WorldAs Ukraine intensifies strikes deep inside Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accuses the United States of providing Kyiv with intelligence and threatens to destroy Western supplies bound for Ukraine. He also rejects a Turkish-backed Black Sea ceasefire proposal. Nearly a year after renewed US-Russia contact, talks on lasting peace in Ukraine show no progress.
Economy28:01Russia’s economy has withstood Western sanctions longer than expected, but strain is emerging in the fourth year of the Russia-Ukraine war. Growth is forecast to slow to its weakest pace since 2022, the budget deficit is widening and Ukrainian strikes are penetrating deeper into the economy. Moscow still has more than $300bn in accessible reserves and is benefiting from higher energy prices linked to the US-Israel war on Iran.
WorldRussian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin has fled Russia as authorities seek to stop him from running in upcoming parliamentary elections. Speaking from exile in France, he discusses why he believes the Russian public is turning against the war and what that could mean for the Putin regime. CNN also reports on exchanged strikes between Ukraine and Russia, including an attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
CNN
WorldA serviceman says US-made HIMARS launchers “changed the course” of the war in Ukraine. The truck-mounted systems can emerge from concealment, fire rockets and quickly relocate to avoid counter-battery fire. They are operating in the Oleksandrivka sector, where the front crosses Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
The Associated Press
WorldUkraine faced near-daily Russian attacks, with 11 locations including Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Kramatorsk hit overnight on Thursday. Several people were killed and more than two dozen, including children, were wounded. Ukraine said more than 100 drones were launched, while its grain ports continue to face repeated attacks.
WorldA Friday drone strike on the Ust-Luga port in Russia’s Leningrad region triggered a fire at the critical energy hub. It was at least the sixth attack there this year. Ukraine says such strikes are reducing the export revenues Moscow uses to fund its war economy.
WorldRussia’s latest attacks on Black Sea ports and grain infrastructure are putting global food supplies at risk, reviving memories of the 2022 blockades that drove prices sharply higher and left about 70 million people vulnerable to acute food insecurity. BNE IntelliNews editor-in-chief Ben Aris offers his analysis.
WorldUkraine and Russia have been attacking each other’s grain warehouses, prompting concern that damage to food supplies could drive global food prices higher.
WorldRussian strikes killed at least one person and wounded 15 in Kramatorsk, according to regional authorities, while another attack in Zaporizhzhia injured two. The strikes come as Moscow intensifies long-range attacks; the UN says civilian deaths in Ukraine last month were the highest since May 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion began.
WorldUkraine is intensifying drone attacks on Russian oil facilities, including the Ust-Luga port, disrupting fuel exports. Strikes on Wildberries warehouses are adding to economic pressure across Russia, Al Jazeera reports.
World1:55Russia says a Ukrainian drone attack reached a region about 2,000km from the border. Ukraine’s military says it struck an oil refinery and petrochemical complex there. Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, says the strikes triggered a fire in an industrial area containing one of its warehouses, prompting an employee evacuation; no retail goods were stored there.
World9:20Ukraine has only about a tenth of the US interceptor missiles it urgently needs to counter a sharp rise in Russian ballistic missile attacks, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN. He said he spends his days making “millions” of calls and pursuing opaque deals with allies for more, as Kyiv is hit particularly hard.
CNN
World1:52Kyiv and Moscow have exchanged attacks on grain warehouses, stoking concern that global food prices could increase. Russia damaged and set fire to Ukraine’s largest grain shipping port on the Danube overnight, a day after Ukraine struck Novorossiysk, a major grain hub on Russia’s side of the Black Sea.
World1:47Russian drone attacks are increasingly targeting Ukraine’s passenger rail lines, disrupting trips and forcing thousands of people off trains for hours. In the latest strike in the Odesa region, a locomotive was hit, killing the conductor and his assistant, while all passengers were evacuated. Since February 2022, more than 1,100 railway workers have been killed and over 3,100 wounded.
World3:20In southern Ukraine, a passenger train carrying hundreds was hit by a Russian drone on Thursday, leaving two people dead.
World1:36Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian vessels in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov as both sides in the more than four-year war seek to damage the other’s economy. The developments are affecting farmers and contributing to a grain crisis.
Reuters
WorldAt the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine had barely any navy capable of confronting Russia’s powerful Black Sea Fleet. Four years later, Russian warships seldom leave port. Missiles, drones and necessity-driven tactics have turned the Black Sea into a test bed for a radically different form of naval warfare.
EconomyRussia’s blockade of Black Sea ports is disrupting Ukraine’s grain exports and pushing storage facilities close to capacity. In Zhytomyr, farmer Serhiy Rybalko says a shortage of buyers and falling grain prices are undermining farmers’ ability to sustain their businesses and prepare for the next planting season.
WorldUkraine’s latest strike hit Novorossiysk, a Russian Black Sea port that also hosts a key naval base. The attack appeared to steer clear of oil infrastructure connected to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The report examines whether energy security, global oil prices and US interests are shaping the boundaries of Ukraine’s campaign against Russian infrastructure. It includes analysis from Christof Rühl of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
WorldUkraine says its defence forces conducted what it calls a “unique operation” against port infrastructure in Novorossiysk. Zelenskyy describes the port as Russia’s last major stronghold for its Black Sea fleet. Kyiv says it has struck nearly 200 vessels since late June and warns that fleet-linked infrastructure or boats could also be targeted. Zelenskyy has presented Washington with a plan to end the war, seeking more Patriot interceptor missiles and stronger US pressure on Moscow. Many Ukrainians, however, doubt talks will begin before key elections.
WorldA Russian overnight attack struck a shopping mall in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said. Another Russian attack in Odesa caused a fire in an apartment on the fifth floor of a multistory residential building. The report describes the immediate aftermath in the two Ukrainian cities, with damage reported at commercial and residential sites.
The Associated Press
WorldUkraine is seeking to deepen its cooperation with South Korea. Earlier this week, President Zelenskyy accused North Korea of increasing its support for Russia. Ballistic missiles from Pyongyang were reportedly used in another deadly attack on Zaporizhzhia. France 24 correspondent Chloe Borgnon reports from South Korea on the latest developments.
WorldUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Russia is preparing for a new wave of mobilization after the elections. He linked the claim to the removal of the Yabloko party from the upcoming vote. Zelenskyy said that decision makes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s priorities “crystal clear.”
The Associated Press
WorldUkraine says North Korea is taking on a larger role in the war by providing support to Russia. Reports point to the deployment of additional troops, missile units and ballistic missiles. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns that Moscow can no longer sustain the conflict without North Korean reinforcements. The report examines what Pyongyang seeks from the war and whether its deeper involvement is changing the character of the conflict.