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.
- Ukraine says it hopes to start exporting grain from its ports this week with the first ships potentially moving from its Black Sea ports within a few days. Details of the procedures will soon be published by a joint coordination centre that is liaising with the shipping industry, deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said. Turkey’s President, Tayyip Erdogan, said that Turkey expects Kyiv and Moscow to keep to their responsibilities under the recently signed grain export deal.
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Russia’s Gazprom is set to cut gas supplies further after announcing a drastic cut to gas deliveries through its main pipeline to Europe from Wednesday. The company said it was halting the operation of one of the last two operating turbines due to the “technical condition of the engine”, cutting daily gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline to 33m cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s capacity.
- The German group Siemens Energy is disputing Gazprom’s reasoning, saying it saw “no link between the turbine and the gas cuts that have been implemented or announced” in a statement to Agence France-Presse. Siemens energy is charged with maintaining the turbine.
- Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Europe to hit back against Russia’s “gas war”. “This is an overt gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe … And that’s why it is necessary to hit back,” the Ukrainian president said, adding Europe should boost its sanctions against Moscow.
- Russia’s top diplomat has said Moscow’s overarching goal is to topple the government of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Speaking to envoys at an Arab League summit in Cairo on Sunday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Moscow is determined to help Ukrainians “liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime”.
- Ukraine said it destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots using the US-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars) on Monday. The systems, delivered late last month, have turned the war in Ukraine’s favour by dismantling Russia’s logistics and slowing down its offensive, say Ukrainian authorities. “This cuts [Russian] logistical chains and takes away their ability to conduct active fighting and hit our armed forces with heavy shelling,” Ukraine’s minister of defence, Oleksii Reznikov, said.
- Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa at the weekend casts doubt on the grain deal struck the day before, the White House said. The US will continue to explore options to increase Ukraine exports through overland routes, Washington added. “We are going to be watching this closely to see if Russia meets their commitments under this arrangement since this attack casts serious doubt on Russia’s credibility,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.
- The appeal of Ukraine’s first war crimes conviction was adjourned on Monday, as prosecutors keep pushing to hold Russia legally accountable for atrocities. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old captured Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian and was sentenced in May by a Ukrainian court to life in prison, sat in a glass box in the courtroom as he faced news cameras.
- Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, has arrived in Uganda on the third stop of a four-day tour of African countries. According to the Russian Tass news agency, Lavrov is due to hold talks on Tuesday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
- Two Americans who were killed while defending Ukraine earlier this month have now been identified. Luke Lucyszyn, 31, and Bryan Young were the US citizens killed during an ambush by a Russian tank on 18 July, their Ukrainian commander said on Facebook. Lucyszyn was reportedly knocked unconscious by an artillery strike and fatally shot by a Russian tank, Miroshnichenko said.
- Russian authorities briefly detained a 72-year-old liberal politician and Kremlin critic who recently returned to Moscow from abroad on Monday. Leonid Gozman was detained after the Russian interior ministry issued a warrant for his arrest alleging he failed to notify authorities about his Israeli citizenship within the required time, according to the Associated Press.
- The Eurovision song contest will be hosted in the UK next year after Ukraine’s public broadcaster dropped its objections and agreed to work with the BBC on the event. Ukraine won this year’s Eurovision with the song Stefania by Kalush Orchestra, earning the right to host the 2023 edition. However, organisers concluded this could not be done safely while the country was at war. The UK will produce a programme that – in the words of the BBC – has “glorious Ukraine at its heart”.
Updated
Russian authorities briefly detained a 72-year-old liberal politician who recently returned to Moscow from abroad on Monday.
Leonid Gozman was detained after the Russian Interior Ministry issued a warrant for his arrest while investigating a criminal case against him, according to the Associated Press.
Gozman has been accused of breaching the law that requires Russian citizens to notify authorities about a foreign citizenship or a residency permit. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a fine or community work.
Gozman notified the authorities about his Israeli citizenship but they claimed that he failed to do so within required time.
Gozman, a vocal critic of the Kremlin’s campaign in Ukraine, left Russia when it started but returned in June in what he has described as a “moral” choice.
Immediately after meeting with investigators Monday, Gozman was detained on the Moscow subway by police who told him he was on the federal arrest warrant. The politician was later released, but the criminal case against him is still pending.
Speaking after being released Monday, Gozman said the authorities issued a warrant for his arrest after he hadn’t responded to summons that have been sent to his old address. He added that he fears being handed a prison term.
I’m 72. Russian prison is not for my age. I won’t survive it.
Our country is conducting horrible foreign and domestic policies.
But it’s our country, we have been born and brought up here. My wife and I, we have done a lot for the country, and we don’t want to leave.”
Russia’s top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, has arrived in Uganda on the third stop of a four-day tour of African countries.
Lavrov was welcomed in Entebbe by his Ugandan counterpart, Jeje Odongo, the Russian foreign ministry announced, publishing a photo of the two foreign ministers.
According to the Russian Tass news agency, Lavrov is due to hold talks on Tuesday with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
On Sunday, the government said it was a two-day visit.
“President Yoweri Museveni who last visited Russia in 2019 has called for stronger bilateral relations especially in the areas of defence and security, economic and technical cooperation,” the government wrote.
🇷🇺🇺🇬 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Uganda on a working visit.
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 25, 2022
At the airport of Entebbe, he was met by his counterpart, Ugandan Foreign Minister @GenJejeOdongo.#RussiaAfrica #RussiaUganda pic.twitter.com/maN4AQ2ZkB
A South Carolina man serving as a medic in the Ukrainian military has been identified as one of two Americans killed in Ukraine last week.
Luke ‘Skywalker’ Lucyszyn, a 31-year-old Myrtle Beach resident, died on 18 July in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region after he was knocked unconscious by an artillery strike and fatally shot by a Russian tank, his commander, Ruslan Miroshnichenko, said in a Facebook post on Monday.
The US state department confirmed the deaths of two Americans in Ukraine on Friday but did not release their names or further details. Family and friends confirmed reports with the Associated Press that Lucyszyn was one of the men who died.
Miroshnichenko identified the other American as Bryan Young.
Lucyszyn’s longtime friend Trey Kober, of North Myrtle Beach, said Lucyszyn left for Ukraine in early April after telling close friends he felt a responsibility to defend his late grandmother’s homeland.
Two weeks before his death, Lucyszyn said goodbye to Kober in an emotional Facebook message after he learned that his platoon would soon be sent to the more dangerous Donbas region.
He was pretty confident he wouldn’t be coming back,” Kober said. “He sent us a serious message that said he was being sent to the frontlines to relieve a platoon that had been there for a long time, and he basically just told us, I’m not coming back from this. This is it.’”
Updated
Here is a little more from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy remarks following Russia’s Gazprom announcement to cut supplies further through its single biggest gas link to Germany.
Today we saw another gas threat to Europe. Even despite the concession regarding the Nord Stream turbine, Russia is not going to resume gas supplies to European countries, as it is contractually obligated to do.
All this is done by Russia deliberately to make it as difficult as possible for Europeans to prepare for winter. And this is an overt gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe - this is exactly how it should be perceived. And they don’t care what will happen to the people, how they will suffer - from hunger due to the blocking of ports or from winter cold and poverty... Or from occupation. These are just different forms of terror.
And that’s why it is necessary to hit back. Do not think about the way to return some turbine, but strengthen sanctions. Do everything to limit Russian revenues not only from gas and oil, but also from any remaining exports. And sever trade ties with Russia as much as possible, because every such tie is Russia’s potential tool of putting pressure.
The gas blackmail of Europe, which only gets worse every month, is needed by a terrorist state to make life worse for every European. And this can actually be perceived as an incentive for the EU’s eighth sanctions package to be significantly stronger than the recently approved seventh.”
Summary
The time in Kyiv is shortly after 1am. Here is a summary of the day’s main headlines:
- Millions around the world could die due to the “food crisis” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Guatemala’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, said during a visit to Ukraine, at a joint press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The two leaders put out a joint statement noting the war’s “global economic effects that have generated inflation, increased the cost of living and produced more poverty”.
- Russia’s attack on the vital Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa at the weekend casts doubt on the grain deal struck the day before, the White House said. The US will continue to explore options to increase Ukraine exports through overland routes, Washington added. “We are going to be watching this closely to see if Russia meets their commitments under this arrangement since this attack casts serious doubt on Russia’s credibility,” a National Security Council spokesperson said.
- Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls on Europe to respond to Russia’s “gas war”. The Ukrainian president said Europe should boost its sanctions against Moscow. “You have to hit back. Do not think about how to bring back the turbine [the Nordstream pipeline machinery that Russia claims is the cause of new supply cuts, which Germany and others dispute], but strengthen the sanctions,” Zelenskiy said.
- Russia’s Gazprom is set to cut supplies further through its single biggest gas link to Germany, crushing hopes a deal over grain supplies would lessen the economic impact of the Ukraine war. The European Union has accused Russia of resorting to energy blackmail, while the Kremlin says the gas disruption is the result of maintenance issues and western sanctions, Reuters reported.
- Russia’s top diplomat has said Moscow’s overarching goal is to topple the government of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Russian airstrikes continue to pummel cities across Ukraine. Speaking to envoys at an Arab League summit in Cairo on Sunday, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said Moscow is determined to help Ukrainians “liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime”.
- Lavrov also claimed on Monday there are no barriers to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, after Ukraine and Russia signed a deal to unblock grain shipments on the Black Sea in Turkey last week. Speaking after Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s main port of Odesa on Saturday, Lavrov said the strike had been aimed at military infrastructure in the port, Reuters reported.
- Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar has told Ukrainian infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov that it is important for the first shipment of grain under a UN-brokered deal to take place as soon as possible, his ministry said. In a statement, the ministry said Akar welcomed a statement that Kyiv hopes to begin implementing the deal this week, adding Turkey would continue to do what it has to under the agreement.
- Ukrainian forces have destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots using US-supplied Himars rocket systems in the war with Russia, Ukrainian defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Monday. “This cuts their [Russian] logistical chains and takes away their ability to conduct active fighting and cover our armed forces with heavy shelling,” he said in televised comments.
- The appeal of Ukraine’s first war crimes conviction was adjourned on Monday, as prosecutors keep pushing to hold Russia legally accountable for atrocities even as fighting rages in the south and east of the country. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old captured Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian and was sentenced in May by a Ukrainian court to life in prison, sat in a glass box in the courtroom as he faced news cameras.
- The 2023 Eurovision song contest will be held in the UK next year, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC have confirmed. In a statement, the EBU said it would be held on behalf of this year’s winning broadcaster, Ukraine’s UA:PBC, due to the Russian invasion of the country.
- Ukrainian military officials have claimed a “turning point” in the battle to retake the southern region of Kherson, saying they will use western weapons to liberate by September the first major city captured by Russian forces. Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the administrative head of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television on Sunday: “We can say that a turning point has occurred on the battlefield. We are switching from defensive to counter-offensive actions.”
- Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that it repelled two Ukrainian landing craft attempting to cross the Dnieper River into the occupied southern part of the Kherson region. The ministry also claims to have shot down six unmanned drones, and to have destroyed a depot being used as a transport hub for US-supplied Himars ammunition in the last 24 hours.
- Another school in Mykolaiv was almost completely destroyed overnight, according to the city’s mayor. Oleksandr Syenkevych stated that “the ceilings between the first and second floors were destroyed, classrooms were damaged”. Five people have been wounded, including a teenager, in shelling on the city in the last 24 hours.
- The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its daily intelligence briefing that “inconclusive fighting continues in both the Donbas and Kherson sectors. Russian commanders continue to face a dilemma: whether to resource the offensive in the east, or to bolster the defence in the west.”
The US team is handing the blog over now to our Australian colleagues, where Samantha Lock is poised to bring you more developments as they happen.
Updated
Here’s more from the visit to Ukraine by the Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei, where he just held a press conference with Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Zelenskiy thanked Giammattei for his visit and called on the international community to set up a special court to “punish Russia for its aggression”, AFP reports.
The cost of living is unfairly rising and only together can we protect the world and international legal order,” Zelenskiy said.
During the visit, the two countries agreed to scrap visa requirements for Guatemalans traveling to Ukraine and to establish direct business contacts.
