Ukrainian drone said to have struck ship in Kerch Strait just one day after Russian Black Sea fleet vessel hit
At a glance: what we know on day 528 of the invasion
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, added that Moscow would retaliate over the attack on a civilian tanker near the Kerch Strait.
“The Kyiv regime, meeting no condemnation from western countries and international organisations, is actively applying new terrorist methods, this time in the waters of the Black Sea.
“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions, they will not go unanswered and their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be punished.”
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Russia says it has captured a settlement in north-eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv has reported increased attacks. “In the area of Kupiansk, as a result of the competent and professional actions of the military units of the western command, the settlement of Novoselivske was liberated,” the Russian defence ministry said.
Ukraine carried out a drone strike overnight on a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait, a day after one of Moscow’s ships was hit in the Black Sea. An anonymous security service source told Agence France-Presse: “Overnight the [Ukrainian security service] SBU blew up the Sig, a large oil tanker of the Russian Federation that was transporting fuel for Russian troops.” Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said Moscow would retaliate over the attack.
The Ukrainian sea drone strike on the Russian navy landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak in the port of Novorossiysk was a “significant blow” to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said an “extremely fierce battle is going on” in the long-contested eastern city of Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces advancing “slowly but confidently” south of the city while securing control of positions north of it.
Lithuania said it would close two of its six border crossings with Belarus because of concerns over the presence of Wagner mercenaries there. Lithuania, a Nato member on the alliance’s eastern flank, is expected to formally adopt the decision next week.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he still hoped his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would visit Turkey this month as Ankara works to re-establish a deal that allows Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea.
Ukrainian maritime authorities warned that Russian Black Sea ports and the approaches towards them are to be considered “war risk areas” from 23 August. The Ukrainian presidential adviser also struck a hawkish tone, saying only further escalation in the conflict with Russia could bring peace.
Talks started in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine. It is hoped this weekend’s meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from about 40 countries – but not Russia – will reach agreement on principles of how to end the conflict.
There are reports of explosions in several cities including Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia with air alerts.
Ukraine is claiming Russia is firing ballistic and Kh-47M2 Kinzhal missiles into cities with some reports indicating that Russian forces are firing missiles from inside Belarusian territory.
President Zelenskyy’s spokeswoman Iuliia Mendel tweeted: “Right now the missile attack is at Kyiv, Vinnutsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy regions. But the alert is all over Ukraine.”
Sources in the Khmelnytskyi region also report attacks and explosions continue to be heard in Zaporizhzhia, according to Sky News.
A Russian oil tanker in the Kerch Strait off occupied Crimea has become the latest high-profile target to be struck by a Ukrainian naval drone, as Kyiv’s maritime agency warned that all Russian ports should now be considered a “war risk area”.
The early Saturday morning attack on a vessel identified as the Sig was the second such naval attack in a 24-hour period, after the scuppering of a Russian landing ship on Friday outside the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
A video released by Ukrainian authorities appeared to show an unmanned sea drone striking the side of the 141-metre Russian-flagged Sig under the darkness of night.
The vessel had to be rescued by two tugboats after it lost power, Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported, but it was claimed there had been no serious injuries and that no fuel had been released into the sea.
My colleague Rob Davies has investigated a small part of the UK’s Treasury charged with regulating the spending of sanctioned individuals – but it faces a mountain of paperwork and criticism that it is being too lenient.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, added that Moscow would retaliate over the attack on a civilian tanker near the Kerch Strait.
“The Kyiv regime, meeting no condemnation from western countries and international organisations, is actively applying new terrorist methods, this time in the waters of the Black Sea.
“There can be no justification for such barbaric actions, they will not go unanswered and their authors and perpetrators will inevitably be punished.”
Russia strongly condemns what it regards as a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on one of its civilian vessels in the Kerch Strait and will respond and punish those responsible, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said.
A Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives struck a Russian fuel tanker overnight near a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, the second such attack in 24 hours, both sides said on Saturday.
Russia says it has captured a settlement in north-eastern Ukraine, where Kyiv has reported increased attacks. “In the area of Kupiansk, as a result of the competent and professional actions of the military units of the western command, the settlement of Novoselivske was liberated,” the Russian defence ministry said.
Ukraine carried out a drone strike overnight on a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait, a day after one of Moscow’s ships was hit in the Black Sea. An anonymous security service source told Agence France-Presse: “Overnight the [Ukrainian security service] SBU blew up the Sig, a large oil tanker of the Russian Federation that was transporting fuel for Russian troops.”
The Ukrainian sea drone strike on the Russian navy landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak in the port of Novorossiysk was a “significant blow” to Moscow’s Black Sea fleet, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said an “extremely fierce battle is going on” in the long-contested eastern city of Bakhmut, with Ukrainian forces advancing “slowly but confidently” south of the city while securing control of positions north of it.
Lithuania said it would close two of its six border crossings with Belarus because of concerns over the presence of Wagner mercenaries there. Lithuania, a Nato member on the alliance’s eastern flank, is expected to formally adopt the decision next week.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he still hoped his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would visit Turkey this month as Ankara works to re-establish a deal that allows Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea.
Ukrainian maritime authorities warned that Russian Black Sea ports and the approaches towards them are to be considered “war risk areas” from 23 August. The Ukrainian presidential adviser also struck a hawkish tone, saying only further escalation in the conflict with Russia could bring peace.
Talks started in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine. It is hoped this weekend’s meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from about 40 countries – but not Russia – will reach agreement on principles of how to end the conflict.
The photojournalist Jelle Krings recently spent a day with a team of Ukrainian combat medics as they worked a difficult shift that included evacuating two injured soldiers from the Avdiivka frontline in Donbas for emergency treatment.
The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday that it had found no explosives in areas of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, to which it had requested access a month earlier.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other on 4 July of planning an attack on Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, the latter claiming “operational data” showed explosive devices had been placed on the roofs of two units.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which has repeatedly warned that nearby military clashes could potentially cause a nuclear disaster, said the next day that access to the roofs of the two units and parts of the turbine halls was essential.
A small IAEA team based at the plant sought to verify the accusations by inspecting areas of the site to which it had already been granted access. It issued updates in the ensuing weeks to say it had found no signs of explosives in those areas, except mines outside the perimeter that appeared to pose no danger to the plant’s safety.
The Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko, who was cast out of the prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York after she refused to condemn Vladimir Putin, has filed a lawsuit against the company.
Netrebko has acted as a confidante of Putin, according to the BBC, and is demanding $360,000 in compensation for moral and financial damage. Following arbitration through the union, the Metropolitan Opera has already paid her £200,000 for more than a dozen cancelled performances. She has filed a lawsuit in the district court of Manhattan.
Described as one of the world’s top sopranos, Netrebko had performed at the Metropolitan Opera for two decades.
Denys Prokopenko, a commander of the controversial nationalist Azov regiment, has reportedly returned to the frontlines after he was released in a prisoner exchange with Russia.
As we reported earlier, Moscow was annoyed when Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy returned from Istanbul last month with five top commanders who were supposed to have remained in Turkey until the end of the conflict under a deal with Russia which saw dozens of its soldiers released.
Radio Free Europe reported that Prokopenko said in Lviv in July: “We will definitely have our say in the battle.”
The commander of the Azov Regiment, Denys Prokopenko, is back at the frontlines. pic.twitter.com/WyJQx4oxNA
The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has suggested Moscow could launch more strikes against Ukrainian ports in response to Kyiv’s attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea.
Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, which met on Friday, said in a post on his official social media accounts:
Scumbags and freaks understand only cruelty and force. Apparently, the strikes on Odesa, Izmail and other places were not enough for them.
If the Kyiv scum want to create an ecological disaster in the Black Sea, they should get one on the part of their territory that will soon fall to Poland and that will stink for centuries after that … That will be the final judgement for them on the grain deal.
The Olenegorsky Gornyak, a Russian navy landing ship that was damaged on Friday night in a Ukrainian sea drone strike “will not be seen in the near future”, according to a spokesperson for the Ukrainian defence ministry.
Andriy Yusov told BBC Russia:
What they thought would work to their advantage, namely their fleet, in modern conditions does not seem so invulnerable to other smaller, but more modern means.
The construction was not made on the territory of the modern Russian Federation, the damage there is very significant. And, of course, we will not see this Olenegorsky miner in the near future.
The BBC has spoken to disgruntled Russian men potentially in line to be conscripted into the war effort after the maximum age was raised from 27 to 30 at the end of last month.
A man who called himself Peter told the broadcaster:
I was going to get a mortgage this year and buy a flat for our family. My wife and I were discussing plans for the future. Now everything is on hold. From next January I can be called up to serve and sent to Ukraine. I don’t want to join the army, I don’t want to take part in this war and die for someone else’s goals.
Alex, 30, was apparently promised immunity from the draft because he has an important factory job, but the authorities U-turned.
Two weeks ago I suddenly started getting numerous calls and messages from the military enlistment office. They were telling me I must come and register as being immune to the draft. I was in doubt but eventually decided to go.
The officer became gloomy and told me that [the] ‘motherland has given a lot and that men are born to be soldiers. So now I must be ready to fight and die for motherland.’ I said that I don’t want to fight or die – I want to see my daughter grow and live in peace. [The officer] reminded me that if I fail to show up, I may get up to 15 years in prison.