🔴 Live: Russian chemical tanker hit by Ukrainian drones near Crimea

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10:05pm: Deadly Russian strike hits Ukraine blood transfusion centre, says Zelensky

Russian forces struck a blood transfusion centre in the Kharkiv region of northeast Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday, adding that “dead and wounded are reported”.

A “guided air bomb” hit the centre in Kupiansk, a city a few dozen kilometres from the Russian border, Zelensky said on social media, adding that “rescuers are extinguishing the fire”.

8:08pm: Russian missile strike hits Ukraine aeronautics firm, says Zelensky

A Russian missile strike on Saturday hit a facility of the Ukrainian aeronautics group Motor Sich, one of several companies requisitioned by the government since Moscow’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“Today there was another Russian missile attack against our country. Kinzhals, Calibers. They hit Motor Sich”, Zelensky said in his evening address.

The firm’s facility is located near Khmelnytskyi in western Ukraine, around 300 kilometres (190 miles) southwest of Kyiv.

6:29pm: Turkish foreign minister discusses Black Sea grain initiative with Blinken

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed in a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken the revival of Black Sea grain initiative, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Saturday.

The two top diplomats also discussed a normalisation process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the security of the Black Sea and NATO enlargement during the call, the source said.

6:04pm: Russia vows to punish Ukraine for tanker attack near Crimean Bridge, says foreign ministry

Russia strongly condemns what it regards as a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on one of its civilian vessels in the Kerch Strait and will respond and punish those responsible, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday.

A Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives struck a Russian fuel tanker overnight near a bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea, the second such attack in 24 hours, both sides said on Saturday.

5:05pm: Russia dispatches fighter jet to intercept US drone over Black Sea, says defence ministry

Russia said Saturday it scrambled an Su-30 fighter jet to “prevent a violation of the Russian state border” by a US Reaper MQ-9 military drone over the Black Sea.

“As the Russian fighter approached, the foreign reconnaissance drone performed a U-turn,” the Russian defence ministry said, adding “the Russian aircraft returned safely to its airbase, there was no violation of the border”. 

1:04pm: Russia says it seized settlement in northeast Ukraine

Russia on Saturday said it captured a settlement in northeastern Ukraine, where Kyiv has reported increased attacks.

“In the area of Kupiansk, as a result of the competent and professional actions of the military units of the Western command, the settlement of Novoselivske was liberated,” the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

11:30am: Ukraine security source confirms Ukrainian drone hit Russian tanker last night 

Ukraine carried out a drone strike on a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait, a source in the security service told AFP Saturday, a day after one of Moscow’s ships was hit in the Black Sea. 

“Overnight the (Ukrainian Security Service) SBU blew up the ‘SIG’, a large oil tanker of the Russian Federation that was transporting fuel for Russian troops,” the security source said.

It added that the “successful special operation”, which involved a naval drone and explosives, was carried out jointly with the Navy on Ukrainian territorial waters.

The source described the targeted vessel as “one of the most powerful oil tankers of the Russian Federation”.

“It was well-loaded with fuel, so the ‘fireworks’ could be seen from afar,” the source added.

6:54am: Russian tanker hit by Ukrainian drones

A Russian tanker was damaged in an attack by Ukrainian drones in the Kerch Strait, briefly halting traffic on the strategic bridge linking Crimea to Russia’s mainland, a government agency and Russian media reported early Saturday.

The tanker SIG suffered a hole at the waterline in the area of the engine room, “presumably as a result of an attack by a marine drone”, the Federal Agency for Sea and Inland Water Transport said on Telegram. “The ship is afloat.”

An oil boom had been placed around the vessel and preparations were under way to patch the damage, it said.

The Marine Traffic vessel-tracking website showed the SIG stationary and attended by tugs just south of the strait.

The chemical tanker is under US sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria supporting President Bashar al-Assad.

The state RIA Novosti news agency said there were no casualties in the attack, citing the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of Novorossiysk.

Traffic on the bridge across the Kerch Strait linking the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula to Russia was halted for around three hours and resumed early Saturday, according to the highways information centre’s Telegram channel.

6:07am: Ukraine expects difficult but successful talks in Saudi Arabia

Talks starting in Saudi Arabia this weekend to find a peaceful settlement to end Russia’s war in Ukraine will be difficult, but Kyiv is counting on persuading more countries to back its peace formula, the head of Kyiv’s delegation said on Friday.

Ukraine and its allies hope the meeting in Jeddah of national security advisers and other senior officials from some 40 countries – but not Russia – will agree on key principles on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“I expect that the conversation will be difficult, but behind us is truth, behind us – goodness,” Andriy Yermak, head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office and his key envoy for the talks, said late on Friday in a television interview published on his Telegram messaging app.

The forum excludes Russia, but the Kremlin said it will “keep an eye” on the meeting. China, which has firm ties with Russia, said on Friday it will send Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui for the talks.

“We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared,” he said.

Key developments from Friday, August 4:

Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that it had thwarted an overnight drone attack by Ukraine on Novorossiysk, a Russian naval base on the Black Sea. A Ukrainian intelligence official told Reuters that a Russian vessel was damaged in the attack, although the regional governor had earlier stated that there had been no damage or casualties. 

NATO member Lithuania announced on Friday that it would be closing two of its six border crossings with Belarus amid concerns over the presence of Wagner mercenaries there.

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)