Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The US is expected to announce an additional military aid package for Ukraine of about $3bn (£2.5bn), according to reports. The new package will be announced on Wednesday, the day the war in Ukraine hits the six-month mark, US officials were cited as saying. It would be the largest such assistance package that the US has provided for Ukraine since the start of the war.
Many civilians are attempting to leave Kyiv amid fears of a Russian attack on the country’s independence day, according to an adviser to Ukraine’s president. Alex Rodnyansky said people were worried and that there was “certainly some concern” that an attack may strike the centres of decision-making in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday.
The US has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. The warning is the first specific security alert the US embassy in Kyiv has issued in recent months and comes after a ban by the Ukrainian government on celebrations in the capital to mark Wednesday’s anniversary of independence from Soviet rule because of fears of attack.
The head of Ukraine’s security and defence council, Oleksiy Danilov, said he expects Russia’s security services to stage a series of terrorist attacks in Russian cities, resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties. Danilov said that the murder on Saturday of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was the first in what he expects to be a number of attacks.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed a “powerful response” in the event of a Russian attack on Kyiv on or around independence day on Wednesday. There was a daily threat of Russian attacks and Ukrainian intelligence was working with foreign intelligence, Zelenskiy said in a joint news conference with the visiting Polish president, Andrzej Duda.
Ukraine’s president said the country will not agree to any proposal to freeze the current frontlines in its conflict with Russia in order to “calm” Moscow, which now controls about 22% of Ukraine including Crimea. Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv today, Zelenskiy urged the world not to show fatigue with the war, saying this would pose a big threat to the whole world.
Zelenskiy also promised to bring “freedom to Ukraine and citizens in Crimea” and vowed that the Ukrainian flag will fly “where it’s supposed to be” in all occupied parts of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president said Kyiv would restore Ukrainian rule over the Russia-annexed region. “It started in Crimea and it will end in Crimea,” he told an international conference on Crimea.
Boris Johnson has urged world leaders not to allow Vladimir Putin to repeat the annexation of Crimea in other parts of Ukraine. Britain will continue to support Ukraine with military, humanitarian, economic and diplomatic support until Russia “ends this hideous war and withdraws its forces from the entirety of Ukraine”, Johnson said in a remote address to the international Crimea Platform summit.
Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow for the funeral of Darya Dugina, the daughter of one of Russia’s most prominent nationalist ideologues. Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was murdered on Saturday in a car bomb attack outside Moscow. Russia’s FSB security service has accused Ukrainian intelligence agencies of ordering her killing, which Kyiv denies.
Russian tourists may be banned from entering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland if the EU does not enact a bloc-wide ban, according to Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. Russians should not be allowed to enter the EU while their country “is undertaking genocide”, Landsbergis told reporters in Vilnius. It comes after the US rebuffed Ukraine’s demand for a blanket visa ban on Russians.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
The war in Ukraine has pushed people to “a critical breaking point” with “devastating” knock-on effects that will only grow as the conflict drags on, the Red Cross has warned. Soaring inflation and shortages of essential products like fuel and food in Ukraine and neighbouring countries have left people struggling to afford basic supplies, with the situation becoming more desperate as the weather chills in the weeks ahead.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of having organised illegal mass adoptions of Ukrainian children after transferring them from occupied territories to Russia. “More than 1,000 children from Mariupol,” were “illegally transferred to outsiders in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and Altai Krai” in Siberia, a statement by Ukraine’s foreign ministry read.
The UN has said it is “very concerned” about plans by Russian-backed authorities to hold trials for captured Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol. Pro-Russian officials appear to be installing metal cages in a hall in Mariupol as part of plans to establish what they were calling an “international tribunal”, a UN rights office spokesperson said, adding that such a process could itself amount to a war crime.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thanks for reading.
Here’s some more detail on the US military aid package for Ukraine of about $3bn, which would be the single largest assistance package that the US has provided for Ukraine since the start of the war.
The package will use funds from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, appropriated by the US congress, to allow the Biden administration to procure weapons from industry rather than taking weapons from existing US weapons stocks, Reuters reports.
The new weapons do not appear to include types of arms that had not been provided previously to the Ukrainian military, according to a US official.
The amount and mix of weapons could change before the formal announcement, expected to take place tomorrow, the official added.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of mass abduction of Ukrainian children
Kyiv has accused Moscow of having organised illegal mass adoptions of Ukrainian children after transferring them from occupied territories to Russia.
Since the beginning of the war, Kyiv has been accusing Moscow of “deporting” Ukrainians, saying Ukrainians from occupied territories have been forced to go to Russia rather than other regions of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement:
The Russian Federation continues to abduct children from the territory of Ukraine and arrange their illegal adoption by Russian citizens.
“More than 1,000 children from Mariupol,” a southern Ukrainian city occupied by Russian troops, “were illegally transferred to outsiders in Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo and Altai Krai” in Siberia, the statement read.
US to announce $3bn in new military aid for Ukraine - reports
The US is expected to announce an additional military aid package for Ukraine of about $3bn (£2.5bn), according to reports.
