War Ukraine - Russia: latest live news | Death toll rises to 10 in Russian bombing of Lviv

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The death toll from Thursday's Russian bombing of a residential building in the city of Lviv, near the Polish border, has risen to 10, while the number of wounded now stands at 42, according to the city's mayor, Andri Sadovi. Two other people have died in Dnipropetrovsk when falling on the car in which the remains of one of the six Russian drones intercepted in the region by Ukrainian air defenses were traveling. In addition, the EU has agreed a plan to allocate €500 million to increase its production of artillery ammunition in order to refill its stockpiles and send supplies to Ukraine. This Friday, finally the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, travels to Turkey to discuss with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the agreement to export grain through the Black Sea, whose validity expires in 11 days. Russia is reluctant to grant a further extension, arguing that it is not helping its agricultural products reach international markets.

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A man walks through the rubble of Hulyaypole hospital in the Zaporizhia region on Thursday. / ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP

What has happened in the last few hours

These are the most important news of the war at 12.00 on the 499th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

The United States will deliver cluster bombs to Ukraine for the counteroffensive. The government of Joe Biden has decided to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine, according to the Associated Press, citing sources familiar with the decision. The United States is expected to announce on Friday that it will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth up to 800 million dollars (734 million euros). Germany has expressed its rejection of the shipment of this type of weapons, widely denounced for killing and maiming civilians.

The death toll from the Russian bombing of Lviv rises to 10. The death toll from Thursday's Russian bombing of a residential building in the city of Lviv, near the Polish border, has risen to ten, while the number of wounded now stands at 42. The mayor of the city, Andri Sadovi, concludes the rescue work.

The EU will allocate 500 million to increase its production of artillery ammunition. The EU has reached an agreement among its members to allocate 500 million euros to increase its production of artillery ammunition, both to send supplies to Ukraine and to refill its own arsenals, European authorities announced on Friday.

Zelenskiy insists on the need for long-range weapons. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented on Friday, during a visit to the Czech Republic, the lack of long-range weapons to fight against Russian forces that have invaded his country, and insisted on the need to obtain them.

Ukraine makes small gains near Bakhmut. Ukrainian troops have advanced more than a kilometer in the past day against Russian forces near the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a military spokesman. Russian versions of the fighting in the Bakhmut sector differ from Ukrainian ones.

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 11: 59

Six dead and two injured after explosion at explosives factory in Russia

Six people were killed and two wounded in an explosion at an explosives factory in the central Russian city of Chapayevsk, according to emergency services sources cited by state news agency TASS.

The factory, located about 30 km southwest of the Volga city of Samara, is managed by Promsintez, one of the leading manufacturers of industrial explosives in Russia and the former Soviet Union. According to TASS, the explosion occurred during the dismantling of the pipes and no fire occurred. (Reuters)

Alexander Khinstein, deputy from the Samara region, said the explosion appeared to have been caused by welding, and could have been the result of explosive remnants left in the pipes.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year, there have been numerous explosions or fires at fuel depots, factories, railway lines and other infrastructure inside Russia.

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 12: 27

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Belarus dissociates from Wagner the construction of a military camp with 300 tents

The 300 tents set up in a disused camp that Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko offered to Wagner's mercenary group were set up for military exercises and not with Wagner in mind, according to an adviser to the Belarusian defense minister. "You don't have to relate this to Wagner," Leonid Kasinsky said.

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 12: 18

Russia reduces deficit to 26 billion euros

Russia's budget deficit in the first half of the year stood at 2.6 trillion rubles (almost 26 billion euros), falling sharply in June as spending fell and revenue rose. In the first half of last year, Russia posted a surplus of 000.1 trillion rubles, but significant outlays to support its military campaign in Ukraine and the barrage of Western sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports have strained public coffers ever since.

Increased defense spending has kept Russia's industrial sector going, leading to economic growth forecasts for this year and helping Moscow press ahead with its military campaign in Ukraine. The Finance Ministry stopped publishing monthly budget execution data last year, but according to Friday's figures, Russia posted a surplus in June of 816 billion rubles.

This figure contrasts with April's trillion ruble deficit and May's 13 billion ruble surplus. June's monthly spending was the lowest of the year. Non-oil and gas revenues in the January-June period were 000.17% higher than in the same period last year. However, Moscow's oil and gas revenues were 8 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier in the first six months, which the Finance Ministry blames on lower Ural crude prices and lower natural gas exports.

Expenses rose 19.5% year-on-year in that period, according to preliminary data, while revenues fell 11.7%. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has repeatedly claimed that Russia's budget deficit this year will not exceed 2% of GDP, although most analysts disagree. The International Monetary Fund is among those expecting Russia to post a much larger budget deficit this year. (Reuters)

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 12: 05

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Germany rejects shipment of cluster bombs to Ukraine

Germany opposes sending cluster munitions to Ukraine, its foreign minister said Friday, a day after U.S. officials said Washington planned to supply Kiev with the weapons, widely denounced for killing and maiming civilians.

Human rights organizations oppose such a move and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that Germany, as one of the 111 states party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CWC), also did so. The United States is not a party to the Convention.

Asked to comment on what U.S. officials had said, Baerbock told reporters at a climate conference in Vienna: "I have followed the media reports. For us, as a state party, the Oslo agreement applies." Baerbock was referring to the MCP, which opened for signature in the Norwegian capital in 2008. It prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions.

The White House said sending cluster munitions to Ukraine is "under active consideration" but had no announcement to make. President Joe Biden will attend a NATO summit in Lithuania next week that is expected to be dominated by the war in Ukraine. Human Rights Watch called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions and urged the United States not to supply them. The group claimed that both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used these weapons, which have killed Ukrainian civilians.

These munitions usually release large numbers of small bombs that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening the civilian population. Unexploded bombs pose a danger for years after the conflict ends. (Reuters)

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 11: 22

Ukraine makes small gains near Bakhmut

Ukrainian troops have advanced more than a kilometer in the past day against Russian forces near the eastern city of Bakhmut, according to a military spokesman. His comments were Kiev's latest to signal that the counteroffensive it launched in early June is gradually progressing, although Russian versions of the fighting in the Bakhmut sector differ from Ukrainian ones.

"The defense forces continue to maintain the initiative, putting pressure on the enemy, carrying out assault operations and advancing on the northern and southern flanks," military spokesman Serhii Cherevatii told Ukrainian television. "Specifically, during the last day they have advanced more than a kilometer."

A spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said Ukrainian forces had had "partial success" near the village of Klishchiivka, just southwest of Bakhmut. Ukrainian military analysts have said securing Klishchiivka would help Ukraine retake the small town of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian forces in May after 10 months of heavy fighting.

Russia's RIA news agency quoted a Russian military source as saying earlier this week that Moscow's forces had repelled a Ukrainian attack on Klishchiivka and were reducing remaining Ukrainian troops in the area. Reuters could not independently verify the situation on the battlefield.

Moscow, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 16 months ago, sees Bakhmut as a springboard to attack other cities. Russia still holds Bakhmut, but both sides say fighting in the area is intense and Ukrainian forces hope to surround the city.

Kiev says it has recaptured a group of villages in the south since launching its counteroffensive, but that fierce resistance and minefields have slowed its forces' advance. Russia continues to control large areas of eastern and southeastern Ukraine. (Reuters)

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 10: 49

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Russia has created a new naval district in the Sea of Azov based in Mariupol, according to Britain.

The intelligence services of the United Kingdom have indicated this Friday that the Russian Navy has created a new naval district in the Sea of Azov based in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol (southeast), scene of intense fighting and a siege in 2022 in the framework of the invasion unleashed in February of that year.

In its daily part broadcast on Twitter, the United Kingdom has explained that this Azov Naval District will be "subordinated" to the Black Sea Fleet and will have "eight warships, including three modern Karakurt-class corvettes, that can launch Kalibr cruise missiles."

"The Sea of Azov is a vital maritime area for Russia because it links land water routes with international sea routes," they said. In this regard, they stressed that "in the context of the war, (the Sea of Azov) also offers an alternative option for military supply, in case Russia's land routes to southern Ukraine are cut off."

"The Azov Naval District will likely focus on supporting logistical and counter-partisan tasks, allowing the bulk of the Black Sea Fleet to concentrate on long-range attack operations and projecting its maritime potential," they concluded.

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 10: 43

Zelenski, with the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, this Friday in Prague / STRINGER / EFE

Zelenskiy insists on the need for long-range weapons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lamented on Friday, during a visit to the Czech Republic, the lack of long-range weapons to fight against Russian forces that have invaded his country, and insisted on the need to obtain them.

"Without long-range weapons it is difficult not only to carry out an offensive mission, but also to carry out a defensive operation," he told a joint news conference with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. "First of all, we are talking about long-range systems with the United States and today it only depends on them." Washington is reluctant to send such weapons because of their potential to be used against targets on Russian soil, a red line it avoids crossing.

Zelenskiy was visiting Prague as part of a foreign tour ahead of next week's NATO summit, in which he urged the military alliance to take concrete steps toward Ukraine's accession.

He also called in Prague for accession talks with the European Union to begin this year. (Reuters)

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 10: 37

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Poland's Prime Minister pays tribute to Poles killed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in World War II

A few days before July 11, when Poland will commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Volhynia massacre, a massacre in which Ukrainian nationalists killed at least 1943,1945 Poles between 100 and 000, according to Warsaw; between 8,000 and 30,000, according to Kiev, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki went to the place where the municipality of Ostrówki was located, disappeared, to pay tribute to the victims.

Morawiecki placed a cross over mass graves, next to the grandson of people killed in Ostrówki. He also left flowers where a church was once burned and lit candles on graves in the cemetery of the victims of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

The Volhynia massacre is one of the thorns in the bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries, despite Poland's strong humanitarian and military support to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion. Warsaw considers the massacre a genocide and Kiev denies this. The ultraconservative and nationalist government of Law and Justice also demands the exhumation of the victims, but Ukraine asks it before restoring the memorials to the Ukrainian fighters damaged on its territory. The equating of monuments and victims infuriates the Polish side.

On the night of July 11, 1943, nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army made a surprise attack on dozens of Polish villages in the Volhynia region — then in Nazi-occupied Poland, now part of Ukraine. This guerrilla, which sought the independence of the country, killed thousands of people of Polish origin in the following two years. It was led by Stepan Bandera, considered one of the founding fathers of independent Ukraine.

ACT.7 JUL 2023 - 10: 21