July 20, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

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A top French foreign policy adviser on Thursday claimed China is delivering military equipment to Russia to use in Ukraine, said.

Emmanuel Bonne, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron, made the claim at the Aspen Security Forum while speaking to CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

Sciutto asked Bonne if the West had seen any evidence that China has armed Russia in any way in the war in Ukraine.

When pressed on whether China was delivering weapons, Bonne said: “Well … military equipment … as far as we know delivering massively military capacities to Russia.”

French officials tell CNN Bonne was referencing both dual-use technologies and non-lethal assistance, such as helmets and body armor.

Bonne was asked what things China shouldn’t do.?“The delivery of weapons certainly, economic support,”?he replied.?

Some context: China maintains that it is a neutral party on the war in Ukraine and has attempted to present itself a potential peace broker in the conflict.

According to previous CNN reporting, Chinese state-owned defense firms have maintained trade relationships with sanctioned Russian defense companies since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began. Experts say such well-established networks could be leveraged if Beijing were to provide direct, lethal aid for the Kremlin’s war effort.

Earlier this year, Western leaders warned?China was considering that step. Beijing has repeatedly denied this, deriding the warning as a “smear,” and repeatedly defended its “normal” trade with Russia and rejected what it calls “unilateral” sanctions against Moscow.

Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken?said China had assured the US and other countries that it would not provide lethal aid to Russia. “We have not seen any evidence that contradicts that,” Blinken said.

The air raid alert and missile threat in Odesa has now ended, according to Ukraine’s air force, after warnings earlier of more attacks on the southern port city.

CNN’s team on the ground also previously reported that air sirens sounded in Odesa for the fourth night in a row.

CIA Director Bill Burns said Thursday he believes Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin is currently in Minsk, Belarus, as he appeared to be seen in a recent video.

Burns called Russian President Vladimir Putin “the ultimate apostle of payback” and said that he’d be “surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution.”

“If I were Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fire my food taster,” Burns said.

CNN reported earlier this week on a video that appeared to show Prigozhin greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an?armed rebellion in Russia?last month.

Burns also provided an update on a call put out on Telegram in May by the CIA that urged Russians disaffected by the?war in Ukraine?and life in Russia to share their secrets. He said the Telegram video got 2.5 million views in the first week.

Proposals by African countries on Ukraine negotiations resonate with Moscow and “deserve attention,”?said Alexander Gusarov, Russia’s?Charge d’Affaires in the UK, according to state news agency TASS.?

A delegation of representatives from seven African countries including Zambia, the Comoros, Senegal, South Africa, the?Republic of the Congo, Uganda as well as Egypt,?visited Kyiv on June 16 for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.?The next day they met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.

South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, on behalf of the delegation, presented to Putin a 10-point plan that could contribute to a peace process in Ukraine, according to TASS. All sides agreed to continue consultations following the visit, according to TASS.?

A second Russia-Africa summit is set to take place in St. Petersburg on July 27 and 28,?according to TASS. The first summit was held between October 22 and 24 in 2019 in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, according to TASS.?

Firefighters extinguish a fire at a damaged house after attacks in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 19.

Russia has used almost 70 missiles of various types and almost 90 Shahed?drones over just four days during attacks on the Ukranian cities of?Odesa, Mykolaiv and other southern communities, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine is working with partners “as extensively as possible” for additional air defense systems that can provide security to Odesa and other cities across the country, Zelensky said.?

Speaking about the Black Sea grain deal, Zelensky said that work?“to mobilize the world to protect food security and normal life” continues. He said he spoke earlier Thursday for the first time with the Ethiopian Prime Minister?Abiy Ahmed Ali, whose country is experiencing “one of the most critical situations in the world.”?

The Ukrainian president also thanked countries that have extended sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

“Russia and everyone in this world who dares to help terrorists must feel the ever-increasing sanctions pressure, whether they are individuals, companies or countries,” Zelensky said.?

After months of anticipation, Ukraine finally launched its “Spring Offensive” in early June.

Everyone knew it would be tough going for the Ukrainians, having watched Russia dig in and build up formidable defenses over months. But even with no real expectation that the offensive would look like Ukraine’s lightening fast advance around?Kharkiv last September, the hope among western officials was that Ukraine would be farther along and more successful than they are right now.

The offensive has proven?more challenging than many expected, even with an arsenal of new western weaponry and equipment fueling the assault.

Among the most-anticipated pieces of equipment was the American-made Bradley Fighting Vehicle,?a critical addition?to help infantry cross the dangerous and open terrain.

A 19-year-old soldier who goes by his call sign, “Kach” spoke to CNN. His brigade, the 47th Mechanized Brigade, is the only one to have received the coveted Bradleys, 200 of which have been committed by the US.

The armored fighting vehicles are so admired by Ukrainian soldiers that running around Kach’s team’s camp barking is “Bradley” – the brigade press officer’s 6-month-old rescue puppy.

The Velcro flag patch on Kach’s chest was a parting gift from his American trainer in Germany, who told him it would bring good luck. But it was the thick armor, powerful machine guns, rockets and night vision capabilities on the Bradley that gave Kach a boost of confidence when ordered to assault the Russians.

