First shipment of Ukrainian grain reaches Turkish waters; Kremlin accuses US of direct role in war – as it happened – The Guardian

• Russia’s supreme court has designated the Azov regiment – a former volunteer battalion that was incorporated into Ukraine’s army – a “terrorist” organisation, allowing for lengthy jail terms for its members. On Tuesday, the court ruled to “recognise the Ukrainian paramilitary unit Azov the terrorist organisation and to ban its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation”, the judge stated.

• The role of American intelligence in the war in Ukraine is under scrutiny on Tuesday right after Russia accused the White-colored House of supplying targeting information used by Kyiv to conduct long-range missile strikes. Russia’s defence ministry claimed Washington was “directly involved” in the battle , and had passed on intelligence that had led to the “mass deaths of civilians”. The US was responsible for rocket assaults by Kyiv on filled areas in the eastern Donbas and in other regions, it said.

• Deadly strikes have been carried out against Ukrainian forces in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv region and far eastern Kharkiv region, Russia mentioned on Tuesday. The defence ministry also said it destroyed seven ammo depots in the particular east and south associated with the country, including in Zaporizhzhia region.

• The US announced Monday a new tranche of weapons for Ukraine’s forces fighting Russia, including ammunition with regard to increasingly important rocket launchers and artillery guns. The $550m package will “include more ammunition for the high mobility advanced rocket systems otherwise known as Himars, as well as ammunition” for artillery, national security council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

• Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that Russia had destroyed six US-made Himars missile systems since the beginning of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine .

• Three people have reportedly been killed by Russian shelling while evacuating in a minibus near Kherson, Ukraine’s military is reporting. Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” reported that three individuals died from the attack on the bus near Dovhove.

• Ukrainian officials say they are struggling to establish the truth surrounding an explosion within a prison that wiped out dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by the Russians following the fall of Mariupol. Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, said he has tried to establish the direct link with his Ruskies counterpart in order in order to arrange a joint visit to the prison in Olenivk.

• Turkey’s representative at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul has said that the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets was expected to anchor at Istanbul on Tuesday night. At a briefing held at the JCC, general Özcan Altunbulak said the course of the ship was going as planned. Another official said “The plan is for a ship to leave every day. If nothing goes wrong, exports will be made via one ship a day for a while. ”

• Ukraine’s state security service says it is investigating 752 cases of treason plus collaboration. According to the agency, the particular greatest amount of cases have been documented in the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

• The particular United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres , has warned that will a misunderstanding could spark nuclear destruction, as the particular US, Britain and France urged Russian federation to stop “its dangerous nuclear rhetoric and behaviour”.

• Sabina Higgins, the wife associated with Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins , has triggered a political row in Ireland simply by urging Russia and Ukraine to call a ceasefire and enter negotiations. Critics said the intervention amounted to Kremlin propaganda since it appeared to equate Moscow’s aggression along with Kyiv’s fight for survival.

• The US has accused Russia of using Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant as a “nuclear shield”. ALL OF US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that Moscow was now using the particular plant as a military base and firing upon Ukrainian forces from around it and called Russia’s actions around the plant “the height of irresponsibility”.

• The first shipment of grain to keep Ukraine under a deal in order to ease Russia’s naval blockade has reached Turkish waters and is expected within Istanbul “after midnight”. The Sierra Leone-registered ship, Razoni, set sail from Odessa port regarding Lebanon Monday under a good accord brokered by Turkey and the United Nations that it is hoped will get millions of tonnes of trapped Ukrainian produce to world markets and curb a global food crisis.

We’re closing the liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us.

Italy’s Chamber associated with Deputies approved a bill on Tuesday to ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, Reuters reports.

The lower house voted by 398 votes in order to 20 in favour of the bill which now needs a second, final green light from the particular Senate.

Meloni said in a declaration:

In the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine, strengthening the particular European front of the Alliance is an important step that will can act as the deterrent to new Russian threats.

The accession needs to be ratified by the particular parliaments of all 30 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members before Finland and Sweden can be protected from the NATO defence clause that states that an attack on one member is an attack against all.

Sabina Higgins, the wife of Irish president Michael D Higgins, has condemned Russia’s illegal invasion associated with Ukraine and said she was “dismayed” at criticism she has received in recent days.

Government senators and commentators have criticised Higgins intended for writing a letter that called for a ceasefire between The ussr and Ukraine, which critics said amounted to Kremlin propaganda because it appeared to equate Moscow’s aggression with Kyiv’s fight for survival.

Sabina Higgins made the call in a letter to the Irish Times that will was published last week – and also posted on the president’s recognized website.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, Higgins said she was “dismayed” in the criticism.

She said:

I have from the outset strongly condemned the particular illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine and I cannot be but dismayed that will people would find anything unacceptable in a plea for peace and negotiations when the future of humanity is threatened by war, global warming and famine.

The statement follows fter a good outcry from Ukrainians – including a member associated with Ukraine’s parliament – the letter disappeared from the particular website but the president has resisted a clamour to publicly disown the letter or clarify his views on it.

A spokesperson to get the president on Monday said he had been “unequivocal” in condemning Russia’s attack as illegal, immoral plus unjustifiable. “He has called for an immediate Ruskies withdrawal and end towards the violence. ”

Irish politicians said the particular statement was insufficient which Higgins – and the government – needed in order to explicitly distance the Irish state from the letter.

