July 25, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Russian accounts of a rocket attack on a camp holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in July 2022 are not supported by evidence, according to the United Nations.

The findings by the UN Human Rights Commissioner (UN OHCHR) support the conclusions of an extensive CNN investigation published in August last year, which demonstrated that the Russian narrative that the camp had been hit by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket did not stand up to scrutiny. 

More than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in the strike at the detention center in the town of Olenivka.

Russian and local officials from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic said the attack was carried out by the Ukrainian side, using one of the HIMARS rockets that had been recently supplied by the United States.

But the CNN investigation, based on analysis of video and photographs from the scene, satellite imagery from before and after the attack and the work of forensic and weapons experts, concluded that “the Russian version of events is very likely a fabrication. There is almost no chance that a HIMARS rocket caused the damage to the warehouse where the prisoners were being held.” 

A UN statement issued Tuesday concurred that “the information available and our analysis enable the Office to conclude that [the strike] was not caused by a HIMARS rocket.”

“The Russian Federation provided neither satisfactory assurances about secure access for the United Nations to visit the particular site, nor granted general requests by the UN Human Rights Office to access areas of Ukraine under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation," the statement said.

A European Union official proposed on Tuesday that member states should cover the additional costs of exporting Ukrainian grain by land following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal. 

The EU is prepared to facilitate the export of all of Ukraine’s grain via the bloc’s so-called “solidarity lanes" since Russia withdrew from the UN-brokered deal — which allowed for vital grain transits through the Black Sea, EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said, speaking at a news conference in Brussels.

The additional land transits through EU member states that border Ukraine will create a spike in transport costs, he highlighted. 

Wojciechowski said he will propose to discuss with the European Commission — the union's executive branch – the prospect of supporting “the transport costs using also the EU money."  

The Ukrainian military said it has made slight progress on the southern front, in an area that has seen constant fighting for nearly two months.

Valerii Shershen, the spokesperson for Ukrainian forces in the south, said troops had advanced by some 500 meters in an area near the town of Staromaiorske — a target of the Ukrainians since the beginning of their counter-offensive.

Elsewhere along the front lines in the south, Shershen said their had been no changes, adding that “the enemy is putting up stiff resistance, moving units and troops, and using reserves. Our attack units are consolidating their positions at the achieved lines and inflicting artillery fire.”

“There are no changes in the Melitopol direction near Robotyne due to dense mining. Demining is the top priority on the seized frontlines. Undercover demining teams are operating at full speed,” Shershen said.

In parts of the Donetsk region — where the Russians are trying to take territory — Shershen said attacks near Avdiivka and Marinka  had been repelled.

There has been virtually no change in control of territory in these directions since last year. He said Ukrainian troops “are holding back any advance of Russian troops in the areas of Krasnohorivka and Marinka. The enemy was unsuccessful in advancing in the area of Rivnopil.”

Shershen gave a glimpse into the huge consumption of munitions in Ukraine’s counter-offensive, saying “Ukrainian Defense Forces carried out 1,289 firing missions over the past 24 hours. Our artillery used over 7,550 shells and ammunition over the last day.”

In a brief Telegram post, Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who commands forces on the southern front, said: “There are successes and advances, knocking the Russians out of their positions. The work continues.”

According to the military’s general staff, Russian air strikes and artillery fire continued in many areas of the front lines in the north (Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.)

Yet another attack in the Lyman sector (close to the border of Donetsk and Luhansk) by the Russians had been unsuccessful, the general staff said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to visit China in October, when the Chinese government hosts the Belt and Road Forum, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will host the 3rd International Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. He invited Putin to the event when he visited Moscow earlier this year.

The forum is China’s answer to Davos or the G20 and is designed to increase cooperation among Eurasian states. Putin attended and spoke at the first two Belt and Road Forums, held in 2017 and 2019 in Beijing. 

Russian forces south of the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut have taken heavy losses and appear to have fallen back amid intense artillery fire from the Ukrainian side, according to official and unofficial Ukrainian accounts, as well as reports from Russian military bloggers.

Ukraine has been trying to break Russian resistance here for several weeks. Ukrainian advances near Andriivka are part of a plan to encircle Bakhmut and drive out Russian forces, the spokesperson for the eastern grouping of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Serhii Cherevatyi, said on Tuesday.

Why this matters: At stake are a string of villages that are important in safeguarding Russian resupply routes into the ruined city of Bakhmut, which fell to the Russians in the spring. Control of this area would also enable Ukrainian forces to hit Russian targets in and around the city from higher ground. 

Both Russian and Ukrainian sources have reported heavy fighting around the village of Klishchiivka, with the Russian Defense Ministry claiming on Monday that Ukrainian attacks near the village had been repelled. However, Ukrainian progress towards the nearby village of Andriivka makes Russian positions in Klishchiivka more vulnerable.

In the Bakhmut sector, Russian losses have outnumbered those of Ukraine by a ratio of eight or nine to one, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar claimed Tuesday. “And the question should be asked not about the number of kilometers passed, but about the fact whether we are moving forward or not.”

US intelligence officials have warned Russia is building a drone-manufacturing facility in the country with Iran's help that could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine once it is completed.

Analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency told a small group of reporters during a briefing on Friday that the drone-manufacturing facility now under construction is expected to provide Russia with a new drone stockpile that is "orders of magnitude larger" than what it has been able to procure from Iran to date.

When the facility is completed, likely by early next year, the new drones could have a significant impact on the conflict, the analysts warned. In April, the US released a satellite image of the planned location of the purported drone manufacturing plant, inside Russia's Alabuga Special Economic Zone about 600 miles east of Moscow. The analysts said Iran has regularly been ferrying equipment to Russia to help with the facility's construction.

They added that to date, it is believed that Iran has provided Russia with more than 400 Shahed-131, 136 and Mohajer drones — a stockpile that Russia has almost completely depleted, they said.

Russia is primarily using the drones to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure and stretch Ukraine's air defenses, a senior DIA official said. Iran has been using the Caspian Sea to move drones, bullets and mortar shells to Russia, often using vessels that are "dark," or have turned off their tracking data to disguise their movements, CNN has reported.

The US obtained and analyzed several of the drones downed in Ukraine, and officials say there is "undeniable evidence" that the drones are Iranian, despite repeated denials from Tehran that it is providing the equipment to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The DIA analysts showcased debris from drones recovered in Ukraine in 2022 during the briefing on Friday, comparing them side-by-side with Iranian-made drones found in Iraq last year. 

One of the drones recovered in Ukraine had only its wings and engine partially intact. But judging by its shape and size, it appeared to be a Shahed-131, the same model as an Iranian-made drone found in Iraq. The analysts removed components from one and easily slid them onto the other, showing that they are virtually "indistinguishable" in their design.

Read more about this here.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has declared the TV channel Rain (Dozhd) as an “undesirable organization,” which means penalties, including jail time, for anyone in Russia who donates to or cooperates with the channel.  

Latvia-based TV Rain is devoted to covering events in Russia. TVR Studios B.V. of the Netherlands has also been designated as "undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the official statement on Telegram read.

To justify the designation, the office made the following claims about TV Rain:

The official statement cited that these organizations discredit Russian government bodies, spread false information about Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, and provide support to registered foreign agents. 

In response to the designation, TV Rain released a statement on Telegram, saying it intended to take appropriate steps, including legal action. The channel announced it had suspended the collection of donations from Russia, canceled existing subscriptions from Russian viewers, and urged those who remain in the country not to share links to their materials due to safety concerns.

The UK believes that Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea, following the Kremlin’s decision to leave the Black Sea Grain Initiative, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday. 

Russia could target civilian ships in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council said last week. 

Russia has also laid additional sea mines in the approach to Ukrainian ports, NSC spokesperson Adam Hodge said in a statement Wednesday. Earlier that day, Russia’s defense ministry said any ship sailing toward a Ukrainian port would be considered a potential carrier of military cargo. 

Repeating the warning from the NSC, the director of the CIA said on Thursday that Russia could be preparing a false-flag operation attacking a ship in the Black Sea.

Russia's Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday that attempts to attribute to Russia the preparation of attacks on civilian vessels are "pure fabrication" and "completely contradicts our approaches."

UK PM on Russian grain threats: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said any Russian attempt to stop grain exports from leaving Ukraine would be completely “unacceptable.”  

Sunak said in a tweet that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Tuesday “and made it clear that any Russian attempt to stop grain leaving Ukraine is completely unacceptable. We must continue to stand with Ukraine.”

CNN’s Oren Liebermann, Radina Gigova and Mick Krever contributed reporting to this post.

The Russian state Duma has passed an amendment extending the military call-up age to include citizens from 18 to 30 years. 

Previously, military service was compulsory for Russian citizens aged 18 to 27 years.

The new bill will now be forwarded to the Federation Council for further consideration before the law can be signed by President Vladimir Putin.

The senators of the Federation Council will support the law, said Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of the upper house, adding that there is “no reason for excessive resonance” regarding these changes, according to state news RIA Novosti.