Ukraine-News: According to British intelligence: Moscow’s anti-aircraft missiles endanger civilians in Ukraine

In addition to torture, Gorbunova also mentioned “inhuman treatment”, “arbitrary arrests” and “deprivation of liberty” in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The Russian authorities must ensure that this abuse ends immediately.

The pro-Russian administration of the eastern Ukrainian separatist areas claims to be blocking access to the search engine provider Google. “We have decided to block Google on the territory of the People’s Republic of Donetsk,” writes separatist leader Denis Puschilin in the online service Telegram. The US Internet company promotes “violence against Russians, especially the people of the Donbass,” it said. Google had already blocked neighboring Luhansk on Thursday.

The Russian central bank is once again significantly easing its monetary policy despite the ongoing sanctions against the country. The key interest rate falls by 1.5 percentage points to 8.0 percent, as announced by the central bank in Moscow. It is the fifth rate cut in a row. Analysts had expected a reduction, but only to 9.0 percent.

At the beginning of the war, the central bank drastically raised its key interest rate to 20 percent in order to stop the Russian ruble from falling. The ruble is now even stronger than before the attack on Ukraine, also due to significant restrictions imposed by Moscow on capital movements. Although the inflation rate is high at a good 15 percent, it is tending to decline. The central bank therefore has leeway to lower its key interest rate and relieve the economy.

According to British intelligence experts, the Russian invasion troops in Ukraine are increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles against targets on the ground. This emerges from the daily intelligence report from the Ministry of Defense in London. According to the