Russian strike kills three people in Kharkiv region - governor

A Russian strike hit the northeast Ukrainian town of Chuhuiv in Kharkiv region overnight, killing three people including a woman of 70, and wounding three more, the regional governor said.

The strike damaged a residential block, a school and a shop, and rescuers were going through the rubble, Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on February 24, denies targeting civilians.

Twenty killed, dozens hurt in Russian missile strike on central Ukraine

At least 20 civilians were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday in a Russian cruise missile strike on the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia by a submarine in the Black Sea, Ukrainian officials said.

Video footage and photographs from the city, which is far from frontlines, showed thick black smoke billowing out of a tall building.

Three children were among the dead, officials said. Police said the wounded included about 50 people who were seriously hurt and that 15 others were unaccounted for.

Zelensky urges 'special tribunal' into Russian invasion

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called for a "special tribunal" to investigate Russia's invasion of Ukraine, addressing a conference at The Hague focused on war crimes in Ukraine.

"Existing judicial institutions cannot bring all the guilty parties to justice. Therefore, a special tribunal is needed to address the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine," Zelensky said. 

Ukrainian military launch new attack on Russian forces in southern Ukraine

Ukrainian forces hit two military checkpoints and a landing pad on Thursday in the second strike this week on a Russian-held area in southern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.

The new attack on Nova Kakhovka in Kherson killed 13 "occupiers", Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa regional administration, quoted the Operational Command South as saying.

He cited no evidence for the death toll.

Russian forces hit Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, two dead, police say

Russian missiles struck the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday, killing at least two civilians, police said.

"There are dead and wounded," Serhiy Borzov, governor of the Vinnytsia region said.

Police later put the initial death toll at two, with six wounded and said that about 50 vehicles were on fire.

Ukraine targets grain exports breakthrough

Ukraine said on Wednesday that a deal to resume grain exports blocked by Russia appeared close as four-way talks began in Turkey, raising hopes of an end to a standoff that has exposed millions worldwide to the risk of starvation.

Delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey met UN officials in Istanbul to discuss resuming exports of Ukraine grain from the Black Sea port of Odesa.

Kyiv believed a deal was "two steps away", Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying, though other participants seemed less optimistic.

Kyiv denies Russia shot down four Ukrainian jets

Ukraine's air force denied on Wednesday that Russian forces shot down four Ukrainian military jets in Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said Russian forces destroyed Soviet-era jets used by the Ukrainian air force over the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine along with another fighter aircraft, in Mykolaiv.

Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, dismissed the assertion as propaganda.

Russian shelling kills 5 in southern Ukraine's Mykolaiv region

At least five people were killed on Wednesday in Russian shelling in the region surrounding the embattled Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv near the Black Sea, the Ukrainian presidency said.

The presidential deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko said several strikes damaged a hospital and homes in the region, adding that "there were also artillery strikes in the Vitovsk district and according to preliminary information five civilians were killed".

Ukraine rules out ceding territory to Russia to secure peace

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any peace deal and said no peace talks were under way between Moscow and Kyiv.

"The objective of Ukraine in this war... is to liberate our territories, restore our territorial integrity, and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine," he told a briefing.

Russia says it shot down four Ukrainian jets

Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday that Russian forces shot down four Ukrainian military jets.

Russian forces destroyed Soviet-era jets used by the Ukrainian air force over Donetsk, along with another fighter aircraft in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, the defence ministry said in a daily briefing.

Reuters was not able to verify the reports.

Civilian toll in Ukraine conflict passes 5 000 mark, UN says

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday that more than 5 000 civilians had been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded on 24 February, adding that the real toll was likely much higher.

OHCHR, which has dozens of human rights monitors in the country, said in its weekly update that 5 024 people had been killed and 6 520 were injured.

Death toll from collapsed Donbas apartment block rises to 35

The death toll under a collapsed apartment block in Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar climbed to 35 on Tuesday, with rescue work still not over four days after the building was hit by Russian rocket fire, emergency services said.

Over 320 tonnes of rubble had been cleared and 9 people rescued from under the ruins.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Sunday the strike was "another terrorist attack," and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result.

Ukraine receives $1.7 billion in new financial assistance

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal thanked the US on Tuesday for its "incredible support" after Ukraine received a further $1.7 billion (R29 billion) in international financial assistance.

Shmyhal confirmed receipt of a grant which he said on Saturday would come from a Single-Donor Trust Fund created by the World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction, the International Development Association and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Ukraine says troops freed five from Russian-held Kherson

Ukrainian miltiary intelligence said on Tuesday that its troops rescued five Ukrainians in a special operation in the southern Kherson region, occupied by pro-Russian forces.

"Five Ukraine citizens held by the Russian occupiers were released," during a "special operation" by forces of the Ukrainian military intelligence, it said. A military serviceman, a former police officer and three civilians had been freed, it added in a statement.

"One of the released has a serious combat wound," it said.

Ukrainian rockets hit Russian-controlled territory

Ukraine said on Tuesday it carried out a successful long-range rocket strike against Russian forces in southern Ukraine, territory it is planning to retake in a counter-offensive using hundreds of thousands of troops.

According to Ukraine, the strike hit an ammunition dump in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region and killed 52 Russians.

A Russian official in Kherson gave a different version. He said at least seven people had been killed in the Ukrainian attack and that civilians and civilian infrastructure had been hit.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

Ukrainian shelling kills seven in occupied Kherson: pro-Russia forces

Authorities in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson occupied by pro-Russia forces said on Tuesday that Ukrainian shelling on a city there killed seven people.

"There are already seven dead and around 60 wounded", following artillery fire on the city of Nova Kakhovka, the head of the Moscow-backed administration, Vladimir Leontiev said. 

It was not immediately possible to verify these claims.

At least 12 wounded by shelling in Ukraine's Mykolaiv

At least 12 people were wounded in the shelling of Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv overnight, the regional governor said on Tuesday.

Rockets from multiple rocket launchers landed on two medical facilities and residential buildings, Vitaly Kim said.

Death toll from Russian rocket attack on housing block rises to 30

The death toll from a Russian rocket attack that hit an apartment block in eastern Ukraine over the weekend rose to 30 on Monday, while rescuers searched for survivors in the ruins, an official from the president's office said.

A Reuters reporter saw rescuers lift a survivor from the ruins to a stretcher and carry away the bodies of two people in white bags. Soldiers also helped with the rescue effort.

Nine people have been rescued so far, the State Emergency Service said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office, said rescuers had cleared 65% of the rubble, weighing around 170 tonnes, by early on Monday evening.

Russia says it shot down three Ukrainian military aircraft

Russia's defence ministry said that its forces shot down two Su-25 fighter-bombers and a MiG-29 fighter jet in eastern Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported on Monday.

The military also said it destroyed two Ukrainian army hangars housing US M777 howitzers.

Toll from Russian strike in Ukraine's Chasiv Yar rises to 26

Ukraine's emergency services said on Monday that the death toll from a Russian strike on the town of Chasiv Yar in the eastern Donestsk region had risen to 26.

The emergency services said in a statement on social media that as of Monday afternoon "26 dead people have been discovered and removed from the rubble" while nine people were recovered alive.

"Work is ongoing," it added.

Putin decree gives all Ukrainians path to Russian citizenship

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday extending a simplified Russian naturalisation process to all citizens of Ukraine, a document published on the government's website showed.

Previously, a simplified procedure for acquiring Russian citizenship applied only to residents of the self-proclaimed breakaway territories of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine, which Russia seeks to "liberate" from Kyiv's control, as well as the Russian-occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Death toll in Russian rocket attack on housing block rises to 24

The death toll from a Russian rocket attack that hit an apartment block in eastern Ukraine over the weekend rose to 24 on Monday and rescuers were still combing the rubble for survivors, the State Emergency Service said.

Nine people have been rescued from the ruins of the five-storey block in the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region that was struck late on Saturday, the agency said.

The emergency services said 55 people were helping the rescue effort.

Russia says it struck ammo depots in Ukraine's Dnipro region

Russia's defence ministry said on Monday that its missiles struck ammunition depots in Ukraine's central Dnipro region. The depots were used to supply rocket launchers and artillery weapons.

It also said that it struck deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign fighters in the Kharkiv region. Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.

Ukraine says it recaptured village in occupied Kherson region

Ukrainian forces have recaptured the village of Ivanivka in the southern Russian-occupied region of Kherson, a Ukrainian infantry brigade said on Monday.

"The only thing left of the Russian occupiers in Ivanivka are horrible memories and 'dead' military equipment," it said.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the claim.

Death toll from Russian rocket attack on apartment block rises to 18

The death toll from a Russian rocket attack that hit an apartment block in eastern Ukraine over the weekend rose to 18 on Monday. Rescuers were still racing to reach survivors in the rubble, the emergency services said.

Rescuers were in voice contact with two people trapped in the ruins of the five-storey block in the town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region that was struck late on Saturday, the service said.

"As of 08:45 on July 11, ... 18 people were killed, 6 people were rescued from the rubble, about 137 tonnes of rubble were cleared," it said.

Russian shelling kills three, wounds 22 in Kharkiv

Three people were killed and 22 were wounded on Monday after Russian shelling hit the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the regional governor said.

An official from the president's office said residential areas had been struck when Russia fired rockets from multiple rocket launchers at the city.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on 24 February, denies targeting civilians.

Russian rockets hit apartment block, killing at least 15 - Ukraine

Rescuers raced on Sunday to reach more than 20 people feared trapped under the rubble of an apartment block in eastern Ukraine that was hit by a Russian rocket attack in the night, killing at least 15 people, officials said.

The five-storey building in the town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region was struck by rockets late on Saturday, the officials said. On Sunday afternoon, the regional emergency service said that 24 more people could still be trapped.

"We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen," a sobbing local resident told Reuters as rescuers removed a body in a white sheet and cleared rubble from the ruins of a building using a crane.

"The second (strike), I do not even remember, there was lightning, we ran towards the second entrance and then straight into the basement. We sat there all night until this morning," said the woman who identified herself as Ludmila, 64.

The emergency service said rescuers were in verbal contact with three people under the rubble. Russia, which says it is conducting a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine, denies targeting civilians."What have we done to them, what have our people done to hurt them? There was darkness and then it all started," Ludmila said.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine's president, said in a Telegram post that the strike was "another terrorist attack" and that Russia should be designated as a "state sponsor of terrorism" as a result.

A bill to apply this label to Russia has been tabled by two US senators, who expressed their confidence the proposal would be voted through during a Thursday visit to Kyiv.

'Normal part of diplomatic practice' - Zelensky fires outspoken Andriy Melnyk, other ambassadors

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that he had dismissed several of Kyiv's senior envoys abroad, including the country's outspoken ambassador to Germany.

Rocket attack collapses apartment block in Ukraine's Donbas, killing six

At least six people have been killed and more than 30 are feared trapped after Russian Uragan rockets hit a five-storey apartment block in Ukraine's Donetsk region, collapsing the building, the region's governor said.

Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram that the strike took place on Saturday evening in the town of Chasiv Yar.

He said six people had been confirmed killed and five wounded, and that according to information from residents, at least 34 people were likely trapped in the ruins.

Ukraine urged its allies to send more weapons as its forces dig in, hoping to stall Russia's military advance through the eastern Donbas region, while Ukraine's chief negotiator said a turning part was approaching in the conflict. Signalling that the Kremlin was in no mood for compromise, President Vladimir Putin said sanctions against Russia for the invasion it launched in February risked causing "catastrophic" energy price rises.

His top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, clashed with his Western counterparts at a G20 meeting in Indonesia, where they urged Russia to allow Ukraine to ship its blockaded grain out to an increasingly hungry world.

Russia's envoy to Britain, meanwhile, offered little prospect of a pullback from parts of Ukraine under Russian control.

Ambassador Andrei Kelin told Reuters that Russian troops would capture the rest of Donbas in eastern Ukraine and were unlikely to withdraw from land across the southern coast.

Ukraine would eventually have to strike a peace deal or "continue slipping down this hill" to ruin, he said.

On the front lines in the eastern region of Donbas, Ukrainian officials reported heavy Russian shelling of towns and villages ahead of an anticipated push for more territory.

Mexico to stay neutral on Ukraine, president says ahead of Biden meeting

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday his administration would maintain its neutral stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict after his upcoming meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Lopez Obrador said that he hoped there would be a ceasefire.

Putin says Russia ready to fight until the 'last Ukrainian is left standing,' reversing initial claims

- Vladimir Putin told lawmakers that Russia was prepared to fight in Ukraine until the end.

- The claims contrast starkly with earlier arguments that he wanted to save Ukraine from its leaders.

- He also made reference to the possibility of renewed negotiations with Ukraine.

Russian parliament bans British diplomats

The Federation Council, the upper chamber of Russia's parliament, on Friday barred British diplomats, including the ambassador, from entering its building.

Senator Grigory Karasin said that the ban was in response to a British decision to exclude Russian diplomats from its parliament.

"The decision is quite simple, although unpleasant, but it is required for this situation. Our country must be firm in upholding its own positions and in upholding its honour," said Karasin.

Russia jails city councillor for 7 years over Ukraine criticism

A Moscow court on Friday sentenced a city councillor to seven years in prison for denouncing President Vladimir Putin's military intervention in Ukraine.

