Key village liberated near Bakhmut as Putin’s forces face 40,000 shells a day – live

Fresh explosions struck Sevastopol and smoke was seen rising from a prominent landmark just kilometres away from the Crimean city as Ukrainian forces announced they were carrying out a joint intelligence operation in the region illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Pro-Russian Telegram channel ChP Sevastopol reported explosions in the area of Cape Fiolent late on Sunday night, while another Telegram channel reporting on Crimea shared visuals of an explosion and smoke arising from the same area.

The location, on the Crimean peninsula’s southern coast about 16km away from Sevastopol, has a marine radio engineering unit and a radio engineering station with a dozen radar antennas, an unnamed intelligence source told Ukraine’s Suspilne public broadcaster.

The European Union is gearing up for a fight over what should be included in its 12th package of sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.

The new measures, which could be presented as early as next month, would likely include the EU’s version of the upcoming G7 ban on purchases of Russian diamonds and possibly a long-awaited proposal to use the profits generated by frozen central bank assets to aid Kyiv, the report added citing people familiar with discussions.

Russia fired cruise missiles at mock targets in the seas separating it from Alaska on Monday in what it said was an exercise to protect its northern shipping route in the Arctic.

The defence ministry said Vulcan, Granit and Onyx cruise missiles were fired over distances of hundreds of kilometres to strike targets simulating enemy ships in the Bering Sea.

The exercise involved land-, ship- and submarine-launched missiles and included about 10,000 military personnel, as well as planes and helicopters, the ministry said.

The drills took place on Russia’s Chukotka peninsula and in the Chukchi and Bering Seas, and were supervised by Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, commander-in-chief of the Russian navy.

Russia is keen to demonstrate its continued ability to project force in the Arctic and the far east despite the strains on its armed forces from the 18-month war in Ukraine.

Moscow said last year it planned to spend almost $30 billion by 2035 on developing the northern sea route, which has become more viable as climate change has reduced sea ice in the Arctic. It runs across the top of Russia from Murmansk near the borders with Norway and Finland to the Bering Strait near Alaska.

President Vladimir Putin highlighted the importance of the route in a speech to the BRICS group of countries last month, saying Russia was planning to construct new ports and fuel terminals and expand its icebreaker fleet.

The Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday that a series of blasts had been heard at the headquarters of the Russian-installed local authorities in the Russian-held city of Donetsk, in east Ukraine.

The city’s Russian-installed mayor said in a statement on Telegram that central Donetsk was under fire.

Reuters could not immediately independently confirm the statement.

Pope Francis will meet Russia’s new ambassador to the Vatican today, prompting beliefs that the Vatican’s Ukraine peace envoy could soon undertake a second mission to Moscow.

Soltanovsky replaced Ambassador Alexander Avdeev, whom Francis met with on 25 February, 2022 in an in-person visit to the embassy the day after Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow was ready to meet again with Francis’ Ukraine peace envoy, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, a veteran of the Catholic Church’s peace initiatives.

“The Vatican is continuing its efforts. The papal envoy will come back (to Russia) soon,” Lavrov said at a roundtable discussion on Ukraine, as reported by AP on September 15.

Russia has called a Ukrainian case alleging that Moscow abused the Genocide Convention to justify its invasion last year an “abuse of process”, say AP.

The leader of Moscow’s legal team at the International Court of Justice, Gennady Kuzmin, told the 16-judge panel that Ukraine‘s case that seeks to halt the invasion “is hopelessly flawed and at odds with the longstanding jurisprudence of this court”, say AP.

Kyiv’s case filed shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine argues that the attack was based on false claims of acts of genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine and alleges that Moscow was planning genocidal acts in Ukraine.

Kyiv claimed that: “Russia has turned the Genocide Convention on its head – making a false claim of genocide as a basis for actions on its part that constitute grave violations of the human rights of millions of people across Ukraine“.

Lawyers for Russia insist that the court does not have jurisdiction and that the Genocide Convention cannot be used to regulate use of force by nations. Ukraine‘s legal team will respond on Tuesday and urge judges to press ahead to hearings on the substance of its claims.

Ukraine brought the case to the Hague-based court based on the 1948 Genocide Convention, which both Moscow and Kyiv have ratified.

In an interim ruling in March 2022, the court ordered Russia to halt hostilities in Ukraine, a binding legal ruling that Moscow has flouted as it presses ahead with its devastating attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities.

32 of Ukraine‘s allies including Canada, Australia and every European Union member nation except Hungary will also make statements on Wednesday in support of Kyiv’s legal arguments.

Kyiv and Moscow fire 40,000 shells from each side per day across the 1,000km front line, says President Zelensky.

The Ukrainian Leader shared details of the explosive battlefield in an interview with CBS published yesterday.

He also sent a message to Russia in the CBS interview, warning: “Your sky is not as well protected as you think.”

He added: “If you cut off our power, deprive us of electricity, deprive us of water, deprive us to gasoline, we have the right to do the same to you.”

Ukraine plans to sue Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over bans on Ukrainian agricultural products, according to Politico.

The Ukrainian Trade Representative Taras Kackha told Politico on Sunday: “It is important to prove that these actions are legally wrong. And that’s why we will start legal proceedings tomorrow.”

Rebelling against the European Comission, the EU countries have decided to impose their own bans on Ukrainian grain after the Comission lifted its temporary restriction.

Kachka told Politico. “I think that Hungary here is making a political statement that it wants to block trade with Ukraine and as well disregard Brussels completely. And that’s why I think that this is a very bold movement against both of us from Budapest.”

The EU countries say they have acted in the best interest of their farmers who are facing depressed prices.

The Ukrainian government said on Monday it had decided to dismiss six deputy defence ministers including Hanna Maliar, who has provided frequent updates on the latest fighting in the war with Russia.

Reuters report the government haven’t given a reason for the decision, Ukraine appointed Rustem Umerov as new defence minister earlier this month.

China’s foreign minister will be in Russia this week for security talks, arriving in Moscow just a day after North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un wrapped up his own visit to the country.

Wang Yi’s visit comes as an increasingly isolated Russia seeks support from its international allies for its war against Ukraine.

Running from Monday to Thursday, the visit will involve a “strategic security consultation” between China and Russia, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

China’s foreign minister will be in Russia this week for security talks, arriving in Moscow just a day after North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un wrapped up his own visit to the country.

Wang Yi’s visit comes as an increasingly isolated Russia seeks support from its international allies for its war against Ukraine.

Running from Monday to Thursday, the visit will involve a “strategic security consultation” between China and Russia, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Read the full story by Arpan Rai here