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Crimean Bridge badly damaged after ‘multiple blasts’ in early hours
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Russia launched overnight air attacks on Ukraine‘s south and east using drones as Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops drove out Moscow’s forces from villages in the south.
A fire broke out at one of the “facilities” in the port of Mykolaiv late on Monday, the city mayor said. The port city provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea.
“It’s quite serious,” Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said on the Telegram messaging app of the fire, adding that more detail will come in the morning.
The southern port of Odesa and the Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions were under threat of Russian drone attacks, the Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian troops continued offensive operations to the south and north of Bakhmut, a small city captured by Russian forces in May, military spokesperson Andriy Kovaliov said.
In the south, after driving Russian troops out of clusters of villages, Ukrainian forces have had success in the direction of Mala Tokmachka-Novopokrovka and Velyka Novosilka-Urozhayne, Kovaliov said, without giving details.
“The enemy is putting up strong resistance, and heavy fighting is going on,” he said.
Recommended What the Crimea bridge attack means for Ukraine’s counteroffensive Why the Crimea bridge attack will get under Putin’s skin Russia stops crucial Ukraine grain export deal hours after attack on Crimea bridge Trump finally reveals how he thinks he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine in a day
Key Points Ukraine says 'complicated' situation in fighting in east, some success in south Russia launches drones and missiles on Ukraine’s south and east Russia says Ukrainian drone raid foiled over Crimea Russia's Kharkiv troop levels close to Soviet-era, says Ukraine Putin vows revenge after Crimea bridge attack Why the expiry of the Black Sea grain deal matters
Show latest update 1689676157 Crimea bridge attack: Everything to know about the Kerch bridge as critical Russian supply line attacked
Two people were killed and their teenaged daughter wounded in an attack on the Crimean Bridge – connecting the Russian mainland to the peninsula.
The bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, is a major artery for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and a prestige project personally opened by President Vladimir Putin. The bridge had had only recently returned to full operation after suffering severe damage in a similar attack last October.
Traffic along the 19km-long road and rail bridge was halted for six hours, following reports of multiple explosions at around 3am on Monday morning.
Here’s everything we know about the attack on the Crimean Bridge and its importance to Moscow:
Everything to know about the Crimean Bridge – as vital Russian supply line attacked Europe’s longest bridge connects the Russian city of Krasnodar in the east to Kerch in Russia-annexed Crimea
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 11:29
1689675119 Russia hit Ukraine targets in 'mass revenge strike' after bridge attack
Russia‘s Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it had hit military targets in two Ukrainian port cities overnight in what it called “a mass revenge strike,” a day after an attack on the Crimean bridge which it blamed on Kyiv.
The ministry said it had struck Odesa, where the Ukrainian navy has a facility, and Mykolaiv on Ukraine‘s Black Sea coast.
“The armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a mass retaliatory strike overnight using precision sea-based weapons against facilities where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared using uncrewed boats,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said it had struck a ship repair plant near Odesa where such boats were being built.
“In addition, storage facilities holding around 70,000 tons of fuel used to supply the Ukrainian military’s equipment were destroyed” near the cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa, it said.
It said all the targets had been struck and destroyed, citing fires and detonations as evidence.
Reuters could not independently confirm the account.
Ukraine‘s air force said earlier that six Kalibr cruise missiles and 31 out of 36 drones had been shot down, mostly over the coastal Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 11:11
1689673968 Russia says its troops advanced up to 2 km towards Ukraine’s Kupiansk
Russian forces have advanced by up to 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) in the direction of the city of Kupiansk in Ukraine‘s northeastern Kharkiv region, TASS cited Russia‘s defence ministry as saying on Tuesday.
More updates to follow.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 10:52
1689672141 Russia is using grain as ammunition, says Polish minister
Russia is using grain as ammunition, Poland’s Agriculture Minister Robert Telus told Reuters, commenting on the collapse of the year-old U.N.-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea.
Telus urged EU to help improve grain logistics as more Ukraine grain will start flowing through borders after the harvest.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 10:22
1689670212 Why the Crimea bridge attack will get under Putin’s skin
The Kerch Bridge has both strategic and symbolic value to the Russian president, writes Bel Trew:
A pre-dawn deadly assault on the Kerch Bridge is the second such attack in just nine months. As Ukraine pushes ahead with a summer counteroffensive, it amounts to a personal jab at Vladimir Putin, who has often boasted about its construction.
The 12-mile rail and road structure – the longest in Europe – was a ￡2.7bn prestige project and was opened by Mr Putin five years ago. It links the Russian mainland and occupied Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. When it was opened, Mr Putin boasted that Russian tsars had dreamed of building this “miracle” but had never succeeded. Russian state media hailed it as the “construction of the century”.
Why the Crimea bridge attack will get under Putin’s skin The Kerch Bridge has both strategic and symbolic value to the Russian president, writes Bel Trew
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 09:50
1689669084 Ukraine says 'complicated' situation in fighting in east, some success in south
Kyiv reported a “complicated” situation in fighting in eastern Ukraine and success in parts of the south on Tuesday as it pressed on with its counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces.
“The situation is complicated but under control (in the east),” General Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian ground forces, said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said Russia had concentrated forces in the direction of Kupiansk in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, but that Ukrainian troops were holding them back.
