Ukrainian counteroffensive has made ‘notable’ progress in south over past three days, US says

White House spokesman John Kirby also said reports quoting anonymous US officials criticising Ukrainian effort were ‘not helpful’

Ukraine has made “notable progress” in its southern offensive over the past 72 hours, a top US security official has said, as Kyiv said its troops had broken through Russia’s first line of defences in several places.

In Washington, White House national security council spokesman John Kirby said the US had “noted over the last 72 hours or so some notable progress by Ukrainian armed forces ... in that southern line of advance coming out of the Zaporizhzhia area”.

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Russia adds Nobel prize-winning journalist Dmitry Muratov to list of ‘foreign agents’

Editor of Novaya Gazeta accused of using foreign platforms to spread ‘opinions aimed at forming a negative attitude towards Russia’

Russia has added respected journalist and Nobel prize co-recipient Dmitry Muratov to its list of foreign agents, a label authorities commonly use to stifle critics.

The move targeting the editor of Russia’s top independent publication, Novaya Gazeta, is part of a wider crackdown on respected civil society institutions that has accelerated with Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Swedish lawmakers to boycott Nobel ceremony following Russia invitation – as it happened

The Nobel Foundation said invitations for the 2023 events were extended to all countries with diplomatic missions in Sweden and Norway

There cannot be “sustainable peace” in Ukraine unless the country regains control of Crimea, Donbas and other territories occupied by Russia, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said at the European House Ambrosetti business forum in Italy on Friday.

Russia has previously said it is open to peace talks with Kyiv but insists on its claim to four Ukrainian provinces it said it annexed last year and fully or partly controls, as well as Crimea that it annexed in 2014 – a condition Kyiv will not accept.

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British arms maker BAE Systems sets up in Ukraine

Manufacturer of much of the western equipment used against Russian invasion says it aims to produce artillery

The British defence company BAE Systems is setting up a local entity in Ukraine and has signed deals with its government to help ramp up its supply of weapons and equipment.

BAE said it would work directly with Kyiv to explore potential partners for a plan to ultimately produce 105mm light artillery guns in Ukraine and to better understand Ukraine’s requirements.

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Russia-Ukraine war: critics of counteroffensive are ‘spitting in the faces of soldiers’, says Kyiv – as it happened

Ukraine’s foreign minister also says critics of the offensive’s slow progress should ‘shut up’

At a glance: what we know on day 554 of the invasion

A military spokesperson says Ukrainian armed forces are making progress in the direction of Novoprokopivka – the village beyond Robotyne, in the direction of Melitopol.

The capture of Robotyne was announced earlier this week. Even though just a few miles from where Ukrainian troops were at the start of the counter-offensive, it marked a significant achievement in breaking through an initial line of Russian defences prepared over the winter.

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‘A success for Kremlin propaganda’: how pro-Putin views permeate Italian media

With pro-Russia commentators regularly appearing on TV, Italians are less likely to back Ukraine than people in most other EU states

Whenever Nello Scavo returns from Ukraine, he is overcome with frustration. As a war correspondent for the Italian national newspaper Avvenire, he knows the first question people will ask him is: “Is it really as bad as they say?”

“Sometimes I think that only if I come back badly injured will people start taking me seriously,” he told the Guardian. “It’s as if they don’t believe that Russia is massacring civilians. The problem is that Vladimir Putin has always enjoyed wide sympathy in Italian politics and public opinion, with the Kremlin always enjoying effective propaganda here.”

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Yevgeny Prigozhin spoke of threats to his life days before death, video appears to show

Wagner boss apparently seen in Africa saying ‘everything’s fine’ as he addressed rumours about wellbeing

A newly released video of Yevgeny Prigozhin purports to show the Wagner group boss in Africa addressing rumours about his wellbeing and threats to his life, just days before his death.

“For everyone discussing whether I’m alive or not and how I’m doing. It’s currently a weekend in the second half of August 2023. I’m in Africa,” Prigozhin says in the short video published by the Grey Zone Telegram channel that is linked to Wagner group.

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EU imports of Russian liquified gas leap by 40% since Ukraine invasion

Pipeline flows from Russia have fallen to historic lows, but shipments of LNG from all over the world have surged

EU imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) have increased by 40% since the invasion of Ukraine despite efforts to cut down supplies.

Member states have bought more than half of Russia’s LNG on the market in the first seven months of this year, according to analysis of data by Kpler, which tracks marine and tanker traffic.

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US concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea ‘actively advancing’ – as it happened

Sergei Shoigu, Russian defence minister, has recently travelled to North Korea to try to convince them to sell ammunition, says White House. This live blog is closed

Russia’s Tass news agency reports, citing Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin, that a drone was “destroyed” in the Ruzsky district of the Moscow region.

“Tonight, an attempt was made to mass attack drones in the Central Federal District. One of the UAVs heading for Moscow was destroyed by air defense forces in the Ruzsky district. There were no preliminary casualties and no damage,” Sobyanin wrote in his Telegram channel.

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Ukrainian drones attack six Russian regions and hit military planes

Kyiv says four cargo planes destroyed in city 500 miles from border with Ukraine

Ukrainian drones have attacked at least six regions deep within Russia, including an airfield where they destroyed military transport planes, in one of the largest-scale attacks on Russia in months.

A drone assault on the city of Pskov in north-western Russia damaged four IL-76 military cargo aircraft, Russian authorities said early on Wednesday, engulfing two of the planes in flames.

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Documents show Putin’s order to move superyacht before Ukraine invasion

Russian president ordered urgent removal of Graceful from Hamburg shipyard, investigation claims

Vladimir Putin moved his $100m (£75m) superyacht from a German shipyard to Russia just weeks before he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, according to secret documents released in a new investigation.

