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It’s 11pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Russian air defences shot down several drones targeting the Moscow region, the mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with one hitting a tower that had also been struck on Sunday. The Russian defence ministry said two drones had been destroyed in the Odintsovo and Narofominsk districts near Moscow, and that a third was jammed and had crashed in the capital. The ministry blamed the attacks on Kyiv. No injuries were reported. Moscow’s Vnukovo airport was also temporarily shut and flights redirected.
Russia also downed a drone in the Sevastopol district of Crimea, according to the local governor. Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram: “A UAV was shot down in the Kara-Koba area. An explosion occurred on the ground. Grass and bushes caught fire. Fire brigades are already on site and have begun to put out the blaze.”
Poland’s ministry of defence said it will increase the number of troops at its border with Belarus after two helicopters from Belarus violated Poland’s airspace on Tuesday. Poland’s military initially denied that helicopters with Belarusian insignia had crossed into Polish airspace, but by Tuesday evening, the defence ministry acknowledged there “was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters that were carrying out training near the border”.
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said at least three drones had hit populated areas, one destroying two floors of a dormitory. Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram early on Tuesday: “A fire broke out and emergency services are attending. Details on casualties are being clarified.”
Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, has visited troops in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, part of which is occupied by Russia and which it claims to have annexed. Gerasimov was one of the military figures repeatedly criticised by Yevgeny Prigozhin before the Wagner group’s aborted uprising.
Ukraine thwarted an overnight attempt by a Russian saboteur group to cross its northern border, the interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said. Serhiy Naev, commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said four armed people attempted to cross the border but were repelled by Ukrainian fire.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thank you for following.
Polish residents in an area near the border with Belarus reported earlier on Tuesday that they had seen helicopters with Belarusian insignia which they said flew overhead.
Poland’s military initially denied that they had crossed into Polish airspace, but by evening, the defence ministry acknowledged there “was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters that were carrying out training near the border”.
The ministry added that Belarus had earlier informed Poland of plans to carry out training exercises in the area. It said they were flying at a low altitude and were not picked up by radar.
In response to the incursion, Polish defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak ordered an increase in the number of soldiers along the border, as well as an increase in other resources, including combat helicopters, the ministry said.
In a separate statement, the Polish foreign ministry said the chargé d’affaires of Belarus was “immediately summoned” and that Warsaw “issued a firm protest and called on the Belarusian side to immediately and in detail explain the incident”. It added:
The Polish side emphasized that the incident is perceived as another element of the escalation of tension on the Polish-Belarusian border. Poland expects Belarus to refrain from such activities
Iceland announced it has formally suspended work at its embassy in Russia but insisted the closure was not designed to end diplomatic relations with Moscow.
Reykjavik had made public the decision to close its mission in June, when it said maintaining embassy operations in Moscow was “no longer justifiable” with commercial, cultural and political ties with Russia “at an all-time low”.
The Icelandic foreign ministry said in a statement today that it was increasing its presence in Ukraine. It added:
The decision to suspend the operations of the Embassy of Iceland in Moscow does not constitute a severance of diplomatic relations.
Iceland planned to “increase its presence in a show of solidarity with Ukraine during Russia’s illegitimate aggression against Ukraine”, it added.
Thórdís Gylfadóttir, the Icelandic foreign minister, said in a statement:
We expect that our relations with Ukraine will continue to strengthen in the foreseeable future, and as we currently do not have plans to open an embassy in Kyiv this collaboration is an excellent starting point.
Poland’s ministry of defence said it will increase the number of troops at its border with Belarus after two helicopters from Belarus violated Poland’s airspace on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Polish defence ministry said Belarus’ charge d’affairs had been called in to explain the situation. Nato has been informed, it said.
In response, the Belarusian ministry of defence posted to Telegram:
Accusations of a violation of the Polish border by Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters of the Belarusian Air Force and air defense forces are farfetched and made by the Polish military and political leadership to justify the build-up of forces and means at the Belarusian border.
The US has not seen any indication that Russia was behind the coup in Niger, State department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said.
Miller told reporters that the US has not seen evidence suggesting Russia was involved in a coup in Niger, after several Russia flags were seen in pro-coup protests across Niger’s capital, Niamey and Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group, expressed support for putschists.
Miller however, warned that Russia could take advantage of uncertainty in Niger. He said: “It would not be out of character for Russia or for the Wagner group to try to take advantage of instability in this country or any other in Africa”.
Thousands of people backing the coup were seen marching through the streets of Niamey, denouncing France, the country’s former colonial power.
Some demonstrators shouted support for Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. Shouts of “long live Putin,” “long live Russia” and “down with France” could be heard among the crowds on Sunday.
Here are some of the latest images sent over the news wires of the aftermath of a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv.
Russian air defences have shot down several drones targeting the Moscow region, the mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday, with one hitting a tower that had also been struck on Sunday. The Russian defence ministry said two drones had been destroyed in the Odintsovo and Narofominsk districts near Moscow, and that a third was jammed and had crashed in the capital. The ministry blamed the attacks on Kyiv. Sobyanin wrote on Telegram that no injuries had been reported. Moscow’s Vnukovo airport was also temporarily shut and flights redirected.
