Ukraine has pulled back its soldiers from the outskirts of eastern Chasiv Yar town where they are losing territory to Russian forces.
Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 255th assault battalion, which has been fighting in the area for six months, claimed the Russians burned every building not destroyed by shelling after capturing the neighbourhood.
“I regret that we are gradually losing territory,” he said, speaking by phone from Chasiv Yar, but added, “we cannot hold what is ruined”.
He said Russia is using scorched-earth tactics in an attempt to destroy anything that could be used as a military position in an attempt to force the Ukranian troops to retreat from the strategic town.
Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. The intensity of the Russian strikes on Ukraine’s defensive line in the area has increased over the past month, Kyiv said.
As the war in Ukraine grinds on, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces were carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.
Key points
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Ukraine’s army retreats as Russia gets closer to seizing town
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Putin says he thinks Trump is sincere about ending Ukraine war
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Russia holds drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers – report
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Ukrainian forces pull back in Chasiv Yar
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Russian strikes kill elderly woman and wound eight people
Hungary’s Orban says he is in no position to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia
09:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he was not in a position to negotiate between Ukraine and Russia following media reports that he would travel to Moscow during the day to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban, a critic of Western military aid to Ukraine who has the warmest relations of any EU leader with Putin, said the fact that Hungary currently holds the bloc’s rotating presidency does not give him a mandate to negotiate on its behalf.
“I do not need a mandate as I do not represent anything,” Orban said on his regular Friday morning radio interview, without saying whether he would travel to Moscow later in the day.
“All I do is go to places where there is a war or threat of war that threatens the European Union and Hungary, or has a negative consequence on them, and ask questions,” he added.
Russia warships taken defensive posture, Ukraine’s navy chief says
08:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
In a sign of their more defensive posture, some Russian warships that seldom entered the Sea of Azov to the east of Crimea are now stationed there regularly, Ukraine’s navy chief said.
Monitoring data compiled by the Ukrainian Navy and provided to Reuters showed that as of June 27, 10 Russian warships were stationed in the Sea of Azov compared with none in 2023.
Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said the Black Sea Fleet is primarily used now for logistics, a small amount of coastal territorial control and for firing Kalibr cruise missiles at Ukraine.
He declined to say what Ukraine‘s future plans in the Black Sea would involve.
Ukraine‘s operations in the Black Sea have allowed it to establish and secure its own shipping corridor without Russia‘s blessing after Moscow pulled out of the wartime food export deal brokered by the United Nations last year.
Neizhpapa said the delivery of U.S.-made F-16 fighter aircraft, expected to happen soon, would be a boost allowing it to challenge what he called Russia‘s “full dominance” of the skies over the Black Sea.
“F-16s with the right armaments will be able to push away Russian warplanes. The northwestern part of the Black Sea, particularly the corridor for civilian ships, will be almost 100% secure,” he said.
Ukraine navy chief says Russia is losing Crimean hub in Black Sea
08:21 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations, and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv, Ukraine’s navy chief said.
Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said Ukrainian missile and naval drone strikes had caused heavy damage to the Sevastopol base, a logistics hub for repairs, maintenance, training and ammunition storage among other important functions for Russia.
“They were established over many decades, possibly centuries. And clearly they are now losing this hub,” Neizhpapa told Reuters in a rare interview in the port city of Odesa ahead of Ukraine Navy Day on Sunday.
“Almost all the main combat-ready ships have been moved by the enemy from the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, and the ships are kept in Novorossiisk, and some of them are kept in the Sea of Azov,” he said.
Neizhpapa said Ukraine had destroyed or damaged 27 naval vessels, including five that he said were destroyed by sea mines laid by Ukrainian naval drones near the Bay of Sevastopol.
Russia says it thwarted attack on defence facility in Samara, RIA reports
08:07 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia‘s Federal Security Service said it had prevented an attack on a defence facility in the Samara region in southwest Russia, the RIA state news agency reported on Friday.
Ukraine’s forces pull back from part of key eastern town of Chasiv Yar
07:39 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s troops had pulled back from part of the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region – having faced a months-long Russian assault.
Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy and compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes.
The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighborhood in the town, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, told The Associated Press in a written message Thursday.
Ukraine’s forces pull back from part of key eastern town of Chasiv Yar
Child killed after Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Krasnodar
07:15 , Arpan Rai
A six-year-old girl died in hospital after a Ukranian drone attack on the town of Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia’s Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor, said on Friday.
