July 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communication, called reports Russia hit the Ukrainian port city of Odesa just 24 hours after signing a deal committing to the safe passage of grain through the port “pretty disconcerting” on Monday.

He told CNN the move “sure flies in the face of what they say is their commitment to be good-faith participants in this arrangement to get — to get grain out.” 

Some context: Ministers from both Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a major diplomatic breakthrough aimed at easing a global food crisis sparked by the war. However, just one day later, two missiles hit the infrastructure of the port, while two were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense, according to officials.

Kirby said officials are in talks with the Ukrainians “literally every day,” and are “continuing to explore with Ukrainians in near real-time what their capabilities are and trying to get them those capabilities as fast as we can,” touting delivery of an additional four Highly Mobile Advanced Rocket Systems (HIMARS) missile systems, which he told Wolf “are being used very, very effectively by the Ukrainians in the field.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Russia and Ukraine to act responsibly and honor agreements they signed in Istanbul last week regarding the export of Ukrainian grains.  

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told the Ukrainian infrastructure minister that it is important grain shipments begin as soon as possible, according to a readout of a call between both officials. Akar also vowed Turkey would continue to do live up to its part of the deal, and assured Kyiv “the work of the Joint Coordination Center continues intensively.”

Their comments come after Russian missile strikes hit the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa on Saturday, just one day after Ukraine and Russia had agreed on the grain export deal.

Here’s a look at other developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine and the grain export deal:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference in Ankara, Turkey on June 6.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged Russia and Ukraine to act responsibly and honor agreements they signed in Istanbul last week regarding the export of Ukrainian grains.  

“We expect everyone to own their signatures on the agreement and act according to their responsibilities they undertook. We want everyone to avoid actions that are against the spirit of the agreement,” he said, speaking to Turkish state broadcaster TRT. 

Reacting to Russian missile strikes that hit the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa just one day after Kyiv and Moscow signed a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to allow shipments, Erdogan said that Istanbul has increased its diplomatic efforts to avoid any fallout from the attack in Odesa. 

During the interview with TRT, the Turkish president also reiterated his threat to block Sweden and Finland’s bid for NATO accession, if the Nordic countries don’t comply with the agreements signed in Madrid in late June between Istanbul, Stockholm and Helsinki. The trilateral memorandum led Turkey to conditionally agree to their accession bid, following which, Sweden and Finland made the historic decision to formally apply for NATO membership, ending decades of neutrality. Their bid now requires ratification from all 30 member states’ parliaments and legislatures. 

Ankara had said Helsinki and Stockholm agreed to not provide support to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, also known as YPG, and the separatist militant Kurdistan’s Workers Party, also known as PKK, both of which Turkey considers as a terrorist organizations. 

“What happened in Madrid is an invitation, not an approval. Result of that invitation will depend on their actions. If you continue to allow these terrorists to march on your streets with protection, well we follow that,” Erdogan said on Monday.  

“It’s not just about Sweden and Finland; Germany, France, England, Italy, all of the Scandinavian states are all the same. I told these things to their leaders in my bilateral meetings. For instance, I asked Emmanuel (Macron) what are you going to do, will you continue like this and he laughed. If it is going to be like this, sorry but our parliament wouldn’t look positively on this issue,” he warned. 

The first shipment of grain under the black sea initiative is expected to move within a few days, the UN Secretary General spokesperson said Monday.

Parties to the initiative have reaffirmed their commitment as of Sunday, Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said, despite strikes in the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

He continued, “The Government of Turkiye has generously provided a physical space for the Joint Coordination Centre, where operations are being established now. By tomorrow, all parties and the UN will have a presence in the Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul. We expect that the first ship may move within a few days. The Joint Coordination Centre will be liaising with the shipping industry and publishing detailed procedures for ships in the very near future.”

Sunrise over the gas receiving station of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline is seen in Lubmin, Germany on July 21.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is waging an “overt gas war” against Europe. 

Zelensky went on to say the latest move by Moscow was part of a wider scope of actions he said were “forms of terror.”

“They don’t care what will happen to the people, how they will suffer — from hunger due to the blocking of ports or from winter cold and poverty… Or from occupation,” Zelensky said. “These are just different forms of terror.”

The US State Department said that despite the Russian attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, they “continue to expect” that the agreement to allow Ukraine to export grain and fertilizer “will be implemented.”

Price said that the attack on Odesa “undermines the credibility of Russia’s commitments to the other parties to this deal,” and that the US “will be working with our partners around the world to see to it that Moscow is held accountable for the agreement it reached.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei hold a joint press conference on July 25 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei for his support during his visit to Ukraine on Monday.  

During a news conference on Monday, Zelensky said the cost of living in dozens of states and Latin America is unfairly increasing “just because one state, the Russian Federation, decided to undermine existing political and economic relations in the world.” 

The leaders also announced an agreement to remove visa requirements between the two countries that, according to Zelensky, will contribute to developing commercial and social ties between both nations.

“Guatemala confirmed its interest in buying Ukrainian agricultural products and establishing industrial relations,” Zelensky said. 

Guatemala’s president said his country feels “disturbed by the pain and devastation that Ukraine is currently suffering, which I have witnessed when visiting the places where they have felt the horrors of this confrontation.”

“In one of the darkest moments of this century. We wanted to come here to reiterate our absolute support for President Zelensky, who, with his leadership, courage, and great dignity, keeps this nation united,” he added.

Giammattei called on the world’s nations to join and put aside their differences, “Nations of the world, what if we join? What if we put our differences behind us and stop dividing ourselves? If instead of facing each other, we face the causes that are putting humanity at risk?”

Giammattei’s visit is the first of Guatemala’s head of state to Ukraine in the history of their bilateral relations, according to Zelensky, and it’s “generally the first visit of a Latin American leader since Feb. 24 and in the last 12 years.”

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has told the Ukrainian Infrastructure minister that it is important grain shipments begin as soon as possible. 

Akar also vowed Turkey would continue to do live up to its part of the deal, and assured Kyiv “the work of the Joint Coordination Center continues intensively.”

Russian air strikes continue increasingly in the Donetsk region, and the school seen in the photo is hit by attack on July 25.

The Ukrainian General Staff has conceded that Russian forces have been able to make small advances in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

According to the General Staff, intense shelling was reporting along the frontline in the entire Donetsk region, especially near Siversk, Sloviansk, Bakhmut and Kramatorsk. Ukraine says Russia also made a push towards Spirne and Ivano-Dariivka.

“[Russian forces] received a tough fight back and withdrew,” the General Staff said. 

The Ukrainian military also said Russian forces are demoralized and “the Russian command in some directions is throwing manpower into the attack without being covered by armored vehicles.”

CNN could not independently verify the claims made by the Ukrainian military.

Flags are seen behind the sign of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg in 2017.

European Investment Bank (EIB), also known as the European Union’s bank, is providing an additional 1.59 billion euros ($1.62 billion) of financial assistance for Ukraine amid the devastating impact from the Russian invasion, the European Commission said Monday in a statement. 

Of the new amount pledged, 1.05 billion euros ($1.07 billion) will be made available immediately, it said.

This is the second financial package provided by the bloc since the invasion began and will help Ukraine “repair the most essential damaged infrastructure and resume critically important projects addressing the urgent needs of Ukrainian people,” the commission said.

The European Union continues to stand by Ukraine and its people in the face of Russia’s brutal aggression,” Valdis Dombrovskis, EU executive vice president for an economy that works for people, said in the statement.

He added that the commission “will keep working with EU Member States and our international partners to support Ukraine on every level — for as long as it takes.”

Serhii Marchenko, Ukraine’s minister of finance, expressed his gratitude to the EIB and the European Union for their support.

“With this financial support, we will keep working on restoring damaged infrastructure, resuming the provision of municipal services, including transport services, and preparing for the coming heating season,” Marchenko said.

The Ukrainian government has criticized Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s trip to Africa, with a senior official calling it “the quintessence of sadism.”

“You arrange an artificial hunger and then come to cheer people up,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian President’s chief of staff, tweeted on Monday. “With one hand you sign the Istanbul initiative, with the other attack Odessa sea port.” 

Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom says it will have to further reduce gas flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Wednesday as it halts another turbine for repairs.

This comes days after Gazprom resumed gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a vital artery linking Russia’s vast gas reserves to Europe via Germany. The pipeline had been shut 10 days for scheduled maintenance, and many had feared Russia would not resume deliveries once the work was done.

“Due to the expiration of prescribed time before overhaul (in line with the Rostekhnadzor notification and taking into account the technical condition of the relevant machine), Gazprom is shutting down one more gas turbine produced by Siemens at the Portovaya [compressor station],” the company said in a statement on Monday. 

“The daily throughput of the Portovaya CS from 7:00 am (Moscow time) July 27 will be up to 33 million cubic meters,” the statement added.

The head of Germany’s gas regulator, Klaus Muller, confirmed the move in a tweet on Monday. 

“If Russian gas deliveries via Nord Stream 1 continue at this low level, a storage level of 95% by November is hardly achievable without additional measures,“ Germany’s regulatory office for gas and electricity said in a statement Monday.  

The country’s Economics Minister Robert Habeck had previously called on Germans to reduce gas consumption in order to get the gas storage facilities as full as possible for the winter. 

Germany’s current total gas inventories are at 65.9%, according to the daily figures provided by the government. 

The reduction in the gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will also affect the transfer of gas to other European countries such as France, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Wholesale prices have risen noticeably as a result of the reduction in gas supplies and have recently settled at a higher level, Germany’s regulatory office said, warning that “businesses and private consumers must prepare for significantly high gas prices.”

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline delivers 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, or nearly 40% of the bloc’s total pipeline imports from Russia.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Pesko said on Monday that a repaired gas turbine for Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline will be installed after all the technical procedures are fulfilled, after which the gas flow to Europe will resume “to the extent that is technologically possible.” 

Peskov insisted that the issues with gas supply have nothing to do with politics.

“There is no politics here. These are the consequences of the restrictions that the Europeans themselves have introduced, and the Europeans themselves suffer from these restrictions,” he said, adding that Russia does not want Europe to give up Russian gas.

Moscow will continue to be a “reliable gas supplier,” he said.

Read more here on why it matters.

The Ukrainian government is hoping to resume exports of grain from the Black Sea port of Odesa despite a Russian missile strike on Sunday, said Markiyan Dmytrasevych, the deputy minister for agrarian policy and food.

“We expect that, as announced, despite the incident that happened on Saturday, [export of grain] will start in the coming days. Hopefully we’ll see some early results this week,” Dmytrasevych told journalists on Monday.

On Friday, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a deal that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Ministers from both countries signed an agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul. Just 24 hours after the deal, Russian missile strikes hit the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday pointed to the role of UN and Turkey to ensure security given their involvement in mediating the deal.

Zelensky said Ukraine will start exports “in order to prove to the world that it’s not Ukraine who is blocking the exports,” but said Turkey and the UN “should look after the security.”

Separately, Deputy Minister Dmytrasevych said the Russian strike had reduced the “enthusiasm” that local farmers had over the deal signed with the UN and Turkey in Istanbul last week. 

“Scepticism towards this agreement was also felt by farmers and security experts even before the signing of the agreement. It is clear that no one trusts the Russians, no one believes them,” Dmytrasevych said. “Let’s see how this initiative will work in practice, and for how long. Because we understand that this work can be interrupted.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has welcomed the arrival of three German self-propelled anti-aircraft systems, just days after a missile struck the port of Odesa. 

“Our capabilities to protect our sky will be strengthened. Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft systems began to arrive in Ukraine,” Reznikov tweeted on Monday, thanking Germany and the country’s defense minister for the delivery.

Reznikov also addressed the arrival of the new weaponry on Ukrainian television, explaining that the first delivery included three of these machines, with “a few thousand rounds of ammunition.” A total of 15 are expected, he added.

The Ukrainian defense minister went on to ask for additional equipment from western countries and called on companies involved in the defense industry to test their products in his country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow’s strike on the port of Odesa did not break any of the commitments it agreed to in a deal to guarantee the export of Ukrainian grain. 

“If we talk about the episode that took place in Odesa, there is nothing in the obligations that Russia has taken on — including within the framework of the agreements signed on July 22 in Istanbul — which would prohibit us from continuing the special military operation, destroying military infrastructure and other military targets,” Lavrov told journalists during a press conference in Congo. 

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, right, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, shake hands prior to their talks in Brazzaville, Congo, on July 25.

Lavrov went on to repeat Moscow’s claims it only struck military targets. 

“As for the targets of those high-precision strikes, they are located in a separate part of the Odesa port, in the so-called military part of the Odesa port,” he said. “These targets were the combat boat of the naval forces of Ukraine and the ammunition depot, where the Harpoon anti-ship missiles were recently delivered. They were brought there to pose a threat to the Russian Black Sea Fleet.”

“The experts also confirmed that the grain terminal of the Odesa port is located at a considerable distance from the military unit, there are no obstacles for grain to be delivered to customers in accordance with the agreements signed in Istanbul, we did not create them,” he added.

The Russian foreign minister is visiting several African countries to try and drum up support for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. African nations have been the worst affected by the restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports. 

A Ukrainian official said the country was preparing to resume grain exports soon despite Russia’s attack on Odesa, while Russia’s foreign minister has started a tour of various African nations aiming to shore up alliances. Fighting continues in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, while Ukrainian officials say they have carried out “very successful strategic operations” in southern Kherson region.

Here are the latest headlines:

Ukrainian farmer Oleksandr Chubuk stands with wheat grain in the village of Zhurivka, Ukraine, on July 23.

Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yurii Vaskov said that he hopes the first convoy will leave from the port of Chornomorsk this week after Russia and Ukraine signed a deal Friday that would allow the resumption of vital grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Within the next two weeks, three Ukrainian ports, including Odesa, will be ready to export grain, Vaskov added. He said that the agreement with Russia also included the import and export of fertilizers, which are crucial for future harvests.

A Coordination Center is being set up in Istanbul, Turkey, to oversee the maritime caravans, Vaskov said, adding that representatives from the countries involved are “already” in Istanbul and the center should be ready to function “by Wednesday.”

There is no limit on the volume of exports of grain under the agreement, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, who signed the deal.

The exports should mean “at least $1 billion in monthly export revenue” for Ukraine, he noted.

All of the maritime caravans will be escorted by Ukrainian ships, he explained.

“It was very crucial to us that — in the Ukrainian territorial waters — we will be controlling everything. The Ukrainian Navy will be controlling and not any other countries nor United Nations representatives or any other countries. That will be only the Ukrainian Navy,” Kubrakov said.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed the timeline of exports. The timeline came from Ukraine’s deputy infrastructure minister.

A view of the Antonivskyi bridge across the Dnipro river in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, on July 23.

Ukrainian forces have hit three bridges in Kherson region as part of its campaign to hamper Russian logistics in occupied areas.

Two bridges over the Dnipro river were hit, as well as another bridge further north, according to Dmytro Butriy, a Ukrainian official who is acting head of Kherson military administration.

The Ukrainian military “work very precisely on the enemy’s warehouses and manpower accumulation and very effectively on the enemy’s logistics chains,” Butriy told a news briefing.

Butriy said the strikes on Antonivskyi bridge, Dariivskyi bridge and Kakhovskyi bridge mean “the movement of the heavy equipment and vehicles is very complicated.”

“They [Russian forces] are making the attempts to repair these bridges. There is information that they are planning to organize a pontoon crossing,” he said.

Russia has charged 92 members of Ukraine’s military high command with crimes against humanity, according to Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Investigative Committee.

In total, Moscow has opened more than 1,300 criminal cases against Ukraine’s military and political leadership, Bastrykin said in an interview with government news site Rossiyskaya Gazeta published Monday. He did not name any of those charged.

CNN has not independently verified the claims made by Bastrykin.

“In the course of the preliminary investigation, more than 220 people have been identified as involved in crimes against the peace and security of humanity that do not have a statute of limitations, including representatives of the high command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as commanders of military units that fired at civilians,” Bastrykin told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

“A total of 92 commanders and their subordinates have been charged. 96 people were put on the wanted list, in particular 51 commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he said.

The head of the Investigative Committee also suggested creating a separate international tribunal for crimes in Ukraine.

“Taking into account the position of the ‘collective West,’ which openly sponsors Ukrainian nationalism and supports the Kyiv regime, the creation of such a tribunal under the auspices of the UN in the current perspective is extremely doubtful,” he said.

“The establishment of the court and its charter could be formalized by an agreement between Russia, the member countries of these organizations, the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.”

Some background: Bastrykin’s claims come as Ukraine is investigating more than 20,000 war crimes, according to now former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.

Venediktova had previously said that Ukraine has identified more than 600 Russian war crime suspects and has started prosecuting around 80 of them. Two Russian soldiers have already been convicted under Ukrainian criminal law.

Earlier this month, prosecutors from Ukraine and the International Criminal Court (ICC) met in The Hague to share expertise on investigating global war crimes and apply it to the atrocities committed in Ukraine.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan had called Ukraine a “crime scene” after visiting the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Borodianka in April, where mass graves and murdered civilians were discovered following the Russian withdrawal.