July 3, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

A pioneering investigative center launched on Monday will ensure Russia is held accountable for crimes of aggression in Ukraine, according to the European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.

The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) in the Hague will comprise a joint investigation team of prosecutors from Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Romania that will probe Russia’s crime of aggression in Ukraine with support from EU criminal justice agency Eurojust, according to a press release.

The United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC) will also support the center, which Eurojust President Ladislav Hamran described as “a unique international cooperation platform without any precedent in legal history.”

The United Nations has defined aggression as "the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.”

The center is set to “coordinate closely” with separate investigations being led by the ICC into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Under the Rome Statute, the treaty which established the ICC, the court is unable to investigate the crime of aggression if the act of aggression is committed by a state that is not party to the Rome Statute unless the UN Security Council refers the matter to it.

EU parliamentarians have previously warned that Russia, which has not ratified the Rome Statute, would likely exercise its veto in the Security Council if a referral was made in relation to crimes of aggression in Ukraine.

At a press conference Monday, Reynders said he hoped that in the future “it will be possible to amend the Rome Statute to give such a competence to the International Criminal Court.”

Discussions continue regarding the prospect of creating a dedicated tribunal for the crime of aggression, he added.

At the same press conference, Hamran said that “we don't want to wait until the end of the conflict."

"We decided that we will support our partners which started their own national investigations,” he added.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin was present at the launch, and hailed it as a “truly historic moment” when the “civilized world not only voices, but also shows by concrete actions, that accountability is what matters the most.”

The strategic Chonhar bridge linking Crimea to Kherson has been repaired following a Ukrainian missile strike last month, according to a Russian-backed official.

"Transport connections" have been "fully restored," said Andrey Alekseenko in a post on Telegram.

"The shortest and most convenient transport corridor, where the recently repaired section of the federal highway runs, is operating as usual," he said.

The two Chonhar bridges, which are key Russian supply routes as well as rail and road crossings, were hit by missiles on June 22. 

Vladimir Putin's response to the armed Wagner rebellion was "weak" and the Russian president is losing control of his own people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview Sunday.

Putin faced the greatest threat to his authority in two decades last month when the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, launched a short-lived uprising, claiming control of military facilities in two Russian cities and marching toward Moscow before he agreed to stand down.

Some Russians cheered on Wagner fighters as Prigozhin led the unprecedented challenge to Putin's authority. Video geolocated and verified by CNN showed crowds cheering as the Wagner boss' vehicle departed the southern city of Rostov-on-Don on June 24.

Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence reports showed the Kremlin was measuring support for Prigozhin, and he claimed that half of Russia supported the Wagner boss and the paramilitary group's mutiny.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an exclusive interview Sunday that his conversations with the head of the CIA should remain hidden from public view.

On Saturday a US official told CNN that CIA chief Bill Burns had visited Kyiv recently and met with Zelensky and Ukrainian intelligence officials.

Zelensky said he was "surprised" to see his meeting with Burns reported in the media.

Burns, a veteran diplomat, has become a trusted interlocutor in Kyiv, and has made several trips to Ukraine during the war.

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The war in Ukraine will not be over so long as Crimea is occupied by Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

While the thrust of Kyiv's efforts have focused on recapturing territory in the south and east of Ukraine, Zelensky told CNN's Erin Burnett that his ultimate goal was to liberate the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 in violation of international law.

Burnett asked Zelensky whether there was any scenario under which there could be peace without Crimea.

Celebrated Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina has died after being injured in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk last Tuesday. 

Amelina, 37, was known for her research into war crimes. She died Friday after succumbing to her injuries in a hospital in Dnipro, according to a statement from the worldwide writer's association PEN International.

Amelina had been dining at the restaurant with a Colombian delegation at the time of the strike. She is the 13th person to have died following that attack.

Colombian legislator Sergio Jaramillo, writer Hector Abad and journalist Catalina Gomez were injured, according to a statement by Colombia’s High Commissioner for Peace. 

