Reuters. On July 19, 2022, in Tehran, Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi meet. Website of the president, WANA (West Asia News Agency), and handout through Reuters – On Friday, as violence erupted once more in the vital border region of the Donbas and three more ships departed ports carrying food previously blocked by Ukrainian blockades, Russia and Ukraine leveled accusations of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
DESCRIPTION OF ZAPORIZHZHIA PLANT
* On Friday, the Zaporizhzhia power plant’s damage was attributed to Russia by Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy corporation Energoatom.
* The Russian defense ministry claimed that Ukrainian forces had shelled the plant and claimed that only a stroke of luck had prevented a radioactive spill.
* Even though there was no radioactive spill discovered, operators at the Russian-occupied site disconnected a reactor after shells struck a high-voltage power cable. Ukrainian technicians are still in charge of the plant.
FIGHTING/WEAPONS
According to British military intelligence, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is set to shift into a new phase with the majority of the fighting moving to a 350 km (217 mile) front that runs from close to Zaporizhzhia to Kherson in the southwest.
According to Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to the Ukrainian president, North Macedonia has agreed to send tanks and planes to Ukraine to aid in fighting off Moscow’s on-going invasion.
* The region’s governor announced on Friday that the unusually large curfew in Mykolaiv, a front-line city in southern Ukraine, will be in effect from late Friday until early Monday morning as authorities try to apprehend anyone working with Russia.
* According to sources briefed on the situation, the next arms shipment from the United States to Ukraine is anticipated to cost $1 billion and include ammunition for long-range weapons and armored medical transport trucks.
ECONOMY/DIPLOMACY
* After accusing the Ukrainian armed forces of putting civilians in risk by stationing troops in residential areas, the head of Amnesty International’s office in Ukraine is leaving the human rights organization.
* As part of the standoff with the West over sanctions imposed following the invasion, Russia has prohibited investors from ‘unfriendly’ countries from selling shares in energy enterprises and banks until the end of the year.
* U.S. President Biden stated that his administration was putting forth great effort to secure the release of basketball player Brittney Griner, whose arrest in Moscow one week prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February threw her into the ensuing geopolitical upheaval.
* Russia stated that it was prepared to have a confidential conversation with the United States about exchanging prisoners.
