July 24: 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.
Let’s get going…
Stories we’re following…Russia launched 71 Shahed-type and decoy drones overnight from Kursk, Millerovo, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, and occupied Crimea. Ukrainian air defense shot down or suppressed 27, with another 18 neutralized by electronic warfare.
3 killed, 45 injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine, including child killed in Kramatorsk bomb attack. Russian forces launched 42 Shahed-type attack drones and other drones overnight, primarily from Russia and occupied Crimea, Ukraine's Air Force said. At least 26 drones were shot down, and seven more were lost or suppressed by electronic warfare systems, according to the statement.
Russia attacks Sumy Oblast with drones, injures 11, including 5-year-old child. Russian forces launched a drone strike on Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast on July 21, injuring 11 people, including a 5-year-old boy, local officials said.
'Veto the law!' — Protests held across Ukraine after parliament passes bill weakening anti-corruption institutions. Demonstrators gathered in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa to oppose the legislation, which grants sweeping new powers to the prosecutor general over the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO).
President Zelenskyy expressed his opinion regarding the work of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) after signing bill No. 12414. He emphasized that the anti-corruption infrastructure must operate “only without Russian influence”.
The head of state shared this information in his evening address. Zelensky noted that he held meetings with the heads of key anti-corruption bodies, including Semen Kryvonos, Oleksandr Klymenko, Ruslan Kravchenko, and Vasyl Malyuk. He stressed the need to cleanse the anti-corruption system of any external influences.
SBU chief Vasyl Maliuk met with G7 ambassadors, defending recent actions against anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAPO by stating the agency will continue rooting out Russian agents in all Ukrainian state bodies. “No institution is exempt,” he said, adding that NABU must be cleansed of hostile influence and that solid evidence has been gathered against suspected staff.
Odessa Journal: MP Exposed as FSB Agent. Ukraine uncovers Russian infiltration of Anti-Corruption Bureau
The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the Prosecutor General’s Office have exposed sitting MP Fedir Khrystenko, a member of the now-banned Opposition Platform — For Life (OPZZh) party, as a traitor. According to case materials, he was a senior (resident) agent of Russia’s FSB and was tasked with expanding Russian influence over the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). After the full-scale invasion began, Khrystenko fled abroad and continues to influence the Bureau.
The investigation found that Khrystenko had been recruited by the FSB during the Yanukovych era and is currently closely linked with FSB resident Yurii Ivaniushchenko (known as "Yura Yenakiievskyi"), the Kremlin’s overseer of the so-called “DPR.” Khrystenko also had ties to collaborator Armen Sarkisyan (“Armen Horlivskyi”), who died in an explosion in an elite Moscow apartment complex in early 2025.
According to the SSU, Khrystenko was actively executing Russian intelligence tasks during the Revolution of Dignity, organizing “Anti-Maidan” rallies by using private transportation firms he controlled to move hired thugs (“titushky”).
The investigation also revealed Khrystenko’s ongoing contacts with certain NABU officials, including Ruslan Magamedrasulov, head of one of NABU’s interregional detective departments, who was arrested today on suspicion of doing business with Russia and maintaining ties with Russian operatives.
Another link is Oleksandr Skomarov, head of a NABU detective division, with whom Khrystenko remains in close contact. In 2022, during the full-scale invasion, Skomarov’s wife crossed the border in a car owned by Khrystenko’s wife.
Skomarov had also participated in the competition to head the Bureau of Economic Security (BES). Investigators say oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi hoped that, if Skomarov won, he would use the position to help shut down a criminal case against him. This was confirmed by Kolomoiskyi’s correspondence with a subordinate.
It was documented that NABU detectives helped another businessman, Kolomoiskyi’s associate Hennadii Boholiubov, flee Ukraine. Two NABU staff members under Skomarov escorted Boholiubov across the border, sitting in a neighboring train compartment “for backup.” The operation was reportedly orchestrated by Khrystenko.
Gocha Gogsadze—Here's my honest opinion:
russia is dangerously adept at weaponizing a nation's collective traumas and exploiting its deepest vulnerabilities.
They fight not only with tanks but also with narratives to deepen divisions and demoralize. Those of us who stand with Ukraine need to be ruthlessly careful with our words:
Speak truth without amplifying despair.
Be emotional but never let emotion overshadow that russia is the enemy. - Remember russia's battlefield is psychological, not just physical. russia thrives on chaos and confusion, demoralizing and destabilizing Ukraine, its soldiers and exploiting divisions among allies.
Some in the West may tolerate this, breeding skepticism and excuses to cut aid. Every word matters.
Use them to unite, strengthen and remind the world: Ukraine will endure, fight and win!
July 23: Zelenskyy met with anti-corruption and security officials pledging to draw up a plan to fight corruption within the next two weeks as he seeks to address the public frustration with the rushed reform in this area. In a post on Telegram, he said:
“A very necessary meeting, a frank and useful conversation that really helps.
We all have a common enemy – the Russian occupiers, and the protection of the Ukrainian state presupposes sufficient strength of the law enforcement and anti-corruption systems, and therefore – a real sense of justice.”
“We all hear what society says. We see what people expect from state institutions to ensure justice and the efficiency of each institution.
We discussed the necessary administrative and legislative decisions that will allow us to strengthen the work of each institution, resolve existing contradictions, and eliminate threats. Everyone will work together, and we will support them at the political level.”
Mo: My observations
As events unfolded last night, I observed the comments coming from all quarters in the press and on social media, including voices and accounts that I know to support Russia overtly or subtley in its war of aggression against Ukraine. There were also those ready to step into Zelensky’s shoes and capitalised on the opportunity to campaign for the presidency.
Those voices went into overdrive, using posts to boost their own dramatic comments: Ukraine is corrupt, Zelensky will certainly be dismissed as a corrupt figure, Ukraine will lose its EU ascension status, and Ukraine will now lose the war. The slope was more than just slippery: it was political bobsled event. They turned on anyone taking a cautious stance branding them a Russian Nazi supporter. These voices were quickly joined by Russian media outlets and social media platforms parroting the same narratives.
That Russia has penetrated Ukrainian institutions is a given: Russians excel at eating away at institutions from inside to subvert them, seeking to degrade trust between the state institutions and the public. Wartime provides more access points, as institutions are laser focused on winning the war. It’s also a generational issue. Ukraine regained its indepedence in 1991, and those who were once great comrades simply have not disappeared into thin air. They’re everywhere in Europe as well.
I don’t have access to Ukrainian intelligence reports that document why it was necessary to put NABU and SAPO under the prosecutors general’s purview. The Ukrainian government did a poor job of presenting this need and explaining it beforehand. The voices that I described above stepped into the void. Added to this is the fact that there is little good news coming out of Ukraine right now. We don’t have anything to celebrate, so these voices get amplified easily.
The 1,500 Ukrainians who took to the streets last night in Kyiv were afraid Ukraine’s path to the EU would be blocked somehow, and anything that could possibly curtail this objective understandibly meets public anger. Most of the protesters were under 35, so they are thinking about and hoping for their future as an EU member state. I can see why they gathered. EU authorities expressed ‘concern’ but no one mentioned Ukraine losing its ascension status.
I don’t pretend to have a solid grasp of Ukrainian internal political alignments, so I pay attention to those who do, and they were silent last night. They may have been silent because they didn’t want to add to the chaos, which only serves Russian ends, or were waiting for the Ukrainian government to explain why they took this step.
Perhaps they were motivated by something else: the priority right now is for Ukraine to defeat Russia. They will deal with domestic political affairs once their children are safe from Russian bombs. Advocating for bringing down a government or leader during a war will only eat away at Ukrainian unity and lead to catastrophe for those very people who dream of a future. Think of WW2: I don’t recall Churchill ever being criticised and asked to leave office as bombs rained on London sending everyone for cover in the Underground.
I believe we are holding Ukraine to an almost impossible standard in wartime to which own governments couldn’t pass, and should all breathe deeply and wait for evidence to emerge one way or another. The enemy is Russia by the way.
Watch the film: Kherson Human Safari
Kherson: Human Safari is a documentary shot during the Russian war of aggression. It captures the lives of civilians hunted by drones, displaced by war, and bonded by resistance. This film is a testimony and a call to global conscience.
