Live blog: Ukraine retakes Staromaiorske village in southeast: Zelenskiyy

Thursday, July 27, 2023

1842 GMT — Ukrainian soldiers have recaptured the southeastern village of Staromaiorske from Russian forces in the Donetsk region, a video published by President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy showed.

The village lies to the south of a cluster of small settlements that Ukraine recaptured during a counteroffensive it began early in June against Russian forces who hold swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine.

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1641 GMT — Putin claims fighting intensifies in southeastern Ukraine, with Russia inflicting heavy losses

Fierce fighting raged in southeastern Ukraine, where a Western official said Kiev has launched a major push and Russian President Vladimir Putin said “hostilities have intensified significantly.”

Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the over 1,000-kilometer (over 600-mile) front line as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive with Western-supplied weapons and Western-trained troops against Russian forces who invaded 17 months ago.

Putin praised the “heroism” with which Russian soldiers were repelling attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region of the southeast, claiming Moscow’s troops not only destroyed Ukraine’s military equipment but also inflicted heavy losses to Kiev’s forces.

1518 GMT — Moscow claims it foiled Ukraine's sabotage at Russia's Black Sea Fleet

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed it foiled an act of sabotage on the Black Sea Fleet by Ukraine.

The FSB said a navy officer confessed he was recruited by Ukrainian military intelligence to blow up a vessel carrying high-precision hypersonic weapons.

"As a result of the measures taken, a serviceman of the Russian Navy recruited by the Ukrainian special service was detained, from whom two improvised explosive devices with a total mass of 1 kg in TNT equivalent were seized," it said in a statement.

The suspect is also accused of transmitting information constituting a state secret, it said.

1550 GMT — 'Handful of donations' from Russia is not same as Black Sea grain deal: UN chief

The UN secretary general said that a "handful of donations" will not be the same as the Black Sea grain deal to help ease a global food crisis as Russia offered to provide free grain to six African countries after its withdrawal from the agreement.

In a press conference, Antonio Guterres warned that taking millions of tons of grains out of the market will lead to higher prices.

"The increase of prices will be paid by everybody everywhere and namely by developing countries and by the vulnerable people in middle income and even developed countries," he said.

"So it's not with a handful of donations to some countries, that we correct this dramatic impact that affects everybody, everywhere."

1426 GMT — Russia will provide free grain to 6 African countries in next 3-4 months: Putin

“We will be ready in the coming months, in the next three to four months, to provide Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea with 25,000-50,000 tons of grain free of charge.

We will also provide free delivery of this product to consumers,” Putin said during his opening speech at the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.

1410 GMT — US orders transfer of evidence of Russian war crimes to international court

US President Joe Biden signed off on the transfer of evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bolster its ongoing investigation into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The Pentagon previously counselled against going ahead with the decision because of concerns that cooperation with the tribunal could lead the court to investigate the US or close international allies.

A bipartisan pair of senators confirmed that Biden overrode the opposition, and has begun supplying the court with information.

1322 GMT — Türkiye wants Black Sea grain deal to continue in its original form

Türkiye wants the Black Sea grain deal to continue in its original form as a four-way agreement, Turkish security sources said.

Earlier this month, Russia pulled out of the Türkiye- and UN-brokered deal to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, triggering concerns once again of a potential food crisis.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, said: "There is no new ship arriving from Ukraine after the suspension of the initiative.

However, there are ships that had applied to go to Ukraine before the initiative was halted."

0807 GMT — Ukraine's Zelenskyy visits Dnipro, discusses battlefield situation

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has visited Dnipro in southeastern Ukraine to discuss the situation on the battlefield, supplies for troops and how to strengthen air defences.

"We started the working day in Dnipro," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app under video footage of him leading a meeting with military commanders and government officials.

"As always, we pay close attention to the supply of ammunition to our troops. The efficiency of using the existing air defence systems and reinforcing the sky shield, taking into account supplies from partners," he said.

0724 GMT — Russia hits port infrastructure in Ukraine's Odessa region: governor

Russian forces have struck port infrastructure in Ukraine's Odessa region in an overnight missile attack, killing a security guard and damaging a cargo terminal, the region's governor said.

Odessa Governor Oleh Kiper said Russia fired Kalibr missiles at an unspecified port from a submarine in the Black Sea in the overnight attack. He said a security building had been destroyed and two cars damaged.

Ukraine's air force said two missiles were fired in the attack and that it had been unable to shoot them down, but that air defences had shot down eight drones that Russia launched to attack other regions of Ukraine overnight.

0658 GMT — Over 20 port infrastructures damaged in Russian strikes - Kiev

Russian air strikes have damaged 26 Ukrainian port infrastructure facilities and five civilian vessels over the course of nine days, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a statement.

Russia hit more port infrastructure in Ukraine's Odessa region in an overnight missile attack, killing a security guard and damaging a cargo terminal, the region's governor said on Thursday after Kubrakov's statement.

0647 GMT — Russia's FSB says traces of explosives found on Russia-bound grain ship

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has said it had found traces of explosives onboard a foreign vessel en route from Türkiye to Russia for grain which had previously entered a Ukrainian port, Russian news agencies reported.

It was the second such announcement this week.

0600 GMT — South Korea vows to support local participation in Ukraine reconstruction

South Korea's government has vowed to provide policy support for domestic companies to win orders for post-war reconstruction projects in Ukraine.

Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun said in a meeting with other ministries and related agencies that they needed to devise systematic support measures to help companies access order information, financial support and risk management.

The government will work together to ensure speedy participation for domestic companies, it said in a statement.

For our live updates from Wednesday (July 26), click here.