-
12m ago
(08:51 GMT)Ukraine says its airforce downed 13 out of 17 drones launched by Russia
Ukraine’s airforce says 13 out of 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks, have been downed.
“Air defences worked in the southern, eastern and central regions,” the airforce authorities said in a statement on the telegram messaging app.
“As a result of anti-aircraft combat, 13 ‘Shahed-136/131’ attack UAVs were destroyed by the forces and means of the air force in cooperation with the air defence of other components of the Defence Forces of Ukraine,” the airforce added.
-
30m ago
(08:33 GMT)Watch: Resetting narratives in Russia after the mutiny
After the mutiny: Resetting narratives in Russia | The Listening Post -
42m ago
(08:21 GMT)Moscow says 700,000 children from Ukraine conflict zone are now in Russia
Grigory Karasin, head of the international committee in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, has said that Moscow has brought 700,000 children from conflict zones in Ukraine into Russian territory.
“In recent years, 700,000 children have found refuge with us, fleeing the bombing and shelling from the conflict areas in Ukraine,” Karasin wrote on the Telegram messaging app, late Sunday night.
Authorities in Kyiv says many children have been illegally deported, while the White House says many of the children have been forced out of their homes. The International Criminal Court has issued warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges related to these allegations.
-
52m ago
(08:11 GMT)UK says ‘a quarter of Ukrainians remain forced from their homes’
UK’s defence ministry says that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has led to a broader “crisis of displacement.”
“With a pre-war population of 44 million, a quarter of Ukrainians remain forced from their homes as a result of Russia’s invasion,” the ministry said in a tweet.
-
1h ago
(07:54 GMT)Putin has an invitation to visit Cuba: Russian ambassador
Russia’s ambassador to Cuba says President Vladimir Putin has an invitation to visit the island country but that it is too early to talk about preparations for such a trip, the state RIA news agency reports.
“Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] has an invitation, but I don’t know how his plans will be lined up,” Ambassador Viktor Koronelli told RIA.
“The president of Cuba was in Moscow not long ago, in November of last year, so no real time has passed.”
Longtime political allies Cuba and Russia – both subject to US sanctions – have increased economic ties by facilitating trade and investment to circumvent those restrictions.
Advertisement
-
1h ago
(07:40 GMT)Russian envoy says no grounds to maintain grain deal status quo
Russia’s envoy to the United Nations in Geneva says there are no grounds to maintain the “status quo” of the Black Sea grain deal that is set to expire on July 18, the Russian news outlet Izvestia reports.
In a wide-ranging interview, Gennady Gatilov told Izvestia that the implementation of Russia’s conditions for the extension of the agreement was “stalling”.
Those conditions included the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) to the SWIFT banking payment system.
“Russia has repeatedly extended the deal in the hope of positive changes,” Gatilov told Izvestia. “However, what we are seeing now does not give us grounds to agree to maintaining the status quo.”
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain trapped by Russia’s invasion to be safely exported from Black Sea ports [File: Andrew Kravchenko/AP Photo] -
1h ago
(07:34 GMT)FSB says it foiled attempt on life of Crimea chief
Russia’s FSB security service says it has thwarted an assassination attempt on Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea, the Interfax news agency reports.
The FSB said it had detained a Russian man who had been hired and trained by Ukraine’s security services to kill Aksyonov by blowing up his car.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Russia annexed Crimea, where it bases its Black Sea Fleet, from Ukraine in 2014.
-
1h ago
(07:17 GMT)Wagner’s exit won’t affect Moscow’s combat potential: Russian lawmaker
The Wagner Group’s departure from Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine will not affect Russia’s combat potential, TASS quoted Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, who chairs Russia’s lower house of parliament’s defence committee, as saying.
The influential lawmaker told the state-owned news agency that the Russian army has been able to repulse Ukraine’s new offensive without Wagner fighters.
“No new wave of mobilisation will be required,” Kartapolov said.
The Wagner Group explained | Start Here 1h ago
(07:07 GMT)Ukraine says gaining ground amid heavy fighting
Ukraine says its forces have gained some ground along eastern and southern fronts in the past week in heavy fighting with Russian troops, reclaiming 37.4 square kilometres (14.4 square miles) of territory.
Ukrainian forces were advancing in Bakhmut’s direction, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said, adding that Russian forces were attacking in the Lyman, Avdiivka and Mariinka directions in the Donetsk region.
“Heavy fighting is going on there now,” Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app. Ukraine had reclaimed nine square kilometres [3.5 square miles] over the past week along the eastern front “as a result of improving the operational (tactical) position and aligning the front line”, Maliar said.
In the south, Ukraine has regained 28.4km (17.6 miles) of territory, bringing the total area of recaptured territory along that front to 158.4km (98.4 miles), Maliar added.
Read more here.
-
2h ago
(07:03 GMT)China defence chief, Russian navy head meet in Beijing
China says its defence minister Li Shangfu met with the head of the Russian navy, admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, in Beijing.
Li told Yevmenov that he hopes the two countries’ navies will strengthen communication at all levels, and organise joint exercises and patrols on a regular basis, China’s defence ministry said.
Advertisement
-
2h ago
(07:00 GMT)EU considers Russian bank concession to safeguard grain deal: FT
The European Union is considering a proposal to allow a Russian bank under sanctions to carve out a subsidiary that would reconnect to the global financial network, as a sop to Moscow, the Financial Times reports.
This will be aimed at safeguarding the Black Sea grain deal that allows Ukraine to export food to global markets, the FT said.
The plan, proposed by Moscow through negotiations brokered by the United Nations, would allow the bank to create a subsidiary to handle payments related to grain exports, the FT said, quoting people with knowledge of the matter.
- Ukraine says its troops have made gains near Bakhmut in the past week, even as they face an onslaught from Russian forces.
- China’s defence minister Li Shangfu met with the head of the Russian navy, admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, in Beijing.
