- Military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey will meet United Nations officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a deal to export Ukraine’s grain from the Black Sea port of Odesa as a global food crisis worsens.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains quiet about a Russian-backed official’s claim that a Ukrainian air attack on Nova Kakhovka, in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, killed at least seven people, including civilians, and injured dozens more.
- Ukrainian officials claim their forces destroyed an ammunition depot in the city.
- Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reports a significant buildup of Russian troops, particularly in the Bakhmut and Siversk areas, and around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, as the region braces for a powerful offensive.
- The death toll from a collapsed apartment block in the Donetsk town of Chasiv Yar has climbed to 46, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine says.
Here are the latest updates:
Russia would consider gas transit via Ukraine beyond 2024: RIA
Russia will consider continuing to send gas to Europe via Ukraine beyond its current deal which ends in 2024, as long as European countries still want Russian gas and Ukraine’s national transit system works, the RIA news agency has reported citing the foreign ministry.
Despite the war in Ukraine, Russia has continued to ship large quantities of gas across Ukraine into Europe – Moscow’s key global customer for its multibillion-dollar gas exports.
Chasiv Yar death toll climbs to 46: State Emergency Service
The body of another person was pulled out from under the rubble of the five-story apartment block in Chasiv Yar, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine has said, bringing the total number of dead from the Russian missile attack on Saturday to 46.
Russian-backed separatists say Ukraine’s forces fired at Luhansk using HIMARS
Russian-backed separatists from the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) say Ukraine fired several missiles at Luhansk from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) donated by the US.
“From the side of the armed formations of Ukraine, shelling was recorded: 23.35 from the direction of the settlement of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) towards the settlement of Luhansk using HIMARS MLRS (nine missiles),” a representative from the LPR said on Telegram, Russia’s state news agency RIA reported.
Anti-Russian sentiment growing in occupied Ukraine: UK
The anti-Russian sentiment is growing in occupied Ukraine, and Russian-backed officials are at risk of escalating attacks which would exacerbate the “already significant challenges facing Russian occupiers,” the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.
“Anti-Russian sentiment in occupied Ukraine is leading to Russian and pro-Russian officials being targeted. The Russian-appointed administration in Velykyi Burluk acknowledged that one of its mayors was killed on 11 July 2022 by a car bombing,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence briefing.
“The targeting of officials is likely to escalate, exacerbating the already significant challenges facing the Russian occupiers and potentially increasing the pressure on already reduced military and security formations,” the briefing added.
The ministry also said Russian forces will likely focus on taking several small towns in the Donetsk region in the coming week, including Siversk and Dolyna, as they approach the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Indonesia hopes for progress in G20 finance leaders’ talks despite war friction
G20 finance leaders will meet in Bali this week for talks that are due to include issues like global food security and soaring inflation, as host Indonesia tries to ensure frictions over the war in Ukraine do not blow discussions off course.
Indonesia has said Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov will address the meeting virtually, with his deputy traveling to Bali. Ukraine’s finance minister has also been invited and is due to attend one session virtually.
Indonesia hopes to issue a communique when talks wrap up on Saturday though its central bank governor said the meeting would be summarised in a chair’s statement if that is not feasible.
Indonesian officials have noted disagreements between Western countries and Russia on how to word a draft communique to describe the state of the global economy and how it is being affected by the war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.
Four killed, eight injured in Donetsk: Governor
Four civilians were killed and eight injured in Russian attacks in the Donetsk region on Tuesday, the regional governor has said.
“During July 12, the Russians killed four civilians of Donbas: two in Avdiivka, one in Bakhmut and one in Chasiv Yar,” Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.
It was unclear whether the death in Chasiv Yar was related to Russia’s Saturday air raid on a five-storey apartment building.
Ukrainian military paramedics attend resident Nina Trofimenko, 86, who was wounded during shelling near the front line in the Donbas region, Ukraine July 12, 2022 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]
Poland backs measures to boost gas security as energy crisis flares
The Polish cabinet has backed legislation loosening gas trading rules, extending tariff protection for consumers, and contingency planning for grid operators to allow for a swift reaction if the energy crisis deteriorates.