The three Colombians suffered minor injuries, according to a statement released by the “Aguanta Ucrania” campaign, which was founded by Jaramillo. 

"We spent two magical and sad days in the Donbas, with Victoria as our guide," the group tweeted after learning of Amelina's death.

Ukrainian film director Iryna Tsilyk also published a tribute to Amelina on Facebook.

"A good wife and mother of a wonderful boy, she always wrote about her son with such tenderness that we all came to know and love him too," she wrote.

Olesya Ostrovska, director general of the Ukrainian National Art and Museum Complex Mystetskyi Arsenal, said that Amelina's death was "an indescribable loss" in a Facebook post.

A day after the missile strike, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned Russia's actions.

“Russia has attacked three defenseless Colombian civilians. It has violated the protocols of war," he tweeted.

Later, Colombia’s ambassador in Russia, Héctor Arenas Neira, was invited to a meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry to discuss the circumstances of the attack, according to a statement released by the Russian ministry.

“The legitimate target of the strike of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was the point of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the moment of hitting the target, Colombian civilians were in a restaurant located in the same building," said the statement, which went on to wish the Colombians "a speedy recovery."

Russia said it has intercepted an assassination attempt by Ukraine on the Russian-backed leader of Crimea, state media outlets TASS and RIA reported, citing the FSB. 

The Russian security agency said they arrested a suspect who was hired by the Ukrainian security services to kill Sergey Aksyonov, who was appointed governor of Crimea after Russia illegally annexed it from Ukraine in 2014.

In a statement, the FSB said a Russian recruited by Ukraine's security services arrived in Crimea last month to begin preparing for the attack, and was apprehended before he could plant the bomb.

Some more detail: The alleged operative was born in 1988 and underwent "training in reconnaissance and subversive activities, including mine-explosive training," according to the FSB.

The suspect has been charged with "attempted terrorism and illegal acquisition, possession, and transportation of explosives or explosive devices," and remanded in custody, the security agency said.

Aksyonov thanked the FSB for foiling the alleged attempt on his life, and said that it "is possible to completely eliminate the terrorist threat from Kyiv only by fulfilling the goals of the 'special operation,'" TASS reported. Russia continues to refer to its war in Ukraine as a "special military operation."

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have long stated their goal of recapturing Crimea but rarely comment directly on actions in the peninsula.

All eyes will be on Vladimir Putin this week, with the Russian president expected to make his first appearance on the world stage since the Wagner insurrection threatened his steel grip on power.

Putin is scheduled Tuesday to attend a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a broadly-pro Russian regional security grouping led by Beijing and Moscow.

But while the leaders of the nations assembled have so far provided a sympathetic audience for Putin, his appearance – albeit virtually – could offer something of a window as to the extent of their support after last weekend’s near-crisis.

In the brief, chaotic insurrection, Wagner – a private mercenary group led by warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin – took control of key military facilities in two Russian cities. As thousands of fighters marched toward Moscow, where the Kremlin deployed heavily armed troops to the streets, it seemed as if civil war was on the verge of breaking out.

A secretive deal abruptly ended the rebellion, with Wagner fighters pulling back and Prigozhin sent to Belarus. But one week later, much remains unclear about the inner workings of the deal, the fate of Wagner, and what this means for Putin’s regime.

These questions will likely be on the minds of other leaders attending Tuesday’s virtual summit, including China’s Xi Jinping, and India’s Narendra Modi – whose country is hosting this year’s gathering – as well as representatives from Asian states including Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – many of whom, like Putin, are strongmen rulers.

Experts believe Putin will use the forum to project an image of power, and reassure Moscow’s partners – and by extension the world – that he remains firmly in control.

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Ukrainian forces shot down 13 of 17 drones fired by Russia early Monday morning, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

There were no casualties and the remaining drones did not reach their targets, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement.