Spain election 2023 results: rightwing bloc pulls ahead but remains short of overall majority – as it happened - The Guardian

From 4h ago

• With 100% of the votes counted, the PP has won the election with 136 seats. But the result is far from an outright majority and hints at weeks – if not months – of political gridlock and negotiations as parties try to hammer out whether Spain’s next government will tack to the right or left.

• The Socialists did better than polls had predicted, winning 122 seats. The result is a slight gain over the 120 seats it won in the November 2019 election.

• The new leftwing movement, Sumar, won 31 seats.

• The far-right party Vox has taken some of the biggest losses of the night, with its seat count dropping from 52 in the country’s parliament to 33.

• While polls had suggested that Vox’s seat count would drop, they also suggested that this drop would be compensated by the party’s role as a kingmaker following the election.

• A PP-Vox coalition would have 169 seats – meaning it would need to secure a handful of votes from other parties to secure the 176 seats needed for a majority in the 350-seat parliament. It is a tall order, given that most regional parties have expressed hesitation over striking deals that could ease Vox’s path to power.

• The Socialists and Sumar would have 153 seats together, meaning they could potentially try to strike deals with smaller regional parties to govern. But doing so would require fraught negotiations, meaning Spain risks heading into new elections.

We’re wrapping up our live coverage for the night. With 100% of the vote counted, Spain’s snap election has yielded a fragmented result that will yield weeks – if not months – of dealmaking attempts.

While the PP, led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, won the most seats in the election, the party’s 136 seats will not be enough to topple the Socialists’ Pedro Sánchez. Even with Vox’s 33 seats, the two parties will fall short of the 176 seats needed for a majority in Spain’s parliament. The results stand in sharp contrast to the outcome predicted by pollsters for this snap general election.

Instead this snap election saw Sánchez again prove to be one of Europe’s most resilient politicians. Between the Socialists’ 122 seats – a slight increase over the 120 seats won last election – and Sumar’s 31 seats, the left bloc could manage to cobble together enough support in the coming months to take power. If not, Spain will again have to head to the polls.

You can read our full story of tonight’s election here:

The Associated Press has crunched the numbers, reporting that the bloc that could likely support Sánchez’s return to power in Spain totals 172 seats. In contrast, the right bloc, led by the PP, sits at 170 seats.

As I mentioned earlier, the fragmented result means that the hardline Catalan separatist party Junts per Catalunya is now in the position of kingmaker.

“We won’t make Pedro Sánchez PM in exchange for nothing,” the party’s leader, Míriam Nogueras, said earlier tonight after it became clear that her party could play a decisive role in ushering in Spain’s new government.

While the PP won the most seats in the election, political analyst Verónica Fumanal described the win as a “Pyrrhic victory” as the party will likely not be able to form government. “I see a deadlock scenario in the parliament,” she told the Associated Press.

Some interesting analysis from one of Spain’s best-known television personalities on the left, Jordi Evolé, on Twitter.

He points out that Spain has bucked the tide sweeping most of Europe in this election:

The extreme right, which is in its best moment across much of Europe, is losing votes and seats in Spain. Almost 20 … Today, more than ever, VIVA ESPAÑA.

The far-right party Vox has taken some of the biggest losses of the night, with its seat count dropping from 52 in the country’s parliament to 33.

In another tweet, Evolé also points out that despite obtaining their worst electoral result in years, Catalan separatists now hold the key to forming Spain’s next government.

The leader of the conservative People’s party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, is addressing his supporters outside the PP headquarters in Madrid.

“Friends, we have obtained a result that just over a year and a half ago seemed impossible,” he says to loud cheers.

“As the candidate of the party that received the most votes, I believe it is my duty to lead the talks from the first minute and try to govern our country in accordance with the election results and the electoral victory”, he adds.

With 99.8% of the votes counted, the PP won tonight’s election with 136 seats. But the result is far from the outright majority needed to topple the incumbent Socialists, even with the far-right’s 33 seats.

Instead it hints at weeks – if not months – of negotiations as parties try to gather enough support to lead the country’s 350-seat parliament.

Outside the Socialists headquarters, the mood appears to be jubilant. “There are far more of us, those who want to see Spain continue to advance,” said Pedro Sánchez to resounding cheers.

The backward-looking bloc who wanted to abolish the advances of the last four years has failed”, he added.

The Socialists did better tonight than polls had predicted, winning 122 seats. The result is a slight gain over the 120 seats it won in the November 2019 election.