Associated Press cites US officials as saying that the new package will be announced on Wednesday, the day the war in Ukraine hits the six-month mark.
The $3bn weapons assistance package would be the largest such assistance package that the US has provided for Ukraine since the start of the war.
The money will be used to train and equip Ukrainian forces to fight for years to come, as well as fund contracts for drones, weapons and other equipment that may not see the battlefront for a year or two, the sources said.
Unlike most previous aid packages, the new funding will be aimed at helping Ukraine secure its future defence needs, according to officials familiar with the matter. Earlier packages focused on Ukraine’s more immediate needs for weapons and ammunition.
The new package is intended to reassure Ukrainian officials that the US is committed to maintaining its support, regardless of the day-to-day back and forth of the conflict, the officials said.
The war in Ukraine has pushed people to “a critical breaking point” with “devastating” knock-on effects that will only grow as the conflict drags on, the Red Cross has warned.
The organisation said that “even if the conflict were to end tomorrow, it will take years to repair the damage to cities and homes and the impact on families”, AFP reports.
Soaring inflation and shortages of essential products like fuel and food in Ukraine and neighbouring countries have left people struggling to afford basic supplies, with the situation becoming more desperate as the weather chills in the weeks ahead.
Maksym Dotsenko, head of the Ukrainian Red Cross, said in a virtual press briefing:
It will be the hardest winter.
The war, now six months old, has stretched the entire humanitarian system and could lead to lasting impacts on the ability of organisations to tackle emergencies worldwide, the Red Cross added.
Zelenskiy: Ukraine will not freeze frontlines to 'calm' Moscow
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will not agree to any proposal to freeze the current frontlines in its conflict with Russia in order to “calm” Moscow, which now controls about 22% of Ukraine including Crimea.
Speaking at a news conference in Kyiv today, the Ukrainian president urged the world not to show fatigue with the war, saying this would pose a big threat to the whole world.
Zelenskiy told reporters:
We’ll get back Crimea by any means we deem right, without consulting other countries.
Updated
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said Vladimir Putin is betting the bloc’s response to his invasion of Ukraine will fracture as soaring prices hit European voters’ wallets.
Russia’s president sees “the weariness of the Europeans and the reluctance of their citizens to bear the consequences of support for Ukraine”, Borrell said in an interview with AFP.
“We will have to endure, spread the costs within the EU,” Borrell said. He added:
We must give Ukraine support that goes beyond supplying weapons. Faced with someone who refuses to stop the war, we must be able to resist.
Keeping the 27 member states united was a task to be carried out “day by day”, Borrell told the news agency. He also said:
The member states are masters of their foreign policy. We must ensure that their interests reach a common point. We are always in compromise mode.
Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said the country expects to receive up to $16bn (£13.5bn) of financial support from its international partners by the end of this year to help it deal with Russia’s invasion.
In a statement, Shmyhal said Ukraine had managed to maintain its financial stability thanks to external assistance, which had already accounted for $14bn.
More than 40% of the Ukrainian government’s spending so far this year – more than $11.5bn (£9.7bn) – had been allocated to military needs, he added.
Hundreds of people have lined up in Moscow to pay tributes to Darya Dugina, the murdered daughter of one of Russia’s most prominent nationalist thinkers, hailing her as a martyr whose death must be avenged with victory in the war in Ukraine.
Dugina, the daughter of ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was killed on Saturday in a car bomb attack outside the capital. Moscow has accused Ukrainian intelligence agencies of masterminding her killing, a claim Kyiv has denied.
Her father, Dugin, 60, who for decades pushed for the creation of a new Russian state that would annex the territory of countries including Ukraine, told mourners his daughter “died for the people, died for Russia”.
“The huge price we have to pay can only be justified by the highest achievement, our victory,” a visibly emotional Dugin said.
She lived for the sake of victory, and she died for the sake of victory. Our Russian victory, our truth, our Orthodox faith, our state.
A large black and white portrait of Dugina, 30, who was reportedly close to her father and worked as a nationalist media commentator, hung on a wall behind her coffin.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Many civilians are attempting to leave Kyiv amid fears of a Russian attack on the country’s independence day, according to an adviser to Ukraine’s president. Alex Rodnyansky said people were worried and that there was “certainly some concern” that an attack may strike the centres of decision-making in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday.
The US has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. The warning is the first specific security alert the US embassy in Kyiv has issued in recent months and comes after a ban by the Ukrainian government on celebrations in the capital to mark Wednesday’s anniversary of independence from Soviet rule because of fears of attack.
The mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov, has said Russian rockets are falling on homes in the city and urged residents to stay under cover. Dnipro is located in south-central Ukraine and has been subjected to Russian long-range missile attacks during the war.
The head of Ukraine’s security and defence council, Oleksiy Danilov, said he expects Russia’s security services to stage a series of terrorist attacks in Russian cities, resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties. Danilov said that the murder on Saturday of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was the first in what he expects to be a number of attacks.
Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow for the funeral of Darya Dugina, the daughter of one of Russia’s most prominent nationalist ideologues. Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was murdered on Saturday in a car bomb attack outside Moscow. Russia’s FSB security service has accused Ukrainian intelligence agencies of ordering her killing, which Kyiv denies.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has promised to bring “freedom to Ukraine and citizens in Crimea” and vowed that the Ukrainian flag will fly “where it’s supposed to be” in all occupied parts of Ukraine. The Ukrainian president said Kyiv would restore Ukrainian rule over the Russia-annexed region. “It started in Crimea and it will end in Crimea,” he told an international conference on Crimea.
The Ukrainian president also vowed a “powerful response” in the event of a Russian attack on Kyiv on or around independence day on Wednesday. There was a daily threat of Russian attacks and Ukrainian intelligence was working with foreign intelligence, Zelenskiy said in a joint news conference with the visiting Polish president, Andrzej Duda.
Boris Johnson has urged world leaders not to allow Vladimir Putin to repeat the annexation of Crimea in other parts of Ukraine. Britain will continue to support Ukraine with military, humanitarian, economic and diplomatic support until Russia “ends this hideous war and withdraws its forces from the entirety of Ukraine”, Johnson said in a remote address to the international Crimea Platform summit.
Russian forces are likely to have started to move barges to construct a floating bridge over the Dnipro River near the Antonivsky bridge, a British intelligence update said. The bridge in Kherson has been targeted repeatedly by Ukrainian forces with missile strikes as it is a key supply route for Russia in the south of the country. If Russia completes the improvised bridge, it will almost certainly increase the capacity of the crossing point compared with the ferry, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) believes.
Russian tourists may be banned from entering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland if the EU does not enact a bloc-wide ban, according to Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. Russians should not be allowed to enter the EU while their country “is undertaking genocide”, Landsbergis told reporters in Vilnius. It comes after the US rebuffed Ukraine’s demand for a blanket visa ban on Russians.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
The UN has said it is “very concerned” about plans by Russian-backed authorities to hold trials for captured Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol. Pro-Russian officials appear to be installing metal cages in a hall in Mariupol as part of plans to establish what they were calling an “international tribunal”, a UN rights office spokesperson said, adding that such a process could itself amount to a war crime.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has announced fresh sanctions against 62 individuals accused of backing Vladimir Putin’s regime and his invasion of Ukraine. The sanctioned individuals include high-ranking Russian government officials, their family members, and senior officials of currently sanctioned defence sector entities, a statement by the Canadian government said.
A total of 33 cargo ships carrying around 719,549 tonnes of foodstuffs have left Ukraine under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Ukrainian sea ports, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said. A further 18 vessels were loading or waiting for permission to leave Ukrainian ports, the ministry added. Three Black Sea ports were unblocked under the deal signed on 22 July by Moscow and Kyiv.
Monthly payments to UK hosts of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them to provide housing for more than six months amid the cost of living crisis, the minister responsible has said. Councils have warned that homelessness could rise if refugees’ initial six-month placements with hosts end without alternative options in place.
Good afternoon from London. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you with all the latest from Ukraine. I’m on Twitter or you can email me.
Updated
Boris Johnson has urged world leaders not to allow Vladimir Putin to repeat the annexation of Crimea in other parts of Ukraine.
Britain will continue to support Ukraine with military, humanitarian, economic and diplomatic support until Russia “ends this hideous war and withdraws its forces from the entirety of Ukraine”, Johnson said in a remote address to the international Crimea Platform summit.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has announced fresh sanctions against 62 individuals accused of backing Vladimir Putin’s regime and his invasion of Ukraine.
The sanctioned individuals include “high-ranking Russian government officials, including Russian federal governors and regional heads, their family members, and senior officials of currently sanctioned defence sector entities”, a statement by the Canadian government said.
In addition, the government has imposed sanctions on the Russian defence firm Avtomatika, which makes drones and electronic voting machines.
Monthly payments to UK hosts of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them to provide housing for more than six months amid the cost of living crisis, the minister responsible has said.
About 25,000 offers of accommodation from hosts under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have been taken up so far, with an average of three Ukrainians living in each home, Richard Harrington said.
Six months after the Russian invasion, the government is asking existing hosts to allow Ukrainians to stay for longer than the minimum period of half a year, while also appealing for new sponsors.
The move comes amid soaring living costs, with energy bills expected to rise by 80% going into winter, rocketing inflation and rising interest rates.
Councils have also warned that homelessness could rise if refugees’ initial six-month placements with hosts end without alternative options in place.
Johnson: UK will never recognise Russia’s annexation of any Ukrainian territory
Boris Johnson has urged world leaders not to allow Vladimir Putin to repeat the annexation of Crimea in other parts of Ukraine.
Britain will continue to support Ukraine with military, humanitarian, economic and diplomatic support until Russia “ends this hideous war and withdraws its forces from the entirety of Ukraine”, Johnson said in a remote address to the international Crimea Platform conference.
The PM called on allies to continue to support Ukraine until Russian forces withdrew from the “entirety” of its territory.
Johnson said:
Putin is planning to do to other parts of Ukraine - indeed all of Ukraine – what he has done to Crimea.
The Russian leader was preparing “more annexations and more sham referendums”, he added.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea “or any other Ukrainian territory” must never be recognised, Johnson urged.
Updated
Updated
Scouts in the UK have been praised for setting adults an example on how to welcome refugees after they made hundreds of messages of support for Ukrainian families fleeing the war.
“You are so brave and I hope you like it here,” wrote one scout in a decorated card. Another said: “REMEMBER YOU ARE LOVED.” Among other messages were: “Let us take you to safety” and “You should try fish and chips.”
The messages from scouts aged 12-15 were made to mark six months since the start of Russia’s invasion. They will be shared with recently settled Ukrainian families in the UK in welcome packs from Save the Children.
Meg Briody, the head of child and youth participation at Save the Children, said the messages showed the best side of the UK’s attitudes towards refugees.
Children and young people are once again setting an example in showing that the UK can be a welcoming place for refugees.
Updated
Zelenskiy: ‘It started in Crimea and it will end in Crimea’
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has promised to bring “freedom to Ukraine and citizens in Crimea” and vowed that the Ukrainian flag will fly “where it’s supposed to be” in all occupied parts of Ukraine.
In a speech to open an international conference on Crimea, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would restore Ukrainian rule over the Russia-annexed region.
Zelenskiy said:
To overcome terror, it is necessary to gain victory in the fight against Russian aggression. It is necessary to liberate Crimea. This will be the resuscitation of world law and order.
Therefore, we need to free Crimea from occupation as well. It started in Crimea and it will end in Crimea.
In a separate speech today to mark Ukraine’s national flag day and on the eve of the country’s independence day, Zelenskiy pledged that the Ukrainian flag will fly “where it’s supposed to be” in all occupied parts of Ukraine.
He said:
The blue and yellow flag will flutter again at its home, where it’s supposed to be by right, in all temporarily occupied cities and villages of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president also spoke in a joint news conference with visiting Polish president, Andrzej Duda, where he was asked about the possibility of a Russian missile strike on Kyiv on or around independence day on Wednesday.
There was a daily threat of Russian attacks and Ukrainian intelligence was working with foreign intelligence, Zelenskiy replied.
The response to an attack on the Ukrainian capital would be the same for any Ukrainian city that comes under attack from Russia, he added.
Zelenskiy said:
If they hit us, they will receive a response, a powerful response. I want to say that each day this response will grow, it will get stronger and stronger.
Updated
Germany has recorded almost a million refugees from Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February, the country’s interior ministry said.
A total of 967,546 people fleeing the war have entered Germany at least temporarily, the ministry said in a statement.
Of those who have left Ukraine for Germany, 36% are children. Among the adults, three in four are women and around 8% are over the age of 64.
Almost 155,000 Ukrainian pupils have been enrolled at German schools, according to the conference of state education ministers in Berlin.
UN ‘very concerned’ about planned trials of captured Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol
The UN has said it is “very concerned” about plans by Russian-backed authorities to hold trials for captured Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol, saying that such a process could itself amount to a war crime.
Pro-Russian officials appear to be installing metal cages in a hall in Mariupol as part of plans to establish what they were calling an “international tribunal”, according to Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN rights office.
She said:
We are very concerned about the manner in which this is being done. There are pictures in the media of cages being built in Mariupol’s philharmonic hall, really massive cages and apparently the idea is to restrain the prisoners.
She added:
This is not acceptable, this is humiliating.
Willfully depriving a prisoner of war to the right to a fair trial amounts to a war crime by Russia, she said, adding that Ukrainian PoWs were entitled to protection under the Geneva conventions.
Last week, Ukrainian military intelligence said Russian forces were allegedly planning to display captured Ukrainian soldiers in iron cages during a “show trial” in Mariupol on the country’s independence day.
Russians are turning the Mariupol Philharmonic into a prison. In addition to the cages, they are building a special bunker-garage to receive paddy wagons that will transport Ukrainian prisoners. This structure is being built exclusively for one purpose - the "tribunal". pic.twitter.com/BbuANpdYzk
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 12, 2022
The captured fighters who will reportedly be displayed in the cages in Mariupol’s philharmonic hall are those who were captured while defending the formerly-besieged Azovstal steel plant.
Updated
Russian tourists may be banned from entering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland if the EU does not enact a bloc-wide ban, according to Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged the EU to introduce a travel ban on Russian tourists, arguing that the “most important sanction” was to “close the borders, because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land”.
The Ukrainian president’s call has been backed by several EU leaders including the Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, and her Estonian counterpart, Kaja Kallas. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Finland all share a border with Russia.
Russians should not be allowed to enter the EU while their country “is undertaking genocide”, Landsbergis told reporters in Vilnius today.
He said:
I have talked to ministers from all these countries … I don’t see many differences politically.
On Monday, the US rebuffed Ukraine’s demand for a blanket visa ban on Russians, saying the Biden administration had already imposed visa restrictions for Kremlin officials but that its focus would be on identifying those involved in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and holding them accountable.
A US state department spokesperson said:
The US wouldn’t want to close off pathways to refuge and safety for Russia’s dissidents or others who are vulnerable to human rights abuses.
