Live: Russia assembling reserve forces for next Ukraine offensive, UK warns
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Russia is moving reserve forces from across the country and assembling them near Ukraine for future offensive operations, UK military intelligence warned on Saturday, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stormed out of G20 talks in Indonesia amid criticism of the war in Ukraine. Follow the day’s events on our liveblog. All times are Paris time, GMT+2.
7:30am: Russia assembling reserve forces for future offensive, says UK intelligence
Russia is moving reserve forces from across the country and assembling them near Ukraine for future offensive operations, British military intelligence has warned in its daily bulletin on the war.
A large proportion of the new Russian infantry units are probably deploying with MT-LB armoured vehicles taken from long-term storage as their primary transport, Britain’s Ministry of Defence tweeted.
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Russia is moving reserve forces from across the country and assembling them near Ukraine for future offensive operations.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) July 9, 2022
4:45am: Divisions over Ukraine roil G20 summit
At the meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Bali on Friday, some of the staunchest critics of the invasion of Ukraine confronted their Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
High on their list of concerns was getting grain shipments from Ukraine out through ports blocked by Russia’s presence in the Black Sea and naval mines.
But FRANCE 24’s Armen Georgian explains G20 members are not all on the same page when it comes to punishing Russia for its act of aggression against a neighbouring state.
For one, the G20 “is not a permanent institution, it cannot issue legally binding resolutions,” Georgian explained. “It can make political declarations and then it’s up to members to implement them as they see fit. It can only urge an end to the Ukrainian grain crisis.”
Within the G20, the BRICKS grouping members have not lined up against Russia, said Georgian. Brazil, India, China and South Africa represent 42 percent of the world’s population and countries like India and China are “seen as having lined up with Russia”, he explained.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AFP, AP)
