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International monitors confirm Russia’s blockade of occupied Oleshky, where the living starve and the dead go unburied. Four months after Euromaidan Press first reported the siege, the UN, Human Rights Watch, ISW, and the OSCE have all confirmed it. An exiled official says 100 bodies lie unburied in the town’s hospital basement. |
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Ukraine swapped its whole Cabinet, kept the one general nobody wanted, and lost the minister everyone did. The prime minister nobody rallied for is out. So did the defense minister thousands. |
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Ukraine’s government reshuffle followed the letter of the Constitution. But did it follow its spirit?. The official paper trail shows who decided first. |
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Russia’s port strikes leave Ukraine’s grain with almost nowhere else to go. Russia’s strikes have halted Ukraine’s deepwater grain exports—and there’s no way around the damage: one rail line carries almost all of it. |
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Ukraine is turning Crimea into an island. It just fired the minister who armed the effort. The same pattern that cost Zaluzhnyi his job in 2024—success, popularity, a Syrskyi clash, a possible rival. |
Military
Ukraine says it struck Russia’s Svetlyak-class warship in Kerch. Ukraine’s General Staff says its forces hit a Svetlyak-class patrol ship at Kerch, two tankers, and the Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl over 16-17 July.
Ukrainian combat divers destroyed Russian bomber at Crimea’s Saky airbase as it prepared to strike. Two drones, one Su-24M, caught on the tarmac before takeoff. It was the fourth reported strike on Saky in a month.
Ukraine just hit its 159th Russian ship in 12 days—and the campaign has no end date. The drone chief promised the “shipfall” would run indefinitely.
Ukraine kills bomber inside Russia. Soviet Union stopped building them decades ago — so this one is gone for good. Ukraine’s SBU says its drones flew 800 km to Engels airbase and destroyed a Tu-95 strategic bomber, tearing off its tail section.
Intelligence and technology
Ukraine gives its heavy bombers precision without single Western guidance kit. Ukraine codified FireFly, a domestic terminal-guidance module that lets heavy bomber drones drop munitions with 0.5-to-2-meter accuracy.
Ukraine contracted $8 billion in drones this year. In-stock ones reach units in nine days. It is twice the same period last year, with FPVs the largest share.
Ukraine can now service its Polish Rosomak APCs without sending them out of country. Ukrainian repair troops completed Rosomak maintenance training in Poland.
Ukraine’s private air defense has quadrupled since spring: businesses are now shooting down Shaheds over their own sites. 51 Ukrainian companies have now joined the experimental program letting private firms run air defense crews under Air Force command.
Russian recruit reaches the front. Thirty minutes later, the drones find him. The figure came from Ukrainian open-source reports. Now US intelligence says its own findings match—and Washington wants the technology behind it.
International
US Sen. Graham’s Russia sanctions bill sat stalled for over a year—now the Senate has the votes to pass it. Lindsey Graham told colleagues he had the White House on board just hours before his sudden death.
Baltic nation boosts security at dam, gas storage facility due to Russian threat. Latvia’s Prime Minister named a gas facility and the dam upstream of the capital as the sites now under heavier guard.
Humanitarian and social impact
Russia leveled 13 hectares of homes in Vyshneve. It fired missiles, but Ukraine says depot shouldn’t have been there, and made its first arrest. A Kyiv court is deciding pre-trial detention for Ruslan Kuchynskyi, an enterprise head suspected over the improper ammunition storage that killed people in Vyshneve.
Olena Arkhipova spent three years teaching people how to save lives. Russian strike killed her as she ran her children to shelter. Her three children survived.
Political and legal developments
Everyone expected Klymenko as Ukraine’s next defense minister. Zelenskyy offers him different job amid mass protests across Ukraine. Zelenskyy offered outgoing Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko the post of NSDC secretary, days after Klymenko was widely reported as the frontrunner for defense minister.
New developments
“Bear Paw” amulet: Russians are paying sorcerers to enchant their cars into using less gas amid fuel crises, intelligence says. Ukraine’s foreign intelligence says Russian magic practitioners are selling rituals, as drivers queue overnight for 10 liters.
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