July 11, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

A series of large explosions rocked the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region of Ukraine on Monday night. The town, like much of Kherson, is under Russian occupation. 

It’s the second major explosion in four days in the town, the site of an important hydro-electric dam and a link in the water supply to Crimea through the North Crimea canal.

Video posted on social media showed loud explosions and a huge ball of fire lighting up the night sky.

Khlan, who is not in Kherson, warned residents of Nova Kakhovka not to venture outdoors. 

“Please take care of yourself and do not come close to the place of the detonation,” he said.

The Russian state news agency TASS made no reference to an ammunition dump exploding but late Wednesday reported: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in the Kherson region, a source said.”

But the deputy head of the Russian backed military-civilian administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said that Ukrainian missiles did not hit the hydroelectric power station.

TASS later said that warehouses holding potassium nitrate had exploded. Potassium nitrate is a highly combustible substance used as an ingredient in fertilizer and was the cause of the Beirut explosion two years ago.

CNN cannot confirm the cause of the explosions or what was destroyed. TASS reported: “There are victims, the market, hospital and houses were damaged,” quoting the Russian-backed civil-military administration in Kherson.

Ukrainian forces have stepped up attacks using missiles and long range artillery against Russian command posts and munitions sites in the last week.

White House National security advisor Jake Sullivan talks to reporters during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on July 11 in Washington, DC.

The United States has information indicating that Iran is preparing to supply Russia with drones — including weapons-capable drones — and begin training Russian forces on how to operate them as early as this late July, National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday. 

Sullivan told reporters at the White House press briefing as the war on Ukraine has continued, Russia has incurred “severe costs” on the battlefield, with efforts to establish territory in the east “coming at a cost to the sustainment of its own weapons.”  

An example of these costs, Sullivan said, is that “information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred (unmanned aerial vehicles), including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline.” 

“Our information further indicates that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use these UAVs, with initial training session slated in as soon as early July. It’s unclear whether Iran has delivered any of these UAVs to Russia already. But this is just one example of how Russia is looking to countries like Iran for capabilities that … have been used before we got the ceasefire in place in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia,” he continued.

A spokesperson at the White House National Security Council told CNN that the information Sullivan described to reporters was based on recently declassified intelligence.

The receiving station for the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline stands on July 11 near Lubmin, Germany.

French and German economic ministers fear an extension to reduced Russian gas supplies as the Nord Stream 1 pipeline shuts down from Monday for a 10-day maintenance period.

Whilst the maintenance work was scheduled in advance, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a statement on Monday that Europe would “not be divided by Russia’s actions,” as the shutdown of the pipeline tests Europe’s resolve to wean itself off Russian fuel supplies.

On Sunday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned that France must act quickly and efficiently to prepare for a “total cut off to Russian gas,” urging attendees at an economic conference in Aix-en-Provence, southern France, to “be creative” and to “stop taking two or three years to do what other nations do in six months.” 

France should speed up its construction of a floating natural gas terminal off the Atlantic coast in the west and build more new nuclear reactors, he added.

Germany’s Habeck told public radio station Deutschlandfunk on Saturday that it is “simply a situation we haven’t had before,” and that “anything can happen.” 

On June 23, Germany activated the second phase of its three-stage gas emergency program, taking it one step closer to rationing supplies to industries, as Europe’s biggest economy is now officially running short of natural gas and is escalating a crisis plan to preserve supplies as Russia turns off the taps.

Russia is the second largest provider of natural gas for France, suppling 17% of France’s import in 2021, according to the French Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Unlike its European neighbor Germany, France relies predominantly on nuclear energy, which represents 75% of its energy output in 2020, the ministry added. 

Farmers harvest wheat in the southern Russian Rostov region on July 7.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine and grain shipments over the phone Monday.

The Kremlin said that the two leaders exchanged views on “coordinating efforts to ensure the safety of navigation in the Black Sea and grain exports to world markets.”

According to the Turkish presidency readout, Erdogan noted that “it was time for the United Nations to take action for the plan regarding the formation of secure corridors via the Black Sea.” 

The Kremlin readout added that the two leaders paid “particular attention” in “further intensifying economic cooperation” on trade and energy.

The Turkish presidency readout made no mention of strengthening economic cooperation between Turkey and Russia and said that Turkey stands ready “to provide all kinds of support for the revival of the negotiation process.”

The Turkish president also held a call with his Ukrainian counterpart Monday. Erdogan told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Turkey wants peace in Ukraine and that it is actively working on a United Nations plan to export Ukrainian grain to world markets, according to a readout by the Turkish presidency.

According to Ukrainian officials, more than 20 million tonnes of grain remain stuck in Ukraine due to the Russian blockade of various Black Sea ports.

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky while addressing a press conference in Kyiv on Monday,

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with Ukrainian President Zelensky in Kyiv Monday, reiterating his country is ready to support Ukraine “now and in the years to come.”

Rutte praised the Ukrainian people for their fight against Russia and said they “deserved persistent attention of the world.”

“Mountains of Ukrainian grain are waiting for transport across the globe. Many people depend on it for their daily meal and I was really struck by the fact that President Zelensky and his team are working very hard to find every route available to get the grain out,” he added.

President Zelensky thanked Rutte, and noted the Netherlands as “among the top ten partners” of Ukraine in terms of “the amount of defense support provided.”

Ukraine’s campaign to attack Russian supply lines and ammunition storage sites far behind the front lines continued this weekend, with Ukrainian officials reporting another long-range strike against Russian military positions in the southern region of Kherson. 

Serhiy Khlan, a member of Kherson’s regional council, said Sunday there had been “a precise hit” at the military unit of the occupiers on Pestelia Street in Kherson city.

The unit was hit twice on Sunday morning, Khlan claimed.

Images and video geolocated to Kherson showed a thick column of grey smoke rising into the air Sunday morning.

Khlan also spoke about the difficulty for civilians trying to leave the region.

“Regarding evacuation from Kherson region, there is no humanitarian corridor. People leave at their own risk through Vasylivka towards Zaporizhzhia; the queue of cars can last one to two weeks,” Khlan said.

He claimed: “The occupiers demand money for departure or even take away personal belongings from our people. In case of leaving towards the Crimea, there are risks of being taken to the filtration camps.”

There is anecdotal evidence that hundreds of Kherson residents have crossed into Crimea and then traveled through Russia or Turkey.

What happened? Sunday’s attack follows a series of explosions near the airport in Kherson on Saturday, and at what appears to have been an ammunition storage site in the Donetsk region. 

The official Russian news agency TASS has reported four explosions in the sky over Kherson city caused by what it said were Russian air defense systems.

TASS said its correspondent in Kherson reported smoke on Perekopskaya Street in the middle of the city. 

“Leave Kherson”: Earlier on Friday, Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, called on residents to evacuate the Kherson region.

She warned residents they could be used as human shields by the Russians and staying in the occupied districts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions is dangerous.

Alexander Khinshtein, a deputy in the Russian Federation’s Duma (parliament), denied Ukraine’s claims of a hit.

“Ukrainian sources happily replicate a fake about a missile attack on the base of the Russian guard in Kherson,” he said on Telegram. “The missile hit a 4-storey building, where one of the support units of the Russian Guard used to be. A day before, it was relocated to another location.”

Images geolocated by CNN show that the badly damaged building is in the middle of Kherson, but it’s unclear whether it was occupied at the time it was struck.

Ukrainian military intelligence claimed Monday to have intercepted a call between Russian soldiers, in which one said that Ukrainian forces had “hit the most important command. They hit f****ng hard.” The soldier said 12 had been killed in the strike.

CNN is unable to verify the authenticity of the call.

A Brazilian man and woman and a French man died last week fighting in Ukraine for the International Legion, according to spokesperson Damien Magrou. 

The Brazilians died in a fire caused by Russian shelling, Magrou said.

British soldier Andrew Hill, who was captured early May in Mykolaiv, remains a prisoner of war, Magrou said, admitting that he did not know the whereabouts or his welfare.

Hill will be placed on trial, Magrou said citing Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) officials. “I think everybody understands that the prospects for them to get a fair trial with an impartial court are non-existent.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday that would simplify the process of obtaining Russian citizenship for all residents of Ukraine. 

Previous versions of the decree applied to residents in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), as well as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine.

The decree establishes that “citizens of Ukraine, Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) or Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and people without citizenship permanently living in DPR, LPR or Ukraine […] are entitled to appeal for admission to citizenship of the Russian Federation via simplified procedure in accordance with the […] law ‘On citizenship of the Russian Federation’,” the decree says.

What the simplified process allows: Individuals can apply for Russian citizenship without fulfilling several requirements, including living in Russia for five years, having a source of income and undergoing a Russian language examination.

The decree also says that “military service, service in national security or law enforcement agencies of Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republic cannot be considered a reason for denying Russian citizenship.”

Simplified Russian citizenship applications were initially introduced by decree in 2019 for DPR and LPR residents. In May of this year, the decree was expanded to the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. And on Monday, the decree was expanded to all residents of Ukraine who wish to obtain Russian citizenship. 

Rescuers remove rubble from an apartment building in Kharkiv damaged by a Russian missile strike Monday,

At least six people have died due to rocket attacks against Kharkiv, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.

“As a result of mass shelling by the occupiers of Kharkiv, 6 people died and 31 were injured,” the office said on its Telegram channel. 

A shopping center was damaged, as well as houses and vehicles, said Serhii Bolvinov, head of the Investigation Department of the National Police in Kharkiv.

Fragments of a rocket from a Uragan multi-launch rocket system have been found at the scene of the damage, he added.

Two of the dead were a father and his 17-year-old son whose car took a direct hit, he said. They were on their way to pick up a certificate for the teenager’s university entrance.

Russian strikes have killed civilians in both Kharkiv and the town of Chasiv Yar, and fighting has been reported north of Sloviansk in the eastern Donetsk region. Ukraine is stepping up counter-attacks in occupied Kherson, and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says its armed forces are preparing a massive offensive in the region.

Here are the latest headlines: 

Fighting north of Sloviansk: Both sides in the conflict in Ukraine have reported fighting north of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces have been trying to break through for weeks. The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said there had been heavy Russian fire against several settlements north of Sloviansk, while Russian state news agency TASS claims that a key village in the area has been captured.

Ukraine preparing offensive: Defense minister Oleksii Reznikov told British newspaper The Times that the country’s military is massing a “million strong” fighting force to retake lands in southern Ukraine that have been under Russian occupation. The offensive would be bolstered by the use of Western weapons, he added. 

Russian forces accused of “terror” against civilians: Ukrainian officials claim that the humanitarian situation in occupied areas in the south is deteriorating and Russian “terror” against civilians is intensifying. “The scale of the humanitarian catastrophe will only grow further … In Kherson itself, the situation is much easier than in villages and small towns, but in general, living conditions are already unbearable,” said Yurii Sobolevsky, first deputy head of the Kherson Regional Administration.

Civilians killed in Kharkiv strikes: At least three people have been killed and 28 others injured in attacks on residential areas in Kharkiv on Monday, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the regional military administration.

Chasiv Yar death toll rises: Rescuers have found 29 bodies in rubble after a Russian rocket strike on an apartment building in the town of Chasiv Yar in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk.

Russia trying to export grain: Moscow is trying to export grain from occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia region, according to the Ukrainian Intelligence Services, but farmers are reportedly unhappy with the prices being offered.

Here’s a look at Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine:

Ukrainian emergency workers carry the lifeless body of a victim found under rubble in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on July 11.

Ukraine’s Emergency Services say 24 bodies have now been recovered from the wreckage in Chasiv Yar after Russian rockets hit a residential building over the weekend.

Five other bodies have been found but not yet retrieved, taking the total number of dead in the attack to 29.

The Emergency Services said on Telegram that nine survivors had been rescued from the rubble and that work to try and find more people was ongoing.

Chasiv Yar is one of several towns in Donetsk that have seen an uptick in rocket and missile attacks in recent days as Russian forces try to grind down Ukrainian resistance in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko have discussed possible joint measures in response to Lithuania’s ban on goods shipments to Kaliningrad, according to a Kremlin readout published Monday.

“Emphasis was placed on the situation in connection with the illegal restrictions imposed by Lithuania on the transit of goods to the Kaliningrad region,” the readout said. “In this context, some possible joint steps were discussed.”

In June, Lithuanian officials banned the passage of goods subject to EU sanctions across its territory into Kaliningrad, Russia’s exclave in Europe.

Moscow denounced the decision and warned that retaliatory steps might follow.

