The Black Sea has been the focus of warring parties’ attention since the expiry of a crucial agreement for world food. Ukraine warned Thursday (July 20th) that it would treat boats heading to Moscow-controlled ports as potential carriers of military equipment “with all associated risks”, as Russia had previously done after pulling out of the deal.
kyiv accuses Moscow of specifically targeting its port infrastructure, in order to prevent any possible resumption of Ukrainian grain exports. During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the Ukrainian ports of Mykolaiv and Odessa suffered Russian strikes, “strongly” condemned by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
At least three people died and more than 20 were injured in the drone and missile strikes, officials said. In Mykolaiv, “at least five residential buildings were damaged,” said Mayor Oleksandre Sienkevich.
A Russian military “exercise” in the Black Sea, anti-ship missiles fired
A military “exercise” has been conducted by Russian forces in the northwest Black Sea, Moscow announced on Friday morning July 21, indicating that anti-ship missiles were fired to bring down a target at sea.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet fired anti-ship cruise missiles “at a target boat in the combat training area in the northwestern part of the Black Sea”, a body of water where Moscow has since Thursday considered ships bound for Ukraine as “potential military boats”. “Telemetry data and video surveillance from unmanned aerial vehicles confirmed the success of the combat exercise. The target boat was destroyed as a result of the missile strike,” Moscow added.
Russian Defense also indicated that the aviation of the fleet, together with ships, “worked on actions to isolate the area temporarily closed to navigation” and “to hold the ship”.
kyiv has started using the cluster munitions delivered by Washington
kyiv has started using the controversial cluster munitions supplied by the United States, the White House has said. In an interview broadcast in early July by the CNN channel, US President Joe Biden confided that he had made a “very difficult decision” by delivering these weapons to Ukraine, justifying this by the fact that Kiev is “out of ammunition”. Asked if Washington’s cluster munitions were now being deployed and used by kyiv, John Kirby, a White House spokesman, replied, “Yes.”
According to John Kirby, the deployment of these weapons to the front took place “about the last week or so”. Ukrainian forces are “using them appropriately. They are using them effectively and they are really impacting Russian defensive formations and defensive maneuvers” from Moscow, the spokesman told reporters, as Ukraine seeks to build momentum in its counter-offensive against Russian forces.
Cluster munitions can disperse up to several hundred small explosive charges, capable of remaining unexploded in the ground and creating a risk for civilians after a conflict has ended. They are banned by many countries, notably European, signatories of a convention signed in Oslo in 2008 and to which neither Russia, nor the United States, nor Ukraine are parties.
“In Russia, there is a good supply of cluster munitions,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with the public television channel “Rossia-1”, broadcast Sunday, threatening to use them on the front if Kiev used this type of weapon. Ukrainian soldiers have already accused Moscow of using this controversial ammunition since the beginning of the conflict.
Vladimir Putin launches the Arctic LNG 2 mega-project of liquefied natural gas
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday kicked off the first string of Arctic LNG 2, a gigantic liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Arctic. “The towing mandate for the transport of the first processing line of the LNG plant is ready. I request authorization to begin transport operations at sea”, indicated an operator during the launching ceremony, broadcast on television. “Permission granted,” replied Vladimir Putin, pulling the lever, alongside the director of the gas giant Novatek, Leonid Mikhelson.
The project, estimated at $21 billion, is located on the Gydan Peninsula, about 30 kilometers from a first giant LNG plant on the Yamal Peninsula, which came on line in 2017. The project is expected to reach a production capacity of 19.8 million tonnes of LNG per year through three production lines, tapping into the rich gas field of nearby Utrenneye.
The French TotalEnergies had announced in 2022, after the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, to stop its financing of Arctic LNG 2, of which Novatek holds 60% alongside the Chinese CNPC and CNOOC and the Japanese Japan Arctic LNG. Arctic LNG 2 is one of the key projects in Russia’s planned exploitation of the “northern sea route” linking Asia to Europe. Moscow hopes that this Arctic route, made practicable thanks to global warming and the melting of the ice, will be able in the future to compete with the Suez Canal for the trade in hydrocarbons.
Canada has imposed new sanctions against Russian personalities and companies
Canada on Thursday imposed new sanctions against Russian figures and companies, including military officials from the paramilitary group Wagner active in Africa and Ukraine, the government said.
“We will not sit idly by while President Putin and his aides attempt to erase Ukraine’s culture and identity through violent and unjustifiable military actions and propaganda efforts,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement.
Among the personalities targeted by the measures are “leading figures of the Wagner group who have been active both in Ukraine and in Africa”, including Ivan Maslov, the head of the Wagner group section accused of having contributed to the massacre of civilians in Moura, Mali, in March 2022. Canada had already sanctioned the Wagner group and its leader, Evguéni Prigojine.
The Canadian government’s announcement comes hours after the UK also announced sanctions linked to abuses by the Wagner Group in Africa.
Russia: the EU sanctions the head of the prison where Alexei Navalny is detained
The European Union announced on Thursday that it had sanctioned 12 individuals in Russia, including the head of the prison where the opponent Alexei Navalny is detained, as well as five entities, responsible for “serious violations of human rights”. The announcement comes as 20 years in prison have been requested against this figure of the Russian opposition, tried for a month behind closed doors in a new trial for “extremism”, in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
“The EU condemns the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation in Russia. The unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine has amplified internal repression,” said the EU Council, which represents the 27 member states, in a statement.
The sanctions adopted “target those who have misused facial recognition technologies for mass arbitrary arrests in Russia, as well as politically motivated decisions against opposition figures, democracy activists and virulent critics of the Kremlin”, it is specified.
The head of the IK-6 prison, Dmitri Nojkine, is notably held responsible for “acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”, according to the reasons for his inclusion in the sanctions regime, detailed in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Zaporijjia power plant: the IAEA has still not had access to the roofs
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regretted on Thursday not having been able to inspect the roofs of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, where Ukraine suspects the Russian forces, which occupy the site, of having placed mines or explosives.
Experts from the UN body, present on site, “are still waiting to have access to the roofs of the reactor buildings”, said Director General Rafael Grossi in a press release.
Ukraine had accused Moscow in early July of preparing a “provocation”, the army claiming that “objects similar to explosive devices had been placed” on the roofs of reactors 3 and 4. The Kremlin had warned for its part of a possible Ukrainian “subversive act” with “catastrophic consequences”.
Faced with these mutual accusations, the IAEA had called for better access in order to “verify the facts on the ground”, in an “independent and objective” manner. Rafael Grossi then reported “progress”, his team having been able to visit the fuel cooling pools. But the query about the suspect roofs has been pending for almost two weeks now.