LIVE - Updated at 00:17
Pavlo Kyrylenko says getting the 350,000 people remaining in Donetsk out is necessary to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns.
Thank you for joining us for today's live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
We will be pausing our live reporting overnight and returning in the morning.
In the meantime, you can read our comprehensive summary of the day's events below.
Latvian Defence Minister, Artis Pabriks, said the Baltic state will reinstate compulsory military service following growing tension with neighbouring Russia amid Moscow's war in Ukraine.
"The current military system of Latvia has reached its limit. Meanwhile we have no reason to think that Russia will change its behaviour," Pabriks told reporters on Tuesday.
Pabriks said the mandatory military service will apply to men and enter into effect next year, with several options available for fulfilling the requirement.
Pabriks also announced plans to build another military base near the southeastern city of Jekabpils, located closer to the Russian border than the existing Adazi base.
Canada has become the first country to formally ratify Finland and Sweden's accession to Nato in an accelerated process completed shortly after member nations signed off on the alliance's expansion on Tuesday.
The accession protocol needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all 30 members before Finland and Sweden can be protected by the Nato defence clause - that an attack on one member is an attack against all.
Before using an administrative process to ratify their membership on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly spoke to opposition lawmakers to make sure they were in agreement, the minister's spokesman said.
"We wanted to be the first country to ratify," Joly's spokesman said.
The signing of the protocol still allows Helsinki and Stockholm to participate in Nato meetings and have greater access to intelligence until ratification.
"Canada has full confidence in Finland and Sweden's ability to integrate quickly and effectively into Nato and contribute to the alliance's collective defence," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in statement.
Food and energy security will figure prominently in a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Bali this week.
Ramin Toloui, the US assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, told reporters that Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, would raise energy security in the main G20 ministers' session on Friday and in bilateral meetings.
The group's members should also insist that Russia support UN efforts to reopen sea lanes blocked by Moscow's war in Ukraine, the senior US official added.
"G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it support ongoing UN efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery," Toloui said.
It's 1am in Kyiv. Here's where things stand:
That's it from me, Maya Yang, as I hand the blog over to my colleagues in Australia who will bring you the latest updates. I'll be back tomorrow, thank you.
Ukraine has asked Turkey to investigate three additional Russian ships that it alleges transported stolen grain, Reuters reports.
According to official documents reviewed by Reuters, Ukraine asked Turkey to assist in investigating three Russian-flagged ships as part of Ukraine's ongoing efforts to investigate what it alleges to be grain theft from Russian-occupied territory.
A June 13 letter seen by Reuters revealed that the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office asked Turkey's ministry of justice to investigate and provide evidence on three ships that it believes to have allegedly transported stolen grain from occupied Ukrainian territories such as Kherson.
According to the leter, the ship travelled from the primary grain terminal in Crimea in April and May, which Russia annexed in 2014. the letter urged Turkey to obtain documentation surrounding their cargo and arrival in Turkish ports.
Exclusive: Ukraine's prosecutor general asked Turkey to investigate three Russian-flagged ships it suspects have been involved in transporting stolen grain. The ships are owned by a subsidiary of a Western-sanctioned company, @Reuters found https://t.co/5qYdTWwlWR pic.twitter.com/1eGg1gUN3F
Teachers from Russia have arrived to the Polohy district of Zaporizhizhia region that is occupied by Russia.
According to Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, children will go to kindergartens and schools to study under a Russian curriculum.
"In case of parental disagreement, the occupation administration threatens to remove children from their families and send them to boarding schools. The parents themselves are promised to be punished by administrative measures - men will be sent to the "army of the DPR [Donetsk People's Republic]", women will be sent to communal work related to cleaning the city," the defense ministry reports.
Satellite images have revealed that a large part of the Russian land force has been redeployed from the Alakurtti military base in Russia near the Finnish border, Euromaidan reports.
Satellite images reveal that a large part of the Russian land force has been redeployed from the Alakurtti military base near the Finnish border.
More than 100 vehicles have been taken away, most likely to Ukraine, despite NATO's expansion to Finland https://t.co/pW7bRGCSRI
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has demanded an explanation from General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces regarding conscripts' travel restrictions, the Kyiv Independent reports.
"I ask the General Staff not to make similar decisions without me in the future," he said.
Only July 5, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said that individuals subject to military service, conscripts, and reservists would have to obtain permission from the local military registration and enlistment office in order to leave their place of residence.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on July 5 that people subject to military service, conscripts, and reservists would have to obtain permission from the local military registration and enlistment office in order to leave their place of residence.
The UN rights chief has condemned Russia's "senseless war" in Ukraine on Tuesday while demanding an end to a "unbearable" civilian suffering as a result of the Russian invasion.
"As we enter the fifth month of hostilities, the unbearable toll of the conflict in Ukraine continues to mount," Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in her final appearance before the UN Human Rights Council. "In the name of every victim of this senseless war, the killings, the torture, the arbitrary detentions must stop."
"As we enter the fifth month of hostilities, the unbearable toll of the conflict in Ukraine continues to mount," Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in her final appearance before the UN Human Rights Council.
"In the name of every victim of this senseless war, the killings, the torture, the arbitrary detentions must stop."
Bachelet presented a report on Ukraine's human rights situation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. in the context of Russia's attack, from the February 24 invasion to May 15.
"The high numbers of civilian casualties and the extent of destruction caused to civilian infrastructure continue to raise significant concerns that attacks conducted by Russian armed forces are not complying with international humanitarian law," Bachelet said. "While on a much lower scale, it also appears likely that Ukrainian armed forces did not fully comply with IHL in eastern parts of the country."
"The high numbers of civilian casualties and the extent of destruction caused to civilian infrastructure continue to raise significant concerns that attacks conducted by Russian armed forces are not complying with international humanitarian law," Bachelet said.
"While on a much lower scale, it also appears likely that Ukrainian armed forces did not fully comply with IHL in eastern parts of the country."
A day after Russian president Vladimir Putin declared victory in seizing an eastern Ukraine province essential to his wartime aims, his troops escalated their offensive in the neighboring province Tuesday, prompting the governor to urge more than a quarter-million residents to evacuate.
Associated Press reports:
Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said that getting the 350,000 people remaining in Donetsk province out is necessary to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance.
"The destiny of the whole country will be decided by the Donetsk region," Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko told reporters in Kramatrosk, the province's administrative center and home to the Ukrainian military's regional headquarters.
"Once there are less people, we will be able to concentrate more on our enemy and perform our main tasks" Kyrylenko said.
Another Donetsk city in the path of Moscow's offensive came under sustained bombardment Tuesday.
Mayor Vadim Lyakh said on Facebook that "massive shelling" pummeled Sloviansk, which had a population of about 107,000 before Russian invaded Ukraine more than four months ago. The mayor, who urged residents hours earlier to evacuate, advised them to take cover in shelters.
At least one person was killed and another seven wounded Tuesday, Lyakh said. He said the city's central market and several districts came under attack, adding that authorities were assessing the extent of the damage.
It's 9pm in Kyiv. Here's where we stand:
Britain has added two Russian individuals to its sanctions list - Denis Gafner and Valeriya Kalabayeva.
The sanctions list has been updated to add Gafner and Kalabayeva, both of whom the UK government said were involved in spreading disinformation and promoting Russian actions in Ukraine.
The UN has documented 270 cases of "arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance" of civilians in parts of Ukraine held by Russian and Russian-backed forces, according to the UN's human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet.
The findings were based on information gained from field visits and interviews conducted with more than 500 victims and witnesses of human rights violations, as well as other sources of data, Bachelet told the UN's human rights council in an update on the situation in Ukraine.
In a speech at the same session, Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, Emine Dzhaparova accused Russia of kidnappings on a "massive" scale.
Russia has denied deliberately attacking civilians since the start of the war.
At least two people were killed and seven injured after Russian forces struck a market and a residential area in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, local authorities said.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, wrote on Telegram:
Once again the Russians are intentionally targeting places where civilians assemble. This is terrorism pure and simple.
Earlier, police said an attack on a market in Sloviansk had left one woman dead and three people wounded.
Russian-backed separatists have seized two foreign-flagged ships in the Russian-occupied port city of Mariupol and claimed they are "state property", Reuters reports.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), a pro-Russia quasi-state, informed two shipping companies that their vessels were the subject of "forcible appropriation of movable property with forced conversion into state property", without any compensation to the owners.
The owner of the Liberia-flagged Smarta bulk vessel, one of the two vessels taken, said it was informed of the seizure by email on 30 June, calling it unlawful and "against all norms of international law".
It said the ship was hit by shelling on 20 March and that its 19-member crew had been forcibly taken by the Russian military to Donetsk and released a month later.
The seizure of Smarta is "in breach of fundamental human rights in so far as property rights are concerned" and a "serious threat to shipping and to maritime safety", the company said in a statement.
The other vessel seized was the Panama-flagged Blue Star I, the news agency reports.
A spokesperson with the UN's shipping agency (IMO) said it was "aware of at least one ship departing from Mariupol, however little else has changed". More than 80 foreign-flagged ships remain stuck in Ukrainian ports, IMO data showed.
It is remote, inhospitable, windswept and largely uninhabited, but it has been fought over for centuries. Legend has it that the rocky outcrop in the Black Sea was created by the sea god Poseidon as a home for the greatest of all Greek warriors: Achilles. And just like the demigod, the small, cross-shaped island has seen its share of wars.
Today, the tiny piece of land is known as Snake Island (Zmiinyi Island), and on Monday Ukrainian forces raised the country's flag there once again after seizing the island back from Russian occupiers, driven away after months of heavy bombardment.
The fight for Snake Island has strategic value, but most important it is of national significance for all Ukrainians, especially in their country's darkest hour, with their back to the wall in Donbas. However, in the tiny fishing village of Vylkove, on the Ukrainian side of the Danube River and the closest inhabited area to the Island, the battle to regain control over this outcrop has upended the lives of inhabitants.
