Saturday, July 13

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Aftermath of Russian attacks on Donetsk Oblast on July 12, 2024. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Telegram)

Zelensky calls NATO Summit ‘success,’ but experts warn of green light for Russian aggression. This year’s NATO summit ended better than last year’s, but with no firm invitation to enter the alliance and Ukraine’s needs on the battlefield mounting, some observers believe the lack of commitment gives Russia the green light to carry on with its war.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General urges ICC to prosecute Russian attack on Kyiv hospital. “For the sake of international justice, cases like the intentional attack on the biggest child hospital in Kyiv (are) worth lifting to the ICC,” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told Reuters on July 11.

Ukraine’s GDP grew by more than 4% in 6 months. “Due to the high adaptability to difficult conditions and experience in responding to such challenges, the Ukrainian economy continued to grow” in June, said Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

Russian passenger plane crashes near Moscow, 3 killed, Kremlin media reports. The domestically-designed Superjet 100 was on a test flight after undergoing scheduled maintenance and crashed just over an hour after taking off, according to the TASS news agency.

Kyiv expects to get up to 20 F-16s in 2024, Bloomberg reports. NATO is yet concerned about logistical difficulties in maintaining these aircraft and the lack of suitable runways in Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.

National Bank sets new historic low for hryvnia exchange rate. The hryvnia exchange rate on the interbank foreign exchange market surpassed Hr 41 per dollar on the morning of July 12.

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Moscow plans to block YouTube in fall, Russian media claims. The news comes shortly after Rostelecom, the country’s leading telecommunications provider, said there are “technical problems with Google’s equipment” which may “affect the download speed and quality of YouTube videos.”

Explosions reported near airport in Russian-occupied Mariupol. Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the city’s exiled mayor, shared photos and videos showing plumes of smoke rising over Mariupol. Explosions were heard near a city’s airport.

One of Kyiv’s top tax officials accused of taking bribes, faces 10 years in prison. In a post on Facebook, the SBU said the man in question had allegedly taken money from the director of a Kyiv-based company that deals with the wholesale selling of fuel.

Ukraine dismisses Russia’s accusations of preparing false flags at 2 Ukrainian dams. “The only reason for the threats to civilians and the destruction of critical infrastructure in Ukraine is Russian aggression,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in response to Russian accusations of preparing false flag operations at two Ukrainian dams.

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Ukraine and its soldiers weigh in on whether Biden should step aside

As calls mount for U.S. President Joe Biden to step aside in the upcoming presidential election among Democratic party allies in Washington, Ukrainian soldiers more than 5,000 miles away on the front lines are also voicing their concerns over the U.S. leader’s ability to help them fight Europe’s bloodiest war since World War II.

Photo: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine war latest: Russian losses reach ‘conflict highs,’ UK Defense Ministry says

Russian losses in Ukraine reached “conflict highs” during May and June, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on July 12. Meanwhile, Ukraine has not received permission to use British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory.

Photo: Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images

As Russia’s war wages, Ukraine struggles to renegotiate $20 billion debt deal amid looming deadline

With Ukraine desperately seeking cash to fund its defense and wartime budget needs, the country is running out of time before an August 1 deadline to agree with creditors on what portion of its foreign debt will be written off as a so-called “haircut.”

Photo: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Russia’s advance toward key eastern highway threatens Ukraine’s grip of Donetsk Oblast

Ukraine’s higher ground advantage in Chasiv Yar could collapse if regions south and highway to the west fall into Russian hands, writes Asami Terajima in her recent analysis.

Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos

Opinions and Insights

Opinion: How Ukraine’s industrial parks are pioneering economic transformation

“Ukraine’s industrial parks already host about 30 production facilities and over 50 other entities (logistics centers, service companies, etc.). Scaling up such examples could significantly drive economic growth,“ writes Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, in this op-ed.

Photo: Gaelle Girbes

Human cost of war

Russian attacks on Donetsk Oblast kill 6, injure 19. Russian forces carried out several attacks against Donetsk Oblast on July 12, killing six people and injuring at least 19 others, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported.

Russia lost over 10,000 soldiers in war in Ukraine over past 6 months, media says. A new study identified the names of over 10,000 Russian troops who were killed over the past half-year.

Russian losses in Ukraine reached ‘conflict highs’ in past 2 months, UK Defense Ministry says. In an intelligence report on X, the U.K. Defense Ministry said average daily Russian casualties – both killed and wounded – reached 1,262 and 1,163 in the two months, respectively.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 7, injure 43 over past day. Ukrainian air defenses shot down all five Kh-101 cruise missiles targeting Starokostiantyniv in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, as well as 11 of the 19 Shahed-type drones launched overnight, the Air Force said.

3 people injured by tripwire mine while trying to evacuate in Kharkiv Oblast. Three people were injured due to a tripwire mine detonation as they were trying to evacuate in the village of Starytsia, Kharkiv Oblast, on July 12, the local Prosecutor’s Office reported.

International response

Poland’s Sejm recognizes Soviet deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide. Sejm, the lower chamber of Poland’s parliament, passed a resolution on July 12 to commemorate the victims of the Soviet genocide of Crimean Tatars in 1944.

Permission to strike Russia with UK missiles ‘not a done deal,’ British officials tell Telegraph. The situation “was more nuanced” than President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested, an unnamed senior defense source told the Telegraph.

European allies ready to cut China investment over Russia backing, Biden says. “We have to make sure that (Chinese President Xi Jinping) understands there’s a price to pay for undercutting both the Pacific basin as well as Europe, and it relates to Russia and dealing with Ukraine,” U.S. President Joe Biden said during the NATO summit in the U.S. capital.

GPS jamming in Finland likely part of Russian hybrid campaign, ISW says. “Russia’s apparent GPS jamming is likely part of Russia’s intensifying hybrid campaign directly targeting NATO states likely aimed at undermining support for Ukraine and NATO unity,” the ISW said.

‘Depends on circumstances,’ Danish PM says on Ukraine using F-16s to strike inside Russia. “But it is possible also to reach targets outside Ukraine (with Danish-supplied F-16s), yes,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen added.

Australia charges Russian-born couple with planning espionage for Moscow. Australian police arrested two Russian-born Australian citizens suspected of obtaining the country’s military material to share it with Russian authorities, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on July 12.

South Korea to double contributions to NATO’s Ukraine fund. Seoul previously donated $12 million to the NATO-Ukraine Trust Fund for healthcare and rehabilitation of injured soldiers.

In other news

Russian deep-sea vehicle damaged after collision in Norwegian Sea, military intelligence says. The crew of the deep-sea vehicle AS-36’s carrier, the rescue ship of Russia’s Northern Fleet Mikhail Rudnitsky, “lost control” while launching AS-36 on July 1, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by **Katya Denisova, Martin Fornusek, Chris York, Toma Istomina, Kateryna Hodunova, Lili Bivings, Olena Goncharova, and Rachel Amran. **

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