July 22: E-Stories
InUkraine CombatSitRep BehindLines Russia-China InEurope InOtherNews
Catching up…
For a general view of news from various geopolitical threatres, Scott’s EA Worldview is always superb.
Some of today’s stories will be published in Wednesday’s edition because there were tons of news items.
Let’s start with these…
Stories we’re following…Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 7, injure at least 28 over past day. Ukrainian forces downed 18 out of the 57 drones, including Shahed-type attack drones and decoys, launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported.
On July 20, Russian armed forces carried out 579 strikes on 12 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region. As a result of these shellings, three people were injured. This was reported on July 21 by the head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration, Ivan Fedorov, on his Telegram channel.
The aftermath of strikes against Kyiv during the night.
A Russian attack hit the first floor of a high rise building in the Shevchenkivskyi district in Kyiv. One person was injured, and another was rescued, according to Kyiv Emergency Service spokesperson Pavlo Petrov. Please note that US Special Envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has left Kyiv.
Yellow are Shaheds Blue — Kinzhal missiles Red — other missiles A total of 450. There are no safe places in Ukraine.
He also added that in the Dniprovskyi district of the capital, commercial premises caught fire; in the Darnytskyi district, a garage cooperative and a kindergarten were affected; and there were consequences in the Sviatoshynskyi district as well.
The attack on the capital lasted for about 8 hours. One person is confirmed dead, and two others were injured.
The largest attack took place in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. In response to the shelling, Poland scrambled combat aircraft to strengthen the defense of its airspace. Civil infrastructure and critical facilities were damaged in three villages of the community.
Smoke appeared at the “Lukianivska” metro station, causing its temporary closure. As a result of the shelling, one person was killed, two were injured and hospitalized.
In response to the Russian missile attack, Poland deployed combat aircraft to strengthen its air defense system. Fighters, ground-based air defense systems, and radar complexes have been put on the highest alert. According to the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces, these measures are preventive and aimed at protecting citizens and the country’s borders.
Russia has started using a new criminal tactic, they are hitting subway entrances with missiles and kamikaze drones so that all the civilians who use the subway as shelter will suffocate from the smoke.
Russia is systematically replacing Ukrainian populations in occupied territories with Russian citizens and migrants from Central Asia, North Korea, and China, according to Donbass Realii.
Teachers from Dagestan, doctors from Lipetsk, and workers from Buryatia are incentivized with double salaries and housing to relocate to areas like Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Programs like "Zemsky Doctor" and "Zemsky Teacher" target professionals, while confiscated Ukrainian homes house newcomers. This policy aims to suppress pro-Ukrainian sentiment and alter the ethnic composition, rights groups say.
The Long Read—OCCRP: In the Russian Penal Colony, They Called Him ‘Dr. Evil’
When you arrived, it would be like this: You entered the reception room. You were stripped to the skin. You were shaved. You were beaten with a truncheon. Then you met Dr. Evil.
"I was put in a bent-over pose and brought to get an X-ray," Pavlo remembers. "And at the X-ray there was this Dr. Evil, as we call him, shouting and with a stun gun."
“He started waving the stun gun, hit me a couple of times, began to threaten me, saying, ‘Hurry up, don’t be stupid.’ … He said that we ‘stinking Ukrainians’ didn’t deserve any decent treatment after what we had done.”
What had they done? Pavlo, and dozens of others trucked into this penal colony, had fought for their home country in the war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Many of them had been captured after taking part in the desperate defense of Mariupol, a coastal city that was almost entirely destroyed by Russian bombardment. Its ruin, and the months-long siege of the massive Azovstal steel plant, where its last defenders holed up in increasingly desperate conditions, became a global symbol of the savagery of the war.
Now they were prisoners, deep within Russia.
Returned POWs tended to report that one of the worst places to be held captive was Mordovia, a region in central Russia known for the many prisons and detention centers that dot its forested landscape, a legacy of the Soviet gulag system. Investigative journalists at Radio Free Europe’s Ukrainian service wanted to learn more about what was actually happening in these facilities.
Although Mordovia has over a dozen prisons, nearly all the Ukrainian POWs sent there were held in a facility called Penal Colony No. 10, a large complex that sits along a road cutting through a forest, more than 500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Reporters obtained a list of 177 Ukrainians who had been held at Penal Colony No. 10 from sources in Ukrainian law enforcement. Nearly all, according to Ukrainian officials who interviewed them when they returned home, reported having been tortured and subjected to relentless physical and psychological violence. So reporters started reaching out to hear their stories.
Physical torture was a given, they said. There were constant beatings, often targeting their backs and kidneys, for the smallest perceived infraction. They spoke of the tools most commonly used against them:
Garbage bags were put over their heads. Stun guns were used to administer shock after shock. Attack dogs were set loose on them. Thick plastic pipes were used to beat them. They also described rampant sexual violence — threats of rape, beatings aimed at their genitals — and psychological torture, like mock executions. They said they were forced to stand for up to 16 hours a day, listen to loud Russian patriotic songs for equally long stretches (or 24 hours straight, if they were in the punishment block), and sometimes sing along to the Russian national anthem, hands on hearts.
In all the stories these men told, an additional detail kept coming up. All 50 former prisoners referred to one memorable figure in Colony No. 10 — not a prison guard or administrator, not a military officer, but a doctor.
Nobody knew his name, but they all called him by the same nickname: Доктор Зло, or Dr. Evil. Some of them also called him “the psychopath.” He wore a white coat and usually hid his face behind a medical mask or a balaclava, but the prisoners said his voice was unforgettable. “It was manic, screechy,” one said. “Indescribable.”
Most of the prisoners said they encountered Dr. Evil immediately after their “reception” at the colony, since they had to undergo a chest X-ray when they arrived — Russian prisons are rife with tuberculosis — and this man usually administered it.
He also used the occasion to administer electric shocks to prisoners, several of them recalled — and would continue shocking them over the course of their captivity.
Although the prisoners were soldiers, accustomed to violence and braced for cruel treatment at the hands of their captors, they said the doctor stood out because of his pointless sadism and seeming betrayal of medical principles.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February that prison guards in Russia had been instructed to “be cruel” to Ukrainian POWs. Citing three former prison officials who fled Russia, including two special forces officers and a member of a medical team, the Journal said that a group of elite prison guards received orders that “normal rules” would not apply to prisoners of war. The guards were then circulated to prisons across the country that received POWs, to work with lower-level prison officials.
In a report the following month, Amnesty International also found evidence of systematic torture and denial of medical treatment to POWs, as well as other alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions.
“In all wars, you have abuse of prisoners of war,” said Cruvellier. “I don’t think I know of any that haven’t gone through this…. What is exceptional in this particular case is that it is systemic, and often of high intensity.”
Who is Dr Evil: Meet Ilya Sorokin. He is 34 years old. He’s married, with two daughters. He was born in the small Mordovian village of Potma, just 30 kilometers from Penal Colony No.10, and still lives there today. Records show he started studying at a local medical school in 2008. According to the research tool Himera-Search, which archives information leaked from Russia’s interior ministry and other databases, Sorokin has been working as a prison doctor since at least 2018, making around 564,000 rubles a year (around $9,000 at the time).
But there’s not much to set him apart from any one of the millions of other Russians who support the war, celebrate national holidays, love their wives, and appreciate nurses. The most notable thing about Ilya Sorokin might be how ordinary he seems.
In her classic study of the trial of Nazi official Adolf Eichmann, philosopher Hannah Arendt explored how the architect of the Holocaust came across not as a fanatic, but as a bureaucrat — a “terrifyingly normal” man who took comfort in following rules, climbing the career ladder, parroting cliches, and joining organizations to help give himself a sense of identity.
This appears to be an apt description of Sorokin, too.
Combat SituationISW: Russian officials continue to publicly reiterate that Russia is uninterested in a near-term solution to ending the war in Ukraine that does not acquiesce to Moscow’s demands.
