The conflict in Ukraine will enter its sixth month on Sunday. Despite a population exhausted by the war, violence continues on the ground. A new Russian bombardment on Thursday killed three people and injured 23, including four seriously, in Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine that has been shelled for weeks, regional governor Oleg Synegoubov announced. Already the day before, three people had been killed there, including a teenager near a bus stop.
On the economic side, progress can be noted: Russia will sign this Friday with Ukraine an agreement on grain exports eagerly awaited by the international community in the face of the risk of famine in the world.
- Ukrainian cereals and Russian fertilizer: an agreement will be signed in Turkey
Russia and Ukraine will sign an agreement on grain exports in Istanbul, this Friday afternoon, announced Thursday evening the Turkish presidency. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, along with representatives from Russia and Ukraine, will attend the signing ceremony which will take place at Dolmabahçe Palace.
Welcomed by Washington, the agreement should allow an exit by the Black Sea of Ukrainian cereals blocked by the war and an alleviation of the obstacles to the export of Russian cereals and fertilizers. An agreement is “possible in the coming days”, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Thursday morning.
- About 15,000 Russian soldiers killed, according to London and Washington
Around 15,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine since the start of the war. Richard Moore, the head of British foreign intelligence (MI6), stressed on Thursday that a death toll of 15,000 Russians was “probably a conservative estimate” and a “real blow” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was hoping for a victory fast against Kyiv without registering such large losses.
“It’s about the same as the ten years they spent in Afghanistan in the 1980s,” he said from the Aspen Security Forum in the US Rocky Mountains. “And we are not talking here about young people from the middle class of Saint Petersburg or Moscow,” he said. “They are poor children of rural Russia, they come from the working-class towns of Siberia and are mostly from ethnic minorities. They are its cannon fodder,” he said. The day before, the boss of the CIA, the American equivalent of MI6, had delivered a similar estimate.
- Lavrov expected in Cairo after Iran-Turkey-Russia summit
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will address the Arab League in Cairo (Egypt) on Sunday, the organization announced on Thursday. This visit follows a summit between Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders in Tehran. In the Egyptian capital, the head of Russian diplomacy will meet Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary general of the Arab League, as well as representatives of the 22 member states.
At Tuesday’s summit in Tehran, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian counterparts, Ebrahim Raïsi, spoke in particular of the conflict in Syria – whose return to the Arab League is dividing its members – and the war in Ukraine, which raises the specter of hunger over several Arab countries.
Dependent on Russian cereals or weapons, most Arab capitals have so far not taken a position on the conflict in Ukraine, anxious to spare Moscow without however alienating the United States, which has taken up the cause of kyiv.
- Putin and the Saudi Crown Prince discussed oil
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the situation in the oil market on Thursday, stressing the importance of cooperation within OPEC, according to the Kremlin. It was noted with satisfaction that the member countries of this format consistently fulfill their obligations in order to maintain the necessary balance and stability in the global energy market,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Their telephone conversation comes less than a week after a meeting between the Crown Prince, de facto leader of the Saudi kingdom, and US President Joe Biden in Jeddah (western Saudi Arabia).
- Moscow denies its territory to 39 Australians
Russia on Thursday banned access to its territory to 39 Australian citizens working in particular in the security services and defense, in retaliation for the sanctions imposed by Canberra against Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine. “In response to the decision of officials in Canberra to impose sanctions (…), Russia is adding 39 more people to the list” of people banned from entering its territory, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
These people include “representatives of law enforcement, border guards, as well as defense contractors,” he said in a statement. On the list, released by the ministry, we find in particular a deputy interior minister, Marc Ablong, and the chiefs of police of several Australian regions. In June, Moscow had already banned its territory to 121 Australians for the same reasons.