Russia says all ships travelling to Ukrainian ports on Black Sea will be considered carriers of military equipment from Thursday, days after quitting the Black Sea grain deal. Russia’s defence ministry said it would “flag countries of such ships … considered parties to the Ukrainian conflict”. The ministry did not say what actions it might take.
US officials have information indicating Russia has laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports, said Adam Hodge, White House national security council spokesperson. “We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks,” he said.
The developments came after the Black Sea port Odesa endured a second “hellish night” of attacks, with Russia targeting grain facilities and port infrastructure. The strikes were an effort to stop Ukrainian grain reaching world markets, said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
A video has appeared purporting to show the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin addressing his fighters in Belarus and calling the Russian war effort in Ukraine a “disgrace”, in the first footage of the Russian warlord to emerge since his mutiny last month.
In it, Prigozhin says Wagner will no longer fight in Ukraine and will head to Africa. “What is happening at the front [in Ukraine] now is a disgrace in which we do not need to participate,” he said. “[We will] wait for the moment when we can prove ourselves in full.”
Vladimir Putin will attend a Brics summit in South Africa next month via video conference amid speculation that he could be detained under an international criminal court warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Ukraine if he appeared in person. South Africa is an ICC member, meaning they would have been obliged to arrest Putin if he entered the country.
The Belarus Red Cross has sparked international outrage after its chief told Belarusian state television that the organisation is actively involved in bringing Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied areas to Belarus. “The Belarus Red Cross has taken – and is taking, and will be taking – an active part in it, [the deportations]” Dzmitry Shautsou told state-run Belarus 1 TV channel.
Talks being mediated by Saudi Arabia and Turkey on the repatriation of Ukrainian thousands of children taken to Russia since Moscow’s invasion have been under way since at least April, a source with knowledge of the discussions said on Wednesday according to Reuters. The source expressed doubt that a deal would be reached because it would depend on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. “For him to give (the children) back would mean that he agrees that he’s a war criminal,” the source said.
The US has announced $1.3bn in additional security assistance for Ukraine. The package is set to include air defence capabilities and munitions. “This announcement represents the beginning of a contracting process to provide additional priority capabilities to Ukraine,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Wednesday.
EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss a proposal on Thursday to spend up to €20bn ($22.4bn) on weapons, ammunition and other military aid for Ukraine over four years. The proposal is part of an effort to put the bloc’s support for Kyiv on a longer-term footing.
A fire broke out at the military training grounds in the Kirovske district on the Crimean Peninsula, the Moscow-backed governor of Crimea said on Wednesday. The fire forced the closure of the nearby Tavrida highway and the evacuation of 2,000 people, Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram. Messaging channels linked to Russian security services and Ukrainian media said an ammunition depot was on fire at the base after a Ukrainian overnight air attack.
The Wagner group’s mutiny attempt in June showed Putin was under pressure, the head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service, Richard Moore, said in a rare public address. Moore said he was optimistic about the Ukrainian counteroffensive appealed to Russians appalled by the war in Ukraine to spy for Britain. “Our door is always open … Their secrets will be safe with us.”
The lawfulness of the UK sanctions regime set up in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will face its biggest legal test on Thursday when a Soviet-era oligarch and ally of Roman Abramovich seeks a court order to release his assets. At stake in the case brought by Eugene Shvidler, a billionaire oil businessman, is billions of pounds worth of assets, some of which the west wants to siphon off to help fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.
An Australian photographer has spoken of her pain and upset at what she has described as the unauthorised use of an image of her daughter as the basis for a pro-Russia mural on a bombed-out building in Mariupol. Helen Whittle said she was “very saddened” by the way her daughter’s portrait had been used by Italian street artist Ciro Cerullo.
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