Live blog: Russia accuses US of 'war crime' over Ukraine cluster bombs supply

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

1400 GMT — Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoygu has accused the US of 'war crimes' amid supplies of cluster munitions to Ukraine that are prohibited by international law.

According to the minister, the total amount of assistance provided to Ukraine by NATO, the EU, and their allies exceeded $160B

Shoygu noted that the US is "steadily raising the stakes, seeking supplies from allies of increasingly long-range and deadly weapons."

"The willingness of the West to invest in Ukraine a significant part of available resources in order to turn the situation on the battlefield in its favor creates serious risks of further escalation of the conflict," he warned.

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1721 GMT — Powerful explosion rocks optical plant near Moscow

At least 56 people were injured after a powerful explosion occurred at a Russian optical plant outside the capital Moscow, authorities said.

"In total, 56 people applied for medical help. 30 are now in hospital, six of them are in intensive care. Another 26 people went to emergency rooms, they did not need hospitalization," Andrey Vorobyov, Moscow region’s governor, said on Telegram.

Almost 160 rescuers and law enforcement agencies are working on the spot in the city of Sergiyev Posad, 74 kilometers (45.9 miles) northeast of Moscow, and that rescuers will need about 12 hours to clear the rubble, he added.

A total of 38 apartment buildings were affected by the blast, according to Vorobyov.

1550 GMT — At least 1 killed, 4 injured in shelling in Russia’s Belgorod region

At least one person was killed and four others injured due to shelling in Russia’s Belgorod, the region’s governor said.

“The village of Gorkovsky of the Grayvoronsky district came under fire from the Armed Forces of Ukraine - Five shells exploded in the centre of the village, next to the school. The worst thing happened: one person died … Four more people were injured,” Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.

Gladkov said that all four injured are being rushed to hospitals, adding that three of the injured received shrapnel wounds, while the other had a contusion.

Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the shelling.

1511 GMT — Ukraine claims ‘partial success’ in southern front against Russia

Ukraine claimed a “partial success” in the southern front against Russia.

“Our defenders had partial success in the direction of Urozhaine, Pryiutne and Verbove. Now they are fixed at the achieved boundaries,” Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said in a statement on Telegram.

She said that that the Ukrainian army continued to conduct offensives in the direction of Melitopol and Berdiansk, adding that Russia conducted "unsuccessful attacks" near Novokalynove, Avdiivka, Sieverne, Marinka, Novomykhailivka, and Staromaiorske.

In the east, Maliar said, the main direction of the Russian offensive continued to be Kupiansk, where she claimed an offensive group tried to advance “without success.”

“The operational situation is complex, but under control. The defence forces of Ukraine courageously hold back the enemy's offensive there,” Maliar said, adding that Russia has been “unsuccessful” in its offensives near the village of Synkivka in the Kharkiv region for the past several days.

1453 GMT — Suspected spy for Russia arrested in Germany – prosecutors

German prosecutors have arrested a man suspected of having passed on secret information to Russian intelligence agencies, the German federal prosecutor's office said.

The man, a German national whom the prosecutor's office identified only as Thomas H., approached the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian embassy in Berlin and offered his cooperation, it said.

On one occasion, the man passed on to a Russian intelligence service information obtained in the course of his profession, working for a division of the German Bundeswehr, it said.

1300 GMT — Ukraine shelling kills child in Donetsk - Russian official

A child was killed and two people were injured when a Ukrainian artillery shell hit a two-storey building in Donetsk, the Russia-appointed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, said on his Telegram channel.

The Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine had been partly under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014 until Moscow announced last year that it was annexing the province.

Russia, which early last year launched a full-scale offensive on Ukraine that it calls a "special military operation", says Ukrainian forces shell the Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region on a daily basis.

Separately, the Interfax news agency cited Russian-backed officials in Ukraine's southerly Zaporizhzhia region as saying four civilians had been killed and two wounded by Ukrainian shelling in the village of Trudove, about 15 km (9 miles) east of the town of Tokmak.

0946 GMT — Russia to build up forces at western borders — Shoigu

Russia will build up forces at its western borders, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Collegium of the Defence Ministry, according to the ministry.

Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, which has just joined the US-led Western alliance.

1010 GMT — Poland to send additional 2,000 troops to Belarus border

Poland will send an additional 2,000 troops to reinforce its eastern border with neighbouring Belarus, a deputy interior minister said, as a record number of migrants try to cross.

"This will not be a reinforcement of 1,000 but of 2,000 soldiers," Maciej Wasik told the PAP state news agency, adding that the move was approved by the defence minister following a request from the national border agency for additional manpower.

0923 GMT —EU diplomat lying sanctions do not affect global food security -Russia

Russia has said EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, "lies" when he says sanctions on Moscow do not affect global food security.

Commenting in a statement on Borrell's article on the Ankara-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, the deal from which Russia pulled out because of export restrictions on its food and fertiliser, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said: "The world community should hold (Josep) Borrell to account for the spread of lies."

Zakharova dubbed Borrell's remarks as "disinformation and fake," saying the termination of the agreement limits the EU's possibilities "to replenish its own coffers and quietly and with impunity to profit from the most vulnerable states, enriching themselves at their expense by reselling cheap Ukrainian grain."

She called on the EU to "either stop purposefully destabilising global food markets by introducing more and more restrictions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products, or stop pretending to be a proponent of ensuring global food security."

0823 GMT — Germany to deliver more Leopard-1 tanks to Ukraine

Germany’s defence giant Rheinmetall will deliver around 30 more battle tanks to Ukraine, media has reported.

Rheinmetall has recently acquired dozens of decommissioned Leopard-1 tanks from Belgium, and will modernise them for the Ukrainian military, public broadcaster ARD reported.

Germany has significantly increased its military support to Ukraine following pressure from the US and other allies, and it is currently the second-largest supplier of weapons to the country.

In recent months, Berlin supplied weapons and equipment worth billions of dollars, including battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, and air defence systems.

0116 GMT — Russia shoots down Ukraine's drones targeting Moscow – mayor

Russian forces have downed two combat drones headed for Moscow, the city's mayor said, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital.

"Two combat drones' attempt to fly into the city was recorded. Both were shot down by air defence," Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, without naming an attacker.

He said one drone was downed in the Domodedovo area on the southern outskirts of the city, while the second was shot down in the Minsk highway area, west of the capital.

"At the moment, there is no information about victims of the fall of the wreckage," he said, adding that emergency services were on the ground.

According to Russian officials, the strikes are at least the third attack on Moscow within a week, with Ukrainian drones downed on Sunday and Monday.

For our live updates from Tuesday (August 8), click here.