Ukrainians using US-supplied cluster bombs ‘quite effectively’ in ongoing battle against Russia, White House says.
This blog is now closed. Thanks for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Thursday, July 20.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative – a deal brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the United Nations and Turkey – has allowed 32.9 million tonnes of food to be exported from war-torn Ukraine since August.
But the wartime accord, which had been extended several times, has been terminated as Russia declined to extend the deal.
Read more here.
US-supplied cluster munitions are in Ukrainian hands and being deployed in the field as part of Kyiv’s battle against Russia, White House national security spokesman John Kirby has said.
“We have gotten some initial feedback from the Ukrainians, and they’re using them quite effectively,” Kirby said at a news briefing.
Kirby said the cluster munitions are having an impact on Russian defensive formations and manoeuvring.
Ukraine has pledged to use the cluster bombs only to dislodge concentrations of Russian enemy soldiers.
Cluster munitions, which are banned in more than 100 countries, typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Russian major copper producer Ural Mining And Metallurgical Company (UMMC) as a measure to “reduce Russia’s revenue from the metals and mining sector,” the Departments of Treasury and State have said.
The deadline for ceasing transactions with UMMC is set by the United States for October 18.
UMMC has not disclosed its copper output in recent years. As of 2020, it was producing around 40 percent of Russian copper, broadly in line with its peer Nornickel, which has not been targeted by the Western sanctions so far.
The London Metal Exchange (LME), the world’s largest and oldest metals forum, restricted new copper deliveries from UMMC after the UK sanctioned its controlling shareholder in 2022.
Relatives and friends of two Russians killed in an attack on the bridge linking annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland have gathered to pay tribute to the couple.
Dozens of people brought wreaths to a church at Novy Oskol in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine before attending a funeral service.
Natalya and Alexei Kulyk were killed on Monday when the bridge was struck in a drone attack, which has been attributed to Ukraine.
Their daughter survived the incident and was hospitalised.
Russia is not preparing to attack civilian ships in the Black Sea despite assertions by the United States, Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has said in comments posted by his embassy.
The European Union will provide up to five billion euros ($5.57bn) a year for the next four years for Ukraine’s defence needs via the means of a “dedicated section” under the European Peace facility, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said.
“It’s still the same tool, the European Peace facility, which has been working very well and we will continue using it but with a dedicated chapter inside it, with a specific funding which can be estimated on the figures I mentioned,” Borrell told reporters during a news conference after convening with EU member states’ foreign ministers.
Ukraine’s central bank has said it will nationalise Russian-owned Sense Bank, one of the country’s top commercial banks, and put it under temporary administration.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said in a statement it decided to “withdraw from the market the systemically important” bank and submitted a proposal to the government on the state’s participation in the process.
The “safe” transfer will not be noticeable to clients, NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi said.
Sense Bank, with three million depositors, posted losses of seven billion hryvnias ($189.75m) in 2022, the central bank said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has slammed Russian attacks on military infrastructure in southern Ukraine.
“These attacks are … having an impact well beyond Ukraine. We are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone, but especially vulnerable people in the global south,” Guterres said in a statement from his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
Ukraine’s Kherson region will have little or no harvest due to a water shortage in the North Crimean and Kakhovka canals, Russian-installed Governor Vladimir Saldo said.
The Nova Kakhovka dam, on the Dnipro river that separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine, was breached in June and led to widespread flooding and mass displacement.
A European Commission proposal to use frozen public Russian assets to help Ukraine will not be published until September, a spokesman said.
The EU is focused on finding a legal way to use the tax on the interest made by these assets for Ukraine, but the bloc is being careful to make sure the method holds up in court in the event of any lawsuits.
The spokesman added that the EU was working on an agreement with the Group of Seven (G7) countries on how to move forward, and a statement was expected this month. G7 countries and the EU have frozen more than 300 billion euros ($335.55bn) combined.
“Discussions between member states have been going well. The last meeting of the council working party on this matter was on July 12, and the next one will take place in September,” the spokesman told reporters.
Russia imposes restrictions on British diplomats, requiring them to now give at least five fay notice of any plans to travel beyond a 120km (75-mile) radius due to London’s “hostile actions”.
The UK’s chargé d’affaires in Russia were summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow for supporting the “terrorist actions” of Ukraine and for blocking Russian diplomacy in the UK.
“The British side was also informed of the decision to introduce a notification procedure for the movement of employees of British diplomatic missions on the territory of our country as a response to London’s hostile actions,” the ministry said.
The restrictions will put British diplomats under the most challenging constraints since Soviet times when foreign travel was limited and closely controlled by the KGB security service.
The United States is imposing new Russia sanctions targeting 18 individuals and dozens of organisations aimed at blocking Moscow’s access to products that support its war, the US Department of the Treasury said.
According to a statement, the sanctions are designed to “reduce Russia’s revenue from the metals and mining sector, undermine its future energy capabilities and degrade Russia’s access to the international financial system”.
“Today’s actions represent another step in our efforts to constrain Russia’s military capabilities, its access to battlefield supplies, and its economic bottom line,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement.
Ukraine will receive a $1.5bn loan from the World Bank guaranteed by the government of Japan, Prime Minister Shmyhal said.
On Telegram, Shmyhal said the funds would strengthen social protection, assist people affected by the war and rebuild the economy.
He added that the World Bank and its partners have already mobilised $34bn to help Ukraine, of which more than $22bn has already been received.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says the World Bank and International Financial Cooperation (IFC) plan to mobilise more than $8bn for new Ukraine programmes.
On Twitter, Shmyhal wrote, “Discussed this at a meeting with [Antonella Bassani, vice president of Europe and Central Asia Region at the World Bank] and [Alfonso García Mora, IFC vice president for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean]. [IFC] is also preparing a programme to support SMEs [small- and medium-sized enterprises]. Grateful to the partners for the timely steps.”
The World Bank and IFC plan to mobilise more than $8 bn for new programmes in 🇺🇦 & have reopened their office in Kyiv. Discussed this at a meeting with @anbassani and @agarmora. @IFC_org is also preparing a programme to support SMEs. Grateful to the partners for the timely steps. pic.twitter.com/bmFiUNBEpi
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) July 20, 2023
Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 512 of the war.
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Ukraine’s defence ministry says it would consider all ships travelling to Russian and Ukrainian Black Sea ports as potential carriers of military cargo, a day after Russia said the same.
“Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence warns that from 00:00 on July 21, 2023 (21:00 GMT on Thursday), all vessels heading in Black Sea waters in the direction of the Russian Federation’s seaports and Ukrainian seaports on Ukrainian territory temporarily occupied by Russia may be considered by Ukraine as carrying military cargo with all the relevant risks,” the ministry said.
On Wednesday, the Russian defence ministry said all ships travelling through the Black Sea towards Ukraine would be considered to be potentially carrying military cargo on behalf of Kyiv and said, “The flag countries of such ships will be considered parties to the Ukrainian conflict.”
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says Poland’s move to extend a ban on grain exports was an “unfriendly and populist move”.
On Twitter, Shmyhal said, “During this critical time, Poland intends to continue blocking the export of UA (Ukrainian) grain to the EU. This is an unfriendly and populist move that will severely impact global food security and Ukraine’s economy.
“We urge our partners and the EU Commission to ensure unimpeded export of all Ukrainian agriculture products to the EU. This is an act of solidarity not only with Ukraine but with the world, which relies on our grain,” he said.
An EU ban on Ukrainian grain imports is set to expire on September 15.
On Wednesday, Poland said it would not lift the ban even if the EU does not agree on its extension.
Russia has disrupted the grain initiative, destroying the infrastructure of our Black Sea ports and once again provoking a global food crisis.
During this critical time, Poland intends to continue blocking the export of UA grain to the EU. This is an unfriendly and populist move…
— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) July 20, 2023
Russia’s defence ministry says it continued “retaliatory strikes” on Ukraine days after Moscow quit the Black Sea grain deal.
Moscow had promised payback for an attack on the Kerch Bridge in Crimea on Monday.
The defence ministry said it had “continued to deliver retaliatory strikes with high-precision sea and air-based weapons at workshops and storage sites for unmanned boats in the regions of Odesa and Chornomorsk”.
“In the area of the city of Mykolaiv, fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed,” it added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the restoration of the Black Sea grain initiative to help global food insecurity.
During a two-day trip to Islamabad, Kuleba’s Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, endorsed his comments, adding that he was planning to take the issue up with the secretary general of the United Nations.
“We had to find the way to export our grain to the global market,” said Kuleba, adding, “land corridors cannot export the full amount of cereals available for export, this is the issue, which means prices will go up because of shortages of delivery.”
Chicago wheat futures hit a three-week high as Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal on Monday.
In the three days since, Moscow has ramped up attacks on Ukrainian port cities and warned that any incoming ships could be considered military targets.
Read more here.
The Kremlin says Poland’s decision to increase its forces along its border with Belarus as Russian Wagner fighters arrive is “a cause for concern”.
Poland, a member of the Western NATO military alliance, moved more than 1,000 soldiers, along with military hardware, to the east earlier this month.
Asked about Poland’s move, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Of course, it is a cause for concern. The aggressiveness of Poland is a reality.
“Such a hostile attitude towards Belarus and the Russian Federation requires heightened attention [from our side].”
Earlier, the Belarusian defence ministry said Wagner mercenaries had started to train Belarusian special forces at a military range just a few miles from the border with Poland.
A building at the Chinese consulate in Odesa was damaged during Russia’s latest attack on the Ukrainian port city, regional Governor Oleh Kiper said
Kiper posted a photograph online showing minor damage to the building.
“The aggressor is deliberately hitting the port infrastructure – administrative and residential buildings nearby were damaged, also the consulate of the People’s Republic of China. It shows the enemy does not pay attention to anything,” Kiper said on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video that 60,000 tonnes of agricultural products destroyed in a Russian air attack on the Odesa port were intended for China.
European Union foreign ministers have met to discuss support for Ukraine, including a plan to spend up to 20 billion euros ($22.4 bn) on weapons, ammunition and other military aid over four years.
“We’ll discuss how to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on arrival at the meeting in Brussels.
“I presented a plan in order to ensure financial support for Ukraine in the next years, which will amount to quite an important amount of money. I hope the ministers will support it,” he told reporters.
The move would be part of an international drive to give Ukraine long-term security assurances, as announced by members of the Group of Seven (G7) on the sidelines of last week’s NATO summit.
In the 73rd week of the war, Ukraine made small counteroffensive gains and attacked the Crimean Bridge.
In retaliation, Russia announced it was withdrawing from the Black Sea grain deal.
Read more on everything that happened in week 73.
At least one person has been killed and 27 injured in Russia’s latest attack on Odesa and Mykolaiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Regional authorities said that one person was also killed in Russian shelling in Kharkiv.
Ukraine’s military added that Russian forces launched 19 missiles and 19 drones overnight and that five missiles and 13 of the drones had been shot down.
Regional governor Vitaliy Kim said 19 people were wounded in the city of Mykolaiv, and several residential buildings were damaged.
In Odesa, the regional governor Oleh Kiper said a security guard was killed, and at least eight others were hurt.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Thursday’s attacks in Odesa and Mykolaiv and said the “Russian terrorists” continue to destroy lives.
On Twitter, he wrote, “The evil state has no missiles that are more powerful than our will to save lives, support each other and win. I thank everyone who defends our cities, our people, our sky! I am grateful to all our warriors, rescuers, doctors, local authorities, volunteers… to everyone involved in eliminating the consequences of Russian terror!”
Odesa. Mykolaiv. Russian terrorists continue their attempts to destroy the life of our country.
Unfortunately, there are wounded and dead… My condolences to the families and friends!
But the evil state has no missiles that are more powerful than our will to save lives, support… pic.twitter.com/CPcq8AmFoh
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 20, 2023
China is willing to increase imports from Ukraine, the Chinese commerce ministry says.
China is willing to “establish cooperative relations between the investment promotion agencies of the two countries, and continuously expand the space for trade and investment cooperation,” Ling Ji, vice commerce minister, said in a meeting co-chaired with Ukraine’s deputy economy minister, Taras Kachka, in Beijing.
Kachka said Ukraine hopes to expand the export of agricultural products to China.
“We are willing to work together with China to promote the healthy and sustainable development of economic and trade relations between the two countries,” Kachka said.
Germany is working with allies to ensure that Ukrainian grain is not left to rot in silos after Russia pulled out of the grain deal, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Baerbock accused Russia of blackmail and trying to use the grain as a weapon.
“Hundreds of thousands of people, not to say millions, urgently need the grain from Ukraine, which is why we are working with all our international partners so that the grain in Ukraine does not rot in silos in the next few weeks, but reaches the people of the world who urgently need it,” Baerbock said.
The head of the Ukrainian president’s office, Andriy Yermak, calls for stronger Russian sanctions to drastically affect its economy.
On Twitter, he wrote: “We must unite against Russian evil. Russia’s economy should suffer a devastating sanctions blow, the military-industrial complex should be limited in its ability to produce weapons, and Ukraine should receive more weapons for defense of the sky and offensive actions.”
We must unite against russian evil. Russia’s economy should suffer a devastating sanctions blow, the military-industrial complex should be limited in its ability to produce weapons, and Ukraine should receive more weapons for defense of the sky and offensive actions.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) July 20, 2023
Head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office has described the latest strikes as “Russian terror” and asserted they were meant to disrupt food supplies in the global south.
“Russian terror is perpetrated against peaceful people and infrastructure facilities … aiming to destroy the food supply chain to the countries of the Global South,” Andriy Yermak posted on Twitter.
In a separate but related tweet minutes later, he said Russia’s economy should suffer a “devastating sanctions blow” and that Ukraine should “receive more weapons for defense of the sky and offensive actions”.
Mykolaiv and Odesa. Russian terror is perpetrated against peaceful people and infrastructure facilities, warehouses, aiming to destroy the food supply chain to the countries of the Global South.
There is a single respond to terror – countermeasures. pic.twitter.com/GYjluSv7eC
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) July 20, 2023
Economist Simon Baptist says while “everybody” around the world will be affected negatively by Russia pulling out from the grain deal, the price of wheat is unlikely to spike by much.
“The price and supplies of wheat are driven by the global harvest, and the accessibility of that to market,” Baptist, chief global economist at Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), told Al Jazeera.
“With Ukrainian supplies now going down we can expect some small increase in the wheat price. But wheat price hit a high of about $500 per tonne just after the invasion, and is now down to about $350 where at the EIU were expecting that to soften a bit further to $340. So it’ll probably now stay at about $350 or maybe go to $360.”
However, the Singapore-based analyst said there was “plentiful supply” around the world, with Australia and Canada reporting big harvests.
“And actually Russia’s harvest is also at a record high and probably wanting to sell that harvest from Russia was part of their motivation for closing the deal,” he said.
The Belarusian defence ministry has said in a statement the country’s military was continuing exercises with fighters from Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force at a military base near the city of Brest, on the border with Poland.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video on Wednesday welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa.
Russia is responsible for a major global food supply crisis, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said.
“What we already know is that this is going to create a big and huge food crisis in the world,” Borrell told journalists before heading into an EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
He accused Russia of deliberately attacking grain storage facilities in the southern port city of Odesa, which he said would further deepen the food crisis.
A Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea damaged administrative buildings and killed a teenage girl, its Moscow-installed governor says.
“As a result of an attack by an enemy UAV, four administrative buildings were damaged in one of the settlements in the north-west of Crimea,” Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Telegram.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t pass without victims – a teenage girl died.”
Chicago wheat futures rose 1.6 percent to hit a three-week high, amid Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea export deal earlier this week which analysts say will increase global wheat prices.
Corn gained more than 1 percent, while soybeans were little changed on forecasts of hot and dry weather in the US Midwest.
Five cruise missiles and 13 attack drones launched by Russian forces overnight at the southern Mykolaiv and Odesa regions were destroyed, Ukraine’s air force has said.
It said Russia fired 19 cruise missiles and 19 drones in total, but did not specify exactly where the others struck.
Russia launched attacks on the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv, injuring at least 20, local governors said early on Thursday.
“Russians hit the city centre. A garage and a 3-story residential building are on fire,” Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim wrote on Telegram.
Earlier, Ukraine’s air force had announced an air alert for Mykolaiv, Odesa and several other regions. It said it had detected the launch of “missiles” towards the Odesa region.
Latest Russian air attacks hit Ukrainian port cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa, local officials say.
Russia’s defence ministry said ships travelling to Ukraine considered to be potentially transporting military cargo.
Ukraine air defence systems in the Odesa region and the capital Kyiv repelled Russian drone and missile attacks.
Russia has declined to extend the Black Sea grain deal, stalling the export of Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world.
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