The aftermath of the Russian attack on Kyiv. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
The war in Ukraine has been raging for 505 days. The debris from shot down drones fell down in four districts of Kyiv following a Russian attack on the city. Russia’s Foreign Ministry declared that NATO was continuing its “provocative expansion policy”, while the From Russia with Love hacker group posted classified data on how the security of the NATO Summit members had been provided. The European Union is considering the possibility of connecting a subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT in order to extend the grain deal.
What happened in the early hours of 13 July — read the top headlines in Novaya-Europe’s round-up.
Kyiv attacked with drones for third night in row
Ukrainian air defence detected and destroyed around 10 Shahed drones, as per the Kyiv city military administration. Debris falling down was registered in four districts of the Ukrainian capital, the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
Fires erupted in two buildings, they were quickly extinguished. In the Podilsk district, a body was discovered while the fire was being put out in a multi-storey building, as per Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko. However, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine later clarified that the man died in a domestic fire that had erupted simultaneously with the drone attack, but the two weren’t connected.
Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
Four people were injured, two of them refused hospitalisation. A 19-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were taken to a hospital. Another fire was put out on the grass near the building.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry comments on NATO Summit in Vilnius
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has commented on the results of the NATO Summit that was held in Vilnius on 11-12 July. The Russian ministry believes that the Alliance has permanently returned to the Cold War schemes.
“The US-led ‘collective West’ is not ready to deal with the development of a multipolar world, it intends to uphold its hegemony by all available means, including military ones,” the statement reads.
The ministry claims that NATO is continuing its “provocative expansion policy”. “The focus of these NATO ambitions is the further ‘natoisation’ of Ukraine,” the statement says.
During the summit, the G7 countries agreed upon a declaration on their support of Ukraine. Head of the Office of the Ukrainian President Andriy Yermak called the document an “important victory for Ukraine on its way to NATO”.
Hacker group From Russia with Love posts classified data on NATO Summit members security
The From Russia with Love hacker group has posted classified data on how security for members of the NATO Summit was provided. According to Lithuanian media outlet 15min, the data was posted in one of Russian pro-war Telegram channels on 12 July.
In total, 29 files were leaked, containing information on security of NATO countries’ leaders, slides, presentations, protocols, travel routes, software, and names of servicemen.
Lukas Apynis, a cyber security specialist with ESET, said that the data was no longer relevant as the summit was already over.
NATO Summit in Vilnius. Photo: Jens Stoltenberg/Twitter
The Lithuanian State Security Department said that it was investigating the leak.
EU considering possibility of connecting Russian Agricultural Bank’s subsidiary to SWIFT to extend grain deal
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that Russia extend the grain deal in exchange for connecting the subsidiary of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, Reuters reports, citing sources.
Connecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT is the key demand from Moscow to extend the deal, which expires on 17 July. However, the EU is ready to only connect the subsidiary of the bank to the financial transactions system, according to Reuters’ sources.
They claim that Guterres proposed to Putin to extend the deal by several months now so that the European Union had time to connect the subsidiary to SWIFT.
Earlier, UN representative Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres had sent a letter to Putin on 11 July. In the letter, Guterres emphasised that the objective was to “remove hurdles affecting financial transactions through the Russian Agricultural Bank” and extend the deal. Dujarric added that Russia had received the letter and was studying it.
The grain deal on transporting grain from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea was signed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN in July 2022.
