Listed below are the important thing occasions on day 1,241 of Russia’s battle on Ukraine.
How issues stand on Saturday, July 19:
Combating
- Russian drones and glide bombs killed a number of folks in Ukraine on Friday, officers mentioned, together with a 52-year-old practice driver within the Dnipropetrovsk area, a 66-year-old girl killed in her house in Kostiantynivka, and a 64-year-old man killed in a glide bomb assault on a constructing website within the Zaporizhia area.
- Russian forces have staged a mass drone assault on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, setting hearth to at the least one multistorey condominium constructing, town’s mayor, Gennadiy Trukhanov, mentioned early on Saturday. A minimum of 20 drones converged on town within the early hours of this morning.
- Russian air defences intercepted or destroyed 10 Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow in a single day on Friday, town’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, mentioned.
- Ukraine’s prime army commander, Oleksandr Syrskii, mentioned his forces are standing agency in defending town of Pokrovsk, a logistics hub within the jap Donetsk area that has weathered months of Russian assaults, and the Novopavlivka settlement within the Zaporizhia area.
- Praising the troops defending Pokrovsk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Russian forces “attempting to advance and enter Ukrainian cities and villages” won’t have “an opportunity of survival”.
- Authorities in Russian-controlled Crimea have launched an info blackout designed to counter Ukrainian drone, missile and sabotage assaults. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, mentioned he signed a decree banning media shops and social media customers from publishing images, video or different content material that exposed the situation of Russian forces or particulars of Ukrainian assaults on the Black Sea peninsula.
Navy support
- Australia’s authorities mentioned it delivered M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as a part of a 245 million Australian greenback ($160m) package deal to assist the nation defend itself towards Russia of their ongoing battle.
- America has moved Germany forward of Switzerland to obtain the following Patriot air defence programs to return off manufacturing strains within the US. The expedited supply to Germany will permit Berlin to ship two Patriot batteries it already has to Ukraine, in response to a US media report.
- Leaders in Ukraine and Washington are in detailed talks on a deal involving US funding in Kyiv’s home drone manufacturing, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko mentioned. She added the deal would additionally result in the US buying “a big batch of Ukrainian drones”.
- President Zelenskyy mentioned he mentioned missile provides and funding for interceptor drones to counteract Russian assaults in a name with French President Emmanuel Macron. “I might particularly like to spotlight our settlement on pilot coaching for Mirage jets – France is able to practice further pilots utilizing further plane,” Zelenskyy mentioned on X.
Sanctions
- The European Union authorised its 18th package deal of sanctions towards Russia over its battle in Ukraine, aimed toward dealing additional blows to Russia’s oil and vitality trade.
- Eighteen officers working for Russian army intelligence, generally known as the GRU, together with three items, have been hit with sanctions by the UK over their position in a 2022 bomb assault on a theatre in southern Ukraine that killed tons of of civilians. The officers had been additionally accused of focusing on the household of a former Russian spy who was later poisoned within the UK with a nerve agent.
- President Zelenskyy thanked the European Union for the newest sanctions focusing on Russia and referred to as for additional punitive measures towards Moscow. “This resolution is crucial and well timed, particularly now, as a response to the truth that Russia has intensified the brutality of the strikes on our cities and villages,” he mentioned.
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev mentioned the Russian economic system would face up to the EU sanctions package deal and mentioned Moscow would intensify its strikes towards Ukraine. India has mentioned it doesn’t assist “unilateral sanctions” by the EU, after Brussels imposed penalties on Russia that included a Rosneft oil refinery within the western Indian state of Gujarat.
- Greek tanker operators concerned in transport authorised Russian oil exports are anticipated to proceed doing so regardless of the brand new wave of harder sanctions by the EU that may additional tighten restrictions, transport sources advised the Reuters information company.
- WhatsApp ought to put together to depart the Russian market, a lawmaker in Moscow who regulates the IT sector mentioned on Friday, warning that the messaging app owned by Meta Platforms could be very prone to be placed on an inventory of restricted software program in Russia.
Politics and diplomacy
- The Kremlin mentioned that it didn’t imagine the harder stance that Donald Trump has adopted in direction of Russia over its battle in Ukraine means the top of US-Russia talks aimed toward reviving their battered ties.
- The Kremlin additionally mentioned that it agreed with an announcement by Zelenskyy that there wanted to be extra momentum round peace talks between the warring sides.
- Zelenskyy appointed former Defence Minister Rustem Umerov because the secretary of the nation’s Nationwide Safety and Defence Council, in response to a decree printed on Friday on the president’s web site. Umerov’s appointment follows a reshuffle of the Ukrainian authorities and the appointment of a brand new prime minister.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned Ukraine throughout a telephone name with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday, the Kremlin press service mentioned. Putin mentioned Russia was “dedicated to a political and diplomatic settlement of the battle in Ukraine” and thanked Erdogan for facilitating Russia-Ukraine bilateral talks.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has forged doubt on the potential of Ukraine becoming a member of the EU by 2034, saying accession was unlikely to return at a degree affecting the bloc’s medium-term finance plans, which run to 2034. European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen had mentioned Kyiv may be part of the EU earlier than 2030 if the nation continues its reforms.
- Russian courts sentenced 135 folks to prolonged jail sentences in reference to a mass anti-Israel protest in October 2023 at an airport within the predominantly Muslim Dagestan area, the nation’s Investigative Committee mentioned on Friday. Lots of of anti-Israel protesters stormed an airport within the metropolis of Makhachkala, the place a airplane from Tel Aviv had simply arrived, over Israel’s battle on Gaza.
Regional safety
- Russia views current feedback by a prime US common about NATO’s capacity to swiftly seize the Russian Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad as hostile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned. Basic Christopher Donahue, the US Military Europe and Africa commander, mentioned NATO may seize Kaliningrad “from the bottom in a timeframe that’s unparalleled and sooner than we’ve ever been in a position to do”, in response to a report.
- Nearly a 3rd of Italians imagine the nation shall be instantly concerned in a battle inside 5 years, however solely 16 p.c of these of preventing age can be keen to take up arms, a brand new survey exhibits.
- The survey by the Centre for Social Funding Research confirmed 39 p.c of Italians aged between 18 and 45 would declare themselves as pacifist conscientious objectors, 19 p.c would attempt to evade conscription one other method, and 26 p.c would like Italy to rent international mercenaries.
