Ukraine live briefing: Russian strikes kill 11, officials say; woman held in alleged plot to assassinate Zelensky

At least seven people were killed and 67 were injured in the eastern city of Pokrovsk, Ukraine’s internal affairs ministry said early Tuesday. Two children, 29 police officers and seven rescue workers were among those hurt. Photos posted on Telegram showed severely damaged buildings with blown-out windows, obliterated rooftops and glowing flames.

At least four others were killed in recent attacks on Ukraine, the country’s officials said, including two civilians in the Kharkiv region, one person in Kherson, and another in the southern city of Nikopol. Several private homes and farm buildings were damaged in Nikopol, Ukraine’s operational armed forces said, with photos showing building debris scattered onto the ground and spilling into a kitchen.

The detainee allegedly linked to a plot to attack Zelensky tried to give Russian forces information about the president’s visit to Mykolaiv last week, Ukraine’s Security Service said, describing the suspect as “a former saleswoman in a military store on the territory of one of the military units” in the town of Ochakiv. She was taken into custody on Aug. 1, a Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post.

Russia’s Air Force is struggling to fight outside its own airspace because of Ukrainian air defenses, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Monday. As a result, the Russian Air Force has launched attacks from afar using range-extending glide attachments, but they “have yet to demonstrate consistent accuracy,” it said.

A group of 22 Ukrainian prisoners of war were brought home from captivity, Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said on Telegram on Monday. Some were wounded, and all of the men will go through rehabilitation, he said. The oldest was 54 and the youngest was 23.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing will maintain an “independent and impartial” stance on the war, but will continue to closely cooperate with Moscow on international affairs, according to a statement released Monday, after Wang and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he discussed ways to expand grain exports with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call Monday, in an effort to compensate for hardships caused by Russia’s pullout from the Black Sea Grain Initiative last month. Kuleba also said he stressed the need for U.S.-manufactured Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to improve Ukraine’s long-range battle capabilities.

Romania has been working to boost the transport of Ukrainian grain throughout its territory, including by increasing capacity in ports and border crossing points, Foreign Minister Luminita-Teodora Odobescu told Politico in a recent interview.

Elite, well-connected Russians are sidestepping sanctions and sparking protests: Dozens of Russians connected to President Vladimir Putin or the Russian military are still welcome in European Union countries, despite wartime sanctions meant to isolate the country. That privilege is drawing criticism from politicians and antiwar activists, Francesca Ebel writes.

Yelena Isinbayeva, an Olympic gold medal-winning Russian pole vaulter with close ties to Putin, is living quietly in a luxurious residence worth millions in Spain’s Canary Islands. A daughter and son-in-law of Boris Obnosov, head of the Russian-owned company Tactical Missiles Corporation, continue to live in Prague, where the family owns numerous properties and luxury vehicles.

Some Russians have argued that individual citizens, even the wealthiest, should not be punished for Putin’s decision to go to war. Others insist that all of those whose wealth and success can be traced back to the Kremlin should be held responsible.

Lyric Li and Isabelle Khurshudyan contributed to this report.