Ukrainian officials have increasingly pointed to an intensification of Russian military activity near Kupiansk and nearby Lyman in the northeast. Both cities were retaken by Ukraine late last year.
On Monday, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern forces said the Russian military had amassed more than 100,000 troops and more than 900 tanks in the area.
Syrskyi added that Russian troops were pulling up reserves in the Bakhmut sector in eastern Ukraine to try to stop Ukrainian forces advancing.
(AFP via Getty Images)
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 09:31
1689667500 Taiwan says looking to buy NASAMS air defence system from US
Taiwan is looking to buy National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, from the United States to upgrade its air defence capabilities having seen how well they work in Ukraine, the island’s defence minister said on Tuesday.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military and political pressure over the past three years to try to force the democratically governed island to accept Beijing’s rule.
NASAMS have been provided by the United States for use in Ukraine, with U.S. officials saying they have had a 100% success rate in intercepting Russian missiles.
The system, developed and built by Raytheon Technologies and Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen is a short- to medium-range ground-based air defence system that protects against drone, missile, and aircraft attack, which both Canada and Lithuania have also bought, or are buying for Ukraine.
Asked on the sidelines of parliament about Taiwan buying NASAMS, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said “certainly” there was a proposal to get them.
“This work must be done in accordance with the enemy situation,” he said. “We have seen from the Russia-Ukraine war that these weapons definitely have good performance.”
However, Taiwan has not received any official notification from the U.S. that they will sell NASAMS to Taipei, Chiu said.
“But we need this work to be done as soon as possible.”
The U.S., Taiwan’s main foreign source of weapons, formally makes notifications to the island about the arms Washington is willing to sell.
The U.S. is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, despite a lack of formal diplomatic relations. China routinely denounces such arms sales.
Taiwan’s military has been paying close attention to the war in Ukraine for lessons on defending against a much larger opponent, for example by the use of drones.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 09:05
1689665497 Odesa port infrastructure damaged in overnight Russian attacks
Russia carried out missile and drone strikes on southern and eastern Ukraine overnight that caused damage to infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
The attacks followed a pledge of retaliation by Russia after a blast on a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula on Monday. Moscow accused Ukraine of attacking the bridge, which is used to transport military supplies to Crimea, seized and annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine‘s air force said all six Kalibr missiles that were fired overnight, and 31 out of 36 drones, were shot down. The missiles and most of the drones were downed over Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south, while the rest were destroyed over the eastern regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.
Ukraine‘s southern operational military command said that all six Kalibr cruise missiles fired by Russia overnight were shot down over Odesa, and that 21 Iranian-made Shahed drones were downed over the surrounding region.
It said falling debris and blast waves damaged several homes and unspecified port infrastructure in Odesa, but gave few details. There was no word of any deaths but an elderly man was wounded in his home and was taken to hospital, it added.
Odesa has often been attacked since Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 although the port was part of the U.N.-brokered deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain that Russia pulled out of on Monday.
The latest attack was “further proof that the country-terrorist wants to endanger the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports,” Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential staff, said on Telegram.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 08:31
1689663012 A B&Q generator and a commandeered truck: Behind the British Wolfram vehicles helping Ukraine fight Putin
Wolfram vehicles are now standard weaponry for the British military, with possible export orders pending, writes Kim Sengupta:
The Wolfram armoured vehicle headed for the armoured column coming through the valley and fired salvos from its Brimstone missile system, setting the Russian T-57 tank aflame. Further along the frontline, a rider on an electronic bike was carrying out a lone attack, hitting the convoy at the flank using a Carl-Gustaf Mk4 rocket launcher.
The operation taking place was a military exercise in Lulworth, Dorset – but the tactics and weapons being used were from the Ukraine war. The Wolfram was developed by the British military in the early days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion with an urgent plea for help from Kyiv to counter Russian heavy armour.
A B&Q generator and a commandeered truck: The UK vehicles helping Ukraine fight Putin Wolfram vehicles are now standard weaponry for the British military, with possible export orders pending, writes Kim Sengupta
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 07:50
1689662963 Russia launches drones and missiles on Ukraine’s south and east
Russia launched overnight air attacks on Ukraine‘s south and east using drones and possibly ballistic missiles, Ukraine‘s Air Force and officials said early on Tuesday.
A fire broke out at one of the “facilities” in the port of Mykolaiv late on Monday, the city mayor said. The port city provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea.
“It’s quite serious,” Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said on the Telegram messaging app of the fire, adding that more detail will come in the morning.
The southern port of Odesa and the Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions were under threat of Russian drone attacks, the Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app.
It added that Russia may be using ballistic weaponry to attack the regions of Poltava, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Kirovohrad.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Air raid alerts blared in many Ukrainian regions for hours, before being called off at around 04:30 a.m. local time (0130 GMT).
Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa region’s military administration, said air defence systems there were engaged in repelling several waves of Russian drone attacks.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain 18 July 2023 07:49
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1/ 1Putin’s forces pushed back in south as Moscow launches Odesa strikes
Putin’s forces pushed back in south as Moscow launches Odesa strikes
Russian investigators were shown working at the scene of an overnight incident that damaged the Crimean bridge in video posted by Russia’s Investigative Committee on Monday
AFP via Getty Images
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