While a Ukrainian strike near Crimea left several dead, Russia announced that it had destroyed 25 Ukrainian drones during the night of Monday 22 to Tuesday 23 July, including 21 over annexed Crimea and the Black Sea. “Anti-aircraft defenses intercepted and destroyed two drones over the Bryansk region and two over the Belgorod region, as well as 21 drones over the territory of the Republic of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea,” the Defense Ministry wrote on Telegram.
Already the day before, when Ukraine had claimed responsibility for a drone attack on a refinery in a town on the shores of the Black Sea, Russia had said it had shot down 85 Ukrainian drones during the night from Sunday to Monday and early in the morning, including 47 in the southern region of Rostov alone, bordering Ukraine.
Key information to remember
⇒ Ukraine strikes Russian port and ferry near Crimea, killing and injuring
⇒ Ukrainian Foreign Minister visits China
⇒ Orban’s visit to Moscow sanctioned
Ukrainian strikes on Russian port near Crimea
The Ukrainian military has used drones to strike a ferry, killing and injuring several people in a port in the Kerch Strait, which separates Russia from Crimea, a highly secure area, Russian regional authorities announced on Tuesday, July 23.
“Emergency services are currently working at the site. The fire is contained and is not likely to spread,” Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamine Kondratiev said on Telegram. “Unfortunately, there are injuries and deaths among the crew members and port employees.”
Meanwhile, several Russian media outlets reported that the ferry crossing to Crimea had been suspended after the expensive construction of the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia. It had resumed after a truck bomb damaged the bridge in 2022, an attack attributed to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister visits China
A week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky opened the door to talks with Russia, his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba landed in China on Tuesday, July 23. An unprecedented visit “whose main topic of discussion […] “will be the search for ways to stop Russian aggression and the role of China in achieving a lasting and just peace,” his ministry said.
Dmytro Kuleba may want to try to “convince China that it should participate in a second peace summit,” Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, a think tank based in Berlin, told AFP. Because despite its close economic, diplomatic and military ties with Moscow, further strengthened since the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory launched in February 2022, Beijing intends to play mediator in the conflict.
For security expert Bjorn Alexander Duben, the Middle Kingdom could want to weigh more in the mediation of the conflict “which threatens to become increasingly costly for Chinese companies and interests”. At the beginning of July, Chinese President Xi Jinping had called on the international community to “create the conditions” for a “direct dialogue” between kyiv and Moscow, during a meeting in Beijing with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Orban in Moscow: Meeting transferred from Budapest to Brussels
Is Hungary paying for its leader’s connections with the Kremlin? While it was due to be held in Budapest at the end of August, the meeting of EU foreign ministers will ultimately take place in Brussels, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borell announced on Monday.
“We must send a signal, even if it is symbolic, to indicate that positioning ourselves against the foreign policy of the European Union […] “It has consequences,” he explained, assuring that it was only “a symbolic measure”: “I refuse the word boycott, the informal meeting will take place with the participation of all the member states,” he insisted.
A sort of sanction imposed on Hungary following Viktor Orban’s visit to Moscow, where the Hungarian head of government met Vladimir Putin. On Facebook, the head of Hungarian diplomacy Peter Szijjarto was amused by the European Commissioner’s decision: “What a fantastic response they have come up with… […] I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but it feels like kindergarten.”