Summary
It’s 2am in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
- Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the US House of Representatives approved of $100 million in funding to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American aircraft as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The pilots will be trained on F-15 and F-16 jets, according to Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
- At least three people were killed and 15 injured following a missile attack on Friday on Dnipro, the fourth largest city in Ukraine with over one million inhabitants. “The rockets hit an industrial plant and a busy street next to it,” the regional governor Valentyn Rezynchenko said on his Facebook page.
- A wounded soldier who returned from Russian captivity has recounted how Russian forces would threaten Ukrainian soldiers with the death penalty if they refused to cooperate. Denys Piskun, an Azov soldier, told Azov Media, “They said that if you don’t testify, if you don’t cooperate, there will be the death penalty. You all have the death penalty on trial as a Nazi terrorist organization.”
- Ukraine suffered the most amount of civilian losses in May, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a new interview aired on Friday. Speaking to the BBC, Reznikov said, “The biggest peak of our losses was in May,” with up to 100 soldiers being killed a day.
- Europe has “shot itself in the lungs” with sanctions aimed at Russia over its war in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban, a nationalist who has ruled Hungary since 2010 and frequently clashes with Brussels, has been a fierce critic of European Union sanctions on Russian oil.In an address on national radio, Orban urged EU leaders to change the sanctions policy.
- Rocket strikes launched by Ukrainian forces have destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centres in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia’s attacking potential, Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesperson said on Friday. The official, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, emphasized the role played by American HIMARS rocket systems, one of several types of long-range weapon supplied by the West to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces.
- M270 long-range multiple rocket launch systems have arrived in Ukraine, the Ukrainian defense minister announced on Friday. “They will be good company for HIMARS [high mobility artillery rocket systems] on the battlefield. Thank you to our partners. No mercy for the enemy,” Oleksii Reznikov tweeted.
Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the US House of Representatives approved of $100 million in funding to train Ukrainian pilots to operate American aircraft as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The pilots will be trained on F-15 and F-16 jets, according to Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
NEXTA TV has released footage of Russian forces’ attack on Dnipro on Friday.
Multiple flames and black plumes of smoke can be seen in the video, which shows the aftermath of the attack after five missiles struck the city, according to preliminary data.
The Russian army carried out missile strikes on the city of #Dnipro
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) July 15, 2022
According to preliminary data, #Russia fired about 5 missiles at the city. A large fire started at the site of the attack.
Eyewitnesses report dead and wounded as a result of missile attacks. pic.twitter.com/GMNgIjkw6c
We are determining the extent of the destruction,” said regional governor Valentyn Rezynchenko of the attack which killed at least 3 people and injured 15 others.
The Ukrainian military shot down four of the six missiles fired at the city and region in an evening attack, he added.
The dead included a city bus driver, a local transportation official said on his Facebook page.
“The man had finished his work day and was headed to the depot to go back to work at 5 a.m. tomorrow. He didn’t make it,” Ivan Vasyuchkov wrote.
“Two children have been left without a father. A really young guy, my age, he still had so much time to live. There are simply no words,” he added.
Updated
Russian attack on Dnipro leaves 3 dead, 15 injured
At least three people were killed and 15 injured following a missile attack on Friday on Dnipro, the fourth largest city in Ukraine with over one million inhabitants.
“The rockets hit an industrial plant and a busy street next to it,” the regional governor Valentyn Rezynchenko said on his Facebook page.
He said “the Russian attack took the lives of three people, another 15 were injured. We are determining the extent of the destruction.”
Updated
A wounded soldier who returned from Russian captivity has recounted how Russian forces would threaten Ukrainian soldiers with the death penalty if they refused to cooperate.
Denys Piskun, an Azov soldier, told Azov Media, “They [Russian forces] blackmailed you that if you don’t apply for citizenship, they will do something.”
Wounded Azov soldier Denys Piskun who returned from Russian captivity tells how the Russians threatened Ukrainian soldiers with death penalty if they refused to cooperate
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 15, 2022
Few dozens of Azovstal defenders (mostly the wounded) were exchanged in June. Full🎥 https://t.co/lbNg5eKka4 pic.twitter.com/lJQVxUA7lR
He went on to explain, “They said that if you don’t testify, if you don’t cooperate, there will be the death penalty. You all have the death penalty on trial as a Nazi terrorist organization.”
A few dozen Azovstal defenders were part of a Ukrainian-Russian prisoner exchange in June. The Azov regiment is a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard.
The regiment was initially formed as a volunteer group in 2014 to fight pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region. The group has since been accused of harbouring beliefs of neo-Nazism and white supremacy.
Ukraine suffered the most amount of civilian losses in May, Ukrainian defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a new interview aired on Friday.
Speaking to the BBC, Reznikov said, “The biggest peak of our losses was in May,” with up to 100 soldiers being killed a day.
He added, “Then the advantage of the enemy was the greatest, especially in the Donbas direction - they used up to a thousand artillery shells per hour. It was intense pressure, and we didn’t have the opportunity to respond to them: we didn’t have that many shots. In the month of May, unfortunately, up to a hundred boys and girls were killed, and up to 300-400 were injured.”
Reznikov went on to explain that the war’s dynamic has gradually changed due to 155-caliber weapons which have greatly assisted Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russia.
“Counter-battery fighting immediately reduced the intensity of the fire,” he said.
He went on to stress that his country “must understand that the war is not over” and that “we must learn to restore our economic resources, pay taxes, work in a state of war.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov attend a meeting with Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 12, 2022. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters
Europe has “shot itself in the lungs” with sanctions aimed at Russia over its war in Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Orban, a nationalist who has ruled Hungary since 2010 and frequently clashes with Brussels, has been a fierce critic of European Union sanctions on Russian oil.
In an address on national radio, Orban urged EU leaders to change the sanctions policy.
“At first I thought we just shot ourselves in the foot, but the European economy shot itself in the lungs and is gasping for air,” Orban said.
“There are countries committed to the sanctions policy, but Brussels must admit that it was a mistake, that it has not fulfilled its purpose and has even had the opposite effect,” he added.
“Brussels thought that the sanctions policy would hurt the Russians, but it hurts us more.”
In June, the 27-nation EU formally adopted a ban on most Russian oil imports after weeks of resistance from Hungary, eventually ceding to Orban’s demand to exempt Russian oil delivered by pipeline.
The sanctions cover the two-thirds of Russian oil currently being brought in by ship.
Ukraine fired back against Orban’s comments, saying the penalties had been imposed in response to a Russian invasion that had claimed “tens of thousands” of lives.
