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Rescuers work on a residential building destroyed by a missile attack in Bashtanka, in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine [AFP]
By Mersiha Gadzo, Sasha Petrova and Arwa Ibrahim
Published On 16 Jul 2022
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Updated: 17 Jul 2022 (21:17 GMT)

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issues executive orders sacking the head of the domestic security agency, the SBU, and the prosecutor general, saying that more than 60 of their employees were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territory.

  • Russian missiles have struck industrial facilities in Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych says, following “massive shelling” of the southern city in the early hours of Sunday.

17 Jul 2022 - 20:26
 (20:26 GMT)

Oleksiy Symonenko appointed as new prosecutor general

Zelenskyy has appointed Oleksiy Symonenko as the new prosecutor general in a separate executive order that was also published on the president’s site.

17 Jul 2022 - 20:19
 (20:19 GMT)

Zelenskyy: More than 60 prosecutors, state security employees work against Ukraine

Zelenskyy has followed up on decrees in which he removed the State Security Service head and his Prosecutor General by saying more than 60 of their employees were working against Ukraine in Russian-occupied territory.

He said 651 criminal proceedings had been registered relating to high treason and collaboration by employees of prosecutor’s offices, pretrial investigation bodies and other law enforcement agencies.

“In particular, more than 60 employees of the prosecutor’s office and the Security Service of Ukraine remained in the occupied territory and are working against our state,” he said.

He said that such crimes raised “very serious questions” for the relevant leaders and added, “Each of these questions will receive a proper answer.”

17 Jul 2022 - 20:13
 (20:13 GMT)

Moscow accused of shelling ‘civilian infrastructure’ in Donetsk

Donetsk region Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko has accused Moscow of shelling “civilian infrastructure, especially education institutions”.

“I was scared,” said 23-year-old chef Igor Besukh of a nearby missile attack on Friday in Kramatorsk, northern Donetsk region, where his sushi place is one of the few restaurants open just 20km (12 miles) from the front line.

Coming back to work the next day was not easy, he admitted however, “war is war, but lunch must be served on time,” he said, quoting a popular saying.

17 Jul 2022 - 19:56
 (19:56 GMT)

Demonstrators protest in Warsaw against Russian invasion of Ukraine

In Warsaw, Poland, nearly 2,000 demonstrators have gathered in front of Russia’s embassy to protest the invasion of Ukraine, an AFP news agency journalist has reported.

Carrying yellow and blue Ukrainian flags and chanting “enough death!” the Ukrainian and Polish protesters demanded that Russia be recognised as a “terrorist state”.

17 Jul 2022 - 19:38
 (19:38 GMT)

Ukraine’s president fires security agency chief and prosecutor general

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued executive orders dismissing the State Security Service head and the Prosecutor General.

The orders dismissing domestic security chief Ivan Bakanov, a childhood friend of Zelenskyy, and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova, who leads the effort to prosecute Russian war crimes in Ukraine, were published on the president’s official website.

No reason was immediately given for the sackings.

17 Jul 2022 - 18:14
 (18:14 GMT)

If bridge linking Crimea and Russia is hit, ‘consequences will be obvious’: Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by Putin, has responded to Ukrainian officials’ statements that Kyiv may strike the bridge linking Crimea and Russia, warning that that would trigger devastating consequences for the Ukrainian leadership.

“If that happens, the consequences will be obvious: They will momentarily face Doomsday,” Medvedev said. “It would be very hard for them to hide.”

Medvedev, who once was touted by the West as more liberal compared to Putin, said Russia will press its action in Ukraine until fulfilling its stated goal of “denazifying” and “demilitarising” the country. He predicted that the continuing fighting will “undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the existing regime” in Kyiv.

17 Jul 2022 - 17:46
 (17:46 GMT)

Ukrainian troops thwart Russian moves towards Sloviansk: General Staff

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff has said that Ukrainian troops have thwarted Russian attempts to advance toward Sloviansk, the key Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk, and other attacks elsewhere in the region.

17 Jul 2022 - 17:38
 (17:38 GMT)

Russian missiles strike industrial facilities in Mykolaiv: Mayor

Russian missiles have hit industrial facilities at a strategic city in southern Ukraine.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said the missiles struck an industrial and infrastructure facility in the city, a key shipbuilding centre in the estuary of the Southern Bug river. There was no immediate information about casualties.

Mykolaiv came under “massive shelling” in the early hours of Sunday, regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said.

17 Jul 2022 - 17:30
 (17:30 GMT)

Ukraine central bank sold over $12bn of gold reserves during war: Deputy head

Ukraine’s central bank has sold $12.4bn of gold reserves since the beginning of Russia’s invasion on February 24, the bank’s deputy head has said.

“We are selling [this gold] so that our importers are able to buy necessary goods for the country,” Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova told national television. She said the gold was not being sold to shore up Ukraine’s hryvnia currency.

17 Jul 2022 - 17:16
 (17:16 GMT)

Ukraine conflict could speed up Germany’s green energy transition: Study

The consequences of the Ukraine conflict could accelerate Germany’s green energy transition despite Berlin’s decision to reconnect coal-fired power plants to compensate for falling fossil fuel supplies from Russia, a study has shown.

The German government has been pushing for a shift to renewable energy, aiming for renewables to contribute 80 percent of the country’s electricity generation by 2030.

The study by credit insurer Allianz Trade found that Germany’s green energy goals were likely to increase the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix in the medium term, even beyond what would be required to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets by 2035.

17 Jul 2022 - 17:13
 (17:13 GMT)

EU mulls tightening Russia sanctions

The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday. With the conflict grinding on and increasingly spilling out into global energy and food crises, EU foreign ministers are considering banning gold purchases from Russia, which would align with sanctions already imposed by Group of Seven (G7) partners.

More Russian figures could also be placed on the EU’s blacklist. “Moscow must continue to pay a high price for its aggression,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after forwarding the proposed measures.

Brussels is expected to hold initial sanctions discussions Monday, but not make a same-day decision, according to a senior EU official.

17 Jul 2022 - 16:45
 (16:45 GMT)

EU can no longer afford national vetoes on foreign policy: Scholz

The EU can no longer afford to keep national vetoes when deciding on EU foreign and security policy if it wants to maintain a leading role in global politics, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.

Moscow’s war in Ukraine makes unity in Europe ever more urgent and increases pressure for an end to “selfish blockades” of European decisions by individual member states, Scholz said in an article published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.

“We simply can no longer afford national vetoes, for example in foreign policy, if we want to continue to be heard in a world of competing great powers,” he said.

17 Jul 2022 - 16:23
 (16:23 GMT)

Scholz: EU needs to step up its game as ‘geopolitical actor’

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is campaigning for a stronger and “geopolitical European Union” in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a guest contribution for the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung newspaper, the German leader called on the bloc to close its ranks in all areas on which member states have been divided so far, from migration policy to the development of a common European defence.

His government would make concrete suggestions “in the coming months” to achieve this, Scholz said.

According to the German leader, the EU is a “living antithesis to imperialism and autocracy”, which is why it is a nuisance for rulers like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

17 Jul 2022 - 16:04
 (16:04 GMT)

‘Russia must be recognised as a terrorist state’: Prosecutor general

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said that “Russia must be recognised as a terrorist state”, in a Twitter thread regarding the anniversary of the “tragic” shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 as it flew over eastern Ukraine eight years ago.

“For 8 years, we have had terrible evidence of this,” Iryna Venediktova said on Twitter. “The last 5 months were the peak of Russian terror – 23,000 war crimes committed against civilians, including international journalists showing the truth about #RussianWarCrimes.”

17 Jul 2022 - 15:10
 (15:10 GMT)

Medvedev: West’s refusal to recognise Crimea as Russian is a threat

The refusal of Ukraine and NATO powers to recognise Moscow’s authority over Crimea represents a “systemic threat” for Russia, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said.

“If any other state, be it Ukraine or NATO countries, believes that Crimea is not Russian, then this is a systemic threat for us,” Medvedev told World War II veterans, the Interfax news agency reported.

“This is a direct and an explicit threat, especially given what had happened to Crimea. Crimea returned to Russia,” said Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.

17 Jul 2022 - 15:06
 (15:06 GMT)

UK defence chief: 50,000 Russian soldiers killed or injured

Admiral Tony Radakin, chief of the United Kingdom’s armed forces, has estimated that 50,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in the invasion of Ukraine.

He told the BBC in a TV interview that Russia has lost more than 30 percent of land combat effectiveness with nearly 1,700 tanks and some 4,000 armoured fighting vehicles destroyed.

17 Jul 2022 - 14:58
 (14:58 GMT)

List of key events, day 144

Click here to read about key events in the Russia-Ukraine war so far for Sunday, July 17.

17 Jul 2022 - 14:10
 (14:10 GMT)

Four-year-old killed in Vinnytsia attack is buried

More than 100 people have come together to pay their respects to four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, killed in a missile attack in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday.

Liza, who had Down syndrome, was en route to see a speech therapist with her mother when Russian missiles struck Vinnytsia, far from the front lines. At least 24 people were killed, including Liza and two boys aged seven and eight, and more than 200 were wounded, including Liza’s mother.

“There is no punishment at all for people who do this,” Ilona, a friend of Liza’s family, told The Associated Press. “Sorry, I have no more comments. Here are the consequences of all this. It’s just torment, despair and a great deal of pain.”

Men carry Liza’s coffin during the funeral ceremony [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo]
A woman carries a portrait of Liza during the funeral ceremony in Vinnytsia [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo]

“I didn’t know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm,” Orthodox priest Vitalii Holoskevych said at the funeral, bursting into tears. “Because every burial is grief for each of us. We are losing our brothers and sisters.”

He paused and continued in a trembling voice: ‘’We know that evil cannot win.’’

 

Men lower Liza’s coffin into the ground in Vinnytsia [Efrem Lukatsky/AP Photo]
17 Jul 2022 - 13:39
 (13:39 GMT)

Ukraine doctors see spike in brain injuries and PTSD

Doctors in Ukraine say they are concerned about the trauma soldiers are being exposed to on the war’s front lines.

They are seeing a significant spike in serious brain injuries and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But the best the doctors can do at the moment is patch soldiers up and send them back.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher reports from the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine.

17 Jul 2022 - 12:29
 (12:29 GMT)

Zelenskyy on anniversary of shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia continues to sow grief and death on Ukrainian soil eight years since the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine by what international investigators say was a Russian surface-to-air missile likely fired by Russian-backed militia in the region.

“But nothing will go unpunished,” he said. “Every criminal will be brought to justice!”

Moscow, which calls the invasion a “special military operation” to demilitarise its neighbour and root out nationalists, says it uses high-precision weapons to degrade Ukraine’s military infrastructure and ensure its own security. Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians.

Kyiv and the West say the conflict is an unprovoked attempt to reconquer a country that broke free of Moscow’s rule with the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 [File: AP]