The intense fighting on the island between Russian and Ukrainian forces, which began on the first day of the war, has shaken the homes of villagers, in some cases opening cracks in their walls. In Vylkove, 31 miles from Snake Island, shock waves from blasts on the open sea, with nothing to absorb them, have reached the coastline.
Yuri Suslov, 43, has been fishing the waters of the Black Sea since he was a boy. "This is a very quiet town, so when they start bombing Snake Island it was very loud around here," he said.
Yuri knows Vylkove's channels like the back of his hand. On his boat, he navigates the narrow waterways that in the summer months resemble those of Vietnam or Cambodia. Reeds and pile dwellings line the edge of the river as children play in the water. Every family in Vylkove has a boat, the city's principal means of transportation.
Today, Vylkove's waterways that flow to the mouth of the Danube, giving access to the Black Sea in the direction of Snake Island, are blocked by military checkpoints, with the coast patrolled day and night.
"It's a scary situation, but I don't think the Russians are going to attack us," said Yuri. "You know why? Because we are too close to Romania, and if they accidentally hit Romania, it will be Nato war.''
Read the full story by Lorenzo Tondo: How Ukraine's 'Venice' has borne the brunt of fight for Snake Island
Related: How Ukraine's 'Venice' has borne the brunt of fight for Snake Island
It's 6pm in Kyiv. Here's where we stand:
Hello, it's Léonie Chao-Fong still with you with all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. I'm on Twitter or you can email me.
The UN's food agency said it had received $17m (£14m) from Japan to address grain storage problems in Ukraine and increase its exports.
The United Nations' food and agriculture organisation (FAO) said the funds would help Ukraine store produce from the July-August harvest in plastic sleeves and modular storage containers.
Ukraine's farmers are "feeding themselves and millions more people around the world", the head of the FAO's emergencies and resilience office, Rein Paulsen, said. He added:
Ensuring they can continue production, safely store and access alternative markets is vital to strengthen food security within Ukraine and ensure other import-dependent countries have sufficient supply of grain at a manageable cost.
Ukraine, the world's fourth-largest grains exporter, is trying to export its crop via road, river and rail since its Black Sea ports stopped operating after Russian troops invaded the country.
Ukraine's ministry for foreign affairs has called for the exclusion of Russian cosmonauts from future International Space Station (ISS) missions. It comes in the wake of the three Russians onboard the ISS appearing to display the flags of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic.
Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for the ministry, tweeted:
Russian cosmonauts display on ISS a flag under which Russian troops kill women and children in Donbas and turn entire Ukrainian cities to ashes. Russia is exporting its barbarism even to space - a zone of peace. It must be barred from all international space programs.
Russian cosmonauts display on @Space_Station a flag under which Russian troops kill women and children in Donbas and turn entire Ukrainian cities to ashes. Russia is exporting its barbarism even to space - a zone of peace. It must be barred from all international space programs. pic.twitter.com/jn6iXIliqw
Some observers have questioned the veracity of the photo. It appears to show the same three cosmonauts - Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov - who were lauded for wearing yellow and blue uniforms in Ukraine colours shortly after Russia's latest invasion of its neighbour began in February, now expressly supporting the breakaway regions that Russia is occupying. The image was released by the official Roscosmos Telegram channel yesterday, in the wake of Russia declaring it had successfully occupied all of Luhansk.
Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.
Ukrainian plans to seize as much as $500bn (£418bn) in frozen Russian assets to fund the country's recovery have met firm resistance from Switzerland, the hosts of an international two-day Ukraine recovery conference.
The Swiss president, Ignazio Cassis, pushed back on the plan, saying protection of property rights was fundamental in a liberal democracy. He underlined at a closing press conference the serious qualms of some leaders that proposals to confiscate Russian assets will set a dangerous precedent and needed specific legal justification.
"The right of ownership, the right of property is a fundamental right, a human right," he said in Lugano, adding that such rights could be violated, as they had during the pandemic, but only so long as there was a legal basis.
He added: "You have to ensure the citizens are protected against the power of the state. This is what we call liberal democracies."
Switzerland is one of many countries with tight banking secrecy laws that is not enthusiastic about seizing private property for political purposes.
The idea has won the endorsement, in principle, of the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss.
Read the full article by Patrick Wintour: Switzerland resists Ukrainian plan to seize frozen Russian assets
Related: Switzerland resists Ukrainian plan to seize frozen Russian assets
The mayor of Sloviansk has called on its remaining residents to evacuate as the Russian invaders stepped up their shelling of the frontline Ukrainian city following the capture of Lysychansk on Sunday, Dan Sabbagh and Lorenzo Tondo report.
Vadim Lyakh said 40 houses had been shelled on Monday, a day after six people were killed and 20 injured in missile attacks aimed at one of the main population centres in the Donbas still outside Russian control.
"It's important to evacuate as many people as possible," Lyakh said in an interview with Reuters, noting that 144 people had been evacuated on Tuesday, including 20 children, from a city now deemed at risk from Russian bombardment.
Russia had concentrated its forces to capture the cities of Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk between May and July, the last two cities in Luhansk province it did not control, through an unrelenting and often untargeted artillery barrage.
