2023-07-19 10:04:30
A fire broke out on Wednesday morning on military ground in the eastern part of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The Russian authorities have ordered the evacuation of more than 2,000 civilians and the partial closure of the highway linking Sevastopol, in the south-west of Crimea, to the port of Kerch, in the east of the peninsula. Ukraine welcomed a “successful operation“. The enemy hides the extent of the damage and the number of victims“, said on Telegram the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
Before dawn, six Kalibr missiles and 21 Iranian-made Shahed-136 explosive drones sent by Russia to Odessa (south of the country, on the Black Sea coast) were “destroyed” by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of having “deliberately targeted” in its strikes sites used for the export of Ukrainian grain, three days following the expiration of a crucial agreement on the subject.
The expiration of the grain agreement entails “withdrawal of security guarantees“for the export of Ukrainian cereals to the Black Sea, said the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, on Tuesday. French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, judged that Vladimir Putin had committed “a huge mistake” doing “food a weapon”hammering that Russia had decided “to starve countries already in difficulty”. African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said on Twitter that he regretted the Russian decision and called for the resumption of the agreement to transport cereals and fertilizers “to the regions that need it, especially Africa”.
On the front, the Russian army reported on Tuesday a 1.5 km advance near Kupiansk, in northeastern Ukraine, an area where Kiev has seen a concentration of Russian troops and speaks of fierce fighting for several days. For the American Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley, Ukraine, however, has “of significant combat power which has not yet been committed” and which kyiv currently preserves.
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