Day 508 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Drone Attacks on Sevastopol
Ukraine | July 16, 2023, Sunday // 16:31| views
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Day 508 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:
- Ukrainian drone attacks on Sevastopol, missile strike on Kharkiv
- Putin declared the Ukrainian counteroffensive a failure
- Baerbock: I wish we could negotiate with Putin
- The Prosecutor General of Ukraine: Over 50 Russian servicemen have been convicted by Ukrainian courts
Ukrainian drone attacks on Sevastopol, missile strike on Kharkiv
Russian air defense forces and the Black Sea Fleet have responded to Ukrainian drone attacks on Sevastopol. Ukraine reported a missile attack on Kharkiv.
Major Ukrainian drone attack by air and sea against the Port of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea this morning.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 16, 2023
Here we have a naval drone advancing under Russian fire pic.twitter.com/NBG7INi5te
The attacks were aimed at the port and two neighborhoods, Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said, quoted by Reuters. According to him, no damage was done in the city or the adjacent water area. Eight drones were destroyed.
Meanwhile, Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov reported a Russian attack, possibly with S-300 missiles, in the central part of the city. There are no reports of casualties or damage.
Three civilians were wounded in Russian shelling on a village in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, Andriy Yermak. At least 16 buildings were damaged in attacks in the city of Zaporizhzhia.
According to Vladimir Rogov, a representative of the Moscow-appointed authorities in the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukrainian forces destroyed a school in one of the villages in the region.
Russian missiles often contain components from Germany and other Western countries, DPA reported, citing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's sanctions commissioner. He stated that this is only possible because Western sanctions against Russia are circumvented through other countries. According to the report presented to the Western ambassadors in Kyiv, the largest share of contraband parts came from the United States - 81 percent. Switzerland is next with 8 percent, and Germany and Japan are third on the list. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Russia has roughly doubled its production of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles from 512 to an estimated 1,061, according to the report.
According to the Ukrainian report, a total of 16 German companies provided materials and services for these weapons. Exports, including electronics, insulation materials and plastics, were made mainly through China, but also through Central Asia, the Caucasus and Turkey.
Because sales were made through shell companies in transit countries, some companies may not even have known where their products were going, the report added.
Russia, meanwhile, has demanded the immediate release of a high-ranking Orthodox cleric who is being investigated for inciting religious hatred and tolerating Russian aggression in Ukraine, Reuters reported. Metropolitan Pavlo had been under house arrest since April and on Friday the court in Kyiv ordered that he be transferred to investigative detention.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the case "a political manifestation of arbitrariness and lawlessness." The measure was changed after new charges were brought against the priest on Thursday following an interview in which he allegedly denied the existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, yesterday appealed to Pope Francis, the UN secretary-general and other religious and political figures to seek support for the detained cleric.
Putin declared the Ukrainian counteroffensive a failure
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian army's counteroffensive, which began in June, was not successful, BTA reported, citing AFP.
"All the enemy's attempts to break through our defenses (...), especially by using strategic reserves, failed for the entire period of the offensive. The enemy is not successful," Putin believes.
The Russian president said this in an interview with Russia-1, which was broadcast today. In the interview, Putin assessed the situation at the front as "positive" for the Russian forces.
"Our soldiers are showing heroism. Unexpectedly for the enemy, in some sectors they even go on the offensive and occupy more favorable positions," the Russian leader claimed.
Putin said Russia has "sufficient stocks" of cluster munitions and that Moscow reserves the right to use them if such munitions are used against Russian forces in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
"Of course, if they are used against us, we reserve the right to take reciprocal action," Putin said in an interview with state television, excerpts of which were released today.
Ukraine received cluster munitions from the US. They are banned in more than 100 countries around the world. Kyiv promised to use them only to push out concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Putin also said that the seized Western equipment would be carefully examined by Russian specialists.
"There is such an expression as 'reverse engineering'... If there is an opportunity to look inside and see if there is something there that can be applied here, why not do it," Putin said in an interview with Russia- 1.
He drew attention to the modern equipment that Russia has and gave the T-90 tank as an example. "The best tank in the world! Without any exaggeration," the head of state confidently declared. "But the enemy also produces advanced technology," he warned.
Baerbock: I wish we could negotiate with Putin
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced yesterday that she would like to have the opportunity to hold talks with Vladimir Putin about Ukraine in the foreseeable future, but sees no basis for negotiations with the Russian president, DPA reported.
"I wish we could negotiate. But right now it's not about what we want, right now it's about facing reality," Baerbock said in a joint interview with Ukrainian army member and former world boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko for the German Bild and Welt newspapers and the US-based Politico, when asked if it was possible to negotiate with Putin.
The foreign minister pointed out that in the period before Putin's invasion of Ukraine, attempts were made at the negotiating table to prevent escalation.
"The response to that was that 100,000 troops went in (Ukraine)," Baerbock said.
“Ukraine must be able to regain peace. This will work only if this brutal Russian war of aggression is stopped, if Russian soldiers leave Ukraine and these constant nightly attacks with drones, with missiles, with bombs against Ukraine stop”, emphasized the foreign minister.
The Prosecutor General of Ukraine: Over 50 Russian servicemen have been convicted by Ukrainian courts
More than 50 Russian servicemen have been sentenced in Ukrainian courts, which was made possible thanks to the great support of Ukraine's international partners, Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported, citing a statement by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.
"War crimes are many and varied. The biggest challenges are related precisely to the investigation of these crimes, since it is a question of a large number. And we already have results in this area," said Kostin on Telegram.
According to the Prosecutor General, over 50 Russian servicemen have already received sentences in Ukrainian courts. This has become possible thanks to the great support of Ukraine's international partners.
"One might say that this is not much. When I talk to the international partners, they are surprised by this and say: ‘It is unprecedented that you are documenting all these crimes during the war’. In turn, we answer: ‘Yes, we document everything with your help, but we also investigate these crimes, bring cases to the courts and have convictions. Because people cannot wait for justice for an unknown amount of time,’" Kostin added.
As of July 15, more than 95,000 war crimes have been documented, Ukrinform states. A total of 368 persons were served with notices that they were suspected of committing crimes, and 219 indictments were filed in courts. Fifty-three people were convicted.
Novinite is still the only Bulgarian media that publishes a summary of events and highlights related to the conflict, every single day. Our coverage began on day one - 24.02.2022 and will not stop until the war has concluded. Despite the pressure, our independent media will continue to provide its readers with accurate and up-to-date information. Thank you for your support! #stayinformed
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