WAR IN UKRAINE: July 2, 2022
The block of flats in Odesa after a Russian missile strike which killed at least 20 people, including one child. Credit: Evgeny Maloletka via Instagram
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 132
In response to the Russian missile strike on a block of flats and a holiday resort on Odesa, Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, accused Russia of being a "terrorist country".
Ukraine has called for a ship carrying grain from a Russian-occupied part of the country to be seized. The ship is currently lying off the Turkish coast. The Russian-flagged ship, the Zhibek Zholy, is on a route from the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk to the Turkish port of Karasu - BBC
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 323 attacks on health care in Ukraine, resulting in 59 injuries and 76 deaths, reported between 24 February and 29 June. Attacks on health care include those against health facilities, transport, personnel, patients, supplies and warehouses. These attacks deprive people of urgently needed care, endanger health-care providers, and undermine health systems.
• As of 28 June approximately 6.2 million people remain internally displaced, whilst 5.5 million people who were previously displaced within Ukraine or moved to other countries have now returned to their homes in Ukraine, according to the sixth round of a rapid representative assessment International Organization for Migration.
Legislation before the Ukrainian parliament would ban citizens who hold state secrets from leaving the country during the war period. This would include people who have information in the areas of: defense, the economy, science and technology, foreign relations, and state security and law enforcement.
The UN's cultural agency has added the cooking of borsch - a soup usually made with beetroot and potatoes - in Ukraine to its list of endangered intangible cultural heritage. While Ukraine considers borsch to be its national dish, it is also widely consumed in Russia, other ex-Soviet countries and Poland. As a result, its origins had been contentious - up until now - BBC
With all eyes on Ukraine, Vladimir Putin targets domestic dissidents: Many of the voices that would normally draw attention to the Kremlin’s crimes are currently being silenced. While attention focuses on Russia’s genocidal war in Ukraine, the Russian government is accelerating its brutal crackdown on any shred of dissent at home. Read the Atlantic Council analysis here