Prepared by Sofia Oliynyk and Maryana Zaviyska
Photo: Zelenskiy Official Telegram channel
Cities under attack.
In the morning attack on July 20, Russian forces shelled the Saltivskyi District of Kharkiv. Three people were killed, including a 13-year-old child. A 15-year-old girl, the sister of the deceased teenager, was also injured. The attack occurred near a public transport stop. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russians fired more than 20 rockets from the BM-21 Grad at the Chervonohryhorivska community. Fortunately, the attack did not cause any casualties. In the Donetsk region, the Russians destroyed two schools, shelled the central part of Bakhmut and industrial enterprises in Kramatorsk. An enemy rocket landed in the yard of a private house in Toretsk, but did not explode. In addition, the invaders shelled Ivanivka of the Cherkasy region community with cluster munitions damaging a private house.
Foreign policy.
Russia was included on the list of countries engaged in a “policy or pattern” of the human trafficking. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken noted that Russia is on a list of countries with a documented policy or pattern of human trafficking, forced labor and sexual slavery in state-controlled sectors, use or recruitment of child soldiers. The report indicates that Russian-led troops have forced thousands of Ukrainians, including children, through “filtration camps”. Following checking the documents of the people fleeing are seized, they are compelled to take Russian passports and then transported to remote areas of Russia.
Syria responded to Ukraine in regard to the latter canceling diplomatic relations between the countries, after Syrian authorities officially recognized the “independence” of the pro-Russian “L/DPR” entities. Therefore in the reciprocal decision, Syria decided to break off diplomatic relations with Ukraine in response to a similar previous move.
The heads of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Austria and the Czech Republic visited Ukraine. At the meeting with Prime Minister Shmyhal, parties, among other things, discussed prolonging and intensifying sanctions pressure on Russia. In addition, Prime Minister Shmyhal appealed to Austria and the Czech Republic with a request to support the expansion of electricity exports from Ukraine. The parties talked about the crucial need of the demining process to proceed with further recovery.
The European Union has prepared another round of sanctions against Russia for the war in Ukraine preliminary to be signed today. The seventh package will include a ban on imports of Russian gold. In addition, the EU will cover some loopholes and more clearly prescribe an exception for the import of Russian provisions
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska appealed to the US Congress calling for further support of Ukraine against Russian invasion of the country. Zelenska called for more weapons, as Russian aggression keeps taking human lives. “I am asking for weapons, weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else’s land, but to protect one’s home and the right to wake up alive in that home,” Zelenska said.
Human rights.
The International Criminal Court is aiming to put forward its first case over alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine as early as this winter, Bloomberg reports. The accusations against Russia include deliberetely targeting civilian buildings and committing atrocities in a number of Ukrainian towns, such as Bucha, where evidence of mass graves, torture and executions has been widely reported
Energy security.
The largest Ukrainian gas producer «UkrGasVydobuvannya» announced that a new ultra-deep well in Poltava region has been put into operation. The well has a depth of more than 6000 meters and yields about 100 000 cubic meters of gas per day. Even though the deadlines were established before the full-scale invasion began, the work was finished before the deadline.
The Russian occupiers are once again violating all norms and requirements regarding nuclear and radiation safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They plan to store weapons and explosives right in the machine rooms of the power units of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. This can block the access of fire equipment to three power units. Due to which, in the event of a fire, extinguishing will be problematic.
The “Save gas for a Safer Winter” plan was announced in the European Union one day before it is expected Russia will cut the flow of natural gas to the EU due to unprecedented sanctions of the European Union against Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Twelve EU countries have already had their gas supplies cut off or limited by Russia’s Gazprom. The plan aims at the voluntary reductions in heating and cooling services as well as certain market-based measures for business and public buildings. Between August and March, it is expected to lower gas usage by 15% to deal with the energy blackmail of Russia.
Food security.
The grain export from Ukraine will be carried out through three Ukrainian ports, Odesa, Pivdenny and Chornomorsk, and will be monitored by a group under the auspices of the UN. The decision comes as a part of the plan for the export of Ukrainian grain, previously agreed upon last week in Istanbul, says a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and delegation at the negotiations with Russia, Rustem Umyerov.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan says that a general agreement that was reached between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations on a UN-led plan to resume Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports needs to be put in writing this week, Reuters reports.
In addition to the maritime export routes, Germany is ready to provide landline backing of the grain export. Deutsche Bahn said it will transform its network that was set up to transport humanitarian aid to bring grain from Ukraine to the German ports. The railway operator plans to launch trains several times per week to transport grains via Romania and Poland.
Cyber security.
Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) presented new observations on Russia’s government-backed cyber activities in the region, especially in Ukraine, to disrupt the security. Turla, a group publicly attributed to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), recently created a fake Ukrainian app Cyber Azov. The fake application was supposed to launch DoS attacks on Russian servers, however it carried the virus hitting the data on the phone. In addition, consistent with CERT-UA reporting, TAG observed multiple Russian GRU actors conduct campaigns exploiting the Follina vulnerability. Therefore, the Sandworm campaign used compromised government accounts to send links to Microsoft Office documents hosted on compromised domains, primarily targeting media organizations in Ukraine.
Awards.
Citizens of Ukraine were honored with the Dissident Human Rights Award in the United States, which is given for defending human rights and freedom. This year, for the first time, it was given not to a specific person, but to all the people of Ukraine. First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska accepted the Award at the Memorial for the Victims of Communism in Washington DC.
Statistics.
- More than 1039 children were injured, of which 358 children died as a result of Russia’s full-scale armed aggression in Ukraine.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., July 20, 2022: personnel – around 38 850, tanks ‒ 1704, APV ‒ 3912, artillery systems – 859, MLRS – 251, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 113, fixed-wing aircraft – 221, helicopters – 188, operational-tactical level UAV – 710, cruise missiles – 167, boats and light speed boats – 15, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers – 2781, special equipment – 72.
Every action counts, no contribution is too small!
- Support TSE-MOE-MISTO, the foundation organised by the Ukrainian performer ONUKA. Volunteers of the foundation collect what is necessary for the military on the front lines and deliver humanitarian aid to communities. The foundation has already organized a charity auction, purchased a car for the needs of the military, and donated dozens of various items for defenders, including medical, tactical and military equipment and laptops.
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Thank you for supporting Ukraine! Slava Ukraini! Glory to Ukraine!