German and Ukrainian officials assessed that Russia continues to expand its production of Shahed-type drones in order to launch even larger long-range drone strike packages that include up to 2,000 drones in a single night.
Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Sumy and Zaporizhia oblasts and near Toretsk. Russian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Lyman and Novopavlivka.
Follow up on Sumy region: Ukrainian forces have recaptured Kindrativka.
A total of 154 combat clashes have occurred on the battlefield over the past day. The most intense fighting was on the Pokrovsk front, where Ukrainian defenders repelled 46 assaults.
Russian forces conducted 20 attacks on the Lyman front and 23 on the North Slobozhanshchyna front and in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Ukrainian drones attack Russia as Moscow hit for 5th night in a row, train station burns in Rostov Oblast. Amid reported Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia, a fire broke out at a train station in the village of Kamenolomni in Rostov Oblast overnight July 21 as Moscow faced drones for the fifth straight night, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported.
Military releases video of Ukrainian drones destroying 'costly and rare' Russian drone warfare system. The 424th "Svarog" Battalion of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (USF) published a video on July 20 showing Ukrainian drone operators successfully targeting and destroying an experimental "KOP-2" Russian electronic warfare system.
Footage shows the aftermath of Russian airstrikes with Kh-22 missiles targeting the “Tavryda” gas extraction platform in the Black Sea, as well as the evacuation of GUR personnel from the site.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) should more actively carry out preemptive strikes on airfields and military infrastructure in Russia in order to reduce the offensive potential of the enemy army and regain the initiative at the front, said Bundeswehr Major General Christian Freuding, who is coordinating aid to Kiev in Germany. According to him, this means "preemptively destroying aircraft, airfields and other air assets with long-range weapons, even before they can be put into action." "Of course, this also applies to production facilities of the defense industry," Freuding added.
At today’s 29th Ramstein meeting, 52 nations reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s defense. Key allies pledged Patriot systems, 200K+ Gepard rounds, €1B+ for drones, and F-16 support. A new NATO-US mechanism will streamline arms deliveries. "Together, we strengthen Ukraine and move closer to lasting peace," Minister of Defense Shmyhal added.
Pete Hegseth, as expected, did not attend. The meeting was convened and is being co-chaired by the UK and Germany. Ukraine is represented by Shmyhal and Umerov.
Germany to deliver five Patriot systems to Ukraine — as soon as possible German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that Germany will provide Ukraine with five additional Patriot air defense systems, along with the necessary ammunition. Details of the delivery schedule will be finalized in the coming days.
Behind the LinesFollow the Money: Shipping around sanctions? Fraudsters sell fake flag of Caribbean island to dozens of oil tankers
A company that says it’s operating from Beverly Hills is helping sanctioned Russian and Iranian tankers dodge international scrutiny by selling them fake ship flags, Follow the Money reveals.
The Maritime Safety & Technical Administration (MSTA) has sold at least 77 false tanker registrations using the flag of Sint Maarten – a Caribbean island that doesn’t even have a ship registry. Among these are 30 tankers sanctioned by the U.S., the EU, or the U.K. These fake flags allow tankers to operate stateless, uninsured, and outside global oversight – for a steep price.
Lindsey Graham: “Putin, your turn is coming—Trump will put a whooping on your ass. He’ll slap tariffs on those buying Russian oil—China, India, and Brazil,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Earlier, Trump stated that Putin had 50 days to make a peace deal, otherwise sanctions will be enforced.
Mo: why wait 50 days? Why provide the Russian forces more time to destroy more Ukrainian infrastructure and kill Ukrainian citizens?
Microsoft has issued a serious warning about “active attacks” targeting SharePoint server software, which is widely used by government agencies and businesses for document sharing. Customers are urged to urgently install security updates, according to The Washington Post.
Ukrainian national Ihor Hrushevskyi, a former senior official with Ukraine’s Interior Ministry’s Department for Combating Organised Crime, has died under unexplained circumstances in the Cala Alta residential complex in Villajoyosa, Spain, where Russian pilot Maksim Kuzminov was previously murdered as reported by El Español citing its own sources.
On the evening of 29 June, Hrushevskyi was swimming in the pool of the complex where he had recently purchased an apartment. He was found face-down in the water with no signs of life. The 61-year-old was formerly a senior figure in Ukraine’s Department for Combating Organised Crime and later in the National Police. His death raised suspicions among residents.
Hrushevskyi's death occurred less than a year and a half after the murder of Russian pilot Maksim Kuzminov, who had defected to Ukraine aboard a Mi-8 helicopter. He was later killed by Russian agents in the underground parking garage of the same complex.
IntelNewsOrg: A group of researchers in Finland have managed to outline the structure and geographic footprint of a highly secretive Russian signals intelligence (SIGINT) unit by studying commemorative badges issued by the Russian government. The research group, known as CheckFirst, specializes in open-source (OSINT) investigative reporting and works to combat online disinformation.
Earlier this month, CheckFirst published its latest report titled “OSINT & Phaleristics: Unveiling FSB’s 16th Center SIGINT Capabilities”. The 36-page report focuses on the study of Russian government-issued commemorative badges—also known as challenge coins—relating to Center 16 (16-й Центр). Also known as Military Unit 71330, Center 16 is a secretive SIGINT unit that houses most of the cyber espionage capabilities of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
The next round of Ukraine–Russia talks is set for July 23–24 in Istanbul, according to Independent Türkçe. This week, the city will host two key diplomatic events—including nuclear talks between Iran, the UK, France, and Germany.
NATO has approved its 2026–2030 Common Funding Resource Plan, allocating €5.3 billion for core defense, operations, and strategic priorities—including direct support for Ukraine. This includes funding for JATEC and NSATU, reinforcing NATO’s long-term commitment to Ukraine’s defense and training needs.
Defense News: Army Europe chief unveils NATO eastern flank defense plan
The U.S. Army and its NATO allies are embarking on the execution of a new “Eastern Flank Deterrence Line” plan that aims to enhance ground-based capabilities and drive military-industrial interoperability across the alliance, the U.S. Army Europe and Africa commander said Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s inaugural LandEuro conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
As part of the plan to counter Russian threats and enable scalable, global deterrence, the Army and its NATO allies are urgently developing standardized, data-driven systems, common launchers and cloud-based coordination, according to Gen. Christopher Donahue.
“We know what we have to develop and the use case that we’re using is you have to [deter] from the ground,” he said. “The land domain is not becoming less important, it’s becoming more important. You can now take down [anti-access, aerial-denial] A2AD bubbles from the ground. You can now take over sea from the ground. All of those things we are watching happen in Ukraine.”
“We’ve already planned that and we’ve already developed it. The mass and momentum problem that Russia poses to us … we’ve developed the capability to make sure that we can stop that mass and momentum problem," Donahue said.
Azerbaijan to file international lawsuits against Russia over downed plane, Aliyev says. An Embraer 190AR plane operated by Azarbaijan Airlines crashed in Kazakhstan on Dec. 25, after coming under fire over Russia's Chechnya. Thirty-eight people were killed.
“Never accept occupation. That’s what we did. Don’t give up,” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said, addressing the Ukrainian people. He also announced that Azerbaijan is preparing legal documents to file a case against Russia in international courts.
The advice of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Ukrainians to “never surrender ,” “not agree to occupation,” and “ not put up with the violation of territorial values” has provoked indignation among the pro-war Russian public. Z-bloggers have begun threatening the republic with an invasion, considering the head of state’s statement “hostile” and “Russophobic,” the Agency noted . They also did not like Aliyev’s intention to sue Russia in the International Court over the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane that took the lives of 38 people.
Yerevan police prevented Russian military personnel from taking away former missile troop shooter Semyon Subbotin, who was wanted for unauthorized abandonment of his unit (Article 337 of the Russian Criminal Code), Novaya Gazeta Evropa reports , citing human rights activists. According to them, Subbotin served in the Strategic Missile Forces in Teikovo, Ivanovo Oblast, but left Russia in September 2024 with the help of the “Go to the Forest” project to avoid participating in the war against Ukraine.
Meanwhile in Russia & China…Russia is paying Russia in Gold: Left without Western markets, Russian precious metals producers, like representatives of other raw materials sectors, are forced to rely on China.
China's imports of Russian precious metal ores and concentrates, including gold and silver, increased by 80% in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2024, reaching $1 billion, Bloomberg reports , citing Trade Data Monitor, which receives information from the China Customs Administration. The increase in the cost of supplies is partly due to rising prices: gold and silver rose in price by about 25% in the first half of the year amid growing geopolitical risks, Donald Trump's trade war, growing budget deficits and US government debt, and a falling dollar.
These factors have increased demand for gold from international investors. In Russia, the ongoing war, economic instability, high inflation, and limited investment opportunities due to sanctions have generated demand from individuals. Over the three years of war, Russians have increased their purchases of gold bars, coins, and jewelry by 60%, purchasing a record 75.6 tons in 2024, which is about a quarter of the country's annual production. But there are no other significant sources of demand: the Bank of Russia, which used to be the leader among central banks in gold purchases, has stopped buying it in large quantities.
As a result, China remains one of the few major markets for Russia, which is the world's second-largest gold-mining country with an annual output of more than 300 tons. Following the introduction of international sanctions, Russian precious metals are no longer accepted on Western exchanges and in storage facilities.
Ukrainian intelligence has information that major banks are preparing for a debt crisis. According to Ukrainian intelligence, by late 2025 or early 2026, many borrowers in Russia will begin defaulting on their loans en masse. The total amount of overdue debt has already risen to 1.5 trillion rubles (around $19.2 billion).
Russia’s biggest oil producer Rosneft has condemned European Union sanctions on India’s Nayara Energy refinery as unjustified and illegal, saying the restrictions directly threatened India’s energy security. The EU’s 18th package of sanctions against Russia over Ukraine was approved on Friday and is aimed at further hitting Russia’s oil and energy industry. Rosneft said on Sunday it held less than 50% in Nayara – one of the targeted companies – and called the EU’s justification for the sanctions “far-fetched and false in context”. The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said the sanctions package is one of the strongest yet against Russia and “we will keep raising the costs, so stopping the aggression becomes the only path forward for Moscow”.
Verkkouutiset: Former Russian President and Vice-Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev was furious about the EU's new sanctions on Russia, directing a long litany of abusive words at Finland and other EU countries on his Telegram channel.
European idiots have approved the 18th package of sanctions against our country, Medvedev lamented.
– It is useless to write that it will change Russia's perspective as much as the previous 17. Our economy will certainly survive, and the losses of the Bandera regime will continue. Attacks on so-called Ukrainian targets, including Kiev, will continue with increasing force.
Medvedev insisted that Russia should now try to distance itself from the EU as much as possible. Especially distance should be taken from the EU's "most objectionable countries", which the Russian politician believes also include Finland.
– They now include the miserable Balts, the ungrateful Chukhs, the undivided Poles, the British who are full of their own p——, but also Germany and France, whose leaders are haunted by the laurels of the Third Reich and the Vichy government, Medvedev said.
Finally, Medvedev thundered that Russians should learn to hate Europeans as much as Europeans hate Russians.
– We must preserve the memory of their disgusting Russophobia for as long as possible, he said.
– Hate is the most powerful weapon that allows the most effective transition to its opposite, love. Of course, only towards those who deserve it.
The departure and arrival of more than 300 flights were cancelled over the weekend of July 18 and 19 at the airports of the Moscow Aviation Hub (MAU) due to the drone attack. Most of the reschedulings occurred on Sunday. This follows from the data of the online boards of Russian airports. ‘Poor’ travellers yesterday were blocked in airports across Moscow due to Ukrainian drone strikes. How inconvenient for them.
