Russia-Ukraine war: EU accuses Putin of blackmail; Moscow says peace talks ‘don’t make sense’ – live | Ukraine

Ukraine’s first girl has made an emotional plea on the Capitol for extra weapons to make use of within the battle in opposition to Russia.

In a face-to-face handle, Olena Zelenska referred to as on lawmakers to offer Ukraine with extra anti-air defence techniques to defend in opposition to Russian missiles, in accordance with AP.

“We wish no extra airstrikes. No extra missile strikes. Is that this an excessive amount of to ask for?” she mentioned.

“We wish each father and each mom to have the ability to inform their youngster: ‘Fall asleep peacefully, there will probably be no extra airstrikes, no extra missile strikes’.

“That is what I’m asking for and what my husband is asking for, as mother and father.”

Zelenska’s speech adopted an announcement from US defence secretary Lloyd Austin that Washington would ship 4 further excessive mobility artillery rocket techniques (HIMARS) to Ukraine.

The European Union has agreed on a brand new spherical of sanctions in opposition to Russia, this time concentrating on its gold exports, in addition to people and entities.

The transfer, which was agreed by world leaders on the current G7 Summit, marks the seventh package deal of penalties following a ban on most Russian oil imports in June.

New sanctions may also see property at Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank, frozen, with a number of extra names added to the blacklist.

The EU Fee president, Ursula von der Leyen, mentioned the measures would assist implement earlier sanctions extra successfully and prolong them till January 2023.

She added: “Moscow should proceed to pay a excessive value for its aggression.”

The UK authorities has lastly introduced a route for unaccompanied youngsters to come back to Britain below the Houses for Ukraine scheme – a month after promising to alter the foundations.

Round 1,000 youngsters, principally youngsters, have been ready for visas after they utilized with out realising they might not be eligible with out a guardian or guardian.

Many have waited three months or extra in precarious conditions in Ukraine and throughout Europe.

Some, like 17-year-old violinist Anastasiia, whose story we instructed earlier within the month, are on the frontline in south-east Ukraine, and have been in severe hazard whereas they waited.

Anastasiia lives within the Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia area, the place combating has been intense, and has been ready greater than three months to hitch a household in Hertfordshire.

Nevertheless, communications seem like down and messages haven’t been getting by to her for 10 days now.

Residence Workplace minister Kevin Foster mentioned the brand new guidelines meant that “the place a Ukrainian guardian or authorized guardian confirms it’s of their youngster’s greatest pursuits for the kid to come back to the UK with out them, there’s a route for them”.

Sponsors might want to commit extra time to assist a toddler than the standard six months of the Houses for Ukraine scheme. They should pledge three years’ care or till the kid turns 18.

New purposes for unaccompanied youngsters will probably be open from 10 August, whereas a backlog of earlier circumstances is cleared.

A unprecedented video has emerged of a Ukrainian girl confronting officers who tried to drive her husband to hitch pro-Russian fighters.

Separatists troopers have stepped up the pressured conscription of males within the occupied areas of the Donbas amid mounting proof of the size of losses on the Russian aspect.

The clip, filmed in late June, exhibits a lady making an attempt to stop officers from the battle commissariat taking her husband to the conscription workplace in Donetsk.

“He doesn’t need to go and combat. No one desires to combat. We’re so sick of you and your battle,” she says.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, accused Canada on Wednesday of delaying the return of a turbine for the Nord Stream pipeline, saying Ottawa was eyeing the European market itself.

Russia’s state-owned power big, Gazprom, has decreased flows to Germany by way of Nord Stream 1 by some 60% in current weeks, blaming the absence of a Siemens gasoline turbine that was present process repairs in Canada, AFP experiences.

Germany mentioned on Wednesday that Russia was utilizing the absence of the turbine as an “excuse” to restrict gasoline deliveries.

The repaired turbine is at present understood to be en path to Russia, as routine upkeep work that fully halted deliveries by way of Nord Stream 1 is because of be accomplished on Thursday.

Moscow says the turbine is important for the correct functioning of the Nord Stream pipeline, which delivers gasoline to Germany by way of the Baltic Sea.

“One machine wants deliberate repairs, it’s not given again from Canada as a result of sanctions have been positioned in opposition to Gazprom, though it’s a Siemens plant,” Putin mentioned at a televised assembly in Moscow.

“I’ll inform you why Canada did it: as a result of it produces oil and gasoline itself and plans to enter the European market,” AFP experiences.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline has been shut down since 11 July for 10 days to bear annual upkeep.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mentioned on Wednesday he nonetheless hoped to host Russia and Ukraine for talks this week on easing a worldwide meals disaster attributable to blocked Black Sea grain.

Erdoğan’s feedback got here lower than a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin set an sudden new situation for resuming the deliveries.

As much as 25 million tonnes of wheat and different grain have been blocked in Ukrainian ports by Russian warships and landmines Kyiv has laid to avert a feared amphibious assault.

AFP experiences:

The primary direct talks between the edges’ army delegations since March – attended in Istanbul final week by Turkish and UN officers – got here up with an preliminary draft for resolving the deadlock.

The edges had been anticipated to fulfill in Istanbul once more this week for a second spherical of talks that each Turkish and UN officers had hoped might produce a last deal.

However Putin mentioned on Tuesday that Russia would solely ease the trail for Ukrainian grain exports if the West lifts sanctions on Russia’s personal shipments.

Erdoğan instructed reporters after assembly Putin on the sidelines of a summit in Tehran that he remained hopeful about an settlement.

Erdoğan was quoted as telling Turkish reporters aboard his aircraft house:

On account of a technical assembly held in Istanbul final week, an settlement was reached on the primary outlines of how this course of will work inside UN frameworks.

Now this week, we wish this memorandum was a written textual content. We hope that the plan will begin being applied within the coming days.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine have formally confirmed their participation on the proposed second spherical of Istanbul talks. Erdoğan additionally didn’t sign when it may be held.

Russian overseas minister: peace talks ‘do not make any sense’

Greater than 9.5 million border crossings have been made out of Ukraine because the starting of Russia’s invasion on 24 February.

The UN Refugee Company (UNHCR) recorded a complete of 9,547,969 crossings over the previous 21 weeks, advising that the quantity mirrored cross-border actions relatively than people.

It estimated a further 105,000 folks moved from the Donetsk and Luhansk areas to Russia from 18-23 February.

Throughout Europe, the best variety of particular person refugees from Ukraine was recorded in Russia (1,728,407), adopted by Poland (1,221,596), and Moldova (84, 562), in accordance with UNHCR’s information.

Russia has widened its army goals past the east of Ukraine, setting its sights on different areas, in accordance with Reuters.

The supply of weapons from the west to Ukraine prompted the shift in focus from Donetsk and Luhansk to southern areas, a few of that are already below the management of Russian forces.

“The geography is completely different now. It isn’t solely concerning the DNR and LNR, but additionally the Kherson area, the Zaporizhzhia area, and plenty of different territories,” the overseas minister, Sergei Lavrov, mentioned.

“The method is constant, constantly and persistently.”

Lavrov warned the Kremlin’s targets might broaden additional nonetheless if the west continued to produce Ukraine with weapons.

“We can’t permit the a part of Ukraine that [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy will management, or whoever replaces him, to have weapons that can pose a direct menace to our territory and the territory of these republics which have declared their independence,” he mentioned.

Germany has accused Russia of utilizing the absence of a turbine as an “excuse” to restrict the stream of gasoline by way of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Russia’s state-owned power firm Gazprom has decreased deliveries in current weeks, blaming the absence of the gasoline turbine which was present process repairs.

But Germany is just not shopping for the reason and believes the Kremlin is squeezing provides in retaliation to western sanctions.

“I want to stress that in accordance with our data, that is an excuse by the Russian aspect,” a German financial system ministry spokesperson mentioned.

Vladimir Putin insisted Gazprom would meet all of its obligations in full, with Nord Stream 1 set to renew operation on Thursday.

However he warned one other gasoline turbine was due for upkeep on the finish of the month, which might trigger additional provide disruption.

EU accuses Russia of blackmail over gasoline provides

Reuters has an intensive report on the scenario in Ukraine in the present day:

Russian forces shelled jap and southern Ukraine on Wednesday after Washington mentioned it noticed indicators Moscow was making ready to formally annex territory it has seized throughout almost 5 months of battle.

Uncertainty swirled in the meantime over the deliberate restart on Thursday of an enormous Russian gasoline pipeline to Europe, as Russian president Vladimir Putin warned that its capability might be additional decreased as a consequence of sluggish progress in gear upkeep.

Fearing Russia might reduce off deliveries, the European Union will set out emergency plans to cut back gasoline demand inside months.

Ukraine’s army and politicians reported heavy and typically deadly Russian shelling amid what they mentioned had been largely unsuccessful makes an attempt by Russian floor forces to advance.

British army intelligence mentioned Russia’s offensive within the jap Donbas area continued to make minimal positive factors as Ukrainian forces – which Britain helps assist – held the road. Greater than two weeks have handed since Russia’s final main territorial achieve, town of Lysychansk.

The Kremlin has mentioned there is no such thing as a time restrict to what it calls a “particular army operation” to make sure its personal safety within the face of Nato’s enlargement, and that it’ll do no matter it takes to attain its goals.

Ukraine and the west condemn the battle as an unprovoked battle of aggression by Russia in opposition to its neighbour.

5 civilians had been killed and 16 wounded by Russian shelling within the Donetsk area, whereas two civilians had been killed by shelling within the metropolis of Nikopol within the south, the respective Ukrainian regional governors mentioned on Telegram.

Roman Starovoit, governor of Russia’s Kursk area, which borders Ukraine, wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces had shelled a border crossing there.

Russia’s Tass information company in the meantime cited the mayor of Horlivka, a metropolis within the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk Individuals’s Republic in jap Ukraine, as saying that one individual had been killed and three injured, together with a toddler, by Ukrainian shelling.

Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the Ukrainian or Russian accounts.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected troops combating in Ukraine, his ministry mentioned on Wednesday. It cited him as ordering extra to be executed to shoot down Ukrainian drones working in border areas and to cease Ukraine shelling areas it has misplaced management of.

Citing US intelligence, White Home nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby accused Russia of laying the groundwork to annex Ukrainian territory it had seized because the begin of the battle on 24 February, an assertion the Russian embassy in Washington mentioned mischaracterised what Moscow was making an attempt to do.

The embassy forged what Ukraine and the west regard as a unadorned land seize as “returning peace to liberated territories” with a view to defend the rights of individuals no matter their ethnicity or language – a reference to Russian audio system or ethnic Russians in Ukraine who Russia says it’s saving from persecution by the hands of what it has forged as harmful Ukrainian nationalists.

Kyiv says that Russian narrative is fake.

A Reuters snap means that a US-made harpoon missile launcher was destroyed in Ukraine’s southern Odesa area.

The snap quotes an Interfax report citing the Russian defence ministry.

Ukraine started receiving the Harpoon missiles from Denmark in Might as a part of wider western arms shipments to Kyiv.

Reuters mentioned it couldn’t instantly affirm the strike.

Russia’s communications watchdog has mentioned it’s taking steps to punish the Wikimedia Basis, which hosts on-line encyclopaedia Wikipedia, for violating Russian legislation across the battle in Ukraine.

Reuters experiences:

In an announcement, Roskomnadzor mentioned that Wikipedia nonetheless hosted “prohibited supplies, together with fakes concerning the course of the particular army operation on the territory of Ukraine”, and that search engines like google can be used to tell customers that Wikimedia violated Russian legislation.

Writing on Telegram, vice-chair of the Russian parliament’s committee on data coverage Anton Gorelkin mentioned that hyperlinks to Wikipedia can be accompanied by a disclaimer warning customers about authorized violations by Wikimedia Basis.

Roskomnadzor mentioned the measures would stay in place till Wikimedia Basis turns into totally compliant with Russian legislation.

The Wikimedia Basis on 13 June appealed a Moscow courtroom ruling, fining it 5m roubles (£76,000) for refusing to take away what it termed disinformation from Russian-language Wikipedia articles on the Ukraine battle, together with “The Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, “Struggle Crimes in the course of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, and “Bloodbath in Bucha”.

Key bridge badly broken in Kherson, Russia-installed authorities say

The UK’s common army intelligence replace means that the Antonovskiy bridge, which was allegedly shelled once more this morning after preliminary strikes on Tuesday, is a key vulnerability for Russian troops in Kherson.

The briefing additional notes:

• The Antonovskiy bridge is essential as a result of it’s certainly one of solely two crossing factors over the Dnieper river which allow Russia to produce to or withdraw forces from territory occupied to the west.
• Management of the Dnieper crossings is prone to turn into a key think about additional combating.
• The town of Kherson is politically and symbolically essential for Russia.
• Russia continues to make minimal positive factors in its Donbas offensive, the place Ukrainian forces are holding the road.

Ukrainian information company Interfax carries a report stating that three civilians had been killed by Russian occupying forces and one wounded in morning shelling within the Saltiv district of the jap metropolis of Kharkiv.

The report cites feedback on Telegram from Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional army administration.

Sinegubov mentioned the victims included a 13-year-old boy, a person and a lady. A 72-year-old girl was injured.

The US and its allies are contemplating potential coaching for Ukrainian pilots as a part of a long-term effort to probably assist Kyiv construct a future Ukrainian air drive.

Air drive chief of workers Charles “CQ” Brown acknowledged that discussions had been below approach, however didn’t affirm any selections.

He instructed Reuters:

You need to construct a long-term plan on how do you construct their air drive and the air drive that they’re going to wish for the longer term.

With the west’s provision of anti-aircraft weaponry, Ukraine has been capable of stop Russia from utilizing its much more superior air drive to ascertain dominance within the skies.

However Ukraine has additionally sought to maneuver away from its dependence on Russian plane by securing US fighter jets and coaching for its pilots on the best way to fly them. Ukraine’s air drive has publicly flagged its hopes for F-15s and F-16s.