Updated
Many civilians leaving Kyiv amid fear of Russian attack, says Zelenskiy adviser
An adviser to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said many civilians are attempting to leave Kyiv amid fears of a Russian attack on the country’s independence day tomorrow.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Alex Rodnyansky said people were worried and that there was “certainly some concern” that an attack may strike the centres of decision-making in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday.
Rodnyansky said:
People are reacting to the news. They are trying to ensure they have contingency plans, they don’t want to spend too much time near the centre near the buildings of our government.
He added:
There is a risk Russia will try to strike exactly at that time to compensate for their inability to have any success on the battlefield, to have any success in subduing Ukraine and basically all the failures they have run up over the last six months.
Rodnyansky’s comments came after the US warned Russia may “step up” efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
Ukraine’s defence ministry has advised Ukrainians to be especially careful on independence day, citing the threat of missile attacks and “provocations” from Russia.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
The head of Ukraine’s security and defence council, Oleksiy Danilov, said he expects Russia’s security services to stage a series of terrorist attacks in Russian cities, resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties.
Danilov said that the murder on Saturday of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was the first in what he expects to be a number of attacks.
He also said support for the war in Russia is falling and the Kremlin needs to introduce general mobilisation.
На росії падає підтримка війни. кремль потребує суспільної мобілізації. Очікується організація фсб серії терористичних актів у російських містах з масовими жертвами серед цивільних. Дугіна – перша в цьому ряду. Україна, на відміну від росії, не воює з мирним населенням.
— Oleksiy Danilov (@OleksiyDanilov) August 23, 2022
Updated
Summary so far
The time is just after 1pm in Ukraine. Here is what you might have missed:
Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow for the funeral of Darya Dugina, the slain daughter of one of Russia’s most prominent nationalist ideologues. Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was murdered on Saturday in a car bomb attack outside Moscow. Russia’s FSB security service has accused Ukrainian intelligence agencies of ordering her killing, which Kyiv denies.
Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov has said that Russian rockets are falling on homes and urged Ukrainians in the city to stay under cover. In a post on his Facebook page, he said: “Pls stay under cover. There are already facts of rockets falling on private houses. Details to come later. We are waiting for official information from the Military Administration.”
Russian forces are likely to have started to move barges to construct a floating bridge over the Dnipro River near the Antonivsky bridge, a British intelligence update said. The bridge in Kherson has been targeted repeatedly by Ukrainian forces with missile strikes as it is a key supply route for Russia in the south of the country. If Russia completes the improvised bridge, it will almost certainly increase the capacity of the crossing point compared with the ferry, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) believes.
A total of 33 cargo ships carrying around 719,549 tonnes of foodstuffs have left Ukraine under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Ukrainian sea ports, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said. Ukraine‘s grain exports slumped after Russia invaded the country on 24 February and blockaded its Black Sea ports. Three Black Sea ports were unblocked under the deal signed on 22 July by Moscow and Kyiv.
Deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported that 825 people have been evacuated from the Kharkiv region in north-east Ukraine. In a message on her Telegram channel, she said: A successful humanitarian operation: 825 people were evacuated from the uncontrolled part of Kharkiv region today, 238 of them were children.
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The duo will engage in talks on the current wartime situation in Ukraine, economic and humanitarian support and bilateral cooperation, according to Duda’s official Twitter channel.
The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. A security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday reads: “The department of state has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
Ukrainian sources are reporting Russian forces struck a boiler plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol. Adviser to the city’s mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, reported that Russian forces struck the city’s boiler facility in a Telegram post early this morning.
Monthly payments to British sponsors of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them carry on hosting for longer than six months while the cost of living spirals, the minister responsible has said.
The price of achieving fire parity and destroying Russian army logistics is “less than a Russian oligarch’s yacht”, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president has said.
Russia has accused Ukraine’s intelligence services of carrying out the murder of Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue. Russia’s FSB security service published information and a video it said showed a Ukrainian woman from the country’s Azov regiment was responsible for the murder. The Guardian reports the claim lacks credibility.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle for Mariupol have accused Russian forces of torture during their captivity. The soldiers, who were from the Azov regiment and released as part of a prisoner exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers that were beaten until their bones were broken. “Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “They undressed us, forced to squat while we are naked. If any of the boys raised their heads, they began to beat them immediately,” added Denys Chepurko.
Updated
Darya Dugina's funeral held in Moscow
Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow for the funeral of Darya Dugina, the slain daughter of one of Russia’s most prominent nationalist ideologues.
Dugina, daughter of ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugin, was murdered on Saturday in a car bomb attack outside Moscow.
Russia’s FSB security service has accused Ukrainian intelligence agencies of ordering her killing, something Kyiv denies.
Senior politicians, fellow nationalists and friends filed past Dugina’s dark wooden casket in a hall at Moscow’s TV centre on Tuesday morning to say goodbye, lay flowers, and convey their condolences to her parents who were sitting nearby.
A large black and white photograph of Dugina, 30, who worked as a journalist and nationalist media commentator, hung on a black wall behind her casket as sombre music played, Reuters reports.
