Maksym and Andrii, 11 years old boys, play with plastic guns at a self-made checkpoint on the highway in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, July 20, 2022. (AP) Russia Ukraine War News Live: Russian forces are likely closing in on Ukraine’s second biggest power plant at Vuhlehirska, 50 kilometres north-east of Donetsk, British military intelligence said on Thursday. “Russia is prioritising the capture of critical national infrastructure, such as power plants,” Britain’s defence ministry said in a regular bulletin.
Meanwhile, Russia on Thursday is set to resume supplies of gas via Nord Stream 1 pipeline after a 10-day maintenance break. The pipeline runs through Ukraine to Europe. The restart comes after comments from Russia’s foreign minister showed the Kremlin’s goals had expanded during the five-month war. However, this does not mean that Moscow is closing the door on talks with Kyiv, said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The United States estimates that Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached around 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded, said Reuters quoting CIA Director William Burns. Russia classifies military deaths as state secrets even in times of peace and has not updated its official casualty figures frequently during the war.
Paievska is contending with the toll of the Mariupol siege and her captivity. (Source: AP/ File photo)
Russian forces are likely closing in on Ukraine's second biggest power plant at Vuhlehirska, 50 kilometres north-east of Donetsk, British military intelligence said on Thursday.
"Russia is prioritising the capture of critical national infrastructure, such as power plants," Britain's defence ministry said in a regular bulletin.
The ministry also added that Russia is probably attempting to break through at Vuhlehirska, as part of its efforts to regain momentum on the southern pincer of its advance towards the key cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. (Reuters)
The United States estimates that Russian casualties in Ukraine so far have reached around 15,000 killed and perhaps 45,000 wounded, CIA Director William Burns said on Wednesday, adding that Ukraine has also endured significant casualties.
"The latest estimates from the US intelligence community would be something in the vicinity of 15,000 (Russian forces) killed and maybe three times that wounded. So a quite significant set of losses," Burns said. "And, the Ukrainians have suffered as well - probably a little less than that. But, you know, significant casualties."
Russia classifies military deaths as state secrets even in times of peace and has not updated its official casualty figures frequently during the war. On March 25 it said 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed. The Kyiv government said in June that 100 to 200 Ukrainian troops were being killed per day. (Reuters)
Russia's communications watchdog said Wednesday it was taking steps to punish the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts online encyclopedia Wikipedia, for violating Russian law around the conflict in Ukraine.
In a statement, Roskomnadzor said that Wikipedia still hosted "prohibited materials, including fakes about the course of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine", and that search engines would be used to inform users that Wikimedia violated Russian law. (Reuters)
President Vladimir Putin of Russia arrived in Iran on Tuesday for a rare international visit that emphasizes how the two countries are becoming more aligned amid their isolation from Europe and the United States.
Officials in both Russia and Iran have said in recent days that sanctions have pushed them closer together. In an interview with an Iranian broadcaster before Putin’s visit, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, evoked the history of 16th century diplomacy between Russia and Persia to set the scene for what he promised would be a new era of friendship between Tehran and Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was left waiting and fidgeting for 50 seconds by Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan ahead of talks in Tehran on Tuesday, prompting Turkish media to draw parallels with Putin making him and other leaders stand by in the past. The meeting in Iran was Putin's first with a NATO alliance leader since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
A video released by the Turkish presidency showed Putin standing in front of his chair and the nations' two flags, his hands clasped, mouth twitching and his stance shifting before Erdogan appears. Putin then raises his hands to his sides.
'Hello, how are you, good?' Erdogan said as they then smiled at each other and shook hands.
Media reports compared the incident with others of Putin letting world leaders cool their heels in the past, notably in Moscow in 2020 when Erdogan was left waiting for about two minutes by the Russian leader ahead of a meeting.
Turkey's T24 website asked in a headline: 'Was it revenge?' (Reuters)
Syria said Wednesday it is formally breaking diplomatic ties with Ukraine in response to a similar move by Kyiv.
Syria is a strong ally of Russia, which joined Syria’s conflict in September 2015 helping tip the balance of power in favor of President Bashar Assad.
In late June, Damascus said it would recognize the “independence and sovereignty” of Ukraine’s Russia-backed eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, becoming the first country to recognise the two breakaway states' independence. That led Ukraine to sever ties with Syria. (AP)
Ukrainian shelling badly damaged the Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, and it will likely be closed to traffic, TASS news agency reported on Wednesday, citing Russian-installed regional authorities. (Reuters)
Russia's offensive in Ukraine's Donbas region continues to make minimal gains as Ukrainian forces hold the line, British military intelligence said on Wednesday.
The Antonovskiy bridge over the Dnieper River that was struck by Ukrainian forces is probably still usable, Britain's defence ministry said on Twitter.
"It is highly likely that the bridge remains usable – but it is a key vulnerability for Russian Forces," the ministry added in the regular bulletin. (Reuters)
➡️ There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government to Putin's remarks. Talks did take place in March but no apparent breakthrough was made.
➡️ Putin held talks with the Iranian Supreme Leader in Tehran, his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the February invasion of Ukraine.
➡️ The two countries need to co-operate to stay vigilant against "Western deception", the Iranian leader told Putin.
