Lithuania sends additional military equipment to Ukraine
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvidas Anushauskas announced that his country would provide more military assistance to Ukraine. The next delivery will include anti-drone and thermal imaging equipment as well as Bayraktar drones. This is in addition to a set announced earlier which will include armored vehicles or even trucks.
Turkey offers Putin peace talks with Ukraine in Istanbul
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country is ready to host a meeting between Russian, Ukrainian and UN delegations. If the two parties, Kyiv and Moscow, find common ground, Turkey could also participate in a possible observation mission in Ukraine. This proposal by Erdogan came after phone calls with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
South Ossetia abandons its referendum project for its integration into Russia
The new authorities of the pro-Russian Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia have announced that they are abandoning the organization of a referendum on its integration into Russia.
In a decree, its leader Alan Gagloev explains that there is “uncertainty linked to the legal consequences” of such a consultation, which had been decided by his predecessor, Anatoly Bibilov. It was supposed to be held on July 17.
22 million tonnes of grain blocked in Ukraine
In his last intervention overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that 22 million tons of grain were blocked by the Russian blockade of Ukrainian seaports. According to him, the famine in certain dependent countries could lead to a new migration crisis. “It’s something that Russian leaders are clearly looking for,” he said.
Opening of a war crimes investigation after the death of the French journalist
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) has announced the opening of a war crimes investigation after the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, a BFMTV journalist killed in eastern Ukraine while accompanying civilians on board of a humanitarian bus near Severodonetsk. The flagrancy investigation was entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes (OCLCH) also relates to “the injuries suffered by his colleague Maxime Brandstaetter”, present with him during the report, said the Pnat.
“The investigation is open on counts of willful attack on the life of a person protected by the international law of armed conflict, deliberate attacks against persons not taking direct part in the conflicts and deliberate attacks against personnel and vehicles employed within the framework of a humanitarian aid mission”, detailed the anti-terrorist prosecution. Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, was fatally hit by “shrapnel while he was following a humanitarian operation.”
EU bans major Russian bank from Swift payments system
The European Union has agreed to exclude the main Russian bank, Sberbank, from the international financial system Swift, as part of its sixth package of sanctions against Moscow. So far, seven Russian institutions have been deprived of access to Swift, a secure messaging platform allowing crucial operations such as funds transfer orders between banks.
In the field
Russian forces are advancing in the east. They faced Ukrainian forces on Monday in the heart of Severodonetsk, according to the governor of this region of Donbass.
“The situation in Severodonetsk is as complicated as possible, the entire Lugansk region today is a territory that is continuously bombarded by all types of weapons that the Russian army has. These are aerial bombs, artillery and tanks. Everything”, denounced the governor of this region, Serguiï Gaïdaï, on Telegram.
9 billion for Ukraine
The leaders of the 27 approved on Monday the granting of 9 billion euros to the Ukrainian government to cover its immediate cash needs to run its economy.
kyiv has quantified its needs at 5 billion dollars per month. European funding will take the form of “long-maturity loans” with subsidized interest rates, a European source said.
European oil embargo
The 27 member countries of the European Union agreed on a gradual embargo late Monday evening. It will initially concern oil transported by boat, ie two-thirds of European purchases of Russian black gold. A temporary exemption has been provided for oil transported by pipeline, in order to lift Budapest’s veto.
“This will cut off a huge source of funding from Russia’s war machine,” European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.
The extension of the embargo to pipeline deliveries will then be discussed “as soon as possible” and, in total, 90% of Russian oil exports to the EU will be stopped by the end of the year. , said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron.