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 death toll from a weekend Russian missile attack on a residential apartment block in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, rose to at least 45 on Tuesday. Saturday’s strike destroyed the five-storey building and damaged several others in the Donetsk region city. Nine people have been pulled out alive, with a rescue operation still ongoing.
- At least seven people were reportedly killed by a Ukrainian missile strike on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson, in a strike attributed to recently acquired US weapons. The explosion hit a warehouse close to a key railway line and a dam on the Dnipro River. Footage on social media showed a large explosion lighting up the night, burning ammunition and towering smoke.
- Russia has reportedly heavily shelled the eastern town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region overnight in response to the Nova Kakhovka strike. Kyiv Independent reporter Illia Ponomarenko tweeted alongside footage purportedly of the assault: “Meanwhile, Russia responds by sweeping Bakhmut off the earth with artillery in the night.”
- Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia “doesn’t have the courage” to admit defeat. In a nationally televised address, Zelenskiy also mocked the Russian military’s apparent reliance on ageing weapons and Soviet-era tactics, and insisted the unity of his country’s citizenry, combined with the strength of Ukraine’s armed forces, meant the outcome of the war was “certain”.
- Grain shipments via the Danube River have increased with the reopening of the Bystre canal. The number of foreign ships reaching Ukraine ports to help with grain exports has doubled to 16 within the last 24 hours, according to Ukraine deputy infrastructure minister, Yuriy Vaskov. Ukraine has restored the long-decommissioned ports to facilitate the exportation of grain due to Russia’s Black Sea blockade, and expects to increase monthly exports to 500,000 tons.
- The US treasury announced on Tuesday it was sending an additional $1.7bn (£1.4bn) in economic aid to Ukraine to help continue funding the country’s “essential services”. The move follows an announcement by European foreign ministers late on Monday approving €1bn (£850m), the first instalment of a €9bn rescue package agreed in May.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to visit Tehran next week to hold talks with Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The meeting comes as the US has accused Iran of preparing to supply Russia with hundreds of weapons-capable drones for use in Ukraine.
- Military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey will meet UN officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to resume safe exports of Ukraine grain from the major Black Sea port of Odesa as a global food crisis worsens.
- The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that more than 5,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February, adding that the real toll was probably much higher.
- The European Union has so far frozen €13.8bn (£11.7bn) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the bloc’s top justice official said on Tuesday.
- Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine in the last three weeks, including 23 from Great Britain.
- The appeals over the death sentences of captured Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim will be dealt with within a month, an official from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she “utterly condemns” the sentencing, stating: “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy.”
- Brazil is looking to buy as much diesel as it can from Russia and the deals closed “as recently as yesterday,” Brazilian foreign minister Carlos Franca said on Tuesday, without giving further details.
Russia shelling east Ukrainian town of Bakhmut - reports
Russia has reportedly responded to an earlier Ukrainian strike on the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka by shelling the eastern town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region overnight.
Kyiv Independent reporter Illia Ponomarenko tweeted alongside footage purportedly of the assault: “Meanwhile, Russia responds by sweeping Bakhmut off the earth with artillery in the night.”
According to multiple reports, Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, is currently under heavy shelling. pic.twitter.com/dTi0aU2FGi
— Oleksiy Sorokin (@mrsorokaa) July 12, 2022
Ships begin to pass through Danube to export Ukraine grain
Here is a little more detail regarding an increase in Ukraine’s grain exports as ships reportedly begin to pass through an important mouth of the Danube river.
Deputy infrastructure minister Yuriy Vaskov was quoted as a saying in a ministry statement:
In the last four days, 16 ships have passed through the Bystre rivermouth. We plan to maintain this pace.”
The ministry said the 16 vessels were now waiting to be loaded with Ukrainian grain for export to foreign markets, while more than 90 more vessels were awaiting their turn in Romania’s Sulina canal.
Only four ships could be received per day along the Sulina route, he said, while a rate of eight per day was needed. But Ukraine was negotiating with Romanian colleagues and European Commission representatives about increasing the rate of crossings, he added.
If such conditions were met, and with the opening of the Bystre, he said Ukraine expected this ship congestion would end within a week and that monthly exports of grain would increase by 500,000 tonnes.
Summary
It’s 1am in Kyiv and Moscow, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 140th day. Here’s what we’ve been following:
- Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia “doesn’t have the courage” to admit defeat, and that the occupying forces are not safe anywhere in the country. In a nationally televised address, Zelenskiy also mocked the Russian military’s apparent reliance on ageing weapons and Soviet-era tactics, and insisted the unity of his country’s citizenry, combined with the strength of Ukraine’s armed forces, meant the outcome of the war was “certain”.
- The death toll from a weekend Russian missile attack on a residential apartment block in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, rose to at least 45 on Tuesday. Saturday’s strike destroyed the five-storey building and damaged several others in the Donetsk region city. Nine people have been pulled out alive, the Kyiv Independent reported, with a rescue operation ongoing.
- Footage from social media appears to show a Ukrainian missile strike on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson. The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont in Kyiv reports that at least seven people were killed, and that the missile used in the strike was among a batch of recently acquirted weapons from the US.
- The US treasury announced on Tuesday it was sending an additional $1.7bn (£1.4bn) in economic aid to Ukraine to help continue funding the country’s “essential services”. The move follows an announcement by European foreign ministers late on Monday approving €1bn (£850m), the first instalment of a €9bn rescue package agreed in May.
- The number of foreign ships reaching Ukraine ports on the Danube to help with grain exports has doubled to 16 within the last 24 hours, the Kyiv Independent reported, citing the country’s infrastructure ministry. Ukraine has restored the long-decommissioned ports to facilitate the exportation of grain due to Russia’s Black Sea blockade, and expects to increase monthly exports to 500,000 tons.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said, a day after the US warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine.
- The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that more than 5,000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February, adding that the real toll was probably much higher.
- The European Union has so far frozen €13.8bn (£11.7bn) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the bloc’s top justice official said on Tuesday.
- Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine in the last three weeks, including 23 from Great Britain.
- An official at the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic says that the appeals over the death sentences of Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim will be dealt with within a month. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she “utterly condemns” the sentencing, stating: “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy.”
That’s it from me, Richard Luscombe, in the US. My colleagues in Australia will be along shortly to guide you through the rest of the day’s developments in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s air force has carried out about 1,700 attacks on Russian forces since the start of the war on 24 February, the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda is reporting, citing military officials.
Air force command spokesman Yuriy Ignat told the outlet that Ukraine’s pilots had been able to overcome strong air defence systems employed by the “temporary” occupiers, and “continue to provide air support to ground troops in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine” using Su-25 attack aircraft and Su-24M bombers:
In total, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, air force strike aircraft have conducted 1,700 group airstrikes against the positions, warehouses, equipment and manpower of the Russian occupying forces on the front lines... despite the large number of enemy air defenses that the occupiers have concentrated in the temporarily occupied territories.
Zelenskiy: Russia 'doesn't have the courage' to admit defeat
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Russia “doesn’t have the courage” to admit defeat in Ukraine, and is warning the occupying military force that it is not safe “anywhere on our land”.
Ukraine’s president delivered the remarks in a blistering video address to the nation on Tuesday night, the 139th day since Moscow’s invasion, and posted to his official website.
⚡️Zelensky: Russia does not have courage to admit defeat.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 12, 2022
“They no longer have strategic power, character, or understanding of what they are doing here, on our land. There is not an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from the Ukrainian territory,” Zelensky said.
Zelenskiy also mocked the Russian military’s apparent reliance on ageing weapons and Soviet-era tactics, and insisted the unity of his country’s citizenry, combined with the strength of Ukraine’s armed forces, meant the outcome of the war was “certain”:
The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is, and they will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land.
They have felt that the operations of our reconnaissance officers to protect their homeland are much more powerful than any of their ‘special operations’. Russian soldiers, and we know this from interceptions of their conversations, are truly afraid of our armed forces.
The so-called second army of the world is afraid of Ukrainians and is able to do something only on the basis of bottomless stocks of old Soviet weapons.
They no longer have strategic strength, character, or understanding of what they are doing here on our land. They also don’t have even an iota of courage to admit defeat and withdraw troops from Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine, he said, will “be able to defend itself, rebuild itself, and realise all its foreign policy goals”:
When millions of people work sincerely for this, each and every one at their own level, the result will be certain.
Zelenskiy’s remarks came as fierce fighting continues for control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, and Russia appears to be stepping up its attacks on civilians, with at least 45 people now known to have died in a weekend missile strike on a block of flats in Chasiv Yar.
The president also revealed he had met Poland’s deputy prime minister and defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak in Kyiv on Tuesday, and discussed cooperation over defence.
He said: “It is important not only what we talked about, but also how we talked. With absolute confidence in the Ukrainian future, in the Ukrainian-European future”.
Zelenskiy added:
A really difficult road is ahead. Unfortunately, it is impossible to do otherwise when you are protecting your home from a terrorist assault. But it is also clear that what lies ahead is the success of our state.
The number of foreign ships reaching Ukraine ports on the Danube to help with grain exports has doubled to 16 within the last 24 hours, the Kyiv Independent reports, citing the country’s infrastructure ministry.
The Guardian reported on Saturday that Ukraine was restoring and expanding some of its long-decommissioned river ports on the Danube to facilitate the exportation of grain due to Russia’s Black Sea blockade.
The Kyiv Independent said Tuesday that 16 vessels have now entered through the Danube-Black Sea Canal to load Ukrainian grain, with the assistance of the Ukraine navy.
More than 90 ships are currently waiting for their turn, the ministry said, as Ukraine expects to increase the monthly export of grain by 500,000 tons.
The use of the canal opened up after Ukraine liberated Snake Island from Russian forces on 30 June.
Chasiv Yar death toll rises to 45
The death toll from a weekend Russian missile attack on a residential apartment block in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, rose to at least 45 on Tuesday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The newspaper reported that the state emergency service said it had now pulled 45 bodies out of the rubble, including a child.
Saturday’s missile attack destroyed the five-storey building and damaged several others in the Donetsk region city.
Nine people have been rescued, the newspaper says, and the rescue operation is ongoing.
US and EU send billions more in Ukraine aid
The United States treasury announced on Tuesday it was sending an additional $1.7bn (£1.4bn) in economic aid to Ukraine to help continue funding the country’s “essential services”.
The move follows an announcement by European foreign ministers late on Monday approving €1bn (£850m), the first instalment of a €9bn rescue package agreed in May.
#UPDATE The United States Treasury announced Tuesday it will send an additional $1.7 billion in economic aid to Ukraine to help fund the country's recovery from Russia's invasion pic.twitter.com/JQYoaSPGMO
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 12, 2022
Like the European money, the US payment is also part of a wider package, $7.5bn (£6.3bn) in aid signed off by Joe Biden in May, and brings to almost £2.5bn the amount approved in aid for Ukraine from both sides of the Atlantic in just the last 24 hours.
In a statement, the US treasury secretary Janet Yellen said the money was intended to directly help those suffering from Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine:
This latest contribution of economic assistance for Ukraine is part of President Biden’s commitment to support the government of Ukraine as it defends Ukraine’s democracy against Russia’s unprovoked and unjustifiable war.
This aid will help Ukraine’s democratic government provide essential services for the people of Ukraine.
The funds will go towards critical operations in Ukraine, such as paying health care worker salaries, according to the treasury statement.
Yellen is currently in Tokyo, where she met Japanese finance minister Shunichi Suzuki on Tuesday to discuss strengthening economic sanctions against Russia.
According to AFP, Zbynek Stanjura, finance minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said the European money would be immediately beneficial, as EU member nations debate a timetable for the release of the rest of the approved package. He said:
This will give Ukraine the necessary funds to cover urgent needs and ensure the operation of critical infrastructure.
Updated
Good afternoon, it’s Richard Luscombe in the US. I’ll be guiding you through the next few hours of coverage of developments in Ukraine. Thanks for joining me.
Russia has launched a criminal case against Ilya Yashin, one of the last opposition figures remaining in the country, for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian army, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
According to AFP, attorney Vadim Prokhorov posted details to Facebook. “I got a call from an investigator - they are beginning to search his home,” he wrote.
Yashin, 39, a Moscow city councillor, was sentenced to 15 days in jail last month for disobeying police. He had been set to be released in the early hours of Wednesday.
Yashin has been a prominent opposition figure in Russia since the mass protests against President Vladimir Putin in 2011-2012. He has denounced Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
He is an ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and was close to Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015.
After Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, the Putin regime introduced legislation imposing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information about the military deemed false by the Russian government.
Summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s main news stories:
- Footage from social media appears to show a Ukrainian missile strike on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson.
- Ahead of scheduled four-way talks in Turkey to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the grain issue must be resolved under the auspices of the United Nations.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said, a day after the US warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine.
- The death toll from a Russian missile attack on a five-storey apartment building in the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine has risen to at least 34.
- The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that more than 5,000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February, adding that the real toll was probably much higher.
- The European Union has so far frozen €13.8bn (£11.7bn) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the bloc’s top justice official said on Tuesday.
- Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine in the last three weeks, including 23 from Great Britain.
- An official at the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic says that the appeals over the death sentences of Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim will be dealt with within a month. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she “utterly condemns” the sentencing, stating: “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy.”
-
Brazil is looking to buy as much diesel as it can from Russia and the deals are being closed “as recently as yesterday,” Brazilian foreign minister Carlos Franca said on Tuesday, without giving further details on the transactions.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Richard Luscombe will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Updated
Brazil is looking to buy as much diesel as it can from Russia and the deals are being closed “as recently as yesterday,” Brazilian foreign minister Carlos Franca said on Tuesday, without giving further details on the transactions.
“We have to make sure that we have enough diesel to the Brazilian agribusiness and, of course, for Brazilian drivers,” Franca told reporters during a visit to the United Nations in New York.
“So that’s why we were looking for safe and very reliable suppliers of diesel - Russia is one of them.”
Brazil is looking to buy “as much as we can” from Russia, he said.
It was not immediately clear how Brazil would buy Russian diesel without coming up against Western sanctions, imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
When asked if there had been any Western push back over the plan to buy diesel from Russia, Franca said: “I don’t think so.”
Lego is to end all operations in Russia “indefinitely” after pausing deliveries to its 81 stores in the country in March.
The world’s largest toymaker said it was ending the employment of most of its staff in Moscow and terminating a partnership with Inventive Retail Group, the company that runs stores on its behalf in the country.
Lego said: “Given the continued extensive disruption in the operating environment, we have decided to indefinitely cease commercial operations in Russia.”
The Danish toymaker had already halted deliveries to Russia in March after the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions by western countries in protest against the war.
Footage from social media appears to show a Ukrainian missile strike on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson.
The Russian-installed administration claims at least seven people were killed in the blast. The statement could not be immediately verified, though the footage shows a large explosion lighting up the night sky, exploding ammunition and plumes of smoke.
In case you missed it earlier, the Russian president Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said, a day after the US warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine.
During a trip to Tehran next Tuesday, Putin will attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, the so-called Astana format of meetings for Syria-related talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Putin’s visit to Iran will follow US President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, where Iran’s nuclear programme and activities in the region will be a key subject of discussion, the Associated Press reported.
Ahead of scheduled four-way talks in Turkey to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the grain issue must be resolved under the auspices of the United Nations.
“Ukraine advocates that the issue of unblocking Ukrainian grain be resolved under the auspices of the UN,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko told Reuters.
“In this context, we are grateful to secretary general Antonio Guterres for his active efforts to find a solution that will guarantee the security of the southern regions of our country,” he said.
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that more than 5,000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February, adding that the real toll was probably much higher.
OHCHR, which has dozens of human rights monitors in the country, said in its weekly update that 5,024 people had been killed and 6,520 injured.
Updated
Turkey, Russia and Ukraine military delegations to meet UN over grain exports
Military delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine will meet with a United Nations delegation tomorrow to discuss the safe export of Ukrainian grain, according to the Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar.
“Military delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine and a United Nations delegation will be conducting talks in Istanbul tomorrow regarding safe transfer of grain waiting in Ukrainian ports to international markets via sea route,” Reuters reports he said.
Updated
A square in Krakow in Poland has become the latest location near an embassy to change its name. Part of Biskupi Square was unveiled today as “Square of Free Ukraine” in a ceremony attended by members of the Ukrainian diaspora in Poland. The square is located next to the Russian consulate in the city.
Updated
In case you missed it earlier on, Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine in the last three weeks, including 23 from Great Britain.
In its daily operational briefing, without presenting any evidence, the Russian ministry of defence says that the total number of mercenaries active in Ukraine is not the 20,000 it says Kyiv claimed, but is about 2,700. It claims that in the last three weeks:
166 Polish militants were liquidated. Among the representatives of Georgia, 50 “soldiers of fortune” were destroyed, Great Britain lost another 23 mercenaries killed in Ukraine. Also, 21 Romanian and 15 Canadian militants were killed in three weeks.
More on that huge explosion here …
At least seven people were reportedly killed by a Ukrainian missile strike on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson.
The claims of fatalities were made by the Russian-installed administration in the town and could not be immediately verified, though footage on social media showed a large explosion lighting up the night, burning ammunition and towering smoke.
The explosion hit a warehouse close to a key railway line and a dam on the Dnipro River. Imaging from Nasa’s global fire tracking system FIRMS showed a number of secondary blazes in buildings around the initial blast site.
Updated
Ukraine says it has struck Russian ammunition depot near Kherson
Ukrainian authorities have confirmed their forces targeted a Russian ammunition depot in southern Ukraine overnight, resulting in a massive explosion.
The Ukrainian military’s southern command said a rocket strike targeted the depot in Russian-held Nova Kakhovka, about 35 miles east of the Black Sea port city of Kherson, which is also occupied by Russian forces.
The precision of the strike suggested Ukrainian forces used US-supplied multiple-launch High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, to hit the area, the Associated Press reported.
Ukraine indicated in recent days it might launch a counter-offensive to reclaim territory in the country’s south as Russia devotes resources to capturing all of the eastern Donbas region.
Russia’s Tass news agency offered a different account of the blast in Nova Kakhovka, saying a mineral fertiliser storage facility exploded, and that a market, hospital and houses were damaged in the strike. Some of the ingredients in fertiliser can be used for ammunition.
A satellite photo taken Tuesday and analysed by the Associated Press showed significant damage. A massive crater stood precisely where a large warehouse-like structure once stood in the city,
Updated
The European Union has so far frozen €13.8bn (£11.7bn) worth of assets held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow’s war against Ukraine, the bloc’s top justice official said on Tuesday.
The official said the vast majority of that comes from five of the EU’s 27 member states only, calling on others to step up, Reuters reported.
The bloc currently has 98 entities and nearly 1,160 individuals blacklisted for Russia’s role in Ukraine.
“For the moment, we have frozen funds coming from oligarchs and other entities worth 13.8 billion euros, it’s quite huge,” EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders said.
“But a very large part, more than €12bn comes from five member states so we need to continue to convince others to do the same,” he told reporters on arriving to a meeting of the national justice ministers in the Czech capital Prague. He did not identify the five countries.
Updated
Russian president Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said, a day after the US warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine.
During a trip to Tehran next Tuesday, Putin will attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, the so-called Astana format of meetings for Syria-related talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Putin’s visit to Iran will follow US President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, where Iran’s nuclear programme and activities in the region will be a key subject of discussion, the Associated Press reported.
Peskov told reporters that on the visit to Tehran, Putin will also have a separate meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In March, Erdoğan helped mediate talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul, Turkey. Peskov said there was no discussion about a new round of such negotiations.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
- The death toll from a Russian missile attack on a five-storey apartment building in the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine has risen to at least 34. Emergency crews worked to pull people from the rubble. Zelenskiy accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians in the attack which destroyed three buildings in a residential quarter. The latest victim, a nine-year-old child, was retrieved from the wreckage on Monday evening, Ukraine’s state emergency services said.
- At least 12 people have been injured by shelling in Mykolaiv, according to regional governor Vitaly Kim.
- Russia’s Tass news agency is reporting that “dozens of people were injured as a result of the strike of the armed forces of Ukraine at Novaya Kakhovka”. Novaya Kakhovka is on the Dnieper river in an area of Kherson occupied by pro-Russian forces in the south of Ukraine. A local official said “there are casualties, a large number of injured, dozens of people were left homeless.”
- Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine in the last three weeks, including 23 from Great Britain. It also claims to have killed at least 180 servicemen in Ukraine’s 30th mechanised brigade in the last 24 hours, and to have shot down seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.
- An official at the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic says that the appeals over the death sentences of Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Saaudun Brahim will be dealt with within a month. UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she “utterly condemns” the sentencing, stating “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy.”
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Tom Ambrose will be here shortly to take you through the next few hours of coverage.
Russia claims to have killed 23 mercenaries from UK in last three weeks
Russia has claimed to have killed a significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine in the last three weeks, including 23 from Great Britain.
In its daily operational briefing, without presenting any evidence, the Russian ministry of defence says that the total number of mercenaries active in Ukraine is not the 20,000 it says Kyiv claimed, but is about 2,700. It claims that in the last three weeks:
166 Polish militants were liquidated. Among the representatives of Georgia, 50 “soldiers of fortune” were destroyed, Great Britain lost another 23 mercenaries killed in Ukraine. Also, 21 Romanian and 15 Canadian militants were killed in three weeks.
Russia also claims to have killed at least 180 servicemen in Ukraine’s 30th mechanised brigade in the last 24 hours, and to have shot down seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has issued its daily operational briefing. It says it controls 242 settlements in occupied territory in Ukraine. It claims Ukrainian armed forced shelled 11 of those settlements in the last 24 hours. It did not list any civilian casualties, but claimed that three houses were damaged. None of the claims have been independently verified. Russia and Syria are the only UN member states to recognise the Donetsk People’s Republic as a legitimate authority.
Updated
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted another series of images to Telegram, with a defiant message again labelling Russia as “a terrorist state”.
Russian terror has long crossed the line beyond which it became obvious to many in the civilised world that it is a matter of global security to punish Russia, a terrorist state, for everything it has done against Ukraine and the international legal order.
These are two of the latest images we have been sent from Mykolaiv, where regional governor Vitaly Kim said “so far there are 12 people wounded” after rockets from multiple rocket launchers hit the city.
Updated
Reuters is citing the Russian news agency Interfax, which reports that an official in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has said decisions on the appeals of British and Moroccan fighters sentenced to death will be taken within a month.
Twenty-eight-year-old Aiden Aslin, from Newark, 48-year-old Shaun Pinner, from Watford, along with Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim, were fighting with Ukrainian armed forces when captured.
Ukraine and western countries have said that the men are prisoners of war, entitled to protection under the Geneva conventions.
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she “utterly condemns” the sentencing, stating “They are prisoners of war. This is a sham judgemnt with absolutely no legitimacy.”
All three have appealed their sentences.
Updated
Russia’s Tass news agency is reporting that “dozens of people were injured as a result of the strike of the armed forces of Ukraine at Novaya Kakhovka”.
Novaya Kakhovka is on the Dnieper river in an area of Kherson occupied by pro-Russian forces in the south of Ukraine.
It quotes Vladimir Leontyev, part of the administration imposed on the region by pro-Russian occupying forces, saying:
Unfortunately, there are casualties, a large number of injured, dozens of people were left homeless. The victims were admitted to both the city hospital and the military hospital. We still have to assess the damage, because the situation is still ongoing.
Tass reports: “In addition to damaged buildings, the attack also led to an explosion at fertiliser warehouses.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
In his daily operational briefing, Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, states that 150 people arrived in the region on evacuation trains yesterday, and that there was one air raid alarm overnight but that it came to nothing.
He also says that Lviv police evacuated the main railway station yesterday after reports there were explosives there, but nothing was found. He said that 835 people left Lviv region to head to Przemyśl in Poland yesterday.
Updated
Four people have been injured after Mykolaiv came under heavy shelling this morning, according to the city’s mayor, Oleksandr Syenkevych.
He posted to Telegram to say that rockets hit two medical facilities and residential buildings. The claims have not been independently verified.
- This is Martin Belam in London taking over the live blog. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
Chasiv Yar death toll rises to 34
The death toll from a missile strike on an apartment block in eastern Ukraine has reached 34, according to a Donetsk regional official.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional state administration, said:
Already 34 dead and 9 wounded have been retrieved by rescuers from the rubble of a multi-story building in the city of Chasiv Yar. One child was among the dead.”
Kyrylenko added that as of 6.30am on Tuesday, employees of the state emergency service had cleared about 70% of the rubble, though the rescue operation is ongoing.
“The Russians will bear responsibility for every destroyed and mutilated life!” he added.
34 загиблих та 9 поранених дістали рятувальники з-під завалів багатоповерхівки у Часовому Ярі. Серед загиблих — 1 дитина.
— Павло Кириленко (@Pavlo_Kyrylenko) July 12, 2022
Працівники ДСНС розчистили близько 70% руїн. Рятувальна операція триває.
За всі злочини росіяни будуть відповідати!#StopRussia#RussiaKillsCivilians pic.twitter.com/LgHYAPlUTY
Updated
Russia making small incremental territorial gains in Donetsk: UK MoD
Russian troops continue to make small incremental territorial gains in Donetsk after claiming to have seized control of the town of Hryhorivka, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
Russian forces also continue their assault along the E-40 main supply route towards the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk and are likely regrouping and reconstituting for further offensives in the near future, the ministry said in its latest intelligence report.
Russian armed forces’ personnel shortages may be forcing Moscow to turn to non-traditional recruitment, including recruiting personnel from Russian prisons for the Wagner Private Military Company, the report added.
“If true, this move likely indicates difficulties in replacing the significant numbers of Russian casualties.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 12 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 12, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/vzAuk7j6hs
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/KhsMlL4GW0
Iran to supply Russia with combat drones, US says
Iran is planning to supply Russia with hundreds of weapons-capable drones for use in Ukraine, according to a top US official.
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said the information received by the US supported views that Russia’s heavy bombardments in Ukraine, which have led it to consolidate gains in the country’s east in recent weeks, were “coming at a cost to the sustainment of its own weapons”.
“The Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], including weapons-capable UAVs, on an expedited timeline,” Sullivan said.
“Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training sessions slated to begin as soon as early July.”
Sullivan said it was not clear whether Iran had delivered any of the drones to Russia yet.
80% of Donetsk residents have fled, governor says
The governor of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region earlier said about 80% of its pre-war population has now been evacuated.
Pavlo Kyrylenko said about 340,000 people, or 20% of the local population before Russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February, remain, Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform reported.
On February 24, 1,670,000 people permanently lived in the controlled territory of the Donetsk region. About 340,000 people remain,”
Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region has been the focus of intensive Russian attacks in recent weeks, prompting officials to urge residents to seek safety elsewhere.
Updated
Chasiv Yar death toll rises to 33
The death toll has reached 33 from a missile strike on a five-storey apartment block in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine, as rescue teams continue to retrieve bodies from the rubble.
According to Kyiv, the residential building was hit by Russian rockets fired from truck-borne systems late on Saturday evening.
The Ukrainian emergency services initially gave a death toll of 10, but as rescue teams continued to comb through the debris that number rose.
The latest victim, a nine-year-old, was reported to have been found around 11.30pm on Monday evening.
In total, since the beginning of the work, the bodies of 33 dead people, including one child, have been found at the scene, and nine people have been rescued from the rubble. Works are ongoing,” Ukraine’s ministry of internal affairs said in an update, citing state emergency services.
Nine people were saved in the aftermath of the attack while Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region that includes Chasiv Yar, said about three dozen people could still be trapped in the rubble.
Ukraine plans to recapture its south with 1m strong army
Ukraine is massing a million-strong fighting force equipped with western weapons to recover its southern territory from Russia, according to the country’s defence minister.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has asked military chiefs to draw up plans to gather the “million-strong” force to recover occupied areas around the Black Sea coast that are vital to the country’s economy, Oleksii Reznikov said in an interview with the Times.
Reznikov said:
We understand that, politically, it’s very necessary for our country. The president has given the order to the supreme military chief to draw up plans. After that the general staff are doing their homework and say to achieve this goal we need XYZ.
Reznikov said he was writing letters to his counterparts in partner countries to talk about “why we need this kind of weaponry and then we get the political decisions”.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello, it’s Samantha Lock back with you as we unpack all the latest news from Ukraine this morning.
Ukrainian rescue teams have found the bodies of more civilians, including a 9-year-old child, trapped under the rubble of an apartment building in eastern Ukraine after a Russian rocket strike.
Here are all the latest lines as of 8am in Kyiv.
- The death toll from a Russian missile attack on a five-storey apartment building in the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine has risen to at least 33. Emergency crews worked to pull people from the rubble. Zelenskiy accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians in the attack which destroyed three buildings in a residential quarter. The latest victim, a nine-year-old child, was retrieved from the wreckage on Monday evening, Ukraine’s state emergency services said.
- Ukraine plans to gather a “million-strong” fighting force equipped with western weapons to recapture its southern territory from Russia. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, ordered the military to recover occupied areas around the Black Sea coast that are vital to the country’s economy, defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said.
- At least six people died after Russian rocket attacks on Monday morning on Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office. Among those killed were a father and his 17-year-old son, who were driving on their way to pick up a certificate for his university admission, Ukrainian regional police official Serhiy Bolvinov said. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said shelling struck civilian infrastructure including a commercial property and a tyre repair shop. These are “places which had no military significance”, he added.
- About 80% of residents in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk have fled, its governor said. Pavlo Kyrylenko said about 340,000 people, or 20% of the local population before Russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February, remain.
- Germany and the Czech Republic have signed a joint declaration, pledging to overcome Russian fossil fuel dependency and to accelerate the transition to low carbon energy. “We are going to finalise the agreement on solidarity measures to safeguard the security of gas supply between our countries prior to the start of the upcoming winter season,” the declaration read.
- Vladimir Putin signed a decree making it easier for citizens of Ukraine to acquire Russian citizenship. Previously, a simplified procedure applied only to residents of the self-proclaimed breakaway territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine, as well as the Russian-occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
- The Russian president plans to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after the pair discussed efforts to facilitate grain exports from Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Erdoğan told Putin that it was time to act on a UN plan to set up a sea corridor for Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea during a phone call on Monday, the Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency said.
- Lithuania expanded restrictions on trade through its territory to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, as phase-ins on earlier announced EU sanctions begin. Goods sanctioned from Monday morning include concrete, wood, alcohol and alcohol-based industrial chemicals. The governor of Kaliningrad, Anton Alikhanov, has proposed a total ban on the movement of goods between the three Baltic states and Russia, in response to what authorities in the exclave have called a “blockade”.
- Canada’s ambassador to Ukraine, Larisa Galadza, has been summoned to Kyiv explain Ottawa’s decision to return to Germany gas turbines needed to maintain the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Canada agreed to send back the repaired turbines at the weekend, angering Ukraine officials who insisted the move breached energy sanctions in place against Russia.
- Eight foreign-flagged ships have been able to reach ports along the Danube-Black Sea Canal to help Ukraine break a Russia-imposed blockade on grain exports, according to local media reports. The Kyiv Independent newspaper said the vessels were escorted by the Ukraine navy.
- Latvia may increase its defence spending and introduce compulsory military service regardless of gender to contain security risks arising from Russia. President Egils Levits, 67, told Reuters that security is the “priority of our politics today” and plans to raise the defence budget to 2.5% of GDP “may not be enough”.
- The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, met Zelenskiy in Kyiv to reiterate his country’s support for Ukraine “now and in the years to come”. The war in Ukraine may last longer than anyone had hoped, Rutte warned during a visit to the capital. After their meeting, Zelenskiy welcomed the “constructive” talks with the Dutch leader and the decision to supply weapons to Ukraine.
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Iran is planning to supply Russia with hundreds of weapons-capable drones for use in Ukraine, according to a top US official. Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said: “The Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], including weapons-capable UAVs, on an expedited timeline.” Sullivan said information suggested that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use the UAVs as soon as early July.
- The lower house of the Russian parliament will gather on 15 July for an extraordinary session where more than 80 draft laws will be discussed. “We plan to consider a little [more] than 60 issues,” Vladimir Vasilyev, the head of the United Russia party, said but did not disclose what the issues were.
- The United Nations says it will monitor the war in Ukraine for violations against children, including killings, injuries, recruitment, rape and other forms of sexual violence.
