🔴 Live: Russia says it thwarted drone strikes on Moscow and Crimea

21:01am: Moscow drone attack was Ukrainian ‘special operation’, says Ukraine defence source

A drone attack that damaged two buildings in the Russian capital earlier on Monday was a “special operation” carried out by Kyiv’s forces, a Ukrainian defence source has told AFP. 

“Today’s drone attack on Moscow  was a GUR special operation,” the source said, referring to Ukraine’s military intelligence. 

11:32am: Kremlin denies Russian forces targeted Odesa cathedral

The Kremlin on Monday denied Russian forces had targeted a historic cathedral in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa over the weekend, instead blaming the damage on Ukraine’s air defence systems.

“We have repeatedly stated and can repeat, that we, our Armed Forces, never strike civilian infrastructure facilities, let alone cathedrals, churches or other similar objects,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Read moreRussian attack on Odesa severely damages cathedral

11:27am: Kremlin says ‘vigilance’ needed after explosives found on grain ship

The Kremlin said on Monday that “increased vigilance” was needed after the Federal Security Service (FSB) alleged it had found traces of explosives on a ship travelling to Russia to pick up grain.

The FSB said the ship had been docked in the Ukrainian port of Kiliia in May, and that it may have been used to deliver explosives to Ukraine.

9:13am: Challenge of removing landmines slows Ukraine counteroffensive

Ukraine’s counteroffensive is being led by deminers working to remove landmines from Ukrainian soil – slow-paced and dangerous work.

“Our groups often get fired upon, from grad rockets, mortars, artillery. But what can you do?” Andriy, a deminer in Ukraine’s 128th Territorial Defence Brigade told FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg.

9:05am: Ukraine says it regained more than 16 square kilometres in east and south last week

Ukraine said Monday its forces over the past week had recaptured more than 16 square kilometres (six square miles) from Russian forces in the south and east of the country.

“During the week… the liberated area (in the south) increased by 12.6 square kilometres,” Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said in televised remarks, adding that Kyiv’s forces had wrested another four kilometres squared in the east.

8:30am: Russia says Ukraine launched 17 drones at Crimea

The Russian defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine tried to attack Crimea overnight using 17 drones, but that the attack was foiled and that there were no casualties.

It said eleven of the drones crashed into the Black Sea after being repressed by anti-drone equipment, three fell on Crimean territory and three were destroyed by air-defences.

Crimea’s Moscow-installed governor said earlier on Monday that an ammunition depot had been damaged during the attack. It was not immediately clear whether the ammunition depot was directly hit by a drone or if it was damaged by falling drone debris.

FRANCE 24 was not able to independently verify the report.

7:02am: Ukrainian drone strike hits ammunition depot in Crimea, says local official

A Ukrainian drone strike hit an ammunition depot in Russian-annexed Crimea, its Moscow-installed governor said on Monday. 

“In the sky over the Crimea, 11 enemy UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] were shot down by air defense forces and suppressed by electronic warfare … There was a hit in the ammunition depot in the Dzhankoy district,” Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram. 

6:54am: Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s Odesa region destroys grain hangar, Kyiv says

A Russian overnight drone strike on port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region destroyed a grain hangar, Kyiv’s military said on Monday.

The attack “was directed at the port infrastructure of the Danube … as a result of the strikes, a grain hangar was destroyed, tanks for storing other types of cargo were damaged,” Ukraine’s southern military command said on Telegram. 

4:17am: Moscow’s mayor says drones hit non-residential buildings

Russia said it had neutralised two Ukrainian drones over Moscow in the early hours of Monday, with one crashing close to the defence ministry in the city centre.

Officials said the drones struck non-residential buildings in the capital.

“A Kyiv regime attempt to carry out a terrorist act using two drones on objects on the territory of the city of Moscow was stopped,” Russia’s defence ministry said. “Two Ukrainian drones were suppressed and crashed. There are no casualties.”

Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on his Telegram messaging app that two non-residential buildings were struck during the attack, which happened around 4am local time. It was unclear whether the drones hit the buildings when they were downed, or whether they deliberately targeted the buildings.

Russia’s state news agencies, citing emergency services, said that drone fragments were found near a building on the Komsomolsky Avenue, which is not far from the defence ministry’s buildings.

The attack came a day after Kyiv vowed to “retaliate” for a Russian missile attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa.

2:40am: Putin says Russia will replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa

Russia will replace exports of Ukrainian grain to Africa, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, after Moscow exited a deal allowing their safe shipment.

“Russia will continue its energetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilisers and other goods to Africa,” Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin’s website.

“I want to give assurances that our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis.”

Moscow’s military operation blocked Ukraine’s Black Sea ports with warships until a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey and signed in July 2022 allowed for the passage of critical grain shipments.

Key developments from Sunday, July 23:

Russia struck the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa again on Sunday, local officials said, keeping up a barrage of attacks that has damaged critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine in the past week. FRANCE 24 correspondent Gulliver Cragg says it was the “heaviest strike on Odesa” so far.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met his closest ally, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, for the first time since the latter helped broker a deal to end a mutiny by Wagner fighters inside Russia last month.

Lukashenko on Sunday said he was “keeping” Russian Wagner mercenaries in central Belarus and that Minsk was “controlling” the situation with the notorious fighters on its territory.

And US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ukraine has taken back about 50 percent of the territory that Russia seized, although Kyiv’s counteroffensive will extend several months.

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

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)