August 3, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a Wednesday news conference that the UN is seeking to establish a fact-finding team to study the attack on a Ukrainian detention facility that resulted in at least 50 deaths and dozens of injuries of Ukrainian prisoners of war. 

Russia and Ukraine both requested an investigation into the attack, Guterres told reporters in New York. He added that the terms of reference for the panel would need to be accepted by Russia and Ukraine before the fact-finding mission would begin. 

Guterres also said the fact-finding team would not be a criminal investigation, adding that the UN is looking for “independent team members.”

Russia previously invited experts from the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to conduct an “objective investigation” into the deaths of Ukrainian prisoners held at the Olenivka jail in the Donetsk region, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday. 

However, the International Committee of the Red Cross told CNN Saturday that its “demands for access” to the site have not been granted. 

More context: The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Defence Intelligence department claimed Wednesday that the detonation of the building was carried out by Wagner, the private military contractor whose fighters have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as other conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. 

CNN is unable to verify the claim by the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence department, which provided no evidence to support its allegation. 

Ukraine has consistently accused Russian forces of carrying out the attack last Thursday night, in response to Russian claims that Ukraine had used US high mobility artillery rocket systems to attack the center in order to prevent Ukrainian prisoners from admitting war crimes.

CNN’s Jo Shelly and Tim Lister contributed reporting to this post.

Russian energy giant Gazprom said the delivery of a pipeline turbine from Germany to Russia is “impossible,” despite German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying earlier on Wednesday that it was ready to go. 

In a statement on Telegram the state-owned energy company said “the sanctions regimes of Canada, the EU, the UK and the inconsistency of the current situation with the current contractual obligations on the part of Siemens make the delivery of the 073 engine to the Portovaya CS impossible.”

Gazprom has consistently blamed reduced gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Europe on technical issues relating to the turbine. It was recently under repairs in Canada and then shipped to a Siemens Energy plant in Germany. 

In a visit to inspect the turbine in the German city of Mülheim, the chancellor said, “It is clear and simple: the turbine is there. It can be delivered. All someone has to do is say, ‘I want it.’ Then it will be there very quickly.”

Scholz said that there were no legal or technical reasons or sanctions preventing the export of the turbine to Russia.

The Ukrainian government has raised its forecast for this year’s harvests of grain and oilseeds crops.

A meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal was told this year’s harvest is expected to be larger than was initially predicted — 65 to 67 million tonnes instead of the 60 million tonnes previously forecast.

Shymal said that “despite all the troubles, the harvest continues. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, during the harvest period, crop harvesting was carried out on an area of 3.5 million hectares, in fact, 12 million tons of grain of the new crop were collected,” said Shmyhal.

“In June we exported 3.2 million tonnes out of the 5 million that were needed. Exports are gradually increasing by rail, road, and through the Danube ports. Seaports will significantly expand these capacities and farmers will get new opportunities to sell their products,” he said.

Shmyal’s remarks came as the first ship to leave a Black Sea port laden with grain passed through the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul.

Shmyhal said the government was working to improve participation in state credits for farmers, many of whom have had their equipment and storage destroyed or are unable to get their produce to market economically.

Denys Marchuk, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, told a news conference Wednesday that 16 more ships are waiting for their turn to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports after being stranded there since February.

He said the first task was to begin shifting the 20 million tonnes stored by agricultural producers from the last harvest.

He also said that government ministries were discussing with the Coordination Council in Istanbul the possibility of including ports in the Mykolaiv region in the deal to export Ukrainian crops 

Ukrainian agencies — along with the help of outside experts — continue to investigate the cause of the explosion that killed 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war last week and injured many more at a detention center in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Defence Intelligence department claimed Wednesday that the detonation of the building where Ukrainian soldiers were held “was carried out by the fighters of the ‘Wagner’ military command center using a highly flammable substance, which led to the rapid spread of the fire in the premises.”

Wagner is a private military contractor whose fighters have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as other conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. 

CNN is unable to verify the claim by the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence department, which provided no evidence to support its allegation. 

Images from the scene at the detention center in Olenivka — which was used to house many Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol — show that many of the victims were badly burned.

The Defence Intelligence department also said that interrogations at the Olenivka pre-trial center involved the security services of the DPR and Russia as well as Wagner personnel.

It claimed that “physical torture and beatings were actively used during interrogations. Such measures, first of all, were aimed not at obtaining certain confidential information, but at bullying, physical humiliation, psychological demoralization.”

In part, the intent was to have prisoners admit on camera to “crimes committed by them, atrocities against the local population, the fighters’ renunciation of their views, as well as condemnation of the actions of the leadership of Ukraine,” the department alleged.

It went on to claim that “the Russian side had no intention of exchanging prisoners of war and in order to hide the improper conditions and forms of interrogation of Ukrainian servicemen (which could serve as evidence at The Hague Tribunal), deliberately destroyed the prisoners.”

Ukraine has consistently accused Russian forces of carrying out the attack last Thursday night, in response to Russian claims that Ukraine had used US high mobility artillery rocket systems to attack the center in order to prevent Ukrainian prisoners from admitting war crimes.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed Wednesday it had been able to visit the Olenivka facility once in May this year to deliver water tanks. 

“But we did not have access to POWs held there on an individual basis – as per ICRC’s modalities of work in detention facilities – and that continues to be the case,” the Red Cross said.

The ICRC added: “Under the Third Geneva Convention, during international armed conflicts, the ICRC must be granted access to all PoWs, wherever they are held. We also have full liberty to choose the places we wish to visit. Since February 2022, our teams have been able to have access to some PoWs, but not all.”

The ICRC said it has requested access to the detention center again since the attack last week, but it has not received permission from the Russians.

The world’s oil-exporting countries have agreed to a tiny increase in output next month amid fears that a global recession will crimp demand.

The Organization of the Oil Exporting Countries and its allies — which includes Russia — also known as OPEC+, said on Wednesday that it would produce an additional 100,000 million barrels a day in September.

This was the first OPEC meeting since US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia last month. Biden urged the country — which is the group’s biggest oil producer — to start pumping more.

For months, prices have climbed as Western embargoes on Russian oil over its invasion of Ukraine have limited global supply. Those prices have helped the world’s biggest oil companies reap record profits, even as millions face surging fuel bills.

A gallon of regular gasoline in the United States surpassed $5 for the first time in June, though prices have fallen back significantly since then.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during his visit to Moscow and discussed gas supply issues, the president’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Wednesday.

“Yes, Schroeder was in Moscow recently, and, indeed, he had a face-to-face meeting with President Putin,” Peskov said on a regular conference call with reporters.

“Of course, former Chancellor [Schroeder] … is very concerned about the real state of affairs and about the energy crisis that is flaring up in Europe and far from prospects in this area. Of course, he asked Putin to explain the situation and explain the vision of the Russian side,” Peskov added.

According to Peskov, Russia continues to pay Ukraine for gas transit despite the hostilities in the region.

“We continue to pay Ukrainians for transit through the only working branch. Aggressor or not, but the money is being accepted and the payment is going through,” Peskov said.

Peskov said Putin told Schroeder that Nord Stream 2 is ready for operation and said that gas supplies to Europe decreased due to sanctions.

“The situation with the turbines is, one [turbine] was removed and sent to Canada for repair works. It is now in Germany but some documents are missing. President [Putin] explained [to Schroeder] what papers those are,” Peskov said, adding that the German side requested confirmation from Gazprom that the turbine is not under sanctions. “So far, these documents are not there, as far as we know.”

Another turbine is awaiting repair work from a British subsidiary of the repair company, he said.

“Putin explained that this extremely tense and absurd situation was generated by the very restrictions and sanctions imposed by the Europeans and the British,” Peskov said.

According to Peskov, it was Schroeder who raised the question of using Nord Stream 2 should the situation require it.

“Former Chancellor [Schroeder] asked if, hypothetically speaking, Nord Stream 2 could be used in a crisis situation. … Putin was not the initiator, he did not offer this,” Peskov said. Putin said that it is “technologically possible” as the project is ready for immediate use, Peskov added.

The first shipment of grain to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa since Russia began its invasion passed the inspection of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian and Turkish officials.

Turkey’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that an inspection of the M/V Razoni would be carried out by a delegation consisting of representatives of Turkey, Russian Federation, Ukraine and the United Nations.

“The ship RAZONI has passed the inspection of the Joint Coordination Centre and is ready to proceed to its destination,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a tweet that the inspection of the shipment has been completed and that the ship will head next to Lebanon.

The three-hour inspection involved assessing the ship’s crew and cargo, and recording “valuable information on the vessel’s journey” along the corridor in the Black Sea agreed by the JCC, according to a statement from the center.

“The JCC will use this voyage in its ongoing work on fine tuning procedures and processes to enable the continuation of safe passage of commercial vessels across the Black Sea under the Initiative,” the statement said.

Three ports in Ukraine are scheduled to renew the export of millions of tonnes of wheat, corn and other crops, the statement added.

The M/V Razoni departed from the port of Odesa on Monday, carrying more than 26,000 tonnes of corn. After being delayed due to bad weather, it arrived in Istanbul on Tuesday evening. The ship is next heading to the port of Tripoli in Lebanon.

“This is the first ship that goes along the ‘grain corridor’ agreed with the UN and Turkey. Thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and port services, RAZONI safely made its way to the Bosphorus, where it was inspected by representatives of the JCC,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov posted on Facebook.

“Using RAZONI as an example, all the necessary control and coordination measures between Ukraine and the signatory partners – the UN and Turkey – are being finalized and worked out,” Kubrakov said.

He added that 17 vessels are loaded and awaiting permission to leave Ukraine and that applications are being accepted for the entry of new ships to Ukrainian ports for loading agricultural products.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the departure of the first grain ship from the Black Sea “significant,” but noted it is “only a first step, and continued implementation of the July 21 UN-facilitated deal is essential to bolster food security around the world.”

“Russia must meet its commitments, including by facilitating unimpeded exports of agricultural products from Black Sea ports,” Blinken said in a statement Wednesday. 

“Russia must also end its attacks that are rendering farmland in Ukraine unusable and destroying agricultural infrastructure,” he continued. “As long as Russia continues its aggression, the Ukrainian people and the world’s most vulnerable will continue to suffer its effects.”

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned that Germany must “expect that supply contracts will no longer be honored” by Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, even if gas flows resume through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

Gazprom had blamed significantly decreased gas deliveries in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on technical issues relating to the turbine.

“It is clear and simple: the turbine is there. It can be delivered. All someone has to do is say: I want it. Then it will be there very quickly,” Scholz said during a visit to the Ruhr city of Mülheim on Wednesday.

The chancellor, who was there to inspect a pipeline turbine that had recently been serviced in Canada, said that there were no legal or technical reasons or sanctions preventing the export of the turbine to Russia.  

“It must always be clear that there can always be some kind of pretextual reasons that lead to something not working. Technical reasons have allegedly stood in the way of gas exports to other European countries. There, too, they were just as incomprehensible,” Scholz said.

“For us, however, this means that we have to be prepared for the fact that even if the transport works now, if the gas transport through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline works well again, it will still be the case that issues can come up again at any time,” he added.

Speaking alongside Scholz, Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch said that the servicing of the turbine should have been “a routine measure” and reiterated that there were no technical reasons for reduced gas flows. Siemens Energy and the German government had prepared all paperwork on their side but were still missing documentation from Gazprom, Bruch added.

Last week, the Russian state-owned energy company said that it would further reduce gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, halting a turbine for repairs. Gas flows to Germany through the pipeline have since run at 20%, according to German authorities.

Gas through Nord Stream 1 had previously been flowing at 40% capacity after Russia slashed exports in response to Western sanctions over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The number of border crossings from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February has now surpassed 10 million, according to figures from the United Nations.

Here are the latest developments from the conflict:

New UN figures: There have been 10,321,348 border crossings from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion started on February 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The number of individual refugees from the country recorded across Europe has reached 6,180,946, according to the same research. European countries that have taken in a large number of refugees from the war-torn country include Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Russia reacts to Pelosi’s Taiwan trip: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan reflects Washington’s desire to prove their “impunity and display their lawlessness.” Lavrov added he did not see any other “reason to create such an irritant literally out of nowhere, fully aware what it means for the People’s Republic of China.”

First grain shipment arrives in Turkey: Ukrainian authorities welcomed the arrival in Turkey of the first grain shipment to leave the Black Sea port of Odesa since the war began. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this shipment must be the first of many to ensure food security internally and across the world. The shipment subsequently passed the inspection of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian and Turkish officials.

US sanctions Putin’s reputed girlfriend: The US Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reputed girlfriend, Alina Maratovna Kabaeva. This is part of a series of measures targeting Russian elites in the Biden administration’s latest attempt to punish the Kremlin for its ongoing war in Ukraine. Kabaeva was previously sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom.

Russia fails to break through Donetsk: Russian forces pushing toward the Donetsk city of Bakhmut have yet to make significant gains, according to the Ukrainian military. In its daily update, the military’s General Staff said Russian troops had made an advance from the northwest toward Bakhmut but were “unsuccessful, and retreated.” The news came as Ukrainian officials said the mandatory evacuation of the eastern Donetsk region had begun.

There have been over 10 million border crossings from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion started on February 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In that period, 10,321,348 border crossings have taken place from Ukraine, UNHCR data published on Tuesday said.

The number of individual refugees from the country recorded across Europe has reached 6,180,946, according to the same research.

Russia has taken the majority of refugees from Ukraine, accepting more than 1,800,000 people. However, the UN added that that estimate cannot be confirmed because “potential further movements or returns cannot be factored for the time being.”

Poland has received the second-highest number of refugees from the war-torn country, accepting more than 1,200,000 people. Other countries that have taken in large numbers of refugees from Ukraine include Germany and the Czech Republic, with more than 900,000 and 400,000 people respectively.

One of the few routes people use to evacuate Russian-occupied territories back into Ukrainian-controlled areas has been flooded, leaving many civilians stranded, according to local officials.

“Unfortunately, due to the rains, the road through Vasylivka (in southern Ukraine) was washed away. It was the only more or less normal way to get out of the occupation towards the territory controlled by Ukraine,” an adviser to the head of the Kherson civil military administration said in a televised broadcast on Tuesday.

However, some difficult evacuations are still ongoing, according to the head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration.

“The road to Kamyanske, through which people evacuated from the occupied territories, was washed away. There is a puddle of 1 kilometer long,” Oleksandr Starukh said. “The occupiers drive cars with Ukrainians right into this mud. The State Emergency Service pulls out cars with tractors and helps people get out of the mud.”

“On August 1, despite difficult weather conditions and heavy rain, 1,081 people returned to the territory under the control of Ukraine, including 265 children. Evacuation continues, we will do everything so that people can reach a peaceful territory under the control of Ukraine,” he added.

Local authorities said that while the route has become more difficult to travel, the influx of refugees has increased because of Ukraine’s counter-offensive towards Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to China “to join the united world” and oppose Russia amid the war in Ukraine.

The President discussed China when answering questions from students during a virtual address to the Australian National University on Wednesday.

