Putin’s patriotism push to see schoolchildren ‘taught to use combat drones’ – live

In there latest intelligence briefing, Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has flagged that Russian schoolchildren will be taught the basics of operating combat drones – including ways to counter Ukrainian uncrewed drones.

The lessons will be joined by assault rifle training, hand grenade skills and combat first aid. They’ll come under a revised “Basics of Life Safety syllabus” for year 10 and 11 students, the ministry said, citing an announcement by Russian senator Artem Sheikin.

The lessons will begin in September.

The military says the renewed push on military skills for children is largely an effort to “cultivate a culture of militarised patriotism” instead of created “genuine capability”.

Russia reserves the right to take “tough retaliatory measures”, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday, after it accused Ukraine of attacking Moscow and the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula with drones.

Russia‘s Defence Ministry said earlier that Ukraine fired 17 drones at Crimea overnight, while a drone strike on Moscow damaged buildings.

The historical Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine has been badly damaged by Russian strikes, the city council said.

Footage shows debris scattered across the floor of the site after missiles hit the port city overnight, which killed at least one person and injured 19 more.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko visited the damaged cathedral on Sunday 23 July and shared a video calling for more protection.

“Again Russia used all types of missiles to destroy our city,” he said.

“I address the world, Odesa needs more protection.”

The cathedral was founded in 1794.

The governor of Ukraine‘s Odesa region said on Monday Russia was trying to completely block exports of Ukrainian grain to global markets after the latest in a series of Russian air attacks struck grain infrastructure on the Danube River.

“Russia is trying to fully block the export of our grain and make the world starve,” governor Oleh Kiper told Ukrainian television.

A drone attack has hit an ammunition depot in Crimea and forced a halt in traffic on a major motorway and a railway crossing the Black Sea peninsula that was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.

The Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said the authorities also ordered the evacuation of several villages within a three-mile radius of the depot that was hit.

The Ukrainian military has retaken more than 4.6 square miles (12 square km) of territory in the south of the country over the last week, its deputy defence minister has said.

To give you a sense of scale, that is more than 2,000 football pitches.

The latest advances means Ukraine has recaptured more than 192 square km in the southern sector since its counteroffensive started last month, Hanna Maliar said.

In the east, the main focus of fighting continues to be around Bakhmut – a city that has seen some of the war’s fiercest battles.

Ukraine has been accused of launching a drone attack on Moscow – while Russia launched new strikes on port infrastructure in southern Ukraine.

Sergei Sobyanin, mayor of the Russian capital, said no one was hurt when the drones hit two non-residential buildings.

Russia‘s defence ministry claimed the military jammed both drones, forcing them to crash.

One fell on the Komsomolsky motorway near the centre of Moscow, close to the main defence ministry building, Russian media reported.

Another hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting its upper floors.

Ukrainian authorities did not immediately claim responsibility for the strike, which was the second drone attack on Moscow this month.

In the previous attack, on July 4, the Russian military said four of the five drones were downed by air defences on the outskirts of Moscow and the fifth was jammed by electronic warfare means and forced down.

The raid prompted authorities to temporarily restrict flights at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport and divert flights to two other Moscow airports.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday that Ukraine tried to attack Crimea overnight using 17 drones, but that the attack was foiled and that there were no casualties.

It said eleven of the drones crashed into the Black Sea after being repressed by anti-drone equipment, three fell on Crimean territory and three were destroyed by air-defences.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the report.

First Moscow ended a pivotal deal allowing Ukraine to export grain, now it is repeatedly attacking the country’s ports, writes Bel Trew. The consequences will be felt from the poorest in Egypt to kitchens across Britain:

When Russia hits Ukraine’s farmers, it lashes out at the world.

This has been the resounding message I’ve heard over the last year of Moscow’s invasion by Ukrainian farmers from Donbas to Dnipro.

Most recently that warning was relayed near the southern city of Nikopol. “We are just one farm, there are thousands like us,” Vitaly, 29, told me in a crumbling field. “If we cannot produce food, there will be a problem for the world,” he added.

All Russian school children are to be taught the basics of operating combat drones, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.

The ministry cited Russian senator Artem Sheikin’s announcement that the lessons will include how to conduct terrain reconnaissance and ways to counter enemy uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).

“The UAV lessons join assault rifle training, hand grenade skills and combat first aid in the revised ‘Basics of Life Safety’ syllabus for year 10 and 11 students, due to be mandated from 1 September 2023,” it added.

The British MoD said Russia’s “renewed emphasis on military induction for children is largely an effort to cultivate a culture of militarised patriotism rather than develop genuine capability”.

“However, the addition of UAV skills does highlight how Russia has identified the use of tactical UAVs in Ukraine as an enduring component of contemporary war,” the ministry said.