Russia-Ukraine war live news: Ukrainians step up counterattacks in south; Kharkiv hit, says the mayor

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The State Emergency Service of Ukraine has issued an update on the situation in Kharkiv. Says on Telegram:

At night, the enemy launched a rocket attack on the city of Kharkiv. An educational institution and a two-story residential building were partially destroyed, as well as nearby buildings were damaged. A fire broke out in a two-story residential building, which was immediately extinguished by rescuers.

In the community of Borivskyi, rescuers put out a fire in a wheat field on an area of ​​5 hectares. In addition, a man born in 1963 was injured in one of the cases of enemy strikes on a high-rise residential building in the city of Chuhuiv.

Ukraine had hoped to start exporting grain through its ports from today under a deal recently agreed with Russia, Turkey and the UN.

However, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said “crucial” details were still being worked out for the ships’ safe passage and that “the devil was in the details”.

Griffiths said he hoped the first shipment of grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port could take place as soon as today.

Expert mission to review human rights in Russia

The United States and 37 other countries are establishing an expert mission to review the human rights situation in Russia, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday.

The review, triggered by the invocation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s “Moscow Mechanism,” responds to recent actions by Russia to restrict freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and reports of torture of people detained in Russia. Price said in a statement.

The expert mission will release its report to the public in September, he said.

The OSCE is a 57-nation organization that includes former Cold War foes the United States and Russia, as well as several countries in Europe, Central Asia and North America.

This is the third time the Moscow Mechanism has been invoked since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

In April, an OSCE mission said it had found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia in Ukraine. Russia’s mission to the OSCE called the report “baseless propaganda.”

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta will be stripped of its license by court order

Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last remaining independent media outlets, is under threat after the country’s media watchdog demanded that its website and print edition be stripped of its license.

“Russia’s censorship agency Roskomnadzor has demanded that Novaya Gazeta’s certificate of registration be declared invalid,” the publication said in a statement on Thursday.

The announcement came after the newspaper received two warnings about alleged violations from the state communications watchdog.

On Thursday, Novaya Gazeta said Roskomnadzor went to court to request that the media license of the newspaper’s website be revoked.

“Roskomnadzor asked the court to declare the license of the print media Novaya Gazeta invalid because the editorial office has not provided its editorial status within the deadline set by the media law,” the agency told Russian news channel RBC.

The newspaper said it did not know why this request had been made now.

“Why are the lawsuits being filed four months after the warnings were issued, what has changed?” asked the dam.

“Is it politics? What is not politics now?

The outlet said it would fight for its rights in court.

“What will Novaya Gazeta do? Let’s prepare for the courts, defend our case, in which we are confident, prepare a new issue of the NO magazine, restart the website and the new Novaya studio,” he said in a statement.

A photo of a Ukrainian girl wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Ukraine” as she points defiantly at a building partially destroyed by Russian bombing is fast becoming a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in local media this morning.

The photo was taken in Russian-occupied Mariupol.

Russia’s Wagner assigned responsibility for front-line sectors, UK says

Russian private military company Wagner has likely been assigned responsibility for specific sectors of the front line in eastern Ukraine, possibly because Russia is facing a severe shortage of combat infantry, the Ministry of British Defense in an intelligence update this morning.

Since March, the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group has been operating in eastern Ukraine in coordination with the Russian military. Wagner has likely been assigned responsibility for specific sectors of the front line, similar to normal army units.

This is a significant change from the group’s previous employment since 2015, when it typically conducted missions other than regular, open, large-scale Russian military activity.

This new level of integration further undermines the Russian authorities’ longstanding policy of denying links between PMCs and the Russian state.”

He also said it is highly unlikely that Wagner’s forces will be enough to make a significant difference to the trajectory of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Updated at 06.08 BST

Ukraine steps up counter-attacks in the south

Ukraine has stepped up its campaign to retake Russian-controlled regions in the south by trying to bombard and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-resupply areas, military officials said.

Ukrainian jets struck five Russian strongholds around Kherson and another nearby city on Thursday, its military said.

Kyiv said it had also retaken some small settlements on the northern edge of the Kherson region.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south of the country is “gaining momentum”, according to British defense and intelligence officials.

Ukraine has virtually cut off the Russian-held city of Kherson in the south, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnieper river “highly vulnerable” and isolated, the UK defense ministry said.

The center of Kharkiv was hit by Russian bombing, says the mayor

According to local authorities, Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, was hit by Russian bombing this morning.

The city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said a central part of the northeastern city was affected, including a two-story building and a higher education institution.

Terekhov said the strike occurred shortly after 4 a.m. Friday

“The State Emergency Service is already working; they are fixing the debris, looking for people underneath,” in a Telegram update.

⚡️Mayor: Russian strike hits central Kharkiv.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that Russian forces hit a two-story house and a university at 4:09 a.m. on July 29. The State Emergency Service is working at the scene. At the moment there is no information about the victims.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) July 29, 2022

Summary and welcome

Hello and welcome back to The Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

My name is Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest over the next little while.

According to local authorities, Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, was hit by Russian bombing this morning. We’ll bring you more details as they develop.

It’s 8am in Kyiv and this is where things are.

  • Ukraine has stepped up its campaign to retake Russian-controlled regions in the south by trying to bombard and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-reach areas. Ukrainian jets struck five Russian strongholds around Kherson and another nearby city on Thursday, its military said. Kyiv said it had also retaken some small settlements on the northern edge of the Kherson region.
  • The Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south of the country is “gaining momentum”, according to British defense and intelligence officials. Ukraine has virtually cut off the Russian-held city of Kherson in the south, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnieper river “highly vulnerable” and isolated, the UK defense ministry said.
  • Residents of Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region have been asked to evacuate. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said people risked being cut off from “electricity, water, food and medical supplies, heating and communication” if they stayed in the area.
  • Five people were killed and at least 25 injured when Russian missiles hit the hangars of an aviation company in Kropyvnytskyi, north of Mykolaiv, on Thursday.
  • At least two people were killed in the Donetsk city of Toretsk on Thursday when a five-storey building collapsed following a Russian missile attack.
  • Two people in the southern coastal city of Koblevo were blown up by a sea mine while swimming despite the ban, Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.
  • US lawmakers were briefed by US officials who said more than 75,000 Russians were estimated to have been killed or injured in the war. The number was “huge,” Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic House representative who previously attended a secret US government briefing, told CNN. However, there was no current information from official Russian authorities on the death toll.
  • The UN aid chief said he hoped the first shipment of grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port could take place on Friday. Martin Griffiths said “crucial” details were still being worked out for the ships’ safe passage and “the devil was in the details”.
  • Talks between the Kremlin and Washington on a possible prisoner swap were said to have “yet” reached a concrete agreement on Thursday. The deal reportedly involves swapping a notorious Russian arms dealer for an American basketball star and former Marine.
  • Estonia said Thursday it would block Russian nationals from obtaining temporary residence permits or visas to study in Estonia, in a move its foreign minister described as “relentless pressure” on Russia and its people.
  • from Hungary…

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