Marko Mihkelson: When I met President Dzhokhar Dudayev in Chechnya 30 years ago, he told me that the war waged for the purpose of restoring the empire would last for another 50 years. At the time, I didn’t believe his prediction, but life has proven otherwise. Dudayev was right: until Russia is defeated in the imperial wars it has initiated, none of its neighbors — nor the free world as a whole — can feel safe. A ceasefire with them does not bring peace. Russia has proven this through its behavior since the fall of the Soviet empire. As is well known, Putin called that the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. To paraphrase: the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 21st century would be the restoration of the Russian empire.
Former head of the Capital Construction Department of the Belgorod Region Alexey Soshnikov and his two subordinates Larisa Streletskaya and Andrey Reshetko were sent to a pretrial detention center on charges of especially large-scale embezzlement during the organization of the construction of a defense line on the border with Ukraine ( Part 4 of Article 160 of the Criminal Code) , law enforcement agencies told TASS. The defendants were transported to Moscow together with Novosibirsk businessman Sergey Petryakov, who was also arrested. The decision to choose a preventive measure was made by the Meshchansky District Court. The former officials face up to 10 years in prison.
The Georgian state has frozen the accounts of Batumelebi—the independent outlet founded by jailed journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli—over a 47,000 GEL debt. Meanwhile, government propaganda channels Imedi owes 17 million GEL and Rustavi 2 owes 25 million GEL. Neither faced asset freezes.
Troubling new findings: Orbán’s government and social media team got the photo of the anti-Hungarian graffiti and fire in Western Ukraine so quickly—despite both being swiftly handled by authorities—that they were likely in contact with the perpetrator, says Russia expert András Rácz.
The attack on the church was first reported by the propaganda outlet Mandiner, but in fact Orbán's team knew about it earlier. The Mandiner was the first to report the attack on 17 July at 08:45. Less than an hour later, at 09:35, the news was also reported on Viktor Orbán's Facebook page.
Because of details in the posted photos, it seems that Orban’s photo was the original and not the one posted by Mardiner. Another factor pointing to an operation is that the grafitti was immediately painted over by the Ukrainian authorities, and no Ukrainian press got a hold of the picture before it was painted over. How did Orban get the photo? And who sent it to his media people? Was it one of the 800 inhabitants of the Palad'-Komarivtsi village (barely 2m-square kilometres) ?
There was no investigation conducted by the Hungarian consulate authorities before posting the picture on Orban’s social media feeds. The entire Hungarian government apparatus "of course" blamed the Ukrainians for the arson.
In Europe…We Won! The management of the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy announced on Monday that it had cancelled a concert featuring Russian conductor and "Putin’s friend" Valery Gergiev as reported by Ansa. The concert was scheduled for 27 July as part of the Un’Estate da Re (Summer of the King) festival.
The decision comes after weeks of mounting controversy surrounding the Russian conductor’s presence, known for his public support of Putinian views, and growing concerns over public safety at the event. Activists, intellectuals, and associations representing Ukrainian and Russian dissidents condemned Gergiev's appearance.
Germany plans to purchase €5 billion worth of Patriot missiles for Ukraine, according to AfD party leader Alice Weidel.
Germany’s military counterintelligence (MAD) warns of a sharp rise in Russian espionage and hybrid threats. “The approach is more aggressive, like in the Cold War,” says MAD chief Rosenberg. Suspected cases have nearly doubled in a year. Russian agents are entering via third countries.
US urges Europe to join potential secondary tariffs on Russian oil. "I urge our European allies, who have talked a big game, to follow us if we implement these secondary tariffs," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
London pushes '50-day drive' as UK, Germany to pledge new air defense systems for Ukraine. As London pushes a "50-day drive" to support Ukraine, the U.K. and Germany are set to pledge new air defense systems to Kyiv, media reported on July 20.
Czech activists have launched a public initiative called “A Gift for Putin,” which has already raised an impressive 60 million crowns, equivalent to over 2.4 million euros. These funds will be used to purchase six D-30 howitzers to support the Ukrainian Defense Forces. This was announced by the initiative’s organizer, Martin Ondracek.
The head of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced his visit to Kyiv, where he plans to participate in a conference of Ukrainian ambassadors. This visit aims to reaffirm France’s support for Ukraine. The minister shared this information on his account on the social network X.
The Polish government will acquire a stake in the Finnish aerospace company ICEYE, a manufacturer and operator of a network of surveillance satellites equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), the company's CEO, Polish entrepreneur Rafal Modrzewski, told the Financial Times.
ICEYE initially provided data to shipping companies in the Arctic, but that market “disappeared” after Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia, Modrzewski said. The company decided to switch to defense because demand for its satellites would remain even after the conflict in Ukraine ended, he added. “Will defense markets disappear if the war in Ukraine ends? No… The growth in [defense] spending in Europe is so huge that it will take some time before this market is displaced by something else,” he said.
ICEYE has launched 54 satellites worth about $20 million each, half of which are operated by the armed forces of various countries, including the Netherlands, Finland, Brazil and Portugal. The company currently produces about 25 satellites a year and plans to increase that number to 100-150. According to Modrzewski, this means that ICEYE will need “significant additional capital” on top of the Polish investment.
Poland build three new islands. One in the Vistula Lagoon, two more in the Szczecin Lagoon. No roads, No hotels, no people - just big bird paradises.
CREA: EU imports of Russian gas have fallen but without sanctions. EU imports of Russian gas are down 70% in Q1 2025 compared to pre-invasion levels (Q1 2021) – LNG imports up +67% but pipeline gas down -90%. The drop in EU pipeline flows were not due to EU sanctions on Russian gas but due to payment issues, sabotage of energy infrastructure and the expired transit agreement. The EU paid Russia USD 105.6 billion for their gas imports since the start of the invasion of Ukraine – (75% of the entire 2024 Russian military budget).
However, EU imports of US LNG hit record levels in March 2025. EU imports of US LNG have risen since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – reaching an all time high in March 2025. In the most recent 12 months however (Apr-24 to Mar-25), EU imports from the US were 14% lower than the prior 12 months.
For example, ENI has signed a contract with US suppliers for American LNG as an alternative supply.
RePower EU plan states an end to Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027 — not legally binding. Long-term contracts that European buyers have for Russian LNG run until 2040 — legal bans are required to: 1) Stop a ‘blame game’ between MS’s and; 2) Enable a force majeure in contracts. EU has struggled to attain sufficient non-Russian gas supply — 9.6% higher in the third year of the invasion compared to the year before the invasion.
Canada’s first-ever LNG shipment has officially arrived in Asia, docking in Tongyeong, South Korea. This is a milestone for our natural resource sector and for our Asian G20 allies looking for clean LNG, faster shipping times, and democratic stability.
On Thursday, July 25, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa will visit China, where a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled. On the same day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang will hold the 25th China-European Union summit, aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two sides.
Bloomberg: China threatens EU with retaliation over sanctions on banks and companies Beijing has sharply reacted to the EU’s latest sanctions package, which — for the first time — targets Chinese entities.
Two regional banks were sanctioned: Heihe Rural Commercial Bank and Heilongjiang Suifenhe Rural Commercial Bank, along with five Chinese companies accused of helping Russia via cryptocurrency channels. China’s Ministry of Commerce called the sanctions a “serious blow to economic, trade, and financial ties” and announced that Beijing would take retaliatory steps to “protect the legitimate rights and interests” of its companies. Meanwhile, the U.S. is already hinting at the possibility of harsher measures against China.
On Friday, nuclear talks will take place in Istanbul between Iran, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. This was announced by a representative of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noting that the meeting will be held at the level of deputy foreign ministers. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany have warned that they may reinstate UN sanctions against Iran by the end of August if talks with Iran and the US are not resumed or do not yield concrete results.
