Fears for civilian ships as Russia 'lays more Black Sea mines' (2024)

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We will be back tomorrow with all the latest updates on the Ukraine war.

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Pro-Russian military bloggers are reporting that Ukrainian forces are having success to the south of Bakhmut as they attempt to reclaim the city.

Ukraine appears to be making headway around the village of Klishchiivka, capturing the “surrounding heights” and pushing back Russian fighters.

Military Informant, a Telegram channel with more than half a million followers, wrote: “There are reports of an extremely difficult situation in the Klishchiivka area near Bakhmut.

“The enemy has captured the surrounding heights and is trying to bypass it from the south.”

Grey Zone, another Telegram channel, posted: “In the south (left flank), the situation is developing… not in our direction.

“The units of the Russian Armed Forces were forced to retreat and leave a number of territories with strongholds and dominant heights, even though they were also reinforced by allied units.

“The Ukrainian Armed Forces occupied a forest belt almost 90 per cent along the entire length of the western outskirts of Klishchiivka and is also diligently trying… to cut off the road that connects Klishchiivka itself and Bakhmut.”

Vladimir Putin failed to stop a rebellion by Wagner fighters last month despite being warned of the mutiny days in advance, according to security sources.

The Russian president had been told two or three days before the June 23 uprising that Wagner chief Yevgeniy Prigozhin was preparing a possible rebellion, the Washington Post reported, citing intelligence assessments shared with the newspaper.

“Putin had time to take the decision to liquidate [the mutiny] and arrest the organisers,” an unnamed European security official said.

“Then when it began to happen, there was paralysis on all levels … There was absolute dismay and confusion. For a long time, they did not know how to react.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the claims as “nonsense” shared by “people who have zero information.”

Wagner mercenaries marched to within 125 miles of Moscow before the group’s mutiny was called off, reportedly coming close to seizing a nuclear weapon in the process.

Moldova will summon Russian ambassador Oleg Vasnetsov for an explanation of media reports that spy equipment has been installed on the Russian embassy’s roof.

According to coverage, 28 satellite dishes, masts, and transmitting and receiving devices had been installed on the embassy and a neighbouring residential building used by diplomats and technical personnel.

Individuals associated with Russian intelligence have also apparently been seen on the buildings.

Moldova’s foreign ministry said: “We consider espionage or foreign interference in the internal affairs of Moldova to be absolutely unacceptable.”

Even as a flurry of oligarchs had their superyachts unceremoniously seized last year, the Russian economy seemed to defy the impact of Western sanctions, Melissa Lawford writes.

President Vladimir Putin had built up what was dubbed a “fortress balance sheet” with huge cash reserves that helped the Kremlin weather the loss of foreign investment.

Meanwhile, the ensuing energy crisis triggered a 144pc jump in Russia’s oil and gas revenues to $349bn in 2022. Departing Western brands were replaced. Life in Moscow remained largely unchanged.

At least initially.

While Putin was clearly prepared for the initial economic impact of the war in Ukraine, the conflict has dragged on far longer than he expected. As a result, the economy is increasingly exposed to the ongoing fighting and Putin is running out of options.

Read the full story here.

Russia’s lower house of parliament has voted to raise the maximum age at which men can be conscripted from 27 to 30 years.

The law, which will come into effect on January 1, will increase the number of young men who must undergo a year of compulsory military service.

It is still to be approved by the upper chamber and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, although these steps are considered a formality.

Russian could try to “destroy” Ukraine’s exports by targeting merchant ships in the Black Sea after the collapse of a crucial grain deal, the Foreign Secretary has warned.

James Cleverly said: “The UK believes that Russia may escalate its campaign to destroy Ukraine’s food exports by targeting civilian ships in the Black Sea.”

He said the Government would raise this “unconscionable behaviour” at the UN Security Council, adding: “Russia should stop holding global food supplies hostage and return to the deal.”

Two former defence workers in Russia have been found guilty of treason after passing military intelligence to Ukraine and planning to blow up railways.

The couple, who have been named as R.A. Sidorkin and T.A. Sidorkina, were sentenced to prison after being arrested by the FSB security service in the Kursk region last month.

They were accused of handing over technical documents and models used for manufacturing weapons for Russia’s air force.

The FSB also said they had planned to destroy railways used to supply Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. It reportedly seized more than 4 kg (9 pounds) of plastic explosives, four detonators and $150,000 in cash.

Sidorkin, 50, was additionally charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and sentenced to 17 years. Sidorkina, 41, was sentenced to 13 years.

A Ukrainian defence minister has claimed troops are suffering “significantly” fewer casualties than the Russian forces they are attempting to dislodge.

Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram: “The number of dead in our offensive directions is significantly less than that of the enemy.

“[In] Bakhmut, we have eight times less deaths than the enemy. [In] Berdyansk and Mariupol 5.3 times less. This is despite the fact that the advancing side usually loses more.”

She also insisted, amid suggestions the counteroffensive is not proceeding as fast as expected, that “the fact that we are moving forward” was more important than the “number of kilometres” captured.