The first official delivery of Ukrainian grain since Russia’s invasion reached Turkish territorial waters on Wednesday near the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, AFP reports.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni is due to be inspected upon Wednesday near Istanbul by a team that includes Russian and Ukrainian officials before delivering its cargo of 26, 000 tonnes associated with maize to Tripoli, Lebanon.

“The inspection of the ship with the joint inspection team will begin (Wednesday) morning, ” the particular Turkish defence ministry stated.

The delivery, which set off from the Black Sea port of Odessa on Mon, is the first below an UN-backed deal brokered with the help of Turkey last month.

The role of American intelligence in the battle in Ukraine is under scrutiny on Tuesday after Russia accused the Whitened House of supplying focusing on information used by Kyiv to conduct long-range missile strikes.

Russia’s defence ministry claimed Washington was “directly involved” within the war, and experienced passed on intelligence that had led to the “mass deaths of civilians”. The US was responsible for rocket attacks simply by Kyiv on populated areas in the eastern Donbas and in other regions, it said.

“All this undeniably proves that Washington, contrary to White House and Pentagon claims, is directly involved in the conflict within Ukraine, ” the ministry said in a statement.

The Biden administration has so far given more than $8bn (£6. 55bn) in security assistance to Ukraine given that Russia’s February invasion, including an additional $550m tranche unveiled on Monday. But it strongly denies it will be a participant in the particular conflict or is at war with Russia.

The Kremlin’s comments follow an interview given to the Telegraph on Monday by Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s acting deputy mind of military intelligence. Skibitsky said the US-made long-range Himars artillery systems got been extremely effective in wiping out Russian fuel and ammunition dumps.

He said excellent satellite imagery and real-time info had helped. He denied US officials were providing direct targeting information. But he acknowledged there has been consultation between US plus Ukrainian intelligence officials prior to strikes, so Washington could vet and if necessary veto intended targets.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, leaped on the remarks. She told the RIA Novosti news agency: “No some other confirmation of the immediate involvement of the United States in the particular hostilities on the territory of Ukraine is required.

“The provide of weapons is followed not only by guidelines on its use, yet in this case these people perform the function associated with gunners in their finest form. ”

Read more here:

A report by Yale University’s School of Management in the United States states Russia’s economy has already been deeply damaged by Western sanctions and the departure of multinationals since the invasion, AFP reports.

The report, which was compiled using data from companies, banks, consultants and Russian trading partners, concludes:

Not only have sanctions and the business retreat worked, they have thoroughly crippled the Russian economy from every level.

The report challenges the belief that Russia is riding out the particular economic storm thanks in order to the tens of billions of dollars the country reaps each month from oil and gas exports.

It estimates that will Russian retail sales plus consumer spending have fallen at an annual rate of 15-20%, and that car sales have shrunk from 100, 000 a month to 27, 000 a month.

Here are some associated with the latest images to be sent to us through Ukraine over the news wires.

Ukrainian officials say they are struggling to establish the truth surrounding an explosion in a prison that will killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war captured by the Russians following the fall of Mariupol, the Associated Press reviews.

Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, said he has tried to establish a direct link with his Russian counterpart in order to arrange a joint visit to the prison in Olenivka, a town in eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists.

Lubinets said:

Dialogue is when there is a conversation between two parties. In this moment, this is usually an official request from me, which remains unanswered.

Separatist authorities and Russian authorities say 53 Ukrainian POWs were killed and the further 75 were wounded in the blast upon Thursday night that ripped through a building with the prison. Both sides have blamed the additional for the attack, saying it was premeditated with the aim of covering up atrocities.

Moscow opened an investigation, sending a team towards the site through its Investigative Committee, the particular country’s main criminal investigation agency. The state-run RIA Novosti agency claimed that fragments of US-supplied precision High Mobility Artillery Rocket System rockets were found at the site.

The Ukrainian military, however , denied conducting any rocket or artillery attacks in Olenivka, and it accused the Russians of attacking the prison in order to cover up the torture and execution of Ukrainians there.

Lubinets said:

Based on the analysis of the photos and videos that we have access to, we can say that it had been an surge from the inside of this barrack.

He said images from your scene show damage to only one building and not all the windows were blown out something this individual says would not be possible if the complex was shelled.

Ukraine has appealed in order to the United Nations and to the International Committee from the Red Cross for help in investigating the blast and also to find out more regarding the condition of the injured.

The former UK Labour leader offers urged western countries to stop arming Ukraine within a TV interview likely to underscore Keir Starmer’s determination not to readmit him to the Labour party.

“Pouring arms in isn’t going to bring about a solution, it’s only going to prolong and exaggerate this battle, ” Jeremy Corbyn mentioned. “We might be within for years and years of a war in Ukraine. ”

Corbyn gave the interview on Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV channel that provides carried pro-Russia reporting considering that Vladimir Putin’s invasion associated with Ukraine.

He said:

What I find disappointing is definitely that hardly any of the world’s leaders use the word peace; they will always use the language of more war, and more bellicose war.

This war is disastrous pertaining to the people of Ukraine, for the people associated with Russia, and for the particular safety and security of the whole world, and therefore there has to be much a lot more effort put into peace.

He known as for the UN in order to be “much more centre stage”, and suggested involving other international bodies such as the African Union or the League of Arab Says if the UN were unable to help negotiate the ceasefire.

Read more here: