EA-Times Radio VideoCast: After A Challenging Week, Ukraine Still Stands

Tuesday’s Coverage: Zelensky Praises Trump for His Warning to Putin

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1504 GMT:

The International Monetary Fund is expecting Russia’s “economic growth to slow down in 2025“.

It projects expansion at 0.9% this year and 1% in 2026, compared to 4.3% in 2024.

The IMF cited “policy tightening”, with interest rates at 21% until recently and still at 18%, budget pressures, and lower oil revenues.

The outlook forecasts 3% growth in the global economy in 2025 and 3.1% in 2026.

UPDATE 1129 GMT:

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR says it has uncovered further evidence of Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children from occupied territories.

The agency said cyber specialists penetrated servers of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea. Files confirm the organized deportation of children from Russian-occupied areas in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions.

Thousands of documents include personal profiles of abducted children, illegal guardianship appointments assigning Russian citizens as caretakers, relocation addresses, and records of children resettled throughout Russian-controlled areas.

The files have been transferred to law enforcement agencies.

Ukraine’s official Children of War database details at least 19,546 Ukrainian children forcibly removed since February 2022. Only 1,468 have been brought back home.

Ukrainian officials estimate the real figure could be far higher, with Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets putting the number at up to 150,000 and Children’s Ombudsman Daria Herasymchuk citing a range of 200,000 to 300,000.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Children’s Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, citing their personal roles in organizing the illegal transfers.

UPDATE 1106 GMT:

Russia has carried out more than 10,000 chemical attacks against Ukrainian forces during the 41-month full-scale invasion, says Ukraine’s State security service SBU.

The Russians have repeatedly used prohibited agents such as K-51, RGR, and RG-VO aerosol grenades loaded with CS (chlorobenzylidene malonitrile) and CN (chloroacetophenone).

Use of the agents is banned under the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia ratified.

The SBU said the most common method of deployment is with first-person view drones dropping the munitions directly onto Ukrainian defensive positions.

Upon detonation, the agents cause severe irritation to the eyes and respiratory system.

UPDATE 0910 GMT:

At least seven civilians have been killed and 21 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 51 of 78 drones. The other 27 struck seven locations.

In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, six people were murdered and eight injured by assaults on Kharkiv city and nine surrounding settlements.

The civilians perished in a Russian rocket strike on the village of Novoplatonivka as residents assembled to collect aid supplies.

One civilian was killed and seven injured in the Donetsk region in the east.

Casualties were also reported in the Kherson, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

UPDATE 0839 GMT:

Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak has commented on Russia’s latest missile and drone strikes:

UPDATE 0610 GMT:

Residents in Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine are facing severe shortages of water.

Residents in the Donetsk region asked Vladimir Putin to “take personal control of the region’s water supply situation” and “punish” those responsible.

Schoolchildren sent a video appeal over the weekend:

There is no life without water, Uncle Vova [President Vladimir Putin]. Help us so we can simply wash, drink and live. Please give us the simplest miracle — water in our homes.

Russian proxy authorities introduced a strict schedule this month for water supply in Donetsk city and nearby Makiivka, with water available once every three days from 5 to 9 p.m. In Mariupol, Khartsyzk and Ilovaisk, water is supplied once every two days for four hours.

Residents say the tap water, when available, is muddy, foul-smelling, and unfit for drinking. One posted on a pro-Kremlin group on the VKontakte social media site, alongside video of murky brown water running from a tap:

People carry buckets down to the basement and take turns collecting this water — just enough to flush the toilet. You can’t cook with it, wash with it or even brush your teeth.

Because of low pressure, water often does not reach above the second or third floors of apartment buildings.

Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-installed head of occupied Donetsk, instructed the local government last week to cap bottled water prices at 3.5 rubles ($0.04) per liter, threatening businesses with inspections by the police and antitrust authorities if they violated the order.

UPDATE 0605 GMT:

At least three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in a Russian strike on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian army posted on Facebook, “The enemy launched a missile strike on the territory of one of the training units of the ground forces”. It did not give the location.

UPDATE 0553 GMT:

Journalist Olga Komleva, a volunteer for the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has been imprisoned for 12 years by a Russian court.

Komleva was condemned under a law that bans cooperation with Navalny’s organizations, even if the association was in the past.

The journalist was also found guilty of criticizing the Russian army as she covered Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and anti-government protests for the independent outlet RusNews.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia’s oil exports are dropping amid tightening international sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Exports between January and July fell by 4%, almost 30 million barrels, compared to the same period last year and by 7% compared to 2023.

Asia, particularly China and India, continues to prop up the Russian revenues. Exports remained steady at around 2.86 million barrels per day.

Shipments to Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea region have fallen sharply since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

On July 18, the EU lowered the international price cap on Russian oil exports from $60 to $45 per barrel.

The US could follow if Donald Trump follows through on his threat to tighten sanctions if Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire within two weeks. Washington can also impose sanctions or tariffs of 100% on Russian customers including China and India.

Zelensky: “Each Russian Strike Shows Pressure Is Necessary”

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about Russia’s latest mass murder of civilians, including an aerial attack on a prison which killed 17 people and injured at least 42.

Zelensky noted of the strike in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine:“The Russians knew it was a civilian facility. They could not have been unaware.”

He summarized:

Each such Russian strike, each instance of Russian arrogance in response to global calls to end the war, all this only confirms that pressure is necessary.

More sanctions against Russia, steady support for Ukraine and our defense of life, coordinated diplomacy for peace.

The President also addressed his change of position on legislation concerning Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.

Having initially signed a bill giving the Prosecutor General control of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Zelensky is replacing it with legislation guaranteeing the independence of the agencies. He has called Parliament into special session on Thurday to adopt the measure.

We spoke with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about my bill that guarantees the proper functioning of the anti-corruption infrastructure and law enforcement agencies.

It is very important to pass this law on Thursday. All of our partners support it.