A battlefield video circulated on social media appeared to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 in Ukraine, which would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat.
More than 900 people were killed or injured by cluster munitions in Ukraine last year amid broad Russian use of the widely banned weapons, propelling global casualty figures to record levels, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).
The Kremlin refused to confirm a possible summit between Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, which US officials have said they expect.
The Democratic and Republican leaders of the US Senate expressed support for continued assistance for Ukraine on Tuesday, as lawmakers returned to Washington facing a tight deadline for passing spending bills. President Joe Biden last month asked Congress to approve about $40bn in additional spending, including $24bn for Ukraine and other international needs, in a test of the country’s willingness to keep supporting Ukraine as it fights Russian invaders.
Ukrainian lawmakers voted to restore a requirement that officials declare their assets, a measure sought by the International Monetary Fund, but included a loophole critics say dampens its effect.
Russia’s pipeline natural gas exports to the EU may fall to 21 billion cubic metres (bcm) this year, almost two-thirds lower than last year and a more than a six-fold drop from 2021, Russian state bank Veb said in a forecast.
Cuba identified an alleged human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting its citizens to fight on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, its foreign ministry has said. It was working to dismantle a “trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there.”
Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, spoke of the intense toll of the war on her family. “This may be a bit selfish, but I need my husband, not a historical figure, by my side … But we stay strong, we have strength both emotionally and physically. And I am sure we will handle it together,” she told the BBC.
Russia shot down at least three Ukraine-launched drones early on Tuesday that were targeting the country’s capital, the Russian defence ministry said. The ministry said that its air defence systems destroyed two drones over the Kaluga and Tver regions, which border the Moscow region, as well as one closer to the capital, over the Istra district of the Moscow region.
Moscow’s two major airports, Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo, as well as the Zhukovksy airport, resumed normal operations from 7.30am (04.30 GMT) after a temporary traffic suspension early on Tuesday, Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency said.
Russian air defences also destroyed a Ukrainian aeroplane-style drone over Crimea on Tuesday morning, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday it did not think Ukraine’s decision to appoint a new defence minister would change the nature of the Ukrainian government. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he was sacking defence minister Oleksii Reznikov and proposed Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and ex-lawmaker, to replace him.
The governor of Russia’s western Bryansk region said border guards and security forces had “thwarted” an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage group that tried to cross into Russia. Russia has this year repeatedly reported Ukrainian sabotage attempts on its borders, and sent helicopters to put down a cross-border incursion in the Belgorod region in May.
Gen Sergei Surovikin, who had not been publicly seen since Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin’s abortive mutiny in June, has apparently resurfaced. Ostorozhno Media published a picture, reportedly taken on Monday in Moscow, of the former aerospace commander alongside his wife.
