• The military point: Ukraine fears the Russian “counteroffensive”.
• The attack in Crimea, the halt to the wheat agreement: what can happen?
• Cardinal Zuppi, the Pope’s envoy for a diplomatic solution to the conflict, ends his trip to Washington: he met Biden yesterday.
3:10 p.m. – Crosetto: Italy will not train Ukrainian pilots for F-16s
Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, “we have made no commitments to train pilots.” We don’t have F-16s and we don’t plan to buy them. Italy has contributed to Kiev’s security in many ways, but this will not be one of those contributions,” said Defense Minister Guido Crosetto during a hearing in the House of Representatives committee on the outcome of the NATO summit on July 11-12 in Vilnius.
2:05 pm – Kiev: 60,000 tons of wheat destroyed by Russian attacks
Night raids by Russian forces destroyed 60,000 tons of Ukrainian wheat grain, according to Kiev.
While the Russian Defense Ministry claims that during the night it attacked and attacked “military industrial plants, fuel infrastructure and ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” in the Odessa area “as well as the Kanatovo air base”. This was reported by the Interfax agency.
13:46 – Russia: “We took Molhanovo in the Kharkiv region”
Russia said its troops had advanced a kilometer along the front line in the northeastern Kharkiv region. “Over the past day, the advance of Russian units was more than a kilometer deep and up to two kilometers along the front. “The advancing units captured the Molhanovo railway station in the Kharkiv region,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
13:09 – 007 GB: “Putin was forced into an agreement with Prigozhin”
British Foreign Intelligence Service (MI6) chief Richard Moore remains convinced that Vladimir Putin was weakened by the recent failed Wagner uprising and that in the end he had “no choice” but to reach a compromise agreement with Yevgeny Prigozhin. This was reported by international media, citing another passage of the public speech that Moore had made in Prague in the past few hours on the sidelines of a visit to the Czech Republic. In MI6 Number One’s interpretation, the Russian President was unable to “react decisively to the attempted march on Moscow”; but he would have limited himself to “reaching an agreement with Prigozhin to save his skin through the good offices of the leader of Belarus (Aleksandr Lukashenko).”
“If we look at Puti’s behavior,” Moore explained, “we see that that day he started calling Prigozhin a traitor, but then forgave him… and invited him to tea a few days later,” Moore continued, emphasizing , as the Wagner founder is currently “alive and free” despite the “uprising”: apparently he can “float” between Russia and Belarus. “So I think Putin is probably under pressure.”
12:59 – Kremlin: “Putin informs about the explosions at the base in Crimea”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been informed of the explosions at the Crimean military training area and is taking the necessary measures as a result. This was reported by the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Tass.
12:53 – Kremlin: “Putin will not go to the BRICS summit in South Africa”
The South African President has stated that Putin will not attend the BRICS summit scheduled for August 22-24. Russia is represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This was explained by Kremlin spokesman Peskov, as reported by the Portal agency.
12:11 – Zelenskyy: “Moscow is specifically targeting grain structures”
“Russian terrorists have targeted grain trading infrastructure and every Russian missile is a blow not only to Ukraine but to everyone in the world who desires a normal and safe life.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, he have “heard information about Russian night raids in Odessa and other regions”.
11:59 am – “The Russians destroyed a fuel depot in Kherson”
The Russian army destroyed “the largest fuel and lubricants depot of Ukraine’s armed forces in the Kherson region it controls.” This was stated by the acting governor of the region, Vladimir Saldo, in his Telegram channel. The news is reported by Ria Novosti. According to the Russian agency, the Ukrainian military in the Kherson region will run out of fuel.
11:37 am – Zakharova: The United Nations has three months for a new wheat agreement
“The UN still has three months to implement the agreement and achieve concrete results,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik radio. Zakharova added that in this case Moscow will again discuss resuming exports of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. Russia announced on Monday that it would suspend the pact, saying its conditions had not been met, including removing barriers to the export of fertilizers and food. By suspending the agreement, the Kremlin signaled that Russia “will immediately reactivate this agreement as soon as the Russian side” of the agreements is respected.
– Ukrainian farmers harvest wheat near Kiev (EPA)
11:33 am – Media: The EU will propose a 20 billion fund for weapons in Kiev
The EU will propose a special fund to maintain Ukraine’s military stockpiles for the next four years, which will cost up to 20 billion euros. Politico.eu writes, citing five different diplomatic sources familiar with the dossier. The proposal is part of the security guarantees agreed with the G7 and does not envisage the EU paying directly for Ukraine’s weapons. Instead, Brussels would help countries cover their costs of buying and donating items like ammunition, rockets and tanks.
10:48 am – Podolyak: “The attack on Odessa? stop grain shipments»
« Today’s massive rocket attacks on Odessa and Chornomorsk clearly reflected Russia’s attitude towards the “food security” of African countries. The main goal is to destroy the ability to transport Ukrainian grain. These are direct attacks on civilian infrastructure and the civilian population. The question now is: will Mr. Guterres make statements on the “inadmissibility of attacks on legitimate civilian infrastructure”? Will the United Nations hold an emergency Security Council meeting over the planned act of terrorism against the global food program?” Zelenskyy’s adviser Mikhail Podoliak wrote on Twitter.
10:37 am – Tajani: “Moscow reconsiders and return to the wheat deal”
“Let’s hope Russia will reconsider” and that the decision to pause the wheat deal is only “a threat with temporary effect” so that we can return to a pact. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said so in the Morning News on Canale 5. For Tajani, Moscow’s withdrawal from the wheat deal “will pay the price not only for European citizens, who will see wheat prices soar, but also for millions upon millions of Africans.” and there is a risk that there will be social problems and therefore migration flows towards the north.” “Now there is an alternative corridor, namely that of the train, which runs through Romania, arrives at the port of Trieste and from there to the African continent,” explains Tajani, but “these are certainly small amounts compared to where they are shipped from. “Ukrainian ports”.
09:42 – Kiev claims attack on Russian military base in Crimea
“A successful operation was carried out in occupied Crimea. “The enemy is hiding the extent of the damage and the number of casualties,” the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, told Telegram, referring to the fire that broke out this morning after violent explosions at a Russian military base on the Moscow-held peninsula . “A successful operation,” Budanov described it.
09:29 – Secret Service GB, the fighting on the Dnipro is increasing
Since the beginning of July 2023, there has most likely been an increase in fighting around the lower reaches of the Dnipro River. British Intelligence Reports. In addition to heavy fighting on the east bank for the small Ukrainian bridgehead near the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge, small units of Russian and Ukrainian troops fought over islands in the Dnipro Delta. Both sides use small and fast motor boats and Ukraine has successfully used attack drones to destroy some Russian boats. Russia faces a dilemma in deciding whether to respond to these threats by strengthening its force in Dnipro at the expense of units exposed to Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Zaporizhia Oblast.
09:27 – Kiev and Moscow are attacked in the night with 30 cruise missiles and 32 drones
“Russia fired 30 cruise missiles and 32 Iranian kamikaze drones from the south in multiple waves overnight, Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 37 enemy air targets,” the air force reported, quoted by Ukrainska Pravda.
09:25 – Kiev and Odessa grain and oil terminals are hit
“During the night attack on the Odessa region, missiles hit the grain and oil terminals, damaged tanks and cargo equipment, and a fire broke out,” said Vladyslav Nazarov, spokesman for the Ukrainian Military South Command, quoted by the Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne. Several blocks of flats were damaged in the city of Odessa, six civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, were injured. An industrial plant and two warehouses were also hit in the Odessa region.
– Two Ukrainians are repairing the roof of a house hit by the Russians in the night in Odessa (Afp)
08:37 – Kiev: “Repeated air strikes on Ukraine”
Repeated Russian attacks in most regions of Ukraine in the night and in the morning, state governors reported, quoted by Rbc-Ukraine. “A difficult night with airstrikes all over Ukraine, especially in the south, in Odessa,” Sergiy Popko, Kiev’s military chief, wrote in Telegram. Dmytro Lunin, military chief of Poltava (central Ukraine), said the city had been attacked with drones. Explosions by unmanned aircraft in the morning also in western Zhytomyr region, in Kropyvnytskyi (central Ukraine), Sumy (northeast), Mykolaiv (south), Zaporizhia and Donetsk.
08:21 – South Africa: Putin arrested at BRICS summit as declaration of war
Arresting Vladimir Putin would be tantamount to declaring war on Russia. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said so in some documents released today amid a nationwide debate on the possibility of welcoming the Russian President to the country for the BRICS summit.
Putin was invited by this group of five major emerging powers (South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia), currently chaired by Pretoria, to the summit, which is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on August 22-24. But since March, the Russian president has had an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children after the invasion of Ukraine, an accusation that Moscow categorically denies.
As a member of the International Criminal Court, South Africa should theoretically arrest Putin if he enters its territory. A serious diplomatic dilemma for Pretoria, which has refused to condemn Moscow since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The case has taken a legal turn, with South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), using the courts to force the government to ensure that Putin is arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court if he enters the country. In a statement, Ramaphosa called the prosecutor’s request “irresponsible.”
“Russia has made it clear that arresting its incumbent president would be tantamount to a declaration of war.” “It would be contrary to our constitution to risk drawing the country into a war with Russia,” he wrote, arguing that doing so was his duty to protect of the country would violate.
7:43 a.m. – Soups at Biden: The kidnapped children were the focus of the conversation
Long conversation, certainly cordial, focused on humanitarian issues as the nature of the guest’s mission requires: Matteo Zuppi spends more than an hour at the White House face-to-face with Joe Biden, who received him with minimal notice, and it shows the goodwill of the American government towards the Vatican’s attempt to initiate a positive peace process for Ukraine.
Now the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference will report directly to Pope Francis, as has been the case in the previous stages of this shuttle diplomacy. Before – and maybe after – it will be difficult to get details of the conversation.
The White House itself, in its recent coverage of the meeting, had politely but clearly made it clear that the story of the Ukrainian children kidnapped by the Russians and taken across the border for re-education would be at the center of the conversation between Biden and Zuppi.
07:33 – Crimean military base attacked, ammunition depot exploded
The fire that broke out in the Kirovsky district of eastern Crimea was caused by an attack on a training ground in Starokrymsky, where an ammunition depot exploded.
This was reported by the Crimea Wind Telegram broadcaster, as reported by Ukrinform, which notes how the explosions are ongoing and are also being felt in the Feodosia area. Residents report heavy cannon fire. The Tavrida highway has been closed and around 2,000 residents of the area are being evacuated.
07:02 – Fire in Crimea, authorities are preparing to evacuate over 2000 people
The Russian occupation authorities intend to evacuate more than two thousand people from four locations near the fire that broke out in Crimea. This was announced by the head of occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, in his Telegram channel, as reported by the Tass Agency. Meanwhile, an operational headquarters headed by Aksenov was set up to respond to the emergency. According to initial information from Russian media, the fire may have started at a landfill site, while other local sources say an ammunition depot may have been hit.
06:26 – The highway between the Crimean Bridge and Sevastopol is closed due to a fire
The Tavrida Highway, which connects the port city of Kerch in Crimea’s Sea of Azov to Sevastopol on the peninsula’s Black Sea coast, has been closed due to a fire in Kirovsky District, according to the Russian Tax Agency. the Tavrida highway was closed. An alternative route for car traffic will be published soon,” wrote the mayor Sergey Aksyonov on his Telegram channel. According to some local media and blogs, the fire started at a Russian ammunition depot.
06:20 – Kyiv: Shot down all Russian drones that were fired against the capital during the night
“The air defense systems detected and destroyed all enemy drones on the outskirts of the capital,” Kyiv Air Defense Forces chief Serhiy Popko said of the explosions heard in the Ukrainian capital overnight.
06:06 – THE MILITARY POINT – Now Kiev fears the Russian counter-offensive
(by Andrea Marinelli and Guido Olimpio) The phase is delicate for Kiev. The offense isn’t progressing as he would have liked and concern about not getting decisive results is palpable. However, the Ukrainians are trying to allay fears, reiterating that they have so far only used part of the equipment received from Western countries. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his generals face two challenges: to keep the momentum of the attack going without taking too many casualties. If deployed to its full potential, it risks “burning up” to overcome the robust defensive bastion that Vladimir Putin’s army has erected in the south.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military leaders fear a “counteroffensive” by Moscow in the east, which would force them to withdraw troops from the southern front and scuttle plans.
06:04 – Colombian President Gustavo Petro: “US and Russia have equal rights”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in his closing speech at the so-called Summit of Nations hosted by the European Parliament in Brussels, compared Russia and the United States, affirming that they are “the same”. “Actually, I don’t know if it’s better to support the United States or Russia. It seems to me that they are the same. “It seems to me that we have no social alternatives in the game of world politics,” said the South American leader, a member of the left-wing Human Colombia party. Regarding the political situation in Latin America, Petro criticized the “continent’s centrifugal forces, which did not allow any real integration project” and compared Mexico and the USA with Ukraine and Russia.
04:53 – Anti-aircraft alarm deployed and explosions also in Kiev
Explosions could be heard in Kiev and the surrounding capital region this morning as anti-aircraft defenses deployed against targets over the city. This was announced by Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, citing local media.
2:10 am – Biden and Zuppi talked about the Ukrainian children deported to Russia
US President Joe Biden and Vatican Special Envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi discussed the Holy See’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to alleviate suffering caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and the Vatican’s commitment to return by force deported Ukrainian children. The White House announced this in a statement.
01:52 – Explosions also in Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Chornomork
Explosions were also reported overnight in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Chornomorsk. The local media reported about it. In the early hours of the morning, violent explosions could be heard in the port city of Odessa.
1:19 am – The meeting between Biden and Vatican envoy Matteo Zuppi has ended
The White House meeting between Joe Biden and Vatican Envoy for Peace in Ukraine Cardinal Matteo Zuppi has come to an end. Reported by local journalists. The interview lasted almost two hours.
01:16 – New missile and drone attacks, explosions in Odessa
Night alert in Ukraine over major Russian attack using missiles and drones from Black Sea; The Ukrainian press reports about explosions in the city of Odessa. The Ukrainian Air Force reported shooting down Iranian-made Shahed drones from the south, and after midnight also sounded the alarm about a missile attack by Tu-22M3 planes in the northern, central and eastern regions. According to the UNIAN news agency, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s staff are taking the alarms seriously; Explosions were heard in Odessa after reports of Kalibr cruise missiles being launched from the Black Sea.