Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces have destroyed 4 US-supplied Himars rocket techniques in July alone.
“4 launchers and one transport-loading car for the US-made a number of launch rocket techniques (Himars) have been destroyed,” it mentioned in a every day briefing.
The claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Kyiv has hailed the arrival of eight Himars, which price $5.6 million every, as a potential gamechanger for the course of the struggle. The superior weapons are extra exact and supply an extended vary than different artillery techniques, permitting Kyiv to strike Russian targets and weapons depots additional behind the entrance traces.
Comply with the most recent updates under.
12:53 PM
Russia dropping 100s of troops a day in struggle, senior US official says
America believes that Russia’s army is sustaining tons of of casualties a day in its struggle in Ukraine, a senior US protection official has mentioned.
America additionally believed that Ukraine had destroyed greater than 100 “high-value” Russian targets inside Ukraine, together with command posts, ammunition depots and air-defense websites, the unnamed official advised Reuters.
12:39 PM
Three Ukrainian ports named amid Kyiv and Moscow exports negotiations
Ukrainian grain will initially be exported from the ports of Odesa, Pivdenny and Chornomorsk, Ukrainian parliamentarian Rustem Umerov has mentioned.
Kyiv and Moscow are set to signal a serious settlement to finish Russia’s Black Sea blockade of grain in Istanbul at present.
“The exports will happen by three ports: Odesa, Pivdenny, (Yuzhiy) and Chornomorsk,” Umerov, who’s a member of the Ukrainian delegation within the negotiations, advised Ukrainian media.
“Sooner or later, we hope, we are able to additionally develop the record. All suggestions of the maritime forces, the armed forces have to be revered. There are protected corridors, routes that we now have developed along with the army, and all civilian ships will undergo these routes. We’ll promote grain to all people. And all vessels that comply with these tips can come to us.”
Full particulars of the ports and protected channels for service provider transport will probably be introduced later at present.
12:28 PM
Ukraine threatens army response because it says grain deal is with UN not Russia
12:24 PM
Ukrainian delegation is in Istanbul as Kyiv and Moscow close to main grains deal
A delegation from Ukraine is in Istanbul at present as Kyiv and Moscow have been anticipated to signal a deal that will unblock grain exports disrupted by Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry mentioned.
“The nation’s delegation led by Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov arrived in Istanbul for negotiations on the decision of the grain situation,” the ministry mentioned on Telegram, including that delegates had held a gathering with UN chief Antonio Guterres.
12:23 PM
Russian defence minister seen arriving in Istanbul forward of grains deal
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has been seen on stay TV arriving in Istanbul, the place Russia and Ukraine will later signal a deal to facilitate grain exports.
Shoigu may even maintain a bilateral assembly together with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, the RIA Novosti information company reported, citing Russia’s defence ministry.
12:21 PM
Lights exit in rich German metropolis as power costs soar
An prosperous historic Bavarian metropolis is popping off road lighting because it faces spiraling power prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The streets of Augsburg have gone go eerily quiet after it rolled out a raft of power financial savings measures which have seen the facades of its medieval buildings not illuminated, road lights dimmed and a lot of the fountains not working.
Town has additionally lowered the temperature in its public swimming pools and is checking which site visitors lights it may well flip off.
The economic system ministry additionally launched a marketing campaign final month urging residents to take shorter showers, improve their fridge’s temperature by 1 diploma and higher insulate their dwelling.
Augsburg mayor Eva Weber advised Reuters that town’s power payments this yr have been anticipated to be nearly double from final yr’s prices of round 15.9 million euros.
11:35 AM
Grains exports deal is ‘essential’, says Kremlin
The Kremlin has mentioned it was “essential” to unblock grain exports as Kyiv and Moscow have been set to signal a deal to assist relieve a world meals disaster at present.
“It is extremely vital to unblock provides of fertilisers, foodstuffs and grain to the world markets,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised reporters.
“It’s a comparatively small quantity of Ukrainian grain, however nonetheless it is extremely vital that this grain will get to world markets.”
11:34 AM
Kremlin denies turbine for Nord Stream 1 fuel pipeline is caught in transit
The Kremlin has denied stories that a turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline taking fuel from Russia to Germany was caught in transit.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov branded a Reuters report that cited two sources who mentioned Russia had not but given the go-ahead to move the turbine again to Russia as “nonsense”.