“An exceptional situation on global energy markets caused by Russia’s aggression on Ukraine and surging gas prices … create a necessity for special legal measures that allow for a real-time reaction if the situation deteriorates further,” the government said on Tuesday.
Proposed measures include a suspension of the rules obliging gas companies to trade fuel on the Warsaw exchange if a gas crisis is declared, an extension of tariff protection for 7.1 million small consumers including households until 2027, and contingency planning for gas storage and transmission operators.
“The measures will allow us to use gas storage more effectively and increase storage capacity,” Government Spokesperson Piotr Muller told a news briefing.
Lockheed delivers first model of new rocket launcher to US army
Defence contractor Lockheed Martin has said it handed over the first model of its newest mobile rocket launcher to the US army.
The United States and its allies have recently supplied weapons worth billions of dollars to Ukraine to help it repel an invasion by Russia. Lockheed said the new multiple launch rocket system, named M270A2, can be transported by large military transport aircraft C-17 and C-5.
The United Kingdom, an M270A2 customer, said last month it would supply Ukraine with some of its older multiple-launch rocket systems that can reach targets up to 80km (50 miles) away.
Ukrainian group to sue Canada for returning Nord Stream 1 turbine
A group representing the Ukrainian diaspora has said it is seeking a judicial review of the Canadian government’s decision to return a repaired turbine to Germany that is needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
The Canadian government on Saturday said it was issuing a “time-limited and revocable permit” to exempt the return of turbines from its Russian sanctions as Europe seeks continued energy flows until it can end its dependency on Russian gas.
“This exemption to the sanctions regime against Russia is totally unacceptable,” the Ukrainian World Congress said in a statement. “There are real alternatives to Germany’s gas needs, including buying through Ukraine’s pipeline.”
The Ukrainian World Congress said it had filed a notice of application for judicial review to the Federal Court and was requesting “a declaration that the decision to provide a permit to Siemens was unreasonable and unauthorized and an order quashing the permit.”
Chasiv Yar death toll hits 45
The death toll after a Russian missile attack on the town of Chasiv Yar has increased to 45, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service has reported.
UK proposes dropping anti-dumping measures against Chinese steel
The UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) has proposed dropping anti-dumping measures on Chinese reinforcement steel, saying more imports were needed to meet a fall in supply from other countries because of the war in Ukraine.
The measures have been in place since 2016, but the TRA said maintaining them would not be in the UK’s economic interests given high demand for steel from its construction sector, and a fall in supply from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
The three countries supplied 27 percent of the UK’s imports of Rebar reinforcing steel in 2020-21, the TRA said, and this would likely drop substantially as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the UK’s subsequent sanctions against Russia and Belarus.
“Our judgement is that the impact on the British economy of higher prices would significantly outweigh the impact on the sole UK producer of rebar of removing tariffs on Chinese imports,” said TRA Chief Executive Oliver Griffiths.
US concerned critical minerals vulnerable to manipulation amid war
The US energy secretary has said the government is concerned that supplies of critical minerals, used widely in clean energy technology, could be subject to weaponization the way oil and gas have been amid the Ukraine conflict.
“Our concern is that critical minerals could be as subject or vulnerable to manipulation as we’ve seen in other areas, or weaponization,” Jennifer Granholm said at the start of talks with Australia’s resources minister and executives from 14 mining companies at the Sydney Energy Forum.
LeBron critical of US efforts to get Griner home
US basketball player LeBron James is publicly criticizing his country’s handling of WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner’s case in a trailer for an upcoming episode of his television show: “The Shop: Uninterrupted.”
“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said in the trailer. “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even wanna go back to America?’”
It is unclear when the show was filmed, although in the trailer it is mentioned that Griner had been in Russia for more than 110 days, which would have been nearly five weeks ago as she was detained on February 17.
Griner is on trial in Russia for drug possession. She pleaded guilty last week and will appear again in court on Thursday. Washington has not disclosed its strategy in the case and the US may have little leverage with Moscow because of strong animosity over its actions in Ukraine.
Brazil wants to buy a lot of diesel from Russia: Minister
Brazil’s foreign minister has said his country wants to buy as much diesel fuel as it can from Russia following a deal with Moscow.
