Russia targeted, this Thursday, July 20, Mykolaiv and Odessa, port cities in southern Ukraine, local authorities reported. At least twenty people were injured. “The Russians hit the center of the city” of Mykolaiv, Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. “A total of 18 people were injured, nine of them were hospitalized, including five children, two people were rescued from the rubble,” he added.
In Odessa, located 100 km southwest of Mykolaiv, two people were hospitalized following a Russian attack. The city was targeted for the third straight night. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, “grain terminals and port infrastructure” and “silos and docks at the port of Odessa” had been damaged.
Teenage girl killed in Crimea after Ukrainian attack
A Ukrainian drone attack in Crimea killed a teenage girl overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the local governor installed by Moscow said. “Four administrative buildings were damaged […] in northwestern Crimea,” Sergei Aksionov said on Telegram, adding, “Unfortunately (the attack) did not go without a victim – a teenage girl died.”
Since the launch of the offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, Crimea has been regularly targeted by aerial and naval drones. According to the Russian authorities, two civilians were killed in the night from Sunday to Monday in the attack which targeted the Crimean bridge. Moscow accused Ukraine and opened an investigation for “terrorist act”.
Targeted by the ICC, Putin will not go to the top of the Brics
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the crosshairs of the International Criminal Court (ICC), will not participate in the Brics summit at the end of August in Johannesburg. South Africa chairs the Brics group (South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia), and will host the 15th summit of these emerging powers, to which Vladimir Putin was invited, from August 22 to 24.
But the Russian president has been targeted since March by an ICC warrant for the war crime of “deportation” of Ukrainian children, accusations which he rejects as a whole. As a member of the ICC, South Africa is theoretically supposed to arrest Vladimir Putin if he enters its territory. Close to Moscow, she refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russian and Belarusian gymnasts back in 2024
The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) has decided to authorize Russian and Belarusian gymnasts to participate under a neutral banner in its competitions, from January 1, 2024, the body announced in a press release.
Banned from international competitions since March 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine, gymnasts from both countries may be readmitted as neutral athletes and “under strict conditions”, said the federation. The decision of a possible participation in the Olympic Games in Paris next year “is the responsibility of the IOC”, specifies however the FIG.
Washington announces new military aid to Ukraine
The United States announced on Wednesday a new military aid plan for Ukraine amounting to 1.3 billion dollars. This notably provides for the delivery of four anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-tank missiles, artillery ammunition, mine clearance equipment and explosive drones, details the Pentagon in a press release. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Washington’s “unwavering support”.
Russia says it is ready to join the grain deal if its demands are met
President Vladimir Putin assured Wednesday that Russia was ready to return to the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports if its requests are carried out “in their entirety”, otherwise its extension “no longer makes sense”. “We will consider the possibility of returning (to the agreement), but on one condition: that all the principles of Russian participation are taken into account and carried out without exception,” Vladimir Putin declared during a government meeting broadcast on television.
Russia decided this week not to extend the agreement allowing Ukrainian grain exports. Moscow says its own deliveries of agricultural products and fertilizers are hampered by the sanctions. It also calls for Russian banks and financial institutions to be reconnected to the SWIFT international banking system, of which they were deprived after the start of the offensive in Ukraine in 2022.
Russia will consider ships en route to Ukraine as military targets
Russia announced on July 19 that it would consider as a military target any ship heading for Ukrainian grain ports in the Black Sea. For its part, Kiev accuses Moscow of bombing its grain terminals and calls for international escorts for its cargo ships, after the expiration of a crucial agreement for world food.
So far, the agreement signed in July 2022 between Russia and Ukraine has allowed kyiv to continue its grain deliveries despite the war. The Kremlin refused to renew the text on Monday. He felt that too many obstacles hindered the delivery of his own agricultural products. As the safety of Ukrainian cargo ships was no longer guaranteed, wheat closed at 253.75 euros per tonne on the European market, up more than 8%.