“The accusations are groundless. The sources are mistaken,” he mentioned.
Russia reduce the circulate by Nord Stream 1 to 40 p.c of its capability in June, citing the delayed return of the turbine from routine upkeep in Canada.
11:30 AM
Transdniestria not delay turning into a part of Russia by struggle, minister says
The international minister of Transdniestria mentioned the Moscow-backed breakaway area of Moldova nonetheless desires to develop into a part of Russia.
Vitaly Ignatiev advised RIA information company that Moscow’s “particular army operation” in Ukraine had not affected his area’s goal.
Transdniestria is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova that lies on a skinny strip of land alongside Ukraine’s southwest border and voted to affix Russia in a 2006 referendum.
A 1992 ceasefire deal ended the combating over the way forward for the area following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
11:19 AM
5 European international locations added to Russia’s record of ‘unfriendly international states’
The Kremlin has added Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia to its record of “unfriendly international states”, a decree signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and printed on the official web site mentioned.
It limits the international locations’ skills to rent employees in Russia for embassies, consulates and consultant workplaces of state our bodies.
Greece has a restrict of hiring 34 folks, Denmark of 20, and Slovakia of 16, the decree added. Slovenia and Croatia won’t be able to rent workers for his or her diplomatic missions and consular workplaces.
11:12 AM
Three our bodies recovered from college hit by Russian missiles in east Ukraine
Ukrainian emergency employees recovered three our bodies from a faculty hit by a Russian strike as missile rained on a densely populated space within the jap a part of the nation, officers have mentioned.
The Ukrainian president’s workplace mentioned Russian shelling destroyed a faculty and broken 85 residential buildings in Kramatorsk, in Donetsk province.
The reported casualties comply with a barrage in Ukraine’s second largest metropolis Kharkiv that killed at the least three folks and wounded 23 others on Thursday.
11:05 AM
Ukraine and Russia to signal grains deal on Friday, Erdogan’s spokesman claims
Kyiv and Moscow will signal a deal to unlock grain exports and relieve a world meals disaster on Friday in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has claimed.
The announcement got here as Russian forces battered Ukraine’s southern coast and left a number of useless within the industrial Donbas.
The primary main accord between the warring sides can be brokered with the UN and Turkey.
11:00 AM
Ukraine’s ports to reopen as grain deal ‘agreed’
Moscow and Kyiv will at present signal a deal to reopen Ukraine’s Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkey mentioned, elevating hopes that a global meals disaster attributable to Russia’s invasion may very well be eased.
Ukraine and Russia, each among the many world’s largest exporters of meals, didn’t instantly affirm Thursday’s announcement by the workplace of the Turkish presidency. However in a late night time video tackle Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted his nation’s Black Sea ports might quickly be unblocked.
The blockade by Russia’s Black Sea fleet has diminished provides to markets world wide and despatched grain costs hovering since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The settlement is because of be signed this lunch time, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s workplace mentioned.
The United Nations and Turkey have been working for 2 months to dealer what Guterres referred to as a “package deal” deal – to renew Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports and facilitate Russian grain and fertiliser shipments.
10:41 AM
Russian, Ukrainian ministers to attend grains deal occasion in Istanbul
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu is en path to Turkey to attend a ceremony to signal deal permitting the resumption of Ukraine’s maritime grain exports
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister may even attend the ceremony that will mark a primary step to ease a world meals disaster introduced on by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
10:30 AM
Belarus appoints new envoy to Moscow
Belarus has appointed a brand new ambassador to Russia, state information companies report, as Moscow and Minsk proceed to forge nearer ties amid their mounting isolation from the West.
Moscow is Belarus’ key backer and the 2 sides – formally a part of a borderless “Union State” – have accelerated integration talks lately after each have been hit with Western sanctions.
In a cellphone name with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Alexander Lukashenko mentioned the 2 leaders had agreed to nominate Dmitry Krutoi as Minsk’s new envoy to Moscow, the Belta state information company reported.
Mr Krutoi was deputy head of Belarus’ presidential administration and was beforehand concerned in integration tasks with Russia – a broad record of coverage areas the 2 international locations have agreed to maneuver nearer collectively on.
10:17 AM
Russia ‘destroyed 4 HIMARS’ launchers since July 5
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed its forces had destroyed 4 US-supplied HIMARS rocket techniques between July 5-20.
“4 launchers and one transport-loading car for the US-made a number of launch rocket techniques (HIMARS) have been destroyed,” it mentioned in a every day briefing.
The claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Kyiv has hailed the arrival of eight HIMARS in Ukraine as a potential gamechanger for the course of the struggle. The superior weapons are extra exact and supply an extended vary than different artillery techniques, permitting Kyiv to strike Russian targets and weapons depots additional behind the entrance traces.
09:55 AM
Separatist areas block Google
The professional-Russian authorities of jap Ukraine’s separatist republics say they’ve blocked Google, accusing the US big of selling “violence in opposition to Russians.”
“We took the choice to dam Google on the territory of the Donetsk Folks’s Republic,” insurgent chief Denis Pushilin mentioned on Telegram, accusing it of selling “violence in opposition to Russians, specifically the folks of the Donbas.”
The neighbouring Luhansk Folks’s Republic blocked Google yesterday.
Pushilin accused Google of working “overtly on the orders of its curators within the American authorities”.
He claimed the West and Ukraine have been “creating unprecedented stress on the bodily and psychological security” of the republic, aimed toward “breaking” its folks.
“We can’t tolerate this anymore,” he mentioned.”That is the way you take care of criminals in any society: they’re remoted from folks.”
09:32 AM
Breakaway Transdniestria nonetheless desires to affix Russia
The purpose of Moldova’s breakaway area of Transdniestria to develop into part of Russia stays unaffected by the struggle in neighbouring Ukraine, the area’s international minister advised RIA Novosti information company.
Transdniestria, which is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova, lies on a skinny strip of land alongside Ukraine’s southwest border. Its standing dates to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a army battle broke out between pro-Moldovan and pro-Russian factions over the way forward for the area.
A 1992 ceasefire deal ended the combating however froze the area’s political standing, and it now exists as a breakaway state inside Moldova that depends on assist from Moscow.
Transdniestria’s International Minister Vitaly Ignatiev advised RIA information company that Moscow’s “particular army operation” in Ukraine had not affected his area’s goal to formally be a part of Russia, in step with its 2006 referendum.
“The vector of Transdniestria has remained unchanged all through the republic’s existence – mirrored within the outcomes of the referendum on September 17, 2006, the place it’s clearly said: independence with free accession to the Russian Federation,” RIA Novosti quoted Mr Ignatiev as saying.
09:00 AM
The struggle, in photos
08:33 AM
Russia ‘stealing’ UK-bound metal, Ukraine claims
Russia is looting metal certain for the UK and the European Union, the pinnacle of Ukraine’s largest metal firm has mentioned.
Uncooked and completed metal price $600m (£501 million) left behind within the Azovstal mill and close by port within the brutalised metropolis of Mariupol was certain for UK clients, however is now being transported to Russia and partly offered on to Asia and Africa, in line with Metinvest chief government Yuriy Ryzhenkov.
He advised the BBC: “What they’re doing with this metal is principally looting. They’re stealing our merchandise, not solely our merchandise, but in addition a few of these merchandise already belong to European clients.”
“So we’re documenting as a lot as potential. We’re making ready the case and we will probably be going after them with every little thing we now have.”
Azovstal steelworks, which grew to become the final holdout of Ukrainian fighters and civilians through the battle for Mariupol, and its sister plant accounted for 40 per cent of all Ukraine metal manufacturing.
1000’s of tonnes of metal had already been bought by clients in Europe, together with some in Britain.
08:10 AM
Russia threatens to widen its struggle if West continues to produce weapons to Ukraine
07:43 AM
Donetsk at present, in photos
07:17 AM
Ukraine continues to repel assaults in Donbas – MoD
05:35 AM
Moscow in ‘critical violation of worldwide regulation’
Japan annual defence white paper describes Moscow’s assault on Ukraine as a “critical violation of worldwide regulation” and raises issues that Russia’s use of drive to resolve a dispute established a precedent that threatens the safety of neighbouring Taiwan, which Beijing views as its personal territory.