The visit was arranged during a telephone conversation between the two presidents in June, after which Giammattei had said they “spoke about reconstruction in Ukraine, where they need laborers, and so [Zelenskiy] asked that Guatemalans travel to work in Ukraine.”
In a brief press release, Guatemala’s communication secretariat for the presidency gave no details on when the visit began or how long it would last.
Following Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine, Giammattei closed Guatemala’s embassy in Moscow.
The Central American country exports nickel to Ukraine while importing iron and steel. Despite breaking off diplomatic relations with Russia, Guatemala continues to export coffee and bananas to the Eurasian powerhouse, while importing fertilizer, medical supplies and paper.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February following months of rising tensions between the neighbors.
Like many countries affected by the war, Guatemala has since seen fuel prices shoot up.
Updated
Millions could die due to "food crisis" caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine – Guatemalan president
Millions around the world could die due to the “food crisis” caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Guatemala’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, said during a visit to Ukraine on Monday, Agence France-Presse reports.
Giammattei, who was invited to Ukraine by counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy to view the damage caused by Russia’s invasion, hit out at the war’s global impact.
An irrefutable proof of the consequences of this war are the global economic effects that have generated inflation, increased the cost of living and produced more poverty,” he said in a joint statement with Zelenskiy published by the Guatemalan presidency.
And he warned of what could come from the conflict soon:
[A] food crisis that could mean the death of millions of people.”
Central America has been badly affected by the war as it imports all of its grain from the conflict zone.
Ukraine has been unable to export grain since the beginning of Russia’s invasion due to a blockade of its Black Sea ports by Kremlin forces.
The whole world is suffering the serious consequences of the Russian aggression such as the food crisis and price destabilization. The cost of living is unfairly rising and only together can we protect the world and international legal order,” said Zelenskiy.
Updated
On the frontlines, the Ukrainian military reported widespread Russian artillery barrages in the east overnight Sunday-Monday and said Moscow’s troops were preparing for a new assault on Bakhmut, a city in the industrial Donbas region, Reuters reports.
Here are some more pictures from the area.
Konstantinovka, close to the Donetsk front line.
Trying to stop the advance in Kramatorsk.
Another angle on some of the destruction in Bakhmut.
And a poignant gesture:
A teacher sets up a small Ukrainian flag over the entrance to a school in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, where he worked. #Ukraine️ #war #RussianAggression #RussianWarCrimes #RussiaIsATerroristState pic.twitter.com/WRLba2AdnU
— Zav Raya 🇺🇦🇪🇺💙💛🌻 (@zav_raya) July 25, 2022
Updated
The German group Siemens Energy, which is charged with maintaining the turbine referred to in Russia’s explanation for planned gas cuts to Europe, is disputing the reason given that Gazprom is halting one of the last two operating turbines in the Nord Stream pipeline due to the “technical condition of the engine”.
Siemens energy said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that it saw “no link between the turbine and the gas cuts that have been implemented or announced”.
AFP added that Germany - which is heavily reliant on Russian gas but has looked to wean itself off gradually following Moscow’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine - had said there was no technical justification for the cut announced by Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy company.
The Russian announcement came on the same day that Ukraine announced receiving the first of an expected 15 Gepard anti-aircraft systems and tens of thousands of shells from Germany.
Updated
Russian attack on Odesa risks grain export deal – White House
Russia’s attack on the vital Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa casts doubt on a grain deal, the White House said this afternoon, Reuters reports.
The United States will continue to explore options with the international community to increase Ukraine exports through overland routes, Washington added.
The announcement comes after the Kremlin said it did not expect the Saturday missile strike targeting military infrastructure in Ukraine would affect a plan to restart exports from the country.
We are going to be watching this closely to see if Russia meets their commitments under this arrangement since this attack casts serious doubt on Russia’s credibility,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement.
Last Friday, Guardian staff reported, Ukraine and Russia signed a hard-won, United Nations-backed deal to allow the export of millions of tonnes of grain from Black Sea ports blockaded by the invading force, including Odesa, potentially averting the threat of a catastrophic global food crisis.
The signing ceremony in Istanbul was attended by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, who had played a key role during months of tense negotiations.
But barely 12 hours after Moscow signed the deal with Kyiv to allow monitored grain exports, Russia targeted Odesa – through which shipments would take place – with cruise missile strikes.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy swiftly called the attack blatant “barbarism”, showing Moscow could not be trusted to implement the deal.
Eyewitness footage posted on social media, taken in the port area, showed one of the missiles exploding close to the seafront behind rows of containers and not far from a docked ship.
The strikes on Odesa drew strong condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy calls on Europe to respond to Russia's 'gas war'
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said today that Europe should respond to Russia’s “gas war” by boosting its sanctions against Moscow, reports AFP.
“Today we heard new gas threats to Europe … This is an open gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe,” Zelenskiy said, responding to Gazprom’s announcement of a new reduction in gas deliveries to Europe.
Russia’s state-owned energy giant said it would further cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline to 33 million cubic metres a day, about 20 percent of the pipeline’s capacity. The reduction in gas deliveries will start on Wednesday.
During a daily video message, Zelenskiy added: “They don’t care what will happen to the people, how they will suffer - from hunger due to blocked ports, from winter cold and poverty ... or the occupation. These are just different forms of terror”.
“That is why you have to hit back. Do not think about how to bring back the turbine, but strengthen the sanctions,” Zelenskiy said further.
Updated
Prosecutors are still pursuing war crimes against Russia after an appeal of Ukraine’s first war crime conviction are adjourned today, reports the Associated Press.
The appeal of Ukraine’s first war crimes conviction was adjourned on Monday, as prosecutors keep pushing to hold Russia legally accountable for atrocities even as fighting rages in the south and east of the country.
Thin and subdued, Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old captured Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian and was sentenced in May by a Ukrainian court to life in prison, sat in a glass box in the courtroom as he faced news cameras. The hearing was postponed until July 29 due to his lawyer’s ill health.
Around Ukraine’s capitol region, where Russian forces pulled out four months ago, much of the work of documenting crime scenes and interviewing witnesses has been done. Now a new, more difficult phase in the search for accountability is underway: Finding those responsible.
“While conducting searches in the previously occupied region, we regularly find documents, passports and lists with names of participants of the units, with their complete data, including sites of birth and dates of births,” Andrii Nebytov, head of the Kyiv regional police, told The Associated Press. “All of this information is being transferred to the relevant law enforcement. The investigators are working with the victims, trying to identify the people who committed crimes against them.”
Read the full article here.
Turkey president Tayyip Erdogan said today that Turkey expects Kyiv and Moscow to keep their responsibilities under a deal signed about Ukrainian grain exports, reports Reuters.
Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey signed the deal on Friday aimed at giving ships safe passage to pass through three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that have been blocked by Russia since its 24 February invasion.
“We expect them to own up to the deals they signed and to act according to the responsibilities they undertook,” said Erdogan in an interview. Erdogan added that the “operational aspect” of the mechanism would be coordinated from a center in Istanbul, involving representatives from all parties.
Updated
The US donated over 500,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Ukraine today, announced the US State department.
The State department tweeted:
Today, the United States donated nearly 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Ukraine.
We are proud to support the people of Ukraine in their fight against COVID-19.
Today, the United States donated nearly 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Ukraine. We are proud to support the people of Ukraine in their fight against COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/d9ugSA0N2G
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 25, 2022
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also commented on the vaccine shipment, tweeting:
As we continue to confront COVID-19 worldwide, we must keep in mind those affected by crises and war in places like Ukraine.
This shipment of vaccine doses furthers our commitment to defeating the pandemic and supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked war of choice.
As we continue to confront COVID-19 worldwide, we must keep in mind those affected by crises and war in places like Ukraine. This shipment of vaccine doses furthers our commitment to defeating the pandemic and supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia's unprovoked war of choice. https://t.co/vBDgXbxIc7
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 25, 2022
Updated
Here is more information on Russia’s announcement that it will further cut gas supplies to Europe, from the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin:
The Russian state-controlled energy company Gazprom has announced a drastic cut to gas deliveries through its main pipeline to Europe from Wednesday.
The Russian gas export monopoly said it was halting the operation of one of the last two operating turbines due to the “technical condition of the engine”, cutting daily gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline to 33 million cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s capacity.
“We are monitoring the situation very closely in close exchange with the federal network agency and the gas crisis team,” the German economy ministry said in a statement on Monday after Gazprom’s announcement. “According to our information, there is no technical reason for a reduction in deliveries.”
The Nord Stream 1 pipeline resumed pumping last week, after a ten-day maintenance break, but the European Commission has warned that a complete gas shut down by Russia is likely.
The announcement came as EU governments sparred over a plan for a 15% gas savings target intended to avoid a winter crisis if the Kremlin turns off the taps to Europe. The EU‘s goal is to use less gas now to build storage for winter.
Read the full article here.
Updated
Summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a summary of the day’s main headlines:
- Russia’s Gazprom is set to cut supplies further through its single biggest gas link to Germany, crushing hopes a deal over grain supplies would lessen the economic impact of the Ukraine war. The European Union has accused Russia of resorting to energy blackmail, while the Kremlin says the gas disruption is the result of maintenance issues and western sanctions, Reuters reported.
- Russia’s top diplomat has said Moscow’s overarching goal is to topple the government of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Russian air strikes continue to pummel cities across Ukraine. Speaking to envoys at an Arab League summit in Cairo on Sunday, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is determined to help Ukrainians “liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime”.
- Lavrov also claimed on Monday there are no barriers to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, after Ukraine and Russia signed a deal to unblock grain shipments on the Black Sea in Turkey last week. Speaking after Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s main port of Odesa on Saturday, Lavrov said the strike had been aimed at military infrastructure in the port, Reuters reported.
- Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar has told Ukrainian infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov that it is important for the first shipment of grain under a UN-brokered deal to take place as soon as possible, his ministry said. In a statement, the ministry said Akar welcomed a statement that Kyiv hopes to begin implementing the deal this week, adding Turkey would continue to do what it has to under the agreement.
- Ukrainian forces have destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots using US-supplied Himars rocket systems in the war with Russia, Ukrainian defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Monday. “This cuts their [Russian] logistical chains and takes away their ability to conduct active fighting and cover our armed forces with heavy shelling,” he said in televised comments.
- The appeal of Ukraine’s first war crimes conviction was adjourned on Monday, as prosecutors keep pushing to hold Russia legally accountable for atrocities even as fighting rages in the south and east of the country. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old captured Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian and was sentenced in May by a Ukrainian court to life in prison, sat in a glass box in the courtroom as he faced news cameras.
- The 2023 Eurovision song contest will be held in the UK next year, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC have confirmed. In a statement, the EBU said it would be held on behalf of this year’s winning broadcaster, Ukraine’s UA:PBC, due to the Russian invasion of the country.
- Ukrainian military officials have claimed a “turning point” in the battle to retake the southern region of Kherson, saying they will use western weapons to liberate by September the first major city captured by Russian forces. Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the administrative head of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television on Sunday: “We can say that a turning point has occurred on the battlefield. We are switching from defensive to counteroffensive actions.”
- Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that it repelled two Ukrainian landing craft attempting to cross the Dnieper River into the occupied southern part of the Kherson region. The ministry also claims to have shot down six unmanned drones, and to have destroyed a depot being used as a transport hub for US-supplied Himars ammunition in the last 24 hours.
- Another school in Mykolaiv was almost completely destroyed overnight, according to the city’s mayor. Oleksandr Syenkevych stated that “the ceilings between the first and second floors were destroyed, classrooms were damaged”. Five people have been wounded, including a teenager, in shelling on the city in the last 24 hours.
- The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its daily intelligence breifing that “inconclusive fighting continues in both the Donbas and Kherson sectors. Russian commanders continue to face a dilemma; whether to resource the offensive in the east, or to bolster the defence in the west.”
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. I will be back tomorrow but my colleague Gloria Oladipo will be along shortly to continue bringing you the latest from Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar has told Ukrainian infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov that it is important for the first shipment of grain under a UN-brokered deal to take place as soon as possible, his ministry said.
In a statement, the ministry said Akar welcomed a statement that Kyiv hopes to begin implementing the deal this week, adding Turkey would continue to do what it has to under the agreement.
