Ukraine-Russia war – latest: Baby among seven dead as Putin’s troops attack Kherson

A 23-year-old girl child was among seven people killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine ‘s southern Kherson region. Artillery shelling in the village of Shiroka Balka killed a family – a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy and the newborn – and another resident. Two men were killed in the neighboring village of Stanislav, where a woman was also wounded. The attack on Kherson province followed Ukrainian deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar’s comments on Saturday attempting to quell rumors that Ukrainian forces had landed on the occupied left (east) bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region. Meanwhile, Russian troops have been forced to retreat as Ukraine has retaken a key village in Donetsk, according to reports. Moscow ‘s forces have abandoned their positions in Urozhaine, which is a strategically-significant southeastern village that Kyiv has been attempting to recapture for days as part of its counteroffensive. In reports that The Independent has been unable to independently verify, it has been suggested that Ukrainian soldiers used US smart bombs that were shipped over in March. Key Points Baby among seven killed as Russia strikes Kherson Russian troops ‘forced to retreat’ as Ukraine ‘retakes key Donetsk village’ ‘Realistic possibility’ Kremlin no longer funds Wagner, says UK Ukraine military reports progress in south Russia vows retaliation for Ukraine’s ‘terrorist attack’ on Crimean Bridge Russia vows retaliation after Ukraine attack on Crimea bridge 05:15 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar Russia has vowed revenge after claiming to have shot down Ukrainian missiles targeting a key bridge linking them with the annexed Crimea. Videos on social media appeared to show smoke rising from near Kerch Bridge, an important resupply route for Russian forces. The Kremlin accused Ukraine of terrorism, while also claiming to have thwarted an attack by 20 drones targeting Crimea overnight. Russian foreign spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram: ‘There can be no justification for such barbaric actions and they will not go unanswered.’ Three injured in Russian attack on Odesa 04:45 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar At least three people sustained injuries in Russia’s overnight attack on the port city of Odesa, the governor of the Ukrainian region said. ‘As a result of the enemy attack in Odesa, several fires broke out from falling rocket fragments,’ the governor, Oleh Kiper, said today. ‘Windows in buildings were blown out by the blast wave. Baby dead in Russian attack on Kherson 04:19 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar Artillery shelling in the village of Shiroka Balka, on the banks of the Dnieper River killed a family – a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy and 23-day-old girl – and another resident. Two men were killed in the neighboring village of Stanislav, where a woman was also wounded. The attack on Kherson province followed Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar’s comments on Saturday attempting to quell rumors that Ukrainian forces had landed on the occupied left (east) bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region. ‘Again, the expert hype around the left bank in the Kherson region began. There are no reasons for excitement,’ she said. Ukraine is the most mined country in the world, claims defence minister 04:00 , Matt Drake Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces have been laying down landmines year after year in an effort to thwart any counteroffensive. The Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed that millions of explosive devices have been placed along the frontline which extends roughly 600 miles. Speaking to The Guardian , he said: “Russian minefields are a serious obstacle for our troops, but not insurmountable. “We have skilled sappers and modern equipment, but they are extremely insufficient for the front that stretches hundreds of kilometres in the east and south of Ukraine.’ Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine is the most mined country in the world (REUTERS) 03:00 , Matt Drake Poland’s defense minister said Saturday that the country has increased the number of troops protecting its border with Belarus as a deterrent amid ‘destabilizing’ actions by its pro-Russian neighbor. Mariusz Blaszczak met in Jarylowka, in eastern Poland, with some of the troops recently deployed close to the Belarus border. He insisted that the increased military presence is purely a deterrent move, not a hostile act, as Minsk and Moscow are claiming. ‘There is no doubt that the Belarus regime is cooperating with the Kremlin and that the attacks on the Polish border are intended to destabilize our country,’ Blaszczak said. Read the full report by Rafal Niedzielski below. Further shelling in Kherson region 02:00 , Matt Drake There has been further shelling in the village of Bilozerka on the outskirts of Kherson. It comes after reports that shelling in Shikora Balka killed seven people, including a 23-day-old baby. Air raid sirens were reported across the region for the rest of Sunday. According to military officials on Telegram, 12 houses were damaged, injuring a man and a 31-year-old woman. A 23-day-year old baby and her family were killed in shelling (Ihor Krylenko/Telegram) Ukrainian troops shoot flyers at Russian positions urging them to surrender 01:00 , Matt Drake Images show Ukrainian soldiers preparing artillery shells filled with flyers near Bakhmut, Donetsk region. The flyers have messages urging Russian troops to give up and are then fired towards enemy positions using a Grad multiple-launch rocket system. A Ukrainian soldier watches a Grad multiple launch rocket system firing shells with flyers near Bakhmut, Donetsk region (AP) Ukrainian soldiers load flyers urging the Russian soldiers to surrender (AP) A Ukrainian soldier loads flyers urging the Russian soldiers to surrender, into a Grad multiple launch rocket system (AP) Russia says it has foiled Ukraine drone attack over Belgorod region Monday 14 August 2023 00:00 , Matt Drake Russia’s defence ministry claimed on Sunday that their air defences shot down another drone over the western Belgorod region at around 10 pm Moscow time. The ministry said in a post on its Telegram channel: ‘There were no casualties or destruction.’ Russian rockets are launched against Ukraine from the Belgorod region, seen from Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, July 16, 2023 (AP) Newborn baby girl killed alongside parents and brother as Putin’s troops bombard Kherson village Sunday 13 August 2023 23:00 , Matt Drake An entire family including a newborn baby girl and her 12-year-old brother were among seven people killed during intense Russian shelling in a village in southern Kherson on Sunday. Russian shells hit the village of Shiroka Balka, on the banks of the Dnieper River, and killed a family that included a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy and 23-day-old baby girl, Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry said. Another resident was also killed, as well as two men in the neighbouring village of Stanislav. Ukraine’s interior minister Igor Klymenko said the shells hit the family’s home in Shiroka Balka, adding: ‘Terrorists must be stopped. They must be stopped by force. They don’t understand anything else.’ Read the full report by Matt Drake below. Newborn baby girl killed as Putin’s troops bombard Kherson village Torture is ‘antithesis of a peaceful settlement,’ warns UN special rapporteur Sunday 13 August 2023 22:26 , Andy Gregory War crimes such as torture are ‘the antithesis of a peaceful settlement’, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture has warned, after writing to Russian authorities to detail allegations brought to her concerning Moscow’s forces in Ukraine . ‘Torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of your enemy is one of the crimes which is so hard for societies and individuals to recover from. That is the antithesis of a peaceful settlement,’ said Dr Alice Jill Edwards, in an exclusive interview with The Independent . ‘It’s not the investigations into these allegations, it’s the actual acts themselves. There really is never any peace without justice, and I think the Ukraine context is very interesting how this [bid] to investigate crimes of torture is being carried out in real-time while a war is underway. That is rare.’ Ukrainian accounts of torture ‘go way beyond rogue Russian troops’, UN warns Charting the Wagner mercenary group’s movements through the Ukraine war Sunday 13 August 2023 21:29 , Andy Gregory The UK’s Ministry of Defence first reported that Wagner mercenaries had been deployed in Ukraine on 28 March 2022, little over a month into Moscow’s invasion – after Russian losses had already begun to hamper the pace of the initial assault. Military consultant Nicholas Drummond told The Independent : ‘Wagner was involved from the start but the group started to become a key player when the initial assault ran into difficulty. By the end of March, it was very evident that the invasion had gone wrong. Putin used Prigozhin as a troubleshooter and Wagner was there to fill the gaps.’ But despite handing Mr Putin the rare opportunity to vaunt a military success in Ukraine with the grinding and costly capture of Bakhmut, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin would ultimately turn on the Kremlin, and his exact whereabouts now are up for debate, as his mercenaries’ presence in Belarus raises concerns across the border with Nato. My colleague Maryam Zakir-Hussain takes a look below at Wagner’s movements since the war’s outset: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner mercenary group through the Ukraine war Russian scientists ‘begin processing first data’ from Luna-25 space mission Sunday 13 August 2023 20:22 , Andy Gregory Russia has switched on the scientific instruments aboard its lunar lander and scientists began processing its first data, as the space craft sped towards the moon in a bid to be first to find ice on the Earth’s only natural satellite. The Russian Luna-25 mission, the first since 1976, is racing against India, which launched its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander last month, to complete a soft landing on the moon’s south pole where scientists believe there are pockets of water ice. A Soyuz 2.1 rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East at 2:11am on Friday Moscow time and was boosted out of Earth’s orbit an hour later. There is much riding on the Luna-25 mission for Russia – if it succeeds, Moscow is likely to say it shows that the West’s sanctions over the Ukraine war cannot hold it back, while failure would again raise questions over Russia’s space ambitions after decades of superpower competition with the US during the Cold War. The rocket carrying the lunar lander blasts off from a launchpad at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region of Russia (Roscosmos/Vostochny Space Centre via Reuters) Seven killed in Ukraine’s Kherson region, including a 23-day-old baby girl Sunday 13 August 2023 19:26 , Andy Gregory Seven people – including a 23-day-old baby girl – were killed in Russian shelling in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region on Sunday, the country’s Internal Affairs Ministry said. Artillery shelling in the village of Shiroka Balka, on the banks of the Dnieper River killed a family – a husband, wife, 12-year-old boy and 23-day-old girl – and another resident. Two men were killed in the neighbouring village of Stanislav, where a woman was also wounded. Susie Blann has the full report: Ukraine claims to have ‘liquidated’ 560 Russian troops in 24 hours of fighting Sunday 13 August 2023 18:31 , Andy Gregory Ukraine claims to have ‘liquidated’ a further 560 Russian troops in its daily roundup of Moscow’s losses. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also claimed to have destroyed 20 vehicles and fuel tanks, 11 armoured personnel vehicles, three tanks, and 19 artillery systems. Ukraine’s count of Russian losses is somewhat higher than estimates by Western allies, media outlets and other analysts, which in turn are significantly higher than those admitted to by Moscow. Large fire extinguished at fertiliser warehouse in Moscow region, Russian authorities say Sunday 13 August 2023 17:34 , Andy Gregory A large fire that broke out at a fertiliser warehouse in the Moscow region on Sunday has been extinguished, Russia’s emergency service has said. The size of the fire in the town of Ramenskoye reached 2,700 square metres before it was localised and put out, Russian state news agency RIA reported. Videos of the fire posted online earlier showed thick black smoke and a flame, seen from hundreds of metres away. Moscow region prosecutor’s office said the preliminary cause of the fire was a violation of fire safety requirements during welding work, state news agency Tass reported, citing the warehouse’s owners as saying that all employees had left the premises. Kerch bridge reopens after suspension, official says – day after ‘rocket strike’ Sunday 13 August 2023 16:25 , Andy Gregory Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has resumed after a brief suspension on Sunday, an official Telegram channel said. It did not state the reason for the road closure, but it came a day after Russia’s defence ministry claimed Ukraine had unsuccessfully tried to strike the bridge across the Kerch Strait with S-200 rockets, forcing its temporary closure. The bridge, a prized trophy of Vladimir Putin built following his illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and has been targeted on more than one occasion since Russia’s full-scale invasion last February. Flame and smoke rise from the bridge after an attack last October (AP) Exclusive: Ukrainian accounts of torture ‘go way beyond rogue Russian troops’, UN warns Sunday 13 August 2023 15:27 , Andy Gregory Allegations of Ukraine’s civilians being snatched from their homes and abused in makeshift detention centres go ‘way beyond’ the actions of rogue Russian soldiers, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture has warned. Dr Alice Jill Edwards has written to Russian authorities detailing the accounts she has received of harrowing and widespread human rights abuses by Moscow’s troops in Ukraine – including electrocutions, mock executions and threats of genital mutilation. The 22-page letter serves to put Russia on notice of the extensive war crimes allegations, and in effect triggers Moscow’s obligations to investigate them under its international obligations. But a two-month deadli