‘Powerful day’ for Ukraine on frontline, says Zelenskiy
A senior Ukrainian official has reported heavy fighting in the north-east of the country, with Kyiv’s forces holding their lines and making gains in some areas.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Sunday as “a good day, a powerful day” at the front, particularly near Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces say they are retaking ground lost when Russian forces took the city in May.
Reuters also reported that Russia’s military said it had halted Ukrainian forces in the north-east.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said Russian forces were “trying to drive us out” of elevated positions in the north-east occupied by Moscow after its February 2022 invasion but retaken later by Ukrainian troops.
The Russians’ key task, Maliar told national television, was to “divert our forces from the Bakhmut area, where we have a successful offensive”.
They have attacked endlessly this week. But our troops resist the attacks and sometimes push them back with heavy losses.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had deployed rockets to destroy an armoured brigade of Ukrainian troops near Svatove, a key Russian-held town in the north-east. It said Russian forces had also repelled four Ukrainian attacks near the town of Lyman, further south.
Key events
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said that the Russian state has failed “to insulate the population from the war” in its latest daily intelligence briefing. It writes:
The Russian authorities are prioritizing amending legislation to allow more men to be rapidly drafted into the military. In mid-July 2023, the State Duma increased the maximum age of liability for conscription from 27 to 30, while retaining the current lower limit at 18.
While conscripts are not currently deployed in Ukraine, extra draftees free-up professional and mobilised soldiers from other duties inside Russia.
The increased chance of being compelled to fight, drone attacks on Moscow, exceptional level of domestic repression, and the recent Wagner mutiny combine to highlight the Russian state’s failure to insulate the population from the war.
Russia’s embassy in Moldova has announced it will temporarily stop providing appointments for consular matters in what Moldovan officials say is a situation linked to the order by the country’s authorities to reduce staff.
Reuters reports that a statement issued by the embassy late on Saturday said consular appointments would be suspended from 5 August “for technical reasons”.
Ex-Soviet Moldova has been buffeted by Russia’s war in neighbouring Ukraine and its pro-European president, Maia Sandu, has denounced the invasion and accused Moscow of trying to destabilise her country.
Moldovan officials say the order to reduce staff at the Russian embassy to 25 from the current level of more than 80, to take effect from 15 August, will establish parity with Moldova’s embassy in Moscow.
The reduction was ordered after press reports that more than two dozen antennas had been installed on the Russian embassy’s roof for surveillance purposes.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has vowed Moscow will take retaliatory measures to be announced later.
The latest drone attacks on Moscow reflect a pattern of more frequent and deeper cross-border strikes the Ukrainian government has carried out since launching its counteroffensive in June, the Associated Press reports.
Russian air defences shot down one drone in Odintsovo, in the surrounding Moscow region, while two others were jammed and crashed into the Moscow City business district.
Ukraine did not acknowledge the early Sunday strikes, in keeping with its security policy, but Moscow blamed Kyiv. It was the third such attack on the capital region this week and the fourth this month.
A Ukrainian air force spokesperson also did not claim responsibility but said the Russian people were seeing the consequences of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Yurii Ihnat said on Sunday:
All of the people who think the war ‘doesn’t concern them’ – it’s already touching them.
There’s already a certain mood in Russia: that something is flying in, and loudly. There’s no discussion of peace or calm in the Russian interior any more. They got what they wanted.
The spokesperson also referenced an early Sunday drone attack on Russian-annexed Crimea. Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 16 Ukrainian drones and neutralised eight others through electronic jamming. No casualties were reported.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his Sunday night video address:
Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process.
Saudis to host Ukraine peace summit – officials
Saudi Arabia will host a Ukraine-organised peace summit in early August seeking to find a way to start negotiations over Russia’s war on the country, officials have said.
Associated Press reported the summit would be held in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, citing one of the officials. Russia was not invited, said the official, who spoke early on Sunday on condition of anonymity.
Hours later, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed the talks would be held in Saudi Arabia, without naming Jeddah as the location.
