Putin’s forces pushed back by Ukraine despite Moscow’s claims offensive is ‘failing’

Ukraine and Croatia have agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after talks with his Croatian counterpart on Monday.

Russia quit the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal this month, depriving Ukraine, a global producer, of a vital conduit to safely export its agricultural products during the war.

“Now we will work to establish the most efficient routes to these ports and make the most of this opportunity,” Kuleba said after meeting Grlic Radman in Kyiv.

“Every contribution to unblocking export, every door opened is a real, effective contribution to the world’s food security,” he said.

Ukraine currently relies on land export routes via the European Union as well as an alternative route via the Danube River. Russia attacked infrastructure along the latter route earlier this month.

Kuleba said the main subject of his talks with his Croatian counterpart were weapons.

“I will only say that there are specific agreements that will be implemented soon,” he said without providing details.

Russian air strikes destroyed an estimated 180,000 metric tons of grain crops in the space of nine days this month, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Monday.

Russia has conducted air strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure several times after withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal that had allowed Ukraine to safely export grain.

In the video, we see a point-of-view from inside a vehicle driving along the road. Moments later, a huge explosion is triggered near the right side of the vehicle, outside a building.

This footage was allegedly shared on the social media website Telegram by a local journalist, showing the moment of the explosion.

World Affairs Editor Kim Sengupta meets a fighter – a father of two – who has recently left the mercenary group and hears about the daily routine of ‘fight, eat, pray’ on some of the fiercest frontlines in the war.

Read the full interview here:

Billionaire Elon Musk reportedly restricted his Starlink internet access multiple times in Ukraine, which has affected Kyiv’s battlefield strategy.

My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

China has imposed restrictions on exports of long-range civilian drones, citing Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine and concern that drones might be converted to military use.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is friendly with Moscow but says it is neutral in the 18-month-old war. It has been stung by reports that both sides might be using Chinese-made drones for reconnaissance and possibly attacks.

Export controls will take effect on Tuesday to prevent use of drones for “non-peaceful purposes”, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. It said exports still will be allowed but did not say what restrictions would apply.

“The risk of some high specification and high-performance civilian unmanned aerial vehicles being converted to military use is constantly increasing,” the Ministry of Commerce said.

Restrictions will apply to drones that can fly beyond the natural sight distance of operators or stay aloft for more than 30 minutes, have attachments that can throw objects and weigh more than seven kilogrammes, according to the ministry.

“Since the crisis in Ukraine, some Chinese civilian drone companies have voluntarily suspended their operations in conflict areas,” the Ministry of Commerce said, accusing western media of spreading “false information” about Chinese drone exports.

China is a leading developer and exporter of drones. DJI Technology Co, one of the global industry’s top competitors, announced in April 2022 it was pulling out of Russia and Ukraine to prevent its drones from being used in combat.

The government on Friday defended its dealings with Russia as “normal economic and trade cooperation” after a US intelligence report said Beijing possibly provided equipment used in Ukraine that might have military applications.

The report cited Russian customs data that showed Chinese state-owned military contractors supplied drones, navigation equipment, fighter jet parts and other goods.

The Biden administration has warned Beijing of unspecified consequences if it supports the Kremlin’s war effort. Last week’s report did not say whether any of the trade cited might trigger US retaliation.

Video shows the damage to the apartment complex in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, that was hit by a Russian missile on Monday.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, shared a video on the social media platform X – formerly Twitter – that shows the moment when a part of the building falls down.

He wrote: “As of now, four people have been confirmed dead, including a 10 year old child. 53 people injured – regional military administration.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “the multi-billion-dollar resources that were transferred by NATO countries to the Kyiv regime are actually being spent inefficiently and aimlessly”.

He said this was why Kyiv was resorting to “acts of desperation” such as a drone attack against Moscow’s business district on Sunday.

Despite Peskov’s comments, the fact that hostile drones have reached the heart of the Russian capital in the past three months, albeit without causing major damage, is uncomfortable for authorities who have told the public that Russia is in full control of what it calls its “special military operation” against Ukraine.

Peskov told reporters that “all possible measures” were being taken in Moscow and elsewhere to protect against similar attacks.

Urainian forces have recaptured nearly 15 square km (5.8 square miles) of land from Russian troops in the east and south over the past week during their counteroffensive, a senior defence official said on Monday.

Kyiv’s forces have now retaken 204.7 sq km in the south since they launched a major push against Russian forces early last month, deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian officials have reported slow, steady progress in the counteroffensive, retaking a string of villages and advancing on the flanks of the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces captured in May after months of battles.

Last week Kyiv said its forces had liberated the village of Staromaiorske in the southeast in a campaign that aims to cut Russia‘s land bridge from the east to the south and the occupied peninsula of Crimea on the Black Sea.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, holds vast swathes of territory and has built up a network of fortifications and minefields to make it hard for Ukrainian troops to advance.

Maliar said Kyiv’s troops had retaken two sq km in the past week on the Bakhmut front, bringing the total territory recaptured there to 37 sq km since the counteroffensive began.

In the south, where Ukrainian forces are trying to advance towards the cities of Berdyansk and Melitopol, she said that Kyiv’s troops had recaptured 12.6 sq km in the last week.

Russian troops tried to attack on two northern fronts near Kupiansk and Lyman, but failed to break through, she said.

“Our defence forces are powerfully holding back enemy troops,” she said.

The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine‘s counteroffensive is “not working out as planned” and that NATO resources supplied to Kyiv had been “wasted”.

Reuters could not verify the battlefield developments.

The deputy head of Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, Oleksiy Kuleba has called for revenge after at least four people were killed in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Monday.

Kuleba wrote on the Telegram messaging app: “Every day, Ukrainian cities are under fire from Russian terrorists. Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv. This is only for the last few days.

“Today also in Kherson – one dead, four injured. Employees of the utility company, who were cleaning the city at that time, were attacked by the enemy. Everyone gets help.

“The enemy is hitting settlements and cities. This is terror due to the despair and defeat of the Russian Federation at the front. This is terror to intimidate and break Ukrainians.

“Let’s take revenge for each and every one. We work and save our people.”