A Russian security services officer investigates an office building damaged in a drone attack, Moscow, Russia, July 24, 2023 (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Saturday’s Coverage: Pressure Grows on Russia’s Economy

Map: Institute for Study of War

UPDATE 1613 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has visited medical staff and injured troops in a rehabilitation center in Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine.

Meeting senior officials, Zelenskiy said during the visit:

Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia — to its symbolic centres and military bases, and this is an inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process.

Ukraine is getting stronger.

But he cautioned, “We must be aware that, just as last year, Russian terrorists can still attack our energy sector and critical facilities this winter.”

UPDATE 1209 GMT:

A second person has died from Russia’s missile strikes on the Sumy region in northern Ukraine on Saturday (see 1131 GMT).

Russia strikes on Sumy and the Zaporizhzhia in the south killed a total of four people and injured at least 11.

UPDATE 1158 GMT:

In a rare direct message to the Kremlin, Pope Francis has called for Russia’s return to the July 2022 deal lifting Moscow’s blockade of three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Vladimir Putin ripped up the deal on July 17, threatening movement of grain, foodstuffs, and other goods to global markets.

“I appeal to my brothers, the authorities of the Russian Federation, so that the Black Sea initiative may be resumed and grain may be transported safely,” the Pope said on Sunday.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the message:

UPDATE 1131 GMT:

Russian missiles killed three people and injured at least 12 in Ukraine on Saturday.

In the Sumy region in northern Ukraine, one person was killed and at least 10 were injured as an educational facility was hit (see 0703 GMT).

In the Zaporizhzhia region in the south, two people were slain and two wounded.

UPDATE 0743 GMT:

Claims are circulating on Russian social media platforms that the Moscow office buildings struck this morning by drones hosted the Ministries of Economic Development, Industry, and Trade and Statistics.

Documents of the Communications Ministry reportedly flew out of windows destroyed in the strikes.

UPDATE 0732 GMT:

The Wall Street Journal reports that Saudi Arabia will host talks on August 5-6 supporting Ukraine’s proposals for a resolution of Russia’s invasion.

Representatives of 30 countries will be invited to Jeddah, including officials from Ukraine, the European Union, the UK, Poland, South Africa India, Brazil, Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, Chile, and Zambia. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to attend.

Ukrainian and Western officials say they hope leaders of the 30 states can sign a document establishing the principles for ending the invasion, with subsequent negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.

UPDATE 0709 GMT:

Vladimir Putin has defended his detention of political prisoners.

At a press conference in St. Petersburg, a reporter for the Kommersant newspaper asked Putin about the imprisonments of theater director Yevgeniya Berkovich and sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky: “The people were arrested for the words they said or wrote. Is this normal?”

Putin responded:

It’s the year 2023, and Russia is engaged in an armed conflict with a neighbor. And I think that there should be a certain attitude towards people who harm us inside the country.

We must keep in mind that in order for us to achieve success, including in a conflict zone, everyone needs to follow certain rules.

Berkovich, 38, was seized in May over an award-winning play about Russian women recruited online to marry radical Islamists in Syria. Kagarlitsky, 64, was detained this week with Russian authorities accusing him of promoting terrorism online.

Putin insisted that he did not know who Kagarlitsky and Berkovich were, “I hear these names for the first time and do not really understand what they did or what was done to them. I’m just telling you about my overall attitude towards the problem.”

UPDATE 0703 GMT:

One person has been killed and at least five injured by a Russian missile attack in the Sumy region in northern Ukraine.

The missile struck the building of an educational institution on Friday night.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia’s capital Moscow has been attacked again by drones.

One of the three drones hit an office complex, injuring a security guard, said emergency officials. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin posted, “Facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged.” The Vnukovo international airport was briefly closed.

The Russian Defense Ministry declared that one drone was shot down on the city’s outskirts, and two were “suppressed by electronic warfare”.

Moscow and its suburbs have been targeted in several sets of strikes since two drones approached the Kremlin on May 3. On Monday, two drones crashed into office buildings, one near the Defense Ministry.

Neither the Zelenskiy Government nor the Ukrainian military have claimed responsibility. However, officials have privately acknowledged that the attacks are being carried out by local groups overseen by Ukrainian military and security agencies.