He said six people were hospitalised after the attack. Ukraine has not commented on the incident so far.
Russian court detains air commander linked to Bucha killings
07:00 , Jane Dalton
A Russian military court has placed the commander of the country’s 83rd Guards Air Assault Brigade in pre-trial detention for two months on charges of large-scale fraud, the Tass state news agency reported.
In 2022, The New York Times reported that Colonel Artyom Gorodilov was in command of Russia’s 234th Air Assault Regiment which Ukraine and the West say killed Ukrainian civilians in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in March that year.
Vladimir Putin has dismissed the Bucha allegations as “a provocation” and said the Russian army had nothing to do with the killings which Russian officials have suggested were staged for propaganda purposes.
Gorodilov, who was promoted for his exploits in what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, is the latest in a series of high-ranking Russian military officers and senior defence officials to be arrested on charges of corruption in recent months.
Ukrainian military says it downed all 32 drones launched by Russia overnight
06:49 , Arpan Rai
The Ukrainian air force said it downed all 32 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack. Three drones were shot down over the southern region of Mykolaiv, its governor said.
Three more were downed over Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the governor.
The Kyiv region governor reported that the air defence was at work to shoot down the drones in the early hours today.
Orban’s plans to visit Moscow sparks concern
06:40 , Arpan Rai
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today, Radio Free Europe and the Financial Times reported.
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as neither confirming nor denying the visit. State news agency RIA cited Peskov as saying that Putin had a “busy schedule” on Friday about which the Kremlin would inform reporters later.
It would be the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that Putin and Orban have met inside Russia.
Orban, who has maintained a closer relationship to Moscow than other EU nations since the invasion, visited Russia in 2022 without meeting Putin and has met him in other countries.
From the start of this month, Hungary has taken over the rotating presidency of the European Union, a largely ceremonial role tasked with agenda-setting and brokering agreements in legislative affairs.
Earlier this week, Orban visited Kyiv where he urged Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to consider a ceasefire to accelerate an end to the war with Russia.
“The EU rotating presidency has no mandate to engage with Russia on behalf of the EU,” Charles Michel, president of the Council of European Union leaders, said on X.
“No discussions about Ukraine can take place without Ukraine,” he said, reacting to Orban‘s visit to Moscow. Hungary, a member of the EU and Nato, has refused to send weapons to Ukraine and vocally criticised EU sanctions against Russia, while stopping short of using its veto power to block them.
Trump camp plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks
05:45 , Jane Dalton
Donald Trump has been presented with a plan to bring an end to the war in Ukraine by two key advisers that would require Kyiv to sit down for peace talks with Russia or receive no further US weapons:
Trump military aides give him plan to pressure Ukraine into peace talks with Putin
Modi to meet Putin during 2-day visit to Russia
05:40 , Arpan Rai
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia next Monday and Tuesday and hold talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said yesterday. The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month, but the dates have not been previously disclosed.
Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War and New Delhi’s importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.
Under Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s action in Ukraine while emphasizing the need for a peaceful settlement.
The partnership between Moscow and New Delhi has become fraught, however, since Russia started developing closer ties with India’s main rival, China, because of the hostilities in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s army retreats as Russia gets closer to seizing strategically important town
05:28 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble during a months-long Russian assault, a military spokesperson said yesterday.
Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle.
The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighbourhood of the town, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia ground forces formation said yesterday.
Ukraine’s defensive positions in the town were “destroyed”, he said, adding that there was a threat of serious casualties if troops remained in the area and that Russia did not leave “a single intact building”.
Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated Chasiv Yar, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.
Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 255th assault battalion which has been based in the area for six months, said after Russian troops captured the neighbourhood, they burned every building not already destroyed by shelling.
Shyriaiev said Russia is using scorched-earth tactics in an attempt to destroy anything which could be used as a military position in a bid to force Ukranian troops to retreat. “I regret that we are gradually losing territory,” he said, speaking by phone from the Chasiv Yar area, but added, “we cannot hold what is ruined”.
For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.
Russia broke international law by jailing reporter, UN experts say
04:30 , Jane Dalton
UN experts say Russia violated international law by imprisoning Wall Street Journal reporter
Putin says he thinks Trump is sincere about ending Ukraine war
04:24 , Arpan Rai
Vladimir Putin said he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was sincere about wanting to end the war in Ukraine, but expressed ignorance about the former US president’s plan.
“The fact that Mr Trump, as a presidential candidate, declares that he is ready and wants to stop the war in Ukraine, we take this completely seriously,” the Russian president said at a news conference in Kazakhstan.
“I am not, of course, familiar with possible proposals for how he plans to do this. This is the key question. But I have no doubt that he means it sincerely, and we support it” he said when asked about Mr Trump’s statement.
The Washington Post reported in April that Trump had privately spoken about allowing Russia to keep Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the Donbas area, which Russian forces partially control, in return for peace, something that Trump’s campaign has not confirmed.
Russia holds drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers – report
04:12 , Arpan Rai
Russia’s defence ministry has said its forces are carrying out drills involving mobile nuclear missile launchers, the Interfax news agency reported this morning.
Yars missile launcher crews from two units are set to move over 100 kilometres and practice camouflage and deployment, it said, with more crews joining drills in the future.
Russian attacks kill two and wound 26 in Ukraine
03:57 , Arpan Rai
Russian strikes killed two people and wounded 26 in Ukrainian regions stretching from the south to the east and northeast, local authorities said yesterday.
A missile strike in southern Odesa region killed a woman, injured seven people and damaged port infrastructure, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram.
In northeastern Kharkiv region, a second woman was killed and a man wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Russia claims 190,000 troops join this year
01:30 , Jane Dalton
Around 190,000 recruits have signed contracts to join the Russian military so far this year, the state-run RIA news agency has quoted former president Dmitry Medvedev as saying.
Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the current average recruitment rate was about 1,000 people a day.
Russia is encouraging people to sign up for the war in Ukraine by paying them well above average wages.
President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow has no need to enforce a new round of compulsory mobilisation because so many men are signing up on voluntary contracts.
Putin says he would prefer Biden to Trump
Friday 5 July 2024 00:01 , Jane Dalton
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said his preference for Joe Biden as the next US president remained unchanged.
Asked by a state television reporter whether Mr Biden or Mr Trump was better, and whether his publicly stated preference for Mr Biden had changed after the debate, Mr Putin said: “Nothing has changed.”
“Did we not know what could come? We knew,” he added.
Putin has several times said that he feels Mr Biden is preferable to Mr Trump, even after the US president cast the Kremlin chief as a “crazy SOB” [son of a b****].
Zelensky sends American Independence Day message
Thursday 4 July 2024 22:50 , Jane Dalton
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has used American Independence Day to stand up for his own country’s independence.
Wishing Americans a happy 4 July, he wrote: “We understand what independence means to you, Americans, and you can see that it means the same thing to us, Ukrainians…
“True independence is always the result of won battles, and freedom must be reinforced with victories every time tyranny attempts to destroy it.
“Different generations of Americans and Ukrainians have witnessed this firsthand, and it is critical that current generations pass on a sense of confident independence and guaranteed freedom to their children and grandchildren.”
Happy Fourth of July to all our American friends!
We understand what independence means to you, Americans, and you can see that it means the same thing to us, Ukrainians.
We value independence equally and rely on our brave men and women to defend it. Together, we are creating…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 4, 2024
In pictures: A town destroyed
Thursday 4 July 2024 21:30 , Jane Dalton
Chasiv Yar was left in ruins even before Ukrainian troops retreated:
Symbols of tradition, hope and healing
Thursday 4 July 2024 20:15 , Jane Dalton
Flowers have taken on extra significance in Ukraine since the war began. In case you missed it:
A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine
Russian missile kills one person and injures seven in Odesa
Thursday 4 July 2024 19:37 , Jane Dalton
A Russian missile attack killed one person, injured seven and damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, the regional governor has said.
Oleh Kiper did not specify exactly where the strike occurred but he said port facilities and administrative and other buildings were damaged.
In pictures: Destruction in Donetsk
Thursday 4 July 2024 18:45 , Jane Dalton
Belarus prisoners freed
Thursday 4 July 2024 18:05 , Jane Dalton
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has freed at least 10 political prisoners, rights campaigners said on Thursday, including a veteran opposition figure suffering from cancer.
But the rare pardon still leaves some 1,400 people behind bars for political activity, most of them arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted on a range of charges related to alleged extremism.
