Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin’s forces advance in key eastern town as Kyiv’s troops plead for ammunition
Ukraine’s military spokesman says it was impractical to hold on to part of Chasiv Yar after Russian troops entered
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Russian forces have broken through Ukrainian positions defending the strategically important eastern city of Chasiv Yar.
After months of bombardments, the Kremlin’s army pushed back forces from part of the city, Ukraine’s military spokesman announced.
Nazar Voloshyn said: “It became impractical to hold the canal neighbourhood after the enemy entered it, because it threatened the lives and health of our servicemen and the positions of our defenders were destroyed.
“The command decided to pull back to more protected and prepared positions, but even there the enemy does not stop its active combat actions.”
Holding the city was deemed crucial for Ukraine, with the site a highly sought-after due to its strategic location and elevated position.
The commander of a Ukrainian brigade operating near Chasiv Yar had said his forces were in need of ammunition as President Volodymyr Zelensky bemoaned the time it was taking for equipment to reach the front line.
Ukraine is now receiving Western weaponry and ammunition after assistance from Washington was halted for months by disputes in the US Congress, which announced its latest $2.3 billion military aid package this week, including artillery rounds, interceptor missiles and anti-tank weapons.
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Tally of wounded in Ukraine rises to 19
The number of people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern, eastern and southern Ukraine on Thursday has risen to 19, local authorities said.
A woman was killed and a man was wounded in a strike by a Russian guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Nine others, including four children, were wounded in a drone attack and shelling in the town of Novohrodivka, in the frontline Donetsk region, governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak reported seven wounded in the southern town of Nikopol. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Two civilians in the southern city of Kherson were wounded in a drone strike, the local administration said.
Russian bomb on village kills woman
An elderly woman has been killed and eight people wounded in Russian strikes on northeastern and southern Ukraine, local authorities said.
The woman was killed and a man wounded by a guided bomb on the village of Ruska Lozova in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Seven others were wounded in the town of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, governor Serhiy Lysak said. He had said earlier that Russian forces had attacked areas near Nikopol with drones and artillery on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Both the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions have been subjected to attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure, but thousands of people have been killed and wounded.
Ukraine must take irreversible steps before we end war, says Putin
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia would not declare a ceasefire in Ukraine until Kyiv took steps that were “irreversible” and acceptable to Moscow.
He has said it was pointless for Russia to attempt to appeal to the Ukrainian Parliament when it came to Moscow’s ideas to end the conflict between the two countries.
The president said he had seen fragments of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump but that he had enough of his own work to attend to, and added that the United States remained a great power.
Asked about Mr Trump’s suggestion that the war could be ended swiftly, Mr Putin said Russia took him seriously.
Russia ‘did not leave one building intact' in Donetsk town
Ukraine’s defensive positions in Chasiv Yar were destroyed and Russia did not leave “a single intact building”, a spokesperson for the ground forces formation has said.
Nazar Voloshyn said there would have been a threat of serious casualties if Ukrainian troops had remained in the area.
The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighbourhood in Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region.
Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated the town, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.
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Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has freed at least 10 political prisoners, including a veteran opposition figure suffering from cancer, rights campaigners say.
But the rare pardon still leaves some 1,400 people behind bars for political activity, most of them arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted of charges related to alleged extremism.
Human-rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been freed.
The only one named so far by relatives is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition party leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced the following year to 10 years in a penal colony. Following his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, this week announced an amnesty to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus’s liberation from the Nazis in World War Two. State news agency Belta said it was expected to apply to about 7,850 prisoners including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.
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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky says Donald Trump knows how to end the war in Ukraine, and he should “tell us today”.
Mr Zelensky said if there were risks to Ukrainian independence “we want to be ready for this, we want to know”, in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
Mr Trump, who is currently ahead in the polls over US President Joe Biden ahead of November’s election, has previously said he’ll end the war.
The interview comes as Russia’s force slowly advance in the Donetsk region with a new front near the northeastern city of Kharkivopened over recent months.
Russian missile damages gas infrastructure in Ukraine, killing one person
A Russian missile attack on Ukraine‘s Poltava region damaged gas infrastructure, killing one person and injuring three more, Ukraine‘s energy ministry said on Thursday.
An unspecified infrastructure as well as the facility of the gas producer Ukrgasvydobyvannia were damaged in the strike on Wednesday, the ministry said on Telegram.
Ukraine‘s air forces said on Wednesday they downed a Russian missile over the region but the regional governor reported damage done by debris.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8-9 and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said.
The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month but the dates have not been previously disclosed.
Russia has had strong ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trade partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
China and India have become key buyers of Russian oil following sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that shut most Western markets for Russian exports.
Under Mr Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s action in Ukraine while emphasising the need for a peaceful settlement.
Chasiv Yar reduced to rubble
A spokesperson for Ukraine‘s military said its army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a town reduced to rubble under a months-long Russian assault.
Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated Chasiv Yar, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted. The intensity of Russian strikes on Ukraine‘s defensive line in the area of Chasiv Yar has increased over the last month, Voloshyn said. In the past week alone, Voloshyn said Russia has carried out nearly 1,300 strikes, fired nearly 130 glide bombs and made 44 ground assaults.
Chasiv Yar lies a short distance west Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies a strategic, elevated location.
Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.
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