When the brigade did, the Russians were ready. Dense minefields had been laid, rows of winding trenches were dug. Russian artillery started to pick off the vehicles sent out to de-mine the area. On top of that, this southern direction of attack was perhaps the most predictable in the offensive: designed to try to punch through the Russian line, drive south and split the southern land bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas before finally reaching the Sea of Azov.

The?47th ran into trouble very quickly?trying to pierce the Russian line in their newly acquired armor. Photos and videos showed charred armored vehicles, including Bradleys and a German Leopard tank. Oryx, a military analysis site based on open source information,?reports?that around three dozen Bradleys have been destroyed or damaged.

Read more here.

Russian attacked the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa for the third night in a row.

After Moscow’s?withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday said that?all ships sailing in the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports would be considered potential carriers of military cargo.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has started using the controversial cluster bombs provided by the United States, the White House confirmed Thursday.

Here’s what to know:

Anatoly Antonov, Russian ambassador to the United States, departs after meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Karen Donfried at the US State Department in Washington, on March 14.

Russia has no intention of targeting civilian vessels in the Black Sea and to blame Ukraine, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the US, said Thursday.

He was responding to a media question about comments made by National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge on Wednesday. Hodge also claimed Russia has laid additional sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports.

It is “especially indicative that the administration intensifies with such insinuations on the eve of major international forums,” Antonov said, adding that “a new round of false propaganda” is being used ahead of the second Russia-Africa summit scheduled for the end of July in St. Petersburg and the upcoming BRICS heads of state meeting in August.

Criminals, volunteer fighters and arms traffickers in Ukraine stole some Western-provided weapons and equipment intended for Ukrainian troops last year?before being recovered, according to a Defense Department Inspector General report obtained by CNN.?

Ukraine’s intelligence services disrupted plots?to steal the weaponry and equipment,?and they were ultimately recovered, according to the report. CNN obtained the report, titled “DoD’s Accountability of Equipment Provided to Ukraine,” via a Freedom of Information Act request.?Military.com?first reported?the news.

But the inspector general report noted that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, the Defense Department’s ability to track and monitor all of the US equipment pouring into Ukraine, as required by law under the Arms Export Control Act, faced “challenges” because of the limited US presence in the country.

The report, dated October 6, 2022, examined the period from February to September 2022. The Office of Defense Cooperation in Kyiv “was unable to conduct required (end-use monitoring) of military equipment that the United States provided to Ukraine in FY 2022,” it said.

In late October, the US resumed on-site inspections of Ukrainian weapons depots as a way to better track where the equipment was going. The department has also provided the Ukrainians with tracking systems, including scanners and software, the Pentagon’s former undersecretary of defense for policy, Colin Kahl, told lawmakers in February.?

But the report underscores how difficult it was in the early days of the war for the US to track the billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment it was sending to Ukraine.?

Read more here.

The bridge linking Crimea to the Russian mainland has reopened after closing for about 20 minutes Thursday. An air raid alert was also activated, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, quoting authorities.?

An advisor to the head of Crimea urged the public to remain calm in the early hours of Friday, after the bridge’s temporary closure.

Russian-installed authorities have not yet reported what triggered the bridge closure and the activation of the air raid alarm.?

Some context: A Ukrainian security official on Monday claimed Kyiv’s responsibility for an attack on the bridge that links the?annexed peninsula?to Russia. It’s a vital supply line for Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine and a?personal project?for President Vladimir Putin.

The nearly 12-mile crossing, known as the Kerch Bridge, is the longest in Europe. Monday’s attack was the second since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine after a?fuel tanker exploded?while crossing it in October.

The top US and Ukrainian military leaders discussed the situation along Ukraine’s frontlines.

In a Facebook post, Valerii?Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief?of the?Ukrainian Armed Forces, ?recounted his phone conversation with his US counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, which he described as detailed.

He added that he and Milley particularly talked about material and ammunition when it came to discussing military aid for Ukraine.

“I am grateful to General Milley and the entire American Nation for the robust support and dialogue that we continue further on,” Zaluzhnyi said.?

The United Nations won’t stop negotiating about exports of Ukrainian grain, but the international community should push for more than humanitarian deliveries, according to Matthew Hollingworth, the UN World Food Programme Ukraine representative and country director.

Hollingworth told CNN Thursday he’s “absolutely certain the United Nations is not going to give up on this issue and will continue everything it can to try and find a result” after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative earlier this week.

David Harland, executive director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, who helped broker the grain deal, told CNN on Wednesday he is very skeptical about Russia coming back to the negotiating table. There may be a chance that Russia agrees to “humanitarian shipments” only, he said, if pressured by Turkish President?Recep Tayyip Erdogan and leaders of countries facing food supply shortages.?

“We certainly have options, in terms of solidarity lanes, in terms of other routes out of the country. But none of them are going to replace what we currently lost,”?Hollingworth?said.?

Of the 33 million tons of food that was shipped out of Ukraine through the grain initiative since last July, 20% went to the Global South, Hollingworth said.?About 725,000 tons of food was supplied to people living in countries that “desperately need that food assistance,” including Afghanistan, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and others, he said.

Hollinworth said he hopes the world can come together to get Russia back to the negotiating table.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press briefing at the UN Headquarters on July 6, in New York City.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns” the Russian attacks against port facilities in Odesa and other Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a spokesperson said Thursday.