Carlos França called Russia “a strategic partner” and said Brazil is in short supply of diesel.
“Of course, we have to make sure that we have enough diesel for the Brazilian agribusiness and, of course, for Brazilian drivers,” he said. “So that’s why we were looking … for very reliable suppliers of diesel and Russia is one of them.”
The minister was responding to a question about President Jair Bolsonaro’s comments on Monday in Brasilia that Brazil has “a deal” and Russian diesel “can start getting here within 60 days”. Earlier, the president told supporters that Brazil was about to get “cheaper” diesel from Russia.
Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and UN to meet Wednesday on grain exports
Military delegations from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey will meet UN officials in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss a possible deal to resume safe exports of Ukraine’s grain from the major Black Sea port of Odesa, as a global food crisis worsens.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar announced the meeting on Tuesday. Turkey has been working with the UN to broker a deal after Russia’s invasion stoked global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertilizer.
According to diplomats, elements of the plan being discussed include Ukrainian vessels guiding grain ships in and out through mined port waters; Russia agreeing to a truce while shipments move; and Turkey – supported by the UN – inspecting ships to allay Russian fears of weapons smuggling.
“We are working hard indeed but there is still a way to go,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters. “Many people are talking about it. We prefer to try to do it.”
Zelenskyy quiet on reported civilian deaths from Ukrainian strike
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vaguely alluded to the reported air raid by Ukrainian forces on Nova Kakhovka, in Russia-occupied Kherson, but remained quiet about a Moscow-backed official’s claim that at least seven people, including civilians, were killed in the strike and dozens more injured.
In his nighttime speech to the nation, Zelenskyy mentioned ongoing Russian strikes on Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and areas in the eastern Donbas region. But, he said, “it should also be remembered that even in such conditions, the state takes steps forward – in cooperation with partners – in institutional development. And, of course, on the front line.”
“The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is, and they will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land, which they occupied. They have felt that the operations of our reconnaissance officers to protect their Homeland are much more powerful than any of their ‘special operations’,” he said.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday that the attack hit an ammunition dump in the town of Nova Kakhovka and killed 52 Russians. The attack came after Washington supplied Ukraine with advanced high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), which Kyiv says its forces are using with growing efficiency. Kyiv also says it is planning to retake the occupied Kherson region in a counteroffensive using hundreds of thousands of troops.
Separatist and self-declared Ukraine statelet defends death penalty
The self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Tuesday opened an embassy in Russia, one of only two countries to recognize the separatist “statelet” in eastern Ukraine, and defended its right to impose capital punishment.
The DPR’s self-proclaimed foreign minister Natalia Nikonorova said the territory’s use of the death penalty – which it has handed down to two Britons and a Moroccan for fighting as “mercenaries” for Ukraine – was irrelevant to its bid for diplomatic recognition.
Asked if capital punishment would tarnish the DPR’s image, she said: “We consider that mercenary activity is indeed a terrible crime because people, for a reward, come to another country to kill other people, despite having no personal goals connected to the conflict in question.”
“Yes, it is the highest measure of punishment, but it is in our legislation and it is not linked to the further process of recognition of the Donetsk People’s Republic by other states.”
Olga Makeeva, ambassador of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to Russia, and Natalya Nikonorova, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, speak to the media outside the DPR embassy in Moscow, Russia July 12, 2022 [Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
Ukraine braces for new Russian offensive in the east
Ukraine is bracing itself for what it expects to be a massive new Russian offensive in the east of the country where Moscow says it is determined to take control of all of the industrial Donbas region.
Russian forces, which earlier this month completed the capture of Luhansk province in the Donbas, have for weeks been shelling parts of neighboring Donetsk.
Regional Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said there was a significant buildup of Russian troops, particularly in the Bakhmut and Siversk areas, and around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. The entire front line in the region was under constant shelling as Russian troops tried to break through but were being repelled, he said.
He also said a Russian air raid destroyed Bakhmut stadium, used as a training facility for Ukraine’s Olympic athletes before the war.
Employees stand at a stadium damaged by a Russian military attack in Bakhmut, Ukraine, July 12, 2022 [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]
