Closing summary
Here’s a recap of today’s developments.
At least six people were killed after a Russian missile slammed into a residential building in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, far from the front line of the war. The youngest was 21 years old and the oldest was a 95-year-old woman, according to Lviv province governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, called the attack the biggest of the war on civilian areas of Lviv since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year.
The US is weighing whether to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, the White House said. Two US officials told Reuters that the Biden administration will announce a new Ukraine weapons aid package on Thursday that will include cluster munitions.
Human Rights Watch urged the US not to supply the cluster munitions to Ukraine, and called on Moscow and Kyiv to stop using the controversial weapons. Transferring cluster bombs to Ukraine would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians, the group said.
Ukraine would like a “clear signal” “in the direction of an invitation” to join Nato during the upcoming summit in Lithuania, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. The Ukrainian leader was speaking at a joint press conference in Prague with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel, who said “as soon as the war is over, [Kyiv] should start negotiations on joining Nato.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Turkey on Friday for talks with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the Black Sea grain deal and developments in the war in Ukraine. Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic and Bulgaria today.
Ukraine’s military spy chief says that the threat of a Russian attack on the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is receding. The intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, warned that it could easily return as long as the facility remained under occupation by Moscow’s forces.
Romania is reportedly considering opening a regional training hub for F-16 fighter jet pilots which would ultimately be available to its Nato allies and partners, including Ukraine. Romania, both an EU and Nato member, is host to a US ballistic missile defence system and, as of last year, has a permanent alliance battlegroup stationed on its territory.
A group of former senior US national security officials have held secret talks with a number of prominent Russians, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, with the aim of laying the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report. A US state department spokesperson said the Biden administration “did not sanction those discussions”.
The Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has returned to Russia, the Belarusian president has said, despite a peace deal with the Kremlin under which Prigozhin had agreed to move to Belarus. “As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Alexander Lukashenko said. “Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow.”
Updated
Zelenskiy urges Nato leaders to send 'clear signal' on membership
Ukraine would like a “clear signal” “in the direction of an invitation” to join Nato during the upcoming summit in Lithuania, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
The Ukrainian leader, at a joint press conference in Prague with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel, said:
We just need an invitation. We understand that there may be difficulties with this or that, but we need to get the united support of all the partners of the alliance.
He added:
We are talking about a clear signal, some concrete things in the direction of an invitation. We need this motivation. We need honesty in our relations.
Pavel, who has previously said that Kyiv needs support to join Nato and the EU but that joining either would be a lengthy process, said:
It should be made absolutely clear that it is in the interest of the Czech Republic that Ukraine, as soon as the war is over, should start negotiations on joining Nato, because it is also in the interest of our security, regional stability, and economic prosperity,
Updated
Here are some of the latest images from the news wires of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, meeting with his Czech counterpart, Petr Pavel, in Prague.
The Biden administration did not sanction secret meetings that former top US national security officials held with prominent Russians on potential talks to end the Ukraine war, a US state department spokesperson has said.
The spokesperson, referring to a policy of not discussing possible negotiations on ending the war without involving Ukrainian officials, told reporters:
The Biden administration did not sanction those discussions. And as we’ve said repeatedly, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
The US will continue to provide weaponry to Kyiv so that Ukrainian officials “can negotiate from a position of strength when they think the time is right”, the spokesperson added.
A group of former senior US national security officials have held secret talks with a number of prominent Russians, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, with the aim of laying the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report.
The Russian foreign minister met with members of the group for several hours in April in New York, sources told NBC News.
Present at the meeting were Richard Haass, a former diplomat and the outgoing president of the council on foreign relations, and Europe expert Charles Kupchan and Russia expert Thomas Graham, the report said.
The discussions have taken place with the knowledge of the Biden administration, but not at its direction, according to sources. The White House national security council was briefed after the meeting, they said.
At least one former US official has travelled to Russia for discussions involving the war in Ukraine, according to two sources. The meetings have reportedly involved individuals perceived as having Vladimir Putin’s ear or being close to Kremlin decision-makers, they said.
Death toll from missile strike on Lviv rises to six
At least six people were killed after a Russian missile slammed into a residential building in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, far from the front line of the war, earlier today.
The roof and top floor of the building were destroyed in what the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, called the biggest attack of the war on civilian areas of Lviv since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year.
Sadovyi said the body of a woman was pulled from the rubble late Thursday, bring the death toll to six. The youngest was 21 years old and the oldest was a 95-year-old woman, according to Lviv province governor Maksym Kozytskyi.
The US is weighing whether to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday, amid calls from human rights groups for Kyiv and Moscow to stop using the controversial weapons.
What is a cluster bomb?
A cluster bomb is a weapon that breaks apart in the air and releases multiple explosive submunitions or “bomblets” across a wide area. They can be delivered by planes, artillery and missiles, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
How dangerous are they?
The bomblets are designed to detonate on hitting the ground, and anyone in that area is very likely to be killed or seriously injured. Beyond the initial damage caused by the munitions upon impact, many bomblets fail to detonate immediately. Up to 40% of bomblets have failed to explode in some recent conflicts, according to the ICRC.
As a result, cluster bombs, like landmines, pose a risk to civilians long after their use. Unexploded ordinance from cluster bombs can kill and maim people years or even decades after the munitions were fired.
Human rights groups say that the use of cluster bombs in populated areas is a violation of international humanitarian law because they cause indiscriminate destruction. Sixty per cent of cluster bomb casualties are people injured while undertaking everyday activities, according to Reuters. One third of all recorded cluster munitions casualties are children.
More than 120 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of the weapons. Russia, Ukraine and the US have all declined to sign the treaty. Since the adoption of the convention in 2008, 99% of global stockpiles have been destroyed, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition.
Why does Ukraine want them?
Kyiv has been pushing for cluster bombs, arguing that the weapons would help in its counteroffensive by allowing its troops to target entrenched Russian positions and to overcome its disadvantage in manpower and artillery.
Until recently, Washington had resisted Kyiv’s calls, citing concerns about the weapons’ use and saying they were not necessary. However US officials have recently signalled a shift, and a senior Pentagon official said last month that the US military believes cluster munitions “would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions”.
But rights groups have called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster bombs, and urged the US not to supply the “inherently indiscriminate” munitions to Kyiv. “Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years,” said Mary Wareham, acting arms director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons.”
US officials have claimed that any munitions provided to Ukraine would have a reduced “dud rate,” meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that could later result in unintended civilian deaths.
