July 20, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

While Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry accused Russia of “grossly violating” its international obligations by threatening civilian ships traveling to Ukrainian ports, the Ukrainian military on Thursday issued a warning to Russian ships in the Black Sea — saying they could face the same fate as the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, which Ukraine sank in the Black Sea in April 2022.

“The Kremlin has turned the Black Sea into a danger zone, primarily for Russian vessels and vessels sailing in the Black Sea towards Russian seaports and Ukrainian seaports located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

After Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that all ships sailing in the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports would be considered potential carriers of military cargo.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Thursday that Russia had created a Black Sea danger zone “by openly threatening civilian vessels transporting food from Ukrainian ports, launching missile attacks and drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in peaceful cities, (and) deliberately creating a military threat on trade routes.”

Echoing the language of Russia, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said starting Friday, "all vessels sailing in the Black Sea in the direction of the seaports of the Russian Federation and Ukrainian seaports located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia may be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo with all the relevant risks." 

CNN's Katharina Krebs contributed reporting to this post.

The southern Ukrainian port of Odesa has suffered a third successive night of Russian airstrikes. Russia has bombarded the city since Monday, when Ukraine struck the key Crimea bridge and Russia allowed the Black Sea grain deal to lapse.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia is trying to cripple his country's port infrastructure, making any grain shipments impossible. And the EU’s top diplomat has called the Russian tactics “barbarian.” Moscow says the strikes on Odesa are in retaliation for Ukraine's attack on the vital Crimea bridge.

Meanwhile, the day after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin seemed to appear in a video for the first time since launching his failed insurrection in Russia, Belarus says it is preparing to stage a joint military exercise with Wagner troops on the Polish border.

Here are the latest developments:

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that its third consecutive night of attacks on Odesa is continued retaliation for Ukraine’s attack on the Crimea bridge, and claimed that the its strikes targeted facilities associated with Ukraine’s seaborne attack drones.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say that Russia’s strikes destroyed civilian infrastructure associated with grain exports at Odesa’s port. One Ukrainian, a security guard, was killed when a civil administration building in the city was destroyed.

“They destroyed an administrative building in the center of Odesa, where the blast wave damaged several other buildings, including residential ones.”

The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed that it destroyed fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian military near the city of Mykolaiv.

Some background: Ukrainian officials have claimed Kyiv's responsibility for Monday's strike on the key bridge linking the annexed Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland – a vital supply line for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and a personal project for President Vladimir Putin.

The nearly 12-mile crossing, also known as the Kerch Bridge, is the longest in Europe and holds huge strategic and symbolic importance for Moscow. Monday’s attack was the second on the bridge since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, after a fuel tanker exploded while crossing it in October.

The Belarusian military on Thursday praised the “unique experience” its troops were gaining from “joint combat training” with Wagner troops at a camp near Brest, close to the border with Poland. 

“During the training sessions, emphasis is made on the organization of interaction between different branches of the army during fire attack, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance and fire attack, tactical techniques of movement on the battlefield, taking into account the high intensity of fire, the use of strike drones, techniques of hiding troops and objects, as well as psychological training of servicemen,” the Belarusian military said on Telegram.

The military released a video of Wagner and Belarusian soldiers flying a consumer-type drone, practicing assault along a treeline, and moving with an armored personnel carrier.

The European Council will extend sanctions over Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, through the beginning of next year, it said Thursday. 

The measures were first introduced in 2014 "in response to Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, were significantly expanded since February 2022, in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine," the EU Council said in a press release.

The sanctions currently include restrictions on trade, finance, technology and dual-use goods, industry, transport and luxury goods.

Poland's defense ministry said it is monitoring its border with Belarus and is prepared for "various scenarios," after Minsk announced Thursday that its forces will hold exercises with Wagner fighters in the area.

"Both Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński and the head of the Ministry of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak emphasized that the Wagner Group could be used to destabilize the Polish-Belarusian border," it continued.

The statement added that joint actions between Poland's army and border guard involving almost 200 units of equipment were happening as a response. The country is fully willing and able to immediately respond to any attempts at destabilization on the border, it added.

