O VOO DO CORVO

 

1h ago

19.00

Summary of the day so far

It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/jul/07/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-lavrov-to-attend-g20-meeting-russian-troops-push-towards-sloviansk

 

• The Russian president has warned Russia has not started its campaign in Ukraine “in earnest”. In a hawkish speech to parliamentary leaders, Vladimir Putin said the prospects for any negotiation would grow dimmer the longer the conflict dragged on.
• Three people were killed and another five were wounded after Russian forces fired rockets at a district in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the regional governor, Oleh Synyehubov ,said. It has not been possible to independently verify this claim.
• At least one person has been killed and six injured by a missile strike on Kramatorsk which hit a residential area, according to Ukraine’s regional governor of Donetsk. “This is a deliberate attack on civilians,” Pavlo Kyrylenko said, adding that this will not stop until the Russians are stopped. The claims have not been independently verified.
• The mayor of Sloviansk said his city near Kramatorsk has come under Russian fire. Some residents were injured, said Vadym Lyakh, without providing further details. Ukraine’s military said pressure is intensifying with heavy shelling on Sloviansk and nearby populated areas.
• Russia’s defence ministry has said it killed Ukrainian servicemen who were trying to raise Ukraine’s flag on the recently retaken Snake Island. Authorities in Odesa appeared to confirm that missiles had struck the island, and that Russians had also destroyed two grain hangars in the region which contained “about 35 tonnes of grain”. Ukrainian military released footage showing troops installing a huge national flag on Snake Island after regaining control.
• Ukrainian forces are finally seeing the impact of western weapons on the frontlines of the war with Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. During his nightly TV address, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were advancing in two directions in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions on Ukraine’s southern front and dealing blows to Russia by hitting some of its logistics warehouses.
• The capture of the city of Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine has given Russia’s forces “genuine headway”, while its forces in the south have shown signs of “better cooperation”, analysts say. Western officials said the sustainability of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine was “challenging”, but described the impact on their munitions and morale as “remarkable”.
• Resistance remains ongoing in villages around Lysychansk, where 15,000 civilians remain, according to Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Haidai. On Telegram, Haidai said: “Today’s videos from Lysychansk are painful to watch.” He accused Putin’s troops of engaging in a scorched earth policy, “burning down and destroying everything on their way”.
• The evacuation of civilians from Sloviansk continued on Wednesday as Russian troops pressed towards the eastern Ukrainian city in their campaign to control the Donbas region. Mayor Vadym Lyakh said that about 23,000 people out of 110,000 were still in Sloviansk. The governor of Donetsk has also urged the region’s 350,000 people to flee.
• A Russian missile has hit a tanker carrying 500 tonnes of diesel drifting in the Black Sea, according to the Ukrainian military. Two KH-31 missiles were fired and one hit the Moldovan-flagged Millennial Spirit, Ukraine’s operational command south said. It is the second time the ship has now been struck since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Ukraine has summoned the Turkish ambassador after it said Turkey had allowed a Russian-flagged ship carrying what it has claimed was thousands of tonnes of stolen Ukrainian grain to leave the port of Karasu. Turkish customs officials had seized the vessel at Ukraine’s request on Tuesday, after Kyiv said the cargo was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdiansk, a port in the south-east of Ukraine.
• Investigators in Ukraine said they had foiled a criminal gang who forced women into sex work abroad after luring them with false adverts for legitimate employment. Authorities in Kyiv arrested the suspected leader of the gang after months of surveillance resulted in them stopping a woman as she was about to cross the border.
• US basketball player Brittney Griner has pleaded guilty to drugs charges in a Russian court, but said she had not deliberately broken the law. The next court hearing is scheduled for 14 July. Griner faces up to 10 years in prison under the charge. Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said “hype” around Griner’s case does not help and suggested Washington be silent about her fate.
• Russian foreign minister has flown into the Indonesian island of Bali for a gathering of G20 foreign ministers. The gathering, which is likely to be overshadowed by Moscow’s war in Ukraine and deep divisions within the bloc over how to respond to the crisis, will mark the first time that Sergei Lavrov has met counterparts from nations that are strongly critical of the war.
• Boris Johnson, who earlier resigned as the leader of Britain’s Conservative party, has spoken with Volodymyr Zelenskiy “to reiterate the United Kingdom’s steadfast support”, 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 expects 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 Kremlin spoksperson 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.
• The Irish taoiseach has described his visit to Ukraine as “very emotional” and said it was “difficult to comprehend” the level of cruelty that the country has suffered. Micheál Martin returned to Dublin today after spending a day witnessing the devastation inflicted by invading Russian forces in the conflict-scarred suburbs of Bucha, Borodanka and Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv.