Ukrainian authorities continue to warn residents of strikes in Odessa, a southern port city that in recent days has come under sustained Russian attacks, which have killed at least one person and injured many, including children. The airstrikes have damaged 146 residential buildings in the city, according to Ukrainian forces. At least 28 historical buildings in the center of Odessa, an area deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site, also were said to be damaged.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Russia’s legislature raised the country’s maximum draft age to 30 in legislation passed in the lower house on Tuesday. The previous draft age span was 18-27. The changes are to be enacted Jan. 1, according to an official Telegram channel.
Ukraine’s defense minister said his country will continue to launch attacks on Crimea and the Crimean Bridge, also known as the Kerch Bridge, which connects the peninsula to Russia. “All these targets are official targets because it will reduce their capacity to fight against us [and] will help to save the lives of Ukrainians,” Oleksii Reznikov told CNN. Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Experts found land mines on the periphery of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during a walk-through this week, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. The mines were spotted in a buffer zone between the site’s internal and external perimeter barriers, but their presence is nevertheless “inconsistent with the IAEA safety standards and nuclear security guidance,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit China in October during the Belt and Road Forum, a summit on Eurasian cooperation, Russian news outlets reported Tuesday. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, visited Moscow in March.
Russia is more likely to target civilian infrastructure in Odessa now that it has pulled out of the grain deal, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The agreement allowed the export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The Kremlin now “likely feels less politically constrained” and in the past week has carried out a “great number” of assaults on the area, the ministry said.
Talks on resuming the Black Sea Grain Initiative are not happening, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said Tuesday, according to Reuters. Russia’s renewed naval blockade of Ukrainian ports have triggered fresh concerns over wheat prices and global hunger. The Kremlin said that reviving the grain deal is currently “impossible” but that Putin would do so if Moscow’s interests are met.
A child was killed and six others were injured after Russian forces fired cluster munitions at a reservoir in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian state media said. Photos posted by Ukrinform showed a bloodied patch of grass at the edge of a reservoir beach where it said locals had been gathering on Monday.
Putin has signed legislation that bans people from gender-affirming procedures. The bill was approved unanimously by both houses of parliament and prevents transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents. The move is Russia’s latest attempt to crack down on the LGBTQ+ community, advocates say.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke on the phone Tuesday. The pair discussed Russia’s attacks on Odessa and Ukraine’s desire to strengthen its air defense, Zelensky said, adding, “We must defend Odessa.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia strikes on Ukrainian grain storage and export infrastructure, posting that Europe would continue to support Ukraine amid Russia’s “ruthless” war and that the European Union had paid Ukraine an additional 1.5 billion euros (about $1.6 billion) in aid. Last week, the United States and European countries announced billions of dollars in recovery assistance to Kyiv.
Lithuania approved a military aid plan for Ukraine that pledges about $221 million over three years. It will cover lethal and nonlethal aid, military training and the repair of military equipment in Lithuania.
An American video journalist for Agence France-Presse, Dylan Collins, 35, was wounded in a drone attack near Bakhmut on Monday. He is being treated at a hospital and is conscious and speaking to colleagues, the French international news outlet said in a tweet. In May, AFP journalist and video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed in a rocket attack in Ukraine’s east.
Russia will take part in discussions on grain and fertilizer exports at the Russia-Africa summit this week, the state media outlet RIA Novosti reported, after the country fueled food-insecurity concerns by pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative this month.
Ukraine remains defiant as Russia pounds Odessa and its grain facilities: The southern port city has come under nightly missile attacks for at least six days after Putin canceled the Black Sea grain deal. The strikes caused significant damage to Odessa’s historical Transfiguration Cathedral, John Hudson and Anastacia Galouchka write, but its chief priest has made his message clear: If the cathedral survived Joseph Stalin, it can survive Vladimir Putin, too.
“You can damage a church, you can kill a man, but you can’t destroy the faith,” said Myroslav Vdodovych, the chief priest.
Ukraine has responded with defiance — launching drone attacks on buildings in Moscow and on an ammunition depot in Crimea — while cleanup crews and parishioners cleared debris from the cathedral’s floors.
Alex Horton contributed to this report.
