It is day 516 of the war in Ukraine. The Russian army has attacked Kyiv with drones for the sixth time this month.
Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a terrorism case after yesterday’s drone attack on Moscow, Kommersant newspaper reports. According to the investigators, Ukrainian military intelligence is behind the attack.
AP reports that the US plans to send up to $400 million of additional military aid to Ukraine. The package will include nano-drones, HIMARS missiles, Stryker armoured vehicles, mortars, Hydra-70 missiles and 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition.
Lithuania offered the EU to use Baltic ports as an alternative route for Ukrainian grain export. Up to 25 million tonnes of grain can be transported through Baltic Sea ports every year, the Lithuanian authorities said.
Russia attacks Kyiv with drones for the sixth time this month
No one was injured in the attacks, the local administration reports. No buildings were damaged either. The air-raid warning in the Ukrainian capital lasted for about three hours. Head of the Kyiv military administration Serhiy Popko reports that the Ukrainian air defence forces took down all targets before they reached the city.
Air-raid warnings went off overnight in Ukraine’s Sumy, Poltava, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions.
Two people killed in Russian attack on town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Two people, among them a 10-year-old boy, were killed in an attack on Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, regional administration head Pavlo Kyrylenko reported. Seven people were injured, including four children aged 5 to 12.
Kyrylenko says that at about 7 PM, Russian forces hit a public beach with cluster munitions launched from Smerch MRLS.
Photo: Pavlo Kyrylenko
Russia opens criminal case after drone attack in Moscow
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a terrorism case after the 24 July drone attack on Moscow, Kommersant newspaper reports. According to the investigators, Ukrainian military intelligence is responsible for the attack.
The committee has not officially announced this yet. Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported, citing sources, that the drone attack on Moscow was a “special operation” of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence.
Photo: social media
AP: US to hand over up to $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine
AP reports, citing unnamed officials, that the new package of military aid will include HIMARS and NASAMS missiles, Stingers and Javelins, howitzer artillery rounds and 32 Stryker armoured vehicles, along with demolition equipment, mortars, Hydra-70 rockets and 28 million rounds of small arms ammunition.
Besides, the US plans to hand over Hornets nano-drones that are mainly used for intelligence gathering. Ukraine has received them in the past from other Western allies, AP points out.
“The weapons are being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Pentagon to quickly take items from its own stocks and deliver them to Ukraine, often within days,” the agency writes.
Lithuania offers EU to reroute Ukrainian grain export through Baltic states
Lithuania offered the European Commission to consider using the Baltic ports as an alternative route for the export of Ukrainian grain and other produce. The letter points out that Russia’s decision to end the Black Sea grain deal and launch multiple strikes on the Odesa port threatens global food security.
Port of Klaipėda. Photo: Algirdas / Wikipedia
Up to 25 million of Ukrainian grain can be transported through Baltic Sea ports every year, the Lithuanian authorities note. Last week, Director General of Lithuania’s Klaipeda port Algis Latakas said that the port capacity amounts to 10-15 million tonnes of grain, but the logistics of getting the cargo to the Baltic coast remain complicated.