Ukraine said on Monday it had retreated from Lysychansk, prompting speculation that Russia would now focus on Sloviansk and Kramatorsk to the south, the two main cities in Donetsk held by Kyiv. The provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk make up Ukraine's industrial Donbas region.
Sloviansk had a population of 107,000 and Kramatorsk 210,000 before the war. Despite the threat of a Russian attack, thousands had remained, reluctant to abandon their homes despite being just a few miles from the frontlines.
It is unclear if Moscow will immediately attempt to seize Sloviansk. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said on Monday that Russian troops who fought in Luhansk needed to "take some rest and beef up their combat capability".
Related: Sloviansk mayor urges residents to flee city as Russia steps up shelling
Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has claimed some of the weapons the west is sending to Ukraine are ending up on the black market.
Shoigu said Ukraine had received more than 28,000 tonnes of military cargo so far, and some of the weapons were appearing in the Middle East. He did not provide any details to back up his claim.
Speaking in televised remarks, Shoigu said:
According to information at our disposal, some of the foreign weapons supplied by the west to Ukraine are spreading across the Middle Eastern region and are also ending up on the black market.
Only 3% of Mariupol residents have access to water, according to the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city's mayoral adviser, Petro Andriushchenko.
Residents are being forced to take water everywhere, "including sewage wells", Andriushchenko said.
There are no doctors left in the city, he said, leaving more than 100,000 people without healthcare and medication.
From Ukrainian activist Olena Halushka:
#Mariupol mayor's advisor Andryushchenko informs there are no doctors there anymore. The last 17 russians have just left. More than 100k ppl incl kids are left w/o healthcare or medications, in town w no drinking water & amidst many chaotic burials. Let alone the heat. Terrifying
At least one person has died and three people were wounded after Russian forces struck a market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, according to police.
Yellow smoke was seen billowing up from an auto supplies shop, and flames engulfed rows of market stalls as firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze, Reuters reports.
It was not clear how many people were at the market at the time of the attack, police said, but the market had been in the process of closing for the day and some shops were still open.
Russia's parliament has approved the first stage of laws that would allow the country to move to a war economy.
The two bills would authorise the government to oblige businesses to supply the military with goods and their employees to work overtime to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.
The military needed to be supported at a time when the Russian economy is under "colossal sanctions pressure" from the west, deputy prime minister Yuri Borisov told parliament.
Both bills need to undergo second and third readings, be reviewed by the upper house of parliament and be signed by President Vladimir Putin to become law.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the lower house of Russia's parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, told members in a plenary today that Ukraine had become a "terrorist state".
According to remarks posted on the State Duma's website, Volodin accused the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, of being the head of a "criminal regime".
Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he held further talks with Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, about the latest situation in Ukraine.
The call between the two leaders came as Johnson faces mounting pressure over his decision to appoint the former Conservative deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, who resigned last week over allegations he groped two men at a private members' club in London.
Held talks with @BorisJohnson. Thanked for the unwavering support of ???? - the recent decision to provide £1 billion in security aid and today's - £100 million. Talked about food security for the world and security guarantees for ????. Grateful for ????'s willingness to host #URC2023
As our Andrew Sparrow writes, calls between Johnson and Zelenskiy appear to be a regular occurrence. Amazingly, such calls often seem to coincide with days when the UK prime minister is facing some sort of domestic turmoil in London.
A Russian-flagged ship carrying thousands of tonnes of grain is being held and investigated by Turkish authorities in the Black Sea port of Karasu over claims its cargo was stolen from Ukraine.
Turkish customs officials acted after Kyiv claimed the Zhibek Zholy was illegally transporting 7,000 tonnes of grain out of Russian-occupied Berdyansk, a Ukrainian port in the south-east of the country.
Officials in Karasu said the ship was waiting off port while inquiries were undertaken into the provenance of the shipment.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, confirmed that the ship was Russian-flagged, but appeared to muddy the waters while claiming the Kremlin was seeking clarity on Monday.
"The ship really is Russian-flagged, but I think it belongs to Kazakhstan and the cargo was being carried on a contract between Estonia and Turkey," Lavrov told reporters.
Kyiv has accused Russia of stealing grain from occupied Ukrainian territory to sell on the international markets. The country's grain exports are responsible for almost 15% of the world's total.
The case of the Zhibek Zholy has brought claims of theft into sharp focus and put the Turkish government in a sensitive position as it continues to seek a mediating role between Moscow and Kyiv over the issue of global food supply.
Related: Turkey seizes Russian ship carrying 'stolen' Ukrainian grain
Our Lorenzo Tondo has tweeted an image from Mykolaiv, where local officials said several Russian missiles struck the southern Ukrainian city last week.
Mykolaiv. Now. #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/TSrlnS6DVD
Russian conscripts are not being sent to fight in Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine, defence minister Sergei Shoigu claimed.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied Russia uses conscripts drafted by the state to serve in the army, saying only professional soldiers and officers are taking part in its military operation.
Last month, about a dozen army officers were prosecuted after the defence ministry admitted that hundreds of conscripts were sent to fight in Ukraine.
