Ukraine decries ‘provocative’ Russian actions in Black Sea
Ukraine on Monday urged the international community to impose decisive countermeasures against Russia a day after Moscow said one of its warships had fired warning shots at a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.
Calling it a “provocative” attack, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the attack was a violation of international law and “exemplified Russia’s deliberate policy of endangering the freedom of navigation and safety of commercial shipping in the Black Sea.”
“We express our support and solidarity with Türkiye, our strategic partner, and we call on the international community to take decisive action to prevent Russian Federation’s actions that impede the peaceful passage of vessels through the Black Sea,” the ministry said, according to Reuters.
In a statement Sunday, Moscow said it had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship’s captain did not respond to a request to halt for an inspection.
Russia has said it will treat any ships approaching Ukrainian ports as potential military vessels after leaving a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal last month.
— Karen Gilchrist
Rheinmetall to supply Ukraine with Luna drone system
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz next to a Luna surveillance drone in Ostenholz, northern Germany, on Oct. 17, 2022.
Ronny Hartmann | Afp | Getty Images
German defense company Rheinmetall said Sunday that it had received an order from the government to supply its Luna drone system to Ukraine this year.
The company said the reconnaissance drones would be delivered by the end of the year, but did not specify the order volume.
The order forms a part of a wider military aid package initiated by the German government in July 2023.
— Karen Gilchrist
Russia equipping new nuclear submarines with hypersonic missiles
Then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev delivers a speech in the northern Russian town of Severomorsk on June 15, 2010, at the “Sevmash” shipyard launching of a new K-329 Severodvinsk, fourth-generation multipurpose submarine. A Yasen-class submarine is also known as the Severodvinsk class.
Vladimir Rodionov | Afp | Getty Images
Russia is equipping its new nuclear submarines with hypersonic Zircon missiles, according to the chief executive of the country’s largest shipbuilder.
In an interview published Monday by Russia’s RIA state news agency, Alexei Rakhmanov, chief executive officer of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, said “work in this direction is already underway.”
“Multi-purpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project will … be equipped with the Zircon missile system on a regular basis,” Rakhmanov added.
Yasen-class submarines, otherwise known as Project 885M, are nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines designed to replace Soviet-era nuclear attack submarines.
The sea-based Zircon hypersonic missiles have a range of 900 km (560 miles), and can travel at several times the speed of sound, making it difficult to defend against them, according to Reuters.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this year that Russia world start mass supplies of Zircon missiles to boost the country’s nuclear forces.
— Karen Gilchrist
Zelenskyy pledges justice after Kherson shelling kills 7
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy holds a press conference during a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12, 2023.
Kacper Pempel | Reuters
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged justice after Russian shelling on the southern Kherson region Sunday.
Seven people were killed and 13 more injured in the attack, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said, as of Sunday at 5 p.m. local time. Among the dead is a 23-day-old baby girl, according to the Associated Press.
“Russian invaders brutally attacked Kherson region. There are dead and wounded,” Zelenskyy wrote Sunday in his evening address on the Telegram messaging app.
“In total, from the beginning of this day until 6 pm, there have already been 17 reports of shelling from Kherson region alone. Other regions include Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donbas, Kharkiv, the border areas with Russia in the northeast,” he added.
“Each of our warriors who gives Ukraine results on the frontline — along the entire frontline from Kharkiv to Kherson — each of our warriors has the opportunity to bring justice to Ukraine.”
Local officials in the southern region, part of which Kyiv liberated last year, have declared Monday a day of mourning.
— Karen Gilchrist
Odesa strikes leave three injured
At least three people were injured after a series of drones and missiles hit the Ukrainian city of Odesa, officials said Monday.
The southern port city was targeted in three waves of attacks: two waves of attack drones, a total of 15 drones, and 8 Kalibr missiles, Oleg Kiper, the governor of the local region, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
“As a result of the downing of the rockets that the Russians aimed at the center of Odesa, debris damaged a dormitory of one of the educational institutions, a residential building and a supermarket. The blast wave knocked out windows in several buildings, damaged cars parked nearby. Fires broke out at three facilities. All relevant services are on site,” Kiper wrote, according to a Google translation.
The three injured were employees of the supermarket, and two of them were hospitalized, Kiper added.
— Karen Gilchrist
U.S. sanctions four Russians linked to Alfa Group investment firm
The U.S. Treasury announced that it was sanctioning four people it described as members of Russia’s financial elite.
The men have all served on the board of the Alfa Group Consortium, a major Russian investment conglomerate.
“Wealthy Russian elites should disabuse themselves of the notion that they can operate business as usual while the Kremlin wages war against the Ukrainian people,” Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury, said in a statement. “Our international coalition will continue to hold accountable those enabling the unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.”
The individuals sanctioned are:
- Petr Olegovich Aven,
- Mikhail Maratovich Fridman,
- German Borisovich Khan,
- Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev.
Their property and business in the U.S. will be blocked as a result of the sanctions.
— Katrina Bishop
Read CNBC’s previous live coverage here
#Latest #news #Russia #war #Ukraine