➡️ The White House said, citing intelligence, that Russia was seeking to annex Ukrainian territory by installing proxy officials and establishing the rouble as the currency in Russian-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine.
➡️ Olena Zelenska, the wife of the Ukrainian president, met with US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill in Washington. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Moscow did not see any desire from Ukraine to fulfil the terms of what he described as a preliminary peace deal agreed to in March.
Putin, speaking to reporters in televised comments after a visit to Iran, said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were offering to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, which Moscow’s forces invaded in late February.
There was no immediate response from the Ukrainian government to Putin’s remarks in the early hours of Wednesday.
Ukraine's parliament dismissed the domestic security chief and prosecutor general on Tuesday, two days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suspended them for failing to root out Russian spies.
Ivan Bakanov was fired from his position at the helm of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) by a comfortable majority, several lawmakers said on the Telegram messaging app.
The head of Zelenskyy's political faction said Iryna Venediktova had also been voted out as prosecutor general. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Kremlin leader's first trip outside the former Soviet Union since Moscow's February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
In Tehran, Putin will also hold his first face-to-face meeting since the invasion with a Nato leader, Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, to discuss a deal aimed at allowing the resumption of Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports as well as peace in Syria.
Putin's trip, which comes just days after US President Joe Biden visited Israel and Saudi Arabia, sends a strong message to the West about Moscow's plans to forge closer strategic ties with Iran, China and India in the face of the Western sanctions.
"The contact with Khamenei is very important," Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, told reporters in Moscow. "A trusting dialogue has developed between them on the most important issues on the bilateral and international agenda."
"On most issues, our positions are close or identical," he added. Putin will also meet Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi who was elected last year. (Reuters)
Russia's defence ministry said it has destroyed ammunition depots for weapons supplied by the US and European countries in Ukraine's Odesa region, news agency Reuters said quoting Russian news agency Ifax.
Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia will prevail in Ukraine and will set the terms for a future peace deal with Kyiv.
"Russia will achieve all its goals. There will be peace - on our terms," Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said in a post on Telegram.
The former leader, once held up in the West as a possible partner, has becoming increasingly hawkish and outspoken in his criticism of the West since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24. (Reuters)
In his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Iran for a summit with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts on the Syrian conflict, Iranian state TV said on Tuesday.
The three countries are working together to try to reduce the violence in Syria despite supporting opposing sides in the war. Russia and Iran are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's strongest backers, while Turkey supports anti-Assad insurgents.
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch another operation in Northern Syria, which Tehran and Moscow oppose. In Tehran, Putin and Erdogan will meet to discuss a deal aimed at resuming Ukraine's Black Sea grain exports. (Reuters)
Russia has defaulted on the supply of at least 5 cargoes or shiploads of LNG to India after its retaliatory sanctions hit one of the companies that supply gas to India, sources said.
India's largest gas firm GAIL has a long-term deal to import 2.85 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum from a Singapore-based unit of Russian gas producer Gazprom.
The company has since June defaulted on the supply of 5 cargoes of LNG under that contract citing difficulty in sourcing gas due to sanctions, two sources briefed on the matter said. While the contract provides for making up of the volumes not supplied later, the Russian firm has so far nor indicated how and when it will make up for the lost volumes. (PTI)
The British intelligence, in their daily update, said Tuesday that Russian planners are facing a dilemma as to whether they should prioritise deploying reserve forces to capture Donbas or to defend against Ukraine attacks in the Kherson sector.
➡️ Russian missile strike in Odesa injured at least four people, burned houses to the ground, cluster shell strikes in Mkoliav injured at least two and more than 150 mines and shells fired on Sumy region, said Ukraine authorities.
➡️ Ukraine said Russian troops tried unsuccessfully to advance towards the city of Avdiyivka north of Donetsk, but were pushed back after several days fighting, suffering heavy losses, with some 40 dead.
➡️ Ukraine's top military commander said US-supplied long-range rocket systems "stabilize the situation" through "major strikes at enemy command points, ammunition and fuel storage warehouses."
➡️ Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered generals to prioritise destroying Ukraine's long-range missile and artillery weapons after strikes on Russian supply lines. (Reuters)
For the first time since the war began, the Stanislavchuk family was together again.
Yehor was leading his parents, Natasha and Sasha, his sister, Tasya, and his grandmother, Lyudmila, on a tour of Bucha, the quaint suburb of Kyiv that has become synonymous with Russian savagery.
Here was the school where Yehor had hid for two weeks as Russian troops bombed and murdered their way through the town. There, at the entrance to the school basement, was where a Russian soldier had shot a woman in the head just because he could. And over there, on top of the yellow crane, was where the sniper sat, picking off civilians as they scrounged for food and water.
Yehor, 28, spoke calmly, and no one expressed surprise. These stories are well known now in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday as she began a series of high-profile appearances in Washington that will include a session with U.S. counterpart Jill Biden.
Blue and yellow Ukrainian flags flew alongside American ones on Pennsylvania Avenue as Zelenska headed for her first announced event in the United States, the meeting with Blinken. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the secretary of state assured Zelenska of the United States’ commitment to Ukraine.