Putin’s troops launch fresh strikes after Kyiv’s Crimea Bridge ‘attack’ – live

Russia has carried out some preventive strikes after what Moscow called a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” that damaged the Crimean Bridge, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday.

A Russian couple was killed and their 14-year-old daughter wounded last week in what Moscow said was a Ukrainian attack that knocked out the road part of the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Saudi Arabia will host a Ukrainian-organised peace summit in early August seeking to find a way to start negotiations over Russia’s war on the country, an official said Saturday night, according to Associated Press.

The kingdom and Kyiv did not immediately acknowledge the planned talks.

The summit will be held in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as no authorisation had been given to publicly discuss the summit.

Those taking part in the summit will include Ukraine, as well as Brazil, India, South Africa and several other countries, the official said. A high-level official from US president Joe Biden’s administration also is expected to attend, the official said. Planning for the event is being overseen by Kyiv and Russia is not invited, the official said.

A drone attack in Moscow damaged two office blocks, its mayor said early morning today. Russia’s government officials alleged the attack was carried out by Ukraine.

The drone attack led to an airport in the Russian capital reportedly closed to traffic.

“Facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged. There are no victims or injured,” Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram, AFP reported.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said an initiative by African countries could be a basis for peace amid the war on Ukraine but claimed attacks from Kyiv made a cessation of hostilities “virtually impossible”.

Mr Putin was addressing a press conference yesterday after holding a meeting with African leaders in St Petersburg and listening to their calls for Moscow to take steps ahead with their plan.

“There are provisions of this peace initiative that are being implemented. But there are things that are difficult or impossible to implement,” he said.

He said the ceasefire was one of the points in the African initiative.

“But the Ukrainian army is on the offensive, they are attacking, they are implementing a large-scale strategic offensive operation… We cannot cease fire when we are under attack,” he said.

Ukrainian special forces have received training on Dartmoor in Britain.

According to the Sunday Express, 2,000 soldiers arrived in a remote location for specialist exercises.

Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov confirmed forces would enter Crimea “soon”.

The operation will involve airstrikes we well as strikes on land and sea with Ukrainian commandos using technology to undermine and paralyse Russian troops.

Maria Zakharova said the US’ position against Russia is blocking the possibility of peace talks on Ukraine.

Moscow’s foreign ministry spokeswoman told TASS that the Ukraine conflict is extremely profitable for the US.

Speaking at the Russia-Africa Summit, she said: “This is a principled stance by the US administration which not simply thinks about but made it its mission – the necessity of not simply achieving results but a strategic defeat of our country on the battlefield.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that Russia did not seek to seize property and that the country was friendly to partners who did not want to leave.

He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg on Friday.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday signed a law moving the official Christmas Day holiday to Dec. 25 from Jan. 7, the day when the Russian Orthodox Church observes it.

The explanatory note attached to the law said its goal is to “abandon the Russian heritage,” including that of “imposing the celebration of Christmas” on Jan. 7, and cited Ukrainians’ “relentless, successful struggle for their identity” and “the desire of all Ukrainians to live their lives with their own traditions, holidays,” fueled by Russia’s 17-month-old aggression against the country.

Last year, some Ukrainians already observed Christmas on Dec. 25, in a gesture that represented separation from Russia, its culture and religious traditions.

The law also moves the Day of Ukrainian Statehood to July 15 from July 28, and the Day of Defenders of Ukraine to Oct. 1 from Oct. 14.

Uniformed troops wearing ear defenders blasted rounds into the air as Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag was pictured flying above one of the artillery units on Thursday.

British Army instructors taught the 72 Ukrainian army personnel how to operate and maintain the guns when in combat, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The photos were taken at the end of their seven-week training course and the troops will soon return home.

More than 1,000 UK service personnel have been involved in running the programme, taking place at MoD sites across the North West, South West and South East, as part of the UK Government’s support for Ukraine following its invasion by Russia in February 2022.

A Russian rocket attack killed one civilian and injured five more in the northeastern city of Sumy late on Saturday, Ukraine‘s interior ministry said.

“During the evening of July 29, an enemy missile hit an educational institution,” the ministry said on Telegram. “At least one civilian was killed and 5 civilians were wounded.”

Russian forces crossed into the Sumy region shortly after Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, but Ukrainian forces took back control of the region a few weeks later.

Ukraine‘s national police posted video on Telegram showing one person being carried away in a stretcher, a building in rubble and trees splintered.