Summary
Here’s a recap of today’s developments:
Russia said it had neutralised two Ukrainian drones over Moscow in the early hours of Monday, with one crashing close to the defence ministry in the city centre. Officials said the drones hit non-residential buildings in the capital and that there were no casualties. The attack came one day after Kyiv vowed to “retaliate” for a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa. The White House said it does not support attacks inside Russia.
The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region said Russia was trying “make the world starve” by attempting to completely block exports of Ukrainian grain to global markets after the latest in a series of Russian air attacks struck grain infrastructure on the Danube River. The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, called on Russia to return to a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain in line with a proposal he made to Vladimir Putin after Russia quit the deal a week ago.
Almost 30 ships dropped anchor near Ukraine’s crucial Izmail port terminal after Russia attacked grain warehouses on the Danube River on Monday, data showed, although it is unclear why. Monday’s pre-dawn Russian airstrikes wounded seven people and hit infrastructure along the Danube, a vital alternative route for Ukrainian grain since the year-old deal allowing safe exports via the Black Sea ended last week. Kyiv said the attack was an expansion of an air campaign Russia launched recently after pulling out of the grain deal.
Without providing any evidence, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed the cathedral in Odesa was struck by a Ukrainian air defence missile. Peskov said “Our armed forces never strike at social infrastructure facilities, let alone temples, churches and other similar facilities, so we do not accept such accusations, this is an absolute lie.”Russia reserves the right to take “tough retaliatory measures”, the foreign ministry said, after it accused Ukraine of attacking Moscow and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with drones.
A child was killed and six people wounded in a Russian strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, according to the region’s governor. Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces had fired Smerch rockets at “a local pond, where people were resting”.
A journalist working for Agence France-Presse news agency was wounded by a Russian drone attack while reporting from a Ukrainian artillery position near the battle-torn eastern city of Bakhmut, according to AFP reporters who witnessed the attack. Dylan Collins, 35, a US citizen based in Lebanon but on assignment in Ukraine, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries in the attack in a forested area near Bakhmut. He was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he was being treated. Doctors have said his condition was not life-threatening.
The Kremlin on Monday accused Kyiv of carrying out a “deliberate attack on journalists” in Ukraine’s south-eastern Zaporizhzhia region after a reporter for the Russian state news agency RIA was killed. The war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev was killed in a Ukrainian cluster munition strike, according to RIA. He died from his wounds during an evacuation from a special military operation.
The US “strongly condemns” Russia’s escalatory attacks in Ukraine following its “callous” suspension of the Black Sea Grain initiative, a state department spokesperson has said.
In a press briefing today, a US state department spokesperson said Russian missile and drone strikes had killed “scores of civilians” in Odesa, devastated Unesco listed heritage sites, and destroyed port infrastructure and grain stockpiles since last week.
The consequences for the rest of the world of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have never been more clear. These vicious strikes further illustrate Russia’s willingness to use food as a weapon in its illegal war against Ukraine.
The Kremlin wants to deprive Ukraine’s economy of a major source of income without regard for needy people across the globe who will feel the consequences and be forced to pay higher prices for food.
.@StateDeptSpox condemns Russia’s attacks: Over the weekend, we saw appalling images of burning churches and flattened residential buildings. Today, Russia attacked grain warehouses on the Danube River. The consequences of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have never been more clear. pic.twitter.com/vKQWmqP0Cy
— Department of State (@StateDept) July 24, 2023
