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The Wagner group is a private military company, controlled by the Kremlin. Russia deployed the mercenary group to eastern Ukraine after its army suffered heavy losses, the UK Ministry of Defence reported in March. However, Ukrainian forces were able to strike their base in Kadiivka and kill between 50 and 200 mercenaries (based on different estimates) after they gave themselves away by telling locals they were musicians. Oleh, a local resident, said: “Wagner mercenaries don’t know how to keep their mouths shut. They themselves went around and introduced themselves as ‘an orchestra’ or ‘musicians’.”
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A huge explosion has lit up a Russian-occupied area of Ukraine after Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces reportedly destroyed a bridge used by the invading forces.
The vital supply link for Russian forces has been struck before, however, if destroyed, it would be a major blow to Moscow’s defence of the Kherson region.
A Twitter user, who goes by the alias Special Kherson Cat, tweeted that the bridge had been hit.
The account often provides updates on the war in the region.
It said: “It is alleged that this is a video of strikes on the Antonov bridge.
“We will be able to find out exactly what is happening with the bridge in about 5-6 hours when the sun rises.”
Russia has said that it will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024, however, NASA has said that Moscow has not yet communicated this to them.
Yuri Borisov, the newly appointed director-general of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos told Vladimir Putin on Tuesday: “Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision about withdrawing from the station after 2024 has been made.”
When asked whether it had been told about Russia’s announcement, Robyn Gatens, NASA’s ISS director said: “Nothing official yet.
“We literally just saw that as well. We haven’t gotten anything official.”
New explosions have been reported near the Antonivsky bridge in Russian occupied Kherson.
The bridge over the Dnipro river has previously been successfully hit by Ukrainian troops.
It is strategically important for Russia because it is one of two crossings troops can use.
New explosions near the Antonivsky bridge are reported in russia-occupied #Kherson. This major bridge over the Dnipro river had been earlier successfully targeted by Ukraine https://t.co/VIUO9qP90U
The Donbas region of Ukraine refers to the old coal and steel-producing areas in the east.
The regions, Luhansk and Donetsk, run from outside Mariupol in the south all the way to the northern border.
Russia formally recognises these breakaway areas as independent from Ukraine.
Russian forces seized more than a third of the area after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Donbas is predominantly Russian-speaking and Putin has repeatedly spoken about “liberating” it completely.
Despite sharing a language, these areas are no longer pro-Russian.
Defence specialist Konrad Muzyka, head of Rochan Consulting, said: “Mariupol was one of the most pro-Russian cities in Ukraine and to level it is beyond my comprehension.”
Over 2,500 Ukrainians have signed a petition to give Boris Johnson Ukrainian citizenship and to make him the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Despite losing popularity in the UK, Mr Johnson is popular in Ukraine for supporting the country in its war against Russia.
The petition, addressed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, lists Johnson’s strengths as “worldwide support for Boris Johnson, a clear position against the military invasion of Ukraine, (and) wisdom in the political, financial and legal spheres.”
Mr Zelensky will be obliged to respond if the petition reaches 25,000 signatures.
Russian state has today taken a break from spouting propaganda about the war to hit out at the West for supporting trans rights.
According to the translation provided by the BBC’s Francis Scarr, on 60 minutes today, one of the hosts said: “What is happening to the world.
“The World Health Organisation says that now there aren’t two genders, but several.
“But we can tell a bloke from a bird. We can. Even if it kills us.”
For a while ud83cuddf7ud83cuddfa state TV has been very repetitive, but I think the incessant war coverage may now be giving way to the general anti-Western rhetoric typical of the past few years
Today’s early edition of 60 Minutes featured little on the war but a lot on trans people in the West pic.twitter.com/EBWQmwj6ou
Vladimir Putin has so far refused to call the invasion of Ukraine a “war”.
Instead, Russian authorities refer to it as a “special operation”.
There are fears that Putin could declare all-out war in Ukraine which could trigger a mass mobilisation of Russian troops.
Russia has rejected the suggestion as nonsense.
Relatives of Russian soldiers that went missing during the war in Ukraine have called on Vladimir Putin to find them.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that more than 100 Russian families have appealed to Putin for help.
u26a1ufe0fRussian families of missing soldiers call on Putin to find their relatives.
More than 100 families of Russian soldiers who went missing during the war in Ukraine have appealed to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces were able to kill up to 200 elite Wagner mercenaries hiding in a gym because they couldn’t “keep their mouths shut”.
