Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to visit Turkey, Turkish state media agency Anadolu said Wednesday on the X social media platform, previously known as Twitter, according to a Google translation.

This followed a conversation with his Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been striving to persuade Putin to return Russia to the Ukraine grain deal that Moscow abandoned in July. The agreement, previously brokered by the U.N. and facilitated by Turkey, instated a humanitarian corridor that allowed the export of Ukrainian agricultural goods to the global markets to abate a food crisis.

Erdogan described the initiative as a “bridge of peace” and emphasized it would not benefit any party to discontinue it. Russia has previously said that it would not rejoin the deal until its demands — dealing with restrictions on its own exports — are met.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Despite putting on a united front at all times in public, the relationship between Ukraine and its international partners has been awkward and strained at times.

Ukraine has to tread a fine line with its international friends. It is reliant on its partners for billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware but it also insists that it is fighting the West’s war as it confronts a hostile and unpredictable Russia.

Kyiv has repeatedly thanked its partners for their help but, behind the scenes, frustrations have also come to a head and Ukraine’s ongoing needs and demands — and the military and political considerations of its allies — have clashed at times, prompting uncomfortable encounters.

Read the full story: Ukraine has tested its allies’ patience with its military strategy and demands

Editor’s note: The following post contains graphic material detailing reports of torture of people in Ukraine.

The Mobile Justice Team — a collaboration between human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance and Ukraine’s Office of the Prosecutor General — found that nearly 50% of Ukrainian detainees were subjected to torture in Kherson detention centers.

The abuse included sexual violence, electrocution, waterboarding, suffocation, severe beatings and threats of rape.

The Mobile Justice Team analyzed 320 cases of detention in war-battered Kherson across more than 35 detention centers. At least 43% of these victims reported torture.

Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read CNBC’s full coverage of the report.

The Kremlin may struggle to juggle domestic security concerns with its mobilization strategy, amid Ukrainian hostilities, the Institute of War said in its latest update on Aug. 1.

“Russian authorities will likely struggle to balance the need to quell domestic concern over continuing drone attacks deep within the Russian rear with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued refusal to fully mobilize Russian society for the war and its corresponding consequences,” it noted.

Russia had reported a drone offensive that its defense ministry deemed an “attempted terrorist attack,” which hit a skyscraper in capital city Moscow’s business district. It claimed to have downed two other drones.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak warned that hostilities will move to Russia’s grounds.

“Moscow is rapidly getting used to a full-fledged war, which, in turn, will soon finally move to the territory of the “authors of the war” to collect all their debts,” he said on Aug. 1 on the X social media platform, previously known as Twitter.

“Everything that will happen in #Russia is an objective historical process. More unidentified drones, more collapse, more civil conflicts, more #war…”

— Ruxandra Iordache

More than 10 drones were detected and destroyed by Ukrainian forces in a Russian overnight attack against Ukrainian capital city Kyiv, said Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, in a Google-translated post on Telegram.

Moscow deployed Iranian-made Shahed drones in the offensive, he added.

A non-residential building in the capital was damaged, but no injuries or death casualties were sustained as a result of the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said in Google-translated comments on Telegram.

Ukraine’s air defense force on Telegram said it took down 23 drones in the Odesa and Kyiv region last night, according to a Google translation.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Médecins Sans Frontières confirmed it has a partnership with a hospital in the port city of Kherson that was shelled on Tuesday.

According to regional officials, the strike killed a doctor and injured five medical workers. CNBC has not independently verified the report.

“Our teams have been working in the hospital supplying medical equipment and providing mental health consultations to people displaced by the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam,” the medical charity said in a statement.

The strategically important dam was blown up in June, causing widespread flooding.

“Our logistical teams were also supporting the hospital by refurbishing the emergency bunker for the patients and medical staff — a sad reminder that even hospitals aren’t spared by the ongoing strikes,” MSF said.

“The shells were reportedly fired by Russian forces. This hospital caters largely to stroke victims, patients with cardiac issues, and the provision of general surgical care. Our teams continue to support the hospital … We unequivocally condemn this disgraceful attack on a medical facility and extend our condolences to the family of the doctor who died.”

— Jenni Reid

The United States will take the helm of the United Nations Security Council for the month of August, a scheduled presidency that is expected to grapple with the fallout of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The landmark U.N.-brokered agricultural initiative between Ukraine and Russia collapsed last month triggering global food insecurity concerns.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield slammed Moscow’s exit from the deal calling it “another blow to the world’s most vulnerable.”

The diplomatic choreography of assuming the role — largely seen as procedural — gives the U.S. the opportunity to set the agenda for debates over the next month.

Thomas-Greenfield will detail U.S. objectives for the next month during a briefing at 2 p.m. ET, though she is expected to focus on the defense of human rights and ways to mitigate food insecurity.

She is also expected to announce a signature high-level debate on Thursday that will be chaired by Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias