Prepared by Sofia Oliynyk, Maryana Zaviyska, Anna Dovha
Photo: Annie Leibovitz
Energy security.
European Union countries are bracing for further cuts in Russian gas supply. On Tuesday, European Union Energy Ministers approved a weakened emergency plan to curb demand, after striking compromise deals to limit reductions for some countries – reported by Reuters. According to the deal, Cyprus, Malta, and Ireland will not be required to save gas as long as they are not directly connected to another member state’s gas network. Also the proposal envisages for all EU countries to voluntarily cut gas use by 15% in the August-March period from the average from 2017-2021.
With a proposal for a ‘gas lend-lease’, the Ukrainian government made an appeal to the American government for a stable passage of the heating season. ‘Preparations for the most difficult winter in our history continue, and in this preparation we are looking for all possible tools to be ready for any scenarios,’ noted Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.
The press service of Naftogaz announced that the government defaulted on Naftogaz Eurobonds. The national energy company indicated the availability of funds in its accounts sufficient for payments on Eurobonds, and also described the risks and negative consequences for Naftogaz and the country in the event of a ‘hard default’ on the company’s Eurobonds. According to the company’s statement, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine did not give permission to Naftogaz officials to fulfill their obligations to Eurobond holders to make the necessary payments for the payment of the principal amount and interest (for the 2022 issue) and interest (for the 2024 issue). ‘By its ban on their payment, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine actually assumed full responsibility for raising the funds necessary to import natural gas for the 2022/2023 heating season,’ Naftogaz believes.
‘Ukrenergo’ earned the first half a billion hryvnias at auctions for access to interstate power transmission lines at cross-border crossings with Romania and Slovakia. ‘Ukrenergo’ has opened the export of electricity to EU countries so that the state and electricity producers can earn money to prepare for the heating season.
Foreign policy.
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing proposals to the European Union to suspend the issuance of visas to Russian citizens. ‘The bottom line is that we, like Estonia, would say that the European Union does not issue visas to Russian citizens under normal conditions. There are humanitarian cases, for example, associates of Alexei Navalny, they [visas for them] will be considered separately,’ said the Foreign Minister of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu.
Sanctions.
Due to Russia’s military action against Ukraine, the EU extends economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the economy of the Russian Federation for another six months. The sanctions currently consist of a broad spectrum of sectoral measures, including restrictions on finance, energy, technology and dual-use goods, industry, transport and luxury goods.
The United Kingdom has introduced another series of sanctions against individuals, as well as trade sanctions. The new trade sanctions were imposed on the export and making available of items listed on the G7 Dependency and Further Goods List to, or for use in, Russia, in addition to prohibitions on the supply or delivery of such items from a third country to a place in Russia. The UK expanded sanctions on export, making available, and supply or delivery of energy-related goods, like oil and oil products, coal and coal products. The restrictions also include the import, acquisition and supply or delivery of gold originating in Russia (as well as prohibitions on the provision of related technical assistance, financial services, funds, and brokering services). In regard to the individual sanctions, the UK sanctioned twenty nine regional governors from across Russia. The governors have been directed by the Kremlin to transfer funds to the so-called ‘Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics’, facilitating the Russian occupation in attempting to wrest territory from Ukraine.
War crimes prosecution.
Latvia has submitted an application to the Court of Justice Secretariat to intervene in the case of Ukraine against Russia under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, announced Hanna Yudkivska, the judge of the European Court of Human Rights from Ukraine. According to the Statute of the Court, each of these states has the right to intervene, except those who are parties in the case, in the process under the court’s law when it comes to the interpretation of the convention.
Human rights.
358 children died and 690 were injured as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, stated the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Ukraine returned another 25 bodies of the Ukrainian soldiers, said Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine
The head of the Vice Prime Minister’s Service for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Dmytro Kaplun, together with the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, Kateryna Levchenko, signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation and the Foundation for survivors of sexual violence during the conflict. The memorandum is designed to ensure prompt response to the needs of victims of sexual violence, adequate assistance to victims and mobilization of the necessary resources to realize the victims’ rights to redress and compensation.
Forced migration.
According to the survey conducted by German ifo institute, a full 90 percent of refugees from Ukraine want to get a job in Germany. 42% are either currently employed in their chosen field or actively seeking positions that fit their skills. 32% of people are ready to work for pay below their credentials. Only 10% of refugees from Ukraine say they have no hope of getting a job or are not uninterested in looking.
Cities under attack.
On July 26, Russians shelled 3 communities in the Sumy region, wounding a woman, as shelling of the border communities by Russia continues. Also, this morning Russian missiles hit Kharkiv’s Industrial District. Two S-300 missiles arrived. Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration, stated Tuesday’s night missile attack in the region was done with the use of strategic aircraft. From the waters of the Black Sea, the Russians struck Odesa from aircraft with missiles, and around five in the morning, 10 long-range bombers immediately struck another eight strikes with missiles – Yuriy Ignat, the spokesman of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There are hits in private buildings of coastal villages, followed by a fire.
Cities under occupation.
Three convoys of military equipment, that counts about 100 units, passed through the temporarily captured Melitopol towards Kherson, said Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov. ‘The occupiers are making a large transfer of heavy weapons through the occupied territories. Yesterday, three convoys of equipment passed through the city of Melitopol in the direction of Kherson, which included a total of 100 units of heavy equipment, more than 20 tanks, landing vehicles,’ Fedorov noted. The movement of the heavy equipment is aimed to strengthen the Russian position around Kherson.
Meanwhile in Mariupol, the occupiers want to rename Mariupol to Zhdanov, says Adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko. This issue is planned to be considered in a pseudo-referendum. In addition to this, the Russian occupiers provide the residents of Mariupol with water unfit for consumption as drinking water, which is collected from the rivers of Mariupol, reported Andryushchenko based on the results of the water testing.
Economic security.
According to the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, Ukraine will receive EUR 7.4 million from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, German state bank, for preferential lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. The loan funds will be directed to the Entrepreneurship Development Fund through partner banks to finance SMEs in the national currency, which will contribute to maintaining the liquidity of financial institutions and allow SMEs to invest in energy-efficient measures under martial law.
Food Security.
The Joint Coordination Center has begun work in Istanbul, which will monitor the work of the ‘grain corridors’ in accordance with the agreement on the export of food from the ports of Ukraine, signed in Istanbul. ‘The work of the Joint Coordination Center continues intensively,’ emphasized Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar.
The Odesa region farmers have so far collected 2 million tonnes of grain and legumes. ‘As of July 26, the farmers in Odesa region threshed two million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops. The average yield is 25.5 tonnes per hectare,’ Serhiy Bratchuk, the spokesman for the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration stated.
Space.
Russia declared it will stop participating in the International Space Station project after 2024. ‘We will fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,’ the space agency chief Yury Borisov said. While the US counterparts say that no official document has been submitted, the discussions about possible changes are in the air. The New York Times reports that it is conceivable that Russia might be willing to sell its half of the station to NASA or a private company. NASA is also looking at whether American spacecraft could take over some of the tasks of raising the orbit of the space station.
Awards.
Acting Prime Minister of Great Britain Boris Johnson awarded President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi with the Churchill award for ‘moral courage’. Boris Johnson said the ‘test of leadership’ faced by the Ukraine president compares to that of 1940 as he salutes his ‘superb indifference to physical danger’.
Ukrainian scientist Olena Vaneeva entered the TOP-15 of the international award ‘For women in science’. The L’Oréal Foundation and UNESCO honored 45 outstanding women scientists at the International Women in Science Awards ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The film ‘Vision of a Butterfly’ directed by Ukrainian Maksym Nakonechny won an award at the 29th European Film Festival in Palych (Serbia). The film tells a tough and surreal story about a warrior woman who refuses to be a victim.
The Ukrainian people got an award of the Independence of the Netherlands. ‘Today, in the Netherlands, a country for the understanding of which we worked for a long time, the Ukrainian people were honored with another award – a special award of the Independence of the Netherlands. Our ambassador received it on behalf of the Ukrainians,’ – said the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
Learn about Ukraine.
How to be brave like Ukraine. An interactive course from experts in history, culture, theology, business, and politics. 16 lessons, 12 authors, 10 minutes per lesson will provide an opportunity to get a grasp about main facts about Ukraine.
Reading corner.
- Portrait of Bravery: Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska | Vogue – In Ukraine, tens of thousands of women have been on the front lines, including in combat, and Zelenska’s role has increasingly turned toward frontline diplomacy. She recently traveled to Washington, albeit on an unofficial, unannounced visit, and met with President Biden, first lady Dr. Jill Biden, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. There, she also addressed Congress, telling a bipartisan group of lawmakers that she was speaking as a mother and daughter, not just a first lady. She showed pictures of Ukrainian children who had been killed by Russian rockets, including a four-year-old with Down syndrome, before amping it up: “I’m asking for something I would never want to ask for: 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.”
- War narrows the divides between east and west in Ukraine | The Washington Post – With Moscow continuing to wage scorched-earth campaigns in the east and south, Ukrainians have abandoned their homes in droves. The divisions in Ukrainian society are often overstated, though the differences exist. With business relocation, as well as a social mixture provide a chance to narrow the divide or at least reconsider, as the whole country is at war.
- Ukraine Is the Next Act in Putin’s Empire of Humiliation | The New York Times — ‘This war is an act of imperialism, a colonial war meant to destroy another nation’s right to exist and to subjugate it. But it is not empire building in the sense of a coldly considered plan for territorial gain and economic resources; it is the next act of Vladimir Putin’s empire of humiliation. Russia’s president would have the world believe that his country is guided by unifying ideas of cultural pride and conservative values, exceptionalism and splendid isolation. But in reality, Mr. Putin’s Russia has no coherent ideology, it’s just a mess of contradictions: It is Soviet nostalgia and a cultural arrogance that glorifies the Russian empire; it is a Russian ethnic and Christian Orthodox superiority that sits uncomfortably with what is supposed to be pride in being a patchwork of ethnicities and faiths.’
Statistics.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., July 26, 2022: personnel – around 40 070, tanks ‒ 1738, APV ‒ 3971, artillery systems – 883, MLRS – 258, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 117, fixed-wing aircraft – 222, helicopters – 190, operational-tactical level UAV – 726, cruise missiles – 174, boats and light speed boats – 15, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers – 2847, special equipment – 75.
Every action counts, no contribution is too small!
- Support TSE-MOE-MISTO, the foundation organized 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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