“Sanctions help hold the aggressor state accountable for its crimes, as well as weaken its ability to continue waging war,” Ukraine foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said.
“It is not sanctions that are killing the European economy, but Russia’s hybrid war,” he wrote on social media.
Rocket strikes launched by Ukrainian forces have destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centres in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia’s attacking potential, Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesperson said on Friday.
The official, Oleksandr Motuzianyk, emphasized the role played by American HIMARS rocket systems, one of several types of long-range weapon supplied by the West to assist Ukraine in its fight against Russian forces.
“In the last weeks, over 30 of the enemy’s military logistical facilities have been destroyed, as a result of which the attacking potential of Russian forces has been significantly reduced,” Motuzianyk said on national television.
In addition, Motuzianyk told Reuters that the 30 targets were destroyed by multiple launch rocket systems, including HIMARS.
If confirmed, the comments would indicate the impact of Western weapons on the battlefield and signal a shift in the war’s dynamic after five months since the Russian invasion.
Motuzianyk also said that only 30% of Russian strikes were hitting military targets, with the rest landing on civilian sites. Reuters has not been able to verify the claim. Russia has repeatedly denied deliberately striking civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
M270 long-range multiple rocket launch systems have arrived in Ukraine, the Ukrainian defense minister announced on Friday.
“They will be good company for HIMARS [high mobility artillery rocket systems] on the battlefield. Thank you to our partners. No mercy for the enemy,” Oleksii Reznikov tweeted.
Long Hand Family of #UAarmy has been enlarged: the first MLRS M270 have arrived!
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) July 15, 2022
They will be good company for #HIMARS on the battlefield.
Thank you to our partners .
No mercy for the enemy.
*Photo by @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/F8rJ7LNPEX
According to the news outlet Ukrinform, the Norwegian government approved of the transfer of three M270 multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine, with Great Britain’s assistance.
“The Norwegian systems need to be modernized, so Great Britain will receive and upgrade the Norwegian launchers before forwarding the already modernized systems to Ukraine,” Ukrinform reported.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- A top Ukrainian official has accused Russia of deliberately escalating its deadly attacks on civilian targets after a series of recent missile strikes. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, told the Guardian that monitoring of Russian strikes suggested an increased emphasis in recent weeks on terrorising Ukraine’s civilian population.
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Ukraine’s defence ministry has said up to 70% of Russian missile attacks are deliberately inflicted on “peaceful” Ukrainian cities. Oleksandr Motuzianyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s ministry of defence, said only 30% of the total attacks by Russian forces engaged military targets, while the remaining were targeted at peaceful cities such as Mariupol, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv. The ministry’s figure cannot be independently verified.
- At least 23 people, including three children, were killed and up to 66 others wounded after Russian missiles struck civilian buildings and a cultural centre in the city of Vinnytsia, in central Ukraine. The attack on Vinnytsia, far from the war’s front lines, occurred mid-morning on Thursday when the streets were full of people.
- Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed – without providing any evidence – that Thursday’s missile strike on Vinnytsia was aimed at a military target. In its daily operational briefing, the ministry claimed the strike hit a building housing a meeting of the Ukrainian air force command. Ukraine has rejected Russian claims that any military target was hit.
- A four-year-old girl was killed in the Vinnytsia strike, with social media posts charting her life and death. Footage – which the Guardian is not publishing – showed Liza Dmitrieva lying dead in her overturned pushchair. “A girl is among the dead today in Vinnytsia, she was four years old, her name was Liza.” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said. “Her mother is in critical condition.”
- Zelenskiy called the Russian attack in Vinnytsia “an open act of terrorism”. In a video address at The Hague conference on Thursday, he urged European and international criminal court officials to open a “special tribunal” to investigate Russia’s invasion of his country.
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Four people were injured after a Russian missile strike hit two universities in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, according to the head of the regional council, Hanna Zamazeyeva. Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, said Russian forces launched at least 10 missiles at two of the biggest universities in the city. The message was accompanied by a video clip that appears to show buildings on fire.
- Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic claim to have entered the outskirts of Siversk in the Donbas, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. Acknowledging that reports have not been corroborated, the ministry said Russian forces have been slowly advancing westwards towards Siversk from Lysychansk to open a pathway onward to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
- The British aid worker Paul Urey, 45, has died while being held hostage by pro-Russia separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), a local official in the rebel-held territory has said. Urey was reportedly detained at a checkpoint in southern Ukraine in April with a fellow Briton, Dylan Healy. The two men were later charged with “mercenary activities” by separatists in the rebel-held DNR.
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Britain’s Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrei Kelin, on Friday afternoon to express “deep concern” over reports of Urey’s death. The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said: “I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine. Russia must bear the full responsibility for this.”
- Ukraine is “hurrying as fast as we can” to clinch a deal with Russia, Turkey and the UN next week to export grain via its Black Sea ports, according to a senior Ukrainian official. Russia’s defence ministry said an agreement aimed at resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports was close.
- A Russian court has sentenced opposition activist, Andrei Pivovarov, to four years in prison for leading a banned pro-democracy group. Pivovarov, 40, is a former director of the now-defunct opposition group Open Russia. Speaking in court, Pivovarov said that change in Russia would come, sooner or later.
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The EU executive has formally proposed its latest package of sanctions against Moscow, including an import ban on Russian gold. New curbs are set to be introduced on imports by Russia of goods that could be used for military purposes, including chemicals and machinery. The European Commission will also amend existing sanctions to make sure they do not disrupt Russia’s food and grain exports.
- New satellite images show an expanding mass grave site in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to a report published by the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience. Investigators at CIR used satellite images to determine that approximately 1,400 new graves were added at the Mariupol Starokrymske cemetery between 12 May and 29 June.
Russia has announced sanctions against 384 Japanese lawmakers in response to Tokyo aligning itself with international sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, the foreign ministry said.
Some 384 members of Japan’s parliament are banned from entering Russia, having been accused of “adopting an unfriendly, anti-Russian position”, the ministry said.
In May, the ministry said it had banned entry to 63 senior Japanese officials, including prime minister Fumio Kishida.
A Russian court has sentenced opposition activist, Andrei Pivovarov, to four years in prison for leading a banned pro-democracy group.
Pivovarov, 40, is a former director of the now-defunct opposition group Open Russia established by the exiled former oil tycoon and longtime Kremlin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
In June 2021, Pivovarov was yanked off a Warsaw-bound plane at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport and has been held in prison since.
Russia previously designated Open Russia as an “undesirable” organisation. The movement shuttered its Russian operations last year in a bid to protect associates.