The White House has declined to comment on reports that the Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has returned to Russia, despite a peace deal with the Kremlin under which Prigozhin had agreed to move to Belarus.
According to the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin is “in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus”.
Lukashenko added that the Wagner boss may be headed to Moscow and that Wagner fighters were stationed at their camps in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.
The US will “continue to monitor the Wagner group”, CNN is quoting White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates as saying. He told reporters:
I do not have new details to provide about whereabouts or anything else concerning Prigozhin or the Wagner Group.”
The Biden administration has decided to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine, AP is reporting, citing sources familiar with the decision.
The US plans to announce on Friday that the Pentagon will send thousands of cluster munitions as part of a new weapons aid package to Kyiv worth about $800m, according to US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Zelenskiy arrives in Prague
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has landed in the Czech capital Prague as part of a tour to drum up support for Ukraine’s fast track to Nato membership ahead of a summit of the alliance next week.
Zelenskiy landed in a Czech government plane, escorted by two air force jets, television footage showed. He was welcomed by his Czech counterpart, Petr Pavel.
Pavel’s office said in a statement:
The visit of the Ukrainian president is intended to be an expression of appreciation for the support that the Czech Republic has provided to Ukraine since the beginning of Russian aggression, and to bring mutual assurance that this support will continue.
At the meeting, the presidents should coordinate their positions before the Nato summit in Vilnius, where it is expected to discuss, among other things, security guarantees for Ukraine.
Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valerii Zaluzhnyi said his country’s counteroffensive is "developing according to the plan” in a phone call with the US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley.
In a Facebook post, Zaluzhnyi said he updated Milley on the situation at the frontline and that the pair “discussed the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in terms of weapon and ammunition”.
He wrote:
The Ukrainian servicemen continue to conduct active offensive actions. The situation is developing according to the plan, the initiative is in our hands.
He also thanked Milley for the continued US support for Ukraine and “congratulated the American people on the Independence Day of the United States”.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has criticised a report by Human Rights Watch calling on both sides to stop using cluster bombs, accusing the rights group of “helplessness, spinelessness and absolute immorality”.
The rights group argued that transferring cluster bombs to Ukraine would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians, amid reports the Biden administration is poised to include the controversial weapons in a new military aid package.
Posting to Twitter, Podolyak said the HRW was “launching an aggressive lobbying campaign” to disrupt the provision of weapons to Ukraine. “Is this a joke? Is it a prank?” he wrote.
Helplessness, spinelessness and absolute immorality, pettiness... @hrw. Again? Or is it time? Just think about it: absolutely insane Russian thugs are invading #Ukraine, unleashing a brutal genocidal war, killing civilians, organizing public executions, raping women, abducting…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) July 6, 2023
Human Rights Watch has called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster bombs, and urged the US not to supply the munitions to Kyiv, amid reports the Biden administration is poised to include the controversial weapons in a new military aid package.
Ukrainian and Russian forces have used cluster munitions that caused numerous civilian deaths and serious injuries, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday, calling on both sides to immediately stop using the “inherently indiscriminate” weapons.
Ukraine fired cluster munition rockets into Russian-controlled areas in and near the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium last year, causing many casualties among Ukrainian civilians, the rights group said, citing interviews with more than 100 residents, witnesses and local emergency personnel. The Ukrainian attacks killed at least eight civilians and wounded at least 15 civilians in Izium, it said.
The group has previously reported that Russia’s use of cluster bombs in Ukraine resulted in the deaths of scores of civilians, and the United Nations human rights council has also documented the use of such bombs by both sides.
“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years,” said Mary Wareham, acting arms director at Human Rights Watch.
Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons.
Transferring cluster bombs to Ukraine would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians, the group said. It warned that the use of cluster munitions in areas with civilians makes an attack indiscriminate in violation of international humanitarian law, and possibly a war crime.
Summary
The time in Kyiv is coming up to 9pm. Here’s a summary of today’s events:
The Biden administration is set to announce a new Ukraine weapons aid package tomorrow – and it will include cluster munitions, two US officials have told Reuters. Speaking to the news agency on condition of anonymity, the officials said a weapons aid package that includes cluster munitions fired by a 155 millimetre Howitzer cannon is going to be announced tomorrow.
Human Rights Watch have called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions and urged the US not to supply them. Cluster munitions, which were first used in the second world war and are banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.
Romania is considering opening a regional training hub for F-16 fighter jet pilots which would ultimately be available to its Nato allies and partners, including Ukraine. “Romanian pilots operating F-16 planes will be trained here, and the facility will later be open to pilots from allied states and Nato partners, including Ukraine,” the country’s supreme defence council said.
President Zelenskiy will visit the Czech Republic tomorrow, to talk about defence support and the Vilnius Nato summit, before heading to Turkey on Friday for talks with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the Black Sea grain deal and developments in the war.
Ukraine and Bulgaria have agreed on more active cooperation in the defence sector. “We discussed the military aid which Bulgaria gives to our country. We count on the continuation of the cooperation which has already saved many lives,” Zelenskiy told a press conference in Sofia, where he met Bulgarian leaders, including prime minister Nikolai Denkov.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Bulgaria is nearing an agreement to sell two Russian-made nuclear reactors and other critical equipment to Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy company.
Ukrainian shelling killed one man on Thursday in the village of Novopetrovka in Russia’s Belgorod region, close to the border with Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.
Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk oblast, reported that overnight the Nikopol region was struck three times by Russian forces.The UK government has named Martin Harris as its new ambassador to Ukraine. Harris, who has worked for the British government in both Kyiv and Moscow, had most recently been the Foreign Office’s director for eastern Europe and central Asia.
Five people were killed in a Russian missile attack that hit an apartment building overnight. At least 36 others were hurt and seven people had to be pulled from the rubble by emergency services. The roof and top floor of the building were destroyed in what Lviv’s mayor called the biggest attack of the war on civilian infrastructure. Lviv is far from frontlines and home to thousands displaced by war.
Ukraine’s military spy chief has said that the threat of a Russian attack on the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is receding, but that it could easily return as long as the facility remained under occupation by Moscow’s forces. The intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, made the comment in an interview with Reuters. “The threat is decreasing,” said Budanov, declining to give details of what had been done to reduce the threat or what it had consisted of. He made clear he believed the threat had only been postponed until later.
That’s it from me, Donna Ferguson, for now. Thanks for following along- I’ll leave you in the hands of my colleague Léonie Chao-Fong in the US news team.