Spanish media are highlighting that the potential kingmaker of the election is not the far-right Vox – but rather the Catalan separatist party Junts per Catalunya.

With 99% of the votes counted, Junts has 7 seats. If the Socialists are able to strike a deal with the party, perhaps convincing them to abstain, Pedro Sánchez could potentially pave a return to power.

The negotiations, however, would likely take weeks or months. And as Juanlu Sánchez of Eldiario.es points out in this tweet, if Junts decides to vote against both the left and the right bloc, Spain will be heading towards new elections.

My colleague Sam Jones has put together this look at the Socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, and his risky gamble in calling tonight’s snap general election.

Polarisation, discord and fury have been the defining features of Spain’s volatile and rapidly changing politics over the past few years,” Sam writes.

He adds: Now that Spain has gone to the polls for the fifth time in eight years, results suggest an electorate finely divided, and Sánchez will soon learn whether his latest bet was the right one.”

• With 100% of the votes counted, the PP has won the election with 136 seats. But the result is far from an outright majority and hints at weeks – if not months – of political gridlock and negotiations as parties try to hammer out whether Spain’s next government will tack to the right or left.

• The Socialists did better than polls had predicted, winning 122 seats. The result is a slight gain over the 120 seats it won in the November 2019 election.

• The new leftwing movement, Sumar, won 31 seats.

• The far-right party Vox has taken some of the biggest losses of the night, with its seat count dropping from 52 in the country’s parliament to 33.

• While polls had suggested that Vox’s seat count would drop, they also suggested that this drop would be compensated by the party’s role as a kingmaker following the election.

• A PP-Vox coalition would have 169 seats – meaning it would need to secure a handful of votes from other parties to secure the 176 seats needed for a majority in the 350-seat parliament. It is a tall order, given that most regional parties have expressed hesitation over striking deals that could ease Vox’s path to power.

• The Socialists and Sumar would have 153 seats together, meaning they could potentially try to strike deals with smaller regional parties to govern. But doing so would require fraught negotiations, meaning Spain risks heading into new elections.

Sam Jones, The Guardian’s Madrid correspondent, has filed his take on the election results:

The early results suggested the political hue of the next government is far from a foregone conclusion, with the left and right blocs running almost neck and neck in their race to get as close to 176 seats as possible. Weeks of negotiations and horse-trading are likely to follow Sunday’s vote.”

With 90% of the vote counted, the PP has now firmly pulled into the lead with 136 seats.

The Socialists have 122 seats, while the leftwing movement, Sumar, is at 31 seats.

The far-right party Vox has 33 seats.

The results so far suggest that the PP and Vox together would have 169 seats – meaning they would need to secure a handful of votes from other parties to secure a majority in the 350-seat parliament. It is a tall order, given that most regional parties have expressed hesitation over deals that would ease Vox’s path to power.

The Socialists and Sumar would have 153 seats together, meaning they could potentially try to strike deals with smaller regional parties in order to govern. But doing so would require weeks – if not months – of fraught negotiations, meaning Spain risks heading into new elections.

With 10% or so of votes left to count, the results could still see an increase or decrease by a handful of seats.

Writer Michael Reid, author of a recently published book on Spain, points out that so far the results hint at how the country’s two traditional parties, the Socialists and the PP, are bouncing back after an era of deep fragmentation in Spanish politics:

People’s party pulls ahead of the Socialists with three-quarters of the vote counted

Just over 75% of the votes have been counted and live results published by the Spanish government continue to show a narrow gap between the Socialists and the PP.

The PP – which polls had suggested would win the election by a substantial margin – has 132 seats. The Socialists trail slightly behind at 126.

The far-right Vox party has 33 seats while the leftwing movement Sumar has 30.

The preliminary count suggests that PP and Vox together would have 165 seats – just shy of the 176 seats needed for a majority in the country’s 350-seat parliament.

With a quarter of the vote left to count, the results could still increase or decrease by a handful of seats.

Spanish radio station Cadena SER has published video from the PP headquarters in Madrid.

It shows people milling outside as results roll in. After weeks of polls suggesting the PP would win the election by a significant margin, the mood of supporters appears to be more cautious than jubilant:

We now have slightly more than 55% of the votes counted and live results published by the Spanish government show a very narrow gap between the Socialists and the PP.

The PP – widely tipped to win the most seats in this snap election – have 130. The Socialists are closely behind them with 129.

The far-right Vox party has 33 seats while leftwing movement Sumar has 30.