A statement from the court in the southern city of Krasnodar read:
After reviewing the case materials and evidence submitted by the parties, the court concluded that the defendant was guilty and was sentenced to four years imprisonment.
He will also be banned from conducting any political activities for eight years.
Speaking in court, Pivovarov said that change in Russia would come, sooner or later.
Pivovarov said:
Even if now those who stand for the future are trampled and imprisoned, I know that progress cannot be stopped, changes for the better are inevitable, and they are not far off.
Ukraine says nearly 70% of Russian missile strikes target civilian objects
Ukraine’s defence ministry has said up to 70% of Russian missile attacks are deliberately inflicted on “peaceful” Ukrainian cities, after recent strikes including this week’s targeting of the crowded city centre of Vinnytsia, which killed 23 people, including three children.
Oleksandr Motuzianyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s ministry of defence, said in remarks quoted by Ukrinform:
Yesterday’s insidious criminal missile attack on the centre of a peaceful city in Ukraine is yet another fact of Russia’s absolutely proven genocide against Ukraine.
This is the extermination of Ukrainians as a nation, this is an attempt to break the spirit of Ukrainians and lower the level of their resistance.
Only 30% of the total attacks by Russian forces engaged military targets, he said, while the remaining were targeted at peaceful cities such as Mariupol, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv.
Russia must be recognised as a “terrorist state”, he urged.
The ministry’s claims cannot be independently verified.
Updated
One question is dominating the energy industry: will Vladimir Putin turn the tap back on?
This week the Kremlin-controlled energy firm Gazprom shut off gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for maintenance until 21 July, having already cut its output to less than 40% of capacity. Now there are growing concerns that the Russian president may simply refuse to reactivate it.
This week energy executives at the Aurora consultancy’s conference in Oxford were asked to vote on whether the supplies would return. A forest of confident arms shot up for “yes”, a similar amount for “no”. Only Putin knows the answer.
Fears for gas supplies have led European nations to rapidly fill up their storage capacity before the winter. Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused Russia of conducting “gas blackmail”. By contrast, nations with closer links to Russia, including Belarus and Turkey, have seen little disruption.
Although Moscow had a record of restricting gas flows to Europe as part of past disputes with Ukraine – including in 2005-06, 2009 and 2017 – many in the industry had assumed that because the Kremlin kept supplies flowing throughout the cold war, it would not resort to cutting off its largest market. However, Ben van Beurden, CEO of Shell, said this week that Putin has now shown “he is able and willing to weaponise supplies”.
The strategy has the apparent aims of weakening Kyiv’s allies and, potentially, turning nations on one another. This week Hungary’s pro-Putin prime minister, Viktor Orbán, said it would halt gas exports to its neighbours. The move undermines a regulation that made solidarity among European countries mandatory to prevent the supply cuts seen after the 2017 Russia-Ukraine gas dispute.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said the first M270 multiple rocket launch systems have arrived in the country.
Long Hand Family of #UAarmy has been enlarged: the first MLRS M270 have arrived!
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) July 15, 2022
They will be good company for #HIMARS on the battlefield.
Thank you to our partners .
No mercy for the enemy.
*Photo by @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/F8rJ7LNPEX
Ukraine’s defence ministry said its forces have hit over 30 Russian “military logistics targets” in recent weeks with High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
In the past weeks, more than 30 russian military hubs have been destroyed with 🇺🇦HIMARS. #UAarmy is cutting off the russian hydra’s heads on a daily basis. We will continue to do so until we have succeeded in cutting off the last head.
— Defence of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 15, 2022
Updated
Russia escalating attacks on civilians, says top Ukrainian official
A top Ukrainian official has accused Russia of deliberately escalating its deadly attacks on civilian targets, after recent missile strikes including this week’s targeting of the crowded city centre of Vinnytsia, which killed 23 people, including three children.
Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, told the Guardian that monitoring of Russian strikes suggested an increased emphasis in recent weeks on terrorising Ukraine’s civilian population.
“We have a system to monitor and track all airstrikes and other attacks in our country and what we have noticed recently is a tendency to destroy more and more civilian targets. They have decided to terrorise civilian population. That’s not my emotions but what our monitoring is telling us.”
While Russia has been accused of targeting civilians throughout its invasion of Ukraine, missile strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure appear to have increasingly become a distinct tactic with a string of deadly attacks over the past month.
An attack on a shopping mall at Kremenchuk, a small city on the Dnieper river, at the end of June killed 18 people and injured 59. An apartment block and beach hotel in Serhiivka, 50km south of Odesa, was hit on 1 July, killing 21 people and injuring 35.
Two apartment buildings in Chasiv Yar, near the frontline in Donetsk oblast, were hit on 9 July: 48 people are believed to have been killed, making it one of the deadliest single attacks in the entire five-month long war. Vinnytsia, a central city far from the frontlines, was struck on Thursday, five days later.
Danilov suggested that some attacks – including during a visit by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, to Kyiv – appeared designed to deliver a message of defiance. Thursday’s attack in Vinnytsia took place as European ministers sat down in The Hague to discuss how to hold Russia accountable for atrocities committed during its invasion of Ukraine.
European Commission proposes new sanctions package against Russia
The EU executive has formally proposed its latest package of sanctions against Moscow, including an import ban on Russian gold.
Privately referred to by officials as a “sixth-and-a-half” set of sanctions for its limited scope compared with previous rounds of sanctions, the new measures are considered “a maintenance and alignment package”, the European Commission said.
The package “will reinforce the alignment of EU sanctions with those of our G7 partners” and also “strengthen reporting requirements to tighten EU asset freezes”, it said in a statement.
New curbs are set to be introduced on imports by Russia of goods that could be used for military purposes, including chemicals and machinery.
The commission will also amend existing sanctions to make sure they do not disrupt Russia’s food and grain exports.
Updated
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
- At least 23 people, including three children, were killed and up to 66 others wounded after Russian missiles struck civilian buildings and a cultural centre in the city of Vinnytsia, in central Ukraine. The attack on Vinnytsia, far from the war’s front lines, occurred mid-morning on Thursday when the streets were full of people.
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Eleven bodies, including two children, remain unidentified after yesterday’s strike on Vinnytsia. Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said “more than 70 people are still in hospital” and “18 people are missing, and the rescue operation is going on”. Investigators are asking the relatives of those missing following the attack to submit DNA samples in order to confirm the identities of bodies.
- Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed – without providing any evidence – that Thursday’s missile strike on Vinnytsia was aimed at a military target. In its daily operational briefing, the ministry claimed the strike hit a building housing a meeting of the Ukrainian air force command. Ukraine has rejected Russian claims that any military target was hit.