The Wagner group is a private military company, controlled by the Kremlin.
Russia deployed the mercenary group to eastern Ukraine after its army suffered heavy losses, the UK Ministry of Defence reported in March.
However, Ukrainian forces were able to strike their base in Kadiivka and kill between 50 and 200 mercenaries (based on different estimates) after they gave themselves away by telling locals they were musicians.
Oleh, a local resident said: “Wagner mercenaries don’t know how to keep their mouths shut.
“They themselves went around and introduced themselves as ‘an orchestra’ or ‘musicians’.”
Vladimir Putin is reportedly sending Russian soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine to makeshift “torture pits” in the Luhansk region.
The Russian leader will host a video conference to discuss “a number of current issues” which is likely to include Ukraine’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) effectiveness in the war, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. HIMARS first arrived in Ukraine from the USA in June, and have proven highly effective in helping the defenders see off Moscow’s attacks – even though Moscow has denied all claims. The remarkable, US-made weapon can carry either six guided rockets with a range of around 40 miles, or a single Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which can hit targets a staggering 200 miles away.
Ukraine has used HIMARS to destroy more than 100 “high value” Russian targets in recent weeks, according to a senior US defence official on Friday.
General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the use of HIMARS as “degrading” Russia’s capability to fight the war.
Four more HIMARS are due to be sent to Ukraine from the USA as part of a $270 million (£225 million) package of security assistance, the White House confirmed last week.
Boris Johnson has presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky with the Sir Winston Churchill leadership award.
Discussing Mr Zelensky’s bravery in choosing to stay in Kyiv when war broke out in Ukraine, Mr Johnson said: “You could have left Kyiv, you could have said – and it would have been hard to contradict you – that the survival of the Ukrainian state required the survival of the President.
“But of course Volodymyr you did none of those things: you chose to stay in Kyiv, among the Ukrainian people, just as Churchill stayed in London in 1940.
“And when one world leader offered you a way out, you replied “I need ammunition, not a ride” and I think Churchill would have cheered – and he would probably have wept too – because he was often moved to tears at the sheer moral and physical courage you showed in those grim weeks.”
A young Ukrainian soldier who had planned to marry his girlfriend when he returned from war has been buried in the Ukrainian city of Lviv after being killed in action.
The 25-year-old’s fiancee, Oleksandra told Reuters at the funeral: “He was a very good boyfriend, a sincere one. He loved and took care of me very much. He was very devoted to me and to his friends,” his fiancee Oleksandra told Reuters at the funeral.
“Before his departure, he proposed. We planned a wedding after the rotation. It was not destined (to come true).”
Vladimir Putin has been the President of Russia since 2012.
He previously held this position from 2000-2008 and was Russia’s Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000, and again from 2008 to 2012.
Before his career in politics, he was a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years.
The EU has extended its sanctions on Russia until 2023.
The sanctions were first imposed in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and were expanded when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The EU called on Russia to immediately stop attacks on civilians and withdraw all its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.
Good afternoon, I’m Olivia Stringer and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine for the next eight hours. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: olivia.stringer@reachplc.com
Twitter: @Livstringer_
Gazprom, Russia’s state-backed gas behemoth, has confirmed supplies of gas into Europe will run at 20 percent of maximum capacity along Nord Stream 1.
The he pipeline, which transports gas from Russia to Germany, had already been operating at 40 percent.
Earlier in the crisis, Germany abandoned plans to open Nord Stream 2, angering the Kremlin.
A bereft Russian mother was interview by Sky News about her son being sent to fight Putin’s war in Ukraine, saying she “can’t take it anymore”.
Although the bloc has agreed on reducing gas use in the coming months, not all member states were happy with the proposal.
Spain, Portugal and Greece led the opposition to the 15 percent cut, saying it did not take note of their national circumstances..
Critics of the plan said it was designed to help Germany, which has been widely criticised since the invasion began for its dependency on Russian gas.
Europe has been persuing alternatives to Russian energy supplies since the invasion was launched in late February.
Imports from the USA have grown signficantly, while the bloc continues on its quest to find viable alternatives to Putin’s reserves.
Energy ministers from the 27 bloc members mostly backed a plan for a voluntary 15 percent reduction in gas usage over the winter.