Kherson: Human Safari is an original documentary film created and produced by Zarina Zabrisky. All footage and interviews are original, with signed release forms and archival licenses. Civilian and military content has been reviewed and cleared by the appropriate Ukrainian press officers. Any attempt to discredit or suppress this film is being addressed through legal channels.
You can now see the film on the website. If you’d like to help or donate to the people of Kherson, please scroll down the page and check out the various associations and projects.
Combat SituationISW: Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups reportedly recently advanced into southern Pokrovsk as Russian forces continue to pursue their operational objective of enveloping the town.
Russian forces recently executed a civilian in the Lyman direction.
Overnight, Ukrainian drones struck a key railway hub in Novocherkassk, Rostov region, disrupting logistics deep in Russian territory.
Ukrainian drones reportedly also hit railway infrastructure, a power station, and a Rostelecom building in Russia’s Rostov region.
Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk and Pokrovsk, and Russian forces recently advanced in Sumy and Zaporizhia oblasts and near Lyman, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk.
Ukrainian drones reportedly attack Samara plant making raw materials for Russian artillery, bombs. The target in Samara was the Novokuybyshevsk Petrochemical Company, a major gas-processing and petrochemical facility that supplies raw materials used in the production of explosives, said Andrii Kovalenko, an official at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
Ukraine loses French-made Mirage 2000 fighter jet to reported technical failure. The pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and is now in stable condition, according to Ukraine's Air Force. A special commission has been appointed to investigate the incident.
Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi has urged the Trump administration to lift restrictions on U.S. weapons and send longer-range missiles. In an interview with The Washington Post, he said Ukraine needs ATACMS, Patriots, and more air defense to hit Russian targets directly and deter further attacks. Syrskyi defended last year’s Kursk operation as crucial, saying it inflicted 80,000 Russian casualties.
US NATO ambassador warns China over 'subsidizing' Russia's war in Ukraine. "I think they need to be called out for their subsidizing this killing that is happening on the battlefields in Ukraine," U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said.
Behind the LinesThe third round of Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul took place today, according to the Turkish presidential administration.
The third round of Ukraine-Russia talks will be difficult, the Kremlin says, citing completely opposing terms in the sides' proposed memorandums. In addition, Kremlin spokersperson Peskov said that Rusland still aims to complete the '2022 special operation' goals.
The U.S. has awarded BAE Systems a $9 million contract to inspect and restore Bradley combat vehicles, with funding likely coming from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). Though modest, this may be the first military aid to Ukraine under Trump’s second term.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has proposed raising salaries for military personnel by 7.6 percent starting October 1, 2025 — up from the 4.5 percent increase previously approved by the government. The ministry’s draft proposal would amend a government decree issued on April 9, which had set the multiplier for salary adjustments at 1.045. The new proposal raises it to 1.076. (Mo: the national deficit would balloon. Let’s hope so.)
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Washington does not want to be drawn further into the war in Ukraine. While expressing hope for a swift end and backing Trump's approach to restoring peace “through strength,” he emphasized the growing toll of the prolonged conflict and reaffirmed U.S. support for peace.
Business Insider: Ukraine is inviting foreign arms manufacturers to send weapons prototypes for its troops to test in battle against Russian forces.
Ukraine is turning its frontline into a proving ground for the West's newest prototype weapons.
If firms send in their new tech and train Kyiv's troops to use it, they'll send a combat report back.
Kyiv hopes this will also pave the way for its local manufacturers to partner with more outside firms.
Active negotiations are underway in the US with several countries regarding the potential transfer of Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. This was revealed by a source within the U.S. government who wished to remain anonymous. According to the information, the DoD is negotiating bilateral agreements with various states to supply American Patriot systems to Ukraine. Currently, the process is at the discussion stage, and no specific timelines have been set.
Meanwhile in Russia & China…Russia recruits children into drone programs through games, education incentives, media reports. Russian schoolchildren are recruited into drone development and other military programs through seemingly harmless video games, state-run competitions, and promises of academic and career advancement.
The path starts with a video game called Berloga, launched in 2022, in which “intelligent bears” have to defend themselves against swarms of bees, sometimes using drones to repel them, the investigation found. Succeeding in the game, which is played by hundreds of thousands of young Russians, can lead to extra credits in exams at the end of high school.
The most successful players move into more advanced competitions, such as one called Big Challenges, which looks for promising school pupils to be headhunted by Russian companies, many of which are under international sanctions for their roles in the Russian defence industry.
The Insider spoke with three teenage finalists from the competition working on drone technology, who explained how it worked and detailed how they were fully aware of the military application of certain projects but were encouraged to hide it.
“We were forbidden to say that it was needed for the war, and we invented civilian applications. It’s a children’s program … A project must always have a dual purpose, especially when you’re a school student. It’s an unwritten rule I’ve observed at every competition,” said one.
Whistleblower recruited by Russian intelligence exposes how Putin's spies pose as Ukrainian officials to trap dissidents.
In August 2024, programmers Artem Tamoyan and Alexander Litreev suspected that the FSB was creating trap websites similar to the official pages of Ukrainian special services and volunteer battalions fighting on the side of Ukraine.
As the media assumed, this was done in order to collect data on "unreliable" Russians. However, there was no evidence that the FSB was behind the trap websites - until today.
The Dossier Center managed to talk to the escaped FSB agent for the Tomsk region Semyon Ryzhakov, who created such traps - mainly chatbots that imitated the channels of Ukrainian special services, near-military and news projects.
Semyon not only had to provoke those who contacted him, but also push Russians to commit crimes themselves: for example, he once received from FSB officers a list of people who visited the GUR website of Ukraine, and had to write to them on behalf of the Ukrainian special service. And for one of the operations, FSB officers even burned a decommissioned helicopter.
The Dossier Center, in cooperation with the NGO Free Russians in Croatia Association (USRH), met with Ryzhakov on territory that was safe for him and recorded his story. Ryzhakov shared with Dossier lists of people that the FSB Directorate for Tomsk Oblast was interested in, tasks, and correspondence with his curator Evgeny. An analysis of Russian databases and conversations with some users from the lists allowed us to partially verify the agent’s story. Dossier also managed to establish the identity of Semyon’s FSB curator, whom he knew only by name. How the conveyor belt for fabricating criminal cases is organized is in the new investigation “Dossier”.
Irina Podnosova, the Chief Justice of Russia’s Supreme Court, has died at the age of 72, Russian media reported Tuesday.
Podnosova, who was appointed to the court’s top post in April 2024, died of cancer, a source told the business newspaper Kommersant. She reportedly continued working while undergoing treatment. She succeeded longtime Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev, who died in February 2024 following a prolonged illness, becoming the first woman to hold the position. Lebedev had led the court since 1989.
Law enforcement authorities in the western Bryansk region charged Vice Governor Nikolai Simonenko with abuse of power following searches of his home and office as part of a corruption probe into the construction of border fortifications, state media reported. Simonenko and Yevgeny Zhura, head of the region’s housing renovation fund, are accused of embezzling public funds allocated for defense infrastructure, a police source told the TASS news agency. As deputy governor overseeing administrative and organizational matters, Simonenko coordinated the work of the regional construction department.
New law passed that gives the Ministry of Culture the right to refuse to issue distribution certificates to films containing materials that discredit or deny "traditional Russian spiritual and moral values." This was reported on the website of the lower house of parliament.
According to the adopted document, the Ministry of Culture will also be able to make changes to already issued distribution certificates if a film contains materials that restrict its distribution among children. At the same time, the rental or screening of the film without taking into account such changes will be equivalent to showing the film without a distribution certificate.
The law also expands the very concept of “film screening” – now it will also include the distribution of a film through online audiovisual services.
Police in Moscow raided the offices of Baza, a media outlet known for its ties to Russia’s security services, as well as the apartment of its editor-in-chief, Gleb Trifonov, on Tuesday. Baza itself reported the searches, noting that it had lost contact with Trifonov and the journalists who were in the newsroom at the time. According to his neighbors, Trifonov was taken away to an unknown location. It was later confirmed that he had been brought in for questioning and then detained.
The active promotion of VPN services on foreign platforms is not just a fight for freedom of access to information, but targeted actions by Western countries, allegedly aimed at destabilizing the situation in Russia. This opinion was expressed by the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, speaking in the State Duma.
According to Shadayev, in recent years, funding for programs to develop VPN services through the US State Department alone has increased sixfold. "In this sense, colleagues say: we need to ensure freedom of speech, we need to ensure access for Russian citizens to blocked media. And at the same time, colleagues are deleting our channels, our media channels on YouTube, including parliamentary television, Duma TV," he said (quoted by Interfax).
Halfway through 2025, the share of businesses in Russia that are planning to cut jobs has nearly doubled from the beginning of the year, rising from 6.9 percent in January to 11.5 percent in July, according to a report by the Russian Central Bank on regional economic trends.
Kyiv Insider: Due to a -58% drop in Russian car sales, the country's largest car company will move to a 4 day work week.
The amendments adopted by the State Duma, which prohibit searching for and viewing extremist materials on the Internet under threat of fines, are needed so that the authorities do not have to completely block foreign communication services (for example, Google and WhatsApp), said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev.
“In our understanding [the adoption of a law on punishment for viewing prohibited content] allows us to strike a balance: on the one hand, to prevent the further dissemination of extremist materials, on the other hand, not to make a decision to block large Western platforms for now,” he explained during the consideration of the amendments in the Duma.
Relatives of prisoners in Russian prisons reported systematic beatings, the purpose of which is to force the convicts to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense for further dispatch to the war in Ukraine. This is reported by " Sibir.Realii " with reference to relatives of the victims.
According to sources, mass cases of violence have been recorded in colonies in at least three regions - the Volga region, Central Russia and Siberia. Since the fall of 2024, the publication's sources claim, correctional facilities in these regions have become emptier - the number of prisoners has decreased almost by half. Stages of prisoners began to arrive in the colonies much less frequently and in smaller numbers: suspects and accused began to be recruited directly in pre-trial detention centers and immediately sent to the front.
Amid reports that he is gravely ill, the long-time ruler of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, made a rare public appearance over the weekend. On July 19, his Telegram channel shared footage of him walking down one of Grozny’s central promenades, greeting people and posing for photos. Throughout the video, Kadyrov speaks very little, his movements appear strained, and his face remains largely emotionless. Journalists at Agentstvo used facial recognition software to study the supposedly random passersby and identified several people with connections to the Kadyrov regime.
Eurasian Times: The US recently caught two Chinese nationals for spying inside the country at the behest of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), which has the reputation of being the largest and most active spy agency in the world.
“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” Attorney General Pam Bondi was quoted as saying. “The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country – we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents to account, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security.”
One of the accused has been identified as Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, who lives in China but was visiting Texas this past spring as part of an attempt to oversee covert espionage operations on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security, or MSS. The second accused is named Yuance Chen, 38, who entered the country on a visa in 2015 and subsequently became a lawful permanent resident.
They took part in and coordinated surveillance of a Navy installation in Washington state and a Navy recruiting station in California, including using photos allegedly taken by Chen that investigators think were relayed back to the MSS.
According to authorities, Lai and Chen allegedly discussed enlisting US Navy personnel to work for China, with Chen at one time acquiring the names, residences, and programs of new hires. The FBI affidavit states that investigators suspect the information was sent to China, based on the fact that several individuals listed China as their hometown.
The spying on the US military has also transcended geography, with several cases emerging out of countries that host the US military assets.
South Korea disclosed that three Chinese students were apprehended for illegally filming a US aircraft carrier with a drone. The students used a drone to record the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was docked near the Busan Operational Base of the Naval Operations Command in June 2024.
Separately, reports in April and May last year indicated that a Chinese drone was taking pictures and videos of the USS Ronald Reagan at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.
Beijing has since been accused of resorting to various methods to spy on the US, including through farmlands purchased by Chinese nationals near US bases, or chips installed on cranes used at US seaports.
At the center of this entire effort is the MSS, the organization that has now surpassed every other spy agency in the world in terms of active espionage, which has swept across regions such as Europe, the US, Australia, and the Indo-Pacific.
