Ukraine war in the live ticker: +++ 02:39 Schoigu: Russia slows down the offensive for evacuations +++

Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 02:39 Schoigu: Russia slows down the offensive for evacuations +++

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has announced that Russia will voluntarily slow down its offensive so that civilians can be evacuated from surrounded towns. According to the Russian agency Ria Novosti, he is said to have spoken in a video conference with other defense ministers of the CSTO military alliance about ceasefires to set up humanitarian corridors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the announcement a pathetic lie.

+++ 01:17 Ukraine: 20,000 alleged war crimes reported +++
In the three months of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, around 20,000 suspected war crimes have been reported, according to Kiev sources. Police investigators have registered 13,500 such acts alone, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj says on Ukrainian television. “We work with foreign prosecutors, joint investigative teams and experts, but most of the work is done by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.” Their evidence will later be sent to international bodies to bring suspected Russian war criminals to justice, the minister said.

+++ 01:00 Melnyk suspects “delay tactics” in weapons deliveries +++
The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk again accuses the German government of deliberately delaying arms deliveries. “It is disappointing that the promised 15 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks cannot be delivered until the end of July at the earliest and another 15 Gepards only at the end of August,” Melnyk told the Funke newspapers. Melnyk demands that Germany should finally play a leading role. The Federal Republic is able to quickly deliver at least 100 Marders from industry and more than 30 Marders from the Bundeswehr stock, as well as 88 Leopard 1 main battle tanks. “We appeal again to the Federal Chancellor to finally give the green light for this vital delivery.”

+++ 23:54 Zelenskyj admits the difficult situation of Ukrainian troops in the Donbass +++
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian troops in the Donbass are in a difficult situation in view of heavy Russian attacks. “The Russian army throws all the forces it still has into this attack,” says Zelenskyj in his evening video address. He listed the cities of Lyman, Popasna, Sieverodonetsk and Sloviansk in the east of the country. “The occupiers want to destroy everything there.” It will take great efforts on the part of the Ukrainian people to overcome the Russian superiority in armaments and technology. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also speaks of a difficult situation in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Apparently, the Russian army wants to encircle Ukrainian units in the cities of Sievjerodonetsk and Lysychansk, according to spokesman Olexandr Motusyanyk.

+++ 23:06 Russian advance on railway junction Lyman in eastern Ukraine +++
In eastern Ukraine, Russian soldiers and pro-Russian fighters are trying to take control of the strategically important city of Lyman. The leader of the separatists in the Donetsk region, Denis Puschilin, explains in a YouTube video that the “active phase” to “liberate” the city has begun. Russian units and separatist fighters have already entered the city. About half of the urban area is already under Russian control. The Russian army has not yet commented on possible land gains in Lyman – a railway junction northeast of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Initially, Puschilin’s statements cannot be checked independently.

+++ 22:08 USA removes exemption for Russia from debt service with dollars +++
The US is scrapping a sanctions waiver that would allow Russia to pay off its foreign debt in dollars. The exception to the financial sanctions imposed because of the Ukraine war ends on Wednesday night, according to the US Treasury Department. The measure could bring Russia one step closer to a default. On Friday, Russia will have to pay off its national debt for the next time. Western countries have imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow over Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In the process, Russia was largely excluded from the international financial system. Among other things, the possibility of the Russian state to pay off its debts with dollars stored in US accounts was blocked. President Vladimir Putin’s government could still use dollars held in Russia to repay debts. However, this exception is now expiring. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen promised this last week.

+++ 21:45 Russia announces safe sea passage from Mariupol +++
According to military information, Russia wants to set up a safe sea passage from the conquered Ukrainian port of Mariupol towards the Black Sea from Wednesday. The mine-cleared route through the Sea of ​​Azov is 115 nautical miles (213 kilometers) long and 2 nautical miles wide and navigable from 8:00 a.m. local time (7:00 a.m. CEST). This is announced by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow. At the same time, the damaged port infrastructure of Mariupol will be repaired. The last Ukrainian defenders of the city laid down their weapons at the end of last week, and Mariupol itself has been largely destroyed.

You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.

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