Up to date August 14, 2023 at 5:18 a.m. EDT|Revealed August 14, 2023 at 2:12 a.m. EDT
On this picture provided by the Protection Forces for Southern Ukraine on Monday, firefighters work to place out a hearth in a grocery store throughout a Russian drone and missile strike in Odessa. (Defence Forces Southern Ukraine/by way of REUTERS)
Russia attacked Odessa in “three waves” in a single day, launching assault drones and cruise missiles on the coronary heart of the southern Ukrainian metropolis, based on the regional governor. Three folks have been injured by particles from rockets being shot down, Oleh Kiper mentioned.
China’s protection minister will go to Russia and Belarus this week, the Chinese language protection ministry mentioned. Will probably be Li Shangfu’s first journey to Belarus and second to Russia since he took workplace earlier this 12 months.
Right here’s the most recent on the struggle and its ripple results throughout the globe.
Russia launched Kalibr missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones at Odessa in a single day, Kiper and the Ukrainian air power mentioned. Ukrainian forces managed to shoot all of them down earlier than they reached their meant goal within the “heart” of Odessa, Kiper mentioned. However particles fell on a grocery store, a residential constructing and a college dormitory, and three grocery store staff have been injured, he mentioned. The blast additionally broken home windows and vehicles close by, and began fires in three services, he mentioned.
Li Shangfu will go to Russia and Belarus from Aug. 14 to 19, Chinese language Protection Ministry spokesman Wu Qian confirmed at a Monday briefing. Li is anticipated to talk on the Moscow Convention on Worldwide Safety and meet with Russian protection officers. In Minsk, Li is scheduled to fulfill and maintain talks with Belarusian state and navy leaders, in addition to go to Belarusian navy establishments.
Kyiv known as on the worldwide neighborhood to guard commerce by the Black Sea after a Russian warship shot at a Ukraine-bound cargo vessel on Sunday. Russia’s Protection Ministry mentioned the Russian patrol ship Vasily Bykov used automated weapons to fireplace “warning” photographs on a Palau-flagged bulk service after its captain failed to answer a request to halt for an inspection. The Sukru Okan was later freed after an inspection by Russian forces and allowed to sail on to the Ukrainian port metropolis of Izmail, the ministry mentioned on Telegram. Ukraine’s International Ministry mentioned the incident — a primary since Russia withdrew from a U.N.-brokered grain deal final month — violated worldwide legislation, Reuters reported, and known as on different international locations to “take decisive motion to stop” such incidents.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mourned the lack of a household killed in assaults within the Kherson area, together with a 3-week-old toddler, her mom and her 12-year-old brother. Zelensky mentioned in his nightly deal with that seven folks have been killed within the relentless assaults towards Kherson on Sunday, with “17 experiences of shelling” throughout the area by 6 p.m.
Britain’s Protection Ministry reported an “uptick in small-scale fight” alongside components of the Dnieper River. Previously week, “Ukrainian forces have labored to raid or arrange small bridgeheads at new areas on the Russian-held east financial institution” of the Dnieper in southern Ukraine, the ministry mentioned. Ukrainian forces additionally expanded a bridgehead it has held since June, in all probability taking benefit “of a neighborhood Russian power rotation” to take action, the ministry mentioned. In accordance with the ministry, this leaves Russia’s navy management with a alternative: Reinforce the areas across the Dnieper to attempt to quash the assaults, or deploy extra troops farther to the east, the place “Ukraine’s principal counter-offensive operations” are going down. This comes as Ukraine’s counteroffensive has yielded few seen positive factors.
Ukraine is determined for assist in demining its land, Protection Minister Oleksii Reznikov mentioned in an interview with the Guardian, calling Ukraine “probably the most closely mined nation on the planet.” International locations which might be uncomfortable offering deadly help may as an alternative assist with mine-clearing tools and coaching, he instructed.
A drone broken an condo constructing within the western Russian metropolis of Belgorod, injuring a toddler, a Russian official mentioned. Belgorod’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, blamed Ukraine for the assault, which he mentioned left a 10-year-old woman who was strolling close by with wounds on her leg, forearm and foot. Gladkov mentioned the strike broken residences, vehicles and one different constructing.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed reservations a few potential supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. “Choices should at all times be rigorously thought of. And I’ll proceed to do this,” Scholz mentioned Sunday in an interview with broadcaster ZDF. Scholz’s feedback observe experiences by Spiegel final week that Germany’s protection ministry is mulling sending shares of the Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. Berlin has lengthy been hesitant to make the transfers for concern that the missiles, which have long-range functionality, can be used on Russian territory.
Germany’s finance minister, Christian Lindner, arrived in Kyiv on Monday for “very concrete” talks about Germany’s assist to Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported. That is Lindner’s first go to to Ukraine because the struggle started. In Kyiv, he advised reporters, “Ukraine should not lose this struggle,” based on AFP.
Wagner’s prisoner of struggle: A Ukrainian soldier’s 46-day nightmare: Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries captured Ilia Mykhalchuk exterior the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Bakhmut. They amputated his arms in a darkish basement, he says, and subjected him to mind-bending psychological abuse as a part of his captors’ alleged barbarism and efforts to interrupt the need of Ukrainian troopers that they had taken off the battlefield, Alex Horton experiences.
Wagner’s technique, Mykhalchuk mentioned, appeared designed to undermine the Ukrainians’ values and to make them query how their countrymen would view them after launch from captivity. “They tried to make us imagine that we couldn’t belief one another, and that it was a kill-or-be-killed scenario,” he mentioned. “They have been simply enjoying with us, the best way a cat performs with a mouse — when he catches it earlier than he kills it.”
Kate Brady contributed to this report.