Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine claims small gains in south; Russia says it repelled attack on Black Sea fleet

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Russia and China are sending government delegations to North Korea this week to join commemorations of the signing of the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean war 70 years ago.

The conflict, launched by North Korea in an attempt to conquer South Korea, brought in forces from the newly created People’s Republic of China aided by the then Soviet air force, while South Korea, the US and troops from various countries under the direction of the UN battled to repel the invasion.

North Korea’s state-run Korean Central news agency said a Russian delegation led by defense minister Sergei Shoigu will also make a “congratulatory visit” to the country to mark the anniversary of the armistice, AP reports.

The price of Russia’s flagship Urals oil blend averaged $56 (?43) a barrel in the second quarter and traded almost 30% below the benchmark Brent blend, the Russian central bank said in its review on Tuesday.

It was also about 29% below the average price in April-June 2022.

According to Reuters, the Group of Seven leading western economies, along with the EU and Australia, agreed in December to ban the use of western-supplied maritime insurance, finance and brokering for seaborne Russian oil priced above $60 (?47) a barrel as part of western sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

Russia, for its part, banned companies and individuals from including oil price cap mechanisms in their contracts.

The central bank said:

Oil exports were constrained by the embargo and price cap of some countries.

The Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba visited Equatorial Guinea yesterday, where he met with the president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

They discussed bilateral cooperation and food security in Africa, which many have said will be affected by Russia‘s ending of the Black Sea grain deal last week. The ministry of foreign affairs said Kuleba’s visit was the first bilateral visit to Equatorial Guinea.

This comes as Russia is preparing to host African leaders this week for a summit aimed at strengthening relations.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was impossible for Russia to return to the Black Sea grain export deal for now, as an agreement related to Russian interests was “not being implemented”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, however, that president Vladimir Putin had made it clear that the deal could be revived if the Russia-focused part of the agreement was honoured, Reuters reports.

The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey last July, aimed to help prevent a global food crisis by allowing grain blocked by the conflict in Ukraine to be safely exported.

Peskov said it would be important for Russia to discuss grain supplies with African countries at a Russia-Africa summit later this week.

The Russian ministry of defence has claimed that it destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian boats which were engaged in an attack on one of its Black Sea fleet patrol ships. In a statement the ministry said “In the course of repulsing the attack, both enemy remote-controlled boats were destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ship at a distance of 1000m and 800m. There were no casualties. The Sergey Kotov continues to fulfill its tasks.”

The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported making small advances against Russian forces in parts of southern Ukraine. Andriy Kovaliov, spokesperson for the armed forces general staff, said Ukrainian troops had moved forward in the direction of the southeastern village of Staromayorske, near settlements recaptured by Ukraine last month in the Donetsk region. He said the Ukrainian troops were reinforcing the positions they had taken, and Russian forces were mounting strong resistance.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that Ukraine is also claiming a territorial gain near Bakhmut having “knocked out the Russian military from positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction.”

Russian-imposed authorities in occupied Luhansk have reported on one of their Telegram channels that a post office has been destroyed and a bus station damaged in a Ukrainian strike on occupied Kreminna. No injuries were reported.

The UN’s atomic watchdog said it saw anti-personnel mines at the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which is occupied by Russian forces. On 23 July International Atomic Energy Agency experts “saw some mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers,” agency chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Monday. The statement did not say how many mines the team had seen. The devices were in “restricted areas” that operating plant personnel cannot access, Grossi said, adding the IAEA’s initial assessment was that any detonation “should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems”.

Russian state-owned media Tass reports that Russian forces claim to have destroyed two boats and killed nine service personnel while repulsing another Ukrainian attempt to land on the occupied left-bank of the Dniepr River near the Antonovsky bridge in Kherson.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to social media to say that he has spoken to Rishi Sunak and spoke to the UK’s prime minister about “Russia’s daily attempts to destroy Odesa’s historic centre and port infrastructure”. Ukraine’s president said “Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defence to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea grain initiative.”

The UK Ministry of Defence has claimed in its daily operational briefing that Russia is targeting Odesa because “it believes Ukraine is storing military assets in these areas”, but claims that “Since the start of the war, Russia’s strike campaign has been characterised by poor intelligence and a dysfunctional targeting process.”

AP reports, citing US officials, that the Biden administration is sending up to $400m in additional military aid to Ukraine, including a variety of munitions for advanced air defence systems and a number of small, surveillance Hornet drones.

Russian-imposed authorities in occupied Luhansk have reported on one of their Telegram channels that a post office has been destroyed and a bus station damaged in a Ukrainian strike on occupied Kreminna. No injuries were reported.

The same source has also posted images showing damage to local railway tracks and infrastructure in Kreminna following subsequent strikes.

The UK also has a read-out on the call between Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Rishi Sunak this morning.

PA media reports the UK prime minister’s spokesperson said:

The UK continues to support Ukraine’s air defence and artillery needs with more ammunition and missiles being delivered, the prime minister said.

Reflecting on long-term security assurances, the leaders agreed the number of countries who had put themselves forward to sign up to the multilateral joint declaration was a testament to the international support for Ukraine.

The leaders looked forward to speaking again soon.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to social media that he has spoken to Rishi Sunak. Ukraine’s president said of his conversation with the UK’s prime minister:

Spoke about Russia’s daily attempts to destroy Odesa’s historic centre and port infrastructure. We must defend Odesa. Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defence to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea grain initiative.

We discussed our further defence cooperation, the course of Ukrainian offensive operations. I outlined the current defence needs of Ukraine.

The prime minister of the UK and I noted the adoption by the G7 of the joint declaration of support for Ukraine at the Nato summit in Vilnius and the subsequent accession of other countries to it. We also coordinated future steps to fill it with concrete security guarantees on a bilateral basis.

The Russian ministry of defence has claimed that it destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian boats which were engaged in an attack on one of its Black Sea fleet patrol ships.

In a statement the ministry said:

Tonight, the armed forces of Ukraine made an unsuccessful attempt to attack the patrol ship Sergey Kotov of the Black Sea fleet, which performs the tasks of controlling navigation in the southwestern part of the Black Sea, with two sea-going guided unmanned boats.

In the course of repulsing the attack, both enemy remote-controlled boats were destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ship at a distance of 1000m and 800m. There were no casualties.

The Sergey Kotov continues to fulfill its tasks.

The claims have not been independently verified.

The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported making small advances against Russian forces in parts of southern Ukraine.

Andriy Kovaliov, spokesperson for the armed forces general staff, said Ukrainian troops had moved forward in the direction of the southeastern village of Staromayorske, near settlements recaptured by Ukraine last month in the Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian troops were reinforcing the positions they had taken, and Russian forces were mounting strong resistance, Reuters reports he said.

Kyiv claims to have retaken more than 192 sq km of land in the south and 35 sq km in the east since launching its counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday.

Russian state-owned media Tass reports that Russian forces claim to have destroyed two boats and killed nine service personnel while repulsing another Ukrainian attempt to land on the occupied left-bank of the Dniepr River near the Antonovsky bridge in Kherson.

The area has been contested for several weeks, with repeated reports that Russia has repelled Ukrainian attempts to seize a bridgehead on the southern occupied portion of Kherson region. The Russian Federation claimed to annex Kherson in 2022.

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports that Ukraine is claiming a territorial gain near Bakhmut. It writes:

The defence forces knocked out the Russian military from positions near Andriivka in the Bakhmut direction, and continue to advance north and south of Bakhmut, said the spokesperson of the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine.