Ukraine-Russia warfare dwell: Putin’s casualties at highest stage since battle for Bakhmut, UK says

Russia has rejected a suggestion from the United Nations to assist affected residents within the flooding after the Nova Kakhovka dam breach, officers mentioned.

The UN urged Russia to behave in accordance with their obligations below worldwide humanitarian regulation. “Support can’t be denied to individuals who want it,” Denise Brown, UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, mentioned in an announcement.

Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the Soviet-era dam, below Russian management since early days of its invasion in 2022.

The demise toll from flooding within the area has risen to 52, with Russian officers saying 35 individuals had died in Moscow-controlled areas and Ukraine‘s inside ministry saying 17 had died and 31 have been lacking. Greater than 11,000 have been evacuated on each side.

A workforce of worldwide authorized specialists helping Ukraine‘s prosecutors of their investigation mentioned it was “extremely doubtless” the dam’s collapse was brought on by explosives planted by Russians.

Round 32,000 prisoners recruited by Russian mercenary group Wagner have returned to Russia.

These hundreds of prisoners have returned to Russia after their contracts with the mercenary group expired, mentioned its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Prigozhin added that the prisoners whose Wagner contracts expired had dedicated 83 crimes after they returned to Russia. He claimed that this crime charge is lower than for different former convicts.

At talks in St Petersburg on Saturday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered Putin with a 10-point peace initiative from seven African international locations and instructed him the time had come for Russia and Ukraine to start out negotiations to finish the warfare.

Putin responded by rattling off a string of acquainted accusations denied by Ukraine and the West and saying it was Kyiv, not Moscow, that was refusing to speak. He thanked Ramaphosa for his “noble mission”.

Russian information companies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Putin had proven curiosity within the plan however it could be “troublesome to grasp”.

In Kyiv the day prior to this, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had instructed the African delegation – the primary for the reason that begin of the warfare to carry separate face-to-face talks with each leaders on their peace initiative – that permitting negotiations now would simply “freeze the warfare” and the struggling of the Ukrainian individuals.

The huge gulf between the 2 sides was additional underlined when Putin used a flagship financial discussion board on Friday to slur Zelenskiy personally and to restate the goals of “demilitarising” and “denazifying” Ukraine that he set out on day one of many warfare, and which Kyiv and the West reject as a false pretext for invasion.

Nonetheless, Ramaphosa sought to solid the journey to Ukraine and Russia in a optimistic mild, tweeting on Sunday that the “Africa Peace Initiative has been impactful and its final success will likely be measured on the target, which is stopping the warfare”.

He mentioned the Africans would hold speaking to each Putin and Zelenskiy and would transient U.N. Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres on their efforts to date.

The demise toll from flooding following the destruction of the Kakhovka dam has risen to 16 in Ukraine, Kyiv officers mentioned, whereas Russian officers mentioned 29 individuals have died in territories that Moscow controls.

The breaching of the Kakhovka Dam on June 6 unleashed floodwaters throughout a big swath of land in southern Ukraine and in Russia-occupied elements of Ukraine, destroying farmland and reducing off provides to civilians.

Greater than 3,600 individuals have been evacuated from the flooded areas within the Kherson and Mykolaiv areas, whereas 31 individuals have been nonetheless lacking and a few 1,300 homes remained flooded, Ukraine’s inside ministry mentioned on its Telegram channel late on Saturday.

Andrei Alekseyenko, chairman of the Russian-installed administration within the Moscow-occupied elements of the Kherson area, mentioned on the Telegram messaging app the demise toll had risen to 29 individuals.

Ukraine accuses Russia of blowing up the Soviet-era dam, below Russian management since early days of its invasion in 2022.

A workforce of worldwide authorized specialists helping Ukraine’s prosecutors of their investigation mentioned in preliminary findings on Friday it was “extremely doubtless” the collapse in Ukraine’s Kherson area was brought on by explosives planted by Russians. The Kremlin accuses Kyiv of sabotaging the hydroelectric dam, which held a reservoir the scale of the U.S. Nice Salt Lake, to chop off a key supply of water for Crimea and distract consideration from a “faltering” counter-offensive towards Russian forces.

Russia had the means, motive and alternative to convey down a Ukrainian dam that collapsed earlier this month whereas below Russian management, in accordance with unique drone photographs and data obtained by The Related Press.

Photos taken from above the Kakhovka Dam and shared with the AP seem to point out an explosive-laden automobile atop the construction, and two officers mentioned Russian troops have been stationed in an important space contained in the dam the place the Ukrainians say the explosion that destroyed it was centered.

The Russian Protection Ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.The dam’s destruction led to lethal flooding, endangered crops on this planet’s breadbasket, threatened ingesting water provides for hundreds and unleashed an environmental disaster.

Ukrainian commanders say it additionally scuppered a few of their plans to take Russian positions in a counteroffensive that’s now in its early levels.

The Russian president claimed that Ukraine had allegedly ‘refused to signal it’ so it was ‘thrown into the garbage heap of historical past’.

“This draft of the treaty was initialed by the chief of the negotiation group from Kyiv. He put his signature. There it exists,” he instructed the room, holding up the doc.

“The place are the ensures that they won’t resign some other agreements sooner or later?”

Kyiv has not commented on the footage.

Russia reported fierce combating on Sunday on three sections of the entrance line in Ukraine, a day after internet hosting an African peace mission that didn’t spark enthusiasm from both Moscow or Kyiv.

A Russian-installed official mentioned Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village within the southern Zaporizhzhia area, and have been entrenching themselves there whereas coming below hearth from Russian artillery.

“The enemy’s ‘wave-like’ offensives yielded outcomes, regardless of huge losses,” the official, Vladimir Rogov, mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia’s defence ministry made no point out of Piatykhatky in its day by day replace, through which it mentioned its forces had repelled Ukrainian assaults in three sections of the 1,000 km (600 mile) entrance line. A separate assertion from Russia’s Vostok group of forces mentioned Ukraine had didn’t take the settlement.

The studies couldn’t be independently verified.

Ukraine is claimed to have recaptured its first village in a number of days – as fierce combating continues throughout the frontline.

A Russian-installed official mentioned Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village within the southern Zaporizhzhia area, and have been entrenching themselves there whereas coming below hearth from Russian artillery.

“The enemy’s ‘wave-like’ offensives yielded outcomes, regardless of huge losses,” the official, Vladimir Rogov, mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.