Romania is considering opening a regional training hub for F-16 fighter jet pilots which would ultimately be available to its Nato allies and partners, including Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Romania, both a European Union and Nato member, has raised defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product this year from 2%, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The country, which shares a 650km (400 mile) border with Ukraine, is host to a US ballistic missile defence system and, as of last year, has a permanent alliance battlegroup stationed on its territory.
“Together with other allies and the company which builds this fighter plane, a regional hub will be created in Romania to train pilots who will fly these jets,” the country’s supreme defence council said.
“Romanian pilots operating F-16 planes will be trained here, and the facility will later be open to pilots from allied states and NATO partners, including Ukraine.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was visiting Prague on Thursday, and would meet Czech President Petr Pavel, Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the heads of both parliamentary houses.
“Prague is next,” Zelenskiy tweeted.
“The focus will be on defence support, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine and the Vilnius Nato Summit, the situation around the ZNPP, the implementation of the #PeaceFormula, and the rebuilding of Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy is due in the Czech capital after going to Bulgaria for talks on security and next week’s Nato summit, Reuters reports.
Ukraine is seeking a clear signal from Nato at a mid-July summit in Vilnius that it can join the military alliance when Russia’s war on his country ends.
Though Ukraine wants to join as quickly as possible, Nato members have been divided over how fast that step should be taken, with some wary of moves they fear could bring the alliance closer to an active war with Russia.
The Czech Republic has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the invasion in February 2022, supplying military aid and other help.
Czech President Pavel, who was Czech army chief and principal military adviser to the Nato secretary-general in 2015-2018, said in a Reuters interview in May that Ukraine needs support for Nato and European Union entry but joining either would be a lengthy process.
Updated
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed speculation that Putin is going to assassinate Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mutinous chief of Russia’s Wagner group, now that Prigozhin has returned to Russia.
Reuters reports that Lukashenko, who helped broker a deal to end last month’s mutiny, said: “If you think Putin is so malicious and vindictive that he will ‘wipe him out’ tomorrow - to say it in Russian - no, this will not happen.”
“The fighters of the Wagner group are at their camps - their permanent camps - those where they have been located since they left the front.”
Wagner’s main camp is in southern Russia, at Molkino near Krasnodar.
The 68-year-old Belarusian leader dismissed a question about whether Putin had been weakened by the crisis, but said he did not want to talk about the motivation behind the mutiny.
He said the situation had been so serious at its peak that Belarusian special forces had been ready to fly in to help defend Moscow.
“We, Putin and Lukashenko, allowed the situation to get out of hand - we thought it would all solve itself - but it didn’t,” Lukashenko said.
He said he had told Prigozhin, using the diminutive of his first name, Zhenya, that “Putin and I will defend Moscow”.
Lukashenko said Putin had known Prigozhin for 30 years, and that Wagner had been founded by Russia’s GRU military intelligence service and was Russia’s best fighting force.
The question of moving Wagner units to Belarus would depend on decisions by the Kremlin and by Wagner, he said, adding that he had spoken to Prigozhin by phone on Wednesday. “Putin is keeping his word.”
Lukashenko said Prigozhin and Wagner intended to continue to work for Russia, and suggested that the mercenaries could atone for their sins by fighting on the hardest parts of the Ukraine front.
The Kremlin has declined to discuss Prigozhin’s whereabouts.
“No, we do not follow his movements, we have neither the ability nor the desire to do so,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters today, nevertheless confirming that Prigozhin’s departure for Belarus was one condition of the deal.
Lukashenko said Belarus had offered Wagner some disused Soviet-era military quarters, adding: “But Wagner has a different vision for deployment, of course, I won’t tell you about this vision.”
Lukashenko also said he did not see a Wagner presence as a risk, but that his army could benefit from Wagner’s expertise.
If they came, he said, Wagner would not be used against Ukraine or any other neighbour as long as Belarus was not itself attacked.
Ukraine spy chief says threat of Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant receding
Ukraine’s military spy chief says that the threat of a Russian attack on the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is receding, but that it could easily return as long as the facility remained under occupation by Moscow’s forces.
The intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, made the comment in an interview with Reuters after days of warnings by Ukrainian and Russian officials accusing each other of plotting an attack at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
“The threat is decreasing,” said Budanov, who is the head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence, declining to say how he was able to say.
President Zelenskiy has for days warned of the grave threat at the facility, most recently saying Russian forces had mined the roof of several reactors.
Budanov did not give details of what had been done to reduce the threat, or what it consisted of. He made clear he believed the threat had only been postponed until later.
“Sorry I can’t tell you what happened recently but the fact is that the threat is decreasing,” he said. “This means that at least we have all together with joint efforts somehow postponed a technogenic catastrophe.”
“It’s not eliminated. As long as the station is occupied this can happen again any time if they want,” he said.
He also commented on the major counteroffensive which Ukraine launched against Russian occupying forces last month.
“The counteroffensive is in progress. In general, let’s just say it’s happening. There will be success, but later,” he said.
He compared the Ukrainian operation with Russia’s months-long battle to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut in April.
“I want to remind you this famous story with Bakhmut. The Russians were attacking it for more than 10 months. Our task is a bit bigger than Bakhmut, but we have a bit less time than 10 months.”
Updated
Reuters is reporting more detail about the Biden administration’s plans to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, a move that is strongly opposed by human rights groups.
Two US officials, speaking to the news agency on condition of anonymity, said a weapons aid package that includes cluster munitions fired by a 155 millimetre Howitzer cannon is going to be announced tomorrow.
In order to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, Biden would need to sign a waiver, one of the officials said, similar to one that was signed for exporting cluster munitions technology to South Korea in 2021.
In the aid package, which is expected to be well above $500m (£392m) in value, Ukraine will receive munitions for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), Bradley fighting vehicles and Stryker armoured personnel carriers, one of the officials said.
The package was still being finalised and could change, the officials added. It would be funded using presidential drawdown authority (PDA), which authorises the president to transfer articles and services from US stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from US excess inventory.
Human Rights Watch have called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions and urged the US not to supply them. The group said in a report that Russian and Ukrainian forces have used the weapons, which have killed Ukrainian civilians..
The US military believes cluster munitions would be useful for Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said in June, but they had not been approved for Kyiv yet because of congressional restrictions and concerns among allies.
Ukraine has urged members of Congress to press Biden’s administration to approve sending dual-purpose conventional improved munitions (DPICM).
The cluster munitions, banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.
Updated
Ukraine’s foreign exchange reserves have reached a record high of nearly $39bn (£30bn) thanks to financial support from western partners, Reuters reports.
