Russia Ukraine war live: Putin meets military commanders as Kiev ‘shoots down 15 drones’

Ukraine has said it shot down 15 of the 17 attack drones Russia launched overnight.

Kiev said the planes were Iranian-made Shahed drones targeting the northern, central and western regions of Ukraine.

It was not immediately clear what happened to the two drones that were not shot down.

The reports could not immediately be independently verified.

It was not immediately known which objects and areas Russia targeted in its attacks.

Different Russian Courts on Friday ordered the liquidation of a human rights organization that is the estate of Noble Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov and the arrest of a prominent election observer, in the latest steps in a widespread crackdown on dissent.

Sakharov, who died in 1989, was a key figure in the development of the Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb program, but later became known for his activism in promoting human rights and freedom of conscience.

He received the Nobel Prize in 1975, but was not allowed to travel to Norway to receive it. In 1980 he was sent into internal exile, which lasted six years.

Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Sweden today and meet the country’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

Ukraine’s president will also meet with Sweden’s royal family and other officials to thank them for supporting his country during Russia’s invasion.

“Our primary task is to strengthen Ukrainian warriors on the ground and in the air, the development of bilateral cooperation, especially in the defense industry, the European integration of Ukraine and the common security in the Euro-Atlantic space,” wrote he in a Telegram. mail announcing his arrival.

The number of dead or injured in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion is approaching 500,000, according to US officials, in an estimate that does not include civilian deaths.

Russia’s military casualties are approaching 300,000, including up to 120,000 killed, while Ukraine has lost 70,000 troops, with between 100,000 and 120,000 wounded, according to Washington officials quoted by the New York Times.

In addition, since the beginning of the invasion on February 24, 2022, Ukraine has suffered at least 26,384 civilian casualties.

Andy Gregory, Chris Stevenson and Laura Sharman report:

President Vladimir Putin visited the commander of Russia’s operation in Ukraine and other top military men, the Kremlin said Saturday, a meeting that came after Ukraine claimed counter-offensive gains on the southeastern front.

“Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operations group in Rostov-on-Don,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russia, which launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, calls its action a special military operation.

The Kremlin added that Putin, Russia’s commander-in-chief, was listening to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the army’s general staff responsible for Moscow’s operations in Ukraine, and other top military commanders and officers.

The meeting came after Ukraine, whose counter-offensive to recapture land Russia had taken in the war’s early months was slower than expected, said it had liberated a small village along the frontline, its first since July.

The Kremlin did not provide additional details about the meeting and it was not clear when the meeting took place. Videos published by the state news agency RIA showed Gerasimov greeting Putin in what appeared to be night and, after a brief handshake, ushering him into a building.

Ukraine’s armed forces continue to make gains in the south, despite most front lines in the war remaining static elsewhere, the UK’s defense ministry said.

The Defense Ministry said Kiev forces were making progress along the course of the Mokri Yaly River and had secured the village of Urozhaine despite “harsh Russian resistance”.

“In the north, Russian forces have continued to investigate attacks in the Kupiansk area, but are making no significant progress,” the defense ministry added.

Canada is imposing sanctions on 15 Russian individuals and three entities in what Ottawa said was in response to rising human rights violations and violence faced by political opponents and critics in Russia, the State Department said Friday.

The sanctioned individuals and entities include senior officials of the Russian government, judiciary and investigative commission, as well as federally funded courts, the ministry said in a statement.

Russia has banned 54 British nationals, including International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan, in a tit-for-tat action involving British sanctions against its citizens and businesses, the Foreign Office said yesterday.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in March against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, allegations Moscow denies.

Moscow also added British Defense Secretary Annabel Goldie and a number of correspondents from the BBC, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph to the list of entry bans.

“In response to London’s aggressive implementation of hostile anti-Russian policies, actively using a unilateral sanctions mechanism against our citizens and domestic economic actors, it was decided to expand the Russian stop list to include representatives from British political circles . , power structures, professional legal community and press corps (a total of 54 persons),” the ministry statement said.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its air defense forces shot down a Ukrainian-launched missile over the Crimean peninsula during a night attack.

There were no casualties and no damage, the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a cryptic message that Ukraine is preparing “mighty things” for their warriors and the state.

“We are preparing powerful things for Ukraine, strengthening our state, our warriors,” he said in his nightly video address.

“Today and this week in general, it is the most important task. Weapons for our warriors. New opportunities for our defense. New support packages from our partners.”

He said they are doing everything they can to prepare for Ukraine’s Independence Day on August 24 to “take another step towards the circle of the strongest states in the world.”