The EU has sent €1.5bn (£1.3bn) to Ukraine to repair infrastructure and “keep the state running”, according to the head of the European Commission.

Writing on Twitter, Ursula von der Leyen also condemned Russia’s “ruthless” war, singling out attacks on Ukraine’s grain silos and port infrastructure.

The mayor of Kyiv has called for more anti-drone defences after the Ukrainian capital was struck by Russian forces last night.

Vitali Klitschko more regard should be paid to city’s military requirements, proposing a “coordination council” made up of local representatives and the Ministry of Defence.

He wrote on Telegram: “We need to understand the real needs, what exactly needs to be purchased. Not general drones. Which ones, to whom, and in what quantity?

“In addition, drones are not a panacea. Our defenders still need a lot of things, starting with anti-drone protection equipment, for example.”

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said there were “no victims or destruction” from today’s attack.

Drone strikes yesterday on Moscow and Crimea were “likely” coordinated by Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank.

Kyiv has not officially claimed credit for either attack, although a source has said the Moscow drones were part of a “special operation” by the intelligence services.

Another large convoy of Wagner fighters has been seen in Belarus, according to the military monitoring group Belarusian Hajun.

The group of 80 vehicles was spotted on the M5 highway between the villages of Vereytsy and Tsel, where the paramilitary group have set up camp.

At least 10 Wagner convoys are believed to have entered Belarus, with the number of mercenaries in the country estimated at around 3,500.

Ukraine’s military has lost around almost a third of Western-supplied military equipment on the frontline, the Moscow-installed head of Donetsk claims.

Denis Pushilin said on the state-owned broadcaster Russia-24: “We saw how much ammunition and equipment Western countries sent to Ukraine ahead of the counteroffensive.

“Now we can give approximate figures: about 30 per cent [of equipment] has been destroyed [by Russian forces].”

The figures have not been independently verified by The Telegraph.

Russia launched drone strikes on Kyiv after vowing “tough retaliatory measures” for an air attack on Moscow.

Air raid alerts blared over the Ukrainian capital for more than three hours early on Tuesday morning before the Iranian-made Shahed drones were downed by air defences, authorities said.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said there were “no victims or destruction” but added that information was still being gathered.

It marks the sixth attack this month on the capital, which was hit on consecutive nights during the Nato summit two weeks ago.

Ukraine has not officially claimed credit for the drone strikes that targeted Moscow yesterday, but an unnamed defence source claimed it was a “special operation” by its security services.

One of the drones hit a Russian defence ministry building that is believed to be the headquarters of the country’s notorious cyber forces.

Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko have held talks on the Wagner Group, economic cooperation and external threats, according to the Kremlin.

Lukashenko, who helped broker a deal to end a mutiny by Wagner mercenaries last month, flew to St Petersburg on Sunday for two days of talks with the Russian leader.

Thousands of fighters are have moved from Russia into Belarus under the terms of the agreement, and are believed to have set up camp in the village of Tsel.

Britain hopes to restore the Black Sea grain deal and is “carefully monitoring” Russian ships on the trade route, Rishi Sunak has said.

In a phone call between the Prime Minister and Volodymyr Zelensky, the leaders “agreed on the importance of ensuring grain was able to be exported from Ukraine to reach international markets.”

The Kremlin appear to have poured cold water on Volodymyr Zelensky’s repeated calls for Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea without Russia’s involvement.

Deputy foreign minister Sergey Vershinin told reporters: “My opinion is that it is impossible to do this without Russia.”

Parents have been urged to evacuate their children from Donetsk after a child was among the seven civilians killed by Russian shelling.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said three girls, aged between five and 12, and an 11-year-old boy had been wounded in the attack on Kostyantynivka. One of them later succumbed to their injuries.

He wrote on Telegram: “The Russians once again prove they are at war with civilians, and in their desire to kill they stop at nothing.

“I appeal to parents once again: there is no place for children in a war zone. Take care of them - evacuate.”

Ukraine “urgently” needs to tighten its air defences and continue exporting grain via the Black Sea, Volodymyr Zelensky has told Rishi Sunak.

Writing on social media after his call with the prime minister, Mr Zelensky said: “Spoke about Russia’s daily attempts to destroy Odesa’s historic center and port infrastructure. We must defend Odesa.

“Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defense to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“We discussed our further defense cooperation, the course of Ukrainian offensive operations. I outlined the current defense needs of [Ukraine].”

A Russian Black Fleet ship destroyed two unmanned Ukrainian naval drones that attempted to attack it overnight, it has been claimed.

The Russian defence minstry said the Sergei Kotov, a petrol ship, had been monitoring shipping in the south-west part of the Black Sea at the time.

It opened fire on the drones, destroying them. The vessel was apparently undamaged and there are not believed to have been any casualties.

Russia may be striking ports in southern Ukraine because it believes they are being used to store military equipment, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

By contrast, senior Ukrainian figures believes the Kremlin is targeting grain terminals to engineer a global food crisis and weaken the West with waves of refugees.

The MoD said in an intelligence update: “When the Black Sea Grain Initiative was still in force, Russia generally refrained from stirking civil infrastructure in the southern ports.

