Explosions reported on Crimean bridge amid ’emergency situation’ – latest on Ukraine

Jump to content Sign up to our newsletters Subscribe News Sport Voices Culture Lifestyle Travel Premium News World Europe Arpan Rai , Holly Hales Monday 17 July 2023 04:38 Comments Close Belarus claims Wagner mercenary forces are training its troops Officials closed roads leading to the Kerch Bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula in the early hours today citing an ’emergency situation’ amid multiple reports of explosions. There was no immediate confirmation of an attack on the bridge , a critical supply route of munitions for Russian fighters in Ukraine , but it has been struck at least once previously since Vladimir Putin ‘s invasion began more than 500 days ago. Preliminary visuals of the lit-up Kerch Bridge on social media appeared to show a portion had been damaged. Russian military bloggers reported two missile strikes on the overpass. The RBC-Ukraine news agency said explosions were heard on the bridge. The bridge suffered a powerful blast in October last year, killing three people, which Mr Putin called a ‘ terrorist attack ‘ orchestrated by the Ukrainian security services. Kyiv has never claimed responsibility for attacks outside its soil but Volodymyr Zelensky indirectly suggested that his country was responsible for the attack as he listed it as one of his army’s ‘successes’ in 2022. 1689562689 Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov asked people to refrain from travelling on the Crimean Bridge connecting the peninsula to Russia this morning, after reporting earlier an ’emergency situation’ on the bridge. The RBC-Ukraine news agency had earlier reported that explosions were heard on the bridge. Traffic was stopped at the Russian-built Crimean Bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian region of Krasnodar due to ‘an emergency’ situation, Mr Aksyonov wrote on Telegram earlier today. He did not provide any further detail. Arpan Rai 17 July 2023 03:58 1689559220 Russia has seized control of French yoghurt maker Danone’s subsidiary in the country along with beer maker Carlsberg’s stake in a local brewer. The insight was confirmed in a decree signed by Putin on Sunday. In the memo, Danone Russia and Baltika Breweries were said to be put under ‘temporary management’ of government property agency Rosimushchestvo. Holly Hales 17 July 2023 03:00 1689553820 Hundreds of ‘experienced’ Wagner fighters have arrived in the Central African Republic to secure a referendum, according to a Russian private security company. The Officers’ Union for International Security (OUIS) on Telegram on Sunday: ‘Another plane has arrived in Bangui with instructors to work in the Central African Republic [CAR].’ The arrival is in anticipation of the constitutional referendum scheduled for 30 July. OUIS is a front company for the Wagner Group in CAR, according to the United States. It is believed to be run by Russian Alexandre Ivanov, who was sanctioned by the in January. Holly Hales 17 July 2023 01:30 1689550220 The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said Russia’s security apparatus entered a period of negotiation after the Wagner Group mutiny. It also claimed an interim arrangement for the future of the group had started to form. The ministry explained its analysis posted on Sunday. ‘On 12 July 2023, the Russian MoD announced that Wagner had handed over 2000 pieces of military equipment, including tanks. As of 15 July 2023, at least a small contingent of Wagner fighters have arrived at a camp in Belarus,’ the post read. ‘Concurrently, some Wagner-associated social media groups have resumed activity, with a focus on highlighting the group’s activities in Africa. ‘Based on recent announcements by Russian officials, the state is likely prepared to accept Wagner’s aspirations to maintain its extensive presence on the continent.’ Holly Hales 17 July 2023 00:30 1689546600 Volodymyr Zelenskyy has marked the 33rd anniversary of the Declaration of the Soverign State of Ukraine. The Ukraine President made the acknowledgement in his nightly address and detailed the events of 16 July 1990. On the date, a document decreed Ukraine would have its own laws separate from the former USSR along with its own army, currency and bank. He went on to say the country ‘will never give up its sovereignty’. ‘Whatever the Russian terror may be Ukrainian freedom will still be preserved and will still prevail,’ he added. ‘Every year Ukraine will get stronger,’ Mr Zelenskyy said. Holly Hales 16 July 2023 23:30 1689543199 Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had prevented Ukraine from attacking the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on Sunday, destroying seven aerial and two underwater drones. ‘This morning, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by seven unmanned aerial vehicles and two unmanned underwater vehicles on objects on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula near the city of Sevastopol was thwarted,’ the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. There were no casualties and no damage, the ministry added. It said that two aerial drones were shot down over the Black Sea at a great distance from the coastline, while five were intercepted by Russia’s electronic warfare forces. Two unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), known as underwater drones were discovered in the northern part of the Black Sea, and destroyed by fire, the ministry said. Earlier, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, said on the Telegram messaging app that the attacks were over the harbour of Sevastopol and the city’s Balaklava, Khersones districts. Maritime transport, including passenger ferries, was suspended for several hours early on Sunday, the city’s Moscow-backed transport authorities said on their Telegram channel. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Sunday that Moscow has a ‘sufficient stockpile’ of cluster munitions There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the attack on Sevastopol, a port in the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview published on Sunday that Moscow has a ‘sufficient stockpile’ of cluster munitions. He warned that the country ‘reserves the right to take reciprocal action’ if Ukraine uses the controversial weapons. In his first comments on the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine from the US, Mr Putin said that Russia has not used cluster bombs in the war with Ukraine so far. But the use of cluster bombs by both Russia and Ukraine has been widely documented, including by The Associated Press and international humanitarian organisations, and cluster rounds have been found in the aftermath of Russian strikes. ‘Until now, we have not done this, we have not used it, and we have not had such a need,’ Mr Putin said. Rossiya TV reporter Pavel Zarubin published excerpts of the interview to his Telegram channel on Sunday before a scheduled broadcast on Sunday night. Holly Hales 16 July 2023 22:33 1689541830 Ukraine has issued no immediate comment after governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman riding her bike. The country almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia. Reuters was not able to verify what happened. Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor, said the Grad missiles had struck a market area, damaging a building and two cars. ‘To much grief, one person was killed – a woman was riding a bicycle on the pavement at the time of the shelling. Injuries she received from shrapnel were incompatible with life,’ Gladkov said on the Telegram messaging app. He said Ukrainian shelling of two other Belgorod settlements on Sunday caused no casualties but damaged three homes in Gorkovsky, and warehouses, a fence, a water tower and a power line at an agricultural enterprise in Ilek-Penkovka. The Grad (Hail) weapons system is a truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher used by both Ukrainian and Russian forces. Its use against civilian areas is regarded as a war crime by human rights activists. The town of Shebekino, about 5 km from the Ukrainian border, has been repeatedly targeted by what Russia says is indiscriminate shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces. Kyiv has accused Russian forces of indiscriminately shelling its civilian areas too. Both sides deny targeting civilians. Holly Hales 16 July 2023 22:10 1689541153 The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Russian town of Shebekino near the Ukrainian border with Grad missiles, killing a woman riding her bike. Rich Booth 16 July 2023 21:59 1689523766 Following Ben Wallace’s revelation today that he will resign as defence secretary in the next Cabinet reshuffle – and as an MP at the next election – our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta writes that the politician had previously ‘made no secret that his dream job was to be the next Nato secretary general’. ‘And his early and robust support for Ukraine, it was thought, would put him in a good position as Europe scrambled to be combat-ready in the face of Vladimir Putin’s invasion,’ he writes. ‘ … While finding his path to Nato stopped, Wallace was also set to lose his seat of Wyre and Preston North in boundary changes. Along with that came persistent rumours that Wallace, one of the longest-serving Conservative defence secretaries, would lose his post in Rishi Sunak’s autumn reshuffle. ‘With the Conservatives highly unlikely to win the next election Wallace was said to be increasingly unwilling to go through the troubles of finding another seat, only to spend years in opposition backbenches. He planned to announce during the summer recess that he would be leaving politics at the next election.’ You can read his analysis in full with Independent Premium: The outgoing defence secretary had made no secret of his desire to become Nato secretary general, but found a series of obstacles in his way, writes world affairs editor Kim Sengupta Andy Gregory 16 July 2023 17:09 1689521927 Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that ‘the world believes in Ukraine’, as he shared images of Kyiv’s soldiers in a rallying call on social media. It comes after a week in which Mr Zelensky travelled to Vilnius for the Nato summit, where the alliance’s inability to reach a consensus on offering Ukraine membership sparked frustration in Kyiv. Andy Gregory 16 July 2023 16:38 Ukraine Russia Volodymyr Zelensky Vladimir Putin Kyiv The symbolic bridge inaugurated by Vladimir Putin in 2018, is logistically crucial for Moscow, a vital transport link for carrying military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine AFP via Getty Images Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in