Russia-Ukraine: Putin launches drone strikes on Kyiv as sirens wail across capital

Jump to content Sign up to our newsletters Subscribe News Sports Voices Culture Lifestyle Travel Premium Close ‘Everyone is afraid’: Wagner’s arrival in Belarus sparks fear in Polish border town Russia launched a fresh wave of drone strikes on Kyiv and other parts of the country early on Tuesday morning, Ukraine has said. The Kremlin used Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Kyiv for the sixth time this month, but all were shot down, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said. Air raid sirens wailed across the capital and attacks were also reported in the north and centre of Ukraine but none in the south. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to buildings. Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said air defences had been engaged in three regions in the north of the country. ‘About 10 drones were recorded, the information is being clarified,’ he told Ukrainian television, adding that up to five were destroyed. Earlier, thousands of Wagner group mercenaries have arrived in Belarus since the group’s short-lived rebellion, a military monitoring group said. Between 3,450 and 3,650 soldiers have travelled to a camp close to Asipovichy, a town 230 kilometres (140 miles) north of the Ukrainian border, according to Belaruski Hajun, an activist group that tracks troop movements within the country. 1690274765 Russia launched new drone strikes on Kyiv and parts of central and northern Ukraine early on Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. There were also no reports of new attacks on southern Ukraine, which had been struck almost every night since Russia pulled out of a deal allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea on July 17. Russia used Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Kyiv for the sixth time this month, but all were shot down, said Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration. Air raid alerts blared for more than three-and-half hours over the Kyiv region. Regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko said there had been no reports of damage or casualties although falling debris set off a fire in a field. Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said air defences had been engaged in three regions in the north of the country. “About 10 drones were recorded, the information is being clarified,” he told Ukrainian television, adding that up to five were destroyed. A man works on the rubble of an apartment building destroyed in Russian missile attacks in Odesa, Ukraine, Sunday Matt Mathers 25 July 2023 09:46 1690340733 Britain has ‘underplayed and underestimated’ the threat posed by the Russian Wagner mercenary group and should ban it as a terrorist organisation, a powerful committee of UK lawmakers have appealed. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee said the sanctions imposed by Britain on Wagner are ‘underwhelming’ and UK authorities have done little to track the private army’s activities beyond Ukraine, where it has fought as part of Russia’s invading forces. ‘There are serious national security threats to the UK and its allies of allowing the network to continue to thrive,’ said the committee, whose members come from both governing and opposition parties. It said Britain should ‘urgently proscribe the Wagner Network as a terrorist organisation,’ something the Conservative government has so far been unwilling to do. Read the full story here: British lawmakers say the U.K. has underestimated the threat posed by the Russian Wagner mercenary group and should ban it as a terrorist organization Arpan Rai 26 July 2023 04:05 1690340400 Trevor Reed, a former US Marine freed from a Russian prison last year, was injured while fighting as an international volunteer in Ukraine, according to US officials. A pair of defence sources told The Messenger that Mr Reed, who came back to the US in a high-profile prisoner swap in April 2022, stepped on a land mine in Ukraine and was not in the country acting on behalf of the US government in any way. ‘Since the beginning of the war, we have warned that US citizens who travel to Ukraine, especially with the purpose of participating in fighting there, that they face significant risks, including the very real risk of capture or death,’ one of the officials said . American headed to Germany for medical treatment Martha Mchardy 26 July 2023 04:00 1690339555 Vladimir Putin was reportedly left ‘paralysed’ when the Wagner coup began and no orders were given that day. The mercenary group launched its short-lived mutiny on 24 June, driving its forces towards the Kremlin and preaching open rebellion against Russia’s military leadership – only to abandon its mission just hours later. Now, security officials from Ukraine and other parts of Europe have spoken out, claiming the Russian president was unable to act when he first heard the news. According to intelligence assessments shared with the Washington Post , Mr Putin got a warning from Russian security services that the leader of the Wagner Group Yevgeniy Prigozhin was possibly planning a rebellion, two or three days before it began. Ukrainian and other European security officials