Ukraine has made clear it intends to retake Kherson, which fell to Russia in the first days of the invasion launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian forces likely created a bridgehead south of the Ingulets River and used new long-range artillery to destroy at least three of the bridges crossing the Dnipro. “Russia’s 49th Army, located on the west bank of the Dnipro River, now looks very vulnerable,” he said in a regular briefing on Twitter, adding that Kherson was effectively cut off from other Russian-held territory. “His loss would seriously undermine Russia’s efforts to label the occupation a success.” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, earlier tweeted that Russia was massing “the maximum number of troops” in the direction of Kherson, but gave no details. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russia was carrying out a “massive redeployment” of forces from the east to the south, amounting to a strategic shift from offense to defense. Video from last Saturday showed the extent of damage to the key Antonivskyi bridge in the Kherson region following Ukrainian shelling on July 20. The Antonivskyi Bridge in the Russian-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine was damaged after Ukrainian shelling on July 20. The bridge is considered necessary for Moscow to supply its forces occupying the southern part of the country. (Reuters) Zelensky said Ukraine would rebuild the bridge over the Dnipro and other crossings in the region. “We are doing everything to ensure that the occupation forces have no logistical opportunity in our country,” he said in a speech on Wednesday afternoon. Russian officials had earlier said they would turn to bridges and ferries to get forces across the river. Russian-backed forces said on Wednesday they had seized the Soviet-era coal-fired power plant in Vuhlehirsk, Ukraine’s second largest, in what was Moscow’s first major gain in more than three weeks.
The US effort at diplomacy
Russia invaded Ukraine in late February in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “neutralize” its neighbor. Ukraine and its allies call the invasion an unprovoked war of aggression. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he was planning a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the first between the two government officials before the start of the war. The call in the coming days will not be a “negotiation on Ukraine,” Blinken told a news conference on Wednesday, reiterating Washington’s position that any talks to end the war must take place between Kiev and Moscow. A Ukrainian self-propelled artillery is fired at Russian forces on a front line in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Wednesday. (Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press) Russia has not received a formal request from Washington for a phone call between Blinken and Lavrov, the TASS news agency reported. The United States has made “a substantial offer” to Russia to free American citizens WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Blinken said, without elaborating on what the United States offered. in return. Blinken said he would press Lavrov to respond to the offer. A source familiar with the situation confirmed a CNN report that Washington was willing to exchange Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States, as part of a deal. In addition to discussing the Americans detained by Russia, Blinken said he would discuss with Lavrov the interim deal on grain exports reached last week between Russia, the United States, Turkey and Ukraine. Russia cut gas flows to Europe on Wednesday in an energy standoff with the European Union. It has blocked grain exports from Ukraine since it invaded, but on Friday agreed to allow deliveries through the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait and to world markets. WATCHES | Major damage from Russian missile strike near Odesa, Ukraine:
Extensive damage from a Russian missile attack near Odessa, Ukraine
The Ukrainian government released video on Tuesday that it says shows extensive damage from a Russian missile that hit Zatoka, a key coastal town south of Odesa. The deal was almost immediately thrown into doubt when Russia fired cruise missiles at Odessa, Ukraine’s largest port, on Saturday, just 12 hours after the deal was signed. Before the invasion and subsequent sanctions, Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports.
Russian journalist fined again
In Moscow, former Russian TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova was fined 50,000 rubles ($1,050 Cdn) on Thursday after being found guilty of defaming the country’s armed forces in social media posts condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The decision was issued after a short hearing in an administrative court in Moscow. Ovsyannikova dismissed the proceedings against her as “absurd”. Marina Ovsyannikova, the journalist who rose to international prominence after protesting Russian military action in Ukraine during a prime-time news broadcast on state television, appears in a Moscow court on Thursday accused of “discrediting” the Russian military fighting in Ukraine. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images) “The evidence confirms Ovsyannikova’s guilt. There is no reason to doubt their authenticity,” the judge said. Ovsyannikova gained international attention in March after she stormed into the studios of Russian state television, her then employer, to denounce the war in Ukraine during a live news broadcast. At the time she was fined 30,000 rubles ($600 Cdn) for violating protest laws. WATCHES | Ovsyannikova interrupts the news broadcast on the Russian state television channel One:
A protester disrupts a news broadcast on Russia’s state-run One TV channel
Holding a sign reading ‘no war’ and ‘don’t believe the propaganda’, an anti-war protester walked into the background of the main news program on Russia’s Channel One. Thursday’s hearing was about subsequent social media posts in which he wrote that those responsible for Russia’s actions in Ukraine would stand trial in an international court. Russia passed a law against “discrediting” its armed forces, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, in early March, soon after the invasion of Ukraine began.
