Kiev is endowed with “significant combat power which has not yet been committed” in its slow counter-offensive against Russian troops, the American Chief of Staff assured on Tuesday July 18. The Ukrainians face Russian soldiers who have had time to establish strong defenses, including fearsome minefields, barbed wire or trenches, Mark Milley told reporters, when asked if the counter-offensive will bogged down. “They are advancing through these minefields, slowly, deliberately and steadily, and it is an uphill battle.”
For Mark Milley, it is “far too early” to say if this counter-offensive is a failure. “It’s going to be long, it’s going to be difficult, and it’s going to be bloody,” he added. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, speaking following a virtual event bringing together international supporters of Ukraine, assured that the United States “continues” to help the forces in Kiev. Three brigades are currently being trained and armed in Germany, and more training is underway in the region, he said.
Russia has also launched a new assault in northeastern Ukraine several days ago, a few weeks after the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive aimed particularly at the south. Last week, Moscow claimed to have advanced 1.5 kilometers towards Lyman, a rail hub recaptured by Kyiv forces in October. The Russians want to force the Ukrainians to divert their current effort to retake towns such as Bakhmout – 50 kilometers further south – and redeploy troops to defend Lyman’s front.
Crimea: fire on military ground
A fire broke out Wednesday morning on a military field in the east of Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula, the local Russian governor said, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of more than 2,000 civilians.
“The temporary evacuation of the inhabitants of four localities adjacent to the military field in the Kirovski district is planned. These are more than 2,000 people”, indicated on Telegram the governor Sergei Aksionov.
“A successful operation was carried out in occupied Crimea. The enemy is hiding the extent of the damage and the number of casualties,” Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on Telegram.
Odessa hit for the second night in a row
Moscow targeted the Ukrainian region of Odessa (south) early Wednesday for the second consecutive night since the expiration of a crucial grain agreement, accused the local governor, who spoke of a “massive attack” from Moscow. He asked the “residents of the entire Odessa region” to stay in the shelters, before sounding the “end of alert”.
During the night, air alerts also sounded in a dozen Ukrainian regions. Kyiv’s air force said it detected Kalibr missile launches from the Black Sea, without providing details, according to a post on Telegram. Odessa and its region are home to the three ports through which Ukraine could, under the Black Sea Grain Initiative which expired on Monday evening, export its agricultural products despite the war and the blockade imposed by the Russians.
Russia warns of “risks” in the Black Sea
Russia warned Kiev on Tuesday (July 17th) against continuing Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea, warning that there were no more “security guarantees” after the expiration of an agreement which allowed them to be exported. transport despite the war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, that the end of the agreement meant that the northwestern Black Sea, through which cargo ships pass, became a “temporarily dangerous zone”. Dmitry Peskov also accused Ukraine of using the sea corridor opened under the agreement “for military purposes”, after Kiev hit the strategic bridge connecting Russian territory with the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea the day before. .
“Ministers considered other options to provide cereals to the most needy countries,” Russian diplomacy said in a statement. Signed in July 2022 in Istanbul and already renewed twice, the cereal agreement expired Monday evening in Istanbul. In one year, it has enabled nearly 33 million tonnes of cereals to leave Ukrainian ports, mainly corn and wheat, helping to stabilize world food prices and avert the risk of shortages. Moscow refused to extend it, complaining of obstacles to its own deliveries of agricultural products and fertilizers and saying that it had not allowed the delivery of cereals to poor countries as much as expected.
Africa threatened by the end of the cereals agreement
According to the UN, “hundreds of millions of people” could be threatened by hunger, including in Africa following Russia’s decision to suspend the agreement which authorized Ukrainian grain exports. “I regret the suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which the African Union had supported very early on,” reacted the President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, on his Twitter account. In Africa, cereal prices have risen following the drop in exports caused by the war in Ukraine, aggravating the sometimes devastating effects of local conflicts and climate change.
“I urge stakeholders to resolve the issues to allow the resumption of the continued and safe passage of grain and fertilizers from Ukraine and Russia to regions in need, including Africa,” added the President of the Commission.
EU-South America ties weighed down by war
Meeting in Brussels, the leaders of the countries of the European Union and Latin America tried on Tuesday to highlight their rapprochement, but differences over the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine sealed their first summit for eight years. In their final declaration and after long talks, the leaders of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) expressed their “deep concern about the ongoing war against Ukraine”, without however mention Moscow.
Even this minimal formulation could not be endorsed unanimously, Nicaragua refusing to associate itself with it. Diplomatic sources had also mentioned the reluctance of Venezuela and Cuba, other supporters of Moscow, to question Russia. Often criticized in the past for having refused to impose sanctions on Vladimir Putin so as not to “penalize the vulnerable”, President Lula Da Silva was “one of those who make it possible to build bridges”, estimated Emmanuel Macron.
The Latin American countries had indicated that they did not want to see the subject of Ukraine monopolize the discussions to the detriment of other priorities, hoping in particular to advance the trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay). The leaders, whose last similar summit was in 2015, agreed to meet every two years. The next meeting will take place in Colombia.
London to strengthen its military stocks
The British government announced on Tuesday that it wanted to spend an additional 2.5 billion pounds (2.9 billion euros) to strengthen its military stocks and its reserves of ammunition, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This investment is included in an update of the British military strategy which “draws the lessons of the war in Ukraine and more broadly of the threats to our security”, specifies the government in a press release. The document also provides for the establishment of a combat force to intervene quickly in the world on the principle of “Get There First” (Arrive first).
“As Russia has proven so well, there is no point in having parading ground armies, massive ranks of men and equipment if they cannot be integrated as a single sustained force on the ground. by all the requirements of modern warfare,” the minister said. It requires “professional, well-equipped and rapidly adaptable forces, backed by large stocks of ammunition”, added Ben Wallace. The minister, who announced a few days ago that he would leave his post in the next cabinet reshuffle, said in the government statement that he aimed to make the British army “a scientific and technological superpower” by increasing the capacities in terms of robotics or new generation weapons.
Biden receives Vatican envoy to discuss Ukraine
Joe Biden received a Vatican envoy on Tuesday to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deportation of Ukrainian children, the White House said in a statement. US President and Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Pope Francis’ envoy for peace in Ukraine, discussed papal efforts to provide “humanitarian aid in response to widespread suffering caused by continued aggression in Ukraine , as well as the Vatican’s commitment to the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children”, details this press release.
As part of his mission, Cardinal Zuppi went to kyiv in early June, where he met President Volodymyr Zelensky. He then went to Moscow at the end of June, where he met Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children, targeted by an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for “illegal deportation” of Ukrainian minors, as well as than the Russian Orthodox Patriarch.