Ukraine updates: Russia targets Ukrainian ports

Ukraine has started using cluster munitions supplied by the United States, the White House said on Thursday.

National security spokesperson John Kirby said he had gotten "initial feedback" that the weapons are helping Ukraine combat Russian troops.

"They are using them appropriately, they are using them effectively," Kirby said. 

Cluster munitions are controversial and are banned in more than 100 countries because they can kill indiscriminately within a targetted area. Unexploded munitions can also pose a threat to civilians in the years for years afterwards.

Both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of using cluster bombs since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has still not let experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency inspect the rooftops of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the nuclear watchdog said on Thursday.

On July 4, Ukraine and Russia accused each other of plotting to stage an attack on Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which is located in Russian-occupied territory. Ukraine claimed it has evidence of explosives being placed on the roof of several power units.

"(IAEA) experts have carried out additional inspections and walkdowns at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant over the past week – so far without observing any heavy military equipment, explosives or mines – but they are still awaiting access to the rooftops of the reactor buildings," that IAEA said in a statement on Thursday. 

However, it said there was a "volatile security situation in the region located on the front line of the conflict," which is not far from the plant.

 

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on Thursday proposed a €20 billion ($22.4 billion) fund to pay for weapons, ammunition and military aid for Ukraine over four years.

"This is the evaluation of the needs and the cost of our long-term security commitments to Ukraine," Borrell said late on Thursday.

Borrell made the proposal at a meeting with EU foreign ministers earlier in the day, but it will need further scrutiny by EU governments before it moves further.

The fund would be a dedicated section of the European Peace Facility (EPF), created in 2021 to finance actions that prevent conflicts, build peace and strengthen international security.

It is used to reimburse EU countries for at least part of the cost of weapons, ammunition and other military aid that they give to nations outside the bloc. 

"It's still the same tool, the European Peace Facility, which has been working very well and we will continue using it but with a dedicated chapter inside it, with a specific funding which can be estimated on the figures I mentioned," Borrell said. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Russia's bombardment of Ukraine's grain export facilities "in the strongest terms" on Thursday.

Guteres warned that "destruction of civilian infrastructure may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law."

The UN also warned of the potential global ramifications of the attacks.

"These attacks are also having an impact well beyond Ukraine," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"We are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone, but especially vulnerable people in the global south." 

Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said on Thursday that Moscow was not preparing to attack civilian ships on the Black Sea.

His comments come after the White House speculated that Russia could expand its recent targeting of Ukrainian grain facilities to include civilian ships.

This comes after Moscow said it would deem all ships traveling to Ukrainian ports to be potential carriers of military cargo and their flag countries to be parties to the conflict on the Ukrainian side.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the "humanitarian consequences" of Russia pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal, the British UN mission said on Thursday.

The Black Sea grain deal had allowed Ukraine to export 33 million metric tons of grain around the world.

Ukraine and Russia are among the world's biggest exporters of grain, and the UN says withdrawing tens of millions of metric tons of Ukrainian grain from the market would cause worldwide shortages.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced Soviet-style travel restrictions for British diplomats based in the country.

Under the new rules, British diplomats will have to notify Russian authorities five days in advance about their movements outside of a 120-kilometer (75 mile) "free movement zone."

This should include "information about the timings, purpose, type of trip, planned business contacts, accompanying persons, mode of transport, places of visit and accommodation as as well as the route of the trip," the Foreign Ministry said.

The rules will apply to most accredited personnel at the British embassy in Moscow, and at the British consulate in Yekaterinburg in the Urals.

However, they will not apply to the British ambassador and a few other senior diplomats.

The rules are the toughest constraints placed on British diplomats in Moscow since the Soviet era, during which travel by foreigners was severely limited and closely controlled by the KGB.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the move was in retaliation for the "hostile actions" of London, which it accused of "hindering the normal operation of Russian foreign mission in the UK."

Professor Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg, head of the Chair of Public Law at European University Viadrina, told DW that the mere fact that a vessel was "sailing in the Black Sea does not mean that it qualifies as a lawful target" for an attack.

"It may only be visited and searched, that's all," he said.

"An attack against the vessel would be permissible only if the vessel was used to make an effective contribution to the enemy's military action," he added. 

When asked about the Russian Defense Ministry's statement, he said it was "so ambiguous that we do not know what the consequences would be if a [Ukrainian bound] vessel were encountered."

Legally, Russia could declare certain items as contraband, he said.

"What they really need to have is reasonable grounds for suspicion that the vessels are carrying contraband, which, however, presupposes that the Russian Federation or the Russian navy would, prior to that, publish a contraband list listing all the items they consider to be prohibited."

Ukraine on Wednesday said that ships going to ports controlled by Russia on the Black Sea would be treated as potentially transferring military cargo — in a tit-for-tat move after Russia made a similar announcement on Tuesday. 

Earlier this week, Russia exited a deal protecting grain exports from Ukraine, leading to rising tensions over the Black Sea. 

Ukraine had signaled it was prepared to continue exports, which led to Moscow announcing it would consider cargo ships traveling to Ukraine through the Black Sea as potential military targets. 

"Starting from 00:00 on July 21, 2023 (2100 GMT), all vessels in the Black Sea heading towards Russia's seaports and Ukrainian seaports located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine may be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo, with all the associated risks," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. 

Ukrainian officials said navigation would be restricted on "the northeastern part of the Black Sea and the Kerch Strait" near Crimea. 

As Russia had banned navigation on the northwestern and southeastern parts of the sea, Ukraine's move would make traffic in most of the Black Sea precarious. 

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry had previously condemned "any threats to use force against civilian ships, regardless of their flag."

"The intention to consider foreign ships as military targets grossly violates Russia's obligations under international law, not only to Ukraine, but also to all countries engaged in peaceful shipping in the Black Sea," the ministry said.

It added that Russia's statement had no legitimate military purpose, but was intending to intimidate Ukraine and neutral states.

Russia had no "legal basis" to "attack commercial shipping" as the ships were international vessels and not flagged as Ukrainian ones, Johannes Peters, head of maritime strategy and security at the Kiel University Institute for Security Policy, told DW.

The security expert said "the main reason behind the Russian threat is just to hinder shipping." 

He estimated that Russia was "creating a situation, again, where it's impossible for international shipping to actually operate in these waters — to export grain — because there's simply no insurance covers for the ship owners and for the managers." 

This would "effectively stop the grain exports," Peters added.

When asked whether there could be convoys to protect the ships, Peters said that with international vessels "the only legal basis might be a UN resolution."

However, he noted that a resolution was unlikely as Russia and China, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, could veto it.

"I don't see a solution for an international coalition providing escort operations for grain exports," Peters said.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have prolonged sanctions against the Russian military by six months. 

"These sanctions, first introduced in 2014 in response to Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, were significantly expanded since February 2022, in response to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine," the EU ministers said in a statement.
 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin was working with international partners to salvage Ukrainian grain after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea deal. 

Baerbock said Russia was engaging in blackmail, and weaponizing grain supplies at the expense of impoverished people around the world. 

"Hundreds of thousands of people, not to say millions, urgently need the grain from Ukraine, which is why we are working with all our international partners so that the grain in Ukraine does not rot in silos in the next few weeks, but reaches the people of the world who urgently need it," Baerbock said.

Mercenaries in Russia's Wagner Group will hold military drills with Belarusian forces, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said Thursday. 

The exercises will take place in the Belarusian city of Brest, which lies on the border with Poland. 

"The armed forces of Belarus continue joint training with the fighters of the Wagner PMC (Private Military Company)," the Defense Ministry said. 

"During the week, special operations forces units together with representatives of the Company will work out combat training tasks at the Brest military range."

Poland has earlier pledged to reinforce its border security with Belarus. Wagner forces moved their base of operations to Belarus after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a mutiny against the Russian government, which ended after 48 hours. 

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell blamed Russia for a global food crisis after Moscow decided to pull out of the Black Sea grain deal.

"What we already know is that this is going to create a big and huge food crisis in the world," Borrell told reporters ahead of an EU foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday. He also criticized Russia for targeting grain storage facilities in the southern port city of Odesa.  

The EU ministers are expected to discuss a €20 billion ($22.4 billion) weapons and munitions plan for Ukraine over four years.

"Ukraine needs our commitment to continue ensuring their security during the war and after the war," Borrell has said.

The military proposal aid proposal for Kyiv will be discussed on Thursday and again at an EU meeting in Spain in late August.  

The UK Ministry of Defense said Russia had likely already decided to exit the Black Sea grain deal some time ago. 

"Russia likely made the decision to leave some time ago because it decided that the deal was no longer serving its interests," the UK intelligence update said on Thursday. 

"Russia has masked this with disinformation, claiming its withdrawal is instead due to concerns that civilian ships are at risk from Ukrainian mines and that Ukraine was making military use of the grain corridor without providing evidence for these claims."   

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has labeled Russia's exit from the Black Sea Agreement "disappointing" and said Moscow "will be robbing millions of people of access to vital grain."