Alexei Gorinov, 60, is the first elected member of the opposition to be sentenced to jail for criticising Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

He was found guilty of spreading "knowingly false information" about the Russian army.

Russian forces unlikely to leave southern Ukraine, says ambassador

Russia will defeat Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region and is unlikely to withdraw from Ukraine's southern coast, Russia's ambassador to London said. 

When asked how the conflict might end, Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin said Ukraine forces would be pushed back from Donbas. 

"We are going to liberate all of the Donbas," Kelin said. 

Russian foreign minister walks out of G20 group session

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of a G20 session on Friday as his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock was criticising Moscow over the Ukraine war, diplomats said.

Diplomats said Lavrov also left an afternoon session before a virtual appearance by Ukraine's foreign minister and was not present as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia in the closed-door meeting in Bali.

G20 host Indonesia urged foreign ministers of the group on Friday to help end the war in Ukraine. 

Russia looks to China, India for support

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday said attempts to isolate Moscow with sanctions was akin to a declaration of economic war by the West, dismissing what he said was "frenzied" criticism of the war in Ukraine.

Speaking at a G20 gathering in Indonesia, Lavrov said Russia would now turn to China and India and other nations outside the West. He scolded Russia's rivals for hampering a chance to tackle global economic issues by focusing on Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West could try to defeat Russia "on the battlefield" and said Moscow's intervention in Ukraine marked a shift to a "multi-polar world."

"Today we hear that they want to defeat us on the battlefield. Well, what can you say here? Let them try," Putin told senior lawmakers.

He accused "the collective West" of unleashing a "war" in Ukraine and said Russia's intervention in the pro-Western country marked the beginning of a shift to a "multi-polar world."

Video shows Ukraine firing powerful US HIMARS artillery hailed as a game-changer in fighting Russia

US-donated HIMARS artillery is making its mark in Ukraine's pushback against the Russian invasion.

Video from a recent CNN report showed Ukrainian forces operating a HIMARS — or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System — in an undisclosed location.

Russia orders block on Caspian oil pipeline that could pull 1m barrels a day from Europe's supply

Russia has ordered the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which transports oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea, to suspend operations for 30 days, potentially cutting another 1 million barrels from Europe when the continent is already mired in an energy crisis.

The CPC is one of the world's largest pipelines, handling 1% of global oil. The organisation said the forced shutdown relates to breached environmental regulations, specifically oil spillages, Reuters reported. It added that it submitted an appeal to the court in the Russian town of Novorossiysk to request that the suspension be lifted.

Disputed Russian grain ship moves away from Turkish coast

A disputed Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying grain Kyiv alleges was stolen from Ukraine has moved away from the Turkish coast nearly a week after its arrival, a marine traffic website showed on Thursday.

The Zhibek Zholy moved at least 20 kilometres away from Turkey's Black Sea coast of Karasu before apparently switching off its transponder and disappearing from view, data on the marinetraffic.com website showed.

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko said 'forgetful Europe' should face a 'moral cleansing'

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a major ally of Vladimir Putin, has said that Europe should undergo a "moral cleansing," according to state news agency Belta.

During a government meeting at the weekend, Lukashenko talked about fighting Nazis in the Second World War and said: "The time has come for the forgetful Europe to give itself a moral cleansing."

Ukraine army says Lysychansk 'not encircled'

The Ukrainian army on Saturday rejected claims that Moscow-backed separatists and Russian forces had surrounded the key eastern city of Lysychansk, but said heavy fighting was ongoing on its edges.

"Fighting rages around Lysychansk. (But) luckily the city has not been encircled and is under control of the Ukrainian army," Ruslan Muzytchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard, said on Ukrainian television, after a separatist spokesman made the allegations earlier in the day.

Ukraine separatists say they have encircled Lysychansk: agencies

Ukrainian separatists backed by Russia Saturday said they had "completely" encircled the key city of Lysychansk in the eastern Lugansk region.

"Today the Lugansk popular militia and Russian forces occupied the last strategic heights, which allows us to confirm that Lysychansk is completely encircled," Andrei Marotchko, a spokesman for the separatist forces, told the TASS news agency.

Capturing the city would allow the Russians to push deeper into the wider eastern region of the Donbas, which has become the focus of their offensive since failing to capture Kyiv after launching their military operation in Ukraine in late February.

Across the Donets river, the Russians captured the neighbouring city Severodonetsk last week.

The biggest business, economic and market news of the day, by Fin24 deputy editor, Ahmed Areff.

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