That is the highest level the reserves have reached in more than 30 years of post-Soviet independence, said Andriy Pyshnyy, governor of the central bank, hailing it as a major success for Kyiv as it battles Russia’s large-scale invasion.
“This level of reserves strengthens the National Bank of Ukraine’s ability to continue maintaining exchange rate stability,” he wrote on Facebook.
The Ukrainian government and the central bank have been praised by western lenders and economists for policies that have allowed them to maintain macroeconomic and currency stability despite more than 16 months of war.
Finance Ministry data showed that Ukraine had already received $23.6bn in western financial support so far this year.
Pyshnyy said that in June alone the government had received £1.3bn from the EU and nearly £1bn from the US, as well as funds from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Finnish government.
Ukraine’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $37.3bn at the start of June.
Updated
Biden set to announce Ukraine weapons package that includes cluster munitions
The Biden administration is expected to announce a new Ukraine weapons aid package tomorrow – and it will include cluster munitions, two US officials have told Reuters.
The weapons, which were first used during the second world war, typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets and are notorious for killing civilians.
They do not always explode, posing a future risk to civilians, and were banned by most of the world under a 2008 treaty called the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which the US, Russia and Ukraine did not sign.
Updated
Providing cluster munitions to Ukraine under 'active consideration' - White House
The White House has said that providing cluster munitions to Ukraine is under “active consideration” but there is no announcement to make yet, Reuters reports.
The Biden administration is weighing whether to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told reporters on Thursday.
Bates said the idea is under “active consideration” but there is no announcement to make.
Earlier today, the New York Times reported that the US is planning to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which are banned by more than 120 countries because they can kill indiscriminately over a wide area.
Human Rights Watch has called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions and urged the US not to supply them.
Updated
Farmers in most Ukrainian regions have threshed the first million metric tons (1.1 short tons) of the 2023 grain harvest, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday.
Ukraine’s output of grain is expected to be reduced this year to about 46 million tons from 53 million in 2022 and a record 86 million in 2021, Reuters reports.
The agriculture ministry said the harvest so far included 85,800 tons of barley, 172,000 tons of wheat and 45,800 tons of peas.
Farmers have harvested 308,200 hectares of various grains and the yield averaged 3.32 tons per hectare.
Ragıp Soylu, Turkey bureau chief for Middle East Eye has stated that there is “lots of movement today regarding Sweden-Turkey negotiations before Nato’s Vilnius summit”.
As well as the comments of Jen Stoltenberg earlier, Reuters has been briefed that US president Joe Biden and Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may meet during next week’s summit. It reports that, according to US officials, a “pull aside” meeting between the leaders is possible, but had not yet been arranged.
Additionally Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billström said on Thursday after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart and Stoltenberg that Sweden still hold out hope of getting the nod from Turkey to join Nato at next week’s summit, but said the decision rested with Ankara.
“We are hoping and looking for a positive decision next week but this is, and I would like to underline this, this is of course a Turkish decision at the end of the day,” Billström told reporters in Brussels.
Updated
My colleague Faisal Ali has this reminder of why Turkey has been objecting to Sweden’s move to join Nato:
Finland and Sweden attempted to frame their bid to join the alliance as something of a two-for-one package deal. Turkey initially objected to both countries until its conditions were met which were mainly linked to its concerns about the activities of the PKK in both countries. The three countries signed a memorandum in June last year to make progress on those issues.
The PKK is a Kurdish militant organisation which has been fighting the Turkish state since the 80s and is considered as a terrorist group across the EU, in Turkey and the US. Turkey lifted its veto on Finland’s accession earlier this year, during a visit by the Finnish president to Ankara.
Turkey has not looked so kindly on Sweden, which hosts a large politically active Kurdish diaspora. In recent protests PKK symbols have been seen and in one particularly high profile case an Erdoğan effigy was set alight. As a result, Erdoğan has accused Sweden of being a safe haven for terrorists.
Ankara has managed to extract several concessions from Sweden, including the lifting of an arms embargo placed on Turkey due to Turkey’s military activities in Syria and changes in Sweden’s domestic counter-terrorism laws. Turkey also wants Sweden to extradite suspected members of the PKK.
Sweden has attempted to comply and has described actors undermining ties with Turkey as “useful idiots” for Stockholm’s geopolitical foes. Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg also said Stockholm had met Ankara’s demands but Erdoğan still isn’t satisfied with the measures taken. Hungary is also blocking Sweden’s bid but said it would lift its veto when Turkey does.
Updated
Sweden joining Nato is within reach, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Thursday following a meeting in Brussels.
Reuters reports he added that it was possible that a positive decision will follow at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week.
Stoltenberg suggested that a court verdict on Thursday that found a man guilty of attempting to finance the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) could help end Turkey’s veto of Sweden’s application to join the Nato military alliance. He said it was beneficial in the fight against terrorism.
Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, told the Aftonbladet newspaper on Thursday that the country was considering whether it could make setting the Qur’an or other holy books on fire illegal, as recent Qur’an burnings have damaged Sweden’s security.
Updated
The incoming UK ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Harris, has spoken about his appointment. In a message on social media he said:
I’m delighted to return to Ukraine to lead our Embassy’s vital work in supporting Ukraine’s government and people as they defend their country and our common values. Our relationship has never been stronger. UK will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Harris was previously in Kyiv from 2003 to 2008 where he was deputy head of mission and consul general.
The number of people killed in the recent Russian missile strike on a block of flats in Lviv, in western Ukraine, has now reached five, Reuters reports.
They included a 60-year-old woman and her 32-year-old daughter.
Emergency services said at least 36 others had been hurt and that they had pulled seven people alive from the rubble.
The roof and top floor of the building were destroyed in what Lviv’s mayor called the biggest attack of the war on civilian infrastructure. Lviv is far from frontlines and home to thousands displaced by war.
Reuters television footage showed residents calming crying neighbours while others helped rescuers sweep up shattered glass.
“They, Russians, Rashists, say that they are bombing military objects but they hit a peaceful house. People were sleeping. How could they do it?,” said Lviv resident Vira Luben, a woman in her seventies, using a derogatory term for Russians.
Holding back tears, she added: “World – save and help us, because without you we will not manage to deal with them.”
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had attacked Lviv with Kalibr missiles launched from the Black Sea. It said seven out of 10 missiles had been shot down.
The Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote on Telegram: “Unfortunately there are wounded and dead. My condolences to the relatives! There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.”
Updated
A UK Foreign Office minister has called for Russia to give International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts “full and unfettered access” access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Press Association reports.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said such access should be granted for the safety and security of all, including Russia, whose forces seized control of the plant last year.
He said: “We take President Zelenskiy’s concern about possible Russian threats to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is currently under illegal Russian control, extremely seriously.
“We are in regular contact with the director general of the IAEA, director general [Rafael] Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, regarding the situation at the nuclear power plant, as well as the highest levels of the government of Ukraine.
“Working with our international partners, we continue to call for Russia to grant the IAEA full access to the nuclear plant, as called for by director general Grossi on 5 July, and it is vital that IAEA staff have full access to the nuclear plant in order to monitor the safety and security of the site.
“The site itself, much of it in terms of its direct energy provisions, has been scaled down and there is only one, I think, current operating generator on the site, and even that has been scaled down sufficiently, specifically for that purpose.
“Of course, the risk remains very high but we have been assured by the IAEA that there is no immediate threat in this respect.”
Agreeing with another peer that the nuclear plant was not like Chornobyl, he said: “This particular plant is very much more modern, state of the art, and the fact that most of its activities and energy generation has been turned down – indeed, most of the reactors are now not operational – that it limits, even without inspections, that assessment can be made.
“However, why I add the necessary caveat, is all of us – including Russia – will get a reassurance when the IAEA can get that access and when there is an expert opinion on the table which we all recognise.
“This war will continue, but it’s in Russia’s interest – not just in Ukraine or for the rest of us – it’s in Russia’s interest as well to allow for that access.”
His comments came after the IAEA said there were no indications of mines or explosives at the power plant, but requested additional access, including to the rooftop of two reactors.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss Black Sea grain deal with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey on Friday
Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Turkey on Friday for talks with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the Black Sea grain deal and developments in the war in Ukraine, the state-run Anadolu Agency reports.
The news follows reports that Russian agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank has decided not to consider setting up a subsidiary that could connect to the Swift global payments system.
Such a move had been thought to be a step that could possibly avert the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal that is due to expire on 17 July.
Turkey and the UN brokered last year’s deal, which allows for the export of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports despite the ongoing war.
But Russia, angry about aspects of its implementation, has threatened not to allow it further renewal beyond 17 July, Reuters reports.
Zelenskiy and Erdoğan will hold face-to-face talks and also attend interdelegational meetings, Anadolu said.
Erdoğan, re-elected last month for another five-year term, has sought to maintain strong ties with both Kyiv and Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Turkey, a Nato member, has not joined its western allies in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, but has also supplied arms to Ukraine and called for its sovereignty to be respected.
Updated
The Russian defence minister has announced today that 45 Russian servicemen have been returned from Ukrainian custody, the RIA news agency reports.
Russian and Ukraine periodically exchange groups of prisoners.
Yesterday, the Kremlin signalled it would also be open to a possible prisoner exchange involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Updated
Bulgaria is nearing an agreement to sell two Russian-made nuclear reactors and other critical equipment to Ukraine’s state-owned atomic energy company, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Under the deal, which the paper said is still being negotiated, Sofia’s state power company, NEK, would sell the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom equipment from the unfinished Belene nuclear power plant for at least €600m (£512m).
This would mean that, for the first time since the outbreak of the war, Russian-made nuclear power would be used to help increase Ukraine’s energy output.
The paper reports:
The fact that Bulgaria, a former Soviet satellite state long friendly with Moscow, is considering the deal is a sign of how much Russian clout has eroded in the European Union’s eastern states.
Updated
Ukrainian shelling killed one man on Thursday in the village of Novopetrovka in Russia’s Belgorod region, close to the border with Ukraine, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.
Blasts and attacks on Russian regions bordering Ukraine have been occurring almost daily in recent months. Both Ukraine and Russia deny targeting civilians in the war.
Human Rights Watch has called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions and has urged the US not to supply them.
Earlier today, The New York Times reported that the US is planning to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which are banned by more than 120 countries because they can kill indiscriminately over a wide area.
The weapons, which were first used during the second world war, typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets and are notorious for killing civilians.
A report released today by Human Rights Watch states that “Ukrainian forces have used cluster munitions that caused deaths and serious injuries to civilians”, for example in rocket attacks on Russian-controlled areas in and around the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine, while Russian forces have “extensively used cluster munitions, causing many civilian deaths and serious injuries”.
“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years,” said Mary Wareham, acting arms director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons.”
Ukraine has recently been urging members of Congress to press President Joe Biden’s administration to approve sending dual-purpose conventional improved munitions.
Transferring these weapons would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians and undermine the international opprobrium of their use, Human Rights Watch said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also been pushing for new western fighter planes, including F-16s, as it pursues a counteroffensive.
“F-16 or any other equipment that we do need will give us an opportunity to move faster, to save more lives, to stand our ground for a longer time,” Zelenskiy said in an ABC News interview broadcast on Thursday.
Nato members Denmark and the Netherlands are leading efforts by an international coalition to train pilots and support staff, to maintain aircraft and ultimately supply F-16s to Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Updated
Ukraine and Bulgaria agree on greater defence cooperation
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said his country and Bulgaria have agreed on more active cooperation in the defence sector, and that he has invited Sofia to take part in Ukraine’s reconstruction, Reuters reports.
“We discussed the military aid which Bulgaria gives to our country. We count on the continuation of the cooperation which has already saved many lives,” the president told a press conference in Sofia, where he met Bulgarian leaders.
Updated
Ukraine had directed more than 70 drone attacks at Crimea this year, and also attacked southern Russia’s Krasnodar and Rostov regions, the secretary of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, has said.
“The targets, as a rule, are energy and industrial infrastructure facilities, the destruction or damage of which threatens peaceful life and human health,” Patrushev was quoted telling a meeting on the security of southern Russia in Krasnodar, according to the RIA news agency. The Guardian has not verified this claim.
Russia seized and unilaterally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and has been occupying the region ever since.
In June, Ukraine carried out missile strikes on two critical road links connecting Crimea with Russian-occupied areas in southern Ukraine.
Updated
The UK government has named Martin Harris as its new ambassador to Ukraine.
Harris, who was previously deputy head of mission and consul general in Kyiv between 2003 and 2008 and minister and deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Moscow from 2014 to 2017, had most recently been the Foreign Office’s director for eastern Europe and central Asia.
He will take up the new role in September.
The outgoing ambassador to Kyiv, Melinda Simmons, who was appointed to the role in 2019, will take another diplomatic service appointment, the government said in a statement.