- A four-year-old girl was killed in the Vinnytsia strike, with social media posts charting her life and death. Footage – which the Guardian is not publishing – showed Liza Dmitrieva lying dead in her overturned pushchair. “A girl is among the dead today in Vinnytsia, she was four years old, her name was Liza.” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said. “Her mother is in critical condition.”
- Zelenskiy called the Russian attack in Vinnytsia “an open act of terrorism”. In a video address at The Hague conference on Thursday, he urged European and international criminal court officials to open a “special tribunal” to investigate Russia’s invasion of his country.
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Four people were injured after a Russian missile strike hit two universities in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, according to the head of the regional council, Hanna Zamazeyeva. Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, said Russian forces launched at least 10 missiles at two of the biggest universities in the city. The message was accompanied by a video clip that appears to show buildings on fire.
- Russian and pro-Russian separatist forces of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic claim to have entered the outskirts of Siversk in the Donbas, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. Acknowledging that reports have not been corroborated, the ministry said Russian forces have been slowly advancing westwards towards Siversk from Lysychansk to open a pathway onward to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
- The British aid worker Paul Urey, 45, has died while being held hostage by pro-Russia separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), a local official in the rebel-held territory has said. Urey was reportedly detained at a checkpoint in southern Ukraine in April with a fellow Briton, Dylan Healy. The two men were later charged with “mercenary activities” by separatists in the rebel-held DNR.
- The UK has summoned Russia’s ambassador to London, Andrei Kelin, to express “deep concern” over reports of the death of Urey. In a statement, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said Russia “must bear the full responsibility” for his death.
- Ukraine is “hurrying as fast as we can” to clinch a deal with Russia, Turkey and the UN next week to export grain via its Black Sea ports, according to a senior Ukrainian official. Russia’s defence ministry said an agreement aimed at resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports was close.
- North Korea has slammed Ukraine’s decision to sever diplomatic ties between the two nations. Ukraine’s foreign ministry announced the decision after Pyongyang said it would officially recognise the pro-Russian self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine.
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New satellite images show an expanding mass grave site in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to a report published by the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience. Investigators at CIR used satellite images to determine that approximately 1,400 new graves were added at the Mariupol Starokrymske cemetery between 12 May and 29 June.
- A court hearing for US basketballer Brittney Griner has been postponed until Tuesday 26 July after a request from Griner’s defence team. Griner’s lawyers told a Russian court today that she was prescribed medical cannabis in the US for a chronic injury, and later told reporters “she just wants to take a rest”.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.
Updated
Ukraine is “hurrying as fast as we can” to clinch a deal with Russia, Turkey and the UN next week to export grain via its Black Sea ports, according to a senior Ukrainian official.
Reuters has cited the source as responding to a question about whether it was realistic for the deal to be signed next week.
The source, who asked not to be identified, replied:
We really hope so. We’re hurrying as fast as we can.
Russia’s defence ministry said earlier today that an agreement aimed at resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports was close.
Updated
UK summons Russian ambassador over British aid worker
The UK has summoned Russia’s ambassador to London, Andrei Kelin, to express “deep concern” over reports of the death of a British aid worker.
In a statement, Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said:
I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine. Russia must bear the full responsibility for this.
The Foreign Secretary's statement on reports of the death of British aid worker, Paul Urey whilst in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine.
— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 15, 2022
The FCDO has summoned the Russian Ambassador.
Updated
Copper has suffered its worst weekly plunge in price since the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, in a stark indicator of the worsening state of the global economy.
The metal dropped below $7,000 (£5,913) a tonne for the first time since November 2020, as fears over a worldwide recession grew.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange is down 2.8% at $6,968 a tonne and the Bloomberg Industrial metals index has slumped to a 17-month low amid concerns that rampant inflation will curb spending by large manufacturers.
The commodity is known as “Dr Copper” because it is a good indicator for the health of the global economy as it is used as a raw material in a variety of products.
Its price has fallen about 35% in the last four months, wiping out gains made at the start of the war in Ukraine. Traders had anticipated the conflict might cause supply shortages. However, recession fears have since gripped financial markets, hitting demand.
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest miners, warned on Friday that the global economic outlook was weakening because of the Russia-Ukraine war, tighter monetary policy to curb rising inflation and Covid-19 restrictions in China.
The UK government has said it is urgently seeking clarity about reports that the British aid worker, Paul Urey, has died while being held hostage by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine.
The Foreign Office released a statement following a Telegram post by a local official in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) that Urey died on 10 July as a result of “illness and stress”.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said:
We are urgently seeking clarification from the Russian government on media reports that a British aid worker has died in Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said an agreement aimed at resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports was close, following talks earlier this week between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN in Istanbul.
The ministry said Moscow’s proposals on how to bring about a resumption of Ukrainian grain exports were “largely supported” by negotiators, and that work on what it calls the “Black Sea Initiative” will be finalised soon.
Following Wednesday’s talks, Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN are due to sign a deal next week.
Maria Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday: “It was possible to formulate some elements of a possible agreement which Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are now discussing in their capitals through their military departments.”
A preliminary date for the next four-way meeting is 20 or 21 July, the Russian state-owned news agency Ria has reported. Turkey’s defence ministry said the date for the next meeting is not yet clear.
Updated
Footage from a security camera shows people running for cover and falling to the ground, as a Russian missile hit the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.
CCTV shows debris flying into the air and a dark cloud enveloping the square in the aftermath of the strike.
British aid worker held by Russian-backed Ukraine separatists reported dead
The British aid worker Paul Urey, 45, has died while being held hostage by pro-Russia separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), a local official in the rebel-held territory has said.
His mother, Linda Urey, said she was “absolutely devastated”, according to Sky News.
On 29 April, the non-profit Presidium Network said Urey had been detained at a checkpoint in southern Ukraine with his fellow Briton Dylan Healy.
The two men were later charged with “mercenary activities” by separatists in the rebel-held DNR.
Darya Morozova, DNR’s ombudsman who deals with prisoners’ rights, wrote on Telegram on Friday that Urey died on 10 July as a result of “illness and stress”.
“Already during the first medical examination, Paul Urey was diagnosed with a number of chronic diseases, including insulin-dependent diabetes, damage to the respiratory system, kidneys and a number of diseases of the cardiovascular system,” Morozova added.
“On our part, despite the severity of the alleged crime, Paul Urey was provided with appropriate medical assistance.”
Urey’s mother, Linda, previously told the BBC that her son was diabetic and needed insulin.
Morozova further claimed that the British Foreign Office had provided “no reaction” to Urey’s capture despite being notified of his situation. She claimed Urey was a “professional fighter” who had taken part in conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, leading “military operations”.
