🔴 Live: Russia says it thwarted Ukraine drone attack on Black Sea port of Novorossiysk

Issued on: 04/08/2023 – 08:08

4 min

7:37am: Russian defence minister praises frontline troops for ‘successful offensive operations’

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited a combat zone in Ukraine to inspect a command post and meet senior military officers, the army said Friday.

Shoigu got an update on the situation on the front and “thanked commanders and soldiers … for successful offensive operations” in Lyman in eastern Ukraine, it said, without mentioning when the visit took place.

7:02am: Russia says it thwarted Ukraine attack on Black Sea naval base

Russia’s defence ministry said early on Friday that it had thwarted an overnight attack by Ukraine on a naval base in the Black Sea.

“Tonight, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the use of two unmanned sea boats, attempted an attack on the Novorossiysk naval base of the Russian Armed Forces,” it said, adding that Russian ships had destroyed the naval drones.

7:00am: Russian defence minister visits troops in Ukraine

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the frontline headquarters of the “Centre” army group involved in the Ukrainian conflict, TASS cited the defence ministry as saying on Friday.

Shoigu was briefed by group commander Andrei Mordvichev, it said, without disclosing the location of the meeting.

6:06am: No casualties from Ukrainian attack on Novorossiysk 

No casualties or damage have been reported from the Ukrainian sea drone attack on Novorossiysk, the RIA news agency cited regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev as saying on Friday.

5:57am: Russia says it fended off Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea

Russian air defences downed 10 Ukrainian drones over Crimea on Friday morning and suppressed three more with electronic countermeasures, TASS cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.

4:57am: Blasts, gunfire reported near Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk

Russian social media users reported hearing explosions and gunfire near the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on Friday morning.

Videos posted in a local online community and circulated by Russian online news outlet Astra showed the movement of ships just off the coast, with the sound of gunfire coming from the direction of the sea.

4:45am: Russian opposition leader Navalny faces 20 more years behind bars

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny faces trial again on Friday to hear whether he has been found guilty of a series of extremism charges that could see him spend 20 more years behind bars.

He is already serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for “embezzlement”, a charge that his supporters say was trumped up in retaliation for challenging President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny said he expected the court to hand him a lengthy, “Stalinist” prison sentence of about 18 years, and called on his supporters to resist Putin’s rule in a statement Thursday.

“Please consider and realise that by jailing hundreds, Putin is trying to intimidate millions,” he said.

2:00am: Zelensky decries ‘revolting’ corruption at recruitment centres

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday decried “revolting” practices exposed during an audit of Ukraine’s military recruitment centres and pledged to fix the system by placing in charge people who understood the meaning of war.

Zelensky has expressed indignation at corruption uncovered during the audit last month after a high-profile incident of wrongdoing came to light in the Black Sea port of Odesa.

“We had a detailed conversation,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address after meeting Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and SBU security service head Vasyl Maliuk.

The probe of recruitment offices is part of a long-running campaign to root out corruption, a critical issue as Ukraine presses a campaign to join NATO and the European Union.

Zelensky said all the findings of the investigation would be made public and subject to criminal proceedings.

12:08am: African leaders call for unlocking of Russian grain exports

African leaders involved in peace talks over Ukraine have called for the unlocking of Russian grain and fertiliser exports to revive a key Black Sea grain deal, South Africa said on Thursday.

The group also called for the United Nations to take action to release 200,000 tons of Russian fertiliser blocked in European Union seaports, said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa.

 “The leaders called for specific steps to remove obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports, thus allowing the resumption of the full implementation of the Black Sea package initiative,” Magwenya told a press briefing in Pretoria.

Key developments from Thursday, August 3:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said Kyiv’s troops were faced with brutal fighting against Russian forces all along the front lines.

The EU banned drone sales to Belarus, a close Kremlin ally, and sanctioned prominent state TV presenters there.

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)