Ukraine arming troops with weapons destined for scrapheap

Ukraine’s cash-strapped and under-resourced military is using munitions that had been designated for disposal before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Its defence ministry said on Tuesday it had returned a “significant amount of ammunition of various calibres” which had been “transferred to enterprises for disposal as surplus”.

The rounds, largely artillery shell and small arms munitions, are undergoing “thorough” quality checks before being sent to the front, the ministry added.

Kyiv has been pleading with its allies for more weapons and ammunition to help shore up its frontline defences after suffering long delays and shortages that allowed Russian forces to advance in the east.

“We understand that today every shot, missile, and ammunition is vital on the battlefield,” Yuriy Dzhyhyr, the deputy defence minister, said in a statement. “Instead of disposing of the ammunition, we are disposing of the enemy,” he added.

It comes as the Kremlin denied its major ground offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region had failed as it seals off more than a dozen Russian border villages in order to protect its civilians from ongoing Ukrainian shelling.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drone attacks deep within Russia have forced Moscow to beef up its defences around Vladimir Putin’s heavily-guarded palace north of Moscow.

03:38 PM BST

Today’s live coverage has ended. Here’s a roundup of the day’s events:

• China and Russia kick off live-fire naval drills

• Ukraine and Russia release 190 POWs

• Kremlin denies its major ground offensive in Kharkiv failed

• Ukraine joining Nato means war, says Putin ally

• Boris Johnson urges Donald Trump to stand by Ukraine

• Japan to use frozen Russian assets to loan Kyiv billions

• Relatives of victims of MH17 vow to hold Russia responsible

• Putin fortifies palace over fears of Ukrainian drones

• Greece planning to send 32 F-16s to Ukraine - report

• Ukrainian drones kill a couple in car

03:28 PM BST

EU greenlights €4.2bn boost for Ukraine’s economy

The European Commission has green-lighted a €4.2 billion boost to Ukraine’s war-stricken economy.

Ursula Von Der Leyen, the Commission’s president, said: “The people of Ukraine are fighting an atrocious war.

“And at the same time they need functioning schools and hospitals, access to water and electricity, trains, roads and bridges to keep the country running.”

The bloc’s member states will have to also rubber-stamp the decision before the money can be fully dispersed.

03:01 PM BST

Germany to halve military aid to Ukraine

Germany will halve military aid for Ukraine next year despite the possibility that Republican candidate Donald Trump could return to the White House and curb support for Kyiv.

German aid to Ukraine will be cut to €4 billion (£3.3 billion) in 2025 from around €8 billion in 2024, according to a draft of the 2025 budget.

Berlin hopes Kyiv will be able to meet the bulk of its military needs with the $50 billion (£38 billion) in loans from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets agreed by the G7 and that funds earmarked for armaments will not be fully used.

“Ukraine’s financing is secured for the foreseeable future thanks to European instruments and the G7 loans,” German finance minister Christian Lindner said on Wednesday.

02:41 PM BST

Kremlin denies offensive in Kharkiv failed

The Kremlin has denied its major ground offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region had failed as it evacuates border villages in order to protect civilians from ongoing Ukrainian shelling.

Russia launched a surprise assault on the Kharkiv region, which sits across the border from Russia’s Belgorod region, in May in a bid to push Ukrainian forces back and establish what Vladimir Putin called a “security zone”.

However, Belgorod’s regional governor on Tuesday announced that 14 Russian border villages would be sealed off given the ongoing intensity of Ukrainian cross-border attacks.

Asked on Wednesday whether that decision meant the Kharkiv offensive had failed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “No, it doesn’t. This operation is ongoing, it will continue until it has been successfully completed.”

02:08 PM BST

Watch: Moment 95 Ukrainian POWs return home

Footage has shown the moment 95 smiling, but frail-looking Ukrainian prisoners of war returned to their homeland on Wednesday after being released from captivity in Russia.

The released soldiers raised their fists in the air and posed for photos with flags as cheers rang out.

01:56 PM BST

Ukraine and Russia exchange 190 prisoners of war

Russia and Ukraine released 190 captured soldiers in the latest prisoner swap between the two sides on Wednesday.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia’s defence ministry each said 95 of their soldiers had been freed in an exchange mediated by the United Arab Emirates.

“We continue to bring our people home. Another 95 defenders have been released from Russian captivity,” Mr Zelensky said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that the prisoners were from the army, national guard and border guards.

Vladimir Putin said in June that 1,348 Russian soldiers were being held in Ukrainian captivity, and that Russia had detained 6,465 Ukrainian POWs.

01:36 PM BST

Ukrainian drones kill couple in car, says Russian official

A Ukrainian drone killed two people in Russia’s Belgorod region Wednesday, the governor said, a day after he announced plans to restrict access to over a dozen border villages due to continued bombardment.

“An FPV-drone attacked a passenger car with a young married couple in it in the vicinity of the Tserkovnyi hamlet. As a result of the car fire, the couple died on the spot before an ambulance crew arrived,” Belgorod region governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Mr Gladkov this week shut off access to 14 villages for most civilians excluding military and government officials, citing the “extremely difficult” situation there due to Ukrainian shelling.

12:48 PM BST

Greece ‘planning to send 32 F-16s to Ukraine’

Greece is reportedly planning to send 32 F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv.

The Hellenic Air Force, one of the largest air powers in Nato, is said to be about to decommission 32 older F-16 Block-30 fighter jets as it upgrades its force.

According to sources who spoke to Al Jazeera, Greece’s preferred plan is to sell the jets back to the US, who will upgrade them and send them on to Kyiv.

The US Congress has also cleared the way for Greece to purchase up to 40 fifth-generation F-35 multirole fighters, which Ukraine has said it wants.

It comes after president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed this week that the first batch of the long-awaited F-16s is set to arrive in Ukraine imminently, with the second due to arrive by the end of the year.

12:11 PM BST

Germany jails man for selling military electronics to Russia

A German court on Wednesday sentenced a dual German-Russian citizen to six years and nine months in prison for selling electronics to Russian companies for military use in violation of sanctions.

The EU prohibited such business after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 as part of a wave of sanctions that have increased since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022.

The Stuttgart court said the 59-year-old man delivered 120,000 parts to Russia that could be used for military purposes between January 2020 and May 2023.

The parts included those used in the Orlan-10 drone deployed by Russia against Ukraine, the court said.

11:54 AM BST

North Korea official visiting Russia drowns

A North Korean official visiting Russia has drowned while swimming in a pond outside Moscow, according to Russian media.

The official, Kim Geum Chol, whose name matches that of a man cited by the secretive state’s media as the leader of a military training contingent, is said to have died on July 11 in Zelenograd, a city just northwest of Moscow.

North Korea’s state KCNA news agency reported earlier this month that a North Korean elite military training delegation had left for Russia on July 8, the first military exchange between the two countries since their leaders signed a pact pledging closer military cooperation.

KCNA said that Kim Geum Chol, whom it described as the president of the Kim Il Sung Military University where Kim Jong-un attended, was leading the delegation.

11:34 AM BST

Putin fortifies palace to protect against Ukrainian drones

Ukrainian drone attacks deep within Russia have forced Moscow to beef up its defences around Vladimir Putin’s palace, 250 miles north of Moscow.

Satellite images revealed at least seven Pantsir-1 medium-range air defence systems have been stationed around the sprawling forest estate on the shores of Lake Valdai, according to the US-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War.

Ukraine’s relentless drone strikes, that have been successfully targeting Russian air bases, have forced Moscow’s military command “to prioritise limited air defence assets to cover what it deems high-value targets,” the ISW said.

Such static coverage could prove futile as Ukrainian drones can still bypass the air defences and strike from uncovered directions, analysts warned.

11:08 AM BST

Hungary: Efforts continue on second peace summit for Ukraine

Efforts are being made to hold a second peace summit on Ukraine this year, Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto told Russia’s RIA state news agency on Wednesday.

“I believe that if we want to hope for any peace conference in the future to be successful, we need to make sure that both sides are represented,” Mr Szijjarto told the agency.

It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that Russia should be represented at the second summit, marking a major about-turn after banning Moscow from the first.

10:39 AM BST

Relatives of MH17 victims vow to hold Russia responsible

Relatives of passengers killed when Malaysian Airlines flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine gathered with officials at Australia’s Parliament House on Wednesday to mark the 10th anniversary of the tragedy that claimed 298 lives.

One of those relatives, Paul Guard, mostly blames the conflict raging in eastern Ukraine a decade ago for the missile attack that killed 38 Australians, including his parents.

“I don’t think anyone intended to bring down a passenger plane. So in that sense, I’m heartbroken that the conflict continues,” Paul Guard told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“But I think that a lot of families would really have just liked an acknowledgement that what happened was wrong and that Russia should not have been waging war,” he added.

The pro-Russia rebel-held border region from where a Soviet-era Buk surface-to-air missile was fatefully launched and where much of the debris landed is now territory controlled by the Russian military.

Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility for MH17’s destruction and refused to hand over two Russians and a Ukrainian convicted by a Dutch court in absentia in 2022 of murder.

10:05 AM BST

Pictured: The aftermath of a Russian airstrike in Donetsk

09:43 AM BST

Ukraine: Russia loses 1,100 troops and 11 tanks in past day

Ukraine claimed on Wednesday that Russian forces lost over 1,100 troops, 11 tanks, nine armoured vehicles and 43 artillery systems in the past 24 hours.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the losses, adding them to its overall toll of 563,620 Russian troops killed or wounded since February 2022.

Kyiv also added that Russian troops had attacked on 11 fronts over the past day, with the heaviest fighting taking place near to Pokrovsk and Kurakhove in Ukraine’s shattered Donetsk region.

09:18 AM BST

Watch: Chinese tourists fire guns and drive tanks in Russia ‘war games’ holidays

Chinese tourists are visiting the snowy landscapes of Russia to drive tanks, fire grenades and play with guns for the country’s “war games” holidays.

Footage shows the strange new phenomenon where young Chinese, dressed in princess costumes, attend Russian winter camps to let off steam while holding AK-47s and rocket launchers.

Read more on the bizarre experience here.

08:52 AM BST

Japan to use frozen Russian assets for Kyiv

Japan is said to be making the final arrangements to loan $3.3 billion to Ukraine using interest from frozen Russian assets.

The loan will amount to roughly 6 per cent of the G7’s total $50 billion package, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday, citing diplomatic sources.

The package, where the US and EU each lend $20 billion and Japan and Britain and Canada lend a combined $10 billon, is set to be approved at a G7 meeting in Brazil later this month.

08:33 AM BST

Boris Johnson urges Trump to stand by Ukraine

Boris Johnson urged Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine after the former president picked a running mate who strongly opposes American support for the war.

Mr Johnson met Trump on the fringes of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday for almost an hour to discuss the war.

The Republican nominee has chosen JD Vance, a hard-line Ukraine sceptic, as his vice-presidential candidate for November’s election.

The 39-year-old Ohio senator has previously called for Washington to negotiate directly with Moscow over the war, and believes Ukraine will never recover territory lost after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Read the full story here.

08:14 AM BST

Putin ally: Ukraine joining Nato means war

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has warned the accession of Ukraine to Nato would be a declaration of war against Moscow and the alliance was perilously close to shattering the planet into pieces.

Mr Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and a leading voice among the Kremlin’s hawks, told Russian media that Ukraine’s membership would go beyond a direct threat to Moscow’s security.

“This, in essence, would be a declaration of war - albeit with a delay,” he said in remarks published on Wednesday.

Nato leaders pledged at their summit last week to support Ukraine on an “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including Nato membership,” but left open when that membership could happen.

07:53 AM BST

Ukraine and Russia to exchange 180 prisoners of war - report

Russia and Ukraine are set to exchange 180 prisoners of war on Wednesday in a deal facilitated by the United Arab Emirates, according to Bloomberg.

Each side plans to release 90 prisoners, a source familiar with the matter told the outlet. The swap will be the sixth exchange this year facilitated by the UAE.

Last week, Ukraine’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that Kyiv was planning “a big” prisoner exchange with Russia soon, with the help of the UAE.

07:49 AM BST

China and Russia begin live-fire naval drills in South China Sea

China and Russia have kicked off live-fire naval exercises in the South China Sea as the two countries continue to strengthen military ties in the face of US sanctions.

The opening ceremony of the joint naval drills ‘Maritime Cooperation - 2024’ took place in the Chinese port of Zhanjiang, which will be followed by three days of exercises, the Russian defence ministry said.

During the sea maneuvers, crews of ships of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy are expected to conduct joint air defense exercises, anti-submarine drills and artillery firing.

Wang Guangzheng of the PLA Navy’s Southern Theatre said: “The China-Russia joint patrol has promoted the deepening and practical cooperation between the two in multiple directions and fields... and effectively enhanced the ability to the two sides to jointly respond to maritime security threats.”

07:32 AM BST

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