On Friday, Russia and Ukraine signed a historic agreement to open Black Sea ports to grain exports, easing a global food crisis as the US promised to increase its military support for the invasion, which has been ongoing for five months.
The White House announced additional funding for Kyiv of about $270 million, including $100 million for drones, and said it is also considering whether to send fighter aircraft, though it did not say that would happen soon. military
In the east of Ukraine, fighting continues. Russian and Ukrainian representatives refused to eat at the same table and avoided shaking hands at the grain agreement ceremony in Istanbul, showing just how far peace is still from being achieved. military
Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Following the agreement reached on Friday, roughly 20 million tonnes of the harvest from the previous year will be available for sale, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
On the larger conflict, however, he told the Wall Street Journal that a ceasefire was not possible without regaining lost territory.
In order to negotiate what to do and how we could live in the centuries to come, society believes that all of the territories must first be freed.
Since Russian forces took control of the final two Ukrainian-held cities in the eastern Luhansk province in late June and early July, there have been no significant victories on the front lines.
Kiev aspires to retake lost territory with the help of its steadily expanding supply of Western weapons, including the US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
The Russian Defense Ministry reported on Friday that between July 5 and July 20, its forces had destroyed four HIMARS systems.
Reports of any HIMARS being destroyed, according to a US official, are untrue. In an effort to undermine Western support for Ukraine, Kyiv labelled Russia’s remarks as “fake.” Reuters was unable to confirm any battlefield reports. the complete story
The invasion of Ukraine on February 24 sparked the largest war in Europe since 1945, driving millions of people from their homes and leaving entire cities in ruins.
The Kremlin claims to be carrying out a “special military operation” to “denazify” and demilitarise Ukraine. Both Kiev and Western countries claim that the conflict is an act of indiscriminate aggression.
According to a senior US defence official, the Russian military is suffering hundreds of casualties every day, and more than 100 “high-value” Russian targets in Ukraine, including command centres and air defence sites, have been destroyed.
Even in times of peace, Russia considers military fatalities to be state secrets and has not frequently updated its official casualty figures. On March 25, it was reported that 1,351 Russian soldiers had died.
Grains deal
Injecting more wheat, sunflower oil, fertiliser, and other products into the global market, including for humanitarian needs, in part at lower prices, is the goal of Friday’s export agreement, which aims to prevent famine for tens of millions of people in poorer countries.
Russian Black Sea fleet’s blockade
The Russian Black Sea fleet’s blockade of Ukrainian ports has worsened supply chain bottlenecks, fueled food and energy price inflation, and stranded many ships and trapped tens of millions of tonnes of grain.
Moscow has rejected claims that it is to blame for the crisis, placing the blame on sanctions for slowing down its own exports of food and fertiliser and on Ukraine for mining the areas near its Black Sea ports.
According to a UN representative, a separate agreement signed on Friday would facilitate these Russian exports, and the UN welcomed US and EU clarifications that their sanctions would not apply to their shipment.military
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, responded to Western concerns that opening up shipping lanes might leave Ukraine vulnerable to attack by saying Moscow would not try to exploit the demining of Ukraine’s ports.
Russia has accepted the responsibilities that are expressly stated in this document. Shoigu stated on the Rossiya-24 state TV channel, “We won’t take advantage of the ports being cleared and opened.military
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure, added that Kyiv does not perceive a risk of Russian ships attempting to attack through the ports because they would be exposed to Ukrainian missile strikes.
Senior UN officials told reporters on Friday that the agreement would restore grain shipments from the three reopened ports to pre-war levels of 5 million tonnes per month and that it was anticipated to be fully operational in a few weeks. the complete story
They said that even though Ukraine has mined the nearby offshore areas as part of its defenses, Ukrainian pilots would direct ships in its territorial waters along safe routes.
The ships would travel through the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus strait, where they would enter international markets while being watched by a Joint Coordination Center with a base in Istanbul.military
“On the Black Sea today, there is a beacon. A shining example of possibility, hope, and relief in a world that more than ever needs them, “Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, said.