Four injured in Mykolaiv universities strikes, says official
The number of people injured as a result of a Russian missile strike on the city of Mykolaiv has increased to four, according to the head of the regional council, Hanna Zamazeyeva.
At least 10 rockets hit two universities and civil infrastructure objects, damaging residential buildings, Zamazeyeva wrote on Telegram.
There were no children among the wounded, she added. All victims have been taken to medical facilities and are receiving the necessary aid.
Earlier this morning, Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, said the city’s universities had been struck by Russia.
He tweeted:
Today Russian terrorists attacked two biggest universities in Mykolayiv. At least ten missiles. Now they attack our education. I’m asking Universities of all democratic countries to claim Russia what it is really is – the Terrorist
The message was accompanied by a video clip, which appears to show buildings on fire.
Today russia-Terrorist attacked 2 biggest Universities in Mykolayiv. At least 10 missiles. Now they attack our education. I’m asking Universities of all democratic countries to claim russia what it is really is- the Terrorist pic.twitter.com/VNiRxNbT89
— Віталій Кім / Vitaliy Kim (@vitalij_kim) July 15, 2022
In an update, Kim said five S-300 missiles hit the National University of Shipbuilding and four hit the National University of Mykolaiv.
Two floors of the National University were destroyed, he said, adding that it was “impossible” to restore them before the beginning of the academic year.
Updated
A court hearing for US basketballer Brittney Griner has been postponed until Tuesday, 26 July, after a request from Griner’s defence team.
The WNBA star has been detained in Russia since February after she was arrested at the Russian capital’s Sheremetyevo Airport when customs officials said they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage.
Griner acknowledged in court that she possessed the canisters, but said she had no criminal intent. She is facing up to 10 years in prison.
Her lawyers told a Russian court today that she was prescribed medical cannabis in the US for a chronic injury, Reuters reports.
Speaking to reporters outside the court after the hearing ended, one of Griner’s lawyers, Alexander Boykov, said:
Yesterday was quite an emotional day for her. She saw her general manager, her friend and teammate Evgeniya Belyakova for the first time in many months. And now she just wants to take a rest.
When asked how Griner feels, a second lawyer replied: “She’s tired.”
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, most commonly referred to in the west as North Korea, has responded to Ukraine’s decision to sever diplomatic ties between the two nations over its recognition of two pro-Russian occupied territories in the east of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said it had cut ties with North Korea in response to Pyongyang recognising the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.
In a statement, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said:
We consider this decision as an attempt by Pyongyang to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson was quoted by the state-owned news agency KCNA as saying:
Ukraine... has no right and qualification to take issue with the DPRK over its legitimate exercise of sovereignty.
The spokesperson also accused Kyiv of pursuing acts “contrary to impartiality and justice in the state-to-state relations while aligning itself with the US”, which they said had driven “unreasonable and illegal hostile policy” toward the North.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said North Korea’s decision said more about Moscow’s “toxicity” than Pyongyang’s.
Kuleba said:
Russia has no more allies in the world, except for countries that depend on it financially and politically, and the level of isolation of the Russian Federation will soon reach the level of isolation of the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). Ukraine will continue to respond as harshly as possible to encroachments on its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states that recognise the DPR and LPR as legitimate authorities.
Mykhailo Podolyak, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team and a key adviser to President Zelenskiy, has dismissed Russia’s claims that Ukrainian missiles attacked Donetsk and Kakhovka as “Z-propaganda”.
Russian-backed officials claimed earlier this week that at least seven people were killed and around 70 more injured by a Ukrainian missile strike on a large ammunition store in the town of Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson.
Kyiv said it had launched artillery barrages that destroyed a Russian arms depot, hitting artillery, armoured vehicles “and a warehouse with ammunition”, and in addition carried out a “special operation” to free military captives in the Moscow-controlled region.
Russian-backed authorities accused Ukraine of damaging civilian infrastructure and claimed civilians had been hit.
Writing on Twitter today, Podolyak said Ukrainian troops attack “only military warehouses and command posts in temporarily occupied territories”.
In contrast, Russia “kills civilians for fun”, he said.
Z-propaganda says that Ukrainian missiles attacked Donetsk and Kakhovka. The reality: 🇺🇦 attacks only military warehouses and command posts in temporarily occupied territories. We are waging a liberation war against 🇷🇺 terrorists, freeing hostages. RF – kills civilians for fun.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) July 15, 2022
It has not been possible to independently verify the battlefield accounts.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
- At least 23 people, including three children, were killed and up to 66 others wounded after Russian missiles struck civilian buildings and a cultural centre in the city of Vinnytsia, in central Ukraine. The attack on Vinnytsia, far from the war’s front lines, occurred mid-morning on Thursday when the streets were full of people. Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said that “more than 70 people are still in hospital” and “18 people are missing, and the rescue operation is going on”. Eleven bodies, including two children, remain unidentified.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the Russian attack in Vinnytsia “an open act of terrorism”. In a video address at The Hague conference, Zelenskiy urged European and international criminal court officials to open a “special tribunal” to investigate Russia’s invasion of his country.
- A top Ukrainian official said the missile attacks in Vinnytsia were an “approved military strategy” by Vladimir Putin. Mykhailo Podolyak, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team and a key adviser to Zelenskiy, said Russian forces were attacking “peaceful” Ukrainian cities such as Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk, Chasiv Yar and Kharkiv in order to force Ukrainians to “peace at any price”, Podolyak wrote on Twitter. Russia’s attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities were not a mistake but an approved military strategy
- A four-year-old girl was killed in the Vinnytsia strike with social media posts charting her life and death. Footage – which the Guardian is not publishing – showed Liza Dmitrieva lying dead in her overturned pushchair. “A girl is among the dead today in Vinnytsia, she was four years old, her name was Liza. The child was four years old!” Zelenskiy said. “Her mother is in critical condition.”
- Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, has said that the city’s universities have been struck by Russia this morning.
- Russian and pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Republic separatist forces claim to have entered the outskirts of Siversk in Ukraine’s Donbas, the UK Ministry of Defence has said. Acknowledging that reports have not corroborated, the ministry said Russian forces have been slowly advancing westwards and probing assaults towards Siversk from Lysychansk to open a pathway onward to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
- Russia has banned investigative news outlet Bellingcat and its partner The Insider. Russia’s prosecutor general said their activities “posed a threat to... the security of the Russian federation”. A statement said both organisations will be added to Russia’s “undesirable” list, which bans them from operating in Russia and makes cooperating with them illegal for Russian organisations and individuals. Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins questioned how it can be applied, given that it has no official presence in Russia
- New satellite images show an expanding mass grave site in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to a report published by the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR). Investigators at CIR used satellite images to determine that approximately 1,400 new graves were added at the Mariupol Starokrymske cemetery between 12 May and 29 June.
That’s it from me, Martin Belam in London. I will be back next week. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to continue our live coverage of Ukraine.
Over the last couple of days, some journalists have been allowed into areas of Ukraine occupied by Russian military authorities. Here are some of the images sent to us on the tightly-organised visit.
Russia’s ministry of defence has claimed without providing any evidence that yesterday’s missile strike on Vinnytsia was aimed at a military target – a meeting of Ukrainian air force command.
In its daily operational briefing, Russia claims:
On 14 July, Kalibr high-precision sea-based missiles hit the building of the garrison house of officers in the city of Vinnytsia.
At the time of the strike, a meeting of the command of the Ukrainian air force with representatives of foreign arms suppliers was held at this military facility on the issues of transferring the next batch of aircraft and weapons to the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as organising the repair of the Ukrainian aviation fleet. As a result of the strike, the meeting participants were destroyed.
More than 70 people remain in hospital after the strike on the central Ukrainian city, which killed at least 23 people, including three children. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called the Russian attack in Vinnytsia “an open act of terrorism”.
Reuters have a quick snap, citing Russian news agency Tass, to say that Paul Urey, a British man who was captured by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine and accused of being a mercenary has died. Urey and another British man, Dylan Healy, were detained in April.
More details soon …
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has posted to Telegram to say that Russian rockets struck educational establishments in his region. He stated that the targets were not military, and that there was “no military infrastructure, only civilian facilities” nearby.
He said there were no casualties. The claims have not been independently verified. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.
The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Syenkevych, has provided some more details on the strikes on the city this morning on Telegram. He has posted:
Again, the Russian occupiers fired at educational institutions in Mykolaiv! Rescuers and emergency teams are already working on the ground. Currently, two injured are known. This time, the Russians struck Mykolaiv around 7.50am, knowing full well that there were already many people on the streets at that time. Real terrorists!
He has also posted some pictures of a damaged building, identifying it as Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv National University, and stating:
Near it, our utility workers have already cleared the street of stones and various debris. Traffic has been restored.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has issued its daily military operational briefing. It now claims to have “liberated” 251 settlements alongside troops from Russia and the similarly self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR). That is an increase on the 242 it claimed yesterday. It does not specify which settlements it now claims to control.
It claims that three people were killed and 16 civilians were injured in shelling on 11 settlements by Ukrainian forces. None of the claims have been independently verified. Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states that recognise the DPR and LPR as legitimate authorities.
New satellite images show an expanding mass grave site in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, according to a report published by the UK-based Centre for Information Resilience (CIR).
Investigators at CIR used satellite images to determine that approximately 1,400 new graves were added at the Mariupol Starokrymske cemetery between 12 May and 29 June.
CIR researchers estimate that five times more new graves are being dug each month than before the Russian invasion.
“Our report illustrates the continuing, extreme pressure on civilian life in Ukraine, especially in occupied areas. Makeshift burials and the growing number of graves around Ukraine, particularly in and around occupied areas, is a stark illustration of the civilian death toll following the Russian invasion,” said Benjamin Strick, the director of investigations at CIR.
Russia announced in late May that it had taken control of Mariupol, after a nearly three-month siege that reduced much of the port city to smoking ruin.
Read more of Pjotr Sauer’s report: 1,400 graves dug at Mariupol cemetery since mid-May, images suggest
11 bodies including children yet to be identified after Vinnytsia strike
Eleven bodies, including two children, remain unidentified after yesterday’s strike on Vinnytsia. Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the office of the president of Ukraine, also told Sky News viewers in the UK that “more than 70 people are still in hospital” and “18 people are missing, and the rescue operation is going on.”
Of the missile strike, he said “it is unbelievable, each time it happens in a civilian city, where there is no military people, no military objects, just the central square of a city. Unfortunately it happens practically, if not every day, but every week”.
He pledged that Ukraine would bring justice to those responsible, saying “every person who was responsible for this blast, the person who was pushing the button – and we already know there were Kalibr missiles fired from the submarine and the inventory of the Black Sea – every person responsible for planning and executing this operation will be definitely brought to justice.”
Updated
Universities in Mykolaiv struck by missiles – reports
Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, has said that the city’s universities have been struck by Russia this morning.
He tweeted:
Today Russian terrorists attacked two biggest universities in Mykolayiv. At least ten missiles. Now they attack our education. I’m asking Universities of all democratic countries to claim Russia what it is really is – the Terrorist
The message was accompanied by a video clip which appears to show buildings on fire.
Today russia-Terrorist attacked 2 biggest Universities in Mykolayiv. At least 10 missiles. Now they attack our education. I’m asking Universities of all democratic countries to claim russia what it is really is- the Terrorist pic.twitter.com/VNiRxNbT89
— Віталій Кім / Vitaliy Kim (@vitalij_kim) July 15, 2022
Lviv’s regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi has cautioned against disinformation being spread on social media after an air raid warning in his western region of Ukraine last night. He posted to Telegram:
The sirens sounded an air alarm once. It lasted almost two hours. There was a threat of a missile strike from the Black Sea. The threat did not come true. Everything is calm in the Lviv region.
By the way, while the alarm continued, a number of Telegram channels and some Facebook users spread false information that explosions were allegedly heard in the Lviv region. Think about whether you should follow such “sources” of information.
Kozytskyi said yesterday a further 172 people arrived in Lviv from the east of the country in evacuation trains, and that 842 people left Lviv heading for Przemyśl in Poland.
Russia has banned investigative news outlet Bellingcat and its partner The Insider. Russia’s prosecutor general said their activities “posed a threat to... the security of the Russian federation.”
A statement said both organisations will be added to Russia’s “undesirable” list, which bans them from operating in Russia and makes cooperating with them illegal for Russian organisations and individuals.
Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins has questioned how it can be applied, given that it has no presence in Russia, tweeting “Bellingcat has been declared an undesirable organisation in Russia, along with our partners The Insider. Bellingcat has no legal, financial or staff presence, so it’s unclear how Russia expects to enforce this.”
He also posted a gif of Jim Carrey as film character the Mask accepting an award.
Reuters reports that in broad moves to stamp out opposition and dissent, Russia has labelled dozens of international non-governmental organisations and civil society groups as “undesirable”, and hundreds of domestic groups and journalists that oppose the Kremlin have been named “foreign agents”.
Friday’s edition of Today in Focus asks is Britain’s homes for Ukraine scheme working?
Nosheen Iqbal travelled to the village of Nether Poppleton near York to visit a family who have opened their home to a mother and her children from Ukraine. There have been teething problems and, due to the language barrier, the children have been struggling to settle into their new school. But, here at least, the scheme is working as it was intended. It is not the case everywhere.
Nosheen hears from the Guardian’s Emily Dugan, who reports that hundreds of Ukrainian refugees in the UK have been left homeless after the relationship with their hosts broke down. There have also been fears that the ad hoc nature of the scheme has left it open to abuse from men who are using it to make contact with vulnerable women and children.
You can listen to it here: Today in focus – Is Britain’s Homes for Ukraine scheme working?
The Kyiv Independent is carrying some quotes from people who were at the scene of the Vinnytsia strike yesterday, as well as those who were treating the victims.
IT specialist Andrii Artymovych was in bed when the missiles struck nearby, and he told the Kyiv Independent that “Military planes fly here all the time, but this was something unusual. The glass shattered and I rolled out of bed. There was glass everywhere.”
Vasyl Nahaichuk, the deputy chief of the Vinnytsia oblast hospital’s burn unit said “There is a young woman, a 20-year-old who was brought to us today. Her injuries are incompatible with life. Her burns cover 98% of her body and they are deep burns. We also admitted a 60-year-old woman. Her burns cover 80% of her body, but they are not as deep as those of that young woman. Their age differs, however, and it matters.”
Nahaichuk explained that a level of 30% burns is usually fatal.
Anna Myroniuk writes that Kostiantyn Gozdyp, a local prosecutor, said “Some of the bodies can’t be identified in any manner but through a genetic examination. There are children burned alive, adults burned alive.”
Read more here: Kyiv Independent – Victims ‘burned alive’ in deadly Russian strike on Vinnytsia, says local prosecutor
Russian troops claim to have entered Siversk outskirts: UK MoD
Russian and pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Republic separatist forces claim to have entered the outskirts of Siversk in Ukraine’s Donbas, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
Acknowledging that reports have not corroborated, the ministry said Russian forces have been slowly advancing westwards and probing assaults towards Siversk from Lysychansk to open a pathway onward to Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Bakhmut is likely to be the next objective, once Siversk is secured,” the report read.
The Institute for the Study of War also said Russia is likely preparing larger-scale offensive along the Sloviansk-Siversk-Bakhmut line. The US think tank said that Russia largely continued its operational pause with likely preparations underway for a more determined offensive.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 July 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 15, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/CavbXUM9Hx
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/aez855Jsau
Updated
45 countries vow to punish Russian war crimes
In case you missed this earlier development, the United States and more than 40 other countries have agreed to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes in Ukraine.
On Thursday, 45 countries including European Union states as well as Britain, the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia at a conference in The Hague signed a political declaration to work together.
With some 23,000 war crimes investigations now open and different countries heading teams, evidence needed to be credible and organised, officials said.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said:
The simple truth is that, as we speak, children, women and men, the young and the old, are living in terror.”
Khan said Thursday’s ministerial meeting addressed “a need of coordination, of coherence” and “the need of an overarching strategy” as different nations and courts work to investigate and prosecute crimes.
Watch: #ICC Prosecutor #KarimAAKhanQC opening statement at the Ukraine Accountability Conference: “Meaningful justice can only be achieved if we work together. Today we commit to set a new standard for cooperation, strengthening our efforts towards accountability globally.” pic.twitter.com/VxjJb6cJBJ
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) July 14, 2022
Steps they will take include creating an umbrella group to avoid duplicating investigations, training Ukrainian prosecutors and expanding the number of forensic teams operating in Ukraine.
They also pledged €20m ($20m) to assist the ICC, as well as the prosecutor general’s office in Ukraine and United Nations support efforts.
Investigators are asking the relatives of those missing following the attack in Vinnytsia to submit DNA samples in order to confirm the identities of bodies.
Officials earlier said they believe 39 people are missing as rescue teams continue to comb the wreckage.
Ukraine’s ministry of internal affairs quoted national police chief, Ihor Klymenko, as saying:
DNA tests may be needed to identify the victims, so investigators are asking the immediate relatives (parents and children) of the missing to get in touch and submit biological samples.”
Updated
Sharp increase in burials in Russian-held areas of Ukraine: NGO
Satellite photos and on-the-ground images reveal a sharp increase in burials in Russian-held areas of Ukraine, according to a report released on Friday.
The non-government centre for information resilience analysed images of burials in six areas - two of them previously held by Russian forces and the rest still under Moscow’s control in southern Ukraine, according to Agence France-Presse.
At the Starokrymske cemetery in Mariupol, the report’s authors said that around 1,000 new graves could be seen over a period of around five months between October 21 and March 28, according to Agence France-Presse.
The rate of burials grew sharply after March when Russian forces had taken almost complete control of the strategic port, the report claims.
The authors said 1,141 new graves were seen in satellite images between March 28 and May 12 and over 1,700 more between May 12 and June 29. The figures could not be independently verified.
Benjamin Strick, director of investigations at CIR, said:
Makeshift burials and the growing number of graves around Ukraine, particularly in and around occupied areas, is a stark illustration of the civilian death toll following the Russian invasion.”
Researchers cross-referenced satellite imagery against geolocated data including from social media.
The images also showed large trenches being dug at two sites near Mariupol - Pionerske and Manhush - as well as makeshift graves around the city.
G20 leaders meet under cloud of Ukraine war
Finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies are meeting in Bali, as host Indonesia urged for consensus amid the fallout from the war and rising economic pressures from soaring inflation.
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said warned it could be “catastrophic” for low-income countries facing soaring food and energy prices if leaders did not come together.
Sri Mulyani said the world had high hopes that the group would be able to find a solution to the triple threat of war, rising commodity prices and their spillover effects on the ability of low-income countries to repay debt.
We are acutely aware that the cost of our failure to work together is more than we can afford. The humanitarian consequences for the world, and especially for many low income countries would be catastrophic.”
G20 members include western countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia and accuse it of war crimes in Ukraine as well as nations like China, India and South Africa, which have been more muted in their responses.
Sri Mulyani called for G20 members to talk less about politics and “build bridges between each other” to deliver more technical decisions and action.
We need to strengthen the spirit of multilateralism, we need to also build a safety net for our future cooperation,” she said.
Canada says Russian officials personally responsible for war crimes
Canada’s finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, has told Russian officials at a meeting of G20 finance leaders that she held them personally responsible for “war crimes” committed during Russia’s war in Ukraine, a western official said.
