Jul 23: Sunday Stories
Day 514: UASitRep RUSitRep Sevastopol Crimea Grain POL Kherson CrimeaArchives Uzbek Africa Bulgaria Sweden EU Hungary Game4Ukraine GarethJones A&P Avdeeva UKDef Africk Zelensky Putin Walder Simonyan
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.
Maria Avdeeva: “Memorial in Kharkiv to children killed by Russia. 2 more names added today. Brother and sister from village of Druzhba, Donetsk region.”
Stories we’re following…
Zelensky: The Crimean Bridge must be neutralized. During a speech at the Aspen Security Forum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the Crimean bridge is a legitimate target for Ukraine and must be "neutralized."
Russian missiles hit grain warehouses in Odesa Oblast. A Russian missile strike on the night of July 21 targeted grain warehouses at an agricultural company in Odesa Oblast, injuring two people, said Serhii Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration. Unesco has condemned Russia’s attack on the historic centre of Odesa, which is protected under the World Heritage Convention.
Russian attacks kill 7, injure 9 over past day. Russian forces attacked 10 Ukrainian oblasts over the past day, killing at least seven people and injuring at least nine, regional officials reported on July 21. Russian troops shelled a settlement near Huliaipole in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, killing 4 workers, and launched an artillery attack against the village of Druzhba in Donetsk Oblast at around 3 p.m. on July 21, killing two children.
The Ukrainian forces continue to conduct an offensive operation on the Melitopol and Berdiansk fronts, while the Russians are concentrating their main efforts on the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka fronts; heavy fighting continues, reports the General Staff of the Ukrainian forces.
Over the course of the day, the Russian forces once again attacked the territory of Ukraine using Shahed attack drones. As a result of successful combat operations by the forces and means of air defence of the Air Force, all five attack UAVs were destroyed.
In addition, the Russians carried out 4 missile- and 36 airstrikes and carried out 23 attacks from multiple rocket launchers on the positions of Ukrainian troops and populated areas. There are victims among the civilian population; residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed.
An explosion north of Oktyabr'skoye, Crimea near the airfield. The Ukrainian General Staff confirms that the destruction of an oil depot and warehouses of the Russians in occupied Crimea. The Russian appointed governor of Crimea Aksyonov has ordered the evacuation of residents within 5 km of the explosion site.
Brady Africk: Russian forces in Ukraine continue to expand defenses along the front line.
This updated map shows many of Russia's new fortifications and links each to satellite imagery. Near Lysychansk (Luhansk Oblast), Russian forces added new trenches and barriers along roads leading toward the city.
In Donetsk Oblast, Russian forces built new defenses as Ukraine regained territory near Bakhmut.
Defense forces not allowing enemy sabotage groups to advance deep into Ukraine - Demchenko. The enemy is trying to use sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the Sumy and Kharkiv directions, but Ukraine's defense forces do not allow them to advance deep into Ukraine.
"Recently, the enemy has also been trying to use sabotage and reconnaissance groups, particularly in the Sumy and Kharkiv directions, but, fortunately, the defense forces, all the units that strengthen this direction and SBGS units detect such groups in time and do not allow them to move deep into Ukrainian territory," Demchenko said.
National Resistance Center: Russia threatens Ukrainians who don't take passports with deportation. Russian occupation authorities in an occupied village of Kherson Oblast forced residents to take Russian passports, threatening them with deportation to Russia, the National Resistance Center reported on July 20.
Russian invaders urgently take archives of "RF Investigative Committee" out of Crimea - reports the Atesh partisan movement on Telegram. In other words, the occupation forces are taking away evidence of war crimes perpetrated by the Russian occupation forces.
"An Atesh source from Simferopol said that the archives of the "Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation" in the occupied Crimea were urgently taken out of the peninsula a couple of weeks ago. Rashists obviously do not want their crimes to fall into the hands of the Ukrainian authorities in a documented form," the post reads.
The Russians have mobilised into the occupation forces Uzbek citizens who came to occupied Mariupol as builders, reports the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
"The presence of Uzbek citizens was noted in the units of the Russian occupation forces stationed in the temporarily occupied Horlivka of Donetsk Oblast. The specified persons arrived in Mariupol to carry out construction work. Upon arrival, their passports were confiscated, and they were mobilised to join the occupation forces as mercenaries."
Monique: A disinformation campaign started before Russia’s pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, seeking to pin the blame on Russia’s weaponisation of food on Ukraine. On Friday at the UN, the Russian delegation falsely claimed that Ukraine had used the grain corridors to prepare for Ukrainian strikes in Crimea, and that the majority of the grain exported went to the West. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This video sets out the basic facts of the BSGI and what it has accomplished since June 2022.
The UN has been arguing that the Black Sea deal had benefited poorer countries by helping lower food prices more than 23% globally, according to Reuters. The UN World Food Programme also shipped some 725,000 metric tons of Ukraine grain to aid operations in Afghanistan, Djibouti Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
“The new wave of attacks on Ukrainian ports risks having far-reaching impacts on global food security, in particular, in developing countries,” U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.
At SPIEF 2022, Margerita Simonyan openly stated in the presence of Putin: “All our hope is for the famine, here is what it means … the famine will start now, and they will lift the sanctions, and be friends with us, because they will realize it is necessary”.
Zelensky and Erdogan held a phone call on Jul 21 to discuss grain deal. Erdogan believes he can convince Putin to change his mind about "grain deal". Turkey will "not hesitate" to take the initiative necessary to prevent the "harmful effects" of Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Agreement, Erdogan said on Friday on the presidential plane flying home from the Gulf nations tour this week:
“The termination of the Black Sea grain initiative will have a range of (harmful) effects, ranging from raising global food prices, in some regions to famine, and then new waves of migration. We do not hesitate to take the initiative to prevent this.”
South African authorities agree to issue a warrant for Putin's arrest.The South African government stated on July 21 that it failed to fulfill its international obligations by refusing to immediately issue a warrant for the arrest of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
Poland has summoned the Russian ambassador to the country’s foreign ministry after allegations that Polish forces sought to occupy part of Ukraine’s territory. At the Security Council meeting yesterday, Putin said: “The western territories of present-day Poland are a gift from Stalin to the Poles, have our friends in Warsaw forgotten about this? We will remind you.” But in the evening, Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said:
Stalin was a war criminal responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Poles. The historical truth is not subject to discussion. The ambassador of the Russian Federation will be summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Polish deputy foreign minister Pawel Jablonski has said his meeting with the Russian ambassador “was very brief. The frontiers between countries are absolutely untouchable and Poland is opposed to any kind of revision thereof,” Jablonski said.
The Russian ambassador Sergei Andreev told Russian state-owned Tass media:
Naturally, he received a proper rebuff, explanations about how we see both the history of the 20th century and the behavior of the Polish authorities now in connection with the conflict in Donbass, New Russia and Ukraine.
We recorded a complete lack of mutual understanding and completely different approaches to both issues of modern politics and issues of history.
Monique: please note the use of the term ‘New Russia’- Novorossiya. This is the second time I have seen this term being used in official statements, indicating that the Russian leadership sees Belarus, and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as the expression of the geopolitical project that has been the hallmark of Russian foreign policy since at least 2002.
Bulgaria has decided to send about 100 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine in the Balkan country’s first shipment of heavy equipment to Kyiv. Its parliament – with 148 votes in favour and 52 against – approved a proposal of the new pro-European government to send the vehicles along with armaments and spare parts. The government bought various models of Soviet-made BTR carriers in the 1980s but they were never used. (Monique: this is a big deal. Bulgaria is notoriously pro-Kremlin.)
Swedish government pledges 522.6 million euros for Ukraine's recovery. The Swedish government has pledged 522.6 euros ($581 million) for Ukraine's recovery, the Economy Ministry of Ukraine announced on July 22.
Ukraine nationalizes Russian oligarch's bank. The Cabinet of Ministers decided to nationalize Sense Bank of Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, the Finance Ministry announced on July 21.
Hungary blocks €20B for Ukrainian army. During a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on the formation of a fund for long-term support of the Ukrainian military, Hungary said it would block its creation until Ukraine removes the Hungarian bank OTP from the list of war sponsors. "We cannot negotiate about new financial EPF commitment before OTP is solved," said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
France accuses China of supplying Russia with non-lethal military aid. China is supplying Russia with non-lethal military aid like helmets, armor, and dual-use technologies, CNN reported on July 21, citing French officials.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Arsenal and Ukraine defender, has organised a ‘Game4Ukraine’ charity match at Stamford Bridge on 5 August with retired legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko. In an interview with the BBC he said:
We are using football to represent our country in the best way. It’s so important not just to raise funds to build a school, but to send a message to the rest of the world and to the Ukrainian people, staying there and fighting for their independence, to say: ‘You are not alone’.
Some people have fatigue from this war but we cannot give up. We need to fight for our freedom and independence. I couldn’t imagine in 2023 this could happen - the place where you were born and raised, and one day the other country comes and destroys everything. We need to stick together and fight until the end.
I want, when they grow up and ask what I did when this war happened in our homeland, to look into my daughter’s eye and say ‘Me and your mum tried to do our best’.”
Ukraine thought UK had ‘too rosy’ a view of Putin, Blair was told when PM—The Guardian
Ukrainians believed the west rubbished them and had “too rosy” a view of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair was warned, as Ukraine sought his support for EU membership 10 years after it won independence in 1991, newly released papers reveal.
As Ukraine set a goal of “European vocation”, Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, instead proposed the idea of “special neighbourhood status” for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.
But Blair’s special adviser on Europe, Roger Liddle, asked the then PM to consider if it was “really fair to lump them together with Belarus and Moldova, writing: “This idea could go down pretty badly with the Ukrainians,” papers released by the National Archives reveal.
The UK’s ambassador in Kyiv, Roland Smith, was also critical, questioning if it was because we thought “Ukrainians are not really Europeans?
“Belarus is Europe’s last dictatorship while Moldova is Europe’s poorest country and the government does not control a significant part of its territory … Ukraine is a flawed democracy, not a dictatorship,” Smith wrote. [continue]
Second, report about British communist, George Eltenton, also depicted in the film. These two incidents became central to Oppenheimer’s later persecution.
The film also depicts the Soviet atom spy, Klaus Fuchs. Here are passages from his MI5 dossier. MI5 vetted him in 1941 for work on the British bomb (TUBE ALLOYS) and then in 1943, when he joined the MANHATTAN Project. They had no reliable positive evidence to say he was pro-Soviet— only that he was anti-Nazi. MI5 cleared him. It was a disastrous decision.
MI5 then vetted Fuchs again when he returned to Britain after WW2 to work on British atomic research. Vetting him caused disagreement within MI5— those worried about him being a Soviet agent were later proved correct.
Here is Fuchs’ eventual espionage confession to MI5. I’ve never read anything like it— check it out. He describes how he used “controlled schizophrenia” to separate his mind into two compartments, one for his espionage for the Soviets, the other for all else.
