Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
As a result of Russian airstrikes on Odessa, 146 residential buildings were damaged, according to the Ukrainian armed forces. At least 28 historical buildings were also damaged in Odessa’s center, an area that has been deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Ukraine’s defense minister said the country will continue to launch attacks on Crimea and the Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, which connects the peninsula to Russia. “All these targets are official targets because it will reduce their capacity to fight against us [and] will help to save the lives of Ukrainians,” Oleksii Reznikov told CNN. Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Experts found land mines on the periphery of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during a walk-through this week, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Mariano Grossi said. The mines were spotted in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers, but their presence is nevertheless “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance,” he said.
Russia is more likely to target civilian infrastructure in Odessa now that it has pulled out of the grain deal, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. The agreement allowed the export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The Kremlin now “likely feels less politically constrained,” and in that last week has carried out a “great number” of assaults on the area, the U.K. ministry said.
Talks on resuming the Black Sea grain initiative are not happening, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin said Tuesday, according to Reuters. Russia’s move to renew its naval blockade on Ukrainian ports triggered fresh concerns over wheat prices and global hunger.
A child was killed, and six others were injured after Russian forces fired cluster munitions at a reservoir in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian state media said. Photos posted by Ukrinform showed a bloodied patch of grass at the edge of a reservoir beach, where it said locals had been gathering on Monday.
Putin has signed legislation that bans people from gender-affirming procedures. The bill was approved unanimously by both houses of parliament and also prevents transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. The move is the country’s latest attempt to crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community, advocates say.
Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke on the phone Tuesday. The pair discussed Russia’s attacks on Odessa and Ukraine’s desire to strengthen its air defense, Zelensky said, adding, “We must defend Odessa.”
Lithuania approved a military aid plan for Ukraine that pledges about $221 million over three years. It will cover lethal and nonlethal aid, military training and the repair of military equipment in Lithuania.
An American video journalist for Agence France-Presse, Dylan Collins, 35, was wounded in a drone attack near Bakhmut on Monday. He is being treated at a hospital and is conscious and speaking to colleagues, the French international news outlet said in a tweet. In May, AFP journalist and video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed by a rocket attack in Ukraine’s east.
Russia will take part in discussions on grain and fertilizer exports at the Russia-Africa summit this week, the state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, after the country fueled food insecurity concerns by pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative this month.
Ukraine remains defiant as Russia pounds Odessa and its grain facilities: The southern port city was under nightly missile attacks for at least six days after Russia’s president canceled a deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain. The assaults caused significant damage to Odessa’s historic Transfiguration Cathedral, John Hudson and Anastacia Galouchka write, but its chief priest has made his message clear: If the cathedral survived Joseph Stalin, it can survive Vladimir Putin, too.
“You can damage a church, you can kill a man, but you can’t destroy the faith,” said Myroslav Vdodovych, the cathedral’s chief priest.
Ukraine has responded to the attacks with defiance — launching drone attacks on buildings in Moscow and on an ammunition depot in Crimea — while cleanup crews and parishioners cleared debris from the cathedral’s littered floors.
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