July 13, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine has moved here.

Witnesses in the town of Nova Kakhovka in Russian-occupied Kherson report another strike Wednesday, the second this week.

Serhiy Khlan, a member of the Kherson regional council, said the target was a Russian munitions depot in the Sokil district.

HIMARS is the long-range US artillery system recently supplied to Ukraine by the United States and is renowned for its accuracy. It's not clear that the HIMARS system caused the explosion Wednesday.

On Monday night, a warehouse in Nova Kakhovka was struck, causing multiple detonations. Ukrainian officials said it was an ammunition and weaponry store while the pro-Russian administration in Kherson said a store of fertilizer had blown up.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed signs of progress in talks mediated by the United Nations and Turkey to guarantee safe passage of merchant shipping in and out of Ukrainian ports.

In his daily address, Zelensky said, "We are indeed making significant efforts to restore food supply to the world market. And I am grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their respective efforts."

"The success of this story is needed not only by our state but also, without exaggeration, by the whole world. If it is possible to remove the Russian threat to shipping in the Black Sea, it will remove the severity of the global food crisis," he said.

He added that the Ukrainian delegation has informed him "there has been some progress."

"We will agree on the details with the UN Secretary General in the coming days," Zelensky said.

The Hungarian government has issued a “state of danger” on Wednesday due to the ongoing energy crisis in the country, putting a seven-point plan in place to prepare for upcoming government measures in August, according to Zoltan Kovacs, spokesperson for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. 

Quoting Gergely Gulyás, who heads the Hungarian prime minister's office, Kovacs said government measures would include, domestic natural gas production to be increased to two billion cubic meters, exporting a ban on energy sources, boosting domestic lignite production.

Additional measured include the relaunch of a power plant, extending the operations of a nuclear power plant, soliciting market price from consumers with above-average energy consumption, Kovacs said on Twitter.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is also responsible for securing additional gas supplies, Kovacs added.

Natural gas supplies across Europe have suffered since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causing countries to scramble as they try to preserve supplies in case Russia turns off the taps. 

In 2021, Hungary signed a 15-year natural gas supply deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom to supply gas to the country, in a move criticized by Ukraine. 

So far, Gazprom has cut off at least 20 billion cubic meters of its annual gas supplies to customers in six European countries — Poland, Bulgaria, Finland, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands — because they failed to make payments in rubles, a demand President Vladimir Putin made back in March.

In an interview with CNN in April, Szijjártó confirmed Hungary will use the payment scheme put in place by Moscow to pay for its oil and gas.

Szijjártó said there are no alternative sources or routes which makes it possible for them to stop importing Russian energy in the next few years. 

Previous reporting from Pamela Boykoff and Anna Cooban.

Talks between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations held in Istanbul to discuss grain exports from Ukraine have now ended.

“The four-party meeting between the military delegations of the Ministry of Defense of Turkey, the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the United Nations delegation regarding the safe shipment of grains waiting in Ukrainian ports by sea ended at the Kalender Pavilion,” the Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Some more context: Ukraine hopes to speed up grain exports through reopened Danube River routes amid Russia's blockade of key Black Sea ports.

The line of barges currently waiting to sail up the Danube River and load up on grain at one of Ukraine’s river ports will take several weeks to clear, first deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said in a televised address Wednesday.

About 80% of Ukraine’s grain exports were shipped from the country’s Black Sea ports before Russia's invasion.

Read more here.

 

Two Russian missile strikes were conducted in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the regional military administration.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the office of the Ukrainian President, said Wednesday that one of the missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia injured seven.

"There is a hit in one of the enterprises ... Seven people were injured. The head of the enterprise took the employees to the shelter, which probably saved their lives."

The strikes come as Ukraine steps up its own use of long-range artillery and rocket systems.

"In the last two weeks, the situation has become much more tense as one of the Russian military bases was completely destroyed, a railway bridge was blown up, an armored train derailed," said Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of occupied Melitopol.

On Tuesday, another military base being used by the Russians was destroyed near the village of Myrne, a few kilometers from Melitopol, he added.

CNN is unable to confirm the attack on the base at Myrne.

Fedorov, who is not in Melitopol, said the Russians were "trying to block the departure of people from the occupied territories."

He said fewer cars left Melitopol yesterday and tens of thousands of people remain in the city.

"According to our estimates, up to 60,000 - 70,000 residents remain in Melitopol. This is about half of the population before the invasion," he said.

"There is nothing to discuss" on the subject of peace talks with Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wednesday in an online briefing with reporters.

"Currently, there are no talks between Russia and Ukraine, because of the position of Russia and its continued aggression against our country. So there is really nothing to discuss," he told CNN.

Ukraine's objective in this war is "to liberate our territories and restore our territorial integrity and full sovereignty in the east and in the south of Ukraine. This is the end point of our negotiating position," he added.

Kuleba also played down suggestions there might be "fatigue" abroad with the conflict.

He said the website created by the Ukrainian government had reached 600 million people around the world, including 91 million in June.

"Despite the narratives about war fatigue, our communications only improve and become stronger," he said.

The lawyer of 21-year-old Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin — who was sentenced to life in prison in Ukraine's first war crime trial since Russia's invasion — said that his client “had no intention of killing a man.” 

Shishimarin was found guilty of killing a 62-year-old civilian during his deployment with the Russian army in the early days of the war. He was sentenced to life in prison on May 23.

Shishimarin’s legal team asked the judges at the Kyiv Court of Appeals to reverse the verdict, arguing that Shishimarin “did not shoot accurately” and urging the court to consider that he refused to shoot several times and surrendered voluntarily. 

“He had no intention of killing a man,” said his lawyer, Viktor Ovsyannikov.

“The only one who could shoot from the car was Shishimarin. He refused to shoot several times. But he fired. He thought it was a threat to his life. Only one shot went to the head. If it had been aimed shooting, all the bullets would have hit the victim. Only one bullet hit the victim,” Ovsyannikov added.

Ovsyannikov also said that it is “necessary to distinguish the one who tragically accidentally killed a man from those who deliberately shell residential areas with artillery.”

The court has asked Shishimarin’s lawyer to supplement the appeal. The next hearing is scheduled for July 25. 

Talks between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations have kicked off in Istanbul, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said in a statement Wednesday.

“The four-party meeting between the military delegations of the defense ministries of Turkey, the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the United Nations delegation regarding the safe shipment of grains waiting in Ukrainian ports by sea started at the Kalender Kosk,” it said.

Some more context: Ukraine hopes to speed up grain exports through reopened Danube River routes amid Russia's blockade of key Black Sea ports.

The line of barges currently waiting to sail up the Danube River and load up on grain at one of Ukraine’s river ports will take several weeks to clear, first deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said in a televised address Wednesday.

“A queue of about 90 barges has formed in the area of the Danube River for several months and will continue for several more weeks,” Vysotsky said. “Thanks to the release of Snake Island, the additional throughput is four to five vessels per day.”

“This route is not able to compensate for the volumes that we exported through our Black Sea ports,” he also added.

About 80% of Ukraine’s grain exports were shipped from the country’s Black Sea ports before Russia's invasion.