July 10, 2024 Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

The government of the  FRG has announced another tranche of military aid to Ukraine, which includes a third Patriot air defense system with spare parts and missiles, as well as two TRML-4D self-propelled multifunctional radar systems, 9,000 rounds of ammunition for Gepard, ammunition for Leopard 1 tanks, 55,000 155 mm shells, 30 Vector reconnaissance UAVs with spare parts, 200 mobile anti-drone weapons, 10 autonomous sea boats, 4 Wisent 1 armored engineering tanks, a Bergepanzer 2 armored recovery vehicle with spare parts, 10 armored vehicles and 2 patrol pickups.

Minister of Defence of Germany Boris Pistorius has appealed to the country's Ministry of Finance to allocate  additional EUR 4 billion for weapons for Ukraine.

Minister of Healthcare of the FRG Karl Lauterbach has assured that his country is ready to accept Ukrainian children for treatment after the barbaric shelling of the Kyiv hospital “Okhmatdyt”.

“Together with our allies, we will announce new measures to strengthen Ukraine's air defense to help protect their cities and civilians from russian attacks. The United States stands with the people of Ukraine”, US President Joe Biden said after the July 8 russian missile attack on Ukraine.

“In April, Ukrainians asked NATO for seven Patriot systems. And we have a very positive response in this regard, which will come in the coming days”, said US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith.

Michael Carpenter, Director for European Affairs at the White House National Security Council, has called for an international investigation into the russian missile attack on the “Okhmatdyt” children's hospital. “These and other war crimes are subject to international investigations, including in the ICC. russia’s leadership, all commanders, perpetrators and accomplices of these atrocities will be brought to justice”, Carpenter's colleagues at the European External Action Service said. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani is in solidarity with his colleagues.

President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel has said that the attack on the children's hospital in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine “is proof that putin's russia will stop at nothing”, while “the attack on the most vulnerable cannot be justified”.

“While useful idiots dream of peace with putin, he sends missiles to a children's hospital”, said Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Lipavský.

President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs believes that after russia’s another massive attack on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including the “Okhmatdyt” children's hospital in Kyiv, NATO should increase its support for Ukraine, and restrictions on strikes on military targets in russia should be lifted.

“This clearly shows why we continue to support Ukraine: for the safety of Ukrainians and for the safety of Europe, and therefore of our country. russia must not win this war”, said the new Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dick Schoof, after the russian attack on the “Okhmatdyt” children's hospital.

“And russia must understand that they will not be able to wait us out. They will have to sit down at the negotiating table and make a decision in which Ukraine will prevail as a sovereign independent state”,  –  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned russia's missile attack on Ukraine on July 8.

The Embassy of Japan in Ukraine has stated that the country strongly condemns russia’s missile attacks on our country and will continue to promote sanctions against the rf.

The Spanish company Santa Barbara Sistemas has completed the repair of 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks for Ukraine, with 9 more tanks to be ready by September.

The United States has handed over 4 patrol boats to Ukrainian border guards.

Norway will provide Ukraine with spare parts for Sea King helicopters to help support the operation and maintenance of helicopters that were donated by Germany.

European Commission Chief Spokesperson Eric Mamer believes that russia's war against Ukraine should end not through Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's “mediation”, which no one asked him to do, but through the complete withdrawal of russian troops from Ukraine.

President of Poland Andrzej Duda has said that NATO should not hesitate on Ukraine's membership, as this is the aspiration of the Ukrainian people.

Ukraine has signed an agreement with the EU that regulates the receipt of €5.27 billion in grant aid under the Ukraine Facility over the next four years.

Ukraine and the European Commission began bilateral meetings to assess the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law.

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Spokesperson for the US Department of State Matthew Miller has said that the United States has expressed its concerns to India about relations with the rf.

At the Summit of NATO, President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda intends to raise the issue of NATO's reaction to recent russia’s hybrid attacks.

On July 9, new anti-russian sanctions imposed by Switzerland against 69 individuals and 86 legal entities came into effect, including companies in the russian military-industrial complex, as well as companies “actively involved” in circumventing international sanctions. “The new sanctions are aimed at businessmen, propagandists, military personnel, judges and persons responsible for the deportation of Ukrainian children, as well as fsb officers”, reads a press release published on the website of the Federal Department of Economics, Education and Research (EAER) of Switzerland. Switzerland has also banned advertising russian media, such as the “ria novosti” agency, “izvestia” and “rossiyskaya gazeta” newspapers, and the voice of europe portal.

The Government of Montenegro has decided to impose international restrictive measures, as defined by the decisions of the EU Council, on russian propaganda media, including sputnik, a number of rt affiliates, russia rtr/rtr planeta, rossia 24/russia 24, tv center international, ntv/ntv mir, rossia 1, ren tv, channel one, oriental review, tsargrad, new eastern outlook, and katekhon.

Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security has detained the leader of the russophile movement Zlatomir Devlensky. Until 2020, the movement was led by nikolai malinov, who was accused by Bulgarian prosecutors of spying for russia.

The United States will provide Poland with a $2 billion loan for the purchase of weapons – F-35 fighter jets, Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems, and Abrams tanks.

According to preliminary estimates by the russian ministry of finance, as of July 1, the rf’s budget deficit amounted to 929 billion rubles (0.5% of GDP).

On July 9, the moscow stock exchange index dropped to 3,099 points, the lowest in two weeks (since June 12, the moscow exchange has been under US sanctions).

The costs of “russian railways” for technical connection to the electrified komsomolsk-vanino section have increased from 6-7 billion rubles to 40 billion rubles, as other potential industrial consumers in the region, including ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy companies, have frozen their projects and are unable to finance these works.

Due to the lack of electricity generation, the “system operator” (russian power system dispatcher) began to cut off power supply in southern regions of the rf, in particular in rostov region and the krasnodar territory – more than 500 thousand customers. At the same time, in July, wholesale electricity prices in southern russia increased by 16%.

In russia, producers of meat and dairy products are massively using banned additives of microbial transglutaminase, the so-called “meat glue”: 28 cases were detected in the first half of the year (25 in 2023 and 12 in 2022). Transglutaminases can cause bacterial infection and lead to gastrointestinal diseases. According to deputy chairman of the public council of rospotrebnadzor Pavlov, despite the ban, dozens of companies and online resources in the rf sell transglutaminases in bulk, and the use of “meat glue” has become widespread throughout Russia.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the rb Anaïs Maren has said that the situation with political prisoners who are in incommunicado detention, when there is no contact with them, can be defined as “enforced disappearance”. “Prisoners are under the care of the state, and authorities are responsible for the lives of those people. They are obliged to provide information about their whereabouts and condition”.

russia's military industry is heavily indebted to the rb. As of January 1, 2024, the overdue accounts receivable from the organizations of the ministry of defense amounted to 5,818 thousand belarusian rubles (1.8 million dollars). This is 51.3% of all overdue receivables from the republican budget. The largest counterparties in terms of debt are the popov communications equipment plant in gorky and the “vertolety rossii”(“russia’s helicopters”- Transl.) company.

Some russian companies have been allowed to import wine produced by the minsk grape winery with names that are very similar to European ones. putin's special representative titov called such wines “shmurdyak”(“rotgut”- Transl.), and the executive director of the association of viticulturists and winemakers of the rf plotnikov has called for labeling wine from the minsk plant with the words “is not wine”.

A batch of alcoholic beverages from the rb was seized at the border with Latvia. During the inspection, the Food and Veterinary Inspectorate found a banned food additive in the alcohol – the preservative sodium benzoate (E211), which is not allowed to be added to this type of beverage.