LIVE – War in Ukraine: FSB says it has “destroyed” four Ukrainian “saboteurs” at the border

World food security

Russian attacks targeting Ukraine’s grain infrastructure on the Danube River show that Vladimir Putin “doesn’t care” about delivering essential food to developing countries, US diplomats said on Wednesday.

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters: “This is unacceptable. Putin does not care about global food security. “The contrast is stark. “While Russia is starving the world with food weapons, our Ukrainian partners are inspiring the world,” he joked.

“unacceptable”

Russian attacks targeting Ukraine’s grain infrastructure on the Danube River show that Vladimir Putin “doesn’t care” about delivering essential food to developing countries, US diplomats said on Wednesday.

“This is unacceptable. Putin does not care about global food security,” US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Sarkozy’s view of the war in Ukraine

In a long interview with Le Figaro, Nicolas Sarkozy turned to the war in Ukraine and possible solutions to find a way to peace. The former president sees a compromise as essential and thinks Crimea will not be torn away from Moscow for long. On the other hand, Kyiv should not enter NATO or the EU, but rather remain neutral, he analyzes.

Muscovites at the front

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday that nearly 45,000 Muscovites were fighting in Ukraine, giving a rare estimate of some of the forces Russia has deployed in its neighboring countries. “45,000 Muscovites are fighting today in the area of ​​special military operations. This is a significant part of those who are there,” he said, as quoted by the agency. Interfax Press. Among them, “at least 5,000 are professional players,” he added.

Images of the attack on the Kerch bridge

On July 17, Ukrainian security services sent CNN images of a test maritime drone strike on the Kerch bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia. Other strikes in this vein may follow, warns kyiv, which is responsible for the move for the first time.

Border crossing points

Belarus on Wednesday condemned Lithuania’s closure of two border crossings, Sumsko and Tveretsius, further isolating Moscow’s ally in the face of fears over the presence of Wagner militants on its border.

The Belarusian Border Guard Service condemned the move in a telegram as a “new unproductive and unfriendly move” by Vilnius. “Lithuanian authorities use any pretext to block the movement of goods, but Lithuanians reduce their travel to Belarus,” Minsk added.

“By taking such decisions, Lithuania is deliberately creating artificial barriers at the border to fulfill its political ambitions,” they further condemned.

“Saboteurs”

Russian security services (FSB) said they had “killed” four Ukrainian “saboteurs” trying to cross into the Bryansk border region from Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported.

FSB and Russian Defense Ministry forces “prevented a Ukrainian intelligence and sabotage group from attempting to enter Russian territory,” the security services said in a statement. “Four saboteurs have been taken out,” he said without giving a date.

Romania

After several strikes on the NATO country’s doors in recent weeks, Romania has strongly condemned new Russian attacks against Danube port infrastructure critical to the supply of Ukrainian grain.

“I strongly condemn the continuous Russian attacks against innocent people and civilian infrastructure against the grain bins in the Ukrainian ports of Reni and Ismail”, X (ex-Twitter) responded on Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu. “Through these flagrant violations of international law, Russia continues to endanger the security of food and navigation in the Black Sea.”

Ruble

The ruble was steady on Wednesday, a day after the Bank of Russia (BCR) raised its key rate, on concerns that inflation is starting to rise again and that the national currency has weakened.

On the Moscow Stock Exchange, at 11:28 a.m. local time, a dollar was paying 96.9 rubles and a euro was 106 rubles, stable prices since exchanges began.

Black Sea

The first cargo ship left the Ukrainian port of Odessa on the Black Sea coast through a new maritime corridor set up by Kyiv, Ukraine’s minister in charge of infrastructure announced on Wednesday.

“The container ship Joseph Schulte (…) has left the port of Odessa and is traveling along the temporary corridor set up for civilian vessels,” Oleksandr Kubrakov was quoted as saying in a press release. However, following the expiration of the grain deal, Russia threatened to take any boats going to or departing from Ukrainian ports as potential military targets.

Ukraine blast kills one

Ukrainian airstrikes killed one person and wounded two others in the Russian region of Belgorod on the border with Ukraine on Tuesday, regional governor Vyacheslav Kladkov said on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, there is one death,” a person who suffered injuries in the area of ​​Novaya Tavolzhanga reported on Telegram, adding that a woman was hospitalized after being cut and another man suffered a concussion.

Russian drones

Ukraine has accused Russia of carrying out devastating drone strikes on grain warehouses at the Danube port in the Odesa region.

“Russian terrorists carried out two drone attacks in the Odesa region overnight,” Oleg Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, announced on social media. “Effect of enemy attacks on one of the Danube ports: grain warehouses damaged,” he added.

point

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Counter attack

Ukraine said on Wednesday it had recaptured a village on the southern front in the Donetsk region as part of its counteroffensive against Russia. “Ourojaïné has been freed. Our defenders have been established nearby. The attack continues,” Deputy Defense Minister Khanna Malier announced in a press release on social networks.

Drones

Russia says it has shot down three Ukrainian drones in the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, amid increasing attacks targeting the Russian capital.

At 5 a.m. local time, “an attempted attack on Kyiv was thwarted by three unmanned aerial vehicles (…) in the Kaluga region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a telegram. “All drones were detected and destroyed in time by Russian air defense systems,” the ministry said, adding that there were no casualties or damage in the attack.

welcome

Hello everyone and welcome to this new live dedicated to news of the war in Ukraine.