Russia and Ukraine blamed each other on Friday for the bombing of a prison in breakaway territory in eastern Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky supervised an initial shipment of grain, crucial for food security. world. Franceinfo takes stock of what to remember from the latest developments in the war in ukraineFriday, July 29.
Moscow and kyiv blame each other for the bombing of a prison
Did Ukraine kill 40 of its soldiers, prisoners of pro-Russian separatists, in a bombardment? This was stated by the Russian Ministry of Defense in a press release on Friday, without providing any proof. On the same day, kyiv in turn accused Russia of being behind the attack.
The Russian army initially reported 40 dead and 75 wounded in this strike on Olenivka prison, while the pro-Russian separatist authorities in the Donetsk region mentioned up to 53 dead. The Russian Investigative Committee accused Ukrainian forces of having “fired on the prison where members of the Azov battalion are being held, using American projectiles of the Himars system”.
But Ukraine quickly denied having targeted civilian infrastructure or prisoners of war, assuring that the army “fully adheres to the principles and standards of international humanitarian law”. In the evening, Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a “deliberate Russian war crime”. AFP was unable to verify all of these statements from independent sources.
At least five dead in the bombing of a bus stop
Still on the ground of military operations, at least five people were killed and seven injured in a Russian strike that hit a bus stop in the Mykolaiv region (southern Ukraine), according to regional governor Vitaly Kim. He accused the Russian forces of “bomb the city during the day, when everyone is going about their business”.
And at least eight people, according to the Ukrainian presidency, have died and 19 have been injured in the past 24 hours in the Donetsk region, partly controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists and which Moscow is seeking to conquer in full.
Blocked cereals will be leaving soon
Cereals blocked in Ukraine since the beginning of the war will be able to leave Ukraine. Exports could pick up “in the next few days”, according to Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the port of Chornomorsk, on the Black Sea, on Friday to supervise a first load of cereals on a Turkish ship, under the terms of the agreement reached on July 22 with Russia.
kyiv is waiting for one “signal” on the part of Ankara and the UN, guarantors of the agreement, for “begin”, underlined the Russian president. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure, 17 ships have already been loaded with grain in Chornomorsk and Odessa, and ten are ready to leave.
Reduced sentence for Russian soldier
The life sentence handed down to a Russian soldier in May for killing a civilian in Ukraine was reduced to 15 years in prison on appeal by a Kyiv court. Sergeant Vadim Chichimarine, 21, had admitted shooting dead Oleksandre Chelipov, 62, in the northeast during the first days of the invasion launched by the Russian army on February 24. Pleading guilty, he was sentenced on May 23 for war crimes and premeditated murder.
Blinken and Lavrov discuss American prisoners
On the diplomatic front, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he warned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that the world would not recognize “never” the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia.
During a discussion described as “frank and direct”the first since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February, he also pressed Moscow to accept Washington’s offer for the release of Americans detained in Russia.