News on the war in Russia-Ukraine: Kiev troops withdraw from important city in the east while Moscow conducts nuclear exercises

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will not declare a ceasefire in Ukraine until Kyiv takes “irreversible” steps acceptable to Moscow.

He said it was pointless for Russia to appeal to the Ukrainian parliament about Moscow’s ideas on how to end the conflict between the two countries.

The president said he had seen fragments of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump but had enough to do with his own work, adding that the United States remained a great power.

When asked about Trump’s statement that the war could be ended quickly, Putin said Russia was taking it seriously.

The Ukrainian defense positions in Chasiv Yar were destroyed and Russia left “not a single intact building,” a ground force spokesman said.

Nazar Voloshin said there would have been a risk of heavy casualties if Ukrainian troops had remained in the area.

The Ukrainian army withdrew from a northeastern neighborhood of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important city in the eastern Donetsk region.

Months of relentless Russian artillery bombardment have devastated the city, homes and municipal offices have been destroyed, and the town, which once housed 12,000 people, is deserted.

The Belarusian leadership has been cracking down on dissidents for nearly four years. A few weeks ago, authorities searched the homes of 104 opposition activists who had fled the country and confiscated their property:

According to human rights activists, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has released at least ten political prisoners, including an opposition politician suffering from cancer.

Despite this rare pardon, about 1,400 people are still behind bars for political activity. Most of them were arrested after peaceful mass protests in 2020 and convicted of alleged extremism.

Human rights group Viasna said it knew of three women and seven men who had been released.

The only one named by relatives so far is Ryhor Kastusiou, 67, a former opposition leader and presidential candidate. He was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 10 years in a penal colony the following year. After his arrest, he was diagnosed with cancer.

Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, announced an amnesty this week to mark the 80th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation from the Nazis in World War II. State news agency Belta said the amnesty is expected to affect about 7,850 prisoners, including minors, pregnant women, pensioners and people suffering from tuberculosis or cancer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Donald Trump knows how to end the war in Ukraine and he should “tell us today.”

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Zelensky said that if there were risks to Ukraine’s independence, “we want to be prepared, we want to know.”

Mr Trump, who is currently ahead of US President Joe Biden in polls ahead of the November election, had previously declared that he would end the war.

The interview comes at a time when Russian forces are slowly advancing into the Donetsk region and a new front has emerged near the northeastern city of Kharkiv in recent months.

A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Poltava region damaged gas infrastructure, killing one person and injuring three others, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Thursday.

An unspecified infrastructure and the plant of the gas producer Ukrgasvydobyvannia were damaged in the strike on Wednesday, the ministry said on Telegram.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Wednesday it had shot down a Russian missile over the region, but the region’s governor reported damage from debris.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Russia on July 8 and 9 and hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said.

The visit was first announced by Russian officials last month, but the dates have not yet been disclosed.

Russia has had close ties with India since the Cold War, and New Delhi’s importance as a key trading partner for Moscow has grown since the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

China and India have become major buyers of Russian oil after the United States and its allies imposed sanctions on Russia and closed most Western markets to Russian exports.

Under Modi’s leadership, India has avoided condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine while stressing the need for a peaceful solution.