Live blog: Russia blocking access to medicines - Ukraine

Ukraine reports widespread shelling and air attacks by Russia on scores of towns and military bases, especially in the east where Moscow is trying to expand territory, as fighting rages on day 171.

Over 5,200 civilians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict on February 24, according to the UN. (AP)

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Russia blocking access to medicines: Ukraine

Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas their forces have occupied since attacking the country 5-1/2 months ago. 

Ukrainian Health Minister Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities repeatedly have blocked efforts to provide state-subsidised drugs to people in occupied cities, towns and villages. 

“Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not (allowed) proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them,” Liashko said, speaking at the Health Ministry in Kiev late Friday.

Two road bridges to Russian occupied territory in Kherson Oblast out of use: UK

The two primary road bridges giving access to the pocket of Russian-occupied territory on the west bank of the Dnipro in Kherson Oblast are now probably out of use for the purposes of substantial military resupply, British military intelligence has said.

Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability, the UK's Ministry of Defence said. "Ground resupply for the several thousand Russian troops on the west bank is almost certainly reliant on just two pontoon ferry crossing points," the ministry said in an intelligence update.

With supply chain constrained, the size of any stockpiles Russia has managed to establish on the west bank is likely to be a key factor in the force’s endurance, according to the update. 

Russia claims full control of Pisky village in Ukraine's Donetsk region

Russian forces have taken full control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Interfax cited the Russian defence ministry as saying.

Russian and pro-Russian forces had reported that they had taken full control of Pisky more than a week ago.

The ministry also said that Russian forces had destroyed a US-supplied HIMARS rocket system near Ukraine's Kramatorsk and a depot with ammunition for the system, Interfax reported. 

Two more ships carrying sunflower seed and corn have sailed from Ukrainian ports, Türkiye's National Defence Ministry says https://t.co/oLSfWxylPv

— TRT World (@trtworld) August 13, 2022

 

Russia says ties could break over terror sponsor declaration by US

Russia has told the United States that bilateral diplomatic ties would be badly damaged and could even be broken off if Russia is declared a state sponsor of terrorism, Russian news agency Tass cited a top official as saying.

Alexander Darchiyev, head of the North American department at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said that if the US Senate succeeded in passing a law to single out Russia, this would mean Washington had crossed the point of no return, Tass said.

Zelenskyy: EU should ban rich Russians from entering

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has issued a fresh call for European Union states to ban visas for Russian nationals to keep the bloc from becoming a "supermarket" open to anyone with the means to enter.

Zelenskyy said his proposal did not apply to Russians who needed help for risking their freedom or their lives by resisting Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's policies.

"There must be guarantees that Russian killers or accomplices of state terror not use Schengen visas," Zelenskyy said in an address, referring to visas granting the holder access to the border-free Schengen Area that spans several EU states.

Source: Reuters 

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