for logistics”.
- Resistance remains ongoing in villages around Lysychansk, where 15,000 civilians remain, according to Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai. On Telegram, Haidai said: “Today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch.” He accused Putin’s troops of engaging in a scorched earth policy, “burning down and destroying everything on their way”.
- The evacuation of civilians from Sloviansk continued on Wednesday as Russian troops pressed towards the eastern Ukrainian city in their campaign to control the Donbas region. Mayor Vadym Lyakh said that about 23,000 people out of 110,000 were still in Sloviansk but claimed Russia had been unable to surround the city. The governor of Donetsk has also urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee.
- The battle for Sloviansk is likely to be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, British intelligence said. Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
- Ukraine has rejected the claim that Russian forces destroyed two advanced US-made Himars rocket systems and their ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s general staff said the claims by Russia’s defence ministry were fake and that it was using the US-supplied Himars to inflict “devastating blows” on Russian forces.
- Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited the war-scarred suburbs of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday. Martin said he and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed a joint response to the threat to food security, the energy crisis and the preparation of the seventh sanction package against Russia. Martin reiterated his country’s solidarity with Ukraine.
- The head of the Russian-imposed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky, has said the region plans to sell Ukraine’s grain to the Middle East. The main countries involved in the deal were Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stealing grain, a charge that Moscow has denied.
- Russian forces have occupied about 22% of Ukraine’s arable land, according to Nasa’s Harvest mission. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nasa has been focusing on the impact of the war on the global food system. Its findings have revealed that Ukrainian fields where 28% of winter and 18% of spring crops are sown are under Russian occupation.
- Sri Lanka’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said he asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin to help import fuel to his country as it faces its worst economic crisis in seven decades. Rajapaksa tweeted that he had a “productive” telephone call with Putin, while thanking him for “all the support extended by his [government] to overcome the challenges of the past.
- Zelenskiy called on the world’s largest independent oil trader to stop shipping Russian oil, accusing it of “brazen profiteering from blood oil”.
- Ukraine’s military announced plans to introduce a system of permits that would prohibit men eligible for conscription from leaving the region where they are registered. The move, based on legislation from 1992, was intended to enable the country’s armed forces to locate potential conscripts more easily, but it prompted an immediate backlash.
- Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has admitted that he met the former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, without officials present while foreign secretary. Johnson told MPs he accepted he met the former KGB agent on a trip to Italy. Asked whether he reported the meeting to officials, Johnson said: ‘I think I did.’
- Russia’s parliament has rushed through two bills imposing strict controls on the economy, requiring businesses to supply goods to the armed forces and obliging employees at some firms to work overtime. The bills will allow the government to introduce “special economic measures” once signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.
- Nearly 9 million people have left Ukraine since Vladimir Putin invaded, the UN refugee agency has said. With Russia stepping up its offensive in the east of the country, there are increasingly loud calls from the Ukrainian authorities for people to escape while they can from frontline areas.
Russia’s parliament has rushed through two bills imposing strict controls on the economy, requiring businesses to supply goods to the armed forces and obliging employees at some firms to work overtime.
The bills will allow the government to introduce “special economic measures” once signed into law by President Vladimir Putin.
“In the context of operations carried out by the armed forces of the Russian Federation outside of Russia, including on the territory of Ukraine, there is a need to repair weapons, military equipment and provide the armed forces with material and technical means,” Reuters cites an explanatory note to one of the bills as reading.
The bills were submitted to the lower house State Duma by the Kremlin on 30 June.
After being passed on their first reading, Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said further discussion would be held behind closed doors due to national security.
According to one of the drafts, the state will be able to purchase goods and services necessary for conducting military special operations from a single supplier without the need for a competitive tender.
In addition, businesses will be required by law to supply goods and services necessary for conducting the “special military operation” to the armed forces.
A second bill mandates the government to require employees of certain enterprises producing goods and services needed by the Russian military to work overtime.
The government may also oblige some employees to work at night, on weekends or during holidays, in return for increased wages.
Artillery provided by the west is beginning to work “very powerfully” against Russian forces in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
Noting the development in his latest national address, Zelenskiy said:
Finally it is felt that the western artillery - the weapons we received from our partners - started working very powerfully.
Its accuracy is exactly as needed. Our defenders inflict very noticeable strikes on depots and other spots that are important for the logistics of the occupiers.
And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army. The losses of the occupiers will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying them.”
France is to renationalise its indebted electricity giant EDF in response to the energy crisis aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, has said.
“We must have full control over our electricity production and performance,” Borne told parliament in her first state-of-the-nation speech to parliament on Wednesday, as she tried to court opposition parties to avoid parliamentary deadlock.
“We must ensure our sovereignty in the face of the consequences of the war and the colossal challenges to come … That’s why I confirm to you the state’s intention to own 100% of EDF’s capital.”
The French state holds an 84% stake in EDF, one of the world’s biggest electricity producers, but the company is facing delays and budget overruns on new nuclear plants in France and Britain, and corrosion problems at some of its ageing reactors, which have heavily hit its shares price in recent months.
Summary
It’s 1am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said heavy weapons from western allies have finally begun working at “full capacity” on frontlines. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said the Ukrainian military has been able to target Russian warehouses and locations that are “important for logistics”.
- The non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders has called for Ukraine’s internet liberation on Wednesday. “The Russian forces are colonising the Ukrainian digital infrastructure and are installing their telecommunications companies in southern Ukraine,” said Vincent Berthier, the head of RSF’s tech desk.
- Over 21,000 war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces are being investigated by Ukrainian authorities, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Irina Venediktova. Her office receives reports of 200 to 300 such crimes daily, it said.
- Russian forces have occupied about 22% of Ukraine’s arable land, according to Nasa’s Harvest mission. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nasa has been focusing on the impact of the war on the global food system. Its findings have revealed that Ukrainian fields where 28% of winter and 18% of spring crops are sown are under Russian occupation.
- The evacuation of civilians from Sloviansk continued on Wednesday as Russian troops pressed towards the eastern Ukrainian city in their campaign to control the Donbas region, as Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, visited Kyiv to voice solidarity. Mayor Vadym Lyakh said that about 23,000 people out of 110,000 were still in Sloviansk but claimed Russia had been unable to surround the city.
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
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said heavy weapons from western allies have finally begun working at “full capacity” on frontlines.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said that the Ukrainian military has been able to target Russian warehouses and locations that are “important for logistics”.
According to Zelenskiy, the counterattacks have significantly reduced Russia’s offensive potential and that Ukrainian forces have begun advancing in multiple directions including Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Updated
The non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders has called for Ukraine’s internet liberation on Wednesday.
“The Russian forces are colonising the Ukrainian digital infrastructure and are installing their telecommunications companies in southern Ukraine,” said Vincent Berthier, the head of RSF’s tech desk.