This afternoon the agreement was made despite a revolt led by southern European countries that use less or no Russian gas.
Yesterday Gazprom announced a large reduction in gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Wednesday.
The UK has announced it will sanction more Russian ministers, officials and members of influential families in the latest wave of measures against Russia.
Moscow’s justice minister Konstantin Chuychenko and his deputy Oleg Sviridenko were hit with a travel ban and asset freeze.
Sarvar and Sanjar Ismailov, nephews of major Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov who has close ties to the Kremlin, have also been sanctioned.
Supporters of the breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine have also been sanctioned, including Vitaliy Khotsenko, head of Dontesk People’s Republic, which is not recognised by the UK.
A further 29 regional governors in the area are also on the list.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “We will not keep quiet and watch Kremlin-appointed state actors supress the people of Ukraine or the freedoms of their own people.
“We will continue to impose harsh sanctions on those who are trying to legitimise Putin’s illegal invasion until Ukraine prevails.”
The European Union has agreed to renew Russian sanctions a for a further six months.
It means sanctions will last until January 2023.
The decision includes sanctions first introduced in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea, and further ones taken after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
A gas turbine for Russia’s Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline has not yet arrived after maintenance in Canada, but Moscow hopes it will be installed “sooner rather than later”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the sanctions against Russia complicate the work of Nord Stream 1, which is controversially lowering gas supplies to Europe to just 20 percent of its capacity amid maintenance.
Russia has decided to quit the International Space Station “after 2024”, the newly-appointed chief of Moscow’s space agency, Roscosmos, has told President Vladimir Putin.
According to comments released by the Kremlin, Yury Borisov told Putin: “Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made.”
China hasn’t invested in new infrastructure projects in Russia since the war in Ukraine began, despite huge sums of money spent in the past, a report has revealed.
Under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing has invested nearly a trillion US dollars ($932 billion, or £774billion) in construction in countries including Russia since 2013.
But since the war began, Chinese engagement in new investments under the scheme in Russia dropped by 100 percent, according to a brief released by the Green Finance & Development Center (GFDC) of the Fudan University in Shanghai.
Sri Lanka and Egypt, both close allies of Putin, also saw zero engagement from China, while investments in Pakistan dropped by about 56 percent, the data shows.
Overall, Chinese engagement through financial investments and contractual cooperation for the first half of 2022 in the 147 countries of the BRI was about $28.4billion (£23.6 billion).
Shortly before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing and Moscow announced a “no limits” partnership.
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Russia’s armed forces destroyed eight Ukrainian missile and artillery arms depots in the southern Mykolaiv region and in the eastern Donetsk region, the Defence Ministry said in its daily briefing on Tuesday.
Ukrainian officials said earlier on Tuesday that Russia launched a “massive missile strike” against the south of the country overnight, including hits against infrastructure in the black sea port of Mykolaiv.
Vladimir Putin is allegedly sending Russian soldiers who refuse to fight in Ukraine to makeshift “torture pits” in the Luhansk region.
Russian troops who signed up to fight on Ukraine’s front lines were reportedly told they would be sent on three-month tours of duty, followed by a period or the choice to resign completely. But it would appear the Russian despot can’t even keep his promises to the Russian people.
The horrified father of one Russian soldier has claimed that when the troops decide to leave or hand in resignation letters, they are detained and forced to a makeshift detention centre in Bryanka in the Russian occupied regions.
The man said: “They are keeping people there because they wanted to leave, refused to fight.
“There are held in pits, tortured and things like that. That’s what people who have come from there say.”
Soldiers are allegedly bullied back into serving or thrown into gulag style pits where they endure terrifying conditions and torture.
Tobias Ellwood tells Kay Burley that Ukraine is no longer making headlines – watch now.
Fresh Russian shelling has been reported in the southern city of Mykolaiv this morning.
The head of the city council, Olexander Senkevich, said “A massive missile strike was launched in the south of Ukraine from the direction of the Black Sea, including with the use of aviation.”
A report from the British Ministry of Defence reads: “Russia almost certainly perceives anti-ship missiles as a key threat which is limiting the effectiveness of their Black Sea Fleet.
“This has significantly undermined the overall invasion plan, as Russia cannot realistically attempt an amphibious assault to seize Odesa.”
It also said Russia’s targeting processes are highly likely routinely undermined by dated intelligence, poor planning, and a top-down approach to operations.