Some background: The Belarusian Defense Ministry said Thursday that its forces will hold exercises with Wagner fighters on the Polish border.

At the beginning of July, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko invited Wagner forces into Belarus to help train his country’s military.

That invitation came shortly after the failed armed insurrection by Wagner forces against Moscow, which Lukashenko was credited with helping diffuse. 

The announcement of a joint military exercise comes a day after a video appeared to show Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus -- his first public sighting since the mutiny.

The United Kingdom has added individuals and groups with links to Russia's Wagner Group who are operating in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali to its sanctions list, its foreign ministry said Thursday.

In the latest update of the UK sanctions list, the ministry added seven new designations under CAR sanctions regime, five new designations under the Sudan sanctions regime and one new designation under the Mali sanctions regime. 

Among those sanctioned were Vitalii Viktorovitch Perfilev, head of the Wagner Group in the CAR, and Ivan Aleksandrovitch, the head in Mali. Both will be subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.

Wagner's African footprint: As Joyce M. Davis, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, wrote in an opinion piece for CNN:

Since it first emerged in 2014 during Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the Wagner Group has operated in at least a half-dozen African countries, with a presence of some 5,000-strong across the continent, including fighting forces, former convicts and foreign nationals.

Much more than a mere contingent of mercenary troops, Wagner is a complicated network of businesses intertwined with fighting forces, with operations intricately linked with Russia’s military and intelligence community. But for the past several days, the whereabouts of the mercurial man who leads the vast operation have been unknown.

On Wednesday, a video emerged that appeared to show Prigozhin greeting his fighters in Belarus, in what would be his first public appearance since he led an armed rebellion in Russia last month.

The question remains however, what will now become of Wagner’s immense Africa operation that provided security services and paramilitary assistance and launched disinformation campaigns for troubled regimes in the CAR, Libya, Mali and Sudan?

Read the full opinion piece here:

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Opinion: What happens to Wagner forces in Africa now? | CNN

Ukraine’s Air Force has asked for better air defense systems for its southern regions, after reportedly destroying just five of 19 Russian cruise missiles fired at the country overnight.

“Of course, we would like to shoot down more.”

Russia’s third consecutive night of attacks on Odesa has left one person dead. At least 19 were also injured by an overnight Russian attack on Mykolaiv.

Ihnat said that it is “no possibility” to shoot down Russia’s Oniks and Kh-22 missiles with Ukraine’s current air defense systems because of how fast they fly.

The Oniks missile, he said, “is designed to destroy watercraft, ships. It flies at a speed of more than 3,000 km per hour... When entering the target, the missile can fly at an altitude of 10-15 meters above the water to destroy the ship, which makes it difficult to detect and, accordingly, shoot down by the air defense means."

Russia’s third consecutive night of attacks on Odesa killed one person, as Ukraine’s military only managed to shoot down just over a quarter of Russian cruise missiles fired overnight.

Ukraine’s Air Force said that it had “destroyed” five of 19 cruise missiles fired at the country overnight. Just two of the five destroyed cruise missiles were in Odesa, according to Oleh Kiper, head of Odesa's regional military administration.

The Air Force also said it had destroyed 13 of 19 Shahed attack drones.

“Unfortunately, not all missiles were destroyed, including supersonic missiles such as the Kh-22 and Oniks, which are extremely difficult to destroy,” Kiper said in a separate update on Telegram.

“While attacking the ports of the grain deal, causing damage to the port infrastructure, the terrorists also hit civilian infrastructure that was not related to the ports. They destroyed an administrative building in the center of Odesa, where the blast wave damaged several other buildings, including residential ones. 4 local residents were injured, including 1 child.”

The mayor of Odesa, Hennadii Trukhanov, posted a video to Facebook on Thursday standing in the destruction caused by a Russian munition near a nursery.

“Another terrorist attack by non-humans, creatures, on the peaceful city of Odesa,” Trukhanov says in the video. “Look at what they are doing. This is a nursery. There is a kindergarten nearby. Civilians live nearby. They destroyed everything. We are looking for a person under the rubble. A person was injured and taken to the hospital in a serious condition.”