The day of the war at a glance
Ukraine plans liberation of Cherson by September – Kremlin admits rocket fire on Odessa
07/24/2022, 9:18 p.m
Hope is burgeoning in Cherson: Ukraine says it can push back Russian troops so far that they go on the defensive. And the Kremlin claims to have attacked a warship in Odessa after initially denying responsibility for the attack on the port city.
Hope is burgeoning in Cherson: Ukraine says it can push back Russian troops so far that they go on the defensive. And the Kremlin claims to have attacked a warship in Odessa after initially denying responsibility for the attack on the port city. The 150th day of the war at a glance.
Ukraine: Troops in Kherson counteroffensive
Ukraine has announced the first successes in the planned recapture of the Russian-held region of Cherson. “We can say that a turning point has been reached on the battlefield,” Serhiy Khlan of the pro-Kyiv Kherson military administration said in a TV interview. “We see our forces advancing openly,” Chlan added. The Ukrainian troops would switch from the defensive to the counter-offensive. Chlan said that Kherson would be “definitely liberated by September”. Accordingly, the Ukrainians are preparing a ground offensive.
Supported by artillery supplies from the west, the Ukrainian army had made up ground in the southern Ukrainian region in recent weeks. Russian troops captured the capital of Cherson on March 3rd. The region is important to Ukraine’s agriculture and is close to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Russia wants warship destroyed in Odessa
At the Black Sea ports around Odessa, the situation for Ukraine looks bleaker. Russia has now conceded, however to have attacked the Ukrainian port city with rockets. A day after the denial, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, announced that a military infrastructure object had been hit in the port. “High-precision” Kalibr cruise missiles were used. Ukraine’s key Black Sea port for grain shipments was shelled on Saturday, a day after Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to resume grain shipments.
According to Turkey, Russia had a hand in the airstrike initially denied. “The Russians have told us that they have nothing to do with this attack and that they are investigating the matter very closely,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday. Zakharova’s confirmation is the first official Russian comment on the attack. According to your information, the Russian military wants to have hit a Ukrainian warship.
Moscow promises grain supplies to Egypt
Despite the attack in Odessa Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov assured Egyptthat his country would stick to its delivery commitments. Moscow has confirmed “the commitment of Russian exporters of grain products” to “fulfill all their obligations,” Lavrov said in Cairo after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Shukri. Egypt is one of the largest grain importers in the world. In the past, 80 percent of imports came from Russia and Ukraine.
Ukrainian ports are preparing export
Despite the Russian missile attacks, the three Black Sea ports designated under international mediation have started preparing grain shipments. The authority responsible for the seaports announced that work is underway to restart the ports in Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny. According to the agreement reached in Istanbul on Friday, the ship convoys would be prepared for grain exports by sea, it said.
Kharkiv advises citizens to use the subway because of rocket attacks
Residents of Kharkiv have also been threatened by Russian attacks. In the face of repeated rocket attacks, Ukraine’s second-largest city urged its residents to use the subway instead of road transport. “Use the metro network more often, because it’s the safest way to get from A to B,” writes Mayor Ihor Terekhov on Telegram. “The past week has shown that the aggressor no longer even pretends to shoot at military targets.”
US MP promises Selenskyj up to 30 multiple rocket launchers
Meanwhile, the US and its western allies want to supply up to 30 multiple rocket launchers to strengthen Ukraine’s defenses against the invasion. This was announced by US politician Adam Smith after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The current goal is to provide Ukraine with 25 to 30 of the missile systems, said the chairman of the Defense Committee (Armed Services Committee) in the US House of Representatives the American broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The United States has so far delivered twelve HIMARS missile systems to Ukraine and announced delivery of four more systems.
British intelligence services disagree with Lavrov’s statement on expansion
British intelligence has contradicted a recent account by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia has expanded its targets in Ukraine. Lavrov had announced in the middle of the week that the mission was no longer just about the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, but also about the Cherson and Zaporizhia regions and “a number of other areas”. Lavrov cited Western arms deliveries to Ukraine as the reason for adjusting the targets. “That’s almost certainly not correct,” wrote the British secret services in their most recent “Intelligence Update,” a kind of status report. Russia has not expanded its war. “Taking long-term control of these areas was almost certainly a goal from the very beginning of the invasion.”
All further developments can be found in our Live ticker on the Ukraine war read.