Her father, Dugin, 60, who has for years advocated the creation of a new Russian empire that would absorb the territory of countries such as Ukraine, told mourners his daughter had died for Russia.
A visibly distressed Dugin said:
If her tragic death has touched someone, she would have asked them to defend sacred (Russian) Orthodoxy, the people and the Fatherland.
She died for Russia, in the motherland and on the frontline which is not in Ukraine but here.
Updated
Dnipro mayor confirms explosions in the city
Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov has said that rockets are falling on homes and urged Ukrainians in the city to stay under cover.
In a post on his Facebook page he said:
Pls stay under cover. There are already facts of rockets falling on private houses. Details to come later.
We are waiting for official information from the Military Administration.
Dnipro is located in south-central Ukraine and has been subjected to Russian long-range missile attacks during the war.
Updated
Porsches, Bentleys and other luxury cars with Russian licence plates are filling up the parking garage at Helsinki’s airport as Finland becomes an important transit country for Russian tourists flying to Europe, reports AFP.
The European Union shut its airspace to Russian planes after Moscow invaded Ukraine, forcing anyone who wants to travel to Europe to drive across the border or take a circuitous route using non-Western airlines.
A quick stroll through the carpark at the Helsinki airport revealed dozens if not hundreds of high-end cars with Russian plates, including a new Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan and Porsche 911 Turbo S.
Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto told AFP that the Nordic nation has become a “transit country” for Russian tourists.
Finland said last week it would limit Russian tourist visas to 10% of current volumes as of 1 September due to rising discontent over Russian tourism amid the war in Ukraine.
But Russians continue to enter Finland with visas issued by other EU countries in the Schengen borderless travel area for their journeys.
Schengen rules do not allow Finland to close the border to specific nationalities, Haavisto said. Such sanctions can only be decided jointly by the EU.
The European Commission acknowledged last week that discussions were under way to see if a “coordinated approach” on Russian visas could be reached.
Updated
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has paid tribute to Ukrainians for “giving their lives to protect the values” on which the European bloc is built.
To commemorate the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes today, she said in a statement:
On 23 August, we honour the memory of the victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, in Europe and beyond. Today, on the 83rd anniversary of the signature of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, this date carries a special significance. This year, Putin brought the horrors of war back to Europe, along with the reminder that peace cannot be taken for granted.
The painful memory of the past is not just a distant recollection, but has found an echo in Russia’s illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine. We are inspired by the courage of those who then stood up to injustice, and we express our respect and support for the many men and women who are forced to do it again today. Ukrainian people are giving their lives to protect the values on which our Union is built.
Today more than ever, we stand united against the Russian state-controlled propaganda that distorts history, spreads conspiracy and punishes those who oppose it. We will continue with determination our work to counter disinformation. And we will ensure that those who stood against totalitarianism will not be forgotten.
Today we honour the victims of totalitarian regimes.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 23, 2022
We are inspired by those who stood up to injustice then and we support those who do it today, as the horrors of war are back in Europe.
Ukrainians are giving their lives to protect the values on which our Union is built.
Russian forces are likely to have started to move barges to construct a floating bridge over the Dnipro River near the Antonivsky bridge, a British intelligence update said.
The bridge in Kherson has been targeted repeatedly by Ukrainian forces with missile strikes as it is a key supply route for Russia in the south of the country.
For several weeks, Russian forces and local civilians have relied on a ferry crossing of the waterway, the update said.
If Russia completes the improvised bridge, it will almost certainly increase the capacity of the crossing point compared with the ferry, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) believes.
The update added that the floating bridge would likely still be vulnerable to Ukrainian assaults.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 23 August 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 23, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/Af2CVZuddF
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Xey2dXYcfp
Updated
A total of 33 cargo ships carrying around 719,549 tonnes of foodstuffs have left Ukraine under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Ukrainian sea ports, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said.
The Joint Coordination Centre in Turkey, which monitors implementation of the agreement, put the total amount of grain and foodstuffs exported from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports since the deal was reached at 721,449 tonnes.
Ukraine‘s grain exports slumped after Russia invaded the country on 24 February and blockaded its Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East, reports Reuters.
Three Black Sea ports were unblocked under the deal signed on 22 July by Moscow and Kyiv.
In addition to the vessels that have already left Ukraine, the agriculture ministry said a further 18 were loading or waiting for permission to leave Ukrainian ports.
The ministry said Ukrainian grain exports could reach 4m tonnes in August, compared with 3m tonnes in July.
Updated
Isobel Koshiw reports:
The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is “stepping up” efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
The warning, issued on Tuesday, is the first specific security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv in recent months. It does not say what places it believes Russia plans to target, but advised US citizens to leave Ukraine if safe to do so.
The alert comes a day before Ukraine marks 31 years as an independent state. On 24 August 1991, Ukraine’s parliament voted to separate from the Soviet Union. The day will also mark six months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Some restaurants in Kyiv have been closing early this week because of the perceived increased threat.
Read more: Russia to step up strikes on civilians, US says, as Ukraine independence day nears
Updated
Deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported that 825 people have been evacuated from the Kharkiv region in north-east Ukraine.
In a message on her Telegram channel, she said:
A successful humanitarian operation: 825 people were evacuated from the uncontrolled part of Kharkiv region today, 238 of them were children.
We thank the head of Kharkiv OVA Oleg Sinegubov for organizing the process, as well as volunteer organizations for their dedication and help.
⚡️Vereshchuk: 825 people evacuated from Kharkiv Oblast on Aug. 22.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 23, 2022
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported that 238 of the evacuees from the occupied parts of Kharkiv Oblast were children.
Polish president Duda arrives in Kyiv for talks with Zelenskiy
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The duo will engage in talks on the current wartime situation in Ukraine, economic and humanitarian support and bilateral cooperation, according to Duda’s official Twitter channel.
Pawel Szrot told reporters:
The visit will include a meeting with President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy and talks on military support and defence of Ukraine in the economic, humanitarian and political sense,” Pawel Szrot told reporters.
The presidents will discuss the political support Poland could offer to convince other countries to keep helping Ukraine.
Duda has met Zelenskiy five times this year, including on three visits he has made to Ukraine since the start of the invasion in February this year.
Prezydent @AndrzejDuda na zaproszenie Prezydenta @ZelenskyyUa przebywa dziś w Kijowie. W czasie wizyty odbędą się dwustronne rozmowy Prezydentów oraz delegacji poświęcone sytuacji na 🇺🇦, wsparciu w wymiarze militarnym, ekonomicznym i humanitarnym oraz współpracy dwustronnej. pic.twitter.com/isQcEK1gdj
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) August 23, 2022
Updated
Exports of key Ukrainian agricultural commodities have fallen by almost half since the start of the Russian invasion earlier this year compared with the same period in 2021, data from the agriculture ministry showed late on Monday.
Ukrainian seaports have been blocked since the Russian invasion started in late February, leaving a vast amount of crops either unharvested or destroyed, reports Reuters.
Agricultural exports between 24 February and 15 August this year fell to 10m tonnes from around 19.5m in the same period last year, the ministry data showed.
The 2022 grain harvest in Ukraine is forecast to fall to around 50m tonnes from a record 86m tonnes in 2021.
At the end of July, three Ukrainian Black Sea ports were unblocked under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
But even with the ports opened, Ukraine‘s agricultural exports are significantly lower than before the conflict, when Ukraine exported up to 6m tonnes of grain a month.
Updated
Summary so far
It is 9am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. A security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday reads: “The department of state has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
Ukrainian sources are reporting Russian forces struck a boiler plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol. Adviser to the city’s mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, reported that Russian forces struck the city’s boiler facility in a Telegram post early this morning.
Monthly payments to British sponsors of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them carry on hosting for longer than six months while the cost of living spirals, the minister responsible has said.
The price of achieving fire parity and destroying Russian army logistics is “less than a Russian oligarch’s yacht”, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president has said.
Russia has accused Ukraine’s intelligence services of carrying out the murder of Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue. Russia’s FSB security service published information and a video it said showed a Ukrainian woman from the country’s Azov regiment was responsible for the murder. The Guardian reports the claim lacks credibility.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle for Mariupol have accused Russian forces of torture during their captivity. The soldiers, who were from the Azov regiment and released as part of a prisoner exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers that were beaten until their bones were broken. “Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “They undressed us, forced to squat while we are naked. If any of the boys raised their heads, they began to beat them immediately,” added Denys Chepurko.
The sole bridge across the strategic Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was reportedly hit by US-supplied high-precision Himars rockets injuring 15 people, a source told Russia’s Interfax news agency. The bridge is a key crossing for Russian military transport in the region.
Three villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region were battered by Russian artillery and multiple rocket launchers on Monday. Soledar, Zaytseve and Bilohorivka near the city of Bakhmut were struck, killing at least two civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.
Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war with Russia, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Monday. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Monday 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded between 24 February and 21 August, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
Updated
The price of achieving fire parity and destroying Russian army logistics is “less than a Russian oligarch’s yacht”, a senior advisor to the Ukrainian president has said.
Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that 50 US-supplied Himars long-range weapons systems, at the cost of about $200m, would be needed to “completely change the course of this war”.
1 HiMARS system — $4 million. 50 systems — $200 million + ammunition. The price of achieving fire parity and destroying 🇷🇺 army logistics is less than...ru-oligarch's yacht. It is not an enormous amount of money, but something that would completely change the course of this war.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 23, 2022
Russia requests UN meeting to discuss Zaporizhzhia plant
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held later today to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
The nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, has been taken over by Russian troops and has come under repeated shelling in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.
It is unclear whether the meeting will be going ahead.
Monthly payments to British sponsors of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them carry on hosting for longer than six months while the cost of living spirals, the minister responsible has said.
Around 25,000 offers of accommodation from hosts under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have been taken up so far, with an average of three Ukrainians living in each home, PA Media cited Lord Richard Harrington as saying.
Lord Harrington said he has been lobbying the Treasury “very hard” to double the £350-a-month “thank you” payment for sponsors who house refugees for longer than half a year – the minimum period expected of hosts.
He told PA Media:
The costs … they’re paying maybe a big chunk of rent themselves, the mortgage payments have gone up and everything, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable, in my view, to increase the amount that we’re paying them.”
More than 115,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under its visa schemes, according to the latest government figures, including around 81,700 refugees under the sponsorship scheme. Around 4,000-5,000 people are arriving each week, Lord Harrington added.
Updated
Mariupol boiler plant destroyed in strike - reports
Ukrainian sources are reporting Russian forces struck a boiler plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol.
Adviser to the city’s mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, reported that Russian forces struck the city’s boiler facility in a Telegram post early this morning.
“The Russians made an explosion again. Loud that the whole city could hear.
Just blowing up the boiler room. Instead of preparing the city for winter and building boiler houses, the occupiers destroy even the remains …”
Unconfirmed video footage purportedly showing the moment the facility was struck has circulated online.
Adviser of the mayor of #Mariupol Petro Andryushchenko reports that the #Russian occupiers blew up a boiler house in the city. pic.twitter.com/mOYFO0O3HH
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 23, 2022
'Nuclear sabre-rattling must stop' UN chief warns
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”.
The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
In a statement released after ambassadors met at the UN security council on Monday, Guterres stressed:
Nuclear saber-rattling must stop … come to the negotiating table to ease tensions and end the nuclear arms race, once and for all.”
At this moment of “maximum danger for our world”, the secretary-general emphasised that “humanity’s future is in our hands”, insisting that division be replaced with dialogue and diplomacy, to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.
He argued that negotiation, compromise, and accountability are required for the future, attesting that as it represents the nations of the world, the UN is “humanity’s best hope to build a better, more peaceful tomorrow”.
At this moment of maximum danger for our world, now is the time to recommit to the @UN Charter & the ideals it represents.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 22, 2022
There is no greater solution to fulfil the Charter’s promise than to replace division with dialogue & diplomacy.
Humanity’s future is in our hands. pic.twitter.com/LS43yEA6Pg
Russia to step up strikes: US intelligence
The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
A security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday reads:
The department of state has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
The US intelligence community on Monday declassified a finding that determined that Russia would increasingly target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, according to a US official familiar with the intelligence. The official was not authorised to comment publicly about the finding and spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reported.
The alert also urged US citizens still in Ukraine to depart the country immediately.
“If you hear a loud explosion or if sirens are activated, immediately seek cover,” the state department said. “If in a home or a building, go to the lowest level of the structure with the fewest exterior walls, windows, and openings; close any doors and sit near an interior wall, away from any windows or openings.”
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”.
Meanwhile, the US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
It is 7am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
Russia has accused Ukraine’s intelligence services of carrying out the murder of Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue. Russia’s FSB security service published information and a video it said showed a Ukrainian woman from the country’s Azov regiment was responsible for the murder. The Guardian reports the claim lacks credibility.
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling” on Monday, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle for Mariupol have accused Russian forces of torture during their captivity. The soldiers, who were from the Azov regiment and released as part of a prisoner exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers that were beaten until their bones were broken. “Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “They undressed us, forced to squat while we are naked. If any of the boys raised their heads, they began to beat them immediately,” added Denys Chepurko.
The sole bridge across the strategic Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was reportedly hit by US-supplied high-precision Himars rockets injuring 15 people, a source told Russia’s Interfax news agency. The bridge is a key crossing for Russian military transport in the region.
Three villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region were battered by Russian artillery and multiple rocket launchers on Monday. Soledar, Zaytseve and Bilohorivka near the city of Bakhmut were struck, killing at least two civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.
Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war with Russia, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Monday. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Monday 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded between 24 February and 21 August, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
The US has rejected Ukraine’s call for a blanket ban on visas for Russians, saying Washington would not want to close off pathways to refuge for Russia’s dissidents and others who are vulnerable to human rights abuses. The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, also said he opposes a complete ban on visas for Russians.
The German chancellor says he is working fast to find alternatives to Russian gas. Olaf Scholz said he aims to extricate Germany from its dependence on Russian gas and pursue new energy supplies. Scholz met Canada’s prime minster, Justin Trudeau, in Montreal on Monday. The two leaders are set to sign a deal for Canada to supply clean hydrogen to Germany.
Ukraine has restored a rail link to neighbouring Moldova which could carry 10m tonnes of freight a year, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The 22km (12 mile) line runs from western Ukraine to Moldova. Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksander Kubrakov, said the link would provide an alternative route from the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Ukraine’s agricultural exports are likely to rise to about 4m tonnes in August, from 3m tonnes in July, a deputy chair of the Ukrainian agrarian council said. The uptick is due to a UN-brokered deal that unblocked Ukrainian seaports.
Europe faces fresh disruption to energy supplies due to damage to a pipeline system bringing oil from Kazakhstan through Russia that was reported by the pipeline operator on Monday. Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said exports from two of its three mooring points at a Black Sea terminal had been suspended.
A senior Russian diplomat has ruled out a diplomatic solution to ending the war in Ukraine. Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times that there would be no direct talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, adding that Moscow expects a prolonged conflict.
Updated
