UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine tells residents to leave occupied south due to counter-attack plans

July 10 2022 - 21:00

Ukraine tells residents to leave occupied south due to counter-attack plans

Ukraine's deputy prime minister on Sunday urged civilians in the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson to urgently evacuate as Ukraine's armed forces were preparing a counter-attack there.

Ukraine lost control of most of the Black Sea region of Kherson, including its eponymous capital, in the first weeks after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.

"It's clear there will be fighting, there will be artillery shelling... and we therefore urge (people) to evacuate urgently," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on national television.

She said she could not say when exactly the counter-offensive would happen.

"I know for sure that there should not be women and children there, and that they should not become human shields," she said.

Kherson's Russian-installed authorities say they want to hold a referendum on seceding to Russia, but they have not yet set a date.

The Kremlin says the future of the region should be determined by its residents.The Kherson region includes the city of Kherson, which before the war had a population of nearly 300,000. It is not known how many of the city's residents are still there. 

Reuters

July 10 2022 - 20:00

WATCH |  Russian missile strikes 'targeting civilians' in Ukraine

July 10 2022 - 19:00

Russian missiles hit Druzhkivka as troops gather in Bilohorivka

Donetsk regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on the Telegram messaging service that a Russian missile had struck Druzhkivka, a town behind the front line, and reported shelling of other population centres. 

Meanwhile, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Telegram that Russian forces were gathering in the area of the village of Bilohorivka, about 50 km (30 miles) east of Sloviansk, from where they were shelling the surrounding settlements and carrying out air strikes. 

Reuters

July 10 2022 - 18:00

WATCH | At least fifteen killed in strike on apartment building in Chasiv Yar town

July 10 2022 - 17:10

Ukraine 'deeply disappointed' by Canadian decision to return turbine

Ukraine's energy and foreign ministries said on Sunday they were "deeply disappointed" by Canada's decision to hand back a repaired Siemens turbine used for the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline to Germany.

The statement, published on the energy ministry's website, called on the Canadian government to reverse its decision and said that returning the turbine would amount to adjusting the sanctions imposed on Moscow "to the whims of Russia."

Reuters

July 10 2022 - 15:00

Russia hits Ukrainian hangars storing US-made artillery weapons

Russian forces struck two Ukrainian army hangars storing U.S.-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery weapon, near Kostantinovka in the Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.

Reuters

July 10 2022 - 14:00

French Minister Says Russian Gas Cutoff Most Likely Scenario

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Europe must prepare for Russian gas deliveries to be shut off entirely in retaliation for the region’s sanctions on the Kremlin and support for Ukraine. 

“Let’s prepare ourselves for a total cut-off of Russian gas,” Le Maire said at an economic conference in Aix-en-Provence, southern France, on Sunday.

“That’s the most likely scenario today.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

July 10 2022 - 10:39

Russian rockets hit apartment building in Ukraine's Donbas, US presses on diplomatic front

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

Ukraine also reported clashes with Russian troops on fronts in the east and south, as the United States sought to marshal international support in opposing Moscow's invasion.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strike on the apartment building took place on Saturday evening in the town of Chasiv Yar. 

Reuters

July 09 2022 - 09:21

Blinken meets China's Wang after leading pressure efforts on Russia

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bali on Saturday after a G20 ministerial meeting on the Indonesian island where the top US diplomat led efforts to pressure Russia over its war in Ukraine.

US officials say Blinken's first face-to-face meeting with Wang since October, which includes a morning session of talks and a working lunch, is aimed at keeping the difficult US relationship with Beijing stable and preventing it from veering inadvertently into conflict.

Blinken is expected to repeat warnings to China not to support Moscow's war effort in Ukraine and the two sides will address contentious issues that include Taiwan, China's extensive South China Sea claims, Beijing's moves to expand its influence throughout the Pacific, human rights, and trade tariffs.

Reuters

July 09 2022 - 09:19

Russia assembling reserve forces near Ukraine for future offensive, says British intelligence

Russia is moving reserve forces from across the country and assembling them near Ukraine for future offensive operations, British military intelligence said on Saturday

.A large proportion of the new Russian infantry units are probably deploying with MT-LB armoured vehicles taken from long-term storage as their primary transport, Britain's Ministry of Defence tweeted in a regular bulletin. 

Reuters

July 09 2022 - 09:17

Russians try to advance in east Ukraine; war in G20 spotlight at G20

Ukrainian forces battled on Saturday to block Russian military advances into the eastern region of Donbas, a provincial governor said, as Ukraine urged its allies to send it more weapons.

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.

Reuters

July 09 2022 - 08:30

West seeks to unblock Ukraine's grain ports, Putin warns of energy 'catastrophe'

Ukraine's Western allies on Friday urged Russia to allow Kyiv to ship grain out to the world as the four-month-old war threatened to bring hunger to countries far away from the battlefields.

Signalling that the Kremlin was in no mood for compromise, President Vladimir Putin said continued use of sanctions against Russia risked causing "catastrophic" energy price rises, while his top diplomat clashed with his Western counterparts at a G20 meeting.

Moscow's envoy to London meanwhile offered little prospect of a pull-back from areas of Ukraine under Moscow's control. Ambassador Andrei Kelin said Russian troops would defeat Ukrainian forces across the eastern Donbas region and were unlikely to withdraw from land across the southern coast.