Ukraine Update…837 Days of the Russian Conflict…They just keep pounding each other…..

• A Russian ballistic missile strike on Ukraine’s southern city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday killed nine people and injured 29, including five children, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. The deadliest attack in weeks damaged an administrative building and an apartment block, Ukraine’s military command said on the Telegram messaging app.

• Russia engaged in a “deliberate pattern” of starvation tactics during the 85-day siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in early 2022, which amounted to a war crime, according to a fresh analysis submitted to the international criminal court. The conclusion is at the heart of a dossier in the process of being submitted to the ICC in The Hague by the lawyers Global Rights Compliance, working in conjunction with the Ukrainian government.

• A dramatic expansion of entities exposed to US sanctions for helping the Russian economy and an EU-led $50bn loan to ease the financial burden on Ukraine will be at the centre of discussions at a G7 leaders summit in Puglia, Italy, starting on Thursday. The meeting is being billed by the US state department as an opportunity to send a message to Russia of western stamina; the G7 would also like to “Trump-proof” its decisions as much as possible ahead of the US election in November.

• To that end, Nato is set to take over the coordination of arms deliveries to Ukraine from the US, the alliance’s chief said on Wednesday, in a bid to safeguard the military aid mechanism ahead of a possible second Trump presidency. Donald Trump has been sceptical both of sending aid to Ukraine and of Nato. “I expect that ministers will approve a plan for Nato to lead the coordination of security assistance and training to Ukraine,” Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a two-day meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels.

• Stoltenberg also highlighted the alliance’s efforts to adapt its capabilities to current security threats, taking note of Russia’s latest nuclear rhetoric and drills. Discussing what he called “the ongoing adaptation” of Nato’s nuclear arsenal, Stoltenberg said the Netherlands in June declared the first F-35 fighter jets ready to carry nuclear arms and said the US was modernising its nuclear weapons in Europe.

• New US sanctions against Russia forced an immediate suspension of trading in dollars and euros on its leading financial marketplace, the Moscow Exchange.
  The exchange and the central bank rushed out statements on Wednesday – a public holiday in Russia – within an hour of Washington announcing a new round of sanctions aimed at cutting the flow of money and goods to sustain Russia’s war in Ukraine.

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has directly caused, or paved the way to, the emission of 175m tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, a joint report said on Thursday. The report, published by Ukraine’s environment ministry and climate NGOs, said their estimate included both emissions that had been released and those that would be produced during repair work after the destruction caused by the February 2020 invasion.

• British prime minister Rishi Sunak will announce up to £242m ($309.69m) in bilateral assistance to Ukraine at the G7 summit, his office said on Wednesday, to support immediate humanitarian, energy and stabilisation needs for Ukraine. “We must be decisive and creative in our efforts to support Ukraine and end Putin’s illegal war at this critical moment,” Sunak said ahead of the summit.

• A fleet of Russian warships arrived in the bay of Havana on Wednesday, in a visit seen as a show of strength amid tensions with the west over support for Ukraine. Four vessels, including the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan and the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, entered Havana Bay, where they offered a 21-gun salute that was reciprocated from the battlements of La Cabaña, the fortress where Che Guevara once had his office.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, said he discussed preparations for a peace summit this weekend with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Gulf kingdom has sought to stay neutral in Ukraine’s war with Russia. In a post on social media, Zelenskiy said he had held an “energetic meeting” with the Saudi de facto ruler.

• Ukrainian lawmakers announced a bill on Wednesday that would allow businesses to exempt their employees from military service if they pay a $500 monthly fee a worker. The debate surrounding mobilisation is extremely sensitive in Ukraine, which has been unable to give its long-serving conscripts a break as it suffers from acute troop shortages on the front. Authorities have introduced a string of measures designed to boost the war effort, including allowing some prisoners to fight, lowering the draft age to 25 and toughening penalties on draft-dodgers.

• Ukraine’s military on Wednesday said it had hit three Russian surface-to-air missile systems in Moscow-occupied Crimea overnight, its second reported strike on air defences on the peninsula this week. Strikes targeted an S-300 system and two more advanced S-400 systems near Belbek and Sevastopol, Ukraine’s general staff said…..

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