Summary
It’s just after 9pm in Ukraine. Here’s a round-up of all the latest from the conflict.
The Ukrainian military said at least 12 Russian were killed in a strike on a base in the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka. Footage posted to Telegram by the State Border Guard Service showed numerous burnt-out trucks, collapsed buildings, and debris.
Also in occupied southern Ukraine, the mayor of the city of Melitopol said explosions were heard near a Russian command centre. Ivan Fedorov said that a “loud explosion rang out near the enemy’s lair” in the centre of the city.
The top official in Russian-annexed Crimea has claimed the FSB security service has broken up what he described as a six-person terrorist cell of a banned Islamist group. It followed a series of strikes on Russian bases and other infrastructure across the region which Russia has sought to blame on “sabotage”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told Ukrainians living in Crimea to avoid Russia military bases following the strikes. “Do not approach the military objects of the Russian army,” he said in his latest video address, adding that they might also explode because of “bungling”.
Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that, contrary to Russian claims, Ukraine has not lost any of the Himars rocket launchers provided to it by the US. Since the start of the conflict, Ukraine has received at least 20 of the US-made launchers, and has used them to attack Russian ammunition depots, command posts, and air defences. Russia has repeatedly claimed to have destroyed a number of the systems.
The mayor of the village of Verkhnyo Rogachytsk in the Kherson region has been kidnapped, according to the deputy chair of the regional council. Yuri Sobolevsky said Svitlana Ivanivna was taken from her home at around 11am on Tuesday.
A Russian soldier has become one of just a handful to speak out publicly against the war in Ukraine. Speaking to the Guardian, Pavel Filatyev, who fled Russia this week after publishing a 141-page account of his time fighting as part of a paratrooper unit, said: “I don’t see justice in this war. I don’t see truth here.”
Four more vessels carrying agricultural products have sailed from ports in Ukraine. Turkish state media said the ships departed Odesa and Chernomorsk on Wednesday morning carrying sunflower meal, sunflower oil and corn, it said. They are the latest vessels to leave Ukraine under the terms of a grain export deal agreed between the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia last month.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Lviv to review the deal in talks with the Ukrainian and Turkish presidents. The three will also discuss “the need for a political solution to this conflict” and the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a UN spokesperson said.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz has criticised German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his opposition to a proposal to ban all Russian nationals from the European Union. Asked about the comments, Przydacz said: “[Scholz] did not read all those reports about the enormous support for Vladimir Putin’s policy among ordinary Russians, maybe he did not see all the videos in which people gather with the letter Z.”
Russia has appointed a new commander for its Black Sea fleet, according to Russian state media. Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov is said to have been presented to a meeting of the fleet’s most senior figures in the Sevastopol in Crimea. The previous commander of the fleet, Igor Osipov, is thought to have been removed following the sinking of its flagship, the Moskva, in April.
"I don’t see justice in this war", says Russian soldier
A Russian soldier has become one of just a handful to speak out publicly against the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to the Guardian, Pavel Filatyev said: “I don’t see justice in this war. I don’t see truth here.”
Filatyev fled Russia earlier this week after publishing a 141-page document providing a day-by-day account of his time fighting as part of a paratrooper unit.
He was eventually evacuated from the conflict after being wounded and contracting an eye infection. He says that, by then, he had decided he needed to expose the rot at the core of the invasion.
“We were sitting under artillery fire by Mykolaiv,” he said.
“At that point I already thought that we’re just out here doing bullshit, what the fuck do we need this war for? And I really had this thought: ‘God, if I survive, then I’ll do everything that I can to stop this.’”
Read the full story here.
