Good news for food security in many countries. Russia and Ukraine signed, Friday, July 22 in Istanbul, with the UN and Turkey, an agreement to unblock grain exports in the face of the risk of famine in the world. The two belligerents initialed two identical but separate texts, at the request of the Ukrainians who refused to sign with the Russians. Meanwhile, shelling continued in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The African Union (AU) on Saturday "welcomed" the agreement signed between Russia and Ukraine to unblock grain exports, a "welcome development" for the continent which faces a risk increased starvation. This agreement is "a response" to the visit in June to Russia of the Senegalese head of state Macky Sall, current chairman of the AU, and Moussa Faki, chairman of the AU commission. Both had stressed to Vladimir Putin "the urgency of the return of cereals from Ukraine and Russia to world markets", underlines the organization in a press release.
"The AU reiterates (its) call for an immediate ceasefire agreement and the opening of new political negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations in the interest of global peace and stability," the statement added. . The invasion of Ukraine by Russia - two countries which between them provide 30% of world wheat exports - has led to a surge in the prices of cereals and oils, as well as fertilizers.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that the UN was responsible for respecting the agreement on the export of Ukrainian cereals reached in Istanbul. The price of wheat fell sharply on Friday in Chicago and on Euronext, returning to its pre-war course in Ukraine, in reaction to the signed agreement.
At least three people, including a soldier, were killed when Russian missiles fell on railway infrastructure and a military airfield in central Ukraine on Saturday, the governor of Kirovograd announced. "Nine Ukrainian servicemen were injured and one soldier was killed. According to preliminary information, two guards of an electrical substation were killed," Andriy Raikovych, head of the Kirovograd region, told Ukrainian media.
The United States announced on Friday a new tranche of military aid to Ukraine to the tune of 270 million dollars, including in particular four new Himars precision artillery systems. Washington will thus have provided kyiv, after this new delivery, with a total of 20 units of these multiple rocket launchers mounted on light armor, said John Kirby, spokesman for the White House on strategic issues.
Russia has “launched deadly bombardments across the country, hitting shopping malls, apartment buildings, killing innocent Ukrainian civilians,” John Kirby said. In the face of these atrocities, the President has made it clear that we will continue to support the Ukrainian government and its people for as long as necessary,” he added.
Russian police have opened more than 3,300 cases for "discrediting" the army - an offense that came into force in early March to silence critics of the offensive in Ukraine - the NGO "Setevye Svobody" said on Friday. The latter, which provides legal aid to victims of political repression in Russia, said it calculated this figure between March 4 and July 14, on the databases of the Russian Ministry of the Interior.
"On average, the Russian police draw up 35 reports for discrediting the army per working day," the NGO said on its Telegram account. This offense is punishable by fines of up to 100,000 rubles (1,700 euros) for an ordinary individual and up to one million rubles (17,000 euros) for a legal entity. It is up to a court, after a hearing, to set the amount of the fine. Also according to the NGO, the Russian courts have already ordered more than 1,500 fines for "discrediting" the army, for a total of more than 50 million rubles (845,000 euros).
Resigning British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday that Britain's support for Ukraine would not waver regardless of his successor, according to Downing Street.
Surrounded by scandals, Boris Johnson, one of President Zelensky's most fervent supporters in the face of the Russian invasion, announced his departure two weeks ago. The two candidates vying to succeed him, Foreign Minister Liz Truss and ex-Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, assured that they would continue the policy of the outgoing Prime Minister in this respect.
Russian authorities opened an investigation on Friday against pregnant opposition politician Khelga Pirogova, accused of "spreading false information" after criticizing the organization of lavish funerals for soldiers killed in Ukraine. In a statement, Russia's Investigative Committee, which deals with major criminal cases, said she was being prosecuted for "publicly disseminating false information about the use of the armed forces". According to the article of the Penal Code invoked, she risks three years in prison. She was briefly detained and interrogated Thursday at the central police station in Novosibirsk, Siberia, where she is a municipal deputy.
Contacted by AFP, the young opponent said she was four months pregnant. "They need an inner enemy that they can easily wrestle with because they have a harder time with their outer enemy," she said. On July 15, Khelga Pirogova reacted on Twitter to an article by the independent Mediazona media evoking a lavish funeral organized for Russian volunteers killed during the conflict in Ukraine.
