Live blog: Ukraine's Zelenskyy to meet Türkiye's Erdogan in Istanbul

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Türkiye for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday.

Their meeting is due to focus on an expiring deal to ship Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea as well as next week's NATO summit.

Both Zelenskyy and Erdogan also want to extend a United Nations and Türkiye-brokered deal with Russia under which Ukraine has been allowed to ship grain to global markets during the war.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy was on his way to Prague to meet Czech counterpart Petr Pavel and other officials amid Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine, Pavel's spokesperson said.

Earlier, he had visited Sofia for a meeting with Bulgarian officials.

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1739 GMT — UNESCO condemns bombing of 'historic building' in Lviv

UNESCO has condemned the bombing of a historic building in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and expressed "its sincere condolences" to the families of five victims.

"This attack, the first to take place in an area protected by the World Heritage Convention since the outbreak of the war on 24 February 2022, is a violation of this Convention," the UN cultural agency said.

UNESCO added that the Russian strike also violated "the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict."

1732 GMT — Zelenskyy urges arms maker Bulgaria for help

Zelensky has appealed for support in Bulgaria, a major arms maker and ally, and was then heading to the Czechia as Kiev pushes to join NATO.

In his one-day Sofia visit, Zelensky held talks with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, as well as meeting with President Rumen Radev, other government officials and parliamentarians.

"The main focus of our talks is, of course, the security of our countries and our entire Europe, defence support and defence cooperation. The fundamental priority is energy. And strengthening our unity in Europe," he said on Telegram.

1605 GMT — Death toll from Russian cruise missile attack on Ukraine rises to five, dozens injured

Russia has fired cruise missiles at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least five people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on a civilian area of Lviv since the war began.

Emergency crews with search dogs went through the rubble of the building after the nighttime attack destroyed the roof and the top two floors. At least 36 people were injured, according to authorities.

The youngest of the five people who died was 21 years old and the oldest was a woman of 95, Lviv province governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. “This woman survived the Second World War, but unfortunately she didn’t survive” Russia’s war in Ukraine, Kozytskyi said.

1605 GMT — Russia and Ukraine announce prisoner exchange

Russia and Ukraine have announced a prisoner-of-war exchange involving the return of 45 soldiers from each side.

Russia's defence ministry said that 45 Russian servicemen had been returned from Ukrainian custody, the Russian news agency RIA reported.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential staff, said 45 service personnel and two civilians had been returned to Ukraine.

1239 GMT — Zaporizhzhia prepares for 'worst case scenario' over plant fears

Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia near Europe's largest nuclear plant, under Russian control, have said they are preparing for the "worst" as fears of sabotage mount.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian military said tensions had "decreased" at the plant thanks to the armed forces and foreign-aided diplomatic efforts. Memories of the Chernobyl disaster — that hit Ukraine in 1986 — still haunt the war-torn country.

"It's a major threat," Olena Zhuk, the head of Zaporizhzhia's regional council told AFP news agency, adding: "people are preparing, the government is preparing".

1235 GMT — Russia says struck 'assigned' targets after Ukraine flats hit

Russia has said its forces hit "all" assigned targets in Ukraine as Ukrainian authorities said a missile killed at least four people in the western city of Lviv.

"All assigned targets have been hit," the Russian defence ministry said, adding that its sea-based long-range "precision weapons" struck points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian troops and depots storing foreign-made armoured vehicles.

No other details were provided.

1215 GMT — Russia says Ukraine has directed more than 70 drone attacks at Crimea this year: RIA

The secretary of Russia's Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, has said that Ukraine had directed more than 70 drone attacks at Crimea this year, and also attacked southern Russia's Krasnodar and Rostov regions, the RIA news agency reported.

"The targets, as a rule, are energy and industrial infrastructure facilities, the destruction or damage of which threatens peaceful life and human health," Patrushev was quoted as telling a meeting on the security of southern Russia in Krasnodar.

Russia seized and unilaterally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, in a move not recognised internationally. Kiev demands that Moscow hand it back.

0415 GMT — Ukraine and Russia should stop using cluster bombs: HRW

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used cluster munitions that have killed Ukrainian civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report as the US weighs whether to answer the Ukraine government's call to supply it with the weapons.

Human Rights Watch, an international advocacy group, called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop using the weapons and urged the US not to supply them.

More than 120 countries have signed on to an international treaty banning the weapons, which typically scatter a large number of smaller so-called bomblets over a large area that can kill or maim unwary civilians months or years later.

0312 GMT — Wagner chief Prigozhin is not in Belarus but in Russia, says Belarusian president

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is not currently in Belarus, where he was exiled after the mercenary group's short-lived uprising last month, but in St. Petersburg, Russia, Lukashenko said.

"As for Yevgeny Prigozhin, he is in (Russia's) St. Petersburg . Where is he this morning? Maybe he went to Moscow, maybe somewhere else, but he is not on the territory of Belarus," Lukashenko told reporters during a news conference in the capital Minsk.

Lukashenko said that he sees no risks for Belarus if the paramilitary group fighters are deployed in his country, adding that they can be used for the defense of Belarus.

0304 GMT — Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of causing civilian casualties in missile strikes

Russia and Ukraine accused each other of carrying out missile strikes that resulted in civilian casualties.

Maksym Kozytskyy, governor of the western Ukrainian Lviv region, said on Telegram that three people were killed and eight injured in Russia's overnight missile strike.

He added that “objects of critical infrastructure” have been damaged.

Separately, Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk region, which is currently under Russia’s control, said two people were killed and eight injured in Ukraine's strike on Makiivka.

0258 GMT — Ukraine reports casualties, infrastructure hit in Lviv

Multiple people were killed or wounded in the largest attack on Lviv’s civilian infrastructure since Russia assaulted Ukraine last year, destroying entire floors of a residential building that was struck and leaving the streets below covered in rubble.

Four were killed and nine others injured, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko has reported, as emergency service workers searched in the debris for more people trapped.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a reaction on Telegram, saying, “Unfortunately, there are wounded and dead. My condolences to the relatives! There will definitely be a response to the enemy. A tangible one.”

0049 GMT — Zelenskyy says wanted to start counteroffensive sooner

Ukraine's Zelenskyy has told CNN he wanted a counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces to have started sooner than it did in June and that he had urged Western allies to quicken the supply of weapons for that mission, according to excerpts via a translator.

"I wanted our counteroffensive to happen much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counteroffensive unfolds later, then a bigger part of our territory will be mined," Zelenskyy said.

"We give our enemy the time and possibility to place more mines and prepare their defensive lines."

He said difficulties in the battlefield had led to Ukrainian forces slowing down the counteroffensive, which is aimed at reclaiming territory in eastern and southern Ukraine seized by Russia since its February 2022 invasion began.

0041 GMT — US, Sweden discuss Ukraine, security cooperation, NATO bid

US President Joe Biden and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson met at the White House on Wednesday and discussed a range of issues, including security cooperation and Sweden's NATO bid.

The leaders underscored their shared commitment to continue supporting Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia and coordinating transatlantic efforts on China.

"President Biden and Prime Minister Kristersson discussed our deepening bilateral defense partnership, including progress toward a new US-Sweden Defense Cooperation Agreement," said the statement.

For our live updates from Wednesday (July 5), click here.