Human rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been freed. The only one named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition party leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced the following year to 10 years in a penal colony after being convicted of plotting against the government to seize power. Following his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Activists said their happiness at the releases was bitter-sweet.
“This is a very great joy, of course, almost childlike. But it is joy through tears – there is anger too for what people have to go through,” said Inna Kovalenok, a representative of a relatives’ group that campaigns for the release of prisoners.
Mr Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus’s liberation from the Nazis in teh Second World War. State news agency Belta said it was expected to apply to about 7,850 prisoners including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.
Russia launches forces recruitment drive in Africa
Thursday 4 July 2024 17:45 , Jane Dalton
Moscow is turning to a new mercenary group to train paid fighters from across the continent. In case you missed it:
Putin’s forces launch recruitment drive in Africa to fight war in Ukraine
Tally of wounded in Ukraine rises to 19
Thursday 4 July 2024 17:22 , Jane Dalton
The number of people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern, eastern and southern Ukraine on Thursday has risen to 19, local authorities said.
A woman was killed and a man was wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Two civilians in the southern city of Kherson were wounded in a drone strike, the local administration said.
Russian bomb on village kills woman
Thursday 4 July 2024 16:31 , Jane Dalton
An elderly woman has been killed and eight people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern and southern Ukraine, local authorities said.
The woman was killed and a man wounded by a guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Seven others were wounded in the town of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, governor Serhiy Lysak said. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Both the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions have been subjected to attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, but thousands of people have been killed and wounded.
Ukraine must take irreversible steps before we end war, says Putin
Thursday 4 July 2024 15:47 , Jane Dalton
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia would not declare a ceasefire in Ukraine until Kyiv took steps that were “irreversible” and acceptable to Moscow.
He has said it was pointless for Russia to attempt to appeal to the Ukrainian Parliament when it came to Moscow’s ideas to end the conflict between the two countries.
The president said he had seen fragments of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump but that he had enough of his own work to attend to, and added that the United States remained a great power.
Asked about Mr Trump’s suggestion that the war could be ended swiftly, Mr Putin said Russia took him seriously.
Russia ‘did not leave one building intact’ in Donetsk town
Thursday 4 July 2024 15:15 , Jane Dalton
Ukraine’s defensive positions in Chasiv Yar were destroyed and Russia did not leave “a single intact building”, a spokesperson for the ground forces formation has said.
Nazar Voloshyn said there would have been a threat of serious casualties if Ukrainian troops had remained in the area.
The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighbourhood in Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region.
Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated the town, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.
Belarus leaders continue crackdown on opponents
Thursday 4 July 2024 14:32 , Jane Dalton
The leadership of Belarus has been cracking down on dissent constantly for nearly four years. Several weeks ago, authorities raided homes and seized property belonging to 104 opposition activists who had fled the country:
Belarus targets opposition activists with raids and property seizures
Putin ally Belarus frees political prisoners
Thursday 4 July 2024 13:59 , Jane Dalton
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has freed at least 10 political prisoners, including a veteran opposition figure suffering from cancer, rights campaigners say.
But the rare pardon still leaves some 1,400 people behind bars for political activity, most of them arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted of charges related to alleged extremism.
Human-rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been freed.
The only one named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition party leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced the following year to 10 years in a penal colony. Following his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus’s liberation from the Nazis in World War Two. State news agency Belta said it was expected to apply to about 7,850 prisoners including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.
Trump should come forward with his plan to end war in Ukraine – Zelensky
Thursday 4 July 2024 13:31 , Alex Ross
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky says Donald Trump knows how to end the war in Ukraine, and he should “tell us today”.
Mr Zelensky said if there were risks to Ukrainian independence “we want to be ready for this, we want to know”, in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Mr Trump, who is currently ahead in the polls over US President Joe Biden ahead of November’s election, has previously said he’ll end the war.
The interview comes as Russia’s force slowly advance in the Donetsk region with a new front near the northeastern city of Kharkivopened over recent months.
Russian missile damages gas infrastructure Ukraine, killing one person
Thursday 4 July 2024 13:05 , Alex Ross
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine‘s Poltava region damaged gas infrastructure, killing one person and injuring three more, Ukraine‘s energy ministry said on Thursday.
An unspecified infrastructure as well as the facility of the gas producer Ukrgasvydobyvannia were damaged in the strike on Wednesday, the ministry said on Telegram.
