Jul 1 Buonasera Mag
Day 128 of War: Odesa, Snake Island, NATO, Canada, Ukraine electricity, stolen grain, Heritage Trust, Assad,Texas, EPA
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
Odesa: The regional governor Maksym Marchenko. posted to Telegram to say:
As a result of a night missile strike by Tu-22 strategic aircraft from the Black Sea in the Belgorod-Dniester district of Odesa region, three X-22 missiles hit an apartment building and a recreation centre.
As of 9am, 18 victims were identified, including 2 children, and 31 people were hospitalised, including 4 children and a pregnant woman. Another 8 sought medical help. 8 people were rescued from the rubble, including 3 children. Rescue work continues.
The situation in Lysychansk is “extremely difficult” as Russian forces’ continous shelling makes it impossible for civilian evacuation, the regional governor of Lugansk said yesterday. “There is a lot of shelling and from multiple directions. The Russian army is approaching from different directions towards Lysychansk,” Serhiy Haidai said, adding that Russian forces remain on city outskirts where there is currently no street fighting.
Ukrainian forces say they have pushed Russian forces from Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea island off the southern coast near the city of Odesa.
Zelensky hails Russia's Snake Island withdrawal as beneficial for Black Sea security: “It does not guarantee safety yet, it does not yet guarantee that the enemy will not return. But it already limits the actions of the occupiers significantly"
President Biden says the US and Nato allies will stick with Ukraine “as long as it takes” at the NATO summit. The US president also announced another $800m of military aid to Kyiv.
Macron has announced that France will deliver six CAESAR howitzers and armored vehicles to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Canada to provide Ukraine with dozens of armored combat vehicles. At the end of the NATO summit in Madrid, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announced that the country was finalizing an agreement on 39 armored vehicles for Ukraine, initially ordered for the Canadian military.
Ukraine starts to export electricity to EU on June 30. Ukrainian electricity will be exported through Romania, but later the routes will be expanded by adding Slovakia and Hungary. The total capacity for export is currently 100 megawatts per day.
Russia’s MFA Lavrov said a new “iron curtain” was descending between Russia and the west, and that Moscow would not trust Washington and Brussels “from now on”.
Russia launches 5 submarines from Sevastopol into Black Sea. As reported by the Krym Realii media outlet, Russia has launched five out of its seven Black Sea Fleet submarines from Sevastopol, a city in the occupied Crimean peninsula, into the Black Sea.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the pro-Russia administration, was cited by Russian state media as saying the first cargo ship to leave Berdiansk was carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain to “friendly countries”, but an edited Telegram post by the Russian-installed official did not say what cargo the ship was carrying.
Intelligence: Сampaign conducted in Transnistria to recruit men for Russian Armed Forces. According to Ukrainian intelligence, a campaign is ongoing in the Russian-controlled Transnistria region of Moldova to convince men to sign a contract with the Russian military.
The US blocked a US-based company, Heritage Trust, worth more than $1 billion linked to Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov yesterday, saying the ally of Putin used it to funnel and invest shadowy funds.
The European court of human rights (ECHR) has said it issued an order to Russia to ensure that two Britons captured after fighting for Ukrainian forces do not face the death penalty.
Ukraine’s MFA has announced that it has cut diplomatic ties with Syria, a day after the Syrian presidency officially recognised the “independence” of the two breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Amnesty International concludes Mariupol theater attack was a 'clear war crime.' An investigation by human rights group Amnesty International has concluded that Russian military forces committed a war crime when they struck the Mariupol drama theatre in Ukraine in March.
NATO, Madrid Summit Declaration
We condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in the strongest possible terms. It gravely undermines international security and stability. It is a blatant violation of international law. Russia’s appalling cruelty has caused immense human suffering and massive displacements, disproportionately affecting women and children. Russia bears full responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe. Russia must enable safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access. Allies are working with relevant stakeholders in the international community to hold accountable all those responsible for war crimes, including conflict-related sexual violence. Russia has also intentionally exacerbated a food and energy crisis, affecting billions of people around the world, including through its military actions.
We warmly welcome President Zelenskyy’s participation in this Summit. We stand in full solidarity with the government and the people of Ukraine in the heroic defence of their country. We reiterate our unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders extending to its territorial waters. We fully support Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defence and to choose its own security arrangements. We welcome efforts of all Allies engaged in providing support to Ukraine. We will assist them adequately, recognising their specific situation.
Keir Giles, Putin needs a drawn-out war – the west’s timidity gives him one
Russia’s latest attack on civilian targets in Ukraine, causing at least 18 deaths in a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, far from the frontline, could be interpreted as a message to the G7 and Nato meetings under way in Germany. The message is one of Russia’s indifference to condemnation of its crimes. Moscow will not back down. And that in turn may be based on confidence – whether sound or misguided – that over the long term the war is going Russia’s way.
Russia is now asking Texas to recognise the Russian occupied Donetsk and Luhansk
Kazakhstan and Ukraine’s stolen grain
The grain stolen by the Russian forces in the Russian-occupied Berdyansk region was shipped to Turkey on a ship owned by the Kazakh company KZT Express Shipping.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Reznichenko reported early on June 30 that Russian attack destroyed a warehouse in the town of Zelenodolsk, containing 40 tonnes of grain, causing a fire.
Who’s still buy fossil fuels from Russia
PoliticoEurope: EU sanctions against Moscow should not apply to freight transport by rail to Kaliningrad, for which the train line runs through Lithuania, Scholz said. His reason? "We are dealing here with traffic between two parts of Russia."
Decode39, Draghi’s paradox: liked abroad, crisis at home
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has the highest approval rating of all G7 leaders, maintaining a net positive rating in the past few weeks, filled with key international meetings at the EU level, G7, and NATO. But at home, PM Draghi is trying to contain a new crisis that forced him to skip the last day of the Atlantic Alliance summit in Madrid to return to Italy.
The Guardian, The US supreme court just made yet another devastating decision for humanity
In a 6-3 decision, the openly partisan and undemocratic court ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by fossil-fuel-producing states against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The decision strips power from regulatory agencies and advances the Republican goal to end government oversight. In particular, it eliminates one of the only remaining avenues for systemic federal climate action: using the Clean Air Act to phase out fossil fuel power plants.
We’re signing off. Thanks for reading…
Mo & Scott