“Since Russia failed to renew the deal, the Kremlin likely feels less politically constrained, and is attempting to strike targets in Odesa because it believes Ukraine is storing military assets in these areas.

“Since the start of the war, Russia’s strike campaign has been characterised by poor intelligence and a dysfunctional targeting process.”

Vladimir Putin has raised the age limit at which Russian reservists can be mobilised to 55 in an apparent attempt to boost troop numbers for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, Nataliya Vasilyeva writes.

A new law signed by the Russian president means high-ranking officers will be eligible to be mobilised up until the age of 55, up from 50 previously, while privates and sergeants can be called up until the age of 40, up from 35.

The lower age limit for middle-ranking officers will meanwhile be raised to 50, from 45 previously.

The changes, which will be gradually rolled out over a four-year period from 2024-2028, mean high-ranking officers will eventually be able to serve by law until they are 70.

Read the full story here.

Kyiv has reported small advances as it seeks to push back Russian forces in southern Ukraine and to the east near Bakhmut.

Progress has been slower than widely expected, but Ukraine has said it is trying to minimise casualties as troops face fortified Russian defensive lines strewn with landmines.

A spokesman for the General Staff said soldiers had advanced in the direction of the southeastern village of Staromayorske, near settlements recaptured last month in Donetsk.

Ukrainian forces have also reportedly driven Russian units from positions southwest of Bakhmut, near the village of Andriivka.

An American journalist working for the news agency AFP is said to have been injured by a drone attack near Bakhmut yesterday.

Dylan Collins was taken to a nearby hospital with shrapnel wounds. His condition is not believed to be life-threatening.

Rostislav Zhuravlev, a reporter for Russia’s RIA news agency, was killed near the front line in the Zaporizhia region on Saturday.

A 82-year-old woman has been killed after Russian forces launched dozens of attacks across Zaporizhzhia, the regional military administration has said.

It wrote on Telegram: “Seventy blows were inflicted by the enemy on 19 settlements of the Zaporizhzhia region over the past day.

“An 82-year-old woman died as a result of enemy shelling in Gulyaipole. Twenty-one destructions of residential buildings and infrastructure facilities were recorded.

“The enemy will bear responsibility for every crime.”

The Kremlin is ordering Wagner fighters out of Ukraine by the start of August, according to a Telegram channel affiliated to the mercenary group.

According to the Grey Zone channel: “The last fighters of the Wagner Group will leave the territory of the LPR [Luhansk People’s Republic] by August 1.

“The requirement of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation: that not a single person from among the Wagner Group was in the SVO [Special Military Operation] zone.”

It was not specified where the mercenaries would go from Ukraine, but thousands - including its leader Yevgheny Prigozhin - have headed to Belarus since their coup last month.

Russia is using missiles capable of destroying aircraft carriers to target grain terminals in southern Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence has reported.

It noted that Moscow had largely steered clear of striking port infrastructure until last month, but the end of the Black Sea grain deal means it is “less politically constrained.”

Two people were wounded in Kherson after Moscow’s forces attacked houses and a school, the region’s governor has said.

Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram: “The Russian military aimed at the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region; the life support system of the secondary school and the commercial premises in Beryslav district.

“Due to Russian aggression, two people were injured.”

More than three thousand Wagner fighters have arrived in Belarus since their mutiny last month, a military monitoring group has said.

Belarusian Hajun reported: “Belarus already has at least 3,500 Wagner mercenaries... at least 10 organised columns of Wagner PMC have arrived on the territory of Belarus.

“Ten arriving convoys consisted of 670-700 vehicles, among which the vast majority were UAZ Patriot pickups.

“According to our estimates, the number of mercenaries in Belarus is already 3,450-3,650 people. All columns were sent and arrived at the tent camp in the village of Tsel near Osipovichi.”

Russia’s FSB security service has alleged it found traces of explosives on a cargo ship travelling to pick up grain, less than a week after Moscow pulled out of a deal allowing Ukraine to export cereals over the Black Sea, Ben Farmer writes.

The unnamed vessel may have been used to deliver explosives to Ukraine, where it had docked two months earlier, the service claimed, but did not offer further evidence.

The ship was stopped and searched in the Kerch Strait where it was heading from Turkey to Rostov-on-Don in Russia.

Read the full story here.

Nato is “dangerously expanding” its involvement in the Ukraine war, a senior Russian diplomat has claimed.

Sergey Vershinin, the deputy foreign minister, said: “We think that Nato is openly taking part in the military confrontation with Russia in Ukraine and is already involved in these actions.

“The Nato military bloc may be dangerously expanding its involvement in the actions which seriously fuel regional tensions. We view such things as inadmissible.”

Anti-personnel mines have been laid at the site of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to the UN’s atomic watchdog.

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency spotted “mines located in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers” on a visit on Sunday.

Agency chief Rafael Grossi said the move breached “safety standards and nuclear security guidance”, but “should not affect the site’s nuclear safety and security systems”.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin has said no talks are underway on resuming the Black Sea export deal, according to the RIA news agency.

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

Russia was criticised by world leaders when it announced it would let the agreement lapse last week.

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