Ukraine‘s air forces said on Wednesday they downed a Russian missile over the region but the regional governor reported damage done by debris.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia
Thursday 4 July 2024 12:27 , Alex Ross
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8-9 and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said.
The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month but the dates have not been previously disclosed.
Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trade partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.
Under Mr Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s action in Ukraine while emphasising the need for a peaceful settlement.
Chasiv Yar reduced to rubble
Thursday 4 July 2024 11:48 , Alex Ross
A spokesperson for Ukraine‘s military said its army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a town reduced to rubble under a months-long Russian assault.
Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated Chasiv Yar, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.The intensity of Russian strikes on Ukraine‘s defensive line in the area of Chasiv Yar has increased over the last month, Voloshyn said.In the past week alone, Voloshyn said Russia has carried out nearly 1,300 strikes, fired nearly 130 glide bombs and made 44 ground assaults.
Chasiv Yar lies a short distance west Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies a strategic, elevated location.
Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.
Where is Chasiv Yar
Thursday 4 July 2024 11:00 , Alex Ross
More on the Russian advancement in part of Chasiv Yar
Thursday 4 July 2024 10:38 , Alex Ross
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had taken control of the Novyi district, which lies to the west of Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal that runs through the eastern part of the Chasiv Yar.
“It became impractical to hold the canal neighbourhood after the enemy entered it, because it threatened the lives and health of our servicemen and the positions of our defenders were destroyed,” military spokesman Nazar Voloshyn told Ukrainian television.
“The command decided to pull back to more protected and prepared positions, but even there the enemy does not stop its active combat actions,” he said.
Russia’s forces, which launched their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have been slowly advancing in the Donetsk region for several weeks and tried to open a new front near the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
‘We have to safeguard the security bottom line’ – Chinese President Xi Jinping
Thursday 4 July 2024 10:00 , Alex Ross
At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana, attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on members to show solidarity in the face “the real challenges of intervention and polarization”. “In the face of the real threat of the Cold War mentality, we have to safeguard the security bottom line,” he added.
And addressing the summit, Putin emphasised the group’s focus on ensuring security of its members and noted that the SCO will form a dedicated centre that will coordinate response to various security challenges.
He added that the group’s members will also endorse a special program to fight separatism and extremism.
Besides Putin and Xi, and summit host Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, attending Thursday’s meeting are Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, President Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan, President Sadyr Zhaparov of Kyrgyzstan and President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus.
Vladimir Putin attends security summit set up to counter Western alliances
Thursday 4 July 2024 09:14 , Alex Ross
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday attended the summit of a security grouping created by Moscow and Beijing to counter Western alliances.
Putin and Xi joined the leaders of other countries that are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization at its annual meeting in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana.
The grouping was established in 2001 by China, Russia and four ex-Soviet Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to promote regional security and economic cooperation.
It was later joined by India, Pakistan and Iran. Russia’s western neighbor and ally, Belarus, joined the SCO on Thursday.Observer states and dialogue partners include Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Ukrainian forces pull back
Thursday 4 July 2024 08:44 , Alex Ross
Ukrainian forces have pulled back from a part of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donetsk region, the military’s spokesman said on national television on Thursday.
“It became impractical to hold the canal neighbourhood after the enemy entered it, because it threatened the lives and health of our servicemen and the positions of our defenders were destroyed,” Nazar Voloshyn said.
“The command decided to pull back to more protected and prepared positions, but even there the enemy does not stop its active combat actions,” he added.
Turkey’s Erdogan offers to help end Russia-Ukraine war
Thursday 4 July 2024 08:20 , Arpan Rai
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that Ankara could help end the Ukraine-Russia war, an offer Putin’s spokesperson rejected and said Erdogan could not play the role of an intermediary in the 28-month-old conflict.
Erdogan, speaking to Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan, said he believed a fair peace suiting both sides was possible, the Turkish presidency said.
But Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, ruled out any role as a go-between for the Turkish leader.
“No, it’s not possible,” said Peskov, when asked by a Russian television interviewer whether Erdogan could assume such a role, according to the Russian Tass news agency. The news agency’s account did not explain why the Kremlin was opposed to Erdogan’s participation.
The Turkish presidency said the two leaders also discussed the war in Gaza and ways to end the conflict in Syria.
A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine
Thursday 4 July 2024 08:00 , Arpan Rai
On his way to the Kyiv train station to greet his wife and daughter returning from Poland to Ukraine, Oleksander Tryfonov made a stop.
