Saturday, July 22, 2023
1558 GMT - A Ukrainian drone hit an ammunition depot in central Crimea, sparking an explosion, less than a week after a strike on a key bridge, linking the peninsula to Russia, prompted Moscow to exit a grain export deal.
Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of the territory, said in a Telegram post that there were no immediate reports of casualties but that authorities were evacuating civilians within a five-kilometre of the blast site.
The Ukrainian military appeared to confirm it had launched the drone strike, claiming through its press service that it had destroyed an oil depot and Russian arms warehouses in the Krasnohvardiiske area, although without specifying what weapons were used.
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1207 GMT - Russian war correspondent killed in south Ukraine: army
A Russian war correspondent working for the state RIA Novosti news agency, Rostislav Zhuravlev, was killed in a Ukrainian strike in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the military announced.
The agency also reported his death, saying he was killed near the frontline village of Pytikhatki.
It said the other correspondents have wounds of "medium severity".
1119 GMT - Bulgaria agrees to send heavy military equipment to Ukraine for the first time since the war began
Bulgaria has agreed to provide the Ukrainian army with some 100 armoured personnel carriers, marking a turnaround in the NATO member's policy on sending military equipment to Kiev following the appointment of a new government.
Direct arms supplies were rejected by previous interim governments appointed by President Rumen Radev. He is sympathetic to Russia and recently said that Ukraine was to be blamed for the war and that supplying arms to Ukraine only prolongs the conflict.
1011 GMT - Journalist's death prompts Russian outrage over Ukraine's alleged use of cluster bombs
A Russian war reporter was killed and three were wounded in what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack using cluster munitions, prompting outrage from politicians.
The defence ministry said the wounded journalists were evacuated from the battlefield after coming under fire in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region. It said Rostislav Zhuravlev, who worked for state news agency RIA, died while being transferred.
The ministry did not provide evidence that Ukraine had used cluster munitions in the incident, and Reuters was not able to verify the assertion.
Ukraine received cluster bombs from the United States this month, but it has pledged to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Many countries ban the weapons because they disperse bomblets that rain shrapnel over a wide area and can pose a risk to civilians. Some typically fail to explode immediately, but can blow up years later.
0959 GMT - Drone attack in Crimea prompts evacuation, brief bridge closure
A drone attack on an ammunition depot in Crimea has prompted authorities to evacuate everyone in a five-km radius and briefly suspend road traffic on the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia, the Moscow-appointed regional governor said.
Sergei Aksyonov said there was an explosion at the depot in Krasnohvardiiske in central Crimea but reported no damage or casualties. Footage shared by state media showed a thick cloud of grey smoke at the site.
Aksyonov blamed it on a Ukrainian drone attack. There was no immediate comment from Kiev.
Moscow illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, but most of the world does not recognise it as Russian territory.
0910 GMT - Former Russian military commander arrested in Moscow
Former Russian military commander Igor Girkin, who served as a commander in Russian-controlled areas of Donbass in eastern Ukraine in 2014, has been arrested in Moscow on charges of extremism.
Girkin, who uses the pseudonym Strelkov on social media platforms, was detained on Friday, according to his lawyer Aleksandr Molokhov and wife Miroslava Reginskaya.
Girkin appeared at the Meshchansky Court in Moscow on Friday evening, which sent him to a pre-trial detention centre for two months.
He is a former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service and after resigning started a Telegram channel, which quickly became popular and has almost 900,000 followers.
Girkin is known for his support of the war in Ukraine and harsh criticism of the strategy pursued by the Russian military chiefs.
0605 GMT - Ukraine wants ships to keep exporting its grain despite Russian attacks
Russia has repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Ukrainian ports key to sending grain to the world. Moscow has declared large swaths of the Black Sea dangerous for shipping.
There is still interest from ship owners in carrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea — if they can mitigate the risk, according to a major shipping group.
Despite the warnings and port attacks, which have levelled grain infrastructure, “shipping has always been very, very resilient in the face of these sorts of risks,” said John Stawpert, senior manager of environment and trade for the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents 80 percent of the world’s commercial fleet.
0320 GMT - Russia targets Ukraine's farm storage sites
Russia followed its withdrawal from a grain export deal by expanding its attacks from port infrastructure to farm storage buildings in Ukraine's Odessa region, while also practising a Black Sea blockade.
Other Russian missiles damaged what officials described only as an “important infrastructure facility” southwest of the port city of Odessa, in what appeared to be an effort to cripple Ukraine’s food exports.
In the attack on the storage site, two low-flying cruise missiles started a blaze, then another struck during firefighting efforts, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said.
The barrage injured two people, damaged equipment and destroyed 110 tonnes of peas and 22 tonnes of barley, Kiper said.
0306 GMT - Russia comes under pressure at UN to avoid global food crisis
Russia has come under pressure at the United Nations Security Council from its ally China and developing countries as well as Western nations to avert a global food crisis and quickly revive Ukrainian grain shipments.
Moscow was also criticised by the UN and council members for attacking Ukrainian ports after pulling out of the year-old grain deal and destroying port infrastructure — a violation of international humanitarian law banning attacks on civilian infrastructure.
In response to Russia declaring wide areas in the Black Sea dangerous for shipping, the UN warned that a military incident in the sea could have “catastrophic consequences.”
Russia said it suspended the Black Sea Grain Initiative because the UN had failed to overcome obstacles to shipping its food and fertilizer to global markets, the other half of the Ukraine grain deal.
The Kremlin said it would consider resuming Ukrainian shipments if progress is made in overcoming the obstacles, including in banking arrangements.
1934 GMT - US to give Ukraine new $400M military aid package
The United States plans to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine worth up to $400 million, primarily comprised of artillery, air defence missiles and ground vehicles as Ukraine's counteroffensive grinds on, three US officials have said.
The US is not including cluster munitions in this weapons assistance package, two of the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
The US first sent dual-purpose improved conventional munitions [DPICM] — a cluster munition fired from a 155-millimetre Howitzer cannon to Ukraine earlier in July.
Included in the package are several Stryker armoured personnel carriers, mine clearing equipment, munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems [NASAMS], munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems [HIMARS], anti-tank weapons including TOW and Javelin and munitions for Patriot and Stinger anti-aircraft systems, according to the officials.
The package was still being finalised and could change.
1917 GMT - US looks to Türkiye to play 'leadership role' in restoring grain deal
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US looks to Türkiye to play a "leadership role" in restoring the Black Sea grain deal following Russia's withdrawal.
"We look to Türkiye to play the role that has already played, a leadership role in getting this back on track, making sure that people around the world can get the food they need at reasonable prices," Blinken said in response to a question about Türkiye's role in grain deal during the Aspen Security Forum in the US state of Colorado.
Noting that Türkiye was instrumental in "getting the initiative off the ground" in the first place working closely with UN Secretary-General Guterres, Blinken said: "They did a terrific job in getting this off the ground".
"They've done a good job in keeping it going at various periods when the Russians were pulling back. And President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has said, I think just yesterday, that he is engaged with President [Vladimir] Putin to see if he can bring them back to the agreement," he said.
1912 GMT - Russian navy carries out live fire exercise in Black Sea
The United Nations has warned of escalating military action in the Black Sea, after Russia said its navy carried out a live fire exercise there having declared that ships travelling to Ukraine would be considered potential military targets.
Moscow's forces struck the Black Sea port of Odesa for a fourth night in a row, hitting grain silos, officials said.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, which Russia is a member, a senior representative for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, said: "Threats to target civilian vessels in the Black Sea are unacceptable."
After pulling out of a deal facilitating the safe shipment of grain from Ukraine, Russia has been allegedly targeting the Western-backed country's grain supplies and vital infrastructure in its southern ports including Odesa and Mykolaiv.
"The Russians attacked Odesa with Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea," said regional governor Oleg Kiper.
Moscow targeted local grain silos and "destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tonnes of barley," Kiper said, adding two people were wounded.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the effect of such attacks went well beyond Ukraine.
For our live updates from Friday (July 21), click here.
