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🔴 Live: Russia conducts ‘revenge strike’ on Ukraine for Crimea bridge attack
Russian overnight attacks on the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv were a “mass revenge strike” for an attack on the Crimean Bridge, Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday. The latest Russian strikes damaged infrastructure in the Ukrainian port cities and came a day after Moscow halted the Black Sea grain export deal. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Issued on: 18/07/2023 – 06:20
Modified: 18/07/2023 – 11:50
7 min
Bulk carrier ARGO I is docked at the grain terminal of the port of Odesa, Ukraine, on April 10, 2023, from where Ukraine ships wheat according to the grain agreement the country until recently had with Russia.
Bulk carrier ARGO I is docked at the grain terminal of the port of Odesa, Ukraine, on April 10, 2023, from where Ukraine ships wheat according to the grain agreement the country until recently had with Russia. © Bo Amstrup, AFP
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11:46am: Destroyed Odesa sites used to plan Crimea bridge attack, says Russia
Russia’s defence ministry said it carried out overnight strikes on the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv in what it called “a mass revenge strike” for Monday’s attack on the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia, which it blamed on Kyiv.
The strikes hit all targets in Odesa and Mykolayiv, the ministry said in a statement.
The Russian defence ministry also said the Odesa port was used in the planning of the Kerch Bridge attack.
“At night, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation delivered a group retaliation strike with high-precision sea-based weapons at facilities where terrorist acts against Russia had been prepared using unmanned boats,” said the statement.
11:20am: Russia is using grain as ammunition, says Polish minister
Russia is using grain as ammunition, said Poland’s Agriculture Minister Robert Telus, responding to the collapse of the year-old UN-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine export grain through the Black Sea.
Telus urged EU to help improve grain logistics as more Ukraine grain will start flowing through borders after the harvest.
10:05am: Ukraine reports ‘complicated’ situation in fighting in east, some success in south
Kyiv reported a “complicated” situation in fighting in eastern Ukraine and success in parts of the south on Tuesday as it pressed on with its counteroffensive against occupying Russian forces.
“The situation is complicated but under control (in the east),” General Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian ground forces, said on the Telegram messaging app.
He said Russia had concentrated forces in the direction of Kupiansk in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, but that Ukrainian troops were holding them back.
Since Kyiv launched its counteroffensive in early June, aided by weapons supplied by its Western allies, it has taken back more than 210 square kilometres (81 square miles) of land, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday.
But Russia still holds vast swathes of territory following its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and Ukrainian troops have encountered heavily defended positions and minefields.
10:04am: Russian rouble hits near 16-month low vs euro, recovers vs dollar
The Russian rouble slipped to a near 16-month low against the euro on Tuesday, but firmed marginally against the dollar, clawing back some ground after losing around 1% in the previous session, under pressure after an attack on the Crimean Bridge.
At 07:48 GMT, the rouble was 0.3% stronger against the dollar at 90.74, but had lost 0.1% to trade at 102.22 versus the euro, earlier touching 102.6075, its weakest point since March 28, 2022. It had firmed 0.3% against the yuan to 12.64.
The Russian currency has been gradually weakening all year as exports fall and imports recover, but pressure intensified sharply after an abortive armed mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group in late June.
8:35am: ‘So many tears’: Deported Ukrainian children return home from Russia
At an art workshop in Ukraine, a group of children are busy drawing with their crayons. Tatiana and her grandson are participating in an art therapy workshop run by an NGO.
The Ukrainian grandmother was reunited with her grandson five months after he was taken away to Russia. She travelled all the way to Moscow to rescue him. “They have caused us so many tears and so much pain,” says the elderly Ukrainian woman as tears stream down her face.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating allegations of Russian officials deporting and illegally enabling the adoption of Ukrainian children.
Ukrainian officials and NGOs have documented several cases of the deportation of Ukrainian children. For the fortunate children who have made it back to their home country, it’s a slow recovery process from the trauma they have endured – as Tatiana attests as she watches her grandson hard at work on his painting.
Here’s a FRANCE 24 report from Ukraine.
A Ukrainian boy attends an art therapy workshop run by an NGO for children returned from Russia.
02:16
A Ukrainian boy attends an art therapy workshop run by an NGO for children returned from Russia. © FRANCE 24 screengrab
8:08am: Odesa port facilites damaged by Russian strike, says Ukraine
A Russian overnight strike damaged port infrastructure facilities in Ukraine’s Odesa, Kyiv’s military said on Tuesday, hours after Moscow refused to extend a deal to allow grain export from the region.
“The debris of the downed missiles and the blast wave from the downing damaged the port infrastructure facilities,” Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a statement.
8:00am: ‘Consequences for the economy’ as Ukraine grain deal expires
Hours after Moscow refused to extend a deal to allow Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuel Chaze, reporting from Kyiv, said there would be “consequences for the economy”.
Click on the video below to watch her full report.
03:12
7:48am: Russia foils Ukrainian drone raid on Crimea, say officials
Russia repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea in the early hours of Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry said, a day after an attack on the Crimean bridge which damaged it and disrupted car traffic.
Seventeen drones sent by Ukraine’s forces overnight were “destroyed” and another 11 were “suppressed” by electronic means, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement.
It said there were no casualties or damage.
Crimea’s Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram that 28 drones had been downed or destroyed during the night.
“There are no victims,” he said.
Drone attacks in Crimea have increased in recent weeks as Ukraine wages a counter-offensive against Russian forces.
7:01am: Ukrainian drone raid on Crimea foiled, says Russia
Russian air defences and electronic countermeasure systems downed 28 Ukrainian drones over Crimea in the early hours of Tuesday, the RIA news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.
The drone attacks caused no casualties or damages, the ministry said. The raid followed an attack by Ukrainian sea drones on the Crimea bridge on Monday which damaged it and disrupted car traffic.
5:15am: Crimea bridge partially open to traffic, Russian official
Partial road traffic opened on one lane of the Crimean Bridge late on Monday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on his Telegram channel.
“Motor transport on the Crimean Bridge has been restored in reverse mode on the most outer right lane,” Khusnullin wrote on Monday.
However, ferry operations were suspended early on Tuesday, due to bad weather, Russian agencies reported, citing the Moscow-backed emergency situations ministry of Crimea
3:54am: Russia launches new air attacks, Ukrainian Air Force
Russia launched overnight air attacks on Ukraine’s south and east using drones and possibly ballistic missiles, Ukraine’s Air Force and officials said early on Tuesday.
A fire broke out at one of the “facilities” in the port of Mykolaiv late on Monday, the city mayor said. The port city provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea.
“It’s quite serious,” Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said on the Telegram messaging app of the fire, adding that more detail will come in the morning.
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The southern port of Odesa and the Mykolaiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions were under threat of Russian drone attacks, the Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app.
Key developments from Monday, July 17:
Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain initiative, a key 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 decision triggered condemnation from around the world, including by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who said Monday that Russia’s decision to exit the Ukraine grain deal will “strike a blow to people in need everywhere”. Russia said it would consider rejoining the grain export deal if it saw “concrete results”, but that so far its demands had not been met.
Earlier Monday, an attack on a bridge connecting Russia and Crimea left two people dead and damaged parts of the bridge. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of carrying out an attack on the bridge connecting Russia and Crimea, with the involvement of Britain and the United States. Zakharova did not provide evidence to support the assertions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his defence ministry was preparing for a response to the overnight attack.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