Rescuers work amid the ruins of a residential building damaged in the town of Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on July 10.

Twenty bodies have been recovered from the wreckage of a residential building in Chasiv Yar which was struck by Russian rockets on Saturday.

Recovery efforts continue, the Donetsk region military administration head Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian media on Monday afternoon. 

“As of now around 72% of the rubble has been cleared,” Kyrylenko said.

Elsewhere, three people were killed and 28 others injured in attacks on residential areas in Kharkiv on Monday, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the regional military administration.

And nine people were injured in shelling on the outskirts of Mykolaiv, Hanna Zamazieieva, head of the Mykolaiv regional council, said on Telegram on Monday.

Conscription is to be introduced for all male citizens of Latvia aged 18 to 27, the country’s Ministry of Defense announced Monday.

Over the next five years, all male citizens in this age range “will have to choose one of the four types of military service: State Defense Service, National Guard, Section Commander University Course or alternative services at Ministry of Interior, Health or Welfare,” the ministry said in a press release. 

Female citizens in this age group will be offered “the same opportunities on voluntary basis,” the ministry said. 

Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said the “Latvian population must realize that in order to survive we simply must increase the share of population that has received military training and is ready to engage in combat. This should reduce the risk of Russia attacking Latvia at will.” 

Pabriks added that “2014 made us focus more on rearming and better combat readiness of our armed force units. These goals have been successfully achieved.”

In 2014 Russia invaded and annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

“However, the security implications of Russia-Ukraine war have led to numerous new challenges,” Pabriks said. “To overcome them, we need to boost our combat capabilities and develop army reserve.”

The Defense Minister said: “It has become apparent that we have exhausted the voluntary service potential of National Guard and professional service, while further increase of the number of military personnel is associated with excessive risks.” 

“That is why we need to focus on increasing the number of Latvian residents capable of joining defense forces in case of military conflict,” he added. 

As part of the first phase of the project, Latvia’s Ministry of Defense will offer voluntary military training to Latvian citizens aged 18 to 27, starting in January 2023.

Enlistment will be carried out in two stages, in January and July.  

The ministry estimates that during the first year, the State Defense Service will attract around 1,000 new soldiers (500 in each recruitment stage).

They will be required to serve for one year, including one month of leave.

New recruits will undergo a three-month basic training and a three-month specialty course, while the remaining months “will be devoted to integration into units and collective training,” the ministry said. 

“All recruits will be socially protected. According to plans, each new soldier will receive a monthly salary of up to 400 euros, free food and accommodation in army barracks,” the ministry said. 

Over the next five years the ministry plans to increase the share of the combat-ready population in the National Armed Forces to 50,000 troops.

“Of these, 14,000 troops would form active service units, while 16,000 would join National Guard and 20,000 would form the reserve force,” the ministry said. 

Russian forces continue to shell the city of Mykolaiv as Ukrainian forces apply greater pressure on the occupied region of Kherson.

Hanna Zamazieieva, head of the Mykolaiv regional council, said on Telegram on Monday that nine people had been injured by shelling on the outskirts of Mykolaiv, following strikes against nearby districts on Sunday.

“As a result of the shelling, the ignition of grain fields continues,” she said. 

Zamazieieva added: “There are 317 citizens in Mykolaiv hospitals who were injured by the occupiers’ attacks on the Mykolaiv region.”

This aerial picture shows a Russian-flagged cargo ship 'Zhibek Zholy' anchored on July 5, on the Black Sea Coast off Turkey

Moscow is trying to export grain from occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia region, according to the Ukrainian Intelligence Services.

Russia is continuing to “steal Ukrainian grain,” said the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Telegram on Monday.

A company called “GUK” has been created to facilitate the process, it said, headed up by former Ukrainian opposition politician Yevhen Balytskyi, who is now head of the Regional Occupation Administration of Zaporizhzhia.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, “GUK” is setting the following grain prices: coarse wheat is 6,000RUB/ton ($98), food wheat is 9,000RUB/ton ($147) and barley is 7,000/ton ($114).

On Sunday a ship arrived to export grain, said Ukrainian intelligence, with another expected to arrive on July 17.

One of the ships in question is the “Zhibek Zholy,” which has already been used to export wheat from the port of Berdiansk.