“This strategy imposes an alternative reality into which the Kremlin has already plunged its own citizens. Ukraine’s occupied networks must be freed at once. The right of Ukrainian citizens to online access to reliable news and information is a matter of life and death in time of war,” he added.
In the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, the internet is being diverted towards Russia and is being subject to Kremlin censorship. According to RSF, Kherson’s online news that its residents have access to now passes through two Russian internet service providers.
Updated
Over 21,000 war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces are being investigated by Ukrainian authorities, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general Irina Venediktova.
Venediktova’s office receives reports of 200 to 300 such crimes daily, it said.
More than 21,000 war crimes committed by Russians are now being investigated by #Ukrainian authorities. This was stated by the Prosecutor General of the country Irina Venediktova.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 6, 2022
Venediktova's office, she said, receives reports of 200-300 such crimes daily. pic.twitter.com/3gpen80VRT
Russian forces have occupied around 22% of Ukraine’s arable land, according to NASA’s Harvest mission.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NASA has been focusing on the impact of the war on the global food system. Its findings have revealed that Ukrainian fields where 28% of winter and 18% of spring crops are sown are under Russian occupation.
russian invaders have occupied around 22% of all Ukraine's arable land — NASA #StopRussia pic.twitter.com/GrPMkypTsp
— Stratcom Centre UA (@StratcomCentre) July 6, 2022
The evacuation of civilians from Sloviansk continued on Wednesday as Russian troops pressed towards the eastern Ukrainian city in their campaign to control the Donbas region, as Ireland’s prime minister visited Kyiv to voice solidarity.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Sloviansk has been subjected to heavy bombardment in recent days as Russian forces push westwards on day 133 of the invasion.
“Twenty years of work; everything is lost. No more income, no more wealth,” Yevgen Oleksandrovych, 66, told AFP as he surveyed the site of his car parts shop, destroyed in Tuesday’s strikes.
AFP journalists saw rockets slam into Sloviansk’s marketplace and surrounding streets, with firefighters scrambling to put out the resulting blazes.
Around a third of the market in Sloviansk appeared to have been destroyed, with locals coming to see what was left among the charred wreckage. The remaining part of the market was functioning, with a trickle of shoppers coming out to buy fruit and vegetables.
“I will sell it out and that’s it, and we will stay home. We have basements, we will hide there. What we can do? We have nowhere to go, nobody needs us,” said 72-year-old greengrocer Galyna Vasyliivna.
Mayor Vadym Lyakh said that around 23,000 people out of 110,000 were still in Sloviansk but claimed Russia had been unable to surround the city.
“Since the beginning of hostilities, 17 residents of the community have died, 67 have been injured,” he said, adding, “Evacuation is ongoing. We take people out every day.”
Many of the evacuees were taken by bus to the city of Dnipro, further west. “The city is well fortified. Russia does not manage to advance to the city,” the mayor said.
Vitaliy, a plumber, said his wife and their daughter, who is six months’ pregnant, were evacuated from Sloviansk on Wednesday.
“I am afraid for my wife,” he told AFP. “Here, after what happened yesterday, they hit the city centre; need to leave … I sent my wife, and I have no more choice: tomorrow I will join the army.”
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- The governor of Donetsk, the last remaining eastern province of Ukraine partially under Kyiv’s control, has urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee amid reports of fresh deaths and injuries. At least seven civilians have been killed in Russian shelling over the past 24 hours and 25 are said to have been wounded as the Kremlin continues to step up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
- The capture of the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine by Russian forces has meant Moscow has made “genuine headway”, while its forces in the south have shown signs of “better cooperation”, western officials said. Western officials said the sustainability of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine was “challenging”, but described the impact on their munitions and morale as “remarkable”.
- Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said resistance was ongoing in villages around the city of Lysychansk, where 15,000 civilians remain. On Telegram, Haidai said: “Today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch.” He accused Putin’s troops of engaging in a scorched earth policy, “burning down and destroying everything on their way”.
-
The battle for Sloviansk is likely to be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, British intelligence said. Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
-
Ukraine has rejected a claim by Russia’s defence ministry that Moscow’s armed forces had destroyed two advanced US-made Himars rocket systems and their ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s general staff tweeted that the claims by Russia’s defence ministry were fake and that it was using the US-supplied Himars to inflict “devastating blows” on Russian forces.
- The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU needs to make emergency plans to prepare for a complete cut-off of Russian gas. The commission is working on a “European emergency plan” with the first proposals to be presented by the middle of the month, she said. “If worst comes to worst, then we have to be prepared,” she said.
- Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited the war-scarred suburbs of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday to reiterate his country’s solidarity with Ukraine. Martin said he and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, discussed a joint response to the threat to food security, the energy crisis and the preparation of the seventh sanction package against Russia.
- Russia has denied reports that a Russian-flagged ship is being held and investigated by Turkish authorities in the Black Sea port of Karasu over claims its cargo was stolen from Ukraine. Turkish customs officials acted after Kyiv claimed the Zhibek Zholy was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdiansk, a Ukrainian port in the south-east of the country. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Alexei Zaitsev, said the ship was “undergoing standard procedures”.
- The head of the Russian-imposed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky, has said the region plans to sell Ukraine’s grain to the Middle East. The main countries involved in the deal were Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stealing grain, a charge that Moscow has denied.
- Sri Lanka’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said he asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin to help import fuel to his country as it faces its worst economic crisis in seven decades. Rajapaksa tweeted that he had a “productive” telephone call with Putin, while thanking him for “all the support extended by his [government] to overcome the challenges of the past.
-
Ukraine’s military has announced plans to introduce a system of permits that would prohibit men eligible for conscription from leaving the region where they are registered. The move, based on legislation from 1992, was intended to enable the country’s armed forces to locate potential conscripts more easily, but it prompted an immediate backlash.
- Latvia is to reinstate compulsory military service amid growing tension with Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Latvia, which borders Belarus and Russia, had scrapped mandatory service a few years after joining the Nato military alliance.
- Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has admitted that he met the former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, without officials present while foreign secretary. Johnson told MPs he accepted he met the former KGB agent on a trip to Italy. Asked whether he reported the meeting to officials, Johnson said: ‘I think I did.’
Ukraine’s military plans to limit free movement to make conscription easier
Ukraine’s military has announced plans to introduce a system of permits that would prohibit men eligible for conscription from leaving the region where they are registered.
The move, based on legislation from 1992, was intended to enable the country’s armed forces to locate potential conscripts more easily, but it prompted an immediate backlash.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised the announcement in his nightly TV address to the nation on Tuesday, saying that the general staff should not make decisions without him. Two parliamentarians immediately filed draft legislation that would scrap the army’s initiative, which they described as “outdated”.
It remains unclear if movement permits for men will be introduced, but the army’s announcement highlights the precarious position facing Ukrainian men who could be conscripted to fight at any moment.
Since Zelenskiy declared martial law at the start of Russia’s invasion, all Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are eligible for military service and are forbidden from leaving the country. (There are a few exceptions such as men with poor health, or fathers of three or more children.)
“I don’t want to fight. I want to continue working,” said Roman, a 31-year-old software developer in Kyiv. “But I also don’t want to think negatively about it because many of my friends have been mobilised and it’s not fair on them. I try not to think that if I’m mobilised it 100% means I will die or be injured or see fighting.”
A crowdfunded Turkish-made military drone is expected to be delivered “immediately” from Lithuania, the country’s defence minister, Arvydas Anušauskas said.
The “Vanagas” (which means “Hawk” in Lithuanian), along with ammunition, arrived in the Baltic country on Monday, Anušauskas said. “Very soon it will be delivered to Ukraine,” he tweeted.
Last hours of Bayraktar “Vanagas” in Lithuania. Very soon it will be delivered to 🇺🇦! pic.twitter.com/mBXkWFzCV3
— Arvydas Anušauskas (@a_anusauskas) July 6, 2022
The crowdfunding campaign raised nearly €6m (£5m) for the Bayraktar TB2 drone over three days last month, before its Turkish manufacturer announced it would donate the drone free of charge.
A portion of the crowdfunded funds were used to equip the drone with munitions while the rest went towards humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
Updated
Russia has made ‘genuine headway’ after capturing Lysychansk, say western officials
The capture of the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine by Russian forces has meant Moscow has made “genuine headway”, while its forces in the south have shown signs of “better cooperation”, western officials said.
Western officials said the sustainability of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine was “challenging”, but described the impact on their munitions and morale as “remarkable”.
But one official said it “remains highly uncertain whether Russia will secure the limits of Donetsk oblast this year”.
Russia has made “some significant command changes” in recent weeks, one official said, notably the recently appointed Gen Sergei Surovikin, who has taken over command of the southern group of forces overseeing the occupation of southern Ukraine and the advances on the Donbas from the south.
The official said:
He’s a controversial figure even by the standards of Russian general officers. It is unclear whether it’s his influence which has led to the recent successes around Lysychansk, but certainly there’s been better cooperation amongst groups of forces on the Russian side than we saw in the earlier phases of the war.
There are “very serious issues” over the stocks of Russian munitions and of morale, an official said, while long-range weapons systems are starting to make a “significant operational difference for Ukraine”.
Updated
The Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has been speaking at a joint news conference with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv. He said the pair discussed a joint response to the threat to food security, the energy crisis and the preparation of the seventh sanction package against Russia.
Ukraine “belongs to the European Union”, Martin said, adding that his country would support Kyiv “every step of the way”.
Martin said:
Russia’s brutal war against this beautiful, democratic country is a gross violation of international law. It is an affront to everything that Ireland stands for. It cannot and it will not be allowed to stand.
He pointed out that Ireland had welcomed 40,000 Ukrainians fleeing the war and that they were “welcome to stay in Ireland for as long as they need to”.
Updated
The US president, Joe Biden, and vice-president, Kamala Harris, have spoken to the wife of the US basketball player, Brittney Griner, who is detained in Russia, the White House said.
Biden reassured Cherelle Griner he was “working to secure Brittney’s release as soon as possible, as well as the release of Paul Whelan and other US nationals who are wrongfully detained or held hostage in Russia and around the world”, the White House said in a statement after the call.
From CNN’s Kylie Atwood:
Pres Biden spoke with Cherelle Griner, Brittney Griner's wife, today, the White House says. He read her a draft of the letter that he is sending to Brittney today. He also reassured Cherelle that he is working to secure Brittney’s release as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/lTk0hXXChp
— Kylie Atwood (@kylieatwood) July 6, 2022
Updated
Earlier we reported that Boris Johnson has admitted to MPs that he met the former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, without officials present while foreign secretary.
Asked by Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson at the Commons liaison committee if he met with Lebedev without officials on 28 April 2018, Johnson said:
I certainly have met the gentleman in question who used to be the proprietor of the London Evening Standard when I was mayor of London.
I certainly am not going to deny having met Alexander Lebedev, I certainly have.
He added:
I have certainly met him without officials. I met him on a very few occasions. On the occasion you are mentioning, if that was when I was foreign secretary, then yes.
Our Luke Harding has tweeted the clip:
"Did you meet Alexander Lebedev without your officials?"
— Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) July 6, 2022
"I think I probably did, [mumble], I would need to check"
"Where did you meet him?"
"Er, I met him in Italy as it happens" pic.twitter.com/xlFlEtjvhH
Ukraine has rejected a claim by Russia’s defence ministry that Moscow’s armed forces had destroyed two advanced US-made Himars rocket systems and their ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine.
Russia earlier claimed that its armed forces destroyed two launchers for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars) that America and its allies had been supplying to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s general staff tweeted that the claims were fake and that it was using the US-supplied Himars to inflict “devastating blows” on Russian forces.
УВАГА! РОСІЙСЬКИЙ ФЕЙК
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) July 6, 2022
російські пропагандисти активно поширюють неправдиві повідомлення про нібито знищення американської артилерійської системи “HIMARS”.
Наголошуємо, що дані повідомлення не відповідають дійсності і є нічим іншим, як черговим російським фейком.
It has not been possible to independently verify either side’s claims.
Updated
Updated
The number of people going hungry in the world has risen by 150 million since the start of the Covid pandemic, the UN has said, warning that the food crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine risks pushing the worst-hit countries into famine.
Globally, the number suffering from chronic undernourishment rose to as many as 828 million last year, a rise of about 46 million on the previous year, and three times that increase if measured since the world shut down due to Covid, a report has found.
With the price of fuel, food staples and fertiliser soaring since the invasion of Ukraine, however, that total is expected to rise even further in the next year – a scenario that could see some of the world’s poorest fall into famine, the most extreme form of food deprivation.
“There is a real danger these numbers will climb even higher in the months ahead,” said David Beasley, executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). “The global price spikes in food, fuel and fertilisers as a result of the crisis in Ukraine threaten to push countries around the world into famine.
“The result will be global destabilisation, starvation and mass migration on an unprecedented scale,” he warned. “We have to act today to avert this looming catastrophe.”
Due to the uncertainty caused by the lingering impact of Covid shutdowns, the report, released on Wednesday, is unable to give a precise figure for the number of people going hungry in 2021, instead estimating that the total was somewhere between 702 million and 828 million. If the latter, that would equate to about 10.5% of the world population.
Nearly 9 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian invasion, says UN
Nearly 9 million people have left Ukraine since Vladimir Putin invaded, the UN refugee agency has said, as the governor of Donetsk called on civilians still in the region to flee.
With Russia stepping up its offensive in the east of the country, there are increasingly loud calls from the Ukrainian authorities for people to escape while they can from frontline areas.
The UN refugee agency announced on Wednesday that 8.793 million people had crossed out of Ukraine since 24 February, while Donetsk’s governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee amid reports of fresh deaths and injuries.
