The Ukraine President moved to put the Ukraine anti-corruption units undre his control….
THAT was met with resistance inside and outside the Ukraine ….
-
The Ukrainian anti-corruption body, Nabu, said a new bill submitted to parliament on Thursday “restores all procedural powers and guarantees of independence of the Nabu and Sapo”. Nabu investigates corruption cases and Sapo prosecutes them. A Nabu statement said both agencies took part in the preparation of the new law and they urged the parliament “to adopt the president’s initiative … in its entirety as soon as possible. This will prevent threats to criminal proceedings brought by the Nabu and the Sapo.”
-
The EU welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s move to reinstate the independence of the anti-corruption agencies after the shock adoption this week of a bill that stripped their autonomy. After protests on the streets and from international allies of Ukraine, the Ukrainian president said the further bill would ensure the rule of law and the independence of the anti-corruption agencies. An EU spokesperson said: “We provide significant financial support to Ukraine and this is conditional to progress and transparency, judicial reform and democratic governance.” Those points were reinforced by European leaders with whom Zelenskyy consulted over the crisis, including Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz of Germany and the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.
-
There were tensions over the Ukraine war as EU officials met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday. Antonio Costa, the European Council president, said the EU officials discussed “at length” their expectations for China to discourage Russia in its war against Ukraine. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, prior to the meeting said China was “enabling Russia’s war economy”. Xi told EU to “properly handle differences and frictions … The current challenges facing Europedo not come from China.”
-
A Russian attack killed three family members already displaced by the war, authorities announced on Thursday. The father, mother and son had fled to the village of Pidlyman in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine after Russian forces invaded their home town. A strike later on Kharkiv city wounded 33 people, including a 10-year-old girl, a 17-year-old boy and girl, the governor said. A separate Russian drone and missile barrage wounded seven people including a child in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy, emergency services said.
-
The US state department on Thursday said it had approved military sales worth US$330m to Ukraine comprising $150m worth of maintenance, repair and overhaul capability for M109 self-propelled howitzers, and $180m to sustain air defences. The Pentagon said contractors involved would include BAE Systems, Allison Transmission, Daimler Truck North America, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Radionix and Systems Electronic Export. The US on Wednesday announced sales of $322m related to Hawk surface-to-air missiles and Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
-
Reuters are reporting that an Indian company shipped $1.4m worth of an explosive used in missile warheads, rocket motors and bombs to Russia in December 2024 despite the threat of US sanctions, according to Indian customs data seen by the news agency. One Russian company listed as receiving the compound, known as HMX or octogen, was an explosives manufacturer, which Ukraine’s SBU security service has linked to Moscow’s military. An SBU official said Ukraine launched a drone attack in April against one of the company’s factories.
-
The US government has identified HMX/octogen as “critical for Russia’s war effort”. The US state department did not comment to Reuters on the specific shipments but said it had repeatedly communicated to India that companies doing military-related business with Russia were at risk of sanctions. However, under Donald Trump, Russia-related sanctions work has slowed to a trickle. India’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “India has been carrying out exports of dual-use items taking into account its international obligations on non-proliferation,” adding that such exports were subject to “holistic assessment”…..
ISW….Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 24, 2025
- Russia will likely implement new policies to augment its military administrative capacity to significantly expand the rate at which Russia can call up a larger volume of conscripts and reservists.
- Russia has planned the gradual expansion of the Russian military since 2022, and the proposed changes to Russia’s personnel processing system are likely intended to support ongoing efforts to increase the size of the Russian military.
- The expansion of Russia’s administrative capacity to process conscripts and mobilized personnel would allow Russia to mobilize forces faster and more efficiently both during a protracted war in Ukraine and a possible future war against NATO.
- Reductions in the bottlenecks in the Russian conscription process would also impact Russia’s ability to wage future wars.
- Kremlin officials continued to signal Russia’s unwillingness to engage substantively in efforts to establish a lasting peace in Ukraine during the third round of bilateral talks in Istanbul.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a draft bill to the Ukrainian parliament on July 24 aimed at bolstering the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies in response to public backlash against the controversial bill that Zelensky signed on July 22.
- The US State Department approved two Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Ukraine totaling $322 million.
- Ukraine and Russia conducted their ninth prisoner of war (POW) exchange on July 23, in accordance with agreements reached during the June 2 bilateral negotiations in Istanbul.
- Russian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Kupyansk, Borova, Toretsk, and Novopavlivka.
Daily Kos grunt report for today…