Zaporizhzia region remains partly under Russian control and partly under Ukrainian control.

 This aerial photograph taken on July 7, near Kramatosk, Ukraine, shows a farmer harvesting wheat near a crater suspected to be caused by an air strike.

Across Ukraine, in the shimmering heat, one sight is becoming familiar this summer: Combine harvesters sweeping across fields of grain in a race against fast-spreading fires.

The conflict’s front lines straddle some of Ukraine’s richest farmland. Whether caused by accident or intention, the fires darkening the summer sky are eating into a harvest that was always going to be tough to collect and even tougher to export.

Pavlo Serhienko is in the crosshairs of this battle. The 24-year-old is the third generation of his family to run a farm in the Vasylivka district of Zaporizhzhia. Since his father died from coronavirus, Serhienko is managing the 3,000-hectare farm on his own.

But nearly half the land is now too dangerous to cultivate, he told CNN on Saturday.

Serhienko has literally seen his family’s business go up in smoke.

“For the last four days, all our knees are covered in blood, we are extinguishing [fires in] the fields. They [the Russians] especially hit the fields – fields with wheat and barley – every day.”

Read the full story here.

Ukrainian rescuers work outside a building partially destroyed after a missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on July 11.

Three people have been killed and 28 others injured in attacks on residential areas in Kharkiv on Monday, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the regional military administration.

“According to the latest information from the regional centre for emergency medical assistance, 28 people, including a 16-year-old child, were injured as a result of the daytime shelling in Kharkiv. Three people died,” Synehubov posted on Telegram. 

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an aide to President Volodymr Zelensky, also confirmed the death toll from the attack in Ukraine’s second-largest city, which lies in the northeast of the country.

Russian forces used Smerch multiple rocket launchers to carry out the attack, Tymoshenko said in his Telegram post.

Russian attacks on the outskirts of Kharkiv and surrounding areas have intensified in July. 

Elsewhere, at least 18 people were killed after a Russian strike hit an apartment block in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Saturday evening, Ukrainian authorities said Sunday.

The residential building in the town of Chasiv Yar was hit as Russia once again ramped up its assault on cities and towns in eastern Ukraine, in an attempt to take control over the entire Donbas area.

As the conflict in southern Ukraine gathers momentum, Ukrainian officials claim that the humanitarian situation in occupied areas is deteriorating and Russian “terror” against civilians is intensifying.

On Monday Yurii Sobolevsky, first deputy head of the Kherson Regional Administration, said that “teachers, doctors, public utilities workers, heads of residential communities.” were all being targeted.

“Today it is very difficult to calculate the system of who is primarily at risk, because the categories of detainees are constantly expanding. Cases of detaining people on a tip from collaborators have become more frequent,” he said.

As the occupied areas are virtually sealed off from the outside world, the claim is difficult to assess, as is the ability of civilians to leave those areas.

Sobolevsky acknowledged the difficulty faced by people in occupied areas under pressure to collaborate. 

“The line between actions taken under conditions of extreme necessity and cooperation with the enemy is rather blurred,” he said. “People sincerely do not want to cross it, but absolutely rightly many do not understand exactly where it is located.”

Sobolevsky told the people of Kherson that the “armed forces are close.”

Ukraine’s military has stepped up attacks on Russian rear positions in Kherson recently and has made modest progress with an offensive from the north.

One senior Ukrainian official claimed Monday that several senior Russian officers had been killed in two heavy strikes in the Kherson region over the weekend.

“To leave or stay is the decision and responsibility of each person,” Sobolevsky said.

“Some decide in principle to wait for the Armed Forces in their native walls, and this is also a form of protest and courage.”

Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol, which is also occupied, said the situation in the city is getting more difficult.

“The occupiers do not allow people to leave or enter the city,” he said.

Fedorov, who is no longer in Melitopol, claimed that after a relatively quiet period, Russian forces “are getting angry” and some were deserting.

“The collaborators have not been out [in public] since the military base was destroyed,” he said. “The main gaulеiters [collaborating officials] have not shown themselves in public for a week.”

Fedorov said organized evacuations are impossible as the Russians did not approve humanitarian convoys, but added that people using their own vehicles continued to make it to Zaporizhzhia. 

“As of today around 150-200 people are evacuated from our temporarily occupied city daily.”