He said a Ukrainian peace formula containing 10 fundamental points “should be taken as a basis, because the war is taking place on our land”. Kyiv has described the formula as including the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression.
Saudi Arabia did not acknowledge the coming summit on Sunday and did not respond to a request for comment.
Those taking part in the summit would include Ukraine, the US, Brazil, India, South Africa and several other countries, the Saudi official said. Details remain in flux.
The talks would take place on 5 and 6 August, with some 30 countries attending, the Wall Street Journal reported.
News of the talks comes after the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, visited Saudi Arabia last Thursday.
‘Powerful day’ for Ukraine on frontline, says Zelenskiy
A senior Ukrainian official has reported heavy fighting in the north-east of the country, with Kyiv’s forces holding their lines and making gains in some areas.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Sunday as “a good day, a powerful day” at the front, particularly near Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces say they are retaking ground lost when Russian forces took the city in May.
Reuters also reported that Russia’s military said it had halted Ukrainian forces in the north-east.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, said Russian forces were “trying to drive us out” of elevated positions in the north-east occupied by Moscow after its February 2022 invasion but retaken later by Ukrainian troops.
The Russians’ key task, Maliar told national television, was to “divert our forces from the Bakhmut area, where we have a successful offensive”.
They have attacked endlessly this week. But our troops resist the attacks and sometimes push them back with heavy losses.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had deployed rockets to destroy an armoured brigade of Ukrainian troops near Svatove, a key Russian-held town in the north-east. It said Russian forces had also repelled four Ukrainian attacks near the town of Lyman, further south.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I’m Adam Fulton and here’s a roundup of the latest.
Ukraine has reported heavy fighting in the country’s north-east, saying Kyiv’s forces are holding their lines and making gains in some areas.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Sunday as “a good day, a powerful day” at the front, particularly near the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces say they are retaking ground.
But Russia’s military said it had halted Ukrainian forces in the north-east.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, will host a Ukrainian-organised peace summit in early August in an effort to find a way to start negotiations over the war, the Associated Press has reported, citing Saudi officials.
One of them said Russia was not invited to the talks and they would be held in Jeddah.
Ukraine’s presidential office later confirmed the summit.
The talks would take place next weekend, 5 and 6 August, with about 30 countries attending, the Wall Street Journal reported.
More on those stories soon. In other news:
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Three Ukrainian drones that were shot down over Moscow damaged a high-rise building containing government offices and briefly shut an international airport, according to reports. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said nobody was hurt and there was only minor damage to the facade of two office buildings in the Moscow City business district early on Sunday. Russia’s state news agency Tass reported a security guard had been injured. One of the damaged buildings – 7km from the Kremlin – was home to three Russian government ministries as well as residential apartments, according to Russian media, in the third such attack on the capital region in a week.
Photograph: Vlad Karkov/Sopa Images/Shutterstock
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“War is returning to the territory of Russia,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned after the drones were downed over Moscow. The Ukrainian president said that was “an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process” and that Russia’s symbolic centres and military bases would be targeted.
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Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would be “forced” to use a nuclear weapon if Kyiv’s counteroffensive was a success and its forces “tore off a part of our land”. Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, said that in that situation “there would simply be no other option”.
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Vladimir Putin has said African and Chinese proposals could serve as a basis for finding peace, but that elements were “difficult or impossible” to implement. The Russian president was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg.
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Putin praised Russia’s navy in an address at the annual Navy Day parade. The Russian president announced 30 new ships this year and said the country was “building up the power” of its navy.
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Satellite imagery captured on 19 July has identified about 300 tents and 200 vehicles in Tsel, Belarus, where Wagner troops have likely established a military camp there, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. It said it was unclear what happened to the heavy equipment Wagner used in Ukraine, suggesting it was possible it was forced to return these to the Russian military.
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Russian forces thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Russia-annexed Crimea with 25 drones, Moscow said on Sunday.
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Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told government officials he expects Russia to resume its attacks on Ukraine’s energy system when the weather gets colder in the autumn. “We should be ready for this in any case,” the Ukrainian president said.
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Pope Francis has called on Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal, through which Moscow had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its seaports despite the war.
