Mykolaiv rattled by explosions – Ukrainian officials
Powerful explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Thursday amid Russian attacks in several regions, Associated Press reports.
The agency is reporting the latest overview of the war from Ukraine’s presidential office.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 more wounded over the past 24 hours, with nine Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the office said in its daily update.
Two districts of Mykolaiv, which has been targeted frequently in recent weeks, were shelled.
Russian forces reportedly fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Some 50 residential buildings were damaged in the city of 107,000 and some projectiles hit power lines, leaving city residents without electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Nikopol is located across the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was taken over by Russian troops early in the war.
Experts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War believe that Russia is shelling the area intentionally, “putting Ukraine in a difficult position”.
Updated at 11.38 BST
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The Kremlin said on Thursday that the Turkish-brokered deal to unblock Ukraine’s grain exports from the Black Sea was not a “one-off mechanism”, and that it hoped it would continue to work effectively.
The deal, which allows for Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets via Turkey, must be renewed every 120 days by agreement of the parties.
The EU intends to put together another financing package for Ukraine by September that will amount to about €8bn (£6.7bn), German government sources said.
Part of the package would be made up of grants that do not have to be repaid while another part will consist of loans, a government official told journalists on Thursday.
Eight people have been killed and four have been wounded in Russian artillery shelling in the eastern Ukrainian town of Toretsk in Donetsk region on Thursday, the regional governor for the area said.
The shelling hit a public transport stop where people had gathered, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram. Three children were among the wounded, he said.
Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said the attack was “another terrorist act” by Russia, and repeated his calls for other nations to declare Russia a state sponsor of terror, a move which would bring further sanctions on Moscow.
Mykolaiv rattled by explosions – Ukrainian officials
Powerful explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv on Thursday amid Russian attacks in several regions, Associated Press reports.
The agency is reporting the latest overview of the war from Ukraine’s presidential office.
At least four civilians were killed and 10 more wounded over the past 24 hours, with nine Ukrainian regions coming under fire, the office said in its daily update.
Two districts of Mykolaiv, which has been targeted frequently in recent weeks, were shelled.
Russian forces reportedly fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region. Some 50 residential buildings were damaged in the city of 107,000 and some projectiles hit power lines, leaving city residents without electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Nikopol is located across the Dnieper river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was taken over by Russian troops early in the war.
Experts at the US-based Institute for the Study of War believe that Russia is shelling the area intentionally, “putting Ukraine in a difficult position”.
Updated at 11.38 BST
Summary
It is nearly 1pm in Kyiv. Here is the latest from our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
- The UN is conducting a fact-finding mission in response to requests from both Russia and Ukraine after 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion at a barracks in separatist-controlled Olenivka. The warring nations have accused each other of carrying out the attack. Ukraine claims it was a special operation plotted in advance by the Kremlin, and carried out by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group. Russia’s defence ministry, however, claims the Ukrainian military used US-supplied rockets to strike the prison.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, wants to talk directly to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the hope China can use its influence with Russia to bring the war to an end. According to a report in the South China Morning Post, Zelenskiy said: “It’s a very powerful state. It’s a powerful economy. So (it) can politically, economically influence Russia. And China is [also a] permanent member of the UN security council.” So far, China has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion and its president, Xi Jinping, told Putin it would support Russia’s “sovereignty and security”.
- The US Senate has ratified Finland and Sweden’s accession to Nato, voting 95-1 in support. The US is the 23rd member state to ratify what would be the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “This historic vote sends an important signal of the sustained, bipartisan US commitment to Nato, and to ensuring our alliance is prepared to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow,” the president, Joe Biden, said in a statement. All 30 Nato members must ratify the accession before Finland and Sweden can become members.
- Ukraine is pulling out its 40 peacekeepers from the Nato-led mission in Kosovo, which totals 3,800 members, according to Ukrainian news. In March, Zelenskiy issued a decree for all missions to return to Ukraine to support the war.
- The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has again appealed for access to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant now controlled by Russian forces to determine whether it was a source of danger. Contact with the Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which is at Zaporizhzhia and is being operated by Ukrainian technicians under occupation, was “fragile” and communications did not function every day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi told a Swiss newspaper.
- The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to ease Russia’s naval blockade has reached Turkey. The Sierra Leone-registered ship Razoni set sail from Odesa port for Lebanon on Monday under an accord brokered by Turkey and the UN. The ship has been inspected by members of the joint coordination centre, and is now expected to move through the Bosphorus Strait “shortly”.
- Ukraine failed to stop a Syrian-flagged vessel claimed to be carrying stolen Ukrainian grain from leaving Lebanon. The Lebanese government reported on Thursday that the Syrian-flagged Laodicea had left its territorial waters, despite appeals from Kyiv to reverse a court decision allowing its departure. Russia has denied stealing the grain on the ship, which was reported to be sailing to its ally, Syria.
- The UN has said that there have been over 10m border crossings into and out of Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion of the country on 24 February. Data gathered by the UNHCR states that 6,180,345 individual refugees from Ukraine are now recorded across Europe. Ukraine’s neighbours have taken the largest individual numbers. Poland has 1.25 million refugees.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has branded “disgusting” the behaviour of the ex German chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The former German leader has come under fire, after he went on holiday to Moscow and had a private meeting with Vladimir Putin. Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with the Russian president.
Updated at 11.13 BST
Ship with contested grain leaves Lebanon
A Syrian ship that Ukraine says is carrying stolen Ukrainian grain has left a Lebanese port after officials in Lebanon allowed it to sail following an investigation, Associated Press reports.
Lebanon’s transport minister, Ali Hamie, tweeted on Thursday that the ship was now outside his country’s territorial waters.
The Syrian-flagged Laodicea had been anchored at the port of Tripoli since it arrived last Thursday, carrying 10,000 tons of wheat flour and barley. Ukraine said the ship’s cargo had been stolen by Russia and urged Lebanon not to allow the vessel to leave the port.
A court decided on Wednesday, however, that the vessel could sail, after Lebanon’s prosecutor-general concluded it was not carrying stolen Ukrainian grain.
Russian diplomats have denied stealing the grain, while accusing Ukraine of lying and trying to damage relations between Moscow and Beirut.
Updated at 11.02 BST
Young Ukrainians have been helping rebuild places destroyed during the Russian invasion. This photo essay from EPA shows a group of young people working in Ivanivka, a village in southern Ukraine that was under Russian occupation for months.
Around 200 people work at weekends to repair war-damaged buildings and restore places that were under Russian occupation.
Serhiy (right), together with young volunteers from the ‘Repair Together’ initiative, and his parents who lived in this house clean the rubble from their home that was destroyed during the Russian invasion, at Ivanivka village, Chernihiv region. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/EPA
Most of the volunteers are young Ukrainians from Kyiv, but some come from other parts of the country or abroad.
Young volunteers gather next to a bonfire at the end of the day after cleaning rubble from houses that were destroyed during the Russian invasion, not far from Ivanivka village, Chernihiv region. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/EPA
Updated at 11.03 BST
Ukraine reports explosions in occupied Donetsk
Ukraine’s armed forces have reported explosions in the occupied city of Donetsk this morning.
According to the Telegram channel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “there are already victims and wounded”. The post reported explosions in the city centre near a hotel and a theatre.
The reports have not been independently verified.
Updated at 10.13 BST
Estonia calls for further sanctions on Russia
Estonia’s foreign minister has called for further western sanctions against Russia to pressure President Vladimir Putin to end the war.
In an interview with Politico’s National Security Daily newsletter, Ernas Reinsalu said the war would get worse for Ukraine and is partners, the longer the west waits to transfer weapons and impose further sanctions.
My message is indeed that there is an immediate need for an additional package of sanctions, or several packages.
The war will not end by itself. The war will only end if Putin ends the war. And Putin ends the war not because he somehow feels a sentiment about [what has changed in the] international order or his reputation.
The EU has passed seven rounds of sanctions against Russia, but momentum is flagging as governments worry about a looming energy crisis. Estonia, one of the bloc’s smallest member states, which spends 0.8% of GDP on military aid for Ukraine, has long been in the vanguard of tougher action against Russia.
Reinsalu made the comments, shortly before meeting Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv.
Updated at 10.35 BST
Zelenskiy brands ex German chancellor’s behaviour ‘disgusting’
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the behaviour of Gerhard Schröder was “disgusting”, after the former German chancellor went to Moscow last week and claimed Russia wanted a “negotiated solution” to the war.
Ukraine’s president made the comments on Wednesday during his nightly video address, after Schröder told German media in a lengthy interview he had nothing to apologise for over his friendship with Vladimir Putin, whom he met last week during a visit to the Russian capital.
Zelenskiy said:
It is simply disgusting when former leaders of major states with European values work for Russia, which is at war against these values.
As the Guardian’s Kate Connolly reports from Berlin, Schröder has come under fierce criticism for his business links to the Russian state-run gas company Gazprom. He was one of the driving forces behind the construction of two Baltic Sea pipelines to carry gas to Europe, one of which was mothballed after the invasion of Ukraine. The other, Nord Stream 1, is only delivering 20% of the level of gas expected.
In a five-hour long interview with the magazine Stern and the broadcaster RTL he gave no direct insight into the mindset of the Russian leader. However, he said after his discussions with Putin he thought the conflict with Russia was “resolvable” but required more negotiations – which Germany and France should lead – and a greater display of sensitivity by the west towards Russia’s “real fears of being hemmed in” by hostile countries, which “feed off historical events” and were “unfortunately also valid”.
You can read Kate’s full report here: Ex-German chancellor Gerhard Schröder under fire for meeting Putin
Updated at 10.34 BST
Ukraine urges reversal of court decision on Syrian grain ship
Ukraine has called on Lebanon to reverse a decision by a court in Tripoli to authorise the departure of a seized Syrian ship carrying what Kyiv says is stolen Ukrainian grain, Reuters reports.
In a statement, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said it was disappointed by the court’s decision to clear the Syrian-flagged Laodicea for departure and said that Kyiv’s position had not been taken into account.
The Syrian-flagged vessel has been anchored at the Lebanese port of Tripoli since last week, laden with 10,000 tons of wheat flour and barley. Ukraine has said the grain was stolen by Russia, but Lebanese officials have rejected this claim.
The legal wrangling comes as the first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine under a deal to to ease Russia’s naval blockade reached Turkey.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Lebanon Ihor Ostash, speaks at a press conference, in Beirut, Lebanon on Wednesday. He said a Syrian ship docked in Lebanon is carrying Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia. AP Photo/Hussein Malla Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
Updated at 10.11 BST
Andrew Roth
Russia will introduce duty-free shops selling western imports to diplomats for foreign currency in a practice that will remind many Russians of the infamous beryozka stores that epitomised official privilege during the Soviet era, the Guardian’s Andrew Roth writes from Moscow.
The shops, which could open as soon as the autumn, will sell imported goods that may become hard to find in ordinary Russian shops as foreign brands flee the country over the war in Ukraine.
But in order to make a purchase, visitors will have to provide an official document to prove they are a foreign diplomat, employee of an international organisation or a family member. And the shops will also accept payment in dollars and euro, mimicking the beryozka stores’ function as a magnet for foreign currency.
“It’s a total USSR!” wrote Sergei Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian outlet Mediazona, which wrote about the legislation after its announcement in Russia’s official parliamentary newspaper.
You can read all of Andrew’s report here: Russia to open duty-free shops selling western imports to foreign diplomats
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