Donetsk is the last remaining eastern province of Ukraine partially under Kyiv’s control. Reports suggested on Wednesday that at least seven civilians had been killed in Russian shelling over the past 24 hours and 25 are said to have been wounded.
Kyrylenko said two people had died in the region’s central city of Avdiivka while fatalities were also reported in Sloviansk, Krasnohorivka and Kurakhove.
“The destiny of the whole country will be decided by the Donetsk region,” Kyrylenko said. “Once there are less people, we will be able to concentrate more on our enemy and perform our main tasks.”
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- The governor of Donetsk, the last remaining eastern province of Ukraine partially under Kyiv’s control, has urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee amid reports of fresh deaths and injuries. At least seven civilians have been killed in Russian shelling over the past 24 hours and 25 are said to have been wounded as the Kremlin continues to step up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
-
Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said resistance was ongoing in villages around the city of Lysychansk, where 15,000 civilians remain. On Telegram, Haidai said: “Today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch.” He accused Putin’s troops of engaging in a scorched earth policy, “burning down and destroying everything on their way”.
-
The battle for Sloviansk is likely to be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, British intelligence said. Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
- Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces destroyed two advanced US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) rocket systems and ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine. It also said Russian forces destroyed two ammunition depots storing rockets for the HIMARS near the frontline in a village south of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. These claims have not been independently verified.
- The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU needs to make emergency plans to prepare for a complete cut-off of Russian gas. The commission is working on a “European emergency plan” with the first proposals to be presented by the middle of the month, she said. “If worst comes to worst, then we have to be prepared,” she said.
-
Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin visited Ukraine on Wednesday to reiterate his country’s solidarity with Kyiv. After viewing the war-scarred suburbs of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin, Martin tweeted that it was “difficult to comprehend the devastation and inhumanity of Russia’s attacks” during its occupation of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin.
- Russia has denied reports that a Russian-flagged ship is being held and investigated by Turkish authorities in the Black Sea port of Karasu over claims its cargo was stolen from Ukraine. Turkish customs officials acted after Kyiv claimed the Zhibek Zholy was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdiansk, a Ukrainian port in the south-east of the country. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Alexei Zaitsev, said the ship was “undergoing standard procedures”.
- Russian-backed separatists have seized two foreign-flagged ships in the Russian-occupied port city of Mariupol and claimed they are “state property”. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) informed two shipping companies that their vessels were the subject of “forcible appropriation of movable property with forced conversion into state property”.
- The head of the Russian-imposed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky, has said the region plans to sell Ukraine’s grain to the Middle East. The main countries involved in the deal were Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stealing grain, a charge that Moscow has denied.
- Sri Lanka’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said he asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin to help import fuel to his country as it faces its worst economic crisis in seven decades. Rajapaksa tweeted that he had a “productive” telephone call with Putin, while thanking him for “all the support extended by his [government] to overcome the challenges of the past
- Latvia is to reinstate compulsory military service amid growing tension with Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Latvia, which borders Belarus and Russia, had scrapped mandatory service a few years after joining the Nato military alliance.
- Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has announced that the UK’s ratification of Finland and Sweden’s membership of Nato will be fast-tracked through parliament in London. She said she will move that the accession is ratified on a fast-track before parliamentary recess on 21 July without the usual process of ratifying a treaty.
- The first rotation of Ukrainian soldiers has arrived in the UK for training, according to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace. The training is part of an innovative programme that aims to train up to 10,000 new Ukrainian recruits alongside a £2.3bn military aid package.
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The US and other allies have called for Russian and Belarusian national governing bodies of sports to be suspended from international sports federations. The Russian embassy in the United States described the move as “Russophobic” and said “sports should stay out of politics.”
Hello, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you today with all the latest news from the war in Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.
Boris Johnson is still answering questions at the Commons liaison committee, where he was asked whether he met the former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev without officials when he was foreign secretary in April 2018.
Johnson says he did meet Lebedev, because he used to own the Evening Standard, but he says he cannot remember when.
When pressed, he says he thinks it is correct that he met Lebedev without officials when he was foreign secretary in Italy. Asked if he reported the meeting to his officals, he says he thinks he did.
Johnson was referring to this meeting.
From the i’s Paul Waugh:
Wow. @BorisJohnson finally confirmed something he has previously ducked repeatedly. Asked by @Meg_HillierMP whether he met ex-KGB spy Alexander Lebedev without officials when he was Foreign Secretary he replies: "I probably did."
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) July 6, 2022
And ITV’s Robert Peston:
.@BorisJohnson tells Diana Johnson he “probably” met Alexander Lebedev in Italy as foreign secretary without officials. This looks like another can of worms. Lebedev is ex KGB, has had murky relationship with Putin, and is father of Evgeny L, owner of Standard
— Robert Peston (@Peston) July 6, 2022
Updated
The European parliament has backed plans to label gas and nuclear energy as “green”, rejecting appeals from Ukraine and climate activists that the proposals are a gift to Vladimir Putin.
One senior MEP said the vote was a “dark day for the climate”, while experts said the EU had set a dangerous precedent for countries to follow.
The row began late last year with the leak of long-awaited details on the EU’s green investment guidebook, intended to help investors channel billions to the clean power transition.
The European Commission decided some gas and nuclear projects could be included in the EU taxonomy of environmentally sustainable economic activities, subject to certain conditions.
Under the plans, gas can be classed as a sustainable investment if “the same energy capacity cannot be generated with renewable sources” and plans are in place to switch to renewables or “low-carbon gases”. Nuclear power can be called green if a project promises to deal with radioactive waste.
Svitlana Krakovska, a Ukrainian climate scientist and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said: “I am in shock. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a war paid for by climate-heating fossil fuels and the European parliament just voted to boost billions of funding to fossil gas from Russia. How in the world is that in line with Europe’s stance to protect our planet and stand with Ukraine?”
Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, has been giving evidence to the Commons liaison committee including covering the situation in Ukraine.
Asked what he considers victory for Ukraine, Johnson replies that it is ultimately up to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to decide the terms “but he’s been very clear that he would like to return at least to the status quo” before Russia’s invasion on 24 February.
Johnson says even if Zelenskiy wanted to do a land deal in exchange for peace, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin isn’t offering any such deal.
He says the UK government is helping Ukrainians with de-mining areas of the country and “doing what we can” to help small packets of grain to leave the country on rail routes.
As our Andrew Sparrow writes, it is not obvious from the questions that MPs on the committee have been closely following what is happening elsewhere in the building.
Andrew is covering the developments from the UK on our politics live blog.
Donetsk governor urges people to flee after more civilian deaths
The governor of Donetsk, the last remaining eastern province of Ukraine partially under Kyiv’s control, has urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee amid reports of fresh deaths and injuries.
At least seven civilians have been killed in Russian shelling over the past 24 hours and 25 are said to have been wounded as the Kremlin continues to step up its offensive in eastern Ukraine.
Donetsk’s governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said two people had died in the region’s central city of Avdiivka while fatalities were also reported in Sloviansk, Krasnohorivka and Kurakhove.
Kyrylenko said:
The destiny of the whole country will be decided by the Donetsk region. Once there are less people, we will be able to concentrate more on our enemy and perform our main tasks.
After declaring victory in the province of Luhansk, Vladimir Putin has set as his latest public goal the “liberation” of the eastern Donbas region, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk, but his forces continue to face stiff resistance.
Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, said on Wednesday that resistance was ongoing in villages around the city of Lysychansk, where 15,000 civilians remain.
On Telegram, Haidai said:
Today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch.
He accused Putin’s troops of engaging in a scorched earth policy, “burning down and destroying everything on their way”.
UK's ratification of Sweden and Finland joining Nato to be fast-tracked – Truss
British foreign secretary Liz Truss has announced that the UK’s ratification of Finland and Sweden’s membership of Nato will be fast-tracked through parliament in London.
While it has been a very busy day in British politics today, as my colleague Andrew Sparrow is covering on our UK politics live blog, there is still some government business being done.
Truss, who would be a frontrunner to replace the beleaguered prime minister Boris Johnson, has just tweeted about the process of the UK ratifying Finland and Sweden’s application to join Nato. She said:
Important moment signing the instrument of ratification to fast-track Nato membership for Finland & Sweden. It will now go to Washington to come into force. Russian aggression is being met with unity and resolve.
Important moment signing the instrument of ratification to fast-track @NATO membership for Finland & Sweden 🇫🇮🇸🇪. It will now go to Washington to come into force.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) July 6, 2022
Russian aggression is being met with unity and resolve.
My statement to @HouseofCommons 👇https://t.co/LoOBo8Wf8E pic.twitter.com/uzCor65B6g
Truss then linked to her written statement to parliament which says, in part:
The government is committed to strengthening security and defence at home and overseas. A strong Nato is at the heart of our ability to deter and defend against state adversaries.
With Russia conducting an illegal and barbaric war in mainland Europe, it is unsurprising that countries that already work closely with Nato would consider applying to join the alliance and to benefit from its collective security guarantees. We must ensure that Finland and Sweden are integrated into Nato as quickly as possible.
She then says she will move that the accession is ratified on a fast-track before parliamentary recess on 21 July without the usual process of ratifying a treaty. She says
Using this process will ensure the UK’s part is concluded swiftly and use our example to encourage other Allies to think radically about how quickly they can respectively ratify Sweden and Finland’s accession. All thirty Allies need to ratify the protocols before Finland and Sweden can join the Alliance. I have been pushing my Allied colleagues hard to complete the ratification process as soon as possible. It is important that the UK does everything we can to do likewise.
She cites the risk that Finland and/or Sweden could be attacked by Russia prior to them coming under the umbrella of Nato’s collective security, saying: “Russia has already made several threatening comments in the public domain regarding the possibility of Swedish and Finnish membership of Nato.”
Updated
Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has said ahead of her trip to Indonesia that Russia must not be allowed to use the G20 meeting this week as a platform.
“It is in the interest of us all to ensure that international law is respected and adhered to. That is the common denominator,” Reuters reports Baerbock said in a statement. “And it is also the reason why we will not simply stand aside and allow Russia to use the meeting as a platform.”
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces destroyed two advanced US-made HIMARS rocket systems and ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine.
The ministry said Russia’s armed forces destroyed two launchers for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that America and its allies had been supplying to Ukraine.
It also said Russian forces destroyed two ammunition depots storing rockets for the HIMARS near the frontline in a village south of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
These claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Sri Lanka’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said he asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin to help import fuel to his country as it faces its worst economic crisis in seven decades.
Rajapaksa tweeted that he had a “productive” telephone call with Putin, while thanking him for “all the support extended by his [government] to overcome the challenges of the past”.
Rajapaksa added:
I requested an offer of credit support to import fuel to [Sri Lanka] in defeating the current [economic] challenges.
1/2
— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) July 6, 2022
Had a very productive telecon with the #Russia President, Vladimir Putin. While thanking him for all the support extended by his gvt to overcome the challenges of the past, I requested an offer of credit support to import fuel to #lka in defeating the current econ challenges.
2/2
— Gotabaya Rajapaksa (@GotabayaR) July 6, 2022
Further, I humbly made A request to restart @Aeroflot_World operations in #lka. We unanimously agreed that strengthening bilateral relations in sectors such as tourism, trade & culture was paramount in reinforcing the friendship our two nations share.
Updated
Europe must prepare for complete cut-off of Russian gas, says Ursula von der Leyen
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU needs to make emergency plans to prepare for a complete cut-off of Russian gas.
The EU chief accused Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, of using energy as a weapon in an address to lawmakers in Strasbourg today.
The commission is working on a “European emergency plan” with the first proposals to be presented by the middle of the month, she said.
Von der Leyen said:
If worst comes to worst, then we have to be prepared.
She stressed the importance of having a European overview and coordinated approach “to a potential complete cut-off of Russian gas”.
Putin continues to use energy as a weapon.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 6, 2022
12 Member States are affected by gas supply reductions.
We need coordination at EU level: @EU_Commission will soon present a 🇪🇺 emergency plan.
We will work to protect our Single Market and industrial supply chains from disruptions. pic.twitter.com/stAz1Z4fOC
Updated
Ukrainian emergency services have released drone footage showing smoke rising above a residential area in the Mykolaiv region.
Russia launched a missile attack on Tuesday, hitting homes and infrastructure, including the highway connecting Kherson and Odesa.
Some more lines from Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Alexei Zaitsev, who said US basketball player Brittney Griner may appeal her sentence or apply for clemency once a verdict has been delivered.
Griner, one of America’s most decorated women’s basketball players, was detained by Russian authorities in February after it said it discovered vape cartridges that contained hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow.
Zaitsev said in a briefing:
The court must first deliver its verdict, but no one is stopping Brittney Griner from making use of the appeal procedure, and likewise asking for clemency.
He added that “attempts to present the case as though the American woman was illegally detained do not stand up to criticism”.
Griner made a direct appeal to US president Joe Biden for her freedom in a handwritten letter that was delivered to the White House on Monday, according to her representatives.
“I’m terrified I might be here forever,” an excerpt shared by Griner’s representatives with the Guardian said. “I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home.”
Latvia to reinstate compulsory military service as Russia tensions rise
Latvia is to reinstate compulsory military service amid growing tension with Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The current military system of Latvia has reached its limit. Meanwhile, we have no reason to think that Russia will change its behaviour,” the Latvian defence minister, Artis Pabriks, told reporters on Tuesday.
Latvia had scrapped mandatory service a few years after joining the Nato military alliance. Since 2007, the EU member’s military has consisted of career soldiers along with National Guard volunteers who serve in the infantry part-time at weekends.
The country of under 2 million people, which borders Belarus and Russia, has only 7,500 active-duty soldiers and National Guard members, backed by 1,500 Nato troops.
Updated
Russia says Turkey has not seized ship carrying 'stolen Ukrainian grain'
Russia has denied reports that a Russian-flagged ship is being held and investigated by Turkish authorities in the Black Sea port of Karasu over claims its cargo was stolen from Ukraine.
Turkish customs officials acted after Kyiv claimed the Zhibek Zholy was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdiansk, a Ukrainian port in the south-east of the country.
Officials in Karasu said the ship was waiting off port while inquiries were undertaken into the provenance of the shipment.
But Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Alexei Zaitsev, told reporters today that the ship was “undergoing standard procedures”.
On Monday, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, confirmed that the ship was Russian-flagged, while appearing to muddy the waters while claiming the Kremlin was seeking clarity.
Kyiv has accused Russia of stealing grain from occupied Ukrainian territory to sell on the international markets. The country’s grain exports are responsible for almost 15% of the world’s total.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again to bring you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin has witnessed the devastation inflicted by Russian forces in the war-scarred suburbs of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin while on a visit to Ukraine to reiterate his country’s solidarity with Kyiv.
Martin began his visit today with a trip to Borodianka, where he met the town’s mayor and viewed apartment blocks gutted by fire during the Russian shelling.
From there, he visited the site of a mass grave in Bucha on the grounds of the church of St Andrew before travelling to nearby Irpin.
After viewing the war-scarred suburbs of Borodianka, Bucha and Irpin, Martin tweeted that it was “difficult to comprehend the devastation and inhumanity of Russia’s attacks” during its invasion of Ukraine.
It is difficult to comprehend the devastation and inhumanity of Russia's attacks on Irpin, Borodyanka and Bucha.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) July 6, 2022
Clear how important it is for women and children to get to Ireland to escape trauma and brutality. We stand with Ukraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/aFcfJLn9SM
Martin is due to discuss how Ireland and the EU can support Ukraine in meetings later today.
He will restate Ireland’s full backing for continuing sanctions against Russia and for Ukraine’s path to full EU membership.
Speaking ahead of his visit to Kyiv, Martin said Ireland would continue to welcome and support civilians fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Martin said:
The people of Ireland stand with Ukraine and its people in the face of Russia’s immoral and unprovoked war of terror.
The bombardment and attacks on civilians are nothing short of war crimes, and I will use my visit to express Ireland’s support for moves to hold those behind these attacks fully accountable.
The Norwegian government has stepped in to end a strike that had threatened supplies of gas to Britain.
The labour dispute had shut down oil and gasfields and was expected to cut Norway’s gas supplies by almost 60% by the weekend.
Gassco, Oslo’s state-owned pipeline operator, had even warned that “in a worst-case scenario, deliveries to the UK could stop totally”.
Workers demanded a pay increase to handle rising inflation, which has been triggered in part by a jump in oil and gas prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, the Norwegian government has the power to intervene to end industrial disputes. The country’s labour minister, Marte Mjøs Persen, said: “When the conflict can have such great social consequences for the whole of Europe, I have no choice but to intervene in the conflict.”
Gas prices had soared in recent days as the strike action threatened to exacerbate the existing supply crunch, but their rally was halted on Wednesday after the announcement.
European nations have been scrambling to fill their gas storage sites before the winter for fear that Russia will cut off supplies altogether.
Britain sources about a third of its gas from Norway and the remainder from a combination of the North Sea, other parts of Europe and imports of liquefied natural gas from the rest of the world, including the US.
Germany is far more reliant on Russian gas and fears are growing over the knock-on effect of Russia reducing gas supplies. The key Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline from Russia into Germany is also scheduled for maintenance from 11-21 July.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
- At least two people have been killed and seven injured after “massive shelling” pummelled the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, officials say. City mayor, Vadim Lyakh, called on residents to evacuate after Russian forces struck a market and a residential area.
- The governor of the Donetsk region has also urged 350,000 civilians to evacuate in light of an imminent Russian offensive. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that getting people out is necessary to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance.
- Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk said on Wednesday that fighting continues in the villages around Lysychansk. Serhai Haidai said “some settlements have already been under one or another control twice”. He repeated that up to 15,000 civilians remain in Lysychansk and 8,000 in Sievierodonetsk, adding “today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch”.
- The battle for Sloviansk is likely to be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, the UK Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday. Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, according to the latest British intelligence report.
- The premises of a higher educational institution in the Kyiv region of Kharkiv have been destroyed by Russian fire, according to the governor of the region, Oleh Synyehubov
- The first rotation of Ukrainian soldiers has arrived in the UK for training, according to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace. The training is part of a programme that aims to train up to 10,000 new Ukrainian recruits alongside a £2.3bn military aid package.
- Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Ukraine today, and has visited the Borodyanka area on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv. The Irish prime minister said: “The people of Ireland stand with Ukraine and its people in the face of Russia’s immoral and unprovoked war of terror. The bombardment and attacks on civilians are nothing short of war crimes.”
- Austria has begun the process of ejecting the Russian energy company Gazprom from its major gas storage facility at Haidach.
- The US and other allies have called for Russian and Belarusian national governing bodies of sports to be suspended from international sport federations, prompting Russia to describe the move as “Russophobic”.
- Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has called on all parties in the world to make efforts to protect international laws as “the world is evolving in a complicated manner”.
- China is willing to deepen cooperation with Russia within multilateral frameworks including the G20, the Chinese vice-foreign minister, Ma Zhaoxu, told the Russian ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you shortly.
Updated
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, has given his daily briefing call to the media. The two key lines that Reuters are reporting out of it are that:
- He said Japan had taken an “unfriendly” position toward Russia which does not help to develop ties in either trade and economy or the energy sector.
- The Kremlin had not had substantive contact with the Vatican regarding a potential visit by Pope Francis to Russia.
Updated
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has issued its daily military operational briefing. It claims, alongside other pro-Russian forces, to have “liberated” 241 settlements, an increment of one on yesterday’s figure. It claims 11 of these settlements were shelled by the Ukrainian armed forces in the last day, causing four civilian deaths and 14 civilian injuries. The claims have not been independently verified. Russia and Syria are the only UN member states to recognise the Donetsk People’s Republic as a legitimate authority.
Updated
Dmitry Medvedev, a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin and deputy chairman of the security council of Russia, has posted a long message to Telegram about the prospect of anybody from Russia facing an international tribunal for their actions in Ukraine. Quoting his own address at the St Petersburg international legal forum, he says:
I called crazy any attempts to create tribunals or courts for the so-called investigation of Russia’s actions. These proposals are not only legally void. The idea of punishing the country that has the largest nuclear potential is absurd in itself. And potentially threatens the existence of mankind.