Russia also downed a drone in the Sevastopol district of Crimea, the local governor said. Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram: “A UAV was shot down in the Kara-Koba area. An explosion occurred on the ground. Grass and bushes caught fire. Fire brigades are already on site and have begun to put out the blaze.”
The Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said more attacks on Russian soil were coming. He tweeted: “Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war, which, in turn, will soon finally move to the territory of the ‘authors of the war’ to collect all their debts … Everything that will happen in Russia is an objective historical process. More unidentified drones, more collapse, more civil conflicts, more war.”
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, said early on Tuesday that at least three drones had hit populated areas, one destroying two floors of a dormitory. Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram: “A fire broke out and emergency services are attending. Details on casualties are being clarified.”
A doctor was killed and a nurse wounded in Russian shelling of a hospital in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, regional officials said.
Ukraine’s interior minister said a Russian saboteur group’s attempt to cross into the country in the Chernihiv region on its northern border had been foiled.
The Russian ministry of defence said it had successfully repelled a unmanned boat attack on two of its Black Sea fleet ships – the Sergey Kotov and the Vasily Bykov. It said the attack had taken place 340km southwest of Sevastopol, and that three Ukrainian drone boats had been destroyed.
Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff of Russia’s armed forces, has visited troops in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, part of which is occupied by Russia and which it claims to have annexed. Gerasimov was one of the military figures repeatedly criticised by Yevgeny Prigozhin before the Wagner group’s aborted uprising.
Denis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed acting governor of occupied Donetsk, said the village of Staromaiorske remained hotly contested.
A resident of Krasnodar in Russia has received a 12-year prison sentence after being found guilty of passing information to Ukraine’s security service.
At least six people, including a 10-year-old child, were killed and more than 80 are now known to have been injured after Russia struck a high-rise apartment in Kryvyi Rih on Monday.
Poland has called in Ukraine’s ambassador to Warsaw in response to the “comments of representatives of Ukrainian authorities”, Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
The move came after the Ukrainian foreign ministry called in Poland’s ambassador to Kyiv earlier in the day over what it said were unacceptable comments made by the country’s presidential foreign policy adviser.
Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych informuje, że w związku z wypowiedziami przedstawicieli władz ukraińskich do siedziby MSZ został zaproszony Ambasador Ukrainy w Polsce.
Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, has said the country “needs decisions on full military support to drive the Russians out of the occupied territories” to end the war.
The only country that needs negotiations and a ceasefire today is #Russia – to retain the occupied territories, declare a tactical victory in the form of a land corridor to #Crimea, start internal consolidation of the crumbling #Putin's regime, and prepare for a new round of war,…
Russia has downed a drone in the Sevastopol district of Crimea, the local governor has said.
The Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Telegram: “A UAV was shot down in the Kara-Koba area. An explosion occurred on the ground. Grass and bushes caught fire. Fire brigades are already on site and have begun to put out the blaze.”
Reuters has spoken to Moscow residents who were near the site of the drone attack earlier today.
“In this situation, any place can be hit, so it is quite hard to feel 100% safe,” said Alexander Gusev, 67. “No one is safe in this situation because we don’t know what will hit us and where.”
Another resident, Kirill, 32, who declined to give his last name, said: “I feel safe. I’m originally from Donetsk, so I consider this a minor incident … You should just adjust your attitude and everything will be fine.”
A witness told Reuters: “We were going to see the tower where the explosion happened the day before yesterday … Suddenly there was this explosion, and we immediately ran.
“There were shards of glass, and then smoke rising. Then the security services starting running that way. The shards were really big.”
Médecins Sans Frontières has confirmed it had a partnership with the hospital in Kherson that was shelled leading to the death of a doctor.
The medical charity said the operating theatre suffered a direct hit and that it had been working at the hospital supplying medical equipment and providing mental health consultations to people displaced by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam.
The hospital caters “largely to stroke victims, patients with cardiac issues, and the provision of general surgical care”, it said.
🔴 Today a hospital that we have a partnership with in the Kherson region of Ukraine was shelled, resulting in a Ministry of Health doctor being killed. The operating theatre suffered a direct hit… 🧵
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Tuesday that Moscow was ready to help to improve Algeria’s combat readiness. He made his comments at a meeting in Russia with the chief of staff of Algeria’s armed forces, Reuters reports.
Britain’s ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, has characterised Russia’s alleged mass abduction of children from Ukraine as a deliberate strategy to sever ties between Ukraine and the “next generation that will defend the country”.
Simmons told the Ukrainian news outlet ArmyInform that the alleged abductions were part of its “hybrid invasion” of the country.
In March, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, were indicted by the international criminal court at The Hague over the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.
Children taken or kept by Russia were “subject to an extraordinary, relentless range of brainwashing”, Simmons said, which “creates a psychological barrier between the kids and their parents”.
This meant that Ukraine not only needed to find and return those children to their families, but it “inherits” the issue of addressing the “psychological journey to undo the harm of that brainwashing”.
Simmons said: “We know that there are children who come back from some of those engagements thinking that fighting Ukraine is the right thing to do.”