2023-07-28 19:01:32
This Friday, July 28, an explosion injured at least 15 people in Russia, near the Ukrainian border. While artillery fire is still fierce on the southern front of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky took the time to visit the destroyed cathedral in Odessa. The Ukrainian president also visited, on Thursday, a major Black Sea port targeted several times by Russia in recent weeks.
Thousands of kilometers from the front, the American senators have also voted their Pentagon budget, with 300 million dollars in aid to Ukraine. While a US intelligence report released on Thursday said Beijing’s economic support for Russia has limited the impact of Western sanctions against Moscow imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia: several injured in an explosion in a city near Ukraine
At least 15 people were injured on Friday in an explosion near a cafe in the city of Taganrog, near Ukraine in southern Russia, the governor announced, citing a probable rocket. “A rocket probably exploded in the center of Taganrog,” said Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov-on-Don region, where this city of 250,000 inhabitants is located, on Telegram. “Currently, 15 people […] were slightly injured by shards of glass,” he added.
Moscow and African countries pledge to promote a “multipolar order”
Russian President Vladimir Putin affirmed this Friday, on the last day of the Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg, that Moscow and the countries of the continent were committed to promoting a “multipolar world order” and to fighting against “neocolonialism”. .
“The commitment of all our States to the formation of a just and democratic multipolar world order […] has been reaffirmed,” said Vladimir Putin during a closing speech, referring to a “common determination to fight against neocolonialism” and “illegitimate” sanctions.
Zelensky visited the cathedral in Odessa hit by a Russian bombardment
“Volodymyr Zelensky inspected the destruction in the Transfiguration Cathedral caused by the recent massive Russian bombings on civilian infrastructure and the historic center of Odessa,” the Ukrainian presidency said in a statement. “The head of state was informed of the extent of the destruction in the church and its current state”, as well as the possibilities of reconstruction, she added. The largest Orthodox cathedral in Odessa, whose historic center was listed earlier this year by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the building was damaged on Sunday during a wave of bombardments by Russian forces.
According to the presidency, “the altar was completely destroyed and the supporting structure of the building was damaged”. Founded more than 200 years ago and destroyed by the Soviets in 1936, the Cathedral of the Transfiguration was rebuilt in the early 2000s thanks to donations. It was consecrated in 2010 by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill. The building is under the Ukrainian Orthodox Church attached to the Moscow Patriarchate, a branch that severed its ties with Russia after the February 2022 invasion.
Ukrainian army recaptured village from Russian forces on southern front
The Ukrainian army has retaken from Russian forces the village of Staromayorske, on the southern front, where Kiev forces have stepped up their counter-offensive in recent days, Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar announced. “Staromayorské in the Donetsk region has been liberated. Our defenders are currently carrying out mopping up operations” of Russian troops, she said on Telegram. This is one of the first tangible results of the Ukrainian offensive in this sector of the front since June. Kiev troops had already taken over several villages there on the Vremivka salient, an area difficult for the Russian army to defend and which is still several kilometers from the main lines of defense of Moscow’s forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video on Telegram showing soldiers with a Ukrainian flag near a wall riddled with shrapnel. “Our South, our guys, glory to Ukraine!” he wrote. In this video, the soldiers say they have “liberated the village of Staromayorské”. The Ukrainian army launched a major counter-offensive in early June to push back Russian forces from the territories under their control in the south and east.
Ukrainian drone attack foiled in Moscow region, says Russian Defense
“This morning an attempted” attack led by kyiv using an “unmanned aerial vehicle […] in the Moscow region was foiled,” Russian Defense said on Telegram. “The drone was destroyed by air defense means,” the ministry added. This attack caused no casualties or damage, according to The same source. Early Friday, the mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin had indicated on Telegram that “during the night, an enemy drone attack attempt” had been carried out, without specifying the exact place. located more than 500 km from the Ukrainian border, have already been targeted by drone attacks, including one that hit the Kremlin in May.
On Monday, kyiv claimed responsibility for a nighttime drone attack that hit Moscow. According to the Russian army, two Ukrainian machines had been neutralized and crashed without causing any casualties. One of the aircraft had fallen on an important axis of the capital, Komsomolsky Prospekt, near the Russian Ministry of Defense.
US senators vote on their Pentagon budget, with $300 million in aid to Ukraine
US senators adopted their version of the Pentagon’s annual budget on Thursday, but with a different version adopted by the House, elected officials will have to agree in the fall to finalize the financing of the army. The text approves the $ 886 billion requested by President Joe Biden for 2024, confers a 5.2% increase in military pay and grants $ 300 million in aid to Ukraine.
China’s support limits effect of Russia sanctions, US intelligence says
Beijing’s economic support for Russia has limited the impact of Western sanctions against Moscow imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, says a US intelligence report released Thursday. China “has become an even more crucial economic partner for Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022”, reads this document released by elected Democrats. Beijing “has put in place various economic support mechanisms that limit the impact of sanctions and control on exports,” the same source continues.
China has notably increased its energy imports from Russia and provided containers and insurance policies to ensure the transport of crude oil, according to this text. In addition, trade payable in yuan, the Chinese currency, has increased, one of the methods of circumventing the international financial system. Finally, according to this report, Beijing probably provided Moscow with equipment whose use can be both civilian and military which served in Ukraine, although it is “difficult to establish the extent of the support” offered by China to allow Russia to circumvent sanctions and export controls.
The head of the Russian Olympic Committee accuses the IOC of acting “in the interests” of Ukraine
The head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Stanislav Pozdnyakov, on Friday accused the International Olympic Committee of acting “in the interest” of Ukraine, after the IOC called for showing “sensitivity” with Ukrainian athletes.
“The CIOs […] took the side of the political conflict, began to act in the interest of this side,” Pozdnyakov lamented in a statement posted on Telegram, reacting to the disqualification on Thursday of a Ukrainian swordswoman who refused to shake hands with her Russian opponent after beating her at the World Fencing Championships.
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