Russia Ukraine latest news today: Western tanks lead Kyiv’s counteroffensive as heavy combating begins

Powerful Western tanks and ammo sent to Ukraine by its allies have actually lastly emerged on the battleground as Russian forces report a rise in attacks that recommend Kyiv’s counteroffensive is moving into high equipment.

The fight versus Russian positions – consisting of extreme combating beyond the town of Tokmak, a Russian logistical center – is said to include Western-provided tanks, armoured automobiles and infantry backed by weapons.

Russian military blog writers verified the existence of a minimum of 2 Leopard 2 tanks sent by Germany, in a very first such usage of its war vehicle as they shared visuals from strengthened positions along the frontline in the continuing full-blown intrusion of Ukraine by Russia.

The Leopard II primary fight tanks were likewise seen in the Zaporizhzhia area where a substantial Ukrainian force scaled up their attack on Russian lines in the southern area in the previous 24 hr.

Russian Colonel General Alexander Romanchuk  declared, without offering proof, that Moscow’s forces had actually destroyed 3 Leopard tanks. The officer likewise said that the basic in charge of Russia’s soldiers in Ukraine, chief of the basic staff Valery Gerasimov, informed President Vladimir Putin on the fights in Zaporizhzhia.

At least 2 US-produced M113 armoured workers providers, or APCs, were likewise seen in a video shared by Russian military blog writers, reported FT.com.

Russian forces continue to shell the Kherson area regardless of it attracting the after-effects of the Nova Kakhovka dam’s damage, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“Russian terrorists are trying to further aggravate the situation they have caused with their ecocide. This is absolutely deliberate. They continue to shell Kherson and the communities of the region, which have already been flooded by terrorists,” Mr Zelensky said.

He included that the Russian forces are likewise shelling evacuation points “which is a manifestation of evil that perhaps no terrorists in the world, except for Russian ones, have ever done”.

He included that the Russian forces in the area “have completely abandoned people on the left bank of Kherson region to their fate”.

“The catastrophe has been expanding there for two days now. And this is also an absolutely conscious choice of the Russian leadership. There is no one left in the world today who does not see that Russia is ruled by savages. Savages who themselves are the biggest disaster on the planet today,” Mr Zelensky said.

The United States is set to reveal a brand-new arms package for Ukraine valued at more than $2bn (£1.5bn) as quickly as today, authorities from the Biden administration have actually said, reported Bloomberg.

The funds under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative will be heavy on air defence munitions and will help Ukraine purchase Hawk rocket launchers and 2 kinds of sophisticated Patriot air defence rockets, the report said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has actually hailed what he referred to as “results” in heavy combating in Donetsk area in eastern Ukraine, among the pockets where Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway.

“There is very heavy fighting in Donetsk region,” Mr Zelensky said in his everyday video message, speaking from inside a train after checking out locations impacted by the breach of the Kakhovka power dam.

“But there are results and I am grateful to those who achieved these results. Well done in Bakhmut. Step by step,” he said.

The war-time president described other locations where combating is going on, however said he would supply no information.

Before-and-after pictures of the location downstream from a dam that collapsed Tuesday strongly reveal the degree of the destruction of a big, flooded swathe of southern Ukraine.

Before the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River broke, farm fields appear green and crossed by tranquil streets and farm roadways and dotted with trees. Afterward, just metal roofings and treetops poke above the dirty water. Greenhouses and houses are almost totally immersed.

The pre-collapse satellite pictures were taken in May and early June. Photos of the exact same location taken after the dam collapsed plainly demonstrate how much of it has actually ended up being uninhabitable. Brown water as high as individuals covers much of the area recorded in the images.

More than 40,000 individuals in locations downstream from the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant are at danger of losing their houses and incomes after the breach released gushes of flood water from the Dnipro river.

“In Kherson, I visited a crossing point where people are being evacuated from flooded areas,” the president of Ukraine composed, sharing video footage of his go to.

“Our task is to protect lives and help people as much as possible. I thank the rescuers and volunteers.”

The Kremlin said on Thursday that there would be a “negative impact” on the fate of a Black Sea grain deal from a blast which harmed a pipeline utilized to export Russian ammonia by means of Ukraine that Moscow desires rebooted.

The Togliatti-Odesa pipeline, which when pumped up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia each year for worldwide export to Ukraine‘s Pivdennyi port on the Black Sea from Togliatti in western Russia, has lain idle since the start of the war in February last year.

Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of blowing up a part of the pipeline, the world’s longest bring ammonia, in Ukraine‘s Kharkiv region on Monday. The regional Ukrainian governor said Russia had shelled the pipeline on Tuesday. Neither side provided evidence to back their allegations.

Asked by reporters about how the damaged pipeline could affect the fate of the Black Sea grain deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It can only have a negative impact.”

He described it as “yet another complication in terms of extending the deal,” adding that Russia did not know “what kind of destruction” there had been to the ammonia pipeline.

Russia has threatened to walk away from the Black Sea grain deal on 17 July if demands to improve its own food and fertiliser exports are not met. The deal, struck in July last year, facilitates the “safe navigation” of grain, foodstuffs and fertilisers – including ammonia – for export to global markets.

The co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov, went on trial in Moscow Thursday, charged with “discrediting” the Russian military in his criticism of Russia’s campaign in Ukraine.

If founded guilty, he might confront 5 years in jail.

Orlov has actually been fined two times for anti-war pickets, with the brand-new charges based upon a short article he composed knocking Russian aggressiveness in Ukraine.

Discrediting the Russian military is a criminal offense under a law embraced after Russia sent soldiers into Ukraine in February 2022. The law is frequently utilized versus Kremlin critics.

Memorial and its fans have actually called the trial politically inspired.

Volodymyr Zelensky will not participate in the primary G20 conference as welcomes for the top this year were sent just to the members of the Group of 20, host nation India has actually verified.

The verification by Delhi has actually put an end to speculation and expectations that Mr Zelensky would take part in the occasion that will combine world leaders of significant economies in Delhi.

Speaking throughout an unique interview marking 9 years of the diplomacy of the Narendra Modi federal government, foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said invites were being sent to G20 members just.

Shweta Sharma has the complete story:

Two rockets struck websites near the city of Uman in main Ukraine on Thursday, hurting 8 individuals, the local guv said.

Ihor Taburets, guv of Cherkasy area, composed on the Telegram messaging app that the rockets struck a commercial website and a car wash at night. He said 2 of the hurt were seriously hurt, according to initial info.

Pictures published on his Telegram channel revealed emergency situation groups combing through websites mostly minimized to debris, with smoke increasing in the background.

The strikes taken place throughout air raid informs revealed throughout Ukraine for about an hour in mid-evening.

Reuters might not separately confirm the accounts.

A rocket attack in April on a home building in Uman killed 23 citizens, in the very first such strike in a number of weeks.