Citing Putin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the Russian state-owned news agency Ria reported that Putin had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts from the operation.
The defence ministry said in March:
Unfortunately, we have discovered several facts of the presence of conscripts in units taking part in the special military operation in Ukraine. Practically all such soldiers have been pulled out to Russia.
A Ukrainian mathematician who proved the best way to pack spheres in eight dimensions to take up the least space, and an Oxford expert who has solved conundrums in the spacing of prime numbers, are among the winners of the Fields medal, considered the equivalent of a Nobel prize for mathematics.
The winners of the prize, presented at the International Mathematical Union awards ceremony in Helsinki, have been announced as Prof James Maynard 37, from Oxford University, Prof Maryna Viazovska, 37, of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Hugo Duminil-Copin, 36, of the University of Geneva and Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, and June Huh, 39, of Princeton University.
While the first Fields medal was awarded in 1936, there was a hiatus until 1950, since when it has been presented every four years to up to four mathematicians who are under 40.
Viazovska, who was born and grew up in Kyiv, is only the second woman to receive the award, after the win by Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, who became a medalist in 2014. Mirzzakhani died of breast cancer in 2017.
Read the full article by Nicola Davis and Ian Sample: Fields medal: Kyiv-born professor and Oxford expert among winners
Related: Fields medal: Kyiv-born professor and Oxford expert among winners
The 30 Nato member countries have signed accession protocols for Finland and Sweden, sending the membership bids of the two Nordic countries to allied parliaments for approval.
The protocol means Finland and Sweden can join in Nato meetings and have greater access to intelligence, but will not be protected by an alliance defence clause - that an attack on one ally is an attack against all - until ratification.
Nato's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said at the signing at Nato headquarters alongside the Finnish and Swedish foreign ministers:
This is truly an historic moment. With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger.
He urged allies to swiftly ratify and assured the two Nordic countries of Nato's support in the meantime.
Sweden's foreign minister, Ann Linde, thanked Nato for its support and said she was looking forward to working together "in ensuring our collective security".
Just took part in historic NAC meeting where ???? and ???? accession protocols were signed by all NATO allies. Thank you for your support! Now the process of ratification by each of the Allies begins. Look forward to working together in ensuring our collective security. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/9VNyBwk0Es
Russia has repeatedly warned both countries against joining Nato, and in March threatened "serious military and political consequences" should Finland and Sweden join the alliance.
Hello everyone. It's Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you next. I will be back later on.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has claimed that Russia has created two humanitarian corridors in the Black and Azov Seas to facilitate the export of grain.
Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quotes Shoigu saying: "A set of measures is being taken to ensure the safety of navigation in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas. The mine danger in the waters of the port of Mariupol has been completely eliminated."
Russia has said repeatedly it is not obstructing the export of Ukraine's grain, and that authorities in Kyiv simply need to de-mine their waters, an act that would also allow Russian warships closer unhindered access to Ukraine's southern coast.
The Tass news agency has reported that Russia is planning to launch a railway link between Rostov region and the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk it occupies in eastern Ukraine.
Building transport links has also been a priority for the Russian occupiers between Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, and the areas of Kherson which it occupies.
Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the Russian-imposed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, has said the region plans to sell Ukraine's grain to the Middle East, according to reports from Russian news agency Tass.
Tass said that the main countries involved in the deal were Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of stealing grain, a charge which Moscow has denied.
Yesterday, a senior Turkish official said Turkey had halted a Russian-flagged cargo ship off its Black Sea coast to investigate a Ukrainian claim it was carrying stolen grain.
Russia's ministry of defence has issued its daily operational briefing. None of the claims made have been independently verified.
They claim to have shot down three drones and one Su-25 aircraft, and killed up to 150 Ukrainian servicemen in a "high-precision weapons" attack on Kharkiv in the last 24 hours.
Russia's running total of claimed equipment losses for Ukraine now stands at:
231 aircraft, 134 helicopters, 1451 unmanned aerial vehicles, 353 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,910 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 716 multiple rocket launcher combat vehicles, 3,092 field artillery and mortar guns, and 4,016 special military vehicles.
Leisa Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP for the Holos party, has been interviewed by Sky News in the UK. She conceded that Russia was making military gains, and that "they will continue making them until and unless they are stopped".
She said: "But the fight is ongoing, definitely, and the fight will be ongoing for as long as Ukraine gets the military support and, of course, the financial support necessary to fight back Russia."
She described the morale of Ukraine's armed forces as good despite recent setbacks, saying "the Ukrainian army is as determined as ever to fight back."
Vasylenko said: "There have been losses in the Ukrainian army. These losses have been big, and there are huge numbers of prisoners of war at the moment. And that gives the resolve to the Ukrainian military, to the men and women alike, who are fighting for Ukraine to fight back harder. To avenge the lives that have been lost. And to get back to their comrades."
The British Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has said the Ukrainians have "done a formidable job" attempting to hold back Russian advances, but expressed fears that Russia may now be in a position to advance on Odesa.
He said the west must act to get the port into use for grain exports, and said "we will have to look Russia in the eyes and see who blinks."
