Croatia Steps In To Help Ukrainan Grain Exports
Russians try to cross into Ukraine from the north
Day 523 (31 July)
The Croatian Foreign Minister arrived in Kyiv for a visit and to offer support. The two countries have agreed to use the Croatian ports on the Danube in the Adriatic Sea to help transport the grain from Ukraine. In addition a military aid package was also offered.
The Turkish defence company Bayraktars Baykar Marina have signed an agreement with Ukraine to set up a service centre for the repair of drones in Ukraine.
The US and Ukraine will begin negotiations on security guarantees next week until Ukraine becomes a member of NATO. This will include financial and military support to prevent any further attacks on the country.
Ukraine and Moldova will build a bridge to connect the countries across the Dniester River. It will connect Yampil in Ukraine and Cosauti in Moldova. This comes as countries seek to unite to potent their borders from Russia.
The Chongar bridge that was thought to have been destroyed linking Kherson to Crimea has only been damaged, and it was mainly the railway bridge. There are constant traffic jams as Russian supplies are delayed in transit as bridge repairs are being carried out. Russia is using assault ships to transport equipment across the Crimean Peninsula instead as both the Kerch and Chongar bridges are damaged.
Six ships have broken the Russian blockade in the Black Sea. A US P8 anti-ship aircraft was monitoring the movement as a deterrent. The ships were from Israel, Greece and Turkey/Georgia and were headed for Ukraine. However, tracking data has indicated that they stopped near the Danube Delta or have turned around.
Day 524 (1 August)
Drones attack Moscow again, as Russia claims it has destroyed three Ukrainian ships (drones) in the Black Sea that they say were attacking Russian ships.
Ukraine said a Russian saboteur group was caught trying to cross into Ukraine from the north in Chernihiv. They were fired upon and retreated.
Russia has allegedly admitted to deporting 700k children from Ukraine into Russia, some who are orphans. Now it is for the ICC to prosecute as the Russian claim they were evacuating them.
Reports claim that Hungary was involved with the removal of Ukrainian POW from Russia via the Orthodox Church to Hungary. This goes against the Geneva Convention where the country of citizenship should be informed of any movement of their citizens. Those that were transferred were allegedly of Hungarian origin.
UNESCO has stated that 274 cultural sites have been damaged during the war by Russian missiles.
The Kyiv Motherland Monument has had the Soviet coat of arms removed and will be replaced with the Ukrainian trident as the coat of arms.
Those who have had their homes destroyed by the war can claim compensation online through Diia. How this will be assessed and paid for is yet unknown.
2 Zuzana self-propelled howitzers were handed to Ukraine today in Slovakia. This was funded by Denmark, Norway, and Germany
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The US has decided to restrict Hungarian participation in its visa waiver scheme due to security concerns.
The Polish ambassador has been summoned in Ukraine over comments that the Polish Secretary of State (Marcin Przydacz) made suggesting that Ukraine, “ …(should) start appreciating the role that Poland has played for Ukraine in recent months and years.” To be frank, Ukraine does need to appreciate the help it is getting because the widespread corruption was one of the reasons why Russia was able to invade Ukraine, and Ukraine also failed to have military reserves to defend itself.
More corruption in Ukraine, and this time in Odesa where an official was taking a bribe from a contractor to repair military barracks. With so much corruption going on in war time, Ukraine has a difficult task to convince NATO and the EU that they have tackled corruption.
Iceland has suspended its embassy in Russia due to current conditions.
"This is not an easy decision as Iceland has enjoyed rich relations with the people of Russia since our independence in 1944. However, the current situation simply does not make it viable for the small foreign service of Iceland to operate an embassy in Russia. I hope that conditions will someday allow for us to have normal and fruitful relations with Russia, but that depends on decisions taken by the Kremlin," (Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir.)
Deporting Ukrainian children to Russia should never be considered as evacuating them.