Rockets hit central Ukrainian city, killing at least 12 and injuring 25
Russian forces have attacked the west-central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, killing at least 12 and wounding 25, according to the latest report from emergency services on the ground.
National police chief Igor Klimenko said on Facebook that three rockets hit an office block, a parking lot, destroyed at least 25 cars and damaged nearby residential buildings. Ukrainian emergency services said 90 rescuers were on the scene.
“There are dead and wounded,” Sergei Borzov, governor of the Vinnytsia region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday as reports of the attack emerged.
Ukrainian President Zelensky said rocket strikes hit the city center and that a small child was among the dead and wounded.
“Every day Russia destroys the civilian population, kills Ukrainian children, directs missiles at civilian objects. Where there is nothing military. What is this if not an open act of terrorism?” Zelensky said.
— Holly Elite
Russians ‘destroy everything in sight’ as they try to advance, Ukrainian official says
Russian forces are reportedly trying to break through Siversk, a city that lies between Luhansk and Donetsk regions in eastern Ukraine, to open a road to nearby Bakhmut in Donetsk, a Ukrainian official said.
The head of the Luhansk regional military administration, Sergey Haidai, said on Telegram on Thursday that “the Russians are trying to break through to Siversk and open the road to Bakhmut” through small settlements, and that in order to advance, “they are destroying everything in front of them you are “
“Now they are leading an offensive in the direction of Verkhnokamyansk [near Siversk]. There are battles going on,” Haiday noted.
A Ukrainian sniper wears a balaclava in a basement in Siversk, Ukraine, July 08, 2022.
Anatolian Agency | Anatolian Agency | Getty Images
Haydai said Russian troops launched 12 missile and air strikes on settlements on the border of neighboring Luhansk and Donetsk regions, the epicenter of the current war and the site of fierce fighting for months.
“They are continuing massive artillery and mortar fire and are using multiple launch rocket systems,” said Haiday, who provides regular updates on the military situation in his region.
The capture of Bakhmut is a strategic goal for Russia as its forces seek to push into Donetsk after capturing Luhansk a few weeks ago, while Ukrainian forces try to halt and thwart their opponents’ advances as much as possible.
— Holly Elite
Russian forces continue to attack Donetsk, but risk losing momentum
Russian forces continue to attack areas around the Donetsk cities of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, Ukraine’s armed forces said Thursday morning.
The cities are believed to be key targets for Russia as its forces seek to advance in the Donetsk region, having already captured all of neighboring Luhansk in recent weeks.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook on Thursday morning that Russian forces were shelling various settlements around Slavyansk, near Kramatorsk and Bakhmut, with tanks and tube and rocket artillery.
Ukrainian forces have repulsed some of the attacks south of Bakhmut, General Staff spokesman Oleksandr Stupun said. CNBC was unable to verify the information in the report.
Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank from the battlefield near Siversk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on July 8, 2022.
Anatolian Agency | Anatolian Agency | Getty Images
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence briefing on Thursday that Russian forces “continue to conduct artillery strikes on a wide front [in the Donbas]followed, in some areas, by exploratory attacks by small companies and platoon-sized units.”
However, they have made no significant territorial advances in the past 72 hours and are in danger of losing any momentum built up since the capture of Lisychansk, the last town taken by Russian forces in Luhansk before they try to advance on Donetsk.
“The aging Soviet-era vehicles, weapons and tactics used by Russian forces do not lend themselves to rapid recovery or momentum unless they are used in massive numbers – which Russia is currently unable to afford.”
— Holly Elite
Ukraine is making great efforts to unblock world food supplies, says Zelensky
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and UN officials met in Istanbul on Wednesday to try to reach a deal that would allow exports of vital products such as grain and sunflower oil from Ukraine to resume.
Miguel Medina | AFP | Getty Images
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and UN officials met in Istanbul on Wednesday to try to reach a deal that would allow exports of vital products such as grain and sunflower oil from Ukraine to resume.
The latter three said there was progress in talks, with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar saying the deal would be signed next week, but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said more work was needed before the deal could be finalised.
The deal calls for the creation of a joint coordination center to oversee the safe export of produce, with Ankara saying it will inspect cargo and ensure the safety of ships in transit. A deal would ease a global food crisis caused in no small part by a blockade on exports from Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat and sunflower oil.
Zelensky noted that the Ukrainian delegation informed him that there was some progress in the negotiations yesterday. “We will agree the details with the UN Secretary General in the coming days,” he added.
— Holly Elite
The number of victims in Chasov Yar is increasing again
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a residential building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Chasov Yar in Donetsk has risen, with 48 civilians already reported dead in the attack, including a child.
Emergency services of Ukraine reported on Telegram that the number of people rescued from the rubble remains at nine.
Firefighters and rescue workers clear the scene after a building was partially destroyed by shelling, in Chasov Yar, eastern Ukraine, on July 10, 2022.
Miguel Medina | Afp | Getty Images
Russian forces struck the five-story apartment building in Chasov Yar last Saturday. Ukraine reported that Russian Uragan missiles caused serious damage to the building. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, despite the high number of cases in which civilian infrastructure has been targeted, causing death and further displacement of ordinary Ukrainians.
President Zelensky marked the tragedy on Wednesday evening, saying that clearing the debris would continue until all the debris was cleared.
“This was one of the most brutal Russian strikes of the entire war – so many victims… My condolences to the relatives and friends of the victims,” he said.
— Holly Elite
More than 5.8 million refugees have fled Ukraine, according to the United Nations
A displaced Ukrainian and a child board a bus for onward travel at a temporary refugee center located in an abandoned Tesco building, in Przemyśl, Poland, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
Angel Garcia | Bloomberg | Getty Images
More than 5.8 million people have fled across Ukraine’s borders to elsewhere in Europe since Russia invaded in February, according to the latest figures compiled by the United Nations.
Of these, more than 3.6 million people have registered for temporary refugee protection or similar guarantees in Europe.
“The escalation of the conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes in search of safety, protection and assistance,” UN researchers wrote in a report.
“Millions of refugees from Ukraine have crossed borders into neighboring countries and many more have been forced to move within the country,” the report added.
This is where the Ukrainian refugees have fled:
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Ukraine, the UN, Russia and Turkey will discuss maritime corridors for grain exports next week after talks
Wheat grain is poured from a machine into a storage silo Monday, July 8, 2013. Temporary silos will be built along the border with Ukraine to help export more grain to deal with the growing global food crisis, U.S. President Joe Biden said , according to Reuters.
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Russia and Ukraine are expected to meet again in Turkey next week after talks aimed at freeing grain exports, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.
Earlier, delegations from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations met in Istanbul.
“We will try to reach a conclusion by doing this in coordination with the UN.” In this sense, it was agreed that the Ukrainian and Russian delegations will meet again in Turkey next week,” Akar said in a statement.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a press conference that the meeting was a “critical step forward” in the safe and secure export of Ukrainian food products through the Black Sea.
For months, Russian warships blockaded Ukrainian ports in the Azov and Black Seas.
— Amanda Macias
The US welcomes the EU’s decision to impose sanctions on Russian supplies to Kaliningrad
A disused border checkpoint to Russia is seen on April 15, 2022 in Nida, Lithuania. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, is sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland and is the most strategic shipping and commercial port on the Baltic coast.
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The Biden administration welcomed the European Union’s decision to apply economic sanctions against Russia and its supplies to and from Kaliningrad.
Kaliningrad, sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland, depends on Lithuania and Belarus for transit traffic between the enclave and mainland Russia.
“We welcome the member states of the European Union, including Lithuania, for implementing sanctions…
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