Interviewed on Sky News, he told called on Great Britain to bypass the security council at the UN and go straight to the general assembly to "get a resolution to call for the port of Odessa to become a humanitarian zone".
He went on to say:
This would then allow a 'coalition of the willing' to go in and protect it. To link up the territorial waters - which are currently mined, those mines will have to be taken away - but link up the territorial waters to international waters so those grain shipments can get out. Only if we use those ships to get the grain out can we get the scale of grain required, not just to feed Europe, but indeed Africa as well. If we don't, then the the consequences will almost be biblical. The starvation, the famine that will take place, we'll get mass migration as well.
This would then allow a 'coalition of the willing' to go in and protect it. To link up the territorial waters - which are currently mined, those mines will have to be taken away - but link up the territorial waters to international waters so those grain shipments can get out. Only if we use those ships to get the grain out can we get the scale of grain required, not just to feed Europe, but indeed Africa as well.
If we don't, then the the consequences will almost be biblical. The starvation, the famine that will take place, we'll get mass migration as well.
Ellwood also believed that Russian president Vladimir Putin has the upper hand in Ukraine, saying: "Russia is gaining more ground than it is losing in Ukraine and for Putin, that registers a win. He can sell that to the Russian people."
Maksym Marchenko, Ukraine's governor of Odesa, has issued a call to Russian forces in the country to lay down their arms and refuse to fight. He writes on Telegram:
Ukrainians are ready to defend their homes and loved ones to the last. Think about your families too. Your loved ones need living healthy fathers, husbands and sons, they need them at home. Life is not given in order to fulfil the criminal orders of Putin's regime. Save your life and future - refuse to participate in Putin's bloody war. Lay down your arms for the sake of your safe and peaceful future. You can drain fuel, disable equipment, explaining the impossibility of your participation in hostilities. International human rights defenders and the protection of the United Nations will be provided to those who fear persecution by the Russian authorities. This is not surrender. This is a demonstration of your refusal to participate in a crime against humanity. Having done this, you are not betraying the Russian people and your homeland. On the contrary, you give Russia a chance to preserve its dignity and give hope for the future.
Ukrainians are ready to defend their homes and loved ones to the last. Think about your families too. Your loved ones need living healthy fathers, husbands and sons, they need them at home.
Life is not given in order to fulfil the criminal orders of Putin's regime. Save your life and future - refuse to participate in Putin's bloody war.
Lay down your arms for the sake of your safe and peaceful future. You can drain fuel, disable equipment, explaining the impossibility of your participation in hostilities.
International human rights defenders and the protection of the United Nations will be provided to those who fear persecution by the Russian authorities. This is not surrender. This is a demonstration of your refusal to participate in a crime against humanity.
Having done this, you are not betraying the Russian people and your homeland. On the contrary, you give Russia a chance to preserve its dignity and give hope for the future.
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic has issued its daily military briefing. It claims 12 of the 240 settlements in Ukraine it says it controls were shelled by Ukrainian forces in the last 24 hours, leading to four deaths and 29 civilians being injured.
The claims have not been independently verified. Russia and Syria are the only UN member states to recognise the Donetsk People's Republic as a legitimate authority.
Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has urged the international community to reduce Russian access to maritime transport. He tweeted:
Russia's export-oriented economy relies heavily on maritime transportation provided by foreign fleets. I urge partners: restrict Russia's access to their services and deplete Putin's war machine. After all, what Russia really exports to the world today is death, crisis, and lies.
Russia's export-oriented economy relies heavily on maritime transportation provided by foreign fleets. I urge partners: restrict Russia's access to their services and deplete Putin's war machine. After all, what Russia really exports to the world today is death, crisis, and lies.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, will fly to Hanoi today for a two-day visit to Vietnam before heading to a G20 meeting later this week in Indonesia, the Vietnamese government has said.
The visit at the invitation of Vietnamese foreign minister, Bui Thanh Son, comes as the two nations mark the 10th anniversary of their "comprehensive strategic partnership", the government said in a statement as reported by Reuters.
Russia is Vietnam's biggest arms supplier and its companies are involved in several major energy projects in the country.
The two nations have close ties dating back to the Soviet era and Vietnam has not so far condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In April, Vietnam voted against a resolution to suspend Russia from the UN human rights council over the war.
Trade between Vietnam and Russia rose 25% last year to $7.1bn, the statement said.
Lavrov will attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 biggest economies (G20) held on the Indonesian island of Bali later this week.
Ukraine's governor of Luhansk, Serhai Haidai, has posted an update to Telegram casting aspersions on the ability of pro-Russian proxies to restore stability in the newly occupied areas of Ukraine. He writes:
In the recently occupied territories, the Russians establish their own rules, talk nonsense about the opening of schools from 1 September, the rapid restoration of communications. This is all a lie, the same thing happened in Mariupol. The only thing the Rashists [a term for Russian fascists] are capable of is terrorising the local population. Orcs [derogatory slang for Russians/pro-Russian forces] are already looking for activists and military families, collaborators are helping with this.
In a similar vein, Ukraine's interior ministry has posted a warning this morning about saboteurs and collaborators, claiming that more than 800 have been detained since the start of Russia's latest invasion of Ukraine. It quotes interior minister Yevhen Yenin claiming:
Over these few months, more than 800 saboteurs were detained and handed over to the SBU [Ukrainian security service] for further procedural actions. And often, they are "sold for thirty pieces of silver": the price for treason to the motherland reaches no more than 300 dollars.
Images of Ukrainian servicemen bathing in a stream in Fedorivka in central Ukraine paint an picture of time spent between battling Russian forces on the frontline.
Following Russia's capture of Lysychansk and control of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, Ukrainian forces will be able to fall back to a more readily defendable, straightened front line, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The latest British intelligence report, released shortly before 7am BST, confirms that Russia's "relatively rapid capture" of Lysychansk has allowed its forces to extend its control across virtually all of the territory of Luhansk and claim substantive progress against the policy objective it presented as the immediate purpose of the war, namely "liberating" the Donbas.
Unlike in previous phases of the war, Russia has probably achieved reasonably effective co-ordination between at least two groupings of forces, the central grouping likely commanded by General-Colonel Alexandr Lapin and the southern grouping probably under the recently appointed General Sergei Surovikin. Ukrainian forces have likely largely withdrawn in good order, in line with existing plans. The Ukrainian held areas of Sieverodonetsk-Lyschansk consisted of a bulge or salient which Russian could attack from three sides."
Unlike in previous phases of the war, Russia has probably achieved reasonably effective co-ordination between at least two groupings of forces, the central grouping likely commanded by General-Colonel Alexandr Lapin and the southern grouping probably under the recently appointed General Sergei Surovikin.
Ukrainian forces have likely largely withdrawn in good order, in line with existing plans.
The Ukrainian held areas of Sieverodonetsk-Lyschansk consisted of a bulge or salient which Russian could attack from three sides."
The report notes that there is a "realistic possibility" that Ukrainian forces will now be able to fall back to a more readily defendable, straightened front line.
The battle for the Donbas has been characterised by slow rates of advance and Russia's massed employment of artillery, levelling towns and cities in the process. The fighting in Donetsk Oblast will almost certainly continue in this manner."
The battle for the Donbas has been characterised by slow rates of advance and Russia's massed employment of artillery, levelling towns and cities in the process.
The fighting in Donetsk Oblast will almost certainly continue in this manner."
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 5 July 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/NVYkvuvi87
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Gas consumption will contract slightly this year due to high prices and Russian cuts to Europe, with only slow growth over coming years as consumers switch to alternatives, the IEA has said.
The International Energy Agency chopped its forecast for global gas demand by more than half in its latest quarterly report on gas markets, according to a report from Agence France-Presse.
It now expects growth of just 3.4% by 2025, an increase of 140bn cubic metres (bcm) from 2021 levels, which is less than the 175 bcm jump in demand registered in 2021 alone. In a statement, the IEA said:
The consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on global gas prices and supply tensions, as well as its repercussions on the longer-term economic outlook, are reshaping the outlook for natural gas. Today's record prices and supply disruptions are damaging the reputation of natural gas as a reliable and affordable energy source, casting uncertainty on its prospects, particularly in developing countries where it had been expected to play a growing role in meeting rising energy demand and energy transition goals."
The consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on global gas prices and supply tensions, as well as its repercussions on the longer-term economic outlook, are reshaping the outlook for natural gas.
Today's record prices and supply disruptions are damaging the reputation of natural gas as a reliable and affordable energy source, casting uncertainty on its prospects, particularly in developing countries where it had been expected to play a growing role in meeting rising energy demand and energy transition goals."
Some military experts believe the hard fought victory in Luhansk has brought Russian forces little strategic gain, and the outcome of what has been dubbed the "battle of the Donbas" remains in the balance.
Neil Melvin of the RUSI think tank in London compared the battle to the huge fights for meagre territorial gains that characterised the first world war. Speaking to Reuters, he said:
I think it's a tactical victory for Russia but at an enormous cost. This has taken 60 days to make very slow progress. I think the Russians may declare some kind of victory, but the key war battle is still yet to come."
I think it's a tactical victory for Russia but at an enormous cost.
This has taken 60 days to make very slow progress.
I think the Russians may declare some kind of victory, but the key war battle is still yet to come."
Melvin said the decisive battle for Ukraine was likely to take place not in the east, where Russia is mounting its main assault, but in the south, where Ukraine has begun a counter-offensive to recapture territory.
"This is where we see the Ukrainians are making progress around Kherson. There are counter-attacks beginning there and I think it's most likely that we'll see the momentum swing to Ukraine as it tries to then mount a large-scale counter-offensive to push the Russians back," he said.
Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, told an international conference that rebuilding his war-ravaged country would cost around $750bn (£620bn).
Speaking at the opening of the Ukraine recovery conference in Switzerland, Shmyhal said the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs should be used to help Ukraine put itself back together.
A transcript of his speech later published online reads:
We believe that the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs. The Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war, they caused this massive destruction, and they should be held accountable for it."
We believe that the key source of recovery should be the confiscated assets of Russia and Russian oligarchs.
The Russian authorities unleashed this bloody war, they caused this massive destruction, and they should be held accountable for it."
Shmyhal estimated that Russia's frozen assets amount to between 300 and 500 billion dollars.
Speaking via video message, Zelenskiy said the reconstruction was not the "local task of a single nation" but rather "a common task of the whole democratic world".
The two-day conference, held under tight security in the southern Swiss city of Lugano, had been planned well before the invasion, and had originally been slated to discuss reforms in Ukraine before being repurposed to focus on reconstruction.
The conference said Ukraine's recovery plan had three phases: a first focused on fixing things that matter for people's daily lives, such as water supply, which is ongoing; a second "fast recovery" component that will be launched as soon as fighting ends, including temporary housing, hospital and school projects; and a third that aims to transform the country over the longer term.
Ukrainian forces have taken up new defensive lines in Donetsk, where they still control major cities, and plan to launch counter offensives in the south of the country.
Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, said the weeks-long battle for Lysychansk had drawn in Russian troops that could have been fighting on other fronts, and had given Ukraine's forces time to build fortifications in the Donetsk region to make it "harder for the Russians there".
He also reiterated calls for Ukraine's western allies to provide more arms, saying the country's armed forces would launch a counteroffensive when they had sufficient long-range weapons.
He added: "The [Russian] tactics will be the same. They will shoot at everything with their artillery, but it will be difficult for them to move forward."
Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine was hoping to launch counter offensives in the south of the country in a video posted online.
This is the last victory for Russia on Ukrainian territory. These were medium-sized cities. And this took from 4th April until 4th July - that's 90 days. So many losses..."
This is the last victory for Russia on Ukrainian territory.
These were medium-sized cities. And this took from 4th April until 4th July - that's 90 days. So many losses..."
Arestovych said besides the battle for Donetsk, Ukraine was hoping to launch counter offensives in the south of the country.
"Taking the cities in the east meant that 60% of Russian forces are now concentrated in the east and it is difficult for them to be redirected to the south," he said.
"And there are no more forces that can be brought in from Russia. They paid a big price for Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk."
Zelenskiy said on Monday that despite Ukraine's withdrawal on Sunday from Lysychansk, its troops continued to fight.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine respond, push back and destroy the offensive potential of the occupiers day after day. We need to break them. It is a difficult task. It requires time and superhuman efforts. But we have no alternative."
The Armed Forces of Ukraine respond, push back and destroy the offensive potential of the occupiers day after day.
We need to break them. It is a difficult task. It requires time and superhuman efforts. But we have no alternative."
Russian forces will target the eastern Donetsk cities of Sloviansk and Bakhmut next, the governor of the neighbouring province of Luhansk has warned.
President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the heavily fought-over region of Luhansk on Monday after Ukraine's military command confirmed that its troops had been forced to pull back from the city of Lysychansk.
Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai, says he now expects the cities to come under heavy attack as Russia attempts to take full control of Donbas. Haidai told Reuters:
The loss of the Luhansk region is painful because it is the territory of Ukraine. For me personally, this is special. This is the homeland where I was born and I am also the head of the region. [Russian forces] will not transfer 100% of their troops to some front because they need to hold the line. If they leave their positions then ours can carry out some kind of counteroffensive. Still, for them goal number one is the Donetsk region. Sloviansk and Bakhmut will come under attack - Bakhmut has already started being shelled very hard."
The loss of the Luhansk region is painful because it is the territory of Ukraine.
For me personally, this is special. This is the homeland where I was born and I am also the head of the region.
[Russian forces] will not transfer 100% of their troops to some front because they need to hold the line. If they leave their positions then ours can carry out some kind of counteroffensive.
Still, for them goal number one is the Donetsk region. Sloviansk and Bakhmut will come under attack - Bakhmut has already started being shelled very hard."
On Monday, Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told Putin that "the operation" in Luhansk was complete. The Russian president said the military units "that took part in active hostilities and achieved success, victory" in Luhansk "should rest, increase their combat capabilities".
The capture of the city of Lysychansk on Sunday completed the Russian conquest of Luhansk, one of two regions in Donbas, the industrialised eastern region of Ukraine that has become the site of the biggest battle in Europe in generations.
Bakhmut, Sloviansk and nearby Kramatorsk lie south-west of Lysychansk and are the main urban areas holding out against Russian forces in Donetsk.
The latest intelligence briefing from the UK's Ministry of Defence said Russian forces would "almost certainly" switch to trying to capture Donetsk. The briefing said the conflict in Donbas had been "grinding and attritional" and this was unlikely to change in the coming weeks.
Related: Putin declares victory in Luhansk after fall of Lysychansk
Hello it's Samantha Lock back with you as we unpack all the latest news from Ukraine this morning.
Leaders from dozens of countries, international organisations and the private sector have gathered in Switzerland to draw up plans to rebuild war-ravaged Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia has said it is in control of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region after taking over Lysychansk, the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the region.
Here are all the latest lines as of 8am in Kyiv.