Chinese language army planes are more and more probing Taiwan’s air defences.
The defence white paper permitted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s authorities identifies China, Russia and North Korea as its principal safety issues.
Kishida’s defence minister, Nobuo Kishi, has described Japan as being on a entrance line surrounded by nuclear-armed actors.
05:33 AM
Japan warns of safety threats
Japan warned on Friday of escalating nationwide safety threats, together with repercussions from Russia’s struggle with Ukraine, Chinese language intimidation of Taiwan, and susceptible expertise provide chains, in its annual defence white paper.
The report units out the Authorities’s safety issues because it prepares the defence ministry price range request due subsequent month, aiming to construct public assist for an unprecedented hike in army funding that the ruling social gathering goals to double over the following decade.
It additionally units the stage for a year-end nationwide safety assessment anticipated to name for the acquisition of longer-range strike missiles, strengthened area and cyber capabilities, and tighter controls over entry to expertise.
“The political, financial and army rivalries between nations is evident, and the problem posed to the worldwide order is a world situation,” the white paper mentioned.
02:54 AM
Lethal assaults strengthen Kyiv’s ‘need to defeat invaders’
Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned three folks have been killed when Russians shelled the jap metropolis of Kharkiv on Thursday.
“Each considered one of these Russian assaults is an argument for Ukraine to obtain extra Himars and different fashionable and efficient weapons,” the Ukrainian President mentioned.
“Each considered one of these assaults solely strengthens our need to defeat the invaders and that may definitely occur.”
02:52 AM
Ukraine might inflict main harm on Russian forces
Ukraine’s army has the potential to make beneficial properties on the battlefield and inflict main losses on Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned on Thursday after assembly senior commanders.
Mr Zelensky, talking in a late-night video tackle, mentioned they mentioned the provision of recent weapons, including the that depth of assaults on the Russians needed to be stepped up.
“(We) agreed that our forces have the robust potential to advance on the battlefield and inflict important new losses on the occupiers,” he mentioned.
Kyiv hopes that Western weapons, particularly longer-range missiles corresponding to American Himars that Ukraine has deployed in current weeks, will permit it to launch a counterattack and recapture territory.
02:49 AM
Zelensky urges speedier arms supply
Western powers have stepped up arms provides to Ukraine however President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested for extra and speedier deliveries.
Britain grew to become the most recent nation on Thursday to announce it’s re-upping army provides with artillery, “tons of of drones and tons of extra anti-tank weapons” for Ukraine in coming weeks.
Russia has warned about arms provides and mentioned they imply Moscow will not be targeted solely on wresting management of the east Ukraine areas of Lugansk and Donetsk, which have been partially managed by pro-Moscow rebels for years.
02:24 AM
Immediately’s prime tales
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Russia’s military is almost exhausted and Ukraine could have a chance to counter assault within the coming weeks, Britain’s spy chief has mentioned
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The scorched stays of house blocks destroyed by Russian shelling solid a shadow over the close by parks the place youngsters play within the Kyiv suburb of Borodyanka. The native council desires to maintain it as a memorial to honour those that misplaced their lives, however residents who survived at the moment are combating for the proper to have their houses rebuilt on the land they as soon as peacefully lived on
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Russia, Ukraine and the West should conform to halt the Ukraine battle to keep away from the “abyss of nuclear struggle“, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has mentioned
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Excessive-powered Western fighter jets may very well be despatched to Ukraine to bolster its forces within the battle in opposition to the Russian invasion, the pinnacle of the US Air Power has mentioned
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Vladimir Putin is “too wholesome”, the CIA has mentioned, dismissing media hypothesis that the Russian president is affected by in poor health well being
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Russia is closing in on Ukraine’s second largest energy plant, British army intelligence has warned
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The top of Ukraine’s largest international volunteer unit has a blunt message for any Britons nonetheless wanting to affix the combat in opposition to Russia
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Russia expects North Korean labourers to be concerned in rebuilding two self-proclaimed republics in jap Ukraine, with Pyongyang more likely to be paid in much-needed industrial tools and wheat from areas of Ukraine that at the moment are beneath the management of the Russian army