In other news…CNN: Alaska Airlines lifts ground stop after IT outage affects operations. Alaska Airlines said its operations have resumed after a temporary ground stop was issued on all its flights and those of a regional subsidiary Horizon Air due to an IT outage affecting its operations, the company said Sunday evening.
Secretary Scott Bessent: "What we need to do is examine the entire Federal Reserve institution and whether they have been successful... All of these Ph.D.s over there, I don't know what they do... This is like Universal Basic Income for academic economists."
Do. Not. Touch. The. Fed. If Trump wants to play around with the US economy, that’s his thing. There should absolutely be no fiddling around with the Fed. It would be over for US power. Period.
A Chinese American man who works for the Commerce Department and traveled to China several months ago is being prevented from leaving the country after he failed to disclose on his visa application that he worked for the US government.
The American, an employee of the Patent and Trademark Office, went to China to visit family and now has been caught up in China’s controversial practice of blocking Chinese and foreign nationals from leaving China — in what is often seen by Washington as a tool of coercion against people and businesses.
What makes this case more significant is that the traveler is a US government employee, although he was apparently not traveling on government business. Such cases are highly unusual.
Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP: “I am gravely concerned by what appears to be another case of CCP hostage diplomacy. This is a tactic, not a coincidence — and it’s unacceptable. The freedom of all Americans must remain a top priority and this is not the only American being unjustly detained by China.”
China does not recognize dual citizenship, which means that Chinese Americans are considered Chinese nationals, regardless of whether they have a US passport. “That’s a real challenge with the PRC. Chinese Americans are under additional pressure. Often they have family members in China. That’s leverage that the authorities have not been afraid to use against them.”
The Financial Times: UK overtakes China as second-largest US Treasury holder
China’s recorded holdings of US Treasuries have fallen below those of the UK for the first time since the start of the century, underlining a shift in Beijing’s management of its foreign reserves.
The value of Treasuries held by Chinese investors, as recorded by US banks and custodians, fell to $765bn at the end of March, down from $784bn in the previous month. Those held by UK investors rose almost $30bn to $779bn, according to data published late on Friday.
The crossover makes UK investors the second-largest foreign holders of US Treasuries, after Japan. It is the first time UK holdings have been higher than China’s since October 2000 and is the latest sign that Beijing is seeking to diversify away from US assets.
“China has been selling slowly but steadily; this is a warning to the US,” said Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis. “The warning has been there for years, it’s not sudden — the US should have acted on this well before.”
The data will come as a cautionary signal for the US administration, following news that Moody’s has followed Fitch and S&P in stripping the world’s largest economy of its triple-A credit rating, citing its growing debt and deficit.
Beijing has been gradually reducing its official holdings of US treasuries from a peak of more than $1.3tn in 2011, diversifying into other assets including US agency bonds and gold. Some of the fall in the value of China’s holdings could also reflect market moves.
The extradition of Ecuador’s most notorious drug lord, José Adolfo Macías, took place on Sunday, a month after his re-arrest. This drug lord, known by the nickname “Fito,” sparked a wave of violence in the country following his prison escape.
Macías was transferred from the maximum-security prison in Guayaquil to the airport, where he was handed over to U.S. officials. A U.S. Department of Justice plane landed in Guayaquil around 12:45 local time and departed with “Fito” after 2:00 p.m.
Last month, Ecuadorian law enforcement arrested Macías after a year in hiding. He was found in an underground bunker near a mansion in Manabí province, which was equipped with a home gym and a game room.
In a court document filed in the Eastern District of New York, prosecutors requested that Macías be held in custody until trial due to the threat he poses to the public and the risk of flight. The document also states that his extradition to the U.S. was carried out “solely for the purpose of prosecution.”
Critical Threats: Israel and Syria agreed to a ceasefire in southern Syria on July 18 that reportedly returns control of Suwayda Province to the Syrian transitional government. An unidentified Interior Ministry official reported that the ceasefire will be implemented in three phases.
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