Ukraine news latest: Putin warned deadly apartment block bombing could be war crime

Powerful explosions were heard early on Saturday in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, said mayor Oleksandr Senkevich.

“There are powerful explosions in the city! Stay in shelters!” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

The cause of the explosions was not immediately known.

Air raid sirens sounded across the whole Mykolaiv region before the blasts, reported Reuters, adding that they were not able to independently verify the claims by the mayor.

At least 21 people, including two children, have been killed after Russian missiles struck an apartment building and two holiday camps near Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday morning, Ukrainian authorities have said.

Ukrainian officials told The Independent that at least 18 people perished in the strike on a nine-storey apartment block in the village of Serhiivka, and another three died in a hit on the resort.

A member of Odesa’s military administration said that two children at the resort were in critical condition and the hunt for those who were still missing continued.

Bel Trew and Shweta Sharma report.

The European Union’s executive arm on Friday pledged to draft an emergency plan this month aimed at helping member countries do without Russian energy in the wake of the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the initiative would build on EU moves to ditch Russian coal, oil and natural gas and would complement a bloc-wide push to accelerate the development of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

“We are preparing emergency plans for Europe,” von der Leyen said in the Czech town of Litomysl, where she marked the start of the country’s six-month stint as holder of the rotating EU presidency. “Energy prices are high. People — rightly so — expect us to do something about it.”

She said the contingency plan, due around mid-July, would focus on two key points including having a “clear idea” of where to cut back on Russian energy supply and to do it “in a smart way” as well as to rally around EU countries facing supply squeezes.

WNBA star Brittney Griner, 31, has been detained in Russia since February after drugs were allegedly found in her luggage by officials at a Moscow airport.

Her detainment occurred shortly before Russia launched its war in Ukraine, with geopolitical tensions making it undoubtedly more difficult to secure her release.

Ms Griner’s family, friends and fans — alongside many public figures — have been calling on Russia to free her for months and for the US State Department to intervene.

Her trial began on Friday (1 July), days after a court ordered her detainment be extended until December.

Here’s everything we know about the ordeal:

Two British men captured by Russian forces in separatist-held Ukraine have been charged with being mercenaries, Russian media has said.

Aid worker Dylan Healy, 22, was stopped at a checkpoint earlier this year while helping a woman and children to flee a battle zone in Russian-backed territory, according to an aid charity.

Andrew Hill, a military volunteer who was detained in the Mykolaiv region around the same time, was shown in camouflage gear on Russian state television.

Ukraine‘s nuclear power operator said on Friday it had re-established its connection to surveillance systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, which is occupied by Russian forces.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s atomic watchdog, has said it wants to inspect the plant in southern Ukraine urgently, but Ukrainian authorities oppose any such visit while Russian forces remain in control.

It was the second time communications had been lost with the plant, made up of six reactors. Ukraine state Energoatom agency said on its Telegram channel that it had restored the connection “by its own efforts”.

The link, it said, had been lost “due to the cutting off by the occupiers in Enerhodar of all Ukrainian mobile operators, including Vodavone, with which the (IAEA) has a contract for data transmission.”

All “mandatory monitoring data are transmitted” and the IAEA had confirmed receipt, Energoatom said.

The IAEA said earlier this week that the loss of communication links “only adds to the urgency to dispatch this mission” to Zaporizhzhia. It said the connection had been lost “due to a disruption of the facility’s communication systems”.

Brittney Griner, an American basketball star, appeared in a Russian court on Friday, four months after she was arrested on cannabis possession charges at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport while travelling to play for a Russian team.

The United States is sending Ukraine two NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, four additional counter-artillery radars and up to 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition as part of its latest weapons packages for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Friday.

The assistance package, worth $820 million was announced by US president Joe Biden on Thursday in Madrid following a gathering of Nato leaders that was focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Pentagon offered more details on Friday as it formalized the announcement, and said the latest round of security assistance also included additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

The new U.S. aid is meant to bolster Kyiv as it confronts heavy pounding by Russian artillery.

Russia’s stepped-up campaign of long-range missile attacks on Ukrainian cities has come as its forces have ground out success on the battlefield in the east, with a relentless assault to try to force Kyiv to cede two provinces to separatists.

New satellite imagery from Thursday morning (30 June) shows the destruction left behind on Snake Island after Russian troops fled the Black Sea outpost.

Smoke can be seen from burning vehicles and structures at several locations across the northern section of the island, while a colour infrared view shows the areas that have recently burned.

Ukraine is celebrating a significant victory after Vladimir Putin’s troops withdrew following what the nation’s armed forces have described as a series of devastating attacks on the island and any Russian ship going near it.