Updated
The secretary of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, has told the Russian news agency Tass that threats to Russia from Nato were growing.
Tass quoted Patrushev as referring to a build-up of Nato military infrastructure near Russia’s borders, the intensification of reconnaissance activities and the presence of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe.
Updated
The US is expected to announce that it will provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, the New York Times has reported, citing an unidentified senior Biden administration official.
The newspaper says that the controversial decision, which was first reported by National Public Radio, was confirmed by an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity.
Cluster munitions were first used during the second world war and include rockets, bombs and missiles. They do not always explode, posing a future risk to civilians, and were banned by most of the world under a 2008 treaty called the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which the US, Russia and Ukraine did not sign.
In April, Guardian research found that cluster munitions were unleashed in areas of Ukraine where there were no military personnel and no military infrastructure.
In June, a senior Pentagon official said that the US military believed that cluster munitions would be useful for Ukraine in pushing back against Russian forces, but added they had not been approved for Kyiv yet because of congressional restrictions and concerns among allies.
Updated
Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk oblast, reports that overnight the Nikopol region was struck three times by Russian forces. There were no casualities reported, but he said “a private house, two outbuildings, and a power line were damaged.”
He also claimed that Ukrainian air defence had shot down a Russian drone over the region.
The claim has not been independently verified.
Updated
Ukraine plans to abandon conscription and build a professional army after the end of the war with Russia in order to bring the country closer to Nato standards, Reuters reports prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Thursday.
After a meeting with top defence and security officials, at which reforms known as “the Ukrainian shield” were discussed, Shmyhal said the government would also continue to focus on supporting a further increase in domestic weapons production.
Updated
Here are a couple more images released from Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Bulgaria, picturing him with prime minister Nikolai Denkov and foreign minister Mariya Gabriel.
Bulgarian prime minister Nikolai Denkov in Sofia. Photograph: Bulgarian Government/Reuters
Lviv’s governor has corrected the information he gave earlier about those killed in the Russian strike on the city. In a post on Telegram Maksym Kozytskyi said that the earlier information had been taken from the immediate testimony of neighbours, and apologised for the inaccuracy.
He stated that those killed were Anastasia, a 32-year-old and her 60 year-old mother Myroslava, alongside Mykhailo (35) and Iryna (63).
Earlier he had suggested a 21-year-old and a 95-year-old had been killed.
Kozytskyi finished his message by saying “Eternal memory to those we have lost. It hurts for everyone. We will have revenge!”
Citing the head of the local authority, Suspilne is reporting that the railway station building in Odnorobivka, in Kharkiv region, has been destroyed by Russian shelling. It reports “there was a fire, but it could not quickly be extinguished due to shelling”.
The claim has not been independently verified.
The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday that Moscow would respond with utmost harshness to any Ukrainian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Reuters reports.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of planning to attack Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which is located in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, near the frontline of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.
Russian forces have occupied the plant since March last year, and criticised Ukraine for shelling near it. Ukraine has criticised Russia for shelling near the plant, and accused it of mining it in preparation for blowing it up.
None of the claims have been independently verified.
Earlier today, Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reported that the Ukraine intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said that in recent days the danger of an artificial disaster at the plant had been gradually decreasing, as “we are taking certain actions in this area – both public and non-public”.
Updated
Denise Brown, head of the UN mission to Ukraine, has issued a statement about the overnight strike on the city of Lviv, which has left at least four people dead. She wrote:
Early this morning, I suddenly woke up from explosions in Lviv.
Another strike by the armed forces of the Russian Federation caused injuries and deaths as their homes were heavily damaged by shelling while they were also sleeping.
Today’s strike comes just one week after the deadly Kramatorsk shelling and recent strikes in Sumy, Kharkiv and other regions of Ukraine, which have caused loss and destruction to people who continue to live in fear of a full-scale war by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
I repeat again: international humanitarian law clearly states that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected.
The United Nations and the humanitarian community will continue to support the people of Ukraine.
On behalf of the UN and the humanitarian community, I express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wish the victims a speedy recovery.
Updated
Here are the first pictures coming through of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy visiting Bulgaria, where he was greeted by the Bulgarian deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Mariya Gabriel.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
At least four people have been killed and 34 injured in a missile strike on Ukraine’s western city of Lviv. Emergency services said that seven people had been rescued from the rubble. The regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi, said that the air force destroyed seven cruise missiles aimed at the region. He warned that more people may yet be found dead in the rubble as rescue work continued. The city’s mayor declared a two-day mourning period.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wrote alongside a Telegram video post showing the damaged building in Lviv: “There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.” The US ambassador to Ukraine called the strike “vicious”, and Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, has described it as “another night terror from Russia”.
Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defences in occupied areas including with mines, Zelenskiy said in a TV interview broadcast on Wednesday. In the interview with CNN, Zelenskiy said he had told US and European leaders ahead of the counteroffensive that a lack of supplies would result in more casualties. “I’m grateful to the US as the leaders of our support, but I told them as well as European leaders that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we will need all the weapons and material for that.”
Zelenskiy posted to social media on Thursday to say he had arrived in Sofia in Bulgaria, and would hold talks with prime minister Nikolai Denkov and president Rumen Radev. Ukraine’s president said they would discuss “defence support, Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration, the Nato summit, security guarantees, and the implementation of the peace formula.”
The Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, who last month brokered a deal to end Wagner’s armed mutiny, has said the mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin had returned to Russia. “As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko said. “Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow”. Lukashenko also said Wagner troops were stationed at their camps in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, adding that his offer to host them in Belarus remained. Under a deal brokered by Lukashenko, Prigozhin abandoned what he called a “march for justice” by thousands of his men on Moscow, in exchange for safe passage to exile in Belarus.
Tass reported on Thursday that the death toll from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied Kherson region had increased to 53, with the discovery of three more bodies.
Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used cluster munitions that have killed Ukrainian civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday. The international advocacy group, called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using the weapons, and urged the US not to supply them.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that Lviv’s mayor has declared there will be a two-day mourning period for the victims of the overnight missile attack which has killed at least four people in the western Ukrainian city.
Zelenskiy travels to Sofia for talks with Bulgaria's prime minister and president
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to social media to say that he is visiting Sofia in Bulgaria, and will hold talks with prime minister Nikolai Denkov and president Rumen Radev.
Ukraine’s president said they would discuss “defence support, Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration, the Nato summit, security guarantees, and the implementation of the peace formula”.
