Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainians step up counter-attacks in south; Russia facing ‘major shortage’ of infantry, says UK – live

The United States and 37 other countries are establishing an expert mission to review the human rights situation in Russia, US state department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.

The review, triggered by the invocation of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s “Moscow Mechanism,” is in response to recent actions by Russia to restrict freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and reports of torture of those held in detention in Russia, Price said in a statement.

The expert mission will release its report to the public in September, he said.

The OSCE is an organisation of 57 countries that includes former Cold War foes the United States and Russia as well as various countries in Europe, Central Asia and North America.

This is the third time the Moscow Mechanism has been invoked since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

In April, an OSCE mission said it had found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia in Ukraine. Russia’s mission to the OSCE called the report “unfounded propaganda.”

Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last remaining independent news outlets, is under threat after the country’s media watchdog demanded that its website and print edition be stripped of its licence.

“Russia’s censorship agency Roskomnadzor has demanded that Novaya Gazeta’s certificate of registration be declared invalid,” the publication said in a statement on Thursday.

The announcement was made after the newspaper received two warnings over alleged violations from the state communications watchdog.

On Thursday, Novaya Gazeta said Roskomnadzor went to court demanding that the media licence of the newspaper’s website be cancelled.

“Roskomnadzor asked the court to declare the print media outlet Novaya Gazeta’s licence invalid due to the editorial office not providing its editorial statute within the timeframe established by the law on media,” the agency told Russian news outlet RBC.

The newspaper said it did not know why such a request had been made now.

“Why are the lawsuits filed four months after the warnings were issued, what has changed?” the outlet asked.

“Is it politics? What is not politics now?’

The media outlet said it would fight for its rights in court.

“What will Novaya Gazeta do? Prepare for the courts, defend our case, in which we are sure, prepare a new issue of the NO magazine, restart the website and the new studio Novaya,” it said in a statement.

Russian private military firm Wagner has likely been allocated responsibility for specific sectors of the front line in eastern Ukraine, possibly as Russia is facing a major shortage of combat infantry, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update this morning.

Since March, Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group has operated in eastern Ukraine in coordination with the Russian military. Wagner has likely been allocated responsibility for specific sectors of the front line, in a similar manner to normal army units.

This is a significant change from the previous employment of the group since 2015, when it typically undertook missions distinct from overt, large-scale regular Russian military activity.

This new level of integration further undermines the Russian authorities’ long-standing policy of denying links between PMCs and the Russian state.”

It also said that Wagner’s forces are highly unlikely to be sufficient to make a significant difference in the trajectory of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has stepped up its campaign to retake Russian-controlled regions in the south by trying to bomb and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-resupply areas, military officials have said.

Ukrainian planes struck five Russian strongholds around Kherson and another nearby city on Thursday, its military claimed.

Kyiv said it had also retaken some small settlements on the Kherson region’s northern edge.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the country’s south is “gathering momentum”, according to British defence and intelligence officials.

Ukraine has virtually cut off the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnieper River “highly vulnerable” and isolated, the UK ministry of defence said.

Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv has reportedly been hit this morning by Russian shelling, local officials say.

City mayor Ihor Terekhov said a central part of the northeastern city was hit, including a two-story building and a higher educational institution.

Terekhov said the strike occurred just after 4am on Friday

“The State Emergency Service is already working – they are sorting out the rubble, looking for people under them,” in a Telegram update.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while.

Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv has reported been hit this morning by Russian shelling, local officials say. We will bring you more details as they unfold.

It is 8am in Kyiv and here is where things stand.

• Ukraine has stepped up its campaign to retake Russian-controlled regions in the south by trying to bomb and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-resupply areas. Ukrainian planes struck five Russian strongholds around Kherson and another nearby city on Thursday, its military claimed. Kyiv said it had also retaken some small settlements on the Kherson region’s northern edge.

• The Ukrainian counteroffensive in the country’s south is “gathering momentum”, according to British defence and intelligence officials. Ukraine has virtually cut off the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnieper River “highly vulnerable” and isolated, the UK ministry of defence said.

• Residents of Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region have been urged to evacuate. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said people risked being cut off from “power, water, food and medical supplies, heating and communication” if they stayed in the area.

• Five people were killed and at least 25 injured when Russian missiles struck the hangars of an aviation enterprise in Kropyvnytskyi, north of Mykolaiv, on Thursday.

• At least two people were killed in the Donetsk town of Toretsk on Thursday, when a five-storey building collapsed after a Russian missile strike.

• Two people in the southern seaside town of Koblevo were blown up by a sea mine while swimming despite a ban, said the Mykolaiv regional governor, Vitaliy Kim.

• US lawmakers were briefed by US officials who said more than 75,000 Russians were estimated to have been killed or injured in the war. The number was “enormous”, Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic House representative who previously attended a secret US government briefing, told CNN. However, there was no current information from official authorities in Russia on the number of deaths.

• The UN aid chief said he was hopeful the first shipment of grain from a Ukrainian Black Sea port could take place as early as Friday. Martin Griffiths said “crucial” details for the safe passage of vessels were still being worked out and “the devil was in the details”.

• Talks between the Kremlin and Washington about a possible prisoner swap were said to not have come to a concrete agreement “yet” on Thursday. The deal reportedly involves trading a notorious Russian arms dealer for a US basketball star and a former marine.

• Estonia said on Thursday it would block Russian nationals from obtaining temporary residence permits or visas to study in Estonia, in a move its foreign minister described as putting “relentless pressure” on Russia and its population.

• Hungary’s prime minister said Ukraine could not win the war against Russia under Nato’s current support strategy. “This war in this form cannot be won,” Viktor Orbán said. “Without changing the strategy, there is not going to be peace.”

• Former Russian state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova was fined 50,000 roubles ($820 or £681) after being found guilty of discrediting the country’s armed forces in social media posts condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Ovsyannikova rejected the proceedings against her as “absurd”.

• Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has filed a lawsuit to revoke the registration of the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which had previously announced it would resume operations in Russia after the war had ended.

• The UK foreign minister, Liz Truss, said she would be Ukraine’s “greatest friend” if she replaced the British prime minister, Boris Johnson. Truss said she would work with allies to provide more weapons and humanitarian aid in a commitment to “ensuring Putin fails in Ukraine and suffers a strategic defeat, and that Russia is constrained in the future”.

• German cities are imposing cold showers and turning off lights to reduce their energy consumption in the face of a looming Russian gas crisis. Hanover announced energy-saving measures including turning off hot water in the showers and bathrooms of city-run buildings and leisure centres. Other cities are switching off spotlights on public monuments and turning off fountains.