He then goes on to ask “who is this daredevil or idiot” calling for these actions, and names the UUS. He then gives a long list of examples of military aggression from the US since the second world war, and says:
Vietnam and Korea, Yugoslavia and Iraq, Cuba, Afghanistan and Syria are well aware of how disastrous the consequences of such invasions are – the list is long, and constantly updated. America has killed more than 20 million people in 37 countries since the end of World War II, according to a study published in Global Research. Think about it – more than 20 million! The author of this article, James A Lucas, asks a fair question: how much “9/11” has the US staged in other states? The answer is about 10 thousand.
Medvedev is citing this article by Lucas on the website Vox Populi.
He finishes:
So who is going to give us a show trial? Those who kill people and commit war crimes with impunity, but do not meet real condemnation in the international structures financed by them? Those who so firmly believed in their exclusivity and impunity? Those who believe they have the right to judge others, but be beyond the jurisdiction of any God’s judgment? With Russia, this will not work.
Updated
Ireland’s Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in Ukraine today, and has visited the Borodyanka area on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.
PA Media reports that on the 30-minute drive from the railway station, he passed Hostomel airport, where his convoy stopped to observe a demolished bridge.
The delegation also drove past bombed-out warehouses, shopping centres and petrol stations.
In Borodyanka, Martin met the town’s mayor and viewed apartment blocks gutted by fire during the Russian bombardment.
Austria has begun the process of ejecting the Russian energy company Gazprom from its major gas storage facility at Haidach.
Reuters reports from Vienna that energy minister Leonore Gewessler told a news conference “If customers do not store, then the capacity must be handed over to others. It is critical infrastructure. We need it now in such a crisis. That is exactly what is happening now in the case of Gazprom and its storage at Haidach.”
Updated
Fighting continues around Lysychansk, says Luhansk governor
Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk has said this morning that fighting continues in the villages around Lysychansk.
On Telegram, Serhai Haidai said “some settlements have already been under one or another control twice”.
He repeated that up to 15,000 civilians remain in Lysychansk and 8,000 in Sievierodonetsk, adding “today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch”.
He added: “The Russians are advancing, first of all, due to the fact that they are superior in artillery, with which they destroy cities and defence positions.”
Updated
Sergei Besov, a Moscow-based printer and artist, has given an interview to Associated Press about his project, Partisan Press, which started making posters saying “No to war” when Russia began its latest invasion of Ukraine. He says he felt he couldn’t stay silent.
Video of the poster being printed became popular on Instagram, and demand for copies was so great that they were given away for free.
After some of his posters were used at a demonstration in Red Square and some people displaying them were arrested, it became clear that the police “would inevitably come to us”, Besov said.
They showed up when Besov wasn’t there, charging two of his employees with participating in an unauthorised rally by printing the poster used in it.
The case has dragged on for over three months, he said, causing all of them lots of stress over whether they will be penalized and to what extent.
Besov has stopped printing the “No to war” posters and went for subtler messages such as “Fear is not an excuse to do nothing.”
He considers it important to keep speaking out.
“The problem is we don’t know where the lines are drawn,” Besov said. “It is known that they can prosecute you for certain things, but some manage to fly under the radar. Where is this line? It is very bad and really difficult.”
Updated
The latest status update from Lviv in western Ukraine is that 131 internally displaced people arrived via evacuation train yesterday, and there were two air raid warnings but no strikes. That is according to regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi, who also posted to Telegram that 822 people had been evacuated abroad by train to Przemyśl in Poland.
Updated
The premises of a higher educational institution in the Kyiv region of Kharkiv have been destroyed by Russian fire, according to a message on Telegram from the governor of the region. Oleh Synyehubov writes:
At night, the occupiers launched rocket attacks from the territory of the Russian Federation on the Novobavarskyi, Kyiv, and Osnovyansky districts of Kharkiv.
During the day, the occupiers shelled the Izium, Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, and Bohodukhiv districts throughout the region. Residential buildings, open areas, and a wheat field were on fire.
During the day, three people were injured in the region among them – a child of one year and 11 months and a 64-year-old man.
While the Russian “army” is destroying educational institutions, residential buildings and fields with crops – our defenders are holding their ground. Offensive operations of the Russian Federation are unsuccessful.
Updated
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has arrived in Kyiv. The Irish prime minister is expected to have a series of meetings designed to reiterate Ireland’s solidarity with the Ukrainian authorities. PA Media quotes him saying:
The people of Ireland stand with Ukraine and its people in the face of Russia’s immoral and unprovoked war of terror. The bombardment and attacks on civilians are nothing short of war crimes and I will use my visit to express Ireland’s support for moves to hold those behind these attacks fully accountable.
The spirit and resolve of the Ukrainian people has inspired us all and Ireland will provide every support for Ukraine’s path to full EU membership, and continue to welcome and support civilians fleeing this war.
The Irish State has given €20m (£17.2m) in humanitarian support and assistance to the country, as well as health equipment and medical donations worth more than €4.5m (£3.8m).
Updated
China willing to deepen cooperation with Russia
China is willing to deepen cooperation with Russia within multilateral frameworks including the G20, Chinese vice-foreign minister, Ma Zhaoxu, told the Russian ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov.
China is also willing to strengthen strategic coordination with Russia and expand practical cooperation in various fields, Ma told Denisov in a meeting on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday as as reported by Reuters.
Officials met for the World Peace Forum in Beijing where US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, said the greatest threat to the world order is the Russian war in Ukraine.
The greatest threat to the world order is the Russian war in Ukraine.” See my rebuttal to Russian Ambassador to the PRC Andrey Denisov at @Tsinghua_Uni’s #WorldPeaceForum yesterday in Beijing. pic.twitter.com/YLSd0LCo5f
— Ambassador Nicholas Burns (@USAmbChina) July 5, 2022
Updated
First rotation of Ukrainian soldiers arrives in UK
The first rotation of Ukrainian soldiers has arrived in the UK for training, according to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace.
The training is part of an innovative programme that aims to train up to 10,000 new Ukrainian recruits alongside a £2.3bn military aid package.
A statement issued by Wallace reads:
The first rotation of Ukrainian soldiers has recently arrived in the UK. Training will take place on military training areas across the North East, South West and South East regions. The training will be conducted by elements from 11 Security Force Assistance Brigade.
These Ukrainian soldiers will undertake courses based on the UK’s basic soldier training. This includes weapons training, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and training on the Law of Armed Conflict. Each course will last several weeks.”
Updated
Battle for Sloviansk to be next in struggle for Donbas: UK MoD
The battle for Sloviansk will likely be the next key contest in the struggle for Donbas as Russian forces approach within 16km of the Donetsk town, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
Russian forces from the eastern and western groups of forces are likely now around 16km north of Sloviansk as central and southern groups of forces also pose a threat to the town, according to the latest British intelligence report.
There is a realistic possibility that the battle for Sloviansk will be the next key contest in the struggle for the Donbas.”
Russia likely continues to consolidate its control over Lysychansk and Luhansk, the report adds.
To the north, it has committed most of the remaining available units from the eastern and western groups of forces to the Izium axis.
Over the last week, Russian forces have likely advanced up to another 5km down the E40 main road from Izium, in the face of extremely determined Ukrainian resistance.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 6 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 6, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/T09p9Rgd73
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/5E5JLGbY82
Daily life in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv rumbles on amid Russia’s invasion.
Here, two young women enjoy a moment together as they sit on a wall at sunset.
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has called on all parties in the world to make efforts to protect international laws as “the world is evolving in a complicated manner.”
Lavrov was speaking at a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Bui Thanh Son, in Hanoi on Wednesday.
“Vietnam is a key partner (of Russia) in ASEAN...and the two countries’ relations are based on history and their common fight for justice,” Lavrov said at the meeting, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
🇷🇺🇻🇳 In Hanoi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov holds talks with Foreign Minister of Vietnam @FMBuiThanhSon.#RussiaVietnam pic.twitter.com/sRJKT1k4yK
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 6, 2022
Vietnam and Russia have close ties dating back to the Soviet era and Hanoi has not so far condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Lavrov’s visit to Hanoi comes as the two nations mark the tenth anniversary of their “comprehensive strategic partnership”.
The Russian foreign minister is due to fly on to Indonesia to attend a meeting of G20 foreign ministers this week.
The United States and other allies have called for Russian and Belarusian national governing bodies of sports to be suspended from international sport federations, prompting Russia to describe the move as “Russophobic”.
The Russian embassy in the United States described the move as “Russophobic” and said “sports should stay out of politics.”
“Using it as an instrument to exert pressure and settle scores directly violates the basic principles of the Olympic movement and is contrary to the spirit of competitiveness as well as healthy competition,” it said.
The Russian response came hours after the US State Department issued the joint statement with allies, in which they also urged sports organisations to consider suspending the broadcasting of competitions into Russia and Belarus.
We consider the joint statement as politicized and aimed at “containing” 🇷🇺. At the same time, it's obvious that 🇺🇦 is just an excuse. The persecution of 🇷🇺athletes began long before the current events. This is part of a campaign to "cancel" 🇷🇺.
— Russian Embassy in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) July 6, 2022
👇https://t.co/YcvlFHvmnk pic.twitter.com/Zkili3ORbU
Other signatories included Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea. China, India and states in Latin America and Africa were among countries that were not listed as signatories.
The joint statement said in cases where sports organisations permit athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, it should be made clear that they are not representing the Russian or Belarusian states.
The use of official Russian and Belarusian flags, emblems and anthems should be prohibited, the statement added.
Here is a closer look at the battle for Ukraine’s Donbas.
Russia concentrated its forces to capture the cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk between May and July, the last two cities in Luhansk province it did not control, through an unrelenting and often untargeted artillery barrage.
Ukraine said on Monday it had retreated from Lysychansk, prompting speculation that Russia would now focus on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk to the south, the two main cities in Donetsk province held by Kyiv.
The provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk make up Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region.
Donetsk governor urges 350,000 to evacuate
The governor of the eastern Donetsk region has urged 350,000 civilians to evacuate in light of an imminent Russian offensive.
The call comes a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin declared victory in seizing the the neighbouring eastern province of Luhansk.
It is now widely believed Russia intends to escalate their offensive in Donetsk, prompting authorities to urge more than a quarter-million residents to evacuate.
Donetsk governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said that getting the 350,000 people remaining in Donetsk province out is necessary to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance.
The destiny of the whole country will be decided by the Donetsk region.
Once there are less people, we will be able to concentrate more on our enemy and perform our main tasks.”
Another Donetsk city came under sustained bombardment on Tuesday.
Mayor Vadim Lyakh said on Facebook that “massive shelling” pummelled Sloviansk and urged residents hours earlier to evacuate, advising them to take cover in shelters.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we unpack all the latest news from Ukraine this morning.
Here are all the latest lines as of 8am in Kyiv.
- At least two people have been killed and seven injured after “massive shelling” pummelled the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, officials say. City mayor, Vadim Lyakh, called on residents to evacuate after Russian forces struck a market and a residential area. Ukraine earlier retreated from Lysychansk, prompting speculation that Russia would now focus on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk to the south, the two main cities in Donetsk still held by Ukraine.
- The governor of Donetsk has urged 350,000 civilians to evacuate as Russian troops escalate their offensive in the region. “The destiny of the whole country will be decided by the Donetsk region,” Pavlo Kyrylenko told reporters. “Once there are less people, we will be able to concentrate more on our enemy and perform our main tasks.”
- Ukrainian forces have taken up new defensive lines in Donetsk, where they still control major cities, and plan to launch counter-offensives in the south of the country. The Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, said the weeks-long battle for Lysychansk had drawn in Russian troops that could have been fighting on other fronts, and had given Ukraine’s forces time to build fortifications in the Donetsk region to make it “harder for the Russians there”.
- Russian-backed separatists have seized two foreign-flagged ships in the Russian-occupied port city of Mariupol and claimed they are “state property”. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) informed two shipping companies that their vessels were the subject of “forcible appropriation of movable property with forced conversion into state property”.
- A Russian-flagged ship carrying thousands of tonnes of grain is being held and investigated by Turkish authorities over claims its cargo was stolen from Ukraine. Turkish customs officials acted after Kyiv claimed the Zhibek Zholy was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdiansk, a Ukrainian port in the south-east of the country.
- Ukraine has asked Turkey to investigate three additional Russian ships that it alleges transported stolen grain. A 13 June letter seen by Reuters revealed that the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office asked Turkey’s ministry of justice to investigate and provide evidence on three ships that it believes to have allegedly transported stolen grain from occupied Ukrainian territories such as Kherson.
- The head of the Russian-imposed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, Yevgeny Balitsky, has said the region plans to sell Ukraine’s grain to the Middle East. The main countries involved in the deal were Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stealing grain, a charge that Moscow has denied.
- Russia is planning to launch a railway link between Rostov region and the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk it occupies in eastern Ukraine, Russian state media reports. Building transport links has also been a priority for the Russian occupiers between Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the areas of Kherson which it occupies.
- The 30 Nato member countries have signed accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, sending the membership bids of the two Nordic countries to allied parliaments for approval. Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, urged allies to swiftly ratify and assured the two countries of the alliance’s support in the meantime. Canada became the first country to formally ratify Finland and Sweden’s accession.
- The UN has documented 270 cases of “arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance” of civilians in parts of Ukraine held by Russian and Russian-backed forces, according to the UN’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet. In a speech at the same session at the UN’s human rights council, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzhaparova accused Russia of kidnappings on a “massive” scale.
- Latvia will reinstate compulsory military service, its defence minister, Artis Pabriks, announced on Tuesday following growing tension with neighbouring Russia amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