More details soon …
Updated
Wagner boss Prigozhin has returned to Russia, Lukashenko says
Here Pjotr Sauer rounds up what we know of Yevgeny Progzhin’s whereabouts:
The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, who last month brokered a deal to end Wagner’s armed mutiny, has said the mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin had returned to Russia.
“As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Lukashenko said. “Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow.”
Lukashenko also said Wagner troops were stationed at their camps in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, adding that his offer to host them in Belarus remained.
Under a deal brokered by Lukashenko, Prigozhin abandoned what he called a “march for justice” by thousands of his men on Moscow, in exchange for safe passage to exile in Belarus.
There were already questions about whether Prigozhin was sticking to the terms of the deal.
The warlord has not been photographed in Belarus, and Prigozhin’s jet has flown several times back and forth from Belarus to Moscow and St Petersburg.
Here is a video report on the Russian missile strike on Lviv which has killed at least four people.
Lviv’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, has warned that the death toll in the city may still rise after a Russian missile attack that has killed four people.
On Telegram he said: “As of this hour, four people have been confirmed dead. Rescuers continue to clear the debris. There may still be people under them. Work will continue until the last hope.”
Describing it as “the most destructive attack on the civilian population in the Lviv region since the beginning of the full-scale war” he said more than 30 house had been damaged, as well as 250 apartments and ten hostels. He said an electricity sub-station had been knocked out, leaving 150 people without power.
This block originally contained a report via Kozytskyi that the victims included a 21-year-old and a 95-year-old. He later corrected this statement as more information emerged.
Updated
Belta has a couple of additional quotes from Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko about Wagner and Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Firstly, he said “I absolutely do not see any risks from the deployment of Wagner PMC” inside Belarus.
Also he suggested Prigozhin might be in Moscow instead of St Petersburg, saying “As for Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in St Petersburg. Where is he this morning? Maybe he went to Moscow in the morning.”
There is no independent corroboration of Prigozhin’s location.
Updated
Lukashenko: Prigozhin is no longer in Belarus, is back in St Petersburg
Reuters has a quick snap that the Belarusian leader, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has said that Wagner group leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is no longer in Belarus but is in St Petersburg.
The Belarus news agency Belta is quoting this exchange. Asked on the whereabouts of Prigozhin and Wagner, Lukashenko told the media:
This is a Russian company. So the question is clearly not for me. As far as I am informed, the fighters are in their camps. As for Prigozhin, he is in St Petersburg. It does not exist on the territory of Belarus.
It had been believed that Prigozhin had agreed to go to Belarus as part of a deal to bring his armed insurrection attempt to a close.
More details soon …
Updated
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, one of the occupied regions of the Donbas which the Russian Federation claims to have annexed, has detailed multiple settlements being fired upon in the last 24 hours in an operational update on Telegram. Houses were destroyed, and two people were injured. The claims have not been independently verified.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, has described the overnight attack on Lviv as “vicious”. In a post to social media she wrote:
Vicious Russian missile attack on Lviv. Russia’s repeated attacks on civilians are absolutely horrifying. We will not stand by and will continue to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.
At least four people have been killed and 34 people injured. Rescue services say they recovered seven people from under the rubble.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed acting governor of occupied Donetsk, has claimed that Russian forces have advanced 300 metres in the Vuhledar direction. Tass quotes him saying that the advance was made despite activity from Ukraine’s armed forces, and that “this is now in one of the most difficult areas” of the front.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Olena Zelenska has described the attack on Lviv as “another night terror from Russia”. In a post to social media, Ukraine’s first lady said:
Lviv. Another night terror from Russia – hundreds of kilometres from the front line. Peaceful people died, there are wounded. To those who have doubts about whom it is fighting Ukraine, the terrorist country has once again shown that its goal is that no one in Ukraine feels safe. My condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.
The state emergency services of Ukraine has issued some pictures from the scene of the missile strike in Lviv where at least four people have been killed and 34 people injured.
Reuters reports that the emergency services in Lviv said they had managed to rescue seven people from the rubble and evacuated 64 others after a missile strike on the city overnight.
Tass reports that the death toll from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-occupied Kherson region has increased to 53.
Citing emergency services, Tass reported “The bodies of three more dead were found, the total number of dead reached 53. 139 people were hospitalized.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
Maksym Kozytskyi, the governor of Lviv, has given an operational update after the attack on the western Ukrainian city, which has claimed at least four lives. He wrote on the Telegram messaging app:
The enemy attacked our region from the Black Sea with Kalibr missiles. The ‘west’ air command of the air forces of the armed forces of Ukraine destroyed seven missiles over Lviv region.
The death of four people was confirmed. They were all in the house at the time of the shooting. Condolences to relatives. 34 people were injured. About 30 houses and more than 50 cars were damaged.
Kozytskyi said that falling debris had also caused damages in two separate villages in the region, but without causing any injuries.
He finished his message with an appeal for the west to supply F16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
The claims have not been independently verified.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
From Reuters: Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used cluster munitions that have killed Ukrainian civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday as the US weighs whether to answer the Ukraine government’s call to supply it with the weapons.
Human Rights Watch, an international advocacy group, called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop using the weapons, and urged the US not to supply them.
More than 120 countries have signed on to an international treaty banning the weapons, which typically scatter a large number of smaller so-called bomblets over a large area that can kill or maim unwary civilians months or years later.
Russia, Ukraine and the US have all to declined to sign the treaty.
A senior Pentagon official said late last month that cluster munitions would be useful for Ukraine in pushing back against Russian forces, but they had not been approved for Kyiv yet because of congressional restrictions and concerns from allies.
On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.
Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane.
Victoria Amelina, an award-winning novelist, essayist and poet, died on 1 July from injuries sustained in a Russian missile attack on a restaurant in eastern Ukraine. Generous, talented and funny, Victoria also had an extraordinary moral clarity and commitment, underpinned by vast reserves of unshowy courage.
After the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022, she trained as a war crimes researcher, which meant travelling to frontlines and bearing witness to extreme violence and suffering.
A Ukrainian homeland, where all citizens were free, was so important to her that she did not hesitate to give up her own home to fight for it, taking her son to safety outside Ukraine then returning to follow the trail of Russian destruction.
In her travels and work she tried to counter horror with hope, documenting atrocities but also organising aid and cultural activities, which she insisted were as important to Ukraine’s fight as physical sustenance.