The attacks contradict Russia’s commitments with the United Nations, which state that “the Russian Federation will facilitate the unimpeded export of food, sunflower oil and fertilizers from Ukrainian controlled Black Sea ports,” Stephane Dujarric said.

“The Secretary-General also recalls that the destruction of civilian infrastructure may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law,” Dujarric added.

Dujarric warned the attacks could have an impact “well beyond Ukraine” when it comes to the global prices of wheat and corn.

The European Union will establish a 20 billion euro (around $22 billion) fund for Ukraine’s defense over the next four years, foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday.

The EU will set up the fund through the European Peace Facility, a funding mechanism for military operations and assistance, and provide up to 5 billion euros a year for the next four years, Borrell told reporters at a meeting of the group’s foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium.

Ukraine needs “very large financial resources,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters in Brussels. The union will discuss ways that security guarantees and financial support for Ukraine can be “meaningfully linked” in the coming months, she added.

Wagner Group forces are getting “reintegrated within the Russian military,” according to the US Pentagon.

Singh’s comments come a few weeks after a short-lived mutiny by Wagner forces and?its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

At the beginning of July,?Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko?invited Wagner forces into Belarus to help train his country’s military.

Last week, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the Pentagon was not seeing Wagner forces “participating in any significant capacity in support of combat operations in Ukraine.”

The head of the Belarusian Red Cross has sparked an international outcry with his announcement that the organization is involved in the relocation of?Ukrainian children?from Russian-occupied areas to Belarus, a stark admission that potentially could make the group complicit in what Ukraine says is a?war crime.?

Dzmitry Shautsou, the chief of the Belarusian branch of the Red Cross, said in an interview with a state TV channel Belarus 1 that the organization was bringing Ukrainian children to Belarus for “rehabilitation,” according to a report about the interview by the independent Belsat TV.?

Ukraine has long accused Russia of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children from occupied areas. Some Russian officials have admitted the practice, publicly boasting about their efforts to bring children?to Russia, place them in Russian families and, in some cases, give them Russian passports.?

But Shautsou’s statement was the first time the Belarus Red Cross has admitted taking part in the deportations. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Red Cross umbrella organization, expressed “grave concern” and called for the practice to stop.?

Under international agreements, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the deportation of a civilian population is considered a war crime and forcible transfers of children of one group to another group amount to genocide.?

It is unclear how many Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia or Belarus since the beginning of the war. Official numbers from the Ukrainian government show that almost 20,000 how been deported or forcibly displaced, and 1,000 are missing, but the government says the numbers could be much higher.?

Shautsou described the children as coming to Belarus “to have a rest,” adding: “We try to do everything for them to make them feel at home. So that they would not need anything. And most importantly, they were surrounded by love.”?

The Belarus 1 report showed Shautsou visited Russia-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine, including the cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, while wearing military clothes adorned with the letter Z, according to Belsat TV. The letter has become a pro-war symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.?

Shautsou’s trip and admission led to fierce criticism from Ukraine and the international community.

Read more here.

Ukrainian forces are using US-provided cluster munitions against Russia “appropriately” and “effectively” in combat, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Thursday, confirming that Ukraine has started using the munitions in combat.

Asked when Ukrainians began using the cluster munitions, Kirby said he would “guess” in the last week or so.?

The US announced on July 8 that it would be sending the controversial munitions, and they were delivered to Ukrainian forces about a week later. Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas, which would allow Ukrainian forces to target larger concentrations of Russian forces and equipment with fewer rounds of ammunition. But the bomblets can also fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines.

Kirby also discussed the additional sanctions on Russia that US President Joe Biden’s administration announced Thursday, saying that they are and will continue to be an effective tool going forward.

“I have every expectation that in coming days you’re gonna be another round of support provided to Ukraine because we are really trying to keep a fingertip on what’s going on in the battlefield and what they need,” Kirby added.?

Kirby also reiterated the warning from the National Security Council suggesting Russia could be preparing to stage a false-flag operation in the Black Sea to try to justify its attacks on ships.?

China's consulate building in Odesa is damaged as a result of a Russian night attack on July 20.

The shockwave from Russia’s overnight strikes on Odesa shook China’s consulate building in the southern port city and appeared to have caused some light damage.

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry?said in response to a reporter’s question Thursday?that “the blast wave shook off parts of the wall surface and windowpanes.”

CNN’s journalists in Odesa noted that one of the explosions from the overnight attack occurred very close to the consulate.

A photo posted on Telegram by the head of the Odesa region military administration appeared to show that at least one window in the building was shattered by the blast wave.

“This shows that the enemy pays no attention to anything,” Oleh Kiper said in a statement.

For context: China has refused to condemn Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and instead provided much-needed diplomatic and?economic support.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba speaks during a press conference at UN headquarters on July 18, in New York City.

Ukraine’s foreign minister on Thursday accused Russia of “racketeering” by exiting the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“Saddest of all, Putin’s racketeering will be paid for by the most vulnerable, notably in a number of African countries.”

For context: The Black Sea deal?— originally brokered by Turkey and the United Nations a year ago — has ensured the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports.

The collapse of the pact threatens to push up food prices for consumers worldwide and tip millions into hunger. Before the war, Ukraine was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally, accounting for 10% of exports, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Ukraine is among the world’s top three exporters of barley, maize and rapeseed oil, says Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data firm. It is also?by far the biggest exporter of sunflower oil, accounting for 46% of the world’s exports, according to the United Nations.

The global food price index complied by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization hit an all-time high in March 2022, but has?fallen steadily?since then. A drop in food exports caused by Russia’s withdrawal from the deal could put that trend into reverse.

CNN’s Anna Cooban contributed reporting to this post.

The United Kingdom is disputing reports that Russia summoned the interim British chargé d’affaires to the foreign ministry in Moscow on Thursday.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported earlier today that the foreign ministry summoned the official, Tom Dodd, to condemn his country’s support of “terrorist actions” by Ukraine.

He was also notified, Russia’s government said, of a new policy requiring employees of British diplomatic missions to inform the Russian government in advance of certain travel in the country.

Dodd spent over an hour at the ministry, according to RIA. As he walked into the building, Dodd told journalists: “We want peace in Ukraine and for?Russian troops to leave Ukraine.”

Responding to the report Thursday, the UK government said Dodd was not “summoned,” but went for a scheduled meeting requested by the British Embassy.

The diplomatic row comes after the UK recently sanctioned numerous?Russian nationals for their alleged roles in the Wagner private military group or the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.

The British government is treating reports that Dodd was summoned as disinformation by the Russian government. UK officials did not elaborate on why its embassy is said to have requested the meeting.

More on the UK sanctions: The UK on Thursday sanctioned people and groups with links to?Russia’s Wagner Group operating in Central African Republic and Mali. On Monday, the UK imposed 14 sanctions on?Russian individuals allegedly connected to the forced deportation of?Ukrainian children. Last month, the UK introduced new legislation allowing Russian sanctions to remain in place until Moscow pays compensation to Kyiv.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Tuesday condemned the sanctions connected to the deportation of Ukrainian children, saying “we consider London’s openly hostile actions as new manifestations of unabashed hypocrisy, which has become a hallmark of the British foreign policy,” according to TASS.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misspelled?the first name of UK Chargé d’Affaires Tom Dodd.

Te White House is “deeply concerned” about ongoing Russian attacks against the Ukrainian southern port city of Odesa. It said it is also worried about the Kremlin’s targeting of grain infrastructure and supplies following its withdrawal from a crucial deal that allowed the export of grain from Ukraine to the rest of the world.

The collapse of the deal now poses a massive challenge to the global food supply and threatens to spike prices, especially for low-income economies.?

She also noted that the United States has seen indications that Russia may attack civilian vessels carrying grain in the Black Sea.??

“We’ve seen indications that they are essentially preparing to, as you noted, potentially attack civilian vessels carrying grain through the Black Sea. They alluded to the fact that they would consider any civilian vessel in the Black Sea, a possible shipment containing military cargo so we can elucidate from that what they might intend to do. We’re deeply concerned about that,” she said.

Ukrainian troops have started using US-provided cluster munitions in their counteroffensive against Russia, according to two US officials and another person briefed on the matter.

The US is still waiting for updates from the Ukrainian military about how effective the munitions have been on the battlefield, one of the officials said.

The Washington Post first reported the cluster munitions have been used in combat by Ukraine.

Remember: The US announced on July 8 that it would send the munitions, and they were delivered to Ukraine about a week later.?The weapons are controversial because of the way they scatter smaller “bomblets” across a large area, potentially posing a long-term threat to civilians if they go unexploded.

Russia has vowed to retaliate: Russian President Vladimir Putin said last Sunday that Moscow has a stockpile of cluster munitions and will consider using them against Ukraine “if they are used against us.” But Russia has already used the munitions several times in Ukraine, CNN has previously reported, including in densely populated areas.

In March, the United Nations said it had compiled credible reports that Russian forces had used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times. A CNN investigation?last year?found that the Kremlin fired 11 cluster rockets at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, during the war’s opening days.

Ukraine has also previously used cluster munitions, according to the UN-partnered Cluster Munition Monitor civil society group, including in populated areas.

Stretching limited supplies: The wide spread of bomblets will allow the Ukrainian military to target larger concentrations of Russian forces and equipment with fewer rounds of ammunition.

CNN reported earlier this week that the US and Europe are struggling to provide Ukraine with the large amount of ammunition it will need for a prolonged counteroffensive against Russia, and Western countries are racing to ramp up production.

It is not clear whether the heavy amount of artillery ammunition the Ukrainians have been expending day-to-day would have been sustainable long-term without the cluster munitions, officials and military analysts said.?

Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavsky told CNN in an interview in central Ukraine last week that the munitions “can radically change (the battlefield).”?

“The enemy also understands that with getting this ammunition, we will have an advantage,” Tarnavsky said.

Read more about the US-provided cluster munitions here.

Ukrainian rescuers carry a body from a destroyed residential building after a missile strike in the centre of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on July 20.

Two people have been found dead in Mykolaiv after an overnight Russian attack on the southern Ukrainian city.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkievych said that the victims were a married couple.

He said that the attack, which occurred around 3 a.m. local time (Wednesday 8 p.m. ET) damaged 65 residential buildings, as well as three schools, a women’s clinic, and an administrative building.

Sienkievych said nine people were hospitalized.

One person was also killed Thursday in Odesa as a result of a Russian attack on that city.