He bought two red roses from one of a half-dozen flower shops lining a dimly lit underpass — something beautiful for the two most precious people in his life.
“I haven’t seen them for two years,” Tryfonov, a burly 45-year-old driver said of his family. “Flowers are important for women.”
Flowers have always been linked with Ukraine’s culture, but since Russia’s 2022 invasion, their significance has only grown, with blooms becoming a symbol of both resistance and hope.
Despite hardships brought by war — or perhaps because of them — Ukrainians take every chance they can to fill Kyiv and other cities with flowers from the country’s vast rural heartland, anxious to reconnect with and rediscover their roots.
A precious moment in time of war: Flowers for a wife and daughter coming home to Ukraine
Ukraine reports heavy fighting as Russia claims to control Chasiv Yar city
Thursday 4 July 2024 07:13 , Arpan Rai
The frontline situation in Ukraine’s Chasiv Yar is “critically difficult”, Ukrainian press officer Ivan Petrechak said last evening amid Russian reports of mounting aerial attacks.
“We see no letup in the amount of shelling. The enemy is using artillery, multiple rocket systems,” Mr Petrechak, press officer for Ukraine’s 24th brigade defending the town, said. “The situation remains tense. But the 24th brigade is holding its positions.”
Russian forces, he said, were sticking to known tactics – moving infantry into forested areas and then dispersing to attack Ukrainian positions in small groups. Advancing soldiers were covered by shelling and attack drones.
The popular Ukrainian war blog DeepState reported earlier in the day that Russian forces had “completely erased” Novyi district. A Ukrainian military official said last week that Russian troops had been pushed out of an area by the canal.
Russian forces have been slowly pushing their way across parts of eastern Ukraine since the capture of the key city of Avdiivka in February.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of a district in the key Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar, while Ukraine said the area was engulfed by intense fighting.
Chasiv Yar stands on high ground 20km (12 miles) to the west of Bakhmut, a town Russian forces seized a year ago. It had been levelled by months of fierce battles.
Both sides see Chasiv Yar as a strategic site which Russia could use as a potential staging point to move westward through Donetsk region toward the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Russian armed group claim arson attack on Moscow warship in Baltic
Thursday 4 July 2024 07:00 , Alexander Butler
A Ukrainian military intelligence official said on Wednesday that a fire on a Russian warship in the Baltic Sea in April was caused by a joint operation conducted by his GUR agency and a pro-Kyiv Russian military group.
On 7 April, the Serpukhov missile ship stationed in Russia’s Kaliningrad region was set on fire, the GUR intelligence agency said at the time. It did not claim responsibility earlier.
GUR spokesperson Andriy Yusov told Reuters the operation was conducted in tandem with the Freedom of Russia Legion. Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has made no public comment on the incident.
Ukraine regularly carries out multiple air and naval strikes on Russian warships in the Black Sea. If the reported damage to the Serpukhov is confirmed, the arson would be Ukraine’s first known operation against Russia in the Baltic Sea.
Russian missiles and drones strike in daylight attack that kills 5
Thursday 4 July 2024 06:47 , Arpan Rai
A Russian missile and drone attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday killed five civilians and injured 47 others, including a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.
Blasts blew out some windows of a shopping mall, raining shards onto the street, photos published by local officials showed. Mayor Borys Filatov said the daytime attack also shattered windows in two schools and three kindergartens. Debris struck the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital, and a fire broke out in another hospital.
A video posted on social media by president Volodymyr Zelensky showed a missile with a fiery trail streaking over buildings in Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, and debris flying into the air from its impact.
Russian missiles and drones strike eastern Ukraine’s Dnipro in a daylight attack that kills 5
Ukraine downs 21 out of 22 drones launched by Russia
Thursday 4 July 2024 06:34 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine shot down 21 out of 22 Shahed drones used in a Russian attack overnight, its air force reported this morning.
Ukrainian air defence shot down the drones over six regions in northern and central Ukraine, the air force said.
Zelensky asks Trump to tell his plan ‘today’ on ending war
Thursday 4 July 2024 06:28 , Arpan Rai
Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Donald Trump to disclose his plan on ending the war in Ukraine and said that the mounting risks for Kyiv include losing statehood.
“If Trump knows how to end this war he should tell us today. Because if there are risks to Ukraine’s independence, if there are risks that we lose statehood, we want to be prepared for this,” he told Bloomberg.
Mr Trump has repeatedly said he could settle the war between Russia and Ukraine in one day if he’s elected president again, even though Russia’s United Nations ambassador says he can’t.
At a CNN town hall in May 2023, the former US president said: “They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done in 24 hours.” He said that would happen after he met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin. And he keeps repeating the claim on the campaign trail.
The Ukrainian war-time president reacted to the claims by Mr Trump and said he wanted to know the extent of US support when Americans vote on 5 November.
“They can’t plan my life and the life of our people, our children,” Mr Zelensky said. “My message is if they have the plan, it can be not public because of the elections but I think we have to know before to prepare.”
Mr Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung said Tuesday that “a top priority in his second term will be to quickly negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.”NEW
Russia destroys Ukrainian MiG-29 jet at airfield – report
Thursday 4 July 2024 06:04 , Arpan Rai
A Russian missile hit and destroyed a Ukrainian MiG-29 fighter jet on an airfield in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning, reported TASS news agency.
Russian forces have been targeting Ukrainian air base, as they anticipate the arrival of F-16 warplanes to Ukraine this week.
At least two of Ukraine’s Sukhoi Su-27 fighters parked on tarmac at Mirgorod air base in northern Ukraine were destroyed by Russian Iskander ballistic missiles on Monday.
Russian drones have continued to hover over Ukrainian air bases. While officials have not revealed where the F-16s will be based, Moscow said after the strike on Starokostiantyniv last Thursday that it had targeted airfields it believed would house them.
Ukraine will be informed it can’t join Nato because of its corruption – report
Thursday 4 July 2024 05:24 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s biggest domestic rival – corruption – is set to impact its Nato membership as Kyiv will be informed of it as the reason it cannot join the European bloc, officials said.
A senior official in the US State Department said Nato will ask Kyiv to take “additional steps” before any progression on membership talks, reported The Telegraph.
Nato leaders are set to gather for the Washington summit from 9 July to 11 July. Nato’s official line is that Ukraine will join one day, but not while the country is at war. “Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” its leaders declared at last year’s Vilnius summit.
Kyiv will be informed of Nato’s latest position in writing in the Nato communique, the source said, stating that it is a priority for “many of us around the table”.
“We have to step back and applaud everything that Ukraine has done in the name of reforms over the last two-plus years,” they added.
“As they continue to make those reforms, we want to commend them, we want to talk about additional steps that need to be taken, particularly in the area of anti-corruption,” the source said.
Ukrainian drones hit electricity substation near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, say officials
Thursday 4 July 2024 05:00 , Alexander Butler
Three Ukrainian drones struck an electricity substation near the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and nearby town of Enerhodar, the plant’s Russian-installed management said on Wednesday.
In a statement on Telegram, the plant’s management said that eight staff had been injured and the substation in south-eastern Ukraine damaged.
Russia’s state news agency TASS had reported earlier on Wednesday that the drones had hit the plant itself.
Five killed in Ukraine after Russian missiles hit Dnipro
Thursday 4 July 2024 04:13 , Arpan Rai
A Russian missile and drone attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed five civilians and injured 47 others, including a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.Blasts blew out some windows of a shopping mall, raining shards onto the street, photos published by local officials showed.
Mayor Borys Filatov said the daytime attack also shattered windows in two schools and three kindergartens. Debris struck the intensive care unit of a children’s hospital, and a fire broke out in another hospital.
Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video of the strike and showed a missile with a fiery trail streaking over buildings in Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, and debris flying into the air from its impact.
The attacks ravaged other parts of Ukraine as well. In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Russian shelling struck a village council building, killing one person and injuring two others, regional head Oleh Suniehubov said.
Elsewhere in the region, a Russian glide bomb struck a residential building in the village of Ruska Lozova, injuring at least two people. Others could be trapped under rubble, Syniehubov said.
Erdogan tells Putin that Turkey can help reach fair end to Russia-Ukraine war
Thursday 4 July 2024 04:00 , Alexander Butler
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that Ankara could help establish a basis to end the Ukraine-Russia war and that a fair peace suiting both sides was possible, the Turkish presidency said.
They two leaders also discussed the war in Gaza and ways to end the conflict in Syria, the Turkish presidency said in a statement after Erdogan and Putin met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan.
