Cover photo: A Russian missile cruiser during military exercises off the port of Crimea, February 2022. HANDOUT / AFP
- Russia fires anti-ship missiles in the Black Sea during a military “exercise”. According to Moscow, the Russian fleet had targeted “a target boat in (…) the north-western part of the Black Sea”. Russia now considers ships bound for Ukraine in the Black Sea as “potential military vessels”.
- According to a White House adviser Moscow “could expand its targets (…) to include attacks on civilian boats” and then “blame these attacks on Ukraine”. Those allegations were based on just-declassified intelligence elements, he said.
- Ukrainenow calls for the establishment of Navy “military patrols” under a UN mandate, including with the participation of Turkey. Kiev excludes any negotiations with Moscow, and demands hundreds of additional armored vehicles and American F-16 fighter jets from its western allies reclaim their territory.
- According to the White House, Ukraine has started using controversial cluster munitions supplied by the US. When asked if Washington’s cluster munitions are now being used and deployed by Kiev, John Kirby, a White House spokesman, replied: “Yes. The Ukrainian Armed Forces “use them appropriately. They use them effectively and have a real impact on Russian defensive formations and defensive manoeuvres,” the spokesman told reporters.
- Vladimir Putin decided not to come to the BRICS summit in South Africa so as not to “endanger” this event., according to a South African diplomat. As a member of the International Criminal Court, South Africa is theoretically obliged to arrest Mr Putin if he enters its territory.
- Twenty years’ imprisonment has been requested against Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who has already been imprisonedA month-long behind-closed-doors trial on extremism charges illustrates the climate of repression in Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine.
- France can grant refugee status to deserters from the Russian army, because “a Russian citizen drafted into this mobilization is likely to commit war crimes, directly or indirectly,” the National Asylum Court estimated.
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