This is an essay she wrote reflecting on her early life in Lviv and the evolution of her Ukrainian identity:
This video has not been verified, but it appears to show the damage done to the apartment blocks by this morning’s Russian missile attack:
What did russian Kalibr missile to the residential house in Lviv. pic.twitter.com/CWtBM5lSzR
— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) July 6, 2023
“Consequences of the night attack by Russian terrorists,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote alongside a Telegram video post showing a damaged building.
“There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.”
Lviv death toll rises to four
The death toll in Thursday’s missile strikes on Lviv has risen to four, the mayor said, as rescuers continue to search through the debris of an apartment building for survivors and casualties, the authorities said.
Nine people were wounded and rescuers continued work at the site, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The missile strike destroyed the top two floors of two sections of a building, it said.
Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi posted a 13-second video showing a wide, curving, four-storey apartment building with parts of the upper floors missing or in rubble.
In the interview with CNN, Zelenskiy also said he had told US and European leaders ahead of the counteroffensive that a lack of supplies would result in more casualties.
“I’m grateful to the US as the leaders of our support, but I told them as well as European leaders that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we will need all the weapons and material for that.”
“Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower, and we will have losses of lives, because everything is heavily mined - we will have to go through it all.”
Zelenskiy says slow weapons delivery delayed counteroffensive
Slow weapons deliveries to Ukraine delayed Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defenses in occupied areas including with mines, Zelenskiy said in a TV interview broadcast Wednesday.
Speaking via a translator in the pre-taped interview in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa days earlier, Zelenskiy said that he had hoped to begin the counteroffensive against Russia “much earlier” than its actual start early June.
“Our slowed-down counteroffensive is happening due to certain difficulties in the battlefield. Everything is heavily mined there,” Zelensky said.
“I wanted our counteroffensive happening much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counteroffensive will be unfolding later, then much bigger part of our territory will be mined.”
A separate video posted by Lviv governor Maksym Kozytski showed a multi-storey building with part of its top floor destroyed.
“As of now, the rubble is being dismantled. Of course, there will be injured and dead.”
“We are doing everything possible to... save people.”
Eight people were wounded in the strike and “about 60 apartments” were damaged, Sadovyi said.
“Windows got blown out, many cars got damaged, around 50 cars... there may be more people under the rubble,” he said on Telegram.
Earlier, he warned that “several” missiles were “moving in the direction of the western regions,” citing Ukraine’s Air Forces Command.
Three killed in missile strike on Lviv apartment block
Three people were killed after a missile hit an apartment block in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, its mayor said on Thursday.
A Russian missile made a “direct hit to a residential building” in the city of Lviv, governor Maksym Kozytski said in a video posted to Telegram.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi wrote in a post that the strike had left “three dead already.”
The missile caused a fire which was extinguished, Kozytski said, adding that emergency services were on the scene and rescuers were “sorting through the debris.”
Sadovyi earlier said on Telegram that a “series of explosions” had been heard and warned residents to stay in shelters.
One person was in “serious” condition and had been taken to hospital, he added.
On 20 June Lviv was hit by a major Russian drone assault on Kyiv and other cities.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.
Our top story this morning: three people were killed in a Russian missile attack that hit an apartment building in Lviv overnight, the mayor of the western Ukrainian city said on Thursday.
And Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that slow weapons deliveries to delayed Kyiv’s planned counteroffensive, allowing Russia to bolster its defenses in occupied areas including with mines.
Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa days earlier, Zelensky said that he had sought to begin the counteroffensive against Russia “much earlier” than its actual start early June.
We’ll have more on these stories shortly. Elsewhere meanwhile:
UN observers appealed on Wednesday for greater access to Europe’s largest nuclear plant, after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations over a possible “catastrophic” act of sabotage at the Russian-controlled facility in Ukraine. The International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday said they have yet to observe any indications of mines or explosives but called for additional access to the plant.
A man who detonated explosives in a court house in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday has died, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said. Police officers were wounded in the explosion.
US president Joe Biden told Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson on Wednesday that he is “looking forward” to the country’s stalled Nato membership bid winning final approval, as the western alliance prepares for next week’s summit. Speaking in the Oval Office, Biden said he wanted to reiterate that he “fully, fully supports Sweden’s membership in Nato”. Biden added he was “anxiously looking forward” to the bid being ratified.
James Cleverly, the UK foreign secretary, and Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary, joined with their Polish counterparts Zbigniew Rau and Mariusz Blaszczak at a pre-Nato summit meeting in London on Wednesday. The two countries emphasised their mutual agreement on defence and foreign policy ahead of next week’s Nato meeting.
The UN is making “every effort” to ensure that the Black Sea grain deal and a memorandum of understanding to facilitate access of Russian fertiliser and other products to global markets are extended, UN trade chief Rebeca Grynspan said. “We need both to continue bringing down prices and have stable markets of food and fertilisers in the world,” Grynspan told reporters in Geneva.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that Russian forces had struck three Ukrainian army groups near Bakhmut, amid conflicting reports about fighting in the area. The Reuters news agency could not independently verify the battlefield situation. The ministry made no comment in its daily briefing on reports that Russian forces have retreated from the village of Klishchiivka, south-west of Bakhmut, which a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine has denied.
Vladimir Rogov, one of the prominent pro-Russian figures in occupied Zaporizhzhia region, has reported on his Telegram account that “the houses of local residents, a garage and a car were damaged” in the region due to Ukrainian fire. He said there were no casualties. The claims have not been independently verified.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s former election spokesperson has been appointed to run the state news agency Tass, according to a government order published on Wednesday. The Kremlin has tightened its control over the media since the start of the Ukraine war, forcing the closure of leading independent news outlets and designating many journalists and publications as “foreign agents”.
Next week’s Nato summit must offer “real security guarantees” to Ukraine, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said on Wednesday. Speaking in Warsaw alongside the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, Meloni said Italy and Poland were “in perfect agreement” on the issue, Reuters reported.
Russia accused a small US based charity of “sabotaging” the construction of a huge gas pipeline to China and banned it as an “undesirable organisation”. Jennifer Castner, director of the Altai Project, described the accusation as absurd. The move has followed clamp-downs on many foreign NGOs in Russia, including a similar ban last month on the local arm of the WWF environmental group.
Russia said on Wednesday that one person was killed and another 41 injured, including two children, by Ukrainian fire in the east Ukraine town of Makiivka, which is occupied by Russian forces.
Residential buildings and a medical facility were damaged by a Russian rocket attack on Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region overnight.
Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions came under fire from Ukrainian forces across the border in the early hours of Wednesday, the regions’ governors said, adding that no casualties were reported.
