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Russian arrest of pro-war blogger prone to set off fury in army, says UK MoD
Russia’s arrest of Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and main nationalist army blogger, will in all probability infuriate components within the army in addition to his fellow bloggers, in accordance with UK intelligence.
The Ministry of Defence stated in its newest intelligence replace that Girkin had lengthy been a critic of the Russian defence ministry’s conduct of the warfare in Ukraine, however that in current days his feedback “turned to direct criticism of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his time in energy”.
The previous battlefield commander of Russia’s proxy forces in japanese Ukraine, who was convicted by a Dutch court docket over the 2014 taking pictures down of Malaysia Airways flight MH17, was arrested on “extremism” fees on Friday.
The UK ministry stated in its replace, posted on Twitter, that Girkin’s arrest “is prone to infuriate fellow members of the mil-blogger neighborhood – and components inside the serving army – who largely see Girkin as an astute army analyst and patriot”.
Girkin had performed a serious position in Russia’s warfare within the Donbas from 2014 and spent months on the frontline final yr, it stated.
Whereas Girkin is not any ally of the Wagner Group, he was seemingly solely ready to push the boundaries of public criticism within the context of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 abortive mutiny. The taboo in opposition to unmasked criticism of the Putin regime has considerably weakened.
Key occasions
Ukrainian author Volodymyr Vakulenko, a patriot, was final yr taken away by pro-Russia forces by no means to return. When troopers first got here to search for him at his house, he buried his diary outdoors.
A number of months later, the Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina dug it up, and was working with the Guardian’s chief tradition author, Charlotte Higgins, on an article. However on the day she completed writing her piece, on 27 June, the Russian army focused a pizza restaurant within the japanese Ukrainian metropolis of Kramatorsk.
Greater than 60 folks had been injured and 13 killed within the cruise missile assault, amongst them 14-year-old twin ladies. The Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina was there, accompanying a delegation of Colombian writers. Although the others at her desk walked away unhurt, Amelina was severely injured, and she or he died on 1 July.
Explosions reported in Crimea
A suspected Ukrainian assault on Crimea has reportedly led authorities to evacuate folks inside 5km of the positioning of the strikes, the place an ammunition depot is alleged to have been hit.
Highway site visitors on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula was briefly suspended earlier amid the assault. It got here after the area’s Russian-installed governor stated infrastructure amenities within the Krasnogvardeisky district had been focused.
Reuters is now reporting on feedback from the governor of Russia’s Belgorod area who stated that Ukraine fired cluster munitions at a village close to the Ukrainian border yesterday, however that there have been no casualties or harm.
The information company was not capable of independently confirm the governor’s assertion, which he made in a day by day briefing on his Telegram channel, with out offering visible proof. There was no fast remark from Ukraine.
Ukraine obtained cluster bombs from the US this month, nevertheless it has pledged to make use of them solely to dislodge concentrations of enemy troopers. They include scores of small bomblets that rain shrapnel over a large space, however are banned in lots of nations because of the potential hazard they pose to civilians. Ukraine has repeatedly stated their use will likely be restricted to the battlefield.
Belgorod area, bordering Ukraine, has been repeatedly focused by what Russia says is indiscriminate shelling by Ukraine’s armed forces.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Arsenal and Ukraine defender, has organised a ‘Game4Ukraine’ charity match at Stamford Bridge on 5 August with retired legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko.
He advised the BBC:
We’re utilizing soccer to signify our nation in one of the simplest ways. It’s so necessary not simply to lift funds to construct a faculty, however to ship a message to the remainder of the world and to the Ukrainian folks, staying there and combating for his or her independence, to say: ‘You aren’t alone’.
Some folks have fatigue from this warfare however we can’t surrender. We have to struggle for our freedom and independence. I couldn’t think about in 2023 this might occur – the place the place you had been born and raised, and at some point the opposite nation comes and destroys every part. We have to stick collectively and struggle till the tip.
I need, once they develop up and ask what I did when this warfare occurred in our homeland, to look into my daughter’s eye and say ‘Me and your mum tried to do our greatest’.”
Russian assaults on 11 areas throughout Ukraine in a single day killed a minimum of eight civilians and wounded others, authorities have stated.
AP stories that the regional prosecutor’s workplace within the japanese Donetsk area stated that a minimum of 4 folks, together with a married couple, had been killed as Russian forces final evening shelled the settlement of Niu-York, south of the town of Bakhmut — the positioning of the warfare’s longest and bloodiest battle till it fell to Moscow in Could. Three different Niu-York residents had been hospitalized.
This morning, Ukraine’s inside ministry stated two civilians died as Russian forces struck Kostiantynivka, a metropolis within the Donetsk area, from a number of rocket launchers final evening. In a submit on its official Telegram channel, the ministry stated that one other civilian was wounded in the identical assault, which additionally destroyed 20 non-public properties, automobiles and a fuel pipeline.
Two folks had been additionally killed close to the northern metropolis of Chernihiv, some 100km from the Russian border, as Russian cruise missiles destroyed the native cultural centre and broken condo blocks, the regional army administration reported on Saturday morning. It didn’t specify the precise time of the assault, saying solely that it happened inside the earlier 24 hours.
Twelve settlements within the Belgorod area of Russia, 40km north of the border with Ukraine close to Kharkiv, had been hit by Ukraine during the last 24 hours, the top of the area, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has stated.
BBC Russia stories that Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel:
Within the Belgorod area, 21 artillery shells and three cluster munitions from MLRS had been fired on the village of Zhuravlevka. Additionally, the village was attacked with the assistance of 1 kamikaze drone and fired from a grenade launcher – 10 photographs had been recorded.
9 artillery shells and two grenade launchers had been fired on the village of Shchetinovka. The enemy additionally dropped one explosive machine from a drone. There aren’t any victims or destructions in any of the settlements of the area.
Poland has stated it has summoned the Russian ambassador to the nation’s international ministry after allegations that Polish forces sought to occupy a part of Ukraine’s territory.
Putin stated yesterday: “The western territories of present-day Poland are a present from Stalin to the Poles, have our pals in Warsaw forgotten about this? We are going to remind you.”
However within the night, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, stated:
Stalin was a warfare legal chargeable for the deaths of tons of of hundreds of Poles. The historic reality will not be topic to dialogue. The ambassador of the Russian Federation will likely be summoned to the Ministry of Overseas Affairs.
Crimea bridge reopens
Highway site visitors on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has now resumed after being briefly suspended, an official Telegram channel has stated.
It didn’t state the explanation for the highway closure. Ukraine tried to launch a drone assault on the Crimean peninsula right now, the area’s Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov stated earlier. He referred to as on Crimeans to “stay calm”.
He gave no particulars on precisely what Kyiv tried to hit and didn’t report casualties. Crimea has been focused all through Moscow’s 17-month Ukraine offensive however assaults have in current weeks intensified.
The director of the CIA was yesterday made a cupboard member by the US president, Joe Biden, who stated the company has been offering “good intelligence, delivered with honesty and integrity”.
Biden stated:
Invoice [William Burns] has all the time given me clear, easy evaluation that prioritises the security and safety of the American folks, reflecting the integral position the CIA performs in our nationwide safety decision-making at this essential time.
Below his management, the CIA is delivering a clear-eyed, long-term method to our nation’s high nationwide safety challenges.
CIA administrators routinely sat at cupboard in Washington DC till 2005 when the nationwide intelligence director, a submit not lengthy created, successfully took its place. Donald Trump put each intelligence administrators in his cupboard, however Biden reverted upon taking workplace. Earlier than then altering it again, now.
Yesterday, Burns – who travelled to Russia earlier than the warfare started and has since visited Ukraine a number of instances – advised that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is biding his time over deciding what to in the end do with Yevgeny Prigozhin.
In feedback on the Aspen safety discussion board, Burns stated:
What we’re seeing is a really difficult dance. Putin is somebody who typically thinks that revenge is a dish finest served chilly. In my expertise, Putin is the final word apostle of payback so I might be shocked if Prigozhin escapes additional retribution … If I had been Prigozhin, I wouldn’t fireplace my meals taster.
Ukraine tried to launch a drone assault on the Crimean peninsula right now, the area’s Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov has stated.
“The enemy tried a raid utilizing drones on infrastructure amenities within the Krasnogvardeisky district of the Republic of Crimea,” he stated, referring to an inland space of the Black Sea peninsula.
He stated the assault focused infrastructure within the district of Krasnohvardiiske, close to the centre of the peninsula, with out offering element. “Emergency employees are on the spot to eradicate potential penalties,” he stated.
Additionally final evening, throughout a video name to worldwide safety leaders on the four-day Aspen Safety Discussion board, Zelenskiy stated Ukraine’s counteroffensive was about to “acquire tempo” (as per the FT).
We’re approaching a second when related actions can acquire tempo as a result of we’re already going by way of some mines areas and we’re demining these areas.
Jake Sullivan, the US nationwide safety adviser, stated:
It’s at that second once they make that dedication that we’ll actually see what the outcomes of the counteroffensive will likely be … The view of our army commanders is that the notion that F-16s would play a decisive position on this counteroffensive provided that elementary actuality … They’ve a distinct view than what you’ve got heard from some Ukrainian voices.
It’s chargeable for each member of Nato, together with the USA, to consider the Russian response after we select to do one thing as a result of that issues for our safety, it issues for world stability.
Nonetheless, senator Jim Risch, a senior Republican who sits on the Senate international relations committee, stated:
I’m uninterested in listening to about escalation. Cease speaking about escalation. In the event you don’t escalate, you’re gonna lose. I need [Vladimir] Putin to get up within the morning fearful about what he’s going to try this’s gonna trigger us to escalate as an alternative of us wringing our arms.
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