Russian soldiers accuse their superiors of imprisoning them for refusing to fight
This week Pjotr Sauer reported on a rare display of tensions in the ranks of the Russian military, after Russian soldiers accused their commanders of imprisoning them in eastern Ukraine for refusing to join the war. Maxim Grebeniuk, a lawyer who represents the soldiers and heads the Moscow-based defense organization Military Ombudsman, said at least four Russian soldiers have submitted written complaints to the investigative commission, demanding punishment for the superiors who oversaw their detention. Grebeniuk said he had a list of 70 soldiers out of 140 held as prisoners. In a written statement sent to Russian prosecutors and reviewed by the Guardian, one soldier described how, after refusing to return to the battlefield, he was imprisoned with other soldiers who had refused to fight. He spent more than a week in different cells in the Russian-controlled region of Luhansk. The soldier said: “As a result of what I believe were tactical and strategic mistakes made by my commanders … and their complete disregard for human life … I have made the decision not to continue the military operation.” A damaged playground in Luhansk. Russian soldiers said they were jailed for refusing to fight in eastern Ukraine. Photo: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA
Ukrainian attack forces Russia to bolster troops in occupied south
Russia has moved large numbers of troops into southern Ukraine to fight against the country’s forces through newly occupied territories and Crimea, writes Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv. “If Russia won, it would try to seize more territory,” said Vadim Skimytskyi, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service. “They are increasing their troop numbers, preparing for our counterattack [in Ukraine’s south] and perhaps preparing to launch an attack of their own. The south is key for them, mainly because of Crimea.” The Russian troop moves come in response to Ukraine’s announced counter-offensive to liberate the southern occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia. Russian troops guard the Kakhovka hydroelectric station in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Photo: AP
Grain ship leaves Ukrainian port for first time since blockade
A ship carrying Ukrainian grain left the port of Odessa on Monday for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion, reports Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv. The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, carrying 26,000 tonnes of maize, is bound for Lebanon. It follows weeks of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, led by Turkey and the United Nations, to reach an agreement to unfreeze Ukraine’s agricultural exports and ease the growing global food crisis. Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, said 16 cargo ships had been stuck in Ukrainian ports since the start of the Russian invasion and that officials planned for the ports to regain full capacity in the coming weeks. Razon travels up the Bosphorus via Istanbul, Turkey, after leaving Odessa. Photo: Tolga Bozoğlu/EPA
Muscovites put the war aside and enjoy the summer
As Russia’s war in Ukraine enters its fifth month, Moscow is a city doing its best to turn a blind eye to the conflict. “Yeah, we’re partying,” Anna Mitrokhina told Andrew Roth in Moscow at an open-air dance party on the Moscow River. “We are out of politics, we want to dance, feel and have fun. I can’t worry anymore and it helps me forget.” In a forthcoming paper, Russia-based political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov and Levada Center pollster Denis Volkov write that many Russians found it easier to join the “mainstream” of support or indifference to the war. An anti-war lifestyle blogger on Instagram said she had made a conscious decision to stop talking about the issue – due to official restrictions and the backlash she received from subscribers. “What hurts the most is that it’s not real [because of the law], there’s just no desire to talk about it,” he said. “The world is fading.” After a wave of repression, there are now fewer voices speaking out publicly against the war. But some remain, like Alexey Venediktov, the former head of a Russian radio station that was shut down after publicly opposing the war. At a table by the window in Moscow’s Pushkin Cafe, Venediktov loudly decries the clash as “disastrous” as the waiter looks on with an air of concern. ‘People shut down’ the war: a Moscow street this week. Photo: Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters
Russia claims the US is “directly involved” in the Ukraine war
The role of US intelligence in the war in Ukraine has come under scrutiny after Russia accused the White House of providing targeting information used by Kyiv to launch long-range missile strikes, writes Luke Harding in Lviv. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Washington was “directly involved” in the war and had passed on information that had led to “massive civilian deaths”. The Kremlin’s comments came after the deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Vadym Skibitsky, said in an interview with the Telegraph that US Himars long-range artillery systems were highly effective in eliminating Russian fuel and ammunition dumps. Skimitsky denied that U.S. officials provided direct targeting information, but acknowledged that there was consultation between U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence officials before the strikes. The Biden administration has provided Ukraine with weapons and economic security assistance, but has categorically denied participating in the conflict or being at war with Russia. Joe Biden outside the White House. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
The UN will investigate the attack that killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners
In response to requests from Russia and Ukraine, the UN is setting up a fact-finding mission to investigate the killing of dozens of prisoners of war in a prison in a Russian-held Olenivka region in eastern Ukraine. Both Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for carrying out the attack. On Thursday, Luke Harding reported in Kyiv that senior Ukrainian officials claimed the attack was a special operation planned by the Kremlin and carried out by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group working closely with Vladimir Putin’s FSB spy agency. The wife of a Ukrainian soldier who defended the Mariupol steelworks at a rally in Kyiv after the Olenivka attack. Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters However, Russia claimed that Ukraine’s military used US-supplied rocket launchers to strike the prison.
