Wheat harvest in Kherson
The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is in Istanbul today to sign a UN-backed deal with Ukraine over grain exports that could put an end to what the West has called Moscow’s “weaponizing” of food in the war against Kyiv.
Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.
Sign up to our free daily newsletter.Both Ukraine and Russia have sent their infrastructure and defense ministers to a signing ceremony in Istanbul slated Friday for 4:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET). U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will also be present.
A member of the Ukrainian delegation in the grain export negotiations says three Ukrainian ports will be included in the agreement on exporting agricultural produce through agreed corridors in the Black Sea.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaders and experts have been warning of a food crisis as millions of tons of Ukrainian grain are unable to reach the global market.
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko told Novoe Vremya news agency that Kyiv would only sign a grain deal on the condition that it ensures the safety of Ukraine’s southern regions, strong military positions in the Black Sea, and the safe export of Ukrainian products to global markets.
Beyond what stipulations are laid out in Istanbul, the resolution to the crisis in food supplies will only be seen once implementation begins. Outside enforcement is next to impossible and Russia has reversed course on promises made in the past — and knows that commerce is always a potential weapon of war if deemed necessary.
Still, as with prisoner exchanges, any step taken to move Kyiv and Moscow toward a compromise can help lay the groundwork for future agreements. A truce to end the fighting though still appears very far away.
Google Banned In Ukraine’s Occupied Regions By Pro-Russian Regime
Google Mountain View California
commons.wikimedia.orgAuthorities in the two pro-Russian separatist territories in eastern Ukraine have announced that they have blocked the search engine Google, accusing it of "promoting" violence against Russians.
Denis Pushilin, president of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" ("DPR"), declared on the Telegram messaging app that "inhuman propaganda of Ukraine and the west has long crossed all boundaries. There is a real persecution of Russians, the imposition of lies and disinformation." He added that “If Google stops pursuing its criminal policy and returns to the mainstream of law, morality and common sense, there will be no obstacles for its work.”
For the moment, Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states to recognise the DPR as a legitimate authority.
Lukashenko Calls For End Of War In Ukraine, Warns Of Nuclear Threat
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko
Vyacheslav Prokofyev/TASS/Zuma
Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko called for an agreement to end the war in Ukraine to avoid the “abyss of nuclear war." Despite striking out autonomously from the Kremlin, Lukashenko still pins the blame for the war on the West and says any peace agreement depends entirely on Kyiv.
Mr. Lukashenko said that attacks on Ukrainian military facilities had been launched from Belarusian territory, but claims the Russian military did this "in order to protect their units" and not without his permission.
New Round Of EU Sanctions Against Russia Targets Moscow Mayor And Sberbank
Sberbank headquarters
commons.wikimedia.orgThe EU has released a seventh package of economic sanctions against Russia, which includes measures targeting the mayor of Moscow Serhiy Sobyanin, First Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service Serhiy Korolev, Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Viktor Strygunov, as well as organizations like the state bank Sberbank, against which the sanctions already in place were extended further, the FORSS group of companies operating in the shipbuilding markets, the rocket and space industry enterprise Kvant, and the Avlita company operating ports.
Quoted in Moscow daily Kommersant, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded by saying that with the sanctions the European Union (EU) "continues to drive itself into a dead end."
Russia’s Plans For New Rail Line In Crimea
The Office of the Presidential Representative of Ukraine in Crimea reports that Russia is set to construct a new rail track that will run through ancient Crimean burying grounds and archaeological sites. The archaeological findings will supposedly be sent to Russian museums for display.
What Turkey Thinks It Can Squeeze Out Of The War In Ukraine
Iranian and Turkish delegations start the summit on the Syrian war in Tehran on July 19
Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan is garnering credit for helping to orchestrate Friday’s deal between Kyiv and Moscow to end the grain blockade.
But with Russia focused on its Ukraine invasion, Erdoğan sees an opening in Syria, where Moscow had been the main foreign military presence for the past five years.
For weeks, the Turkish president has been talking about a new offensive in northern Syria. He wants to create a 30-kilometer-wide buffer zone there and push back the Kurdish militia YPG, which Erdoğan sees as an extension of the PKK, the guerrilla movement based in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq that Europe classifies as a terrorist organization.
At the same time, such a zone would allow him to settle Syrian refugees from Turkey there. This is an issue creating more and more domestic political pressure for the Turkish president. Read more about it in this Die Welt piece in English via Worldcrunch.