Zelensky admitted Beijing’s “neutrality is better” than if China would join Russia, believing “the nation, the people of China will do the prudent choice.” He went on to say it is “important that China wouldn’t help Russia.” 

Speaking about the condition of Russia-Ukraine relations in the future, Zelensky said it “depends only on Russia” and that “the question belongs only to them.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan reflects Washington’s desire to prove their “impunity and display their lawlessness.”

“I cannot tell what was their (the Americans’) motivation but there are no doubts that it reflects the very same policy we are talking about with regards to the Ukrainian situation,” Lavrov said Wednesday at a news conference with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

“This is a desire to prove to absolutely everyone (their) impunity and display their lawlessness.”

Lavrov added he did not see any other “reason to create such an irritant literally out of nowhere, fully aware what it means for the People’s Republic of China.”

Some background: Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan has inflamed tensions between the US and China and prompted criticism from the Kremlin.

China’s anger at Pelosi’s visit to the democratic self-governing island was underscored when Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Feng on Tuesday accused her of “deliberately provoking and playing with fire against people’s will,” saying her visit is “extremely egregious” and the consequences will be “extremely serious.”

That same day, Moscow said that Russia considered Pelosi’s visit “a clear provocation in the spirit of the United States’ aggressive policy of an all-out effort to contain the PRC (People’s Republic of China).”

The Russian foreign ministry also called on Washington “to refrain from actions that undermine regional stability and international security and to recognize the new geopolitical reality in which there is no longer any place for American hegemony.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has paved the way to legalizing same-sex civil partnerships in the country, in response to a petition calling for same-sex marriage to be made legal there.

Zelensky explained that while the country remained at war, it would be impossible to legalize same-sex marriage because it would violate the constitution.

“The Family Code of Ukraine defines that the family is the primary and main unit of society. A family consists of persons who live together, are connected by common life, have mutual rights and obligations. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, marriage is based on the free consent of a woman and a man (Article 51),” he said on the presidency website.

“The Constitution of Ukraine cannot be changed during a martial law or a state of emergency (Article 157 of the Constitution of Ukraine).”

Despite the obstacles, Zelensky said he would work with his ministers to “ensure the rights and freedoms” of all Ukrainians.

“At the same time, the Government worked out solutions regarding the legalization of registered civil partnership in Ukraine as part of the work on establishing and ensuring human rights and freedoms,” he said.

“In the modern world, the level of democratic society is measured, among other things, through state policy aimed at ensuring equal rights for all citizens. Every citizen is an inseparable part of civil society, he is entitled to all the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine,” Zelensky also said.

Zelensky also thanked the more than 28,000 people that signed the petition for their “active civic position.”

Under Ukrainian law, the president must review petitions that get more than 25,000 signatures.

Russian forces pushing toward the Donetsk city of Bakhmut have yet to make significant gains, according to the Ukrainian military.

In its daily update, the military’s General Staff said Russian troops had made an advance from the northwest toward Bakhmut but were pushed back.

“The enemy launched an offensive in the area of ​​the western outskirts of Berestove, was unsuccessful, and retreated,” it said, referring to a village about 30 kilometers (19 miles) away from Bakhmut.

It added that the situation was the same in the directions northward between Volodymyrivka and Yakovlivka, and eastwards from Semyhiria to Kodema.

Fighting also continues northward along Volodymyrivka to Soledar and eastwards from Pokrovske to Bakhmut.

According to the General Staff, Ukrainian forces were able to target Russian forces moving in from the east. 

“Ukrainian soldiers inflicted powerful fire damage on the directions of Vidrodzhennia-Kodema and Dolomytne-Semyhiria and forced the occupiers to withdraw,” it said. 

Elsewhere in Donetsk, Ukraine says Russia also tried to make a push toward Avdiivka. 

“The enemy shelled the Avdiivka area. It tried to improve the tactical position, unsuccessfully, retreated with losses,” the General Staff said. 

The southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv was hit by “powerful explosions” early on Wednesday morning, according to Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych.

“Powerful explosions rocked Mykolaiv at around 5 a.m. More airstrikes. A fire broke out in one of the city’s districts, and a supermarket was destroyed in another,” Senkevych wrote on his official Telegram account.

Rescue operations are underway, the mayor said.

Some context: Russian shelling of the strategically important port of Mykolaiv has intensified since Friday, with attacks over the weekend described by the mayor as the “strongest” since the start of the war.

Ukrainian authorities have welcomed the arrival in Turkey of the first grain shipment to leave the Black Sea port of Odesa since Russia began its invasion. 

“The first cargo ship RAZONI with corn arrived in Istanbul. Our allies are helping us to fight #RussianAggression, and Ukraine is helping the [world] to prevent hunger crisis,” Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this shipment must be the first of many to ensure food security internally and across the world.

“Our goal now is to have regularity: that when one ship leaves the port, there should be other ships… Exports this year are needed so that our farmers and agricultural companies have sufficient resources for next year’s sowing,” Zelensky said in his Tuesday video address. “This is a matter of food security for our country as well – we are now ensuring next year.”

Zelensky accused Russia of provoking the food crisis to use “the supply of wheat, corn, oil as a weapon.”

“Russia creates a deficit, plays to raise prices, and when this provokes social unrest, it demands political concessions. It should not work with food,” he said. “But when the world is united, when partners fulfill their commitments, the necessary result can be achieved. Let’s see how the grain initiative will work in the coming days.”

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reputed girlfriend as part of a series of measures targeting Russian elites in the Biden administration’s latest attempt to punish the Kremlin for its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, who has been romantically linked to the Russian leader, was sanctioned “for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of the Government of the Russian Federation,” a Treasury Department statement said.

That statement describes the 39-year-old Kabaeva as having “a close relationship to Putin.” She is a former member of the State Duma “and is the current head of the National Media Group, a pro-Kremlin empire of television, radio, and print organizations.”

In April, the Wall Street Journal reported that sanctioning Kabaeva was under consideration by the US, but there was concern that such a move would inflame tensions given her close proximity to Putin.

Kabaeva was previously sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom.

In addition to Kabaeva, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against a number of other oligarchs, a major steel production company and two of its subsidiaries as well as a financial institution accused of running a sanctions evasion operation and its general director.

Read the full story here.

The G7 is considering further options to stop Russia “profiting from its war of aggression and to curtail Russia’s ability to wage war,” according to a statement from the forum’s foreign ministers on Tuesday.

Such options could include “a comprehensive prohibition of all services that enable transportation of Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products globally” unless the oil was purchased at or below a set price, the statement said. 

The foreign ministers said Russia is using energy as “a tool of geopolitical coercion” and that they would work together to reduce G7 countries demand on Russian energy, while protecting the most vulnerable groups from the impacts of supply disruptions and rising prices. 

Ukrainian officials said the mandatory evacuation of the Donetsk region has begun, with the first train leaving Pokrovsk and arriving further west in the city of Kropyvnytskyi. 

“The first train arrived in Kropyvnytskyi this morning. Women, children, the elderly, many people with limited mobility. Everyone was met and accommodated, everyone was helped,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in her Telegram channel on Tuesday. “Thanks to local services, international organizations and volunteers.”

The head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, also announced the beginning of the evacuation, adding that trains will depart every two days. 

“Every paired-numbered day, an evacuation train will depart from Pokrovsk to Kropyvnytskyi with a stop in Oleksandria. Departure time is 16:30,” Kyrylenko posted in his official Telegram. “Do not delay - evacuate! Evacuation saves lives!”

According to Ukrainian Railways, Ukrzaliznytsia, 136 passengers — including 44 with limited mobility — were on the first evacuation train. Volunteers from World Central Kitchen provided people with food, while the Ukrainian Postal Service, Ukrposhta, supported payments at the station.