Ukraine war briefing: Russia behind deadly strike on cargo ship, says Ukraine, as Putin thanks North Korea

Ukrainian ⁠forces struck three oil depots and ⁠a ⁠fuel facility ​in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on ⁠Sunday. Three Russian ​tankers ​from the “shadow ​fleet” had ‌also been ​struck ​in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian president also said on X.

Vladimir Putin has thanked North Korea for supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine as he met visiting foreign minister Choe Son Hui. “I would like once again to express my gratitude for the support provided to the special military operation we are conducting,” Putin said on Sunday. “We will never forget” the “heroic deeds” of North Korean soldiers, who would be “honoured in the same way as our compatriots”, the Russian president added. Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that Choe was visiting at the invitation of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. North Korea has sent troops to Russia’s Kursk region and supplied weapons systems to support Moscow’s war effort, while in return analysts say the impoverished and isolated country has received financial assistance, food, energy supplies and military technology from Moscow.

Russian anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin has said he will not be running in September’s legislative elections, saying he has been “silenced” and “pushed out of politics”. Nadezhdin – one of the few politicians in Russia openly criticising Putin and Moscow’s Ukraine offensive – had recently been convicted for displaying “extremist symbols”. “My ability to legally engage in opposition politics in Russia has been exhausted,” he wrote on Telegram on Sunday. “I’m not prepared to put at risk those who support me and took part in the election campaign”. The 63-year-old’s campaign had been severely compromised since he was declared a “foreign agent” earlier this month, followed by his sentencing for “displaying extremist symbols”, in that case posting a video in 2023 that briefly showed deceased dissident Alexei Navalny.