A Russian anti-corruption organisation set up by the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny claims emails show that the Russian president ordered the urgent moving of the 82-metre superyacht, called Graceful, from a shipyard in Hamburg, where it was undergoing a $32m refit, by 1 February 2022.

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‘Farewell ceremony’ for Yevgeny Prigozhin takes place in St Petersburg – as it happened

Spokesperson says ‘those who wish to bid their farewell’ to the mercenary leader should go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery. This live blog is closed

My colleague Dan Sabbagh has a special dispatch from Kupiansk, a town in the Kharkiv region where some residents have abandoned their homes because of renewed shelling.

In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said military service in the Russian armed forces has become increasingly lucrative since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year.

On 4 February 2022 Russian president Vladimir Putin noted that a lieutenant received 81,200 rubles per month. By October 2022, he announced that even mobilised private soldiers would receive 195,000 rubles per month.

Many junior ranks serving in Ukraine are now on over 200,000 rubles per month. This is over 2.7 times the Russian national average salary of 72,851 rubles. By way of comparison, 2.7 times the average UK salary would equate to over £90,000 a year.

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UK foreign secretary to challenge China over support for Russia in Ukraine war

James Cleverly to say during visit to Beijing this week that China has ‘a responsibility on the global stage’

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will challenge Chinese officials in Beijing on Wednesday over their growing military support for Russia, but is intent that his meetings are seen as the revival of a political dialogue that eventually revives UK trade with China.

Ahead of the meetings, he said that no major international issue could be solved without China but added that the country had to live up to its international commitments and obligations.

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Funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin held in ‘closed format’ in St Petersburg

Kremlin earlier said president’s presence ‘not envisaged’ at funeral of Wagner chief who was killed in plane crash last week

The funeral of Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin was held at a private cemetery on the outskirts of his home town of St Petersburg, his press service said on Tuesday hours after the Kremlin announced that Vladimir Putin would not be attending.

“The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery,” the press service said in its first post on Telegram in two months, ending days of speculation over how the warlord would be laid to rest.

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Russia accused of intimidating US consulate staff with Ukraine war spying charges

State department says allegations against Robert Shonov are ‘wholly without merit’, as rare footage of detained US citizen Paul Whelan emerges

The United States has accused Moscow of attempting to intimidate and harass US employees, after Russian state media reported that a former US consulate worker had been charged with collecting information on the war in Ukraine and other issues for Washington.

The FSB security service has accused Robert Shonov, a Russian national, of relaying to US embassy staffers in Moscow information on how Russia’s conscription campaign was affecting political discontent ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Russia, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 552 of the invasion

More than 1,300 schools destroyed in Ukraine since war began; ‘farewell ceremony’ held Yevgeny Prigozhin

A “farewell ceremony” for Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash last week, took place behind closed doors, his spokespeople said on Tuesday in a statement on social media.

More than 1,300 schools have been destroyed in government-held areas of Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion, Unicef has said.

Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed when his plane crashed last week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

An FSB security services helicopter crashed Tuesday in central Russia, leaving three people dead, regional officials said. The Mi-8 helicopter went down near the village of Krasnoe Pole in the Chelyabinsk region.

Ukraine said on Tuesday that its forces had pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, a day after claiming control over the village on the southern front.

Russian president Vladimir Putin will skip the G20 summit in India next month and will send his foreign minister instead, prime minister Narendra Modi’s office said.

Russian air defences reportedly downed Ukrainian drones over the Tula and Belgorod regions, Moscow’s defence ministry said on Tuesday, without indicating if there had been damage or casualties.

The US on Monday accused Moscow of attempting to intimidate and harass US employees after Russian state media reported that a former US consulate worker had been charged by security services with collecting information on the war in Ukraine and other issues for Washington.

The EU should get ready to admit new members from eastern Europe and the Balkans by 2030, EU chief Charles Michel argued on Monday. With Russia’s war in Ukraine continuing and Moldova’s pro-western government scrambling to reform, senior officials have previously been reluctant to offer precise timetables.

Pope Francis came under criticism on Monday for telling Russian youths to remember that they are the heirs of tsars such as Peter the Great, whom President Vladimir Putin has held up as an example to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine said the comments, which Francis made on Friday in a live video address to Catholic youths gathered in St. Petersburg, were “deeply regrettable”.

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Swedish man charged with passing hi-tech equipment to Russia

Russian-born man in his 60s suspected of transferring Swedish and US technology with potential military use

A man in his 60s whose arrest in a residential area near Stockholm last year prompted shock has been charged with gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and gross illegal intelligence activities against a foreign power.

The man, who has lived in Sweden for 25 years after emigrating from Russia and has had Swedish citizenship since 2012, is suspected of having transferred advanced technology with potential military use to Russia.

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Poland ‘will close Belarus border’ if there is incident with Wagner; Ukraine troops pushing south – as it happened

Poland and Baltic states demand mercenary group leaves Belarus; Ukraine says it has liberated village of Robotyne as counteroffensive continues. This live blog is closed

Ukraine says troops advancing southeast of Robotyne

Some more now on Ukraine claiming it has captured the village of Robotyne on the southern front.

Robotyne has been liberated. Our forces are advancing south-east of Robotyne and south of Mala Tokmachka.

As usual, there will be more meetings with staff this week. The agenda is already set. In particular; there will be decisions that will allow us to further strengthen our warriors, that allow military commanders to prepare the infrastructure for new Ukrainian aircraft more accurately, and allow diplomats to promote everything that our warriors need more actively in communication with partners. The requests from each of the units are very clear.

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