The RIA Novosti agency reports Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian regional authority in Zaporizhzhia, saying: “To date, more than 8,000 passports of the Russian Federation have been issued, documents of 15,000 people have been accepted, and the preliminary registration has already exceeded 20,000 people.”
Vladimir Putin’s forces have been humiliated once again after being forced to run for their lives in a Ukrainian ambush
According to the Ukraine Armed Forces’ General Staff, nearly 40,000 Russian soldiers have died so far in the Ukraine invasion.
It said the greatest losses have been suffered the Bakhmut area.
This morning President Zelensky uploaded a video showing the aftermath of the latest Russian shelling in the settlement of Zatoka on the Black Sea coast in Odesa region.
The Ukrainian leader lamented the normal life now lost by those who lived in the area.
He wrote: “An ordinary village of Zatoka. People vacationed and lived there. They just lived here. No military bases, no troops. Russian terrorists simply wanted to shoot.”
A post shared by u0412u043eu043bu043eu0434u0438u043cu0438u0440 u0417u0435u043bu0435u043du0441u044cu043au0438u0439 (@zelenskiy_official)
British forces helped Ukrainian soldiers recapture the now famous Snake Island.
The Special Boat Service, a forces unit of the Royal Navy, trained the Ukrainian 73rd Naval Special Purpose Centre to use Diver Propulsion Devices.
An Army source told Sunday Mirror: “The 73rd became the tip of the sword and provided the fighting force that landed on the island.
“The Ukrainian special forces are as tough as they come but what they have missed out on is our specialist kit and training. “It has paid dividends with the recapture of Snake Island.”
Read more here.
Ukraine has “destroyed” command center of Russia’s 11th Guards Air Assault Brigade, as well as an enemy ammunition depot near Piatykhatky.
UKRinform reports: “Over the past day, Ukraine’s aviation has struck enemy deployment sites seven times, namely six strong points, ammunition and military equipment clusters, and a command center in Kherson Region’s Beryslav District and Kherson District each.
“In southern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military eliminated 48 Russian occupiers and destroyed four T-72 tanks, one 152-mm howitzer, one self-propelled artillery system, three armored vehicles and three other vehicles.”
The number of Russian losses is yet to be confirmed.
European Experts Association’s Maria Adeeva has posted a video from Kharkiv showing a huge crater caused by a Russian S-300 missile strike.
She said the “terrorist state” of Russia is openly shelling civilian “objects”.
Two explosions got me out of bed at 4:40 am. Russia fired S-300 missiles at Kharkiv from Belgorod. One hit children’s football field, the second near the entrance to the metro. Terrorist state is openly shelling civilian objects. pic.twitter.com/NcNln2D6xL
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has issued tragic new casualty figures for children killed or injured during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The release says 358 children have been killed and a further 690 injured since February 24, but these numbers are not finalised.
The largest number of casualties was in the Donetsk region.
EU leaders now fear that by this winter Moscow’s leader will completely cut Europe off its gas supplies.
EU energy ministers are set to arrive in Brussels today for a special Energy Council to conjure up a contingency plan should President Putin decide to stop gas imports to the bloc.
Read the full story here.
The British Ministry of Defence has disputed Russia’s account of a missile attack in Odesa on Sunday evening.
“On 24 July 2022, Russian cruise missiles hit the dock-side in Ukraine’s Odesa Port. The Russian MoD claimed to have hit a Ukrainian warship and a stockpile of anti-ship missiles. There is no indication that such targets were at the location the missiles hit.
Russia almost certainly perceives anti-ship missiles as a key threat which is limiting the effectiveness of their Black Sea Fleet. This has significantly undermined the overall invasion plan, as Russia cannot realistically attempt an amphibious assault to seize Odesa.
Russia will continue to prioritise efforts to degrade and destroy Ukraine’s anti-ship capability. However, Russia’s targeting processes are highly likely routinely undermined by dated intelligence, poor planning, and a top-down approach to operations.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has posted to Twitter regarding Russia’s gas threats.
Putinu2019s gas war against Europe is a direct continuation of his war on Ukraine. Wherever he can bring harm, he will. He will use every dependence Europe has on Russia to ruin the normal life of every European family. The only way is to hit back hard and get rid of any dependence.
Good morning from London. I’m Aliss Higham, I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.
Email: aliss.higham@reachplc.com
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