The United States and the European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday (12) that it has sent approximately US$3 billion (about R$16.3 billion) in economic aid to Ukraine, which it says has bombed Russian forces in the occupied Kherson region. in the south of the country.
The economic package for Ukraine is part of the financial commitments made months ago by the Western powers.
The Ukrainian army has been launching a counterattack in the south for weeks, while the bulk of Russian troops are deployed to the east in the Donbass.
After the invasion, which began on February 24, Russian troops control most of the Kherson region surrounding the Crimean peninsula. The latter was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Missiles and artillery fire killed 52 Russian soldiers and destroyed weapons, armored vehicles and an ammunition depot at Nova Kakhovka, about 70 kilometers from the city of Kherson, Ukrainian military officials said.
The head of the administration established by the Russians in Kherson, Vladimir Leontiev, in turn, condemned an “act of terror” and a “terrible tragedy”.
“There are no military targets here,” Erdogan said, stressing that “seven dead and 60 injured” and “several houses were hit (…)”.
Ekaterina Gubareva, an official from the Kherson occupation administration, announced that the attack was carried out with a large number of HIMARS missile launchers of US origin. To date, it has not been possible to verify this information with independent sources.
The Kyiv government said that five Ukrainians, including three civilians, held by Russian troops in the south were released thanks to a “special operation” by the Ukrainian military intelligence service.
western financial aid
In May, Ukraine’s Finance Minister, Sergei Marchenko, said the country needs about $5 billion a month to keep its economy running.
In a note, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that the US$1.7 billion released by the US will serve to “provide essential services to the public.”
According to the Treasury statement, this aid is part of the $7.5 billion package signed by President Joe Biden in May and will go to operations such as paying healthcare workers’ salaries.
Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanj said in a statement that the US$ 1 billion announced by the EU will be used to “meet urgent needs and ensure the functioning of critical infrastructure” in Ukraine.
This amount corresponds to the proposal submitted by the European Commission on 1 July. With this, the European bloc raises the total aid to that country to 2.2 billion US dollars.
43 victims in Chasiv Yar
Russia on Monday announced that it will make it easier for all Ukrainians to obtain Russian citizenship. Until now, this measure was only applied to already occupied territories.
Today, the Russian authorities opened the embassy of the separatist Donetsk region in Moscow. Senior government officials did not attend the ceremony.
The death toll in a bomb attack on a residential building in Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region on Sunday, blamed on Russia, continued to rise as rescue efforts continued. According to local authorities, there are at least 43 dead so far.
In Kharkov (northeast), six civilians were killed in a Russian bombing Monday, according to a report by Governor Oleg Synegubov.
Grain trade in Turkey
The Kremlin announced that Vladimir Putin will hold bilateral meetings with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran on July 19 to discuss the Syrian conflict. In the case of the Turkish president, it will be the first meeting with his Russian counterpart since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine at the end of last February.
In a context of rising food prices globally due to the attack on Ukraine (one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat and other grains), representatives of both countries will discuss resumption in Istanbul this Wednesday (13). Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced 90 percent of grain exports from the Black Sea.
Akar said, “Delegations from the Ministries of Defense of Turkey, Russia and Ukraine and the United Nations will discuss safe grain shipments from Ukrainian ports to international markets in Istanbul tomorrow.”
source: Noticias
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