Jul 28: E-Stories
Day 519: Staromaior'ske UA/RUSitReps Odesa blockade EU China Niger Melitopol Belarus Arabat Nibulon Moldova Akane NorKor HagueDocs Ommic Kharlan OligarchsA&P UKDef ISW Sinéad Groeneveld Muntean Kuleba
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.
Today Ukraine pays tribute to its medics on the front line. Viewer warning: This video is hard to watch.
Stories we’re following…
20:07- STAROMAIORS'KE IS LIBERATED- Donetsk
"The 35th brigade and the 'Arei' territorial defense unit have fulfilled their task and liberated the village of Staromaiorske. Glory to Ukraine!" said a soldier in the video.
Zelensky: Our South! Our guys! Glory to Ukraine!
Suspline reports on the overnight Russian attacks:
“Russian troops hit the port infrastructure of Odesa: a security guard was killed when a rocket hit the administration building of the port, and the equipment of one of the cargo terminals was damaged. The Russians took advantage of the overnight thunderstorm to attack the city.
They also struck Kivsharivka in Kharkiv, with a guided aerial bomb. A 74-year-old woman was killed when a five-story building was hit nearby, and four more people were injured.
During the night Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions also came under fire.
President Zelenskyy made an unannounced visit the Cathedral in Odessa on Thursday night.
Ukrainian General Staff summary for Thursday: In total, the Russian army launched 27 air strikes and carried out more than 30 attacks from multiple launch rocket systems;
Bakhmut direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine successfully repelled the attacks of Russian forces in the area south of Kleshcheevka;
Maryinka direction, Ukrainian troops continue to hold back the offensive of the Russian army in the area of the city of Maryinka;
the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Melitopol and Berdyansk directions, consolidate on the achieved lines
Mykhailo Podolyak said the strikes on Odesa over the past week had shown clearly that the Russian strategy was to bombard Ukrainian cities, with the aim of overwhelming air defence systems.
“We don’t have enough modern anti-aircraft systems like Patriot, that are able to hit the latest generation Russian missiles like Oniks and Kinzhal – the deficit of these systems means we can’t cover all the parts of the country.”
EU ambassadors to adopt 'restrictive measures' against Belarus. Ambassadors from the European Union’s member states agreed on July 26 to adopt “restrictive measures” against Belarus due to its complicity in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Reuters reports that Poland, Lithuania and Latvia could jointly decide to shut their borders with close Russian ally Belarus if there are serious incidents involving the Wagner group along their frontiers with the country, Poland’s interior minister said on Thursday.
“Undoubtedly, should there be serious incidents involving the Wagner group on the borders of Nato and EU countries, such as Poland, Lithuania or Latvia, we will undoubtedly take an action together,” the minister, Mariusz Kaminski, said.
“I do not exclude that if we decide that this is the right answer at the moment, we will lead to the complete isolation of Belarus.”
Russia is blockading movement of ships towards Ukrainian ports, reported by senior official Oleksandr Kubrakov, the minister for infrastructure. Kubrakov said:
Over the past nine days, 26 port infrastructure facilities and five civilian vessels have been damaged and partially destroyed by Russian attacks.
Also, according to him, the Russians are restricting shipping in the area of the temporarily occupied Crimea and near the territorial waters of Bulgaria. With this, the Russian Federation actually blocks the movement of ships in the direction of seaports of Ukraine.
ISW assessment: Russia’s plan to blockade Black sea will hit dead end. Russia's chances of implementing a Black Sea blockade are slim, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in its July 26 report.
The EU Commission has no immediate money in the budget and no clear way to help finance the extra transport costs Ukrainian grain exports will face with the end of the Black Sea deal, sources have told Reuters, leaving an opportunity for Moscow to cash in. Ukraine estimates the extra cost to be $30-40 a tonne for the “Solidarity Lanes.”
“We have not found a solution yet to support the grain transport. People have been scratching their heads since last year,” a source with knowledge of the Commission discussions said.
Reuters reports that China is helping Russia evade Western sanctions and likely providing Moscow with military and dual-use technology for use in Ukraine, according to an unclassified U.S. intelligence report released on Thursday. The assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was released on Thursday by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
The report in particular, states that as of March 2023, China has supplied Russia with drones and components for them worth more than $12 million. At the end of July, Politico wrote about the amount exceeding $100 million. Chinese defense companies supply Russian companies under sanctions with other dual-use technologies, such as navigation equipment, electronic warfare equipment and fighter jet parts.
In addition, the report notes that, compared with 2021, the export of semiconductors from China to Russia has grown significantly.
During the occupation of Ukrainian Melitopol, Russians took 230 children from the city and illegally "adopted" them. Thousands of children have also been taken to camps for re-education.
What does this mean? The enemy has stolen 230 children from us, transferred them to incomprehensible families, in incomprehensible conditions, and now it will be extremely difficult for us to return them after the de-occupation," the mayor said.
Interview with Oleksandra Matviichuk
National Resistance Center: Wagner recruiting fighters in Belarus on condition of readiness to fight in Poland, Lithuania. The Wagner Group is continuing to recruit fighters in Belarus while training the Belarusian military, under the condition that the new recruits are ready "to participate in hostilities on the territory of the countries neighboring Belarus, in particular, Poland and Lithuania," according to Ukraine's National Resistance Center.
Starting from July 31, the FSB has reportedly banned civilian traffic through the Arabat Spit (Crimea). This due to "localize security threats to the population, military and other objects".
Russian air strikes against "Nibulon" food production company facilities with guided air bombs in the village of Kozatske. The Nibulon company is not a strategic military target. The company’s grain silos were targeted. Last year, Nibulon’s CEO and his wife were targeted and killed in their home in Mykolaiv.
Moldova expels 45 Russian ‘diplomats’ for hostile actions, and Russia reacts: Russian FM spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a weekly briefing that Moldova’s decision would “not go unanswered,” calling it “another step in the destruction of bilateral relations” between the countries.
Buying allegiance: At the Russia-Africa summit on Thursday morning, Putin announced that Russia can replace Ukraine as a supplier of grain to African nations. He said Moscow would be ready to start supplying grain for free to six African countries within three to four months, and named Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea as recipients. Moscow is also ready to work with them on the development of their finances, and to use regional currencies for trade payments.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Thursday: “We are grateful,” Mnangagwa told reporters. “We are not in any grain deficit at all. We are food-secure, he is just adding to what we are already have.”
African Union chair Azali Assoumani appealed for "peaceful co-existence" between Russia and Ukraine in a speech at the Russia-Africa summit on Thursday, saying this would save the lives of those who depend on food supplies from the two countries, Reuters reports.
Russia and African state of Burundi sign agreement on cooperation on peaceful use of nuclear energy at the Russia-Africa summit.
Prigozhin is present at the Summit. He was pictured at the Trezzini Palace hotel in St Petersburg, standing next to a senior official from Central African Republic (CAR). The image was first published on Facebook by Dmitry Syty, a Russian national whom western officials have described as an important figure in the CAR branch of the Wagner group.
At the Russia-Africa forum, Russia has granted debt relief on over $684m of Somalia's debts, Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama told RIA Novosti. In search of new allies to oppose the West, the Russian authorities are returning to the Soviet practice of forgiving debts to loyal regimes abroad.
The countries in the map below now all fall under Russian control—Russia’s new colonial empire.
Russia has placed a third official, Judge Tomoko Akane, at the international criminal court (ICC) on its wanted list after it accused Putin of war crimes in Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing the state news agency TASS.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and reached “a concensus” on military issues and the regional security environment, state media said Thursday. The Associated Press reports that during the meeting, Shoigu conveyed to Kim a “warm and good letter” signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, KCNA said. The report did not specify the military matters that were discussed.
Ukraine to open state sanctions register. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law introducing a state register of sanctions, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported on July 26.
Poll: Ukrainians trust military over politicians. An overwhelming majority of Ukrainians — 93% — trust Ukraine's Armed Forces, while 68% distrust political parties, according to survey results published by the Razumkov Center on July 26.
President Biden orders the transfer evidence of war crimes committed by the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine to the Hague Tribunal, The New York Times writes. Previously, the USA did not want to take such a step.
White House: Ukrainian pilots to receive F-16 training in Denmark, Romania. Ukrainian pilots are going to receive training on F-16 fighter jets in Denmark and Romania, while other locations are being considered as well, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on July 26.
Le Parisienne reports that French and Chinese Ommic executives have been arrested by the French authorities for transferring secret technologies used in the military industry to China and Russia. The shares of Ommic, which was controlled by a Chinese businessman, were also arrested. According to investigators, Ruodan, the Chinese CEO, tried to seize the know-how and transfer to China the modern technologies developed in Ommic, as well as "duplicate" it by creating a similar company in China.
Ukrainian fencer disqualified after refusing to shake hands with Russian opponent. The Ukrainian fencer Olga Kharlan has been disqualified from the World Fencing Championship after refusing to shake hands with her Russian opponent on July 27. Kharlan won the match in Milan against Russian fencer Anna Smirnova, who was competing under a neutral flag.
FM Kuleba: “Anna Smirnova lost the fair competition and decided to play dirty with the handshake show. This is exactly how Russian army acts on the battlefield. Olha Kharlan won the fair competition and showed dignity. I urge @FIE_fencing to restore Kharlan’s rights and allow her to compete.”
Life Under U.K. Sanctions: Chauffeurs, Chefs and $1 Million Allowances—NYT
The British government has allowed Russian oligarchs to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on perks like private chefs, chauffeurs and housekeepers, despite ostensibly having their bank accounts frozen, documents show.
The exemptions, known as licenses, are an example of how the United Kingdom’s new financial sanctions system, put together after Brexit, has proved shaky. In some cases, oligarchs were allowed more than $1 million a year in living expenses. In others, officials had to abandon criminal investigations and remove sanctions after legal battles.
“We will keep increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off funding for the Russian war machine,” the British foreign secretary said last spring as she announced Russian sanctions in the first weeks of the war in Ukraine.
In the months that followed, Britain was quietly more welcoming. It granted the Russian banking tycoon Mikhail Fridman a license to pay for 19 members of staff, including drivers, private chefs, housekeepers and handymen, during the first year of the war, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and people directly familiar with the licenses. The payment came to 300,000 pounds (almost $400,000) over about ten months. Mr. Fridman also received a roughly £7,000 monthly allowance to cover his family’s basic needs.
Officials permitted his former business partner, Petr Aven, a monthly allowance of £60,000. The majority went to a security company owned by Mr. Aven’s financial manager, who has been under investigation for potentially helping Mr. Aven evade sanctions, court records show. It is unclear what checks the government carried out before approving the transactions.
Mr. Fridman and Mr. Aven are described by the British government as “pro-Kremlin oligarchs” who are closely associated with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, an allegation they both deny and are challenging in court. “We are politically neutral businessmen. That is all,” said Mr. Aven, reached by phone in the Hamptons.