This suggests that the PP-Vox together would have 163 seats – a result that falls short of the 176 seats needed for a majority in the country’s 350-seat parliament.

These are still early results, however, so they could change as more votes are counted.

In past elections the variation over the course of the count has not tended to be very large, but it could increase or decrease by a handful of seats, leading to changes in the balance of power.

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2023-07-23 23:24:30Z
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Ukraine war: Russia hits Odesa after killing grain deal - BBC

Getty Images

By James Waterhouse

BBC Ukraine Correspondent, Odesa

The Ukraine Grain Deal. 22 July 2022 - 17 July 2023.

A short life, with its flaws, but the only diplomatic light in the darkness of Russia's invasion.

It had allowed Ukraine to export its grain to the world through the Black Sea.

A third less than normal, but still 33 million tonnes. However, in recent months, its health had deteriorated.

Russia was accused of slowing the route with naval blockades and long inspections, and the deal finally succumbed.

Last week saw Moscow's official withdrawal. Russia then launched a wave of missile strikes on ports it once promised to leave alone.

EXPLAINED: What was the Ukraine grain deal?

One site destroyed was a grain terminal owned by one of Ukraine's biggest producers, Kernel. Officials say more than 60,000 tonnes of grain has been destroyed in the past week.

"We stopped our exports for the first two to three months of the war," explains Yevhen Osypov, Kernel's CEO.

"The prices of oil and grain went up by 50%, and you can see the same happening again now."

While global grain supplies seem to be stable for now, global markets saw the price of grain rise by 8% within a day of Russia pulling out - the highest daily rise since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The Kremlin had agreed not to target port infrastructure in three locations in the region, but that diplomatic shield is no more.

With damaged ports, no agreed corridor through the Black Sea and Russia controlling most of the coastline, Mr Osypov believes Ukraine's grain export capacity will drop by a further 50%.

"It's a huge challenge for our farmers because they'll have to sell their products 20% below cost," says Mr Osypov, who predicts there will be fewer people in the future working less land.

The death of the grain deal extends well beyond Odesa's ports. The city's mayor Gennady Trukhanov thinks Moscow just wants to show nothing will be exported without them, and he's right.

"The most terrible thing is that in order to achieve their goal, they've attacked innocent people," he says.

You're left in little doubt over the scale of Ukrainian grain production when standing 40 metres high on top of a silo in the central Poltava region.

The plant we're in can hold 120,000 tonnes. It's around a third full, and while Ukraine is unable to export through the Black Sea, it will keep filling up.

The site is surrounded by an endless agricultural expanse.

This is a country which can't suddenly stop producing grain. It has to go somewhere - or at least that's the hope.

"We feel there is a need for us to harvest as much grain as possible," says Yulia, a lab technician at Kernel, as she pours samples into a pipe.

Before the birth of the grain deal, tens of millions of people from some of the world's poorest countries were at risk of starvation because of Ukraine's inability to export it.

Twelve months later, that risk has returned.

"The Russians probably don't understand what hunger is," says Yulia. "People are starving, there's a large supply, but they can't get it for no reason."

Moscow had threatened to pull out before, mainly saying there were too many restrictions on its own agricultural goods.

It also wants a major bank let into a global payment system, restrictions lifted on Russian fertiliser companies, and for its ships to get full access to insurance and foreign ports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has now turned those complaints into demands. However, if they were to be met, that would require a relaxation of western sanctions, which is hard to imagine.

Last July, the Kremlin had seemed keen to be "part of the solution" when it came to the food crisis that it has directly caused by invading Ukraine.

Battlefield frustrations seem to have changed that stance.

Despite the lack of a pulse, Turkey - one of the main brokers of the grain deal along with the United Nations - is still hopeful it can be resuscitated.

Getty Images

So, assuming the initiative is indeed dead, is there an heir apparent? An alternative solution for Ukraine to export?

Road and rail has been used through neighbouring countries like Romania and Poland, but there have been times when Ukrainian grain has flooded their markets and driven down prices, to the annoyance of farmers.

The River Danube has also been developed as a route through central Europe, with two million tonnes of grain making it through in the last 12 months, compared to 600,000 the year before.

However both scratch the surface of what Ukraine hopes to shift, and are much more expensive logistically.

During her recent visit I asked the head of US Aid, Samantha Power, whether Ukraine's status as "Europe's breadbasket" was a thing of the past.

She'd just announced a package worth almost a billion dollars for Ukraine, which included agricultural modernisation.

"We're doing what we can, but there's no substitute for peace," was her reply.