say no orders came from Putin on 24 June when the Wagner rebellion broke out Arpan Rai 26 July 2023 03:45 1690336800 A group of nuns pray outside the Odesa Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine People lay at the Dnipro riverside promenade in Kyiv A man works on the rubble of an apartment building destroyed in Russian missile attacks in Odesa A church personnel inspects damages inside the Odesa Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa Firefighters work to extinguish fire at a warehouse destroyed in shelling in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Donetsk Martha Mchardy 26 July 2023 03:00 1690333200 Vladimir Putin was reportedly left ‘paralysed’ when the Wagner coup began and no orders were given that day. Now, security officials from Ukraine and other parts of Europe have spoken out, claiming the Russian president was unable to act when he first heard the news. According to intelligence assessments shared with the Washington Post , Mr Putin got a warning from Russian security services that the leader of the Wagner Group Yevgeniy Prigozhin was possibly planning a rebellion, two or three days before it began. Ukrainian and other European security officials say no orders came from Putin on 24 June when the Wagner rebellion broke out Martha Mchardy 26 July 2023 02:00 1690329600 European Union agriculture ministers met Tuesday to discuss ways of moving grain vital to global food security out of Ukraine after Russia halted a deal that allowed the exports. At the same time, they want to protect prices for farmers in countries bordering the war-ravaged nation. The ministers met in Brussels for the first time since Russia pulled the plug last week on the wartime deal that allowed grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa , the Middle East and Asia, where hunger is a growing threat and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty. The deal provided guarantees that ships would not be attacked when entering and leaving Ukrainian ports, while a separate agreement facilitated the movement of Russian food and fertilizer. European Union agriculture ministers are meeting to discuss ways of moving grain vital to global food security out of Ukraine after Russia halted a deal that allowed the exports Martha Mchardy 26 July 2023 01:00 1690326000 Tetiana Khlapova’s hand trembled as she recorded the wreckage of Odesa’s devastated Transfiguration Cathedral on her cellphone and cursed Russia, her native land. Khlapova was raised in Ukraine and had always dreamed of living in the seaside city. But not as the war refugee that she has become. In only a week, Russia has fired dozens of missiles and drones at the Odesa region. None struck quite as deeply as the one that destroyed the cathedral, which stands at the heart of the city’s romantic, notorious past and its deep roots in both Ukrainian and Russian culture. ‘I am a refugee from Kharkiv . I endured that hell and came to sunny Odesa, the pearl, the heart of our Ukraine,’ said Khlapova, who has lived in the country for 40 of her 50 years. Her neck still has a shrapnel scar from the third day of the war, when her apartment was hit. On Day 4, she fled to Odesa. In just a week, Russia has fired dozens of missiles and drones at the Odesa region of Ukraine, hitting the historic city center that had been largely spared since the beginning of the war Martha Mchardy 26 July 2023 00:00 1690322407 The boss Unilever has insisted that the company chose the ‘least bad’ option by staying in Russia days after the consumer goods giant admitted it would allow its Russian staff to fight in Ukraine if they were called up. The business, which is behind dozens of brands including Ben & Jerry’s, Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, was earlier this month named as an ‘international sponsor of war’ by Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention. On a call with reporters on Tuesday, chief executive Hein Schumacher said that Unilever was guided by two main principles in how it runs its Russia business. The business has revealed it would allow its Russian staff to be conscripted by the Russian armed forces Martha Mchardy 25 July 2023 23:00 1690318807 The Russian prosecutor-general’s office on Tuesday declared independent TV channel Dozhd to be an undesirable organization, continuing the country’s wide crackdown on news media and groups regarded as threats to Russia’s security. The designation outlaws Dozhd from operating in Russia and exposes its journalists, staff and donors to potential criminal charges. Dozhd, which is often critical of the Kremlin , closed its operations in Russia soon after the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, moving first to Latvia and then to the Netherlands . The prosecutor-general’s office said Dozhd had spread extremist material and discredited authorities. The Russian prosecutor-general’s office has declared independent TV channel Dozhd to be an undesirable organization, continuing the country’s wide crackdown on news media and groups regarded as threats to Russia’s security Martha Mchardy 25 July 2023 22:00 Ukraine Russia Moscow Vladimir Putin Black Sea UNESCO Crimea Kyiv SPUTNIK/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