A Russian drone attack targeted Ukrainian port infrastructure in the Odessa region (south) and destroyed a grain shed. The attack lasted “nearly four hours”, overnight from Sunday to Monday, and was carried out “by Shahed-136 drones”, the Kiev army said on Facebook. “A grain shed was destroyed and storage tanks for other cargo were damaged,” she added.
Three drones were destroyed by the air defense forces”, added the operational command, according to which “the enemy continues to terrorize Odessa”. “According to initial information, some four port workers were injured, but the information still needs to be clarified”, he added.
Regularly targeted by Russian strikes, Odessa is a strategic city for maritime transit. Its historic center was listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco earlier this year. During the night from Saturday to Sunday, it was the target of an attack which left two dead and 22 injured, including at least four children. The strike largely destroyed the Cathedral of the Transfiguration.
Ukraine claims to have liberated more than 16km²
kyiv claimed on Monday July 24 to have taken over more than 16 km² from Russian forces last week in the east and south of the country. “In the Bakhmout sector, four square kilometers have been liberated and 12.6 square kilometers in the south,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar told television. This announcement comes nearly two months after the start of a counter-offensive supposed to push Moscow’s troops out of Ukraine.
Russia “neutralized” Ukrainian drones in the Moscow region
Russia claimed to have “neutralized” two Ukrainian drones in Moscow overnight, believing that it had foiled a “terrorist act” by kyiv on the Russian capital. This attempt “to commit a terrorist act […] was halted, the Defense Ministry said. Two Ukrainian drones were neutralized and crashed. There are no casualties.”
One of the drones fell on Komsomolsky Prospekt, near the Russian Defense Ministry, while another hit a business center on Likhacheva Street, according to Russian news agency TASS. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the drone strikes hit “non-residential” buildings around 4 a.m. local time. He said that the emergency services were mobilized to the scene and that there were no victims.
Russia will replace cereals destined for Africa
Russian President Vladimir Putin guaranteed on July 24 that Moscow would replace Ukrainian cereals destined for Africa, after the Kremlin abandoned a crucial cereal agreement for world food. This announcement comes shortly before the start of a Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg on July 27.
“I want to reassure that our country is able to replace Ukrainian cereals on a commercial basis and at no cost, especially as we expect another record harvest this year,” wrote the head of state in an article published on the Kremlin website, titled “Russia and Africa: Uniting efforts for peace, progress and a prosperous future”. Signed in July 2022 in Istanbul, the grain agreement, which allowed Ukrainian agricultural exports to be reopened by sea despite the Russian offensive, expired last week.
Putin says counter-offensive failed
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Sunday that the Ukrainian counter-offensive, launched in early June to repel Russian forces, had “failed”. “There is no counter-offensive,” said Alexander Lukashenko first, according to the TASS news agency, before being interrupted by Vladimir Putin. “There is one but it failed,” he said.
The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch Kremlin ally, comes nearly a month after the aborted Wagner Rebellion in Russia, in which the Belarusian leader played a role in ending it. Vladimir Poutine affirmed that the two leaders “were going to devote a day and a half, two days” to these bilateral talks.