Freeland directly addressed the Russian delegation taking part in the meeting of the Group of 20 major economies, telling them on Friday:
It is not only generals who commit war crimes, it is the economic technocrats who allow the war to happen and to continue.”
Freeland told the opening G20 session that the war was the “single biggest threat to the global economy right now”, the official said.
The two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs from top economies started on the resort island of Bali under the shadow of a war that has roiled markets, spiked food prices and stoked breakneck inflation.
Indonesian finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, warned delegates that failure to tackle energy and food crises would be catastrophic and called on ministers to work together with a spirit of “cooperation, collaboration and consensus” because “the world is watching” for solutions.
The cost of our failure is more than we can afford,” she told delegates. “The humanitarian consequences for the world and for many low-income countries would be catastrophic.”
Updated
Ukraine will not disclose the official number of military casualties until the end of the war, deputy defence Minister Hanna Maliar has said.
Maliar cited potential harm of using the information on casualties to further inform Russian analysis and strategy as the reason for the lack of government data in a Facebook post late on Thursday.
Updated
Four-year-old girl killed in strike
A four-year-old girl was killed in the Vinnytsia strike with social media posts charting her life and death.
Footage – which the Guardian is not publishing – showed Liza Dmitrieva lying dead in her overturned pushchair.
“A girl is among the dead today in Vinnytsia, she was four years old, her name was Liza. The child was four years old! Her mother is in critical condition,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his latest national address.
Liza’s mother, Iryna had taken her to an education centre in a city most believed was far from the frontlines, a four-hour drive west of the capital, Kyiv.
But Liza never made it home. Just after 11am, three missiles of seven reportedly fired from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea smashed into the square. Amid the carnage, footage captured Liza lying dead in her overturned pushchair. Nearby is a severed foot. The arm of a soldier reaches for the pushchair.
Vinnytsia death toll climbs to 23, dozens missing
The central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia is reeling from a Russian missile attack that struck civilian buildings and a cultural centre, killing at least 23 people – including three children – and wounding dozens more.
As the city of 370,000 - many of whom fled from eastern Ukraine to escape frontline artillery fire - wakes up, rescue teams continue to comb the wreckage as authorities report 39 people are still feared missing
Ihor Klymenko, the national police chief, said only six of the dead had been identified so far. Of the 66 people taken to hospital, five remained in critical condition while 34 sustained severe injuries, Ukraine’s state emergency service said in an update issued just after 10pm on Thursday.
A Russian submarine in the Black Sea fired Kalibr cruise missiles at the city, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
The Russian military did not immediately confirm the strike, but Margarita Simonyan, head of the state-controlled Russian television network RT, said on her messaging app channel that military officials told her a building in Vinnytsia was targeted because it housed Ukrainian “Nazis”.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s rolling live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while.
Finance leaders from the Group of 20 major economies are meeting in Bali today, as host Indonesia tries to find common ground in talks overshadowed by war.
Ukraine’s state emergency service says it is still searching for 46 people who are considered missing after a Russian missile strike in the city of Vinnytsia, in central Ukraine.
It is 7.30am in Kyiv and here is where things currently stand:
- At least 23 people, including three children, were killed and up to 66 others wounded after Russian missiles struck civilian buildings and a cultural centre in the city of Vinnytsia, in central Ukraine. The attack on Vinnytsia, far from the war’s front lines, occurred mid-morning on Thursday when the streets were full of people. Ukraine’s state emergency service says it is still searching for 39 people who are considered missing, while 34 remain in serious condition.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called the Russian attack in Vinnytsia “an open act of terrorism”. In a video address at The Hague conference, Zelenskiy urged European and international criminal court officials to open a “special tribunal” to investigate Russia’s invasion of his country.
- A top Ukrainian official said the missile attacks in Vinnytsia were an “approved military strategy” by Vladimir Putin. Mykhailo Podolyak, the head of Ukraine’s negotiating team and a key adviser to Zelenskiy, said Russian forces were attacking “peaceful” Ukrainian cities such as Vinnytsia, Kremenchuk, Chasiv Yar and Kharkiv in order to force Ukrainians to “peace at any price”, Podolyak wrote on Twitter. Russia’s attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities were not a mistake but an approved military strategy
- A four-year-old girl was killed in the Vinnytsia strike with social media posts charting her life and death. Footage – which the Guardian is not publishing – showed Liza Dmitrieva lying dead in her overturned pushchair. “A girl is among the dead today in Vinnytsia, she was four years old, her name was Liza. The child was four years old!” Zelenskiy said. “Her mother is in critical condition.”
- The world’s largest security body has expressed “grave concern” about the alleged mistreatment of tens of thousands of Ukrainians in so-called filtration centres set up by Russia in Ukraine. Tens of thousands of civilians are taken to these centres in the self-proclaimed breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine, before being deported to Russia, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said.
- Russia has forcibly removed nearly 2 million people from Ukraine, including more than 200,000 children, since its invasion in February, Zelenskiy said. “It is still being established how many children Russian forces abducted and took out of Ukraine … The preliminary figure is dreadful – about 200,000 children,” he told the Ukraine Accountability Conference in The Hague on Thursday.
- The United States and more than 40 other countries have agreed to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes in Ukraine. On Thursday, 45 countries including European Union states as well as Britain, the US, Canada, Mexico and Australia at a conference in The Hague signed a political declaration to work together. With some 23,000 war crimes investigations now open and different countries heading teams, evidence needed to be credible and organised, officials said.
- The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said Russia’s war in Ukraine poses the greatest threat to the global economy. Representatives of Putin’s regime “have no place” at a meeting of the G20 countries in Bali, she said, adding that she would continue to press allies for a price cap on Russian oil, which she said would “deny Putin revenue his war machine needs”.
-
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said Kyiv was “definitely a step closer” to reaching a deal to export grain through its Black Sea ports after talks with Russia, Turkey and the United Nations. Turkey earlier announced a deal with Ukraine, Russia and the UN aimed at resuming Ukrainian grain exports blocked by Russia.
- Vladimir Putin signed into law tougher measures for individuals or entities considered “foreign agents” by Russia, as well as a new law equating defection with high treason. The new bill, which will come into force on 1 December, will broaden the definition of “foreign agents” to anyone deemed to have fallen “under foreign influence” or receiving support from abroad, not just foreign money.
- Russia has begun “volunteer mobilisations” to address its soldier shortage, according to the Institute for the Study of War. In a new report, the US-based thinktank said the Kremlin had “likely ordered Russian ‘federal subjects’ (regions) to form volunteer battalions to participate in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, instead of declaring partial or full mobilisation in Russia”.
