UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine warns of military response to any Russian 'provocations' over deal
Image: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
July 22 2022 — 16:14
Villagers who didn't leave Ukraine battlefront are ghosts in the wasteland
Most people have long since left the village of Mala Tokmachka, in Ukraine-held territory a couple of kilometres from the front line in southern Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.
But not Anna, a lanky, middle-aged, 25-year army veteran with close-cropped hair, who has no place to go.
“I am a military person. My entire life I carried a pistol on my belt. Fear or no fear we must hold on,” she said, explaining her decision to stay. “My husband also used to be in the military, but he is paralysed. Where would I go with a paralysed man?”
July 22 2022 — 15:49
Russia sends combine harvesters to occupied regions of Ukraine
Russia has sent combine harvesters from Crimea to two Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine to cover a shortage of equipment needed to bring in the crop, a representative of a Russian-installed local administration said.
Ukraine has accused Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, of stealing grain from territories that Russia's army has seized since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine. Moscow denies this.
"A shortage in agricultural machinery was revealed during the harvesting campaign in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions," a representative of the Russian-installed administration of Zaporizhzhia region told reporters in the village of Lobanove in northern Crimea. The representative did not provide his name. Crimea was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. He was speaking standing near several red and black combine harvesters made by Russia-Belarusian joint venture Bryanskselmash.
Shortly afterwards, Reuters filmed them heading off in the direction of Zaporizhzhia.
The official said the harvesters were needed because "the equipment that was there before had either been dismantled or taken away by the previous owners outside the regions", he said.
Evgeny Balitsky, head of the occupation administration in Zaporizhzhia, said on social media that these combine harvesters were provided by Russia's agriculture ministry. The region should receive an additional 75 agricultural machines during harvesting, he added.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 14:51
PICS | Navy ships take part in multinational exercise in Black Sea
July 22 2022 — 14:35
Scholz opens door for extending nuclear power in Germany
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz signalled that his government might consider extending the life of the country’s three remaining nuclear plants as it seeks to bolster its energy security.
“The economy minister has commissioned an intensified worst-case scenario calculation. Let’s have a look at that,” Scholz said, when asked Friday whether he might reconsider Germany’s decision to switch off the units at the end of the year.
Germany, the EU’s largest economy, is at the centre of an energy crisis that has gripped the bloc. EU governments have been racing to find alternative supplies ahead of winter, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent fuel and power prices to record levels earlier this year. The supply crunch continues to have ripple effects in the broader economy.
Economy minister Robert Habeck has commissioned a new stress test for Germany’s energy infrastructure, after an earlier assessment concluded that the country’s supply wouldn’t be endangered next winter and that nuclear power plants wouldn’t be needed.
“We will once again calculate now and will then decide on the basis of clear facts,” a government spokesperson said regarding a possible extension of nuclear power.
Behind the scenes, the coalition parties in Scholz’s government have indicated they may be willing to agree to a political deal that would allow passage of the controversial measure.
Bloomberg
July 22 2022 — 14:18
Ukraine warns of military response to any Russian 'provocations' over deal
Any "provocations" by Russia over a deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports will meet a military response, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday.
"1. Ukraine does not sign any documents with Russia. We sign an agreement with Turkey and the UN and undertake obligations to them. Russia signs a mirror agreement with Turkey and the UN," Podolyak wrote on Twitter before an expected signing ceremony in Istanbul.
"2. No escorting of transport by Russian ships and the presence of Russian representatives in our ports. In case of provocations, an immediate military response.
"3. All inspections of transport ships will be carried out by joint teams in Turkish waters should the need arise."
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 14:02
Erdogan pledges good news on grain exports after signing deal
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he would give good news to the world about grain exports after delegations from Ukraine and Russia sign a deal under a UN plan to resume Kyiv's grain exports later on Friday.
Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN will sign the agreement at 1.30pm GMT in Istanbul, in a move that has raised expectations of easing a global food crisis caused by the war between two of the world's top food exports, Russia and Ukraine.
"Shortly, signatures will be put down with the participation of Russia, Ukraine and the UN Secretary General, overcoming problems on the grain issue, and we will give the world good news then," Erdogan told an event in Istanbul.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 13:58
Russia taking hundreds of casualties daily in Ukraine war: US official
The US believes that Russia's military is sustaining hundreds of casualties a day in its war in Ukraine, including having lost thousands of lieutenants and captains in total, a senior US defence official said on Friday. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the US also believed that Ukraine had destroyed more than 100 "high-value" Russian targets inside Ukraine, including command posts, ammunition depots and air-defence sites. – Reuters
July 22 2022 — 12:06
Kremlin rejects report Nord Stream turbine is stuck in transit
The Kremlin on Friday rejected a report that a crucial turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline between Russia and Germany was stuck in transit. Reuters reported on Thursday that Russia has so far not given the go-ahead to transport the turbine back to Russia, citing two people familiar with the matter said. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the reports, saying it was "nonsense". – Reuters
July 22 2022 — 12:05
Kremlin: Russia's Shoigu to sign grain deal in Turkey
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu will be in Turkey on Friday to sign a UN-backed deal with Ukraine over grain exports, the Kremlin said. – Reuters
July 22 2022 — 12:04
Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine block Google
Russian-backed separatists in a breakaway region of eastern Ukraine have blocked access to the search engine Google, their leader said on Friday, citing what he calls "disinformation".
In a message posted on his Telegram channel, Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), accused Google of promoting "violence against all Russians" and said that its "handlers from the US government" were to blame. "If Google stops pursuing its criminal policy and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, there will be no obstacles to its work," he said. He did not provide evidence to support his assertions.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since sending troops into Ukraine, Russia and its proxies in eastern Ukraine have accused Western companies of spreading anti-Russian propaganda and taking a one-sided stance on the conflict. Russia banned Facebook and Instagram in March after a court found Facebook-owner Meta guilty of "extremist activity". Moscow had already curbed access to Facebook for restricting Russian media outlets' access to the platform.
The DPR and separate Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) followed suit in blocking Facebook and Instagram, aligning themselves with Russia's policy on the US-based social networks.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 11:30
Belgium reaches initial deal with Engie to prolong nuclear power
Belgium has reached an initial accord with French utility group Engie to extend the use of nuclear power by 10 years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine forced the government to rethink plans to rely more on natural gas.
Engie's subsidiary Electrabel and the Belgian state signed a "non-binding letter of intent" and aimed to negotiate a binding legal agreement by the end of 2022, the government and Engie said on Friday.
Belgium was to have exited nuclear power entirely in 2025, but now wants to extend the lives of its two newest reactors, Doel 4 and Tihange 3, with a restart in November 2026.
Energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten told a news conference that Belgium's decision in March to stick with nuclear power was part of efforts to avoid reliance on fossil fuel imports with Russia proving an unreliable gas supplier. Belgium's nuclear switch-off relied on a shift to gas. "Since then it has become clearer how much energy is a matter of national security," she said.
The head of Engie Belgium previously said Belgium's decision had come too late, but the Belgian government said talks had been constructive and both sides had set the outlines for a future agreement.
"This accord is a first crucial step and an important sign of trust between both parties," Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wrote on Twitter. "The intention is a final agreement by the end of this year so that our country is assured of sufficient electricity in turbulent geopolitical times."
That agreement would include creating a 50:50 joint venture to manage the units and capping the future liabilities and costs to manage waste and spent fuel. The reactors, which entered service in 1985, account for 35% Belgium's nuclear power capacity with about 2 gigawatts combined.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 11:28
Belarus appoints new envoy to Moscow
Belarus has appointed a new ambassador to Russia, state news agencies reported on Friday, as Moscow and Minsk continue to forge closer ties amid their mounting isolation from the West.
Moscow is Belarus's key backer and the two sides — officially part of a borderless "Union State" — have accelerated integration talks in recent years after both were hit with Western sanctions.
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on protesters and the opposition after a disputed 2020 presidential election pushed Minsk further into Moscow's arms, and he allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory as one of the launchpads for its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, Lukashenko said the two leaders had agreed to appoint Dmitry Krutoi as Minsk's new envoy to Moscow, the Belta state news agency reported, citing Lukashenko's press office.
Krutoi was deputy head of Belarus' presidential administration and was previously involved in integration projects with Russia — a broad list of policy areas the two countries have agreed to move closer together on. Krutoi replaces Vladimir Semashko, a veteran Belarusian diplomat who had been ambassador to Russia since 2018.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 11:25
Russia says it has destroyed 4 HIMARS launchers in Ukraine since July 5
Russia's defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed four US-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) between July 5-20.
"Four launchers and one reloading vehicle for the US-made multiple launch rocket systems (HIMARS) were destroyed," it said in a daily briefing.
Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.
Kyiv has hailed the arrival of eight HIMARS in Ukraine as a possible game-changer for the course of the war. The advanced weapons are more precise and offer a longer range than other artillery systems, allowing Kyiv to strike Russian targets and weapons depots further behind the front lines.
Moscow has accused the West of dragging out the conflict by supplying Kyiv with more arms, and said the supply of longer-range weapons justifies Russia's attempts to exert control over a swathe of Ukrainian territory in the south of the country, beyond the eastern Donbas region, for its own protection.
On July 6, just days after the first HIMARS arrived in Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said it had destroyed two of them, releasing a video of the alleged strike.
Ukraine rejected those claims and said it was using the US-supplied arms to inflict "devastating blows" on Russian forces.
This week Kyiv has used HIMARS to strike a crucial bridge across the Dnipro river in Russian-controlled parts of the southern Kherson region, putting huge holes in the asphalt and prompting local Russian-installed officials to warn it could be completely destroyed if the attacks continue.
The US said on Wednesday it will send four more HIMARS to Ukraine in its latest package of military support.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 11:24
Faberge egg found aboard seized Russian yacht: US
US authorities found a possible Faberge egg aboard a 348-foot yacht with alleged ties to a Russian billionaire that was seized in Fiji. The Amadea, a luxurious megayacht that’s nearly as long as a football field and features a helipad, docked in San Diego last month. The egg was among the items seized by a task force the US has dubbed KleptoCapture, which is pursuing the assets of Russian oligarchs sanctioned in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“I will say some federal agents had real hardship duty, taking that yacht all the way from Fiji back to San Diego where it sits today,” deputy attorney-general Lisa Monaco said Wednesday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “We’ve been finding some really interesting things. That San Diego, the yacht that is in San Diego, we recovered a Faberge, or alleged Faberge egg.”
Only a few dozen eggs were created by Faberge, the St Petersburg-born jeweler. The eggs were made for the Russian royal family and others from 1885 until Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in 1917. They’re now valued in the tens of millions of dollars.
Monaco said the task force is seeking congressional approval to sell the seized assets and send the proceeds to Ukraine.
Bloomberg
July 22 2022 — 11:22
Poland to buy jets, tanks and howitzers from South Korea, says minister
Poland will buy 48 FA-50 fighter jets, a first instalment of 180 K2 Black Panther tanks and howitzers from South Korea, Warsaw's defence minister was quoted as saying on Friday, as the country strengthens its army because of the war in Ukraine.
The invasion, which Moscow calls a "special military operation" has raised security fears among many former eastern bloc countries, and Nato member Poland has vowed to boost defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) and more than double the size of its army to deter any attacks.
"This year, the first units will be delivered and in total there will be 180 (K2 Black Panther) tanks in the first order; ultimately, these tanks will be produced in Poland," Mariusz Blaszczak said in an extract from an interview with conservative weekly Sieci published online.
Blaszczak said Poland would also buy howitzers and FA-50 fighter jets from South Korea.
"We are interested in purchasing three squadrons, that is 48 aircraft," Blaszczak said. "The first aircraft would be delivered to Poland next year."
The K2 Black Panther tank is made by Hyundai Rotem. The FA-50 fighter jet is produced by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 11:20
Banned in Europe, Kremlin-backed RT channel turns to Africa
RT, the Kremlin-backed TV network formerly called Russia Today, is setting up its first Africa bureau as President Vladimir Putin seeks to entrench support in a continent that’s largely refrained from criticising his invasion of Ukraine. The company said in a response to a query that it’s “currently focused on developing our English-language Africa hub in South Africa,” which will be headed up by Paula Slier, a South African broadcaster who ran RT’s Jerusalem bureau.
The entry into Africa contrasts with bans on RT put in place by the European Union, the UK and Canada shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at the time that RT and Sputnik, another Russian broadcaster, “would no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and to sow division in our union”.
RT countered in a June court appeal that the EU was illegally silencing its journalists.
MultiChoice Group Ltd, Africa’s biggest pay-TV provider, halted RT’s channel after EU sanctions stopped a global distributor from providing the broadcast.
Providing RT’s services in Africa would add to a concerted media and social-media campaign by Russian diplomats on the continent to counter accusations from Europe and the US that Russia’s invasion is unjustified and driving up global food and fuel prices.
Slier, a former employee of the SABC, began running RT’s Middle East Bureau in 2005, according to her website. In a March column for Johannesburg’s Eyewitness News, Slier defended the channel and said it had never hidden that it represented the point of view of the government. Slier said that while she was “conflicted” by the invasion, most Russians supported it and assumptions by the country’s opponents that they were misinformed by state media is “unfair and, frankly, insulting.”
The operation in SA appears to be a pivot from an earlier plan, before the war, to establish an African hub in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. In a February 10 advert on RT’s website, the network said it planned to set up an office in the city and was seeking to hire journalists. RT didn’t respond to a July 20 query about its plans for Kenya.
An Africa operation will put RT into competition with other government-backed broadcasters such as the British Broadcasting Corp. and China Global Television Network.
Bloomberg
July 22 2022 — 07:00
Fertiliser cargo from Russia heads to US as many worry about food shortages
A tanker carrying a liquid fertiliser product from Russia is about to arrive in the US, sources and vessel tracking data showed in recent days, at a time of widespread worry that sky-high global fertiliser prices could lead to food shortages.
President Joe Biden's administration has not blacklisted Russian agricultural commodities, including fertilisers, in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion. Still, many Western banks and traders have steered clear of Russian supplies for fear of running afoul of rapidly changing rules.
Russia and Ukraine are major exporters of fertiliser, key to keeping corn, soy, rice and wheat yields high. Farmers have scaled back fertiliser use due to high prices, and cut the amount of land they plan to cultivate.
Washington sanctioned Russian crude, refined products, coal and liquefied natural gas, and imposed an April 22 deadline to wind down imports.
The Liberia-flagged tanker Johnny Ranger was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on Monday carrying about 39,000 tonnes of urea ammonium nitrate solution, a fertiliser produced by combining urea, nitric acid and ammonia, the sources and Refinitiv Eikon data showed. The vessel loaded last month at St Petersburg, according to Eikon data.Details on the seller and buyer were not immediately available.
The US treasury department and the US customs and border protection agency declined to comment. A state department spokesperson said the US has never sanctioned food or agricultural goods from Russia. "Unlike the Russian government, we have no interest in weaponising food to create humanitarian crises at the expense of vulnerable populations." US non-food sanctions will remain in place until Russian President Vladimir Putin stops the war in Ukraine, the person added.
In 2021, the US imported $262.6m worth of urea ammonium nitrate fertilisers from Russia, according to the commerce department.
This week, the US International Trade Commission revoked hefty anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on urea ammonium nitrate fertilisers from Russia in an effort to ease fertiliser shortages and price increases.
Reuters
July 22 2022 — 06:10
Ukraine's ports to reopen under deal to be signed Friday, Turkey says
Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday to reopen Ukraine's Black Sea ports to grain exports, Turkey said, a hopeful sign that an international food crisis caused by Russia's invasion could be eased.
Ukraine and Russia, both among the world's biggest exporters of food, did not immediately confirm Thursday's announcement by the office of the Turkish presidency. But in a late night video address Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted that his country's Black Sea ports could soon be unblocked.
The blockade by Russia's Black Sea fleet has reduced supplies to markets around the world and sent grain prices soaring since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into neighbouring Ukraine on February 24.
Full details of the agreement were not immediately released. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres was going to Turkey, a UN spokesperson said. The agreement was due to be signed on Friday at 1330 GMT, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's office said.
Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said last week that the deal includes joint controls for checking shipments in harbours. Turkey would also set up a co-ordination centre with Ukraine, Russia and the UN for grain exports.
Zelenskyy, whose address mainly focused on Ukrainian forces' potential to make gains on the battlefield, said: “And tomorrow we also expect news for our state from Turkey — regarding the unblocking of our ports.
“Earlier the Ukrainian foreign ministry said that another UN-led round of talks to unblock grain exports would take place in Turkey on Friday. In summary, a document may be signed which will bind the sides to [ensure] safe functioning of export routes in the Black Sea,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said.
Reuters
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July 22 2022 — 14:04
Ukraine warns of military response to any Russian 'provocations' over deal
Any "provocations" by Russia over a deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports will meet a military response, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday.
"1. Ukraine does not sign any documents with Russia. We sign an agreement with Turkey and the UN and undertake obligations to them. Russia signs a mirror agreement with Turkey and the UN," Podolyak wrote on Twitter before an expected signing ceremony in Istanbul.
"2. No escorting of transport by Russian ships and the presence of Russian representatives in our ports. In case of provocations, an immediate military response.
"3. All inspections of transport ships will be carried out by joint teams in Turkish waters should the need arise."
Reuters