The situation in occupied Sievierodonetsk “is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster” and the city is being widely looted by Russian troops, according to Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, Serhai Haidai. He said the city was becoming unsanitary, and that some residents were going back to find their homes emptied.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had destroyed two British-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missile systems in Ukraine’s Odesa region overnight. The claim has not been independently verified.
Russia is likely concentrating equipment on the frontline in the direction of Siversk, about 8km (4.9 miles) west of the current Russian frontline, Britain’s defence ministry has said. Russian forces are likely pausing to replenish before undertaking new offensive operations in the the Donetsk region, the MoD said in its latest intelligence report.
Four people died and nine were injured by attacks on the Kharkiv region yesterday, but the night passed without any further shelling, according to Ukraine’s governor of the region, Oleh Synyehubov.
At least one person was been killed and six injured by a missile strike on Kramatorsk which hit a residential area on Thursday, according to Ukraine’s regional governor of Donetsk. “This is a deliberate attack on civilians,” Pavlo Kyrylenko said, adding that this would not stop until the Russians were stopped.
The mayor of Sloviansk said on Thursday his city near Kramatorsk had come under Russian fire. Some residents were injured, said Vadym Lyakh, without providing further details. Ukraine’s military said pressure was intensifying with heavy shelling on Sloviansk and nearby populated areas.
Ukraine’s interior ministry has issued a statement to say that forensic work continues at the site of the shopping mall attacked in Kremenchuk on 27 June. One person is still considered missing.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, warned Moscow had barely started its campaign in Ukraine and dared the west to try to defeat it on the battlefield. Putin said the prospects for any negotiation would grow dimmer the longer the conflict dragged on, during a speech to parliamentary leaders. “Everyone should know that, by and large, we haven’t started anything yet in earnest,” he said. “The further it goes, the harder it will be for them to negotiate with us.”
Putin has also said that the continued use of sanctions against Russia could lead to catastrophic price rises on energy markets, hitting households across Europe with much higher prices for energy.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has been sharply critical of the approach of western countries to the G20 meeting in Indonesia, accusing them of derailing talks on the global economy and instead concentrating on calling Russia “aggressors”, “invaders” and “occupiers”.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has accused Russia of playing “hunger games” with the world in an address to a G20 meeting in Bali. The international community had no right to allow Russia to blackmail the world with high energy prices, hunger and security threats, Kuleba told his counterparts via video link.
Lavrov was not present for much of the afternoon session of a G20 meeting in Bali and left the room after giving his remarks, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said. Borrell described Lavrov’s behaviour as “not very respectful” after the Russian minister left the G20 meeting early after telling his counterparts that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not responsible for a global hunger crisis and that sanctions designed to isolate Russia amounted to a declaration of war.
Moscow’s chief rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt has confirmed that he has left Russia and has stepped down from the role, saying that to continue in it would endanger Moscow’s Jewish community. He said “I could not remain silent, viewing so much human suffering” in Ukraine. He will continue his role as president of the Conference of European Rabbis.
A court in Moscow has sentenced an opposition councillor to seven years in jail for criticising Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, the first long-term prison sentence handed out under the new laws that restrict criticism of the war. Alexei Gorinov, a deputy at Moscow’s Krasnoselsky district council and trained lawyer, was arrested in April on charges of spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian army.
Germany has ratified Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to Nato. The parliament in Berlin as well as the Bundesrat grouping the federal states endorsed the accession protocols for both Nordic countries. “This creates more security - for all Nato members and for Europe,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
Boris Johnson spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskiy Thursday “to reiterate the United Kingdom’s steadfast support” in light of his resignation as British prime minister, Downing Street said. In his resignation speech outside No 10, Johnson addressed the people of Ukraine directly and promised that “the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes”.
Johnson’s resignation has been met with sadness in Kyiv, most notably by Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who said the PM has been a “true friend of Ukraine”. Ukraine expected Britain’s support to continue despite Johnson’s resignation, Zelenskiy’s office said. Mikhail Podolyak, a key adviser to Zelenskiy, thanked Johnson for “always being at the forefront of supporting Ukraine”.
Johnson’s downfall has been met with delight and ridicule in Moscow, with a Kremlin spokesperson saying: “He doesn’t like us. We don’t like him either.” Russia’s ambassador to Britain, Andrei Kelin, said Moscow would prefer someone “not so antagonistic” to lead the UK.
