May 13, 2024

Balkan Travellers

Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, aggregated from sources all over the world

Russo-Ukrainian war news: 3 wounded in Odessa attacks; Russia fired shots at a cargo ship in the Black Sea

The shooting from a Russian warship at a Ukraine-bound cargo ship in the Black Sea on Sunday drew condemnation from Ukrainian officials, with one describing it as a “clear violation of international law”.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Russian patrol vessel Vasily Bykov used automatic weapons to fire “warning” shots at a Palau-flagged cargo tanker after its captain failed to respond to a request to stop the search. This is the first such incident since Russia withdrew from a United Nations-brokered grain deal last month.

Ukrainian forces mentioned Drone and missile attacks in the Odessa region overnight. The defense forces of southern Ukraine reported that three people were injured by the debris of the downed missiles.

Here is the latest news about the war and its ripple effects around the world.

Wagner Prisoner of War: A Ukrainian Soldier’s 46-Day Nightmare. Mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group captured Ilya Mikhalchuk outside the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine. Alex Horton says they amputated his arms in a dark basement, subjecting him to mind-boggling psychological abuse as part of his captors’ alleged barbarity and efforts to break the will of the Ukrainian soldiers they removed from the battlefield.

Mikhalchuk said Wagner’s strategy seemed designed to undermine Ukrainians’ values ​​and make them question how their compatriots would view them after they were released from captivity. “They tried to convince us that we couldn’t trust each other, and that the situation was kill or be killed,” he said. “They were just playing with us, the way a cat plays with a mouse—when he caught it before it killed it.”

See also  Russia begins large-scale offensive in eastern Ukraine