The Biden administration took further action Thursday to sanction companies and suppliers that have helped fuel Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by providing dual-use items, as well as targeting importers, suppliers and other companies helping Russia evade Western sanctions, and going after manufacturers supporting Russia’s energy, metals, and mining industries.?

“Today’s actions represent another step in our efforts to constrain Russia’s military capabilities, its access to battlefield supplies, and its economic bottom line,” Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a written statement.

The actions Thursday include sanctions by both the US Treasury and State Department aimed to:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a written statement that his department and the US Treasury is imposing sanctions on nearly 120 individual and entities “to further hold Russia accountable for its illegal invasion of Ukraine and degrade its capability to support its war efforts.”

“These sanctions will restrict Russia from accessing critical materials, inhibit its future energy production and export capabilities, curtail its use of the international financial system, and crack down on those complicit in sanctions evasion and circumvention,” Blinken added.

Specifically, the Treasury sanctioned at least 66 entities across a range of sectors and jurisdictions, and two individuals. The companies include banks, suppliers, importers, and manufacturers. While the majority of the entities sanctioned today are based in Russia, there are several Kyrgyzstan-based companies as well as one Serbian and one UAE-based company.?

The main building of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, Russia, on November 23, 2017.

Russia is introducing a notification procedure for movement through the territory of Russia for employees of British diplomatic missions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.?

It will be mandatory for personnel of the British Embassy in Moscow and the Consulate General in Yekaterinburg to send a notice of travel outside the 120 kilometers (75 miles) free movement zone?at least five working days?in advance. The document should contain information about the timing, purpose, type of trip, planned business contacts, transportation and route of the trip.

UK Chargé d’Affaires Tom Dodd was summoned to the agency on Thursday and spent over an hour at the Foreign Ministry, according to RIA. While walking into the building Dodd told journalists: “We want peace in Ukraine and for Russian troops to leave Ukraine.”

According to the ministry, he was told that it was “inadmissible to support the terrorist actions of the Kyiv regime.”

The diplomatic department added that any efforts by London to continue “the destructive line against Moscow, demonize Russia and complicate the work of its foreign agencies will receive a decisive response.”

Images emerged early Monday, April 18 2022,?on social media showing Russia's guided-missile cruiser, the Moskva, badly damaged and on fire in the hours before the ship sunk in the Black Sea on Thursday.

While Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry?accused?Russia of “grossly violating” its international obligations by threatening civilian ships traveling to Ukrainian ports, the Ukrainian military on Thursday issued a warning to Russian ships in the Black Sea — saying they could face the same fate as the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, which Ukraine sank in the Black Sea in April 2022.

“The Kremlin has turned the Black Sea into a danger zone, primarily for Russian vessels and vessels sailing in the Black Sea towards Russian seaports and Ukrainian seaports located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry?said in a statement.

After Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that?all ships sailing in the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports would be considered potential carriers of military cargo.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Thursday that Russia had created a Black Sea danger zone “by openly threatening civilian vessels transporting food from Ukrainian ports, launching missile attacks and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in peaceful cities, (and) deliberately creating a military threat on trade routes.”

Echoing the language of Russia, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said starting Friday, “all vessels sailing in the Black Sea in the direction of the seaports of the Russian Federation and Ukrainian seaports located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia may be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo with all the relevant risks.”?

CNN’s Katharina?Krebs contributed reporting to this post.

The southern Ukrainian port of Odesa has suffered a third successive night of Russian airstrikes. Russia has bombarded the city since Monday, when Ukraine struck the key Crimea bridge and Russia allowed the Black Sea grain deal to lapse.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is trying to cripple his country’s port infrastructure, making any grain shipments impossible. And the EU’s top diplomat has called the Russian tactics “barbarian.” Moscow says the strikes on Odesa are in retaliation for Ukraine’s attack on the vital Crimea bridge.

Meanwhile, the day after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin seemed to appear in a video for the first time since launching his failed insurrection in Russia, Belarus says it is preparing to stage a joint military exercise with Wagner troops on the Polish border.

Here are the latest developments:

People carry their belongings as emergency service personnel work at the site of a destroyed building after a missile attack in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 20.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its third consecutive night of attacks on Odesa is continued retaliation for Ukraine’s attack on the Crimea bridge, and claimed that the its strikes targeted facilities associated with Ukraine’s seaborne attack drones.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say that Russia’s strikes destroyed civilian infrastructure associated with grain exports at Odesa’s port. One Ukrainian, a security guard, was killed when a civil administration building in the city was destroyed.

“They destroyed an administrative building in the center of Odesa, where the blast wave damaged several other buildings, including residential ones.”

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that it destroyed fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian military near the city of Mykolaiv.

Some background: Ukrainian officials have claimed Kyiv’s responsibility for Monday’s strike on the key bridge linking the annexed Crimean peninsula?to the Russian mainland – a vital supply line for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and a?personal project?for President Vladimir Putin.

The nearly 12-mile crossing, also known as the Kerch Bridge, is the longest in Europe and holds huge strategic and symbolic importance for Moscow. Monday’s attack was the second on the bridge since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, after a?fuel tanker exploded?while crossing it in October.

A fighter from Russian Wagner mercenary group and a?Belarusian service member take part in a joint training at the Brest military range outside Brest,?Belarus, in this still image from a video released on July 20.

The Belarusian military on Thursday praised the “unique experience” its troops were gaining from “joint combat training” with Wagner troops at a camp near Brest, close to the border with Poland.?

“During the training sessions, emphasis is made on the organization of interaction between different branches of the army during fire attack, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and fire attack, tactical techniques of movement on the battlefield, taking into account the high intensity of fire, the use of strike drones, techniques of hiding troops and objects, as well as psychological training of servicemen,” the Belarusian military?said on Telegram.

The military released a video of Wagner and Belarusian soldiers flying a consumer-type drone, practicing assault along a treeline, and moving with an armored personnel carrier.

The European Council will extend sanctions over Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, through the beginning of next year, it said Thursday.?

The measures were first introduced in 2014 “in response to Russia’s actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, were significantly expanded since February 2022, in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine,” the EU Council said in a press release.

The sanctions currently include restrictions on trade, finance, technology and dual-use goods, industry, transport and luxury goods.

Anti-tank obstacles are pictured by the metal wall constructed at the Polish-Belarussian border on July 8, 2023 in Bialowieza, Poland.

Poland’s defense ministry said it is monitoring its border with Belarus and is prepared for “various scenarios,” after Minsk announced Thursday that its forces will hold exercises with Wagner fighters in the area.

“Both Deputy Prime Minister Jaros?aw Kaczyński and the head of the Ministry of National Defense Mariusz B?aszczak emphasized that the Wagner Group could be used to destabilize the Polish-Belarusian border,” it continued.

The statement added that joint actions between Poland’s army and border guard involving almost 200 units of equipment were happening as a response. The country is fully willing and able to immediately respond to any attempts at destabilization on the border, it added.

Some background: The Belarusian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces will hold exercises with Wagner fighters on the Polish border.

At the beginning of July,?Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko?invited Wagner forces into Belarus?to help train his country’s military.

That invitation came shortly after the?failed armed insurrection?by Wagner forces against Moscow, which Lukashenko was credited with helping diffuse.?

The announcement of a joint military exercise comes a day after a video appeared to show Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus – his first public sighting since the mutiny.

This undated photograph handed out by French military shows Russian mercenaries boarding a helicopter in northern Mali.

The United Kingdom has added individuals and groups with links to Russia’s Wagner Group who are operating in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali to its sanctions list, its foreign ministry said Thursday.

In the latest update of the UK sanctions list, the ministry added seven new designations under CAR sanctions regime, five new designations under the Sudan sanctions regime and one new designation under the Mali sanctions regime.?

Among those sanctioned were Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev, head of the Wagner Group in the CAR, and Ivan Aleksandrovitch, the head in?Mali. Both will be subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.

Wagner’s African footprint: As Joyce M. Davis, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, wrote in an opinion piece for CNN:

Since it first emerged in 2014 during Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Wagner Group has operated in?at least a half-dozen African countries, with a presence of some?5,000-strong?across the continent, including fighting forces, former convicts and foreign nationals.

Much more than a mere contingent of mercenary troops, Wagner is a complicated network of businesses intertwined with fighting forces, with operations intricately linked with Russia’s military and intelligence community. But for the past several days, the?whereabouts?of the mercurial man who leads the vast operation have been unknown.

On Wednesday, a video emerged that?appeared to show Prigozhin?greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an?armed rebellion in Russia?last month.

The question remains however, what will now become of Wagner’s immense Africa operation that provided?security services and paramilitary assistance and launched disinformation campaigns?for troubled regimes in the CAR, Libya, Mali and Sudan?

Read the full opinion piece here:

Emergency service personnel work at the site of a destroyed building after a Russian attack in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 20.

Ukraine’s Air Force has asked for better air defense systems for its southern regions, after reportedly destroying just five of 19 Russian cruise missiles fired at the country overnight.

“Of course, we would like to shoot down more.”

Russia’s third consecutive night of attacks on Odesa has left one person dead. At least 19 were also injured by an overnight Russian attack on Mykolaiv.

Ihnat said that it is “no possibility” to shoot down Russia’s Oniks and Kh-22 missiles with Ukraine’s current air defense systems because of how fast they fly.

The Oniks missile, he said, “is designed to destroy watercraft, ships. It flies at a speed of more than 3,000 km per hour… When entering the target, the missile can fly at an altitude of 10-15 meters above the water to destroy the ship, which makes it difficult to detect and, accordingly, shoot down by the air defense means.”

Firefighters work at a site of an administrative building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Odesa, Ukraine, on July 20.

Russia’s third consecutive night of attacks on Odesa killed one person, as Ukraine’s military only managed to shoot down just over a quarter of Russian cruise missiles fired overnight.

Ukraine’s Air Force said that it had “destroyed” five of 19 cruise missiles fired at the country overnight. Just two of the five destroyed cruise missiles were in Odesa, according to Oleh Kiper, head of Odesa’s regional military administration.

The Air Force also said it had destroyed 13 of 19 Shahed attack drones.

“Unfortunately, not all missiles were destroyed, including supersonic missiles such as the Kh-22 and Oniks, which are extremely difficult to destroy,” Kiper?said in a separate update on Telegram.

“While attacking the ports of the grain deal, causing damage to the port infrastructure, the terrorists also hit civilian infrastructure that was not related to the ports. They destroyed an administrative building in the center of Odesa, where the blast wave damaged several other buildings, including residential ones. 4 local residents were injured, including 1 child.”

Rescuers work at a site of a building heavily damaged by a Russian missile attack in central?Odesa, Ukraine, on July 20.

The mayor of Odesa, Hennadii Trukhanov, posted a video to Facebook on Thursday standing in the destruction caused by a Russian munition near a nursery.

“Another terrorist attack by non-humans, creatures, on the peaceful city of Odesa,” Trukhanov says in the video. “Look at what they are doing. This is a nursery. There is a kindergarten nearby. Civilians live nearby. They destroyed everything. We are looking for a person under the rubble. A person was injured and taken to the hospital in a serious condition.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin will “make a regional trip today” to an unnamed location in the country, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a Thursday conference call.

It was confirmed Wednesday that Putin will not attend?the BRICS summit?hosted by Johannesburg, South Africa, in late August, halting months of speculation triggered by an arrest warrant issued against the Kremlin leader for?alleged war crimes?in Ukraine.

Read the full story here:

Vladimir PUTIN (President of Russia). Journey to Dagestan on 04.07.2023. Photo by: The Kremlin Moscow/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images

Related article Putin will not attend BRICS summit in South Africa, as ICC arrest warrant overshadows key talks | CNN

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gives a press conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 15.

The US has committed to providing Ukraine with more air defense systems and attack drones in a $1.3 billion aid package announced Wednesday, according to the Department of Defense.?

The package includes four more National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), which are medium-range air defense batteries that have already helped Ukraine withstand ongoing Russian barrages of missiles and drones. It is the same system used to protect Washington, DC, and the area around the nation’s capital.?

The latest commitment will give Ukraine a total of 12 NASAMS from the United States. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said last November that the NASAMS had a 100% success rate in intercepting Russian attacks.?

The latest package falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which is part of the long-term US commitment to provide aid to Ukraine. Unlike drawdown packages, which are pulled directly from Defense Department stocks and can be sent in relatively quickly, USAI packages are contracted with industry, a process which can take months or more.?

On Tuesday, following an international meeting of countries providing aid to Ukraine, Austin said, “Make no mistake: We are determined to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom for as long as it takes.”

The package also includes Phoenix Ghost and Switchblade attack drones, as well as counter-drone equipment.?

The sizable Ukraine aid package comes during Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive, which has faced stiff Russian resistance and widespread minefields, which have slowed its progress.?

The US is also expected to announce a separate aid package of about $400 million that will include more ammunition for the NASAMS, according to two US officials, as well as ammo for Patriot missile defense systems and HIMARS rocket launchers.?

The package will also contain more artillery ammunition, which officials have warned is in short supply, especially with the possibility of a prolonged Ukrainian counteroffensive that will drain current stockpiles.?

In addition, the package includes anti-tank and anti-armor weapons such as Javelins and TOW missiles, the officials said.

The officials cautioned the package has not been finalized yet and could still change. It could be announced as early as this week, one of the officials said.

Notably, the package is not expected to include more of the controversial cluster munitions, the officials said, which the US provided for the first time in the previous drawdown package announced earlier this month.?

The Biden administration decided to provide cluster munitions, known officially as dual-purpose improves cluster munitions, in part to meet the Ukrainian need for more artillery ammunition as the US and other countries ramp up their ammo production.

This picture shows a grain terminal in a sea port damaged during Russian missile and drone strikes, in?Odesa?region, Ukraine on July 19.

Russian attacks in the Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa are causing large scale destruction of grain storage, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has warned.??

Speaking to reporters ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday, Borrell described the attacks as “a barbarian attitude, which will be taken into consideration by the council today.”

Borrell also told reporters that he had presented a plan “to ensure the financial support for Ukraine in the next years, which will amount to quite an important amount on money,” which he said he hoped ministers will support.?

Some context: Russia?said Monday it was suspending its participation in?a crucial deal?that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain, raising fears over global food supplies.

Under the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, Russia allowed ships to leave several Ukrainian ports in and around Odesa and travel through an agreed corridor to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait to reach global markets.

But with Odesa under attack by Russia for three consecutive days, grain exports are expected to stall.

A firefighter works at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike in?Mykolaiv, Ukraine on July 20.

Russia launched 38 air attacks on southern Ukraine overnight into Thursday morning, including nearly two dozen cruise missiles and kamikaze drones combined, according to a statement from the Ukrainian Air Force.

Russian forces attacked “ports, piers, residential buildings and retail chains” in the southern cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv, it added.

Ukraine’s air defense destroyed 18 of the projectiles, it said, including 13 Shahed drones, two sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles and?three Iskander-K land-based cruise missiles, according to the statement.

The Ukrainian Air Force claimed Russian forces fired seven Oniks cruise missiles from the Bastion coastal missile system in Crimea, four Kh-22 air-launched cruise missiles from eight Tu-22M3 aircraft, three sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles “allegedly from a submarine” in the Black Sea and five Iskander-K land-launched cruise missiles from Crimea.

The Ukrainian Air Force also said Russia launched 19 Shahed-136/131 attack drones from Crimea and Kursk.?

Ukraine fires back: ?The Ukrainian Air Force also said it carried out more than 20 air strikes on “objects, places of concentration of equipment and personnel of the Russian occupiers” in recent days, the statement said.?

A fighter from Russian?Wagner?mercenary group and a?Belarusian service member take part in a joint training at the Brest military range outside Brest,?Belarus, in this still image from a video released on July 20.

Belarusian forces?will?hold exercises?with Wagner fighters near?its?border with Poland, Belarus’ Defense Ministry said in a?statement on Thursday.?

The ministry didn’t say?when exactly the exercises would take place.

Some context: At the beginning of July,?Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko invited Wagner forces into Belarus to help train his country’s military.?The invite came shortly after the failed armed insurrection by Wagner forces against Moscow, which Lukashenko was credited with helping diffuse.?

A video emerged on Wednesday that appears to show Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an armed rebellion in Russia last month.?CNN geolocated the video to a previously disused military base in Asipovichy, roughly 80 kilometers (49 miles) southeast of the capital Minsk.

Natalia Humeniuk attends a briefing in Odesa, southern Ukraine on May 4.

Russia’s attack on the southern port city of Odesa on Thursday damaged an administrative building and warehouses in the region, with a Ukrainian military spokesperson saying at least 20 missiles and drones targeted the city.

At least four people were injured in the blast at the administrative building in Odesa city center, said Natalia Humeniuk, head of the Joint Press Centre of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine.

Humeniuk?claimed a submarine in the Black Sea, aircraft and?Kh-22 missiles were involved in the attack. She said?the total number of missiles and drones aimed at targets in southern Ukraine overnight was well over 20, but that final results are still being summarized.?

The Russian-backed leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, claimed on Thursday that a Ukrainian drone hit an area in the occupied Crimea and killed a teenage girl.

Four administrative buildings were damaged in one of the settlements in the northwest of Crimea as a result of a drone strike from Ukraine, Aksyonov said in a post on Telegram.

CNN has reached out for comment to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which has yet to respond.

Rescuers work at a site of an administrative building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, in?Odesa, Ukraine on July 20.

Russia?attacked Odesa?early Thursday for a third straight night, according to Ukrainian authorities.

It comes after Russian forces launched airstrikes on Odesa Tuesday in what Moscow said was retaliation for Kyiv’s attack on the Crimean bridge linking the annexed peninsula to Russia.

Meanwhile,?series of explosions?were reported at a Russian ammunition dump in occupied Crimea, forcing thousands of people to evacuate.

Here’s what else you should know to get up to speed:

A building is seen on fire in Mykolaiv, Ukraine on early Thursday.

Russia struck the city center of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine on Thursday, according to Vitaliy Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv regional military administration.

At least 18 people were wounded, Kim said in the latest update on Telegram.

Among the injured people are five children, including a baby less than a year old, and 3-year-old child.

Kim reported fatalities but did not specify how many. He also did not provide more details on the nature of the attack.

Russia attacked the southern port city of Odesa for the third night in a row, according to Ukrainian authorities.

At least two people were injured in the attacks, the head of the region’s military administration Oleh Kiper said in a post on Telegram.

At least eight Russian Tu-22M3 aircraft were “flying in the direction of the Black Sea,” the Ukrainian air force said early Thursday.

The air force warned that Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles “were launched in the direction of the Odesa region.”

A CNN team on the ground witnessed a large explosion and heard the sound of other explosions.

Some background: Russian attacks over the previous two nights?damaged the port infrastructure?in the city, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday the attacks were?the largest since the war began, and he accused Russia of trying to weaponize hunger and destabilize the global food market.

The president linked the strikes with Russia’s decision to?pull out?Monday of the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukraine to export its grain via the contested body of water.

Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine following the Kremlin’s decision to leave the Black Sea Grain Initiative, according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council.

Russia has laid additional sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports, spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Russia’s Defense Ministry said any ship sailing toward a Ukrainian port would be considered as potentially carrying military cargo.?

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered one year ago by Turkey and the United Nations, which allowed for the export of Ukrainian grain, expired Monday at midnight. The agreement guaranteed safe passage for ships carrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait.

In the days since the grain deal expired, Russia has targeted the port city of Odesa with missiles and drones, destroying agricultural infrastructure and 60,000 tons of grain, Hodge said.?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks on Odesa were?the largest since the war began, and he accused Russia of trying to weaponize hunger and destabilize the global food market.

Vladimir Putin attends a forum in Moscow on July 13.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have declared open season on Ukraine’s consequential grain exports, targeting the port city of Odesa with a new ferocity and jeopardizing worldwide food prices.

With the strikes on Odesa, Putin says he wants payback for damage to a nearly?12-mile bridge that connects annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland.

But they also coincide with Russia’s retreat from a yearlong deal known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative to keep Ukrainian grain flowing to the world.

Wheat and corn prices on global commodities markets jumped Monday after Russia pulled out of the deal, and they spiked again Wednesday after attacks on the ports in Odesa and as hope faded for Russia to rejoin the grain deal.

Turkey brokered previous versions of the grain deal, and it?plans to host Putin?for talks in August.

Without a new grain deal, the options are to use railroads to ship Ukrainian grain to ports in Romania or in southeastern Europe. The problems in both of those scenarios are time and money, according to Simon Evenett, a professor of international trade and economic development at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. He?told CNN’s Rosemary Church?that ports in Romania are being expanded.

Church noted that China has come to rely on grain from Ukraine and wondered if Beijing?could lean on Russia to reenter the deal.

Evenett said it’s true that China has also suffered from droughts that have affected its domestic production.

Read more here.