Banks across Kyrgyzstan are tightening restrictions on financial transactions involving Russian companies, citing fears of U.S. secondary sanctions, the RBC news website reported Monday.
According to trade consultants and legal experts, payment processing times have increased, commission fees have doubled and some transfers from Russian firms have been halted altogether.
Russia accounts for more than 90% of cross-border payments in Kyrgyzstan. In 2023 alone, Russian entities sent $2.8 billion to Kyrgyzstan and received $370 million in return.
Several major Kyrgyz banks, including Bakai Bank, Demir Bank, Optima Bank and Keremet Bank, curtailed or suspended transactions with Russian financial institutions throughout 2024, according to the Kyrgyz news site 24kg.
The country’s central bank defended the restrictions as necessary to comply with anti-money laundering laws and client verification procedures.
Bloomberg: Slovakia’s state energy company plans to source up to 100% of its gas from Russia in 2026 The government in Bratislava continues to push back against the EU’s plans to phase out Russian energy imports, citing cost concerns. The EU’s ban on spot purchases is set to take effect in January 2026 as part of further sanctions against Russia. However, member states are not required to fully eliminate Russian energy imports until the end of 2027. Slovakia and Hungary have been granted exemptions for a transition period that will allow them to fulfill long-term contracts with Russian suppliers.
RFE/RL: Will The EU Really Suspend Visa Liberalization For Georgia?
European Union foreign ministers failed to take any meaningful decision on Georgia at their July 15 meeting in Brussels.
However, the European Commission did send a letter to Tbilisi warning that Georgians' visa-free travel privileges could be suspended if a number of conditions aren’t met by the end of August.
The question now is how serious this deadline really is, whether the Georgian government will budge, and ultimately whether Brussels can actually muster the will to act if Tbilisi doesn’t change course.
Sanctions, even the latest proposal of slapping asset freezes and visa bans on two Georgian judges, were off the table.
Both Hungary and Slovakia had made it clear in preparatory meetings that they would not approve.
In Europe…The EU has also confirmed that trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will speak with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick this afternoon as they continue talks on the EU-US trade relations ahead of next month’s deadline for tariffs. EU trade spokesperson Olof Gill said “the EU’s primary focus is on achieving a negotiated outcome with the US.”
“While our priority is negotiations, we continue in parallel to prepare for all outcomes including potential additional countermeasures.
To make our countermeasures clearer, simpler, and stronger, we will merge lists 1 & 2 into a single list (not entering into effect until 07/08) and submit this to [Member States] for approval.”
Separately, the EU has vowed to work more closely with Japan to “counter economic coercion and address unfair trade” at a summit intended to shore up the multilateral world order. EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa met Japan’s prime minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday, where the two sides pledged to deepen their ties on trade and defence, citing their commitment to “a stable and predictable rules-based free and fair economic order”.
Europe and Japan, she said, accounted for one-fifth of global GDP, with a market of 600 million people. Trade had increased by 20%, she said, since the entry into force of the EU-Japan trade agreement in 2019, but said more needed to be done to “unlock the full potential” of the deal, in areas such as government procurement and food and animal health standards.
She said the EU and Japan hoped to conclude this year negotiations to bring the Asian nation into the bloc’s Horizon research funding programme.
The two sides also agreed tighter cooperation on defence and security, including maritime, cyber, space and countering hybrid threats. Japan was the first country outside Europe to sign a defence and security pact with the EU.
Polish PM Tusk reshuffles government to regain momentum after presidential defeat. Back to Warsaw, Polish PM Donald Tusk said the government needed to “get its act together” after losing the presidential election in June as he presented his new cabinet. Among key changes, he tasked the finance minister, Andrzej Domański, with overseeing all economic departments in the government. He also promoted foreign minister Radosław Sikorski, giving him the title of the deputy prime minister on top of his portfolio.
The Greek police found 17 passports and 155,000 euros in the house where Plahotniuc and Țuțu resided in Greece. Moldovan runaway oligarch Plahotniuc was detained by Interpol Greece on his way to Dubai while accompanied by former Miss Moldova Elisaveta Kuznețova & former MP and kickboxer Constantin Țuțu.
Plahotniuc was charged with corruption, money laundering and fraud for his alleged involvement in Moldova’s 'Theft of the Century', in which $1bn disappeared from the country's banking system, equivalent to more than 10% of its GDP.
The EU must remain ready to negotiate with Russia-aligned Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar in order to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from further weaponizing migration, EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner told POLITICO.
“The fact that Russia is increasing its influence in Libya is precisely our concern, and that’s why we must also engage with Libya,” Brunner said in a Friday interview with POLITICO at a summit of European interior ministers in the Bavarian Alps. “There is certainly a danger that Russia … [will] use migrants and the migration issue as a whole as a weapon against Europe. This weaponization is taking place, and of course we also fear that Russia intends to do the same with Libya.”
Turning up the heat: The French government wants Brussels to turn the screws on Washington as transatlantic trade talks head to the wire with no deal in sight.
A French official working on trade issues, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Paris believes that European negotiators must “make it clear that we’re ready to press the red button” if Donald Trump refuses to agree to acceptable terms.
A second French official said that the European Commission should recognize it is dealing with an ally who is “raising tensions in a trade war it started.”
“This is what prompted us to raise our voice and to ask the Commission to be firm,” the official said.
The demands from Paris to get tough reflect the intense pressure governments are facing as they grapple with Trump’s decision to rip up the world trade orthodoxy since he returned to power in January. Recent weeks have seen frantic efforts by European Union negotiators to persuade their American counterparts to agree to lower U.S. tariffs on EU goods ahead of Trump’s Aug. 1 cutoff date for talks.
In other news…WaPo Worldview: After Trump moved to dismember the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which backed internationally oriented outlets such as Voice of America, Chinese state-made broadcasts took the place of U.S. programming on TV networks in countries as disparate as Indonesia and Nigeria.
Trump, like a growing number of Republicans, viewed the media properties as suspicious fonts of “anti-American” liberalism. But Chinese propagandists exulted at the demise of these U.S.-funded news operations, which had, to varying extents, chronicled the state of pro-democracy movements around the world and provided space for dissident voices in countries where political freedoms are curtailed.
“The Chinese people are happy to see the U.S. anti-China ideological fortress breached from within,” cheered Hu Xijin, former chief editor of the Global Times, a Chinese state-run, English-language newspaper, this year on social media.
In a video circulating this month, Victor Gao, a former Chinese diplomat and vice president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, mused whether Trump may come to be remembered as an American Mikhail Gorbachev. The comparison to the late Soviet leader and famous author of glasnost and perestroika was not meant to be flattering: Gorbachev’s attempt at reforms, Gao said, precipitated the collapse of the Soviet empire and unleashed a “trauma” still being felt today.
Gao suggested that by the end of the decade, Trump’s own attempt at reforms will have “fundamentally changed” both the United States and NATO, likely for the worse. Trump would not have made America “bigger, stronger, greater,” Gao said, but rather may have “led it astray, like Gorbachev.”
Taiwan News: Trump calls on Congress to raise Taiwan defense aid to NT$29.41 billion. The Trump administration “strongly urged” Congress to raise its appropriations for strengthening Taiwan's defenses to NT$29.41 billion (US$1 billion). The White House's Office of Management and Budget made the statement on July 15, in response to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026, per CNA. The document emphasized funding for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative (TSCI), a key component of the bill.
CNN: Trump announces trade agreement with the Philippines and a 19% tariff. Trump said Tuesday he and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines have reached a trade agreement. The agreement calls for 19% tariffs on goods coming from the Philippines, while American goods shipped there won’t be charged a tariff, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump announced the conclusion of a “major” trade agreement with Japan, which includes a mutual tariff rate of 15%. He shared this information in a post on the Truth Social platform. According to the new agreements, Japan will invest $550 billion in the U.S. economy and agrees to a mutual tariff of 15%. Trump noted that the United States will receive 90% of the profits from this deal. Additionally, Trump reported that the U.S. and Japan are moving closer to finalizing an agreement on the joint export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Alaska.
Couldn’t resist…