Russian troops at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, May 20, 2022 (AP)

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EA on Times Radio: Russia Seizes Gold From Sudan To Fund Ukraine Invasion

Sunday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy — Declare Russia A “Terrorist State”

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1519 GMT:

Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has announced the arrival of four more US-supplied HIMARS medium-range rocket systems, bringing the total to 16.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the additional supply last month, as Ukraine used the first 12 wheel-mounted systems effectively in dozens of attacks on Russian logistical positions, ammunition depots, and bridges (see Original Entry).

UPDATE 1510 GMT:

In their latest attacks on Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine (see Original Entry), Russian forces have struck a medical facility.

Images showed firefighters tackling a blaze and a crater in the building.

Mayor Oleksandr Syenkevych wrote on Telegram:

For some time, our Emergency Hospital will not be able to accept patients.

There it is necessary to dismantle the rubble of the destroyed trauma centre and remove dangerous structures from the surviving part, dismantle the frames of damaged windows and remove all the garbage.

Part of the hospital’s main building was also destroyed. There, too, it is necessary to put everything in order. In those departments that survived, we will remove all the debris, block the windows and check the equipment….

This is an ordinary hospital, which every day received residents of the city, including victims of Russian shelling. Therefore, today’s attack on this medical facility is nothing more than cynical terrorism by Russian troops.

UPDATE 1133 GMT:

The European Union has sent Ukraine another €1 billion ($1.02 billion) in financial aid to support its budget as Kyiv deals with the financial consequences of the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal noted on Telegram that the allocation is part of a wider package of support totaling €9 billion ($9.18 billion). He said the first tranche of €500 million is already on the account of the Ukrainian Central Bank, and the remainder is expected on August 2.

UPDATE 1043 GMT:

Russian attacks this morning on the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine have killed two civilians and wounded another.

UPDATE 0713 GMT:

The first ship loaded with Ukrainian grain has left Odesa in southern Ukraine, following a deal on July 22 to lift the Russian blockade of Black Sea ports.

The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, carrying 26,000 tons of corn, is sailing for Lebanon.

Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a statement, “Ukraine together with our partners has taken another step today in preventing world hunger.”

Kubrakov noted that the lifting of the five-month Russian blockade will bring Ukraine’s economy $1 billion in foreign exchange revenue.

The agreement was brokered by Turkey and the UN, and signed in parallel documents with Ukraine and with Russia. However, within 12 hours, the Russians jeopardized the deal by firing missiles on Odesa, following up with a second attack days later.

More than 20m tons of Ukrainian grain have been blocked amid Russia’s cutoff of ports and bombing of storage warehouses.

UPDATE 0548 GMT:

Anatoly Chubais, the most prominent Kremlin advisor to resign after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, is in intensive care in a hospital in western Europe.

Chubais is suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves, according to Russian TV personality Ksenia Sobchak after a conversation with Chubais’s wife Avdotya.

Anatoly Chubais said his condition is “moderate, stable”, reported Sobchak.

Chubais resigned in March as Vladimir Putin’s envoy for stable development and climate change issues, without giving any reason.

The advisor oversaw privatization efforts under President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s.

Kira Yarmysh, press secretary of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, wrote on Twitter, “This is the Kremlin’s reputation: no one really doubts that Chubais was poisoned.”

Although the claim was unsupported, it was circulated as fact by some newspapers in the UK and Europe.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Facing an imminent Ukrainian counter-offensive, Russia is racing to redeploy more troops to occupied southern Ukraine — but is facing resistance from its own soldiers, says Kyiv.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said more than 200 Russian marines from the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade have refused redeployment to the region, amid an imminent Ukrainian counter-offensive.

This has caused “a significant problem, which, according to our data, delayed the process of restoration and combat coordination of the battalion tactical group of this brigade”, said deputy head of military intelligence Vadym Skibitsky.

With Ukrainian forces taking some villages in the Kherson region and its rocket and missile attacks striking dozens of Russian logistical centers and ammunition depots — and the vital bridges across the Dnipro River — Moscow is facing the prospect of diverting forces from its offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Over the weekend, Russia reportedly shifted some units from the Donetsk region — where it is trying to seize territory after occupying neighboring Luhansk — to the Zaporizhzhia region in the south.

Ukraine’s Skibitsky summarized, “They are increasing their troop numbers, preparing for our counteroffensive [in Ukraine’s south] and perhaps preparing to launch an offensive of their own.”

In his nightly address to the nation, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy noted the redeployment but assured, “Strategically, Russia has no chance of winning this war.”

UK military intelligence also emphasized a Russian shift from the east to the south, in its latest assessment on Monday morning:

Over the last four days, Russia has continued to attempt tactical assaults on the Bakhmut axis, northeast of Donetsk, only managing to make slow progress.

Russia is probably adjusting the operational design of its Donbas offensive after failing to make a decisive operational breakthrough under the plan it had been following since April.

It has likely identified its Zaporizhzhia front as a vulnerable area in need of reinforcement.

Ukraine Hits Russia’s Positions, Russians Hit Ukrainian Civilians

Meanwhile, the Ukraine military claimed the destruction of another four Russian ammunition depots, bringing the total to 15 in recent weeks. The attacks are being bolstered by US-made HIMARS medium-range rocket systems which have delivered since June.

The military said it killed 52 Russian troops and destroyed four tanks, eight armored and military vehicles as well as self-propelled artillery and mortars on Sunday.

Trying to stave off the counter-offensive and/or make civilians pay a price for it, Russia continued the bombardment of the port city of Mykolaiv on Sunday.

The latest shelling killed the founder and owner of the Ukrainian agriculture company Nibulon, Oleksiy Vadatursky, and his wife. They were slain in their home when it was hit.

Three people were injured in the assault, described by Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych as “probably the most powerful of the entire time” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A hotel and school buildings were damaged.

On Friday, a Russian strike killed seven people and wounded 15 near a bus stop.

The Russians are also firing on Nikopol, using the cover of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

“They hide there so they can’t be hit,” said Nikopol Mayor Oleksandr Sayuk. “Why else would they be at the power plant? Using such an object as a shield is very dangerous.”

The Zaporizhzhia complex, with six of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors, was seized by the Russians in March.