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At least one person has been injured in the strikes on Kryvyi Rih; Military officials say all drones attacking country’s south were destroyed
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine, my name is Jonathan Yerushalmy.
The central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih has been hit by Russian airstrikes for the second time this week. Cruise missiles struck two industrial enterprises, the region’s governor said. A 38-year-old man was injured in the attacks.
Ukraine is taking significant casualties and making slow progress towards the Russian main line of defence, western officials have admitted in one of the west’s first assessments of the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched on 4 June. “This is incredibly difficult,” the official said. “They are going against a well-prepared line that the Russians have had months to prepare.”
Ukraine reported incremental advances in its counteroffensive against Russian forces on Wednesday, in what the Ukrainian deputy defence minister described as “extremely fierce” fighting. In the past day, Ukrainian troops had advanced 200-500 metres in various areas near the largely devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, and 300-350 metres in the direction of the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, Hanna Maliar said.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, has said alliance members must ensure Ukraine keeps getting enough arms to pursue its counteroffensive against Russia. “It is still early days and we do not know if this will be a turning point,” he said.
UN nuclear chief Rafael Grossi delayed a trip to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station on Wednesday for security reasons, as heavy fighting raged in southern Ukraine. Russian news agencies quoted a senior official in Russia’s nuclear industry as saying Grossi was likely to visit the plant on Thursday.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has appeared to side with his top military commanders in calling for Russia’s “volunteer detachments” fighting in Ukraine to be placed under the direct control of the defence ministry. The order from Moscow had been seen as an attempt to rein in the Wagner mercenary group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, by incorporating them into the army.
Western microchips and other components coming largely via China are being used to manufacture Russian cruise and ballistic missiles that are being launched at Ukraine, Kyiv has said in a presentation prepared for G7 members this week. The document calls for the world’s leading economies to further tighten export controls.
The Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday that one of his senior commanders was alive and well, dismissing reports that he had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. Adam Delimkhanov heads the Chechen division of the Russian national guard and is also a member of Russia’s parliament. He is widely seen as Chechnya’s second most senior official after Kadyrov himself.
A former campaign leader for the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison on Wednesday for “creating an extremist organisation”, Reuters reported, citing the rights group OVD-Info. Navalny supporters reacted with outrage to the sentence against Liliya Chanysheva.
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