These are the main developments as the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its 527th day.
- Russian shelling injured eight people and damaged the landmark St Catherine’s Cathedral in the city of Kherson, Ukraine’s emergency services said.
- Russia said it downed six drones in the Kaluga region, less than 200 kilometres from Moscow, in a string of attacks on the city in recent days. No casualties were reported.
- Russian forces have not advanced on the front lines but are heavily entrenched in mined areas they control, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to move east and south, Ukrainian officials said.
- Since the start of the year, Russia has enlisted more than 230,000 additional personnel into the army, Moscow’s Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said. This year, Moscow has ramped up military recruitment to beat back a continuing Ukrainian counteroffensive and hold previously captured territories.
- Wagner mercenary fighters are moving closer to NATO’s eastern flank to destabilise the military alliance, Poland’s prime minister said, as troops began training Belarusian soldiers.
- Ukraine is investigating Russian attacks on agricultural infrastructure as possible war crimes, the prosecutor general’s office told the Reuters news agency.
Diplomacy
- India’s foreign ministry spokesperson said there are no plans to hold any sideline meetings about Ukraine at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September, the Russian TASS news agency reported.
- India will participate in Ukraine peace talks to be hosted by Saudi Arabia on August 5 and 6, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
- Saudi Arabia invited Western nations, Ukraine and some major developing countries to discuss Zelenskyy’s peace plan, which calls for withdrawing Russian troops and restoring Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders.
- Russia added Norway to its list of “unfriendly” foreign states, local news agencies reported. In April, Norway expelled 15 Russian diplomats for alleged spying, and Russia responded by evicting 10 Norwegian diplomats.
Economy
- Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said “illegitimate” Western sanctions were affecting Russian food and fertiliser exports.
- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania indicated they plan to disconnect from the Russian-controlled power grid and link to the Western European system instead. The prime ministers of the three European Union and NATO member nations signed a joint declaration pledging to complete the switch by February 2025.
- More than 75 countries committed to take action to “end the use of food as a weapon of war and the starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare”. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released the communique at a UN Security Council meeting on famine and food insecurity.
- The United States remains confident that the price cap on Russian oil is working despite a recent upturn in prices, a senior US Treasury official said.
- A Moscow court fined Apple 400,000 roubles ($4,274) for not deleting “inaccurate” content about the situation in Ukraine, the Russian TASS news agency reported. TASS said it was the first time Apple had been fined for that offence.
- Romania said it allow 30 ships that are trying to enter Romania from the Ukrainian ports on the Danube River over the next two days. Since quitting the grain deal two weeks ago, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukrainian grain and port infrastructure.
- The sportswear company Adidas is still in the process of pulling its stores from Russia, CEO Bjorn Gulden said. Gulden told reporters: “We have about 100 stores that are not operational, and of course, they have been offered on the market.”
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES