Ukraine war briefing: Crimea bomb kills ‘Ukrainian sub commander who defected’

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Original article by Warren Murray with Guardian writers and agencies

A Russian military officer labelled as a Ukrainian defector ⁠was killed in a ⁠bomb attack on Thursday in Russian-annexed Crimea. Robert Shageyev was described on Russian Telegram channels as ‌a former Ukrainian naval officer who switched allegiance to ‌Russia during Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 when he was commanding Ukraine’s only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia. Myrotvorets – a Ukrainian website keeping a database of people described as war criminals or ‌traitors – said Shageyev had been “liquidated”.
The attack took place in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-annexed Crimea. The regional governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said a woman was arrested on suspicion of ⁠assassinating Shageyev on behalf of Ukrainian special services. State news agency TASS quoted the FSB security service as saying the arrested woman was ⁠a Russian national. There was no immediate comment ⁠from Ukraine. Separately, Razvozhayev said four Russian explosives experts and a security guard were killed in Sevastopol while trying to dispose of an explosive device.
A Russian drone attack on a passenger train killed two people, Ukrainian officials said. “Today in the Odesa region, the Russians once again destroyed an ordinary passenger train locomotive with a jet-powered drone. There were 340 people on the train,” said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Thursday. “Whoever was operating that drone certainly could not have been unaware that the target was entirely civilian,” he added. The dead were the train’s engineer and assistant engineer, officials said.
An oil refinery in the Russian city ⁠of Orsk that was hit by Ukrainian drones has been forced ⁠to shut down ⁠completely, the regional governor said on Thursday. “Shrapnel damaged key infrastructure that cannot currently be repaired. The equipment is imported, and due to sanctions, repairs could ⁠take up to six months,” said Yevgeny Solntsev, governor of the ‌surrounding Orenburg region. The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday it had attacked the Orsk refinery near the border with Kazakhstan about 1,470km (915 miles) south-east of Moscow.
A Russian plan to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted, the Polish prime minister said. Donald Tusk said it was the first time that “someone on the order of Russia” had sought to attack a US citizen on the territory of another Nato country. The suspect, allegedly recruited by Russia’s secret services, was detained by Polish authorities on 7 August. The American Ukrainian citizen “was uncomfortable for the Putin regime”, Tusk said. The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US state department said it was aware of the reports but had no additional information.

Ukraine has proposed a deal with Russia for both sides to halt their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea in an apparent attempt to reopen a crucial grain corridor, Reuters reports. Kyiv is said to have made the offer through a third party. Moscow had yet to respond, the news agency added on Thursday. Since July, Ukrainian attacks have effectively closed the route for commercial Russian shipping, hitting nearly 220 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain cargo ships and passenger ferries, write Luke Harding and Andrew Roth. Russia on Thursday struck Ukraine’s port of Izmail, in the Odesa region near ⁠the Romanian border.
Ukrainian drones struck the major Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan deep inside Russia. It is one of Russia’s biggest refineries and lies south-east of Moscow about 1,300km (800 miles) from Ukraine’s border. Wildberries – the Russian online retailer targeted by Ukrainian drones for its sale of war supplies and its economic importance – said the Salavat attack also started a fire at one of its facilities.
Russia and Ukraine swapped bodies of killed soldiers on Thursday. Kyiv has previously accused Russia of handing over the remains of civilians and Russian soldiers – fuelling suspicions Moscow manipulates the exchanges to make it look like more Ukrainians are dying than Russians, which is the opposite of independent assessments. “The bodies of 261 deceased persons have been returned to Ukraine, which, according to the Russian side, belong to Ukrainian servicemen,” said Ukraine’s prisoners of war agency. Citing a Russian lawmaker, the RBC media outlet said Moscow had handed over 261 bodies while Ukraine had transferred 24.
Ukraine has condemned the illegality of Russian parliament ⁠elections next month in occupied areas. The foreign ministry statement coincided with the start ‌of a mission of ‌observers from ex-Soviet states to watch the election process. The foreign ministry in Kyiv said the presence of the observers made no difference: “Any vote organised by Russia on the sovereign territory of Ukraine is illegal and the results of such a vote are null and void and ‌have no legal consequences.”

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Ukraine war briefing: Crimea bomb kills ‘Ukrainian sub commander who defected’

Click any word to translate

Original article by Warren Murray with Guardian writers and agencies

A Russian military officer labelled as a Ukrainian defector ⁠was killed in a ⁠bomb attack on Thursday in Russian-annexed Crimea. Robert Shageyev was described on Russian Telegram channels as ‌a former Ukrainian naval officer who switched allegiance to ‌Russia during Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 when he was commanding Ukraine’s only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia. Myrotvorets – a Ukrainian website keeping a database of people described as war criminals or ‌traitors – said Shageyev had been “liquidated”.
The attack took place in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-annexed Crimea. The regional governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said a woman was arrested on suspicion of ⁠assassinating Shageyev on behalf of Ukrainian special services. State news agency TASS quoted the FSB security service as saying the arrested woman was ⁠a Russian national. There was no immediate comment ⁠from Ukraine. Separately, Razvozhayev said four Russian explosives experts and a security guard were killed in Sevastopol while trying to dispose of an explosive device.
A Russian drone attack on a passenger train killed two people, Ukrainian officials said. “Today in the Odesa region, the Russians once again destroyed an ordinary passenger train locomotive with a jet-powered drone. There were 340 people on the train,” said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Thursday. “Whoever was operating that drone certainly could not have been unaware that the target was entirely civilian,” he added. The dead were the train’s engineer and assistant engineer, officials said.
An oil refinery in the Russian city ⁠of Orsk that was hit by Ukrainian drones has been forced ⁠to shut down ⁠completely, the regional governor said on Thursday. “Shrapnel damaged key infrastructure that cannot currently be repaired. The equipment is imported, and due to sanctions, repairs could ⁠take up to six months,” said Yevgeny Solntsev, governor of the ‌surrounding Orenburg region. The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday it had attacked the Orsk refinery near the border with Kazakhstan about 1,470km (915 miles) south-east of Moscow.
A Russian plan to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted, the Polish prime minister said. Donald Tusk said it was the first time that “someone on the order of Russia” had sought to attack a US citizen on the territory of another Nato country. The suspect, allegedly recruited by Russia’s secret services, was detained by Polish authorities on 7 August. The American Ukrainian citizen “was uncomfortable for the Putin regime”, Tusk said. The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The US state department said it was aware of the reports but had no additional information.

Ukraine has proposed a deal with Russia for both sides to halt their attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea in an apparent attempt to reopen a crucial grain corridor, Reuters reports. Kyiv is said to have made the offer through a third party. Moscow had yet to respond, the news agency added on Thursday. Since July, Ukrainian attacks have effectively closed the route for commercial Russian shipping, hitting nearly 220 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain cargo ships and passenger ferries, write Luke Harding and Andrew Roth. Russia on Thursday struck Ukraine’s port of Izmail, in the Odesa region near ⁠the Romanian border.
Ukrainian drones struck the major Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat refinery in Bashkortostan deep inside Russia. It is one of Russia’s biggest refineries and lies south-east of Moscow about 1,300km (800 miles) from Ukraine’s border. Wildberries – the Russian online retailer targeted by Ukrainian drones for its sale of war supplies and its economic importance – said the Salavat attack also started a fire at one of its facilities.
Russia and Ukraine swapped bodies of killed soldiers on Thursday. Kyiv has previously accused Russia of handing over the remains of civilians and Russian soldiers – fuelling suspicions Moscow manipulates the exchanges to make it look like more Ukrainians are dying than Russians, which is the opposite of independent assessments. “The bodies of 261 deceased persons have been returned to Ukraine, which, according to the Russian side, belong to Ukrainian servicemen,” said Ukraine’s prisoners of war agency. Citing a Russian lawmaker, the RBC media outlet said Moscow had handed over 261 bodies while Ukraine had transferred 24.
Ukraine has condemned the illegality of Russian parliament ⁠elections next month in occupied areas. The foreign ministry statement coincided with the start ‌of a mission of ‌observers from ex-Soviet states to watch the election process. The foreign ministry in Kyiv said the presence of the observers made no difference: “Any vote organised by Russia on the sovereign territory of Ukraine is illegal and the results of such a vote are null and void and ‌have no legal consequences.”