Additional reporting by Aakriti Thapar, Anastasiia Levchenko and Anna Tsyba

Related Topics

• Russia-Ukraine war
• Russia
• Ukraine

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2023-07-23 23:35:30Z
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Benjamin Netanyahu has pacemaker fitted hours ahead of key vote on judicial reform plans - The Guardian

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been fitted with a pacemaker, after being rushed to hospital hours ahead of a key vote on his controversial judicial reforms.

His doctors said the operation had gone well. “The implant went smoothly without any complications. He is not in a life-threatening condition and he feels great and is returning to his daily routine,” said Roy Beinart, who manages the arrhythmia centre at Sheba Medical Center, early Sunday.

In a video statement issued late Saturday, before the procedure, Netanyahu had said he was fitted with a monitoring device a week earlier. “That device beeped this evening and said I must receive a pacemaker and that I must do this already tonight.”

“I feel great, but I need to listen to my doctors,” he added.

Netanyahu, 73, was standing in the video and smiling. He said his doctors had assured him he would be discharged from the hospital “tomorrow afternoon”.

Netanyahu was also hospitalised overnight last week for what he said was dehydration from holidaying at the Sea of Galilee without properly protecting himself from a heatwave.

The hospital on 16 July confirmed its original diagnosis of dehydration and said additional tests involving a subcutaneous holter monitor had found Netanyahu to be “in complete cardiac health,” though the device would allow his medical team to continue monitoring his health.

Netanyahu faces a domestic crisis in his record sixth term as prime minister, with protests surging against his religious-nationalist coalition’s push for judicial changes.

Netanyahu said in his video he would be discharged from hospital in time for a key vote scheduled to start at parliament on Sunday and last throughout Monday.

Tens of thousands of Israelis marched to Jerusalem on Saturday hoping to drum up support against the judicial overhaul and rallied outside parliament ahead of the vote on the bill that would limit some of the supreme court’s powers.

Critics fear the judicial changes aim to curb court independence by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption which he denies. Netanyahu says the reforms would balance out branches of government.

The furore has contributed to strains in relations with the US, as have surging Israeli-Palestinian violence and progress in Iran’s nuclear programme. Washington has urged Netanyahu to seek broad agreements over any judicial reforms.

In his video, Netanyahu suggested that last minute agreements could be reached.

First elected to top office in 1996, Netanyahu has been both dynamic and polarising. He spearheaded a free-market revolution in Israel while showing distrust of internationally backed peacemaking with the Palestinians and world powers’ negotiations to cap Iran’s nuclear programme.

In early October, a few weeks before winning a national election, Netanyahu fell ill during the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur and was briefly hospitalised

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2023-07-23 01:38:00Z
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Greece fires: Warning Rhodes fires could worsen as thousands flee homes and hotels - BBC

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By Andre Rhoden-Paul, Azadeh Moshiri & Rozina Sini

BBC News

Thousands of people have been evacuated from homes and hotels on the Greek island of Rhodes after wildfires engulfed large parts of the island.

Greece's fire service told the BBC it apologises for what it called "a mess" on the island, warning that the situation could worsen due to weather.

More than 3,500 people have been evacuated by land and sea to safety.

A further 1,200 will be evacuated from three villages - Pefki, Lindos and Kalathos.

No injuries have been reported, according to the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection in Greece.

It said visitors are being evacuated safely from the affected areas of Rhodes - which represent less than 10% of the island's tourist accommodation - and are being redirected to other hotels on the island.

Lt Col Yannis Artopoios, spokesperson of the Hellenic Fire Corps, described the fires as the most difficult the service has faced.

The island has been battling wildfires fanned by strong winds since Tuesday, as Europe deals with a challenging heatwave.

• New Greece heatwave warning as fires still burn
• How to manage your holiday in a heatwave

Five helicopters and 173 firefighters were operating in the area, with three hotels in the Kiotari area reported to have been damaged by fire. The areas of Laerma, Lardos and Asklipio were also affected.

Private boats joined the Greek coastguard in helping to pick up people from beaches on the east of the island. Greek navy vessels were also reported to be heading to the area, which is popular with tourists.

Reuters

Deputy fire chief Ioannis Artophios said a ferry is available to accommodate people. Others are being housed at an indoor stadium on the island, according to the island's deputy mayor.

Mr Artophios added that firefighters often struggle on Rhodes because of how green it is, which is what makes it an attractive tourist destination.

Greek television showed long queues of tourists with suitcases being taken to safety, with smoke in the background.

Andrea Layfield from Cheshire told the BBC she had been on a boat trip "but it was getting really scary".

"We were asking to go back so they got us and then said they couldn't go any further so we would have to wait on the beach for a while," she said.

"As we waited the fire was coming down the beach but the beach was a dead end," she said, adding that hundreds of people were running.

A boat then arrived, taking only women and children, she said. "I scrambled under somebody's legs and got on."

Mark Cook was evacuated by speedboat.

"We have just literally escaped from a 5 star luxury resort by boat amid severe conditions. We had to follow our instincts rather than directions," he told the BBC. "Poor visibility, smoke inhalation, no real directions."

One moment he said he was on a sun lounger with his family, "the next ash is falling and smoke rapidly progressing because the winds suddenly got significantly stronger".

He is now flying home despite the family's luggage still being in the hotel.

Travel company TUI said a small number of its hotels had been affected and it was relocating customers to alternative accommodation as a precaution.

Jet2 also said it was aware of the situation in Rhodes and was asking customers to follow local guidance.

But Lee Ruane from Northern Ireland, who is in Rhodes on his honeymoon with wife Rosaleen, told BBC News NI they felt stranded by Jet2 and had been given "no further information".

"We were evacuated from the hotel today about two o'clock, and we've had no communication whatsoever from Jet2, from our hotel, nothing," he said.

Rhodes deputy mayor Konstantinos Taraslias said a change of winds on Saturday morning helped the fire grow bigger and reach tourist areas.

Since breaking out in a mountainous area on Tuesday, the fire has scorched swathes of forest.

Firefighters from Slovakia arrived on Rhodes on Saturday to help local teams battling the fires.

"The situation in Rhodes is serious and extremely difficult. Due to the strong wind and quickly changing direction of the fire, firefighters had to withdraw and move," Slovak Fire and Rescue Services posted on Facebook.

Greece is facing further intense heat this weekend, with meteorologists warning that temperatures could climb to as high as 45C (113F).

It could turn into Greece's hottest July weekend in 50 years, one of the country's top meteorologists has said.

Firefighters are continuing to battle dozens of wildfires across the country. An area west of Athens is among the worst-hit areas, along with Laconia in the southern Peloponnese and the island of Rhodes.

And authorities are warning of a very high risk of new blazes as the heat continues to rise.

People have been advised to stay home, and tourist sites - including Athens' ancient Acropolis - will be shut during the hottest parts of the next two days.

Greece - like a number of other European countries - saw a prolonged spell of extreme heat earlier this month.

The latest heatwave comes at one of the busiest times for the country's tourism industry.

Reuters

Are you in the area? Have you been affected by the fires in Rhodes? If it is safe to do so, you can share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.

Related Topics

• Europe heatwaves
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2023-07-23 06:37:48Z
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What to know about Israel's judicial overhaul bill - Al Jazeera English

Every Saturday, for seven months straight, the streets of Israeli cities have been teeming with protesters carrying the national flag as they demonstrate against a controversial judicial overhaul bill by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government.

On July 22, for the 29th consecutive week, hundreds of thousands of Israelis again took to streets in Tel Aviv, West Jerusalem, Beersheva, Herzliya and Kfar Saba, in a last-ditch show of force against the contentious changes.

The Israeli parliament, or the Knesset, is set to begin voting on the bill on Sunday and Monday.

The protesters say the bill – by which the government plans to limit the Supreme Court’s powers – is a threat to Israel’s democracy.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Tel Aviv, said most of the protesters believe the bill will pass the second and third reading before becoming a law.

“They are very disappointed about that, and yet they still have some cautious optimism that there might be enough pressure put on the prime minister in the coming couple of days that perhaps he would reverse course,” he said.

“Critics continue to say that if any part of this judicial overhaul package passes, they believe that it will be a severe blow to democracy in Israel.”

Here’s what you need to know before the vote:

What’s in the overhaul?

The proposals include a bill permitting a simple majority in parliament to overturn Supreme Court decisions, while another would give parliament the final say in selecting judges.

On Monday, parliament will vote on an additional key bill that would prevent the Supreme Court from rejecting government decisions on the basis of “unreasonability”.

The government says the bills are needed to reduce the powers of unelected judges, but critics say the changes are a power grab that would push Israel toward autocracy.

Protesters say Netanyahu – who is on trial for corruption charges – and his allies want to appoint cronies to government posts, deepen Israel’s control of the occupied West Bank and implement controversial exemptions for ultraorthodox men.

They also accuse Netanyahu of trying to use the reforms to quash possible judgements against him. The Israeli leader has rejected the accusation.

Why are the changes viewed as alarming?

Israel’s democratic structures are already weak, given that there is no constitution, the government holds a majority in the one-chamber Knesset, and the president’s office is largely ceremonial.

The Supreme Court, therefore, is viewed as the body that protects civil rights and the rule of law. The judiciary plays a significant role in checking executive power in the country.

A weakened judiciary, critics say, would see a greater exercise of power by the government, a male-dominated coalition whose members have advocated full annexation of the occupied West Bank, as well as policies against LGBTQ people, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and women.

Have the protests been effective?

Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government launched the overhaul in January, shortly after it was sworn in.

However, alarm by Israel’s Western allies, the falling shekel, and weekly protests that have seen thousands march forced Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul in late March to allow for mediations with opposition parties.

The talks faltered last month, and the Israeli leader relaunched the legislation, scrapping some changes but moving forward with others.

Protesters say Netanyahu is moving forward with the overhaul in a slower and more measured way in order to lull those opposed.

“The government got smarter,” said Josh Drill, a spokesperson for the protest movement. “They saw the fallout of trying to ram the overhaul through, and they decided instead to do it piece by piece.”

What’s next?

Yoav Gallant, the country’s defence minister, said he has been alarmed by the growing number of people refusing to serve in the military if the overhaul goes through and is looking to push for a delay in Monday’s vote, Israeli media reported.

If the bill passes, an additional 10,000 reservists could announce that they may not show up for service, according to reports.

Monday’s “reasonability” bill, if passed, would mark the first major part of the legislation to become law.

However, if the Supreme Court strikes it down, Netanyahu’s coalition would have to decide whether to accept the ruling, with a possible constitutional crisis to occur, analysts say.

Meanwhile, protests will likely continue to grow in intensity, as all factions of Israeli society, including army reservists, doctors, CEOs of major Israeli banks, have cautioned against the changes in recent days.

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2023-07-23 01:18:45Z
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Russia-Ukraine war live: arrest of Russian pro-war blogger likely to trigger fury in military, says UK - The Guardian

From 1h ago

Russia’s arrest of Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and leading nationalist military blogger, will probably infuriate elements in the military as well as his fellow bloggers, according to UK intelligence.

The Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update that Girkin had long been a critic of the Russian defence ministry’s conduct of the war in Ukraine, but that in recent days his comments “turned to direct criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his time in power”.

The former former battlefield commander of Russia’s proxy forces in eastern Ukraine, who was convicted by a Dutch court over the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, was arrested on “extremism” charges on Friday.

The UK ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter, that Girkin’s arrest “is likely to infuriate fellow members of the mil-blogger community – and elements within the serving military – who largely see Girkin as an astute military analyst and patriot”.

Girkin had played a major role in Russia’s war in the Donbas from 2014 and spent months on the frontline last year, it said.

While Girkin is no ally of the Wagner Group, he was likely only prepared to push the limits of public criticism in the context of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 abortive mutiny. The taboo against unmasked criticism of the Putin regime has significantly weakened.

Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has been temporarily blocked, an official Telegram channel has said.

“Those on the bridge and in the inspection area are asked to remain calm and follow the instructions of transportation security officers,” it said.

No reason for the halting of traffic was stated, according to Reuters. A suspected Ukrainian drone attack this week on the Crimean bridge killed two civilians and put part of the road bridge out of service, which had only recently returned to full operation after being severely damaged in a similar attack in October, which Ukraine eventually claimed.

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last night that the bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target.

Unesco has condemned Russia’s attack on the historic centre of Odesa, which is protected under the World Heritage Convention.

Last night the city’s residents were told to head to bomb shelters for a fourth successive night, the culmination of a week in which Russian forces pounded the city with hypersonic missiles and drones in repeated attacks aimed at destroying Odesa’s grain exporting facilities.

Unesco said:

A preliminary assessment in Odesa has revealed damage to several museums inside the World Heritage property, including the Odesa Archaeological Museum, the Odesa Maritime Museum and the Odesa Literature Museum. They had all been marked by UNESCO and local authorities with the Blue Shield, the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention.

Mattha Busby here picking up the blog from Adam Fulton. I’m on Twitter here.

Australian farmers are locking in surging grain prices ahead of their imminent harvest after Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian ports and a decision by the Kremlin to pull out of the Black Sea grain deal to allow agricultural exports caused a rally.

For many Australian grain growers, it could represent a fourth consecutive year of healthy harvests backed by strong prices for wheat and other grains.

Rabobank grains analyst Dennis Voznesenski said:

It’s important to tie in the caveat of not being too jolly because horrendous things are happening right now in the Black Sea. But it could lead to another year of possibly elevated pricing and good production.

Tracy Blackburn, who helps run an agricultural operation that includes wheat and other grains in central New South Wales, said the upheaval in the Black Sea should lead to more demand for Australian grain.

The flow-on is that demand for Australian grain will increase because buyers can actually source it from here and that should give things a kick-along.

Russia has been accused at the UN security council of stoking famine by blocking grain exports through the Black Sea, with the aim of profiting from higher global food prices.

Russia’s representative said yesterday that Moscow might consider restarting the scheme if it was given better terms for its own food and fertiliser exports, but was accused by western diplomats of holding the world’s poor to ransom.

The UN head of humanitarian relief, Martin Griffiths, said that the Black Sea grain initiative, which Russia ended on Monday, had been a success, allowing the export of 33m metric tonnes of grain from Ukrainian ports to 45 countries on more than a thousand ships, over the course of a year.

The US plans to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine worth up to $400m as Ukraine’s counteroffensive grinds on, Reuters reports three US officials as saying.

The US was not including cluster munitions in this weapons assistance package, said two of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The package primarily comprised of artillery, air defence missiles and ground vehicles and could be announced as soon as Tuesday, the officials said.

The US first sent dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, a cluster munition fired from a Howitzer cannon, to Ukraine earlier this month.

Included in the coming package are several Stryker armoured personnel carriers, mine-clearing equipment, munitions for national advanced surface-to-air missile systems (Nasams) and for high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars), anti-tank weapons and munitions for Patriot and Stinger anti-aircraft systems, according to the officials.

The package was still being finalised and could change, they said.

Russia’s arrest of Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer and leading nationalist military blogger, will probably infuriate elements in the military as well as his fellow bloggers, according to UK intelligence.

The Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update that Girkin had long been a critic of the Russian defence ministry’s conduct of the war in Ukraine, but that in recent days his comments “turned to direct criticism of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his time in power”.

The former former battlefield commander of Russia’s proxy forces in eastern Ukraine, who was convicted by a Dutch court over the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, was arrested on “extremism” charges on Friday.

The UK ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter, that Girkin’s arrest “is likely to infuriate fellow members of the mil-blogger community – and elements within the serving military – who largely see Girkin as an astute military analyst and patriot”.

Girkin had played a major role in Russia’s war in the Donbas from 2014 and spent months on the frontline last year, it said.

While Girkin is no ally of the Wagner Group, he was likely only prepared to push the limits of public criticism in the context of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 abortive mutiny. The taboo against unmasked criticism of the Putin regime has significantly weakened.

Russia has come under pressure at the UN security council from its ally China and developing countries as well as western nations to avert a global food crisis and quickly revive Ukrainian grain shipments.

Associated Press reports that Moscow was also criticised by the UN and council members on Friday for attacking Ukrainian ports after pulling out of the year-old grain deal and destroying port infrastructure.

In response to Russia declaring wide areas in the Black Sea dangerous for shipping, the UN warned that a military incident in the sea could have “catastrophic consequences”.

China’s deputy UN ambassador, Geng Shuang, expressed hope that Russia and the UN would work together to resume exports from both countries “at an early date” in the interest of “maintaining international food security and alleviating the food crisis in developing countries in particular”.

UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo strongly condemned Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and urged Moscow to stop them immediately. She said threats to target civilian vessels “are unacceptable” and warned that sea mines could endanger civilian navigation.

She said:

We strongly urge restraint from any further rhetoric or action that could deteriorate the already dangerous situation. Any risk of conflict spillover as a result of a military incident in the Black Sea – whether intentional or by accident – must be avoided at all costs, as this could result in potentially catastrophic consequences to us all.

Russia said it had suspended the Black Sea grain initiative because the UN had failed to overcome obstacles to shipping its food and fertiliser to global markets, the other half of the Ukraine grain deal.

Russia pounded Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day in a row on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea in an escalation of what western leaders say is an attempt to wriggle out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis.

Reuters reports that the attacks on Ukraine’s grain, a major part of the global food chain, followed a vow by Kyiv to defy Russia’s naval blockade on its export ports after Moscow’s withdrawal this week from a UN-brokered safe sea corridor agreement.

The UN warned that millions of people in poor countries around the world were at greater risk of hunger and starvation from the knock-on effect for food prices.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told the security council:

Some will go hungry, some will starve, many may die as a result of these decisions.

In Ukraine, local governor Oleh Kiper said the grain terminals of an agricultural enterprise in Odesa region were hit by air, with 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley destroyed.

Photographs released by the emergencies ministry showed a fire burning among crumpled metal buildings that appeared to be storehouses. Two people were injured, Kiper said, while officials reported seven dead in Russian air strikes elsewhere in Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target.

Explosions on the road bridge on Monday killed two civilians and put part of it out of service, after it only recently returned to full operation following damage in a similar attack in October.

Reuters reports that the Ukrainian president said the road and rail bridge was “not just a logistical road”. Zelenskiy told the Aspen security conference in the US via videolink:

This is the route used to feed the war with ammunition and this is being done on a daily basis. And it militarises the Crimean peninsula.

For us, this is understandably an enemy facility built outside international laws and all applicable norms. So, understandably, this is a target for us. And a target that is bringing war, not peace, has to be neutralised.

Ukraine welcomed Monday’s attack on the bridge – built by Russia and brought into service in 2018 – but officials did not directly claim responsibility. Moscow blamed Ukraine.

Welcome back to our continuing live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a roundup of the latest key developments.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said a road bridge linking the Crimea peninsula to Russia “brings war not peace” and is therefore a military target that “has to be neutralised”.

The Ukrainian president’s comments followed blasts on the bridge that killed two civilians on Monday.

Russia, meanwhile, continued to hit Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea in an escalation of what western leaders say is a bid to get out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis.

UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo condemned the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, saying: “Any risk of conflict spillover as a result of a military incident in the Black Sea – whether intentional or by accident – must be avoided at all costs, as this could result in potentially catastrophic consequences to us all.”

More on those stories shortly. In other news:

• Russia is “waging war on the world’s food supply” and has “upended peace and security around the world”, the US ambassador to the UN has a told a meeting of the security council. Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Moscow to cease attacking Ukrainian food facilities and reenter the Black Sea grain deal, from which it withdrew on Monday. “Russia has zero legitimate reason to suspend its participation in this arrangement … It is using the Black Sea as blackmail.”

• Vladimir Putin has said Russia will use “all means at its disposal” to defend Belarus after Poland and other EU countries voiced concerns about the deployment of Russian paramilitaries near their borders. The Russian president claimed at a meeting of the Russian security council that Poland was seeking to invade Belarus, a Russian ally, after Warsaw moved troops nearer the border with Belarus following Minsk’s commencement of exercises with Wagner trainers.

• Russia has arrested Igor Girkin, who was convicted by a Dutch court over the shooting down of MH17, on extremism charges, probably fuelled by his criticism of the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Girkin is a former battlefield commander of Moscow’s proxy forces in eastern Ukraine.

• Russia’s navy carried out a live fire “exercise” in the north-west Black Sea, Moscow’s defence ministry said, days after the Kremlin said it would consider ships travelling to Ukraine through the waterway to be potential military targets. The Black Sea Fleet “carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship in the combat training range in the north-western part of the Black Sea”, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

• The Ukrainian president condemned a Russian artillery attack he said killed two children and damaged a school in the Donetsk region. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a cultural centre and residential buildings were also damaged in the attack on Druzhba village.

• An employee of a cultural centre had been found dead after Russian shelling in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, governor Vyacheslav Chaus said. In the Odesa region, governor Oleh Kiper said that out of 21 people wounded in Russian attacks over the past four days, four were still in hospital.

• The number of ships looking to pick up grain cargoes from the Black Sea area fell 35% week on week amid growing uncertainty over whether commercial traffic could be hit as Russia continues to pound food facilities in Ukraine.

• Bulgaria said it had decided to send about 100 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine in the Balkan country’s first shipment of heavy equipment to Kyiv. Bulgaria has so far sent only one military aid package to Kyiv, containing mostly flak jackets and helmets, but a pro-EU government took office last month.

• The top diplomatic adviser to Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said China was delivering to Russia items that could be used as military equipment, although not on a big scale. French officials told CNN that Macron was referring to dual-use technologies and non-lethal assistance, such as helmets and body armour.

• Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet, grounded by Covid-19 and then shunned in the west since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, will return to international touring next week for the first time since 2020 with a trip to Beijing.

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2023-07-22 07:44:23Z
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