Akar, who discussed the grain export deal with US defense secretary Lloyd Austin earlier, also said work at the Istanbul-based joint coordination centre (JCC) was continuing intensely, his ministry said.
The first ships to export Ukraine’s grain from the country’s Black Sea ports may move within a few days under a deal agreed on Friday by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, a UN spokesperson said.
A joint coordination centre will liaise with the shipping industry and will publish detailed procedures for ships in the near future, said deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
Updated
Russia's Gazprom to further cut gas supplies to Germany
Russia’s Gazprom is set to cut supplies further through its single biggest gas link to Germany, crushing hopes a deal over grain supplies would lessen the economic impact of the Ukraine war.
The European Union has accused Russia of resorting to energy blackmail, while the Kremlin says the gas disruption is the result of maintenance issues and western sanctions, Reuters reported.
Citing the instructions of an industry watchdog, Gazprom on Monday said flows through Nord Stream 1 would fall to 33 million cubic metres a day from 4am BST on Wednesday. That is half of the current flows, which are already only 40% of normal capacity.
Germany said it saw no technical reason for the latest reduction.
Updated
The appeal of Ukraine’s first war crimes conviction was adjourned on Monday, as prosecutors keep pushing to hold Russia legally accountable for atrocities even as fighting rages in the south and east of the country.
Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old captured Russian soldier who pleaded guilty to killing a civilian and was sentenced in May by a Ukrainian court to life in prison, sat in a glass box in the courtroom as he faced news cameras. The hearing was postponed until 29 July due to his lawyer’s ill health.
The Associated Press reported:
Around Ukraine’s capital region, where Russian forces pulled out four months ago, much of the work of documenting crime scenes and interviewing witnesses has been done. Now a new, more difficult phase in the search for accountability is underway: Finding those responsible.
“While conducting searches in the previously occupied region, we regularly find documents, passports and lists with names of participants of the units, with their complete data, including sites of birth and dates of births,” Andrii Nebytov, head of the Kyiv regional police, told the Associated Press. “All of this information is being transferred to the relevant law enforcement. The investigators are working with the victims, trying to identify the people who committed crimes against them.”
Shishimarin’s case is unusual in that Ukrainian authorities quickly found evidence to link him with the shooting of a 62-year-old man in the north-eastern Sumy region on 28 February. That’s not the case for most war crimes cases now under investigation.
Ukrainian prosecutors have registered over 20,100 potential war crimes, and police in the Kyiv region have exhumed more than 1,300 bodies.
Updated
Ukraine has said it hopes to start exporting grain from its ports this week, despite Russia’s attack on Odesa only 12 hours after Moscow agreed to allow Kyiv safe passage for the commodity.
The international community’s relations with Russia hit a new low on Saturday after the missile attack, which came shortly after Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, signed an export agreement in Istanbul.
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said on Saturday that Ukraine would continue preparations to export grain and food, starting with Chornomorsk port, then the ports in Odesa and Pivdennyi along its south-western coast, which it still controls.
Ukraine signed the agreement with the United Nations and Turkey and requested Russia sign the same, but separate agreement.
Updated
The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was optimistic about a UN-brokered deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports but warned the agreement alone will not solve the global food crisis even if it is implemented effectively.
Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations and Turkey signed a deal on Friday aimed at allowing safe passage for ships going in and out of three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that have been blocked by Russia since Moscow’s invasion.
Ukraine and Russia are major grains exporters and the port blockade has trapped tens of millions of tonnes of grain in the country, Reuters reported. Along with western sanctions on Russia, it has sent energy and food prices soaring, sparking protests in developing countries that depend on Black Sea grains.
“We’re optimistic the deal could lead to improvements in global food prices. Countries dependent on grain supplies from the Black Sea would likely be the first to feel a positive impact,” a WFP spokesperson told Reuters.
Updated
Two Americans who were killed alongside a pair of Canadian and Swedish nationals while volunteering to defend Ukraine from Russia’s invasion earlier this month have been identified.
Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young were the US citizens killed during an ambush by a Russian tank on 18 July, their Ukrainian commander said on Facebook. The attack in which they died also killed Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois of Canada and Edvard Selander Patrignani, according to the commander, Ruslan Miroshnichenko.
Citing an account from Miroshnichenko, Russian shelling left Lucysyzyn wounded, and that prompted Young and the others to try to help him, CBS News reported. Additional tank fire killed the four foreign volunteers in the Donetsk region, a heavily disputed region of Ukraine, Miroshnichenko said.
Updated
Russia defends strikes on Odesa and says no barriers to grain export
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on Monday there are no barriers to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, after Ukraine and Russia signed a deal to unblock grain shipments on the Black Sea in Turkey last week.
Speaking after Russian missiles struck Ukraine’s main port of Odesa on Saturday, Lavrov said the strike had been aimed at military infrastructure in the port, Reuters reported.
He told a news conference there was nothing in the grain agreement signed by Russia to prevent it from continuing to attack military infrastructure in Ukraine.
Updated
At the door of the evacuation bus in the centre of the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, Lyubov Verba squeezes the arm of her daughter Diana as her son Vyacheslav, 12, looks on.
It is a brief and poignant moment. Lyubov is tired and drawn. Unable to sleep under the Russian shelling that has targeted the city since the beginning of the war in February, she has developed a tremor.
Now she is leaving for Odesa, two hours’ drive away along the coast, accompanied by one of her daughters, 15-year-old Ksenia.
Once a city of almost 500,000 people, Mykolaiv’s population has almost halved over the past five months. More residents, like Lyubov, are leaving every day.
Updated
The 2023 Eurovision song contest will be held in the UK next year, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the BBC have confirmed.
In a statemen,t the EBU said it would be held on behalf of this year’s winning broadcaster, Ukraine’s UA:PBC, due to the Russian invasion of the country.
A statement from BBC director-general Tim Davie said:
It is a matter of great regret that our colleagues and friends in Ukraine are not able to host the 2023 Eurovision song contest. Being asked to host the largest and most complex music competition in the world is a great privilege.
The BBC is committed to making the event a true reflection of Ukrainian culture alongside showcasing the diversity of British music and creativity. The BBC will now begin the process to find a host city to partner with us on delivering one of the most exciting events to come to the UK in 2023.
Mykola Chernotytskyi, head of the managing board of Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC, said:
The 2023 Eurovision song contest will not be in Ukraine but in support of Ukraine. We are grateful to our BBC partners for showing solidarity with us.
I am confident that together we will be able to add Ukrainian spirit to this event and once again unite the whole of Europe around our common values of peace, support, celebrating diversity and talent.
Updated
Russia’s top diplomat has said Moscow’s overarching goal is to topple the government of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Russian air strikes continue to pummel cities across Ukraine.
Speaking to envoys at an Arab League summit in Cairo on Sunday, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow is determined to help Ukrainians “liberate themselves from the burden of this absolutely unacceptable regime”.
Lavrov accused Kyiv and “its western allies” of spouting propaganda intended to ensure that Ukraine “becomes the eternal enemy of Russia”, the Associated Press reported.
“Russian and Ukrainian people would continue to live together, we will certainly help Ukrainian people to get rid of the regime, which is absolutely anti-people and anti-historical,” he said.
Lavrov’s remarks contrasted sharply with the Kremlin’s line early in the war, when Russian officials repeatedly emphasised that they were not seeking to overthrow Zelenskiy’s government.
Updated
Ukrainian forces destroy 50 Russian ammunition depots, defence minister says
Ukrainian forces have destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots using US-supplied Himars rocket systems in the war with Russia, Ukrainian defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Monday.
“This cuts their [Russian] logistical chains and takes away their ability to conduct active fighting and cover our armed forces with heavy shelling,” he said in televised comments.
Reuters could not independently verify Reznikov’s remarks about the use of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars).
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
- Ukraine warned that grain exports would not restart as hoped after the signing of a landmark deal aimed at easing the food crisis if a Russian airstrike on a key port on Saturday was a sign of things to come. The attack on Odesa, which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, denounced as “barbarism” and a sign that Moscow could not be trusted to implement the freshly inked deal, drew international condemnation. Turkey, which helped broker the accord allowing exports to resume, said immediately after the double cruise missile hits on the strategic southern port that it had received assurances from Moscow that Russian forces were not responsible.
- Contradicting the claim that Russia had not been responsible, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has denied that cruise missile strikes on Odesa would have any impact on the export of grain. He told the media: “These strikes are connected exclusively with military infrastructure. They are in no way related to infrastructure that is used for the export of grain. This should not affect – and will not affect – the beginning of shipments.”
- Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has embarked on a four-day tour of several countries in Africa. On his first stop in Egypt he sought to reassure his counterpart Sameh Shoukry that Russian grain supplies would continue and met with the secretary general of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, where he spoke of deepening cooperation between Russia and the Arab League. “We are at the beginning of a new era, which would be a movement towards real multilateralism, not the one which the west tries to impose,” Russia’s foreign ministry quoted Lavrov as saying.
- Ukrainian military officials have claimed a “turning point” in the battle to retake the southern region of Kherson, saying they will use western weapons to liberate by September the first major city captured by Russian forces. Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the administrative head of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television on Sunday: “We can say that a turning point has occurred on the battlefield. We are switching from defensive to counteroffensive actions.”
- Ukraine will continue doing all it can to inflict as much damage on Russian forces as possible and will not be cowed, Zelenskiy has vowed. “Even the occupiers admit we will win,” he said in his nightly video address on Sunday. “We do everything to inflict the highest possible damage on the enemy … we will celebrate against all odds. Because Ukrainians won’t be cowed.”
- Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that it repelled two Ukrainian landing craft attempting to cross the Dnieper River into the occupied southern part of the Kherson region. The ministry also claims to have shot down six unmanned drones, and to have destroyed a depot being used as a transport hub for US-supplied Himars ammunition in the last 24 hours.
- Another school in Mykolaiv was almost completely destroyed overnight, according to the city’s mayor. Oleksandr Syenkevych stated that “the ceilings between the first and second floors were destroyed, classrooms were damaged”. Five people have been wounded, including a teenager, in shelling on the city in the last 24 hours.
- The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its daily intelligence breifing that “inconclusive fighting continues in both the Donbas and Kherson sectors. Russian commanders continue to face a dilemma; whether to resource the offensive in the east, or to bolster the defence in the west.”
- One of the Russian-imposed officials in Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia region has said that a referendum on the region joining the Russian Federation will most likely take place in September, alongside a similar one in occupied Kherson.
- The head of Russia’s investigative committee, Alexander Bastrykin, said Moscow had charged 92 members of Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity and proposed an international tribunal backed by countries including Bolivia, Iran and Syria.
That is it from me, Martin Belam. I will be back tomorrow. Tom Ambrose will be with you shortly.
Updated
Another school in Mykolaiv was almost completely destroyed overnight, according to the city’s mayor.
Oleksandr Syenkevych posted to Telegram to say that the city was shelled again in the early hours this morning, and that “a private warehouse and the territory of several private enterprises were hit”.
Providing further details of strikes that took place yesterday evening, the mayor said:
Another school in Mykolaiv was almost completely destroyed – the ceilings between the first and second floors were destroyed, classrooms were damaged.
Windows in a nine-story high-rise buildings were blown out by the shock wave and debris. Two more private houses caught fire from the impact of ammunition and debris. Commercial buildings, cars and a garage were also damaged.
So far, it is known about five wounded, among them a teenager.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
In his daily conference call with reporters, the Kremlin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, has denied that cruise missile strikes on Odesa will have any impact on the export of grain.
Reuters quotes him saying: “These strikes are connected exclusively with military infrastructure. They are in no way related to infrastructure that is used for the export of grain. This should not affect – and will not affect – the beginning of shipments.”
At the weekend, Russia struck at the key port city within hours of having signed a deal designed to guarantee the safe passage of grain out of Ukraine.
Updated
In its daily operational briefing, Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed that it repelled two Ukrainian landing craft attempting to cross the Dnieper River into the occupied southern part of the Kherson region.
It claimed that the boats and the “saboteurs onboard” were destroyed.
The ministry also claims to have shot down six unmanned drones, and to have destroyed a depot being used as a transport hub for US-supplied Himars ammunition.
None of the claims have been verified.
Updated
Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, has posted to say that in the last 24 hours, 326 people arrived in the region on two evacuation trains from the east of the country. 851 people departed for Przemyśl in Poland. He said that there was an air alarm yesterday at 8.27am, with the threat of missiles from the Black Sea, but “the danger did not materialise”.
In a separate post, Kozytskyi welcomed reports that Pope Francis wished to visit Kyiv, saying “the visit of the pontiff would be a strong step of support for our people”.
Updated
There is a set of photos from the village of Yahidne in Chernihiv region illustrating a new Ukrainian phenomena of young people gathering to clear rubble while also listening to techno DJs.
“Volunteering is my lifestyle now,” said Tania Burianova, an organiser with the Repair Together initiative. “I like electronic music and I used to party. But now it’s wartime and we want to help, and we’re doing it with music.”
Burianova said the clean-up raves bring together those who had lost their nightclub community during the war, helping them regain a sense of normalcy and fun while contributing to the recovery of damaged towns.
One beneficiary, 68-year-old local resident Nina told reporters she was grateful, saying: “They already repaired our windows, doors and entrances. We couldn’t do it ourselves with our salaries or pensions. I’m thankful that they helped us.”
Justin Spike reports for Associated Press that most of the volunteers were in their 20s and 30s and came from Kyiv, about two hours’ drive away. But others have come from the western city of Lviv and also nearby Chernihiv, while some foreign volunteers arrived from Portugal, the US, Germany and elsewhere. The clean-up at the cultural centre was the group’s eighth project so far.
Updated
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) that occupies a part of eastern Ukraine claims that one civilian was killed and two injured by shelling from Ukrainian forces in the last 24 hours.
The DPR, which is recognised as a legitimate authority by only three UN member states, claims that with the aid of troops from Russia and from the similarly self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, it has “liberated” 255 settlements in total. 14 of these settlements were, it says, attacked by the Ukrainian armed forces.
None of the claims have been independently verified.
Updated
Referendum on occupied Zaporizhzhia and Kherson joining Russia likely in September – reports
One of the Russian-imposed officials in Ukraine’s occupied Zaporizhzhia region has told the RIA Novosti news agency that a referendum on the region joining the Russian Federation will most likely take place in September, alongside a similar one in occupied Kherson.
The agency quotes Vladimir Rogov saying: “Everything is moving towards the fact that the referendum will be in the first half of September. I will not name the exact date yet. Election commissions are being formed.”
The RIA report states that “the main work of the election commissions being created will be to clarify the lists of voters, given that some people have left the region”.
It states that Rogov said “it is highly likely that the referendum will be held simultaneously in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, as successes on the line of contact have assured security”.
Updated
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has posted images today to Telegram that he claims shows the damage in the city of Chuhuiv after an overnight Russian attack. He claims:
The house of culture, where people were hiding in the basement, was actually destroyed by the occupiers. Rescuers have already freed three people from the rubble, but there were still people in the basement. In addition, residential buildings, an educational institution were damaged, and open areas were hit.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Russian investigator says Moscow has charged 92 Ukrainians with war crimes
The head of Russia’s investigative committee said Moscow had charged 92 members of Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity and proposed an international tribunal backed by countries including Bolivia, Iran and Syria.
The government’s Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Monday quoted committee head Alexander Bastrykin as accusing “more than 220 persons, including representatives of the high command of the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as commanders of military units that shelled the civilian population”.
The Ukrainians were involved in “crimes against the peace and security of humanity, which have no statute of limitations”, he said. Bastrykin, whose committee investigates major crimes, said 92 commanders and their subordinates had been charged, and 96 people, including 51 armed forces commanders, declared wanted.
Reuters could not independently verify the committee’s allegations. Ukrainian authorities were not immediately available for comment.
Bastrykin was asked about his committee’s investigations into Ukrainian security forces’ actions in the self-declared people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, separatist, Moscow-backed territories in Ukraine’s east, and whether investigations could take place under UN auspices.
Given that the “collective west” openly backed Ukraine, he said it would be more appropriate to work with Russian partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the BRICS group and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
It was “expedient” to involve countries with an independent position on Ukraine, “in particular, Syria, Iran and Bolivia”, he added.
Bastrykin said 1,300 criminal investigations had been initiated into members of Ukraine’s military, political leadership, radical nationalist associations, and armed formations, with more than 400 people so far held accountable.
Updated
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has issued its intelligence briefing on the position in Ukraine. It claims:
Inconclusive fighting continues in both the Donbas and Kherson sectors. Russian commanders continue to face a dilemma; whether to resource the offensive in the east, or to bolster the defence in the west.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 25, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/0J6jYm2jFf
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/zf26RycMYw
Germany is back on course to meet its target of 75% gas storage levels by 1 September, according to Klaus Mueller, who is head of the Bundesnetzagentur gas regulator.
Reuters reports he said that there were decent gas injection levels and gas importer Uniper had ended withdrawals from storage.
- This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog. You can contact me on martin.belam@theguardian.com
Ukraine claims it will recapture Kherson by September
Ukrainian military officials have claimed a “turning point” in the battle to retake the southern region of Kherson, saying they will use western weapons to liberate by September the first major city captured by Russian forces.
Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the administrative head of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television on Sunday: “We can say that a turning point has occurred on the battlefield. We are switching from defensive to counteroffensive actions.”
“We can say that the Kherson region will definitely be liberated by September, and all the occupiers’ plans will fail,” he added.
Helped by deliveries of western-supplied long-range artillery, Ukrainian forces have been clawing back territory in the southern Kherson region in recent weeks, adding to suggestions that its troops are edging closer to a long-promised counteroffensive.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy endorsed claims of a successful counteroffensive during his national address on Saturday, saying Ukrainian forces were moving “step by step” into the city.
Kherson was occupied by the Russian army on 3 March, the first major Ukrainian city captured by Russian forces since 24 February.
Ukrainian officials believe that Russian troops were able to take the city in part because Ukrainian security service agents failed to blow up the Antonivskyi bridge that crosses the Dnipro river, allowing troops to enter the city.
However, an increase in strikes in recent days against key Russian weapons stores and logistics around the southern city has prompted Ukraine’s military to claim its forces have moved within range of Russian targets.
Russia rallies support in Africa
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has embarked on a four-day tour of several countries in Africa.
On his first stop in Egypt he sought to reassure his counterpart Sameh Shoukry that Russian grain supplies would continue and met with the secretary-general of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, where he spoke of deepening cooperation between Russia and the Arab League.
Lavrov reassured Egypt over Russian grain supplies, amid uncertainty over the future of a deal to resume Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea.
Egypt, one of the world’s top wheat importers, bought 80% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine last year, and has been torn between ties to Moscow and its close relationship to the west.
“We confirmed the commitment of Russian exporters of cereal products to meet their orders in full,” Lavrov said in Cairo after talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry. “We discussed … cooperation in this area, agreed on further contacts, and have a common understanding of the causes of the grain crisis.”
🛬 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov arrived in the Republic of the Congo on a working visit.
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 24, 2022
🇷🇺🇨🇬 At the airport, he was met by his counterpart, Foreign Minister of the Republic of the Congo Jean-Claude #Gakosso.#RussiaAfrica pic.twitter.com/ItgU56WVKg
Lavrov’s tour, which will also take in Uganda, Ethiopia and Congo, is aimed essentially at rallying African nations to Russia’s side. In an article published in four African papers, he rejected accusations that Russia was responsible for the food crisis.
He hailed what he called “an independent path” taken by African countries in refusing to join western sanctions against Russia and the “undisguised attempts of the US and their European satellites to gain the upper hand and impose a unipolar world order”.
Late on Sunday night Lavrov flew to the Republic of the Congo.
Updated
Moscow speaks of ‘new era’ with Arab League
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, met with the permanent representatives of the member countries of the Arab League, promising officials the beginning of a “new era”.
“We are at the beginning of a new era, which would be a movement towards real multilateralism, not the one which the west tries to impose,” Russia’s foreign ministry quoted Lavrov as saying.
🇷🇺 FM #Lavrov at a meeting with the permanent representatives of the member countries of the Arab League:
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 25, 2022
💬We are at the beginning of a new era, which would be a movement towards real #multilateralism, not the one which the West tries to impose.
🔗 https://t.co/76edOdrd9u pic.twitter.com/q6o39yhq0L
🎥 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov's remarks at the meeting with the permanent representatives of the Arab League member states.
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 24, 2022
👉 Watch in full: https://t.co/52CNskTpcP#RussiaArabLeague pic.twitter.com/8tq4FQGl8X
Ukraine warns Russian airstrikes will stall grain deal
Ukraine earlier warned that grain exports would not restart as hoped after the signing of a landmark deal aimed at easing the food crisis if a Russian airstrike on a key port on Saturday was a sign of things to come.
The attack on Odesa, which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, denounced as “barbarism” and as a sign that Moscow could not be trusted to implement the freshly inked deal, drew international condemnation.
Turkey, which helped broker the accord allowing exports to resume, said immediately after the double cruise missile hits on the strategic southern port that it had received assurances from Moscow that Russian forces were not responsible.
But Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday the strikes had destroyed a naval vessel and arms delivered by Washington. Kyiv said two Kalibr missiles fired from Russian warships hit an area around a pumping station and that two more were shot down.
The strike, which Ukrainian armed forces said did not hit the port’s grain storage area or cause significant damage, cast grave doubts on the future of the deal, which allows Ukrainian grain ships to navigate safe corridors that avoid known mines in the Black Sea and was hailed on Friday as a diplomatic breakthrough.
Kyiv said preparations to restore grain shipments to their prewar levels of 5m tonnes a month were continuing, but Zelenskiy’s economic adviser, Oleg Ustenko, warned on Sunday that the airstrike “indicates it will definitely not work like that”.
Ustenko told Ukrainian television that Ukraine had the capacity to export 60m tonnes of grain over the next nine months, but it would take up to 24 months if its ports could not function properly.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while.
It is 8am in Kyiv and here is where things stand:
- Ukraine predicts that it will recapture the southern region of Kherson by September. Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the head of Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television: “We can say that the Kherson region will definitely be liberated by September, and all the occupiers’ plans will fail.” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also said Ukrainian forces were moving “step by step” into Kherson. However, other reports suggest Ukrainian soldiers are doing well just to hold the frontline in nearby villages.
- Ukraine has warned that a deal to export grain via the Black Sea will stall if there are further Russian airstrikes on key ports. Zelenskiy’s economic adviser, Oleh Ustenko, told Ukrainian television: “Yesterday’s strike indicates that it will definitely not work like that.” The caution comes after Saturday’s missile attack in Odesa where Moscow insisted it only hit a Ukrainian warship and US-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles.
- The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has embarked on a tour of several countries in Africa. On his first stop in Egypt he sought to reassure his counterpart Sameh Shoukry that Russian grain supplies would continue, and met with the secretary general of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, where he spoke of deepening cooperation between Russia and the Arab League. Late on Sunday night he flew to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Ukraine will continue doing all it can to inflict as much damage on Russian forces as possible and will not be cowed, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed. “Even the occupiers admit we will win,” he said in his nightly video address on Sunday. “We do everything to inflict the highest possible damage on the enemy … we will celebrate against all odds. Because Ukrainians won’t be cowed.”
- The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has said Russia’s war against Ukraine is also a “war against the unity of Europe”. “We must not let ourselves be divided, we must not let the great work of a united Europe that we have begun so promisingly be destroyed,” he said in a speech in the western German city of Paderborn. “This war is not just about the territory of Ukraine, it is about the double shared foundation of our values and our order of peace.”
- Nearly half a million Ukrainian children are going to school in the European Union, according to the European Commission’s department of migration and home affairs. A total of 492,647 Ukrainian children had been integrated into the national school systems of the European Union, the department said.
- Ukraine’s health ministry has said that least 18 medical personnel have been killed and nearly 900 medical facilities damaged or destroyed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ministry said more than 50 medical workers had been wounded by Russian attacks and 123 medical facilities in Ukraine were totally destroyed by the invasion, while another 746 needed repairs.
- A Canadian citizen has died in Ukraine, Canada’s foreign ministry confirmed. Media reports suggested the Canadian was with two US citizens who recently died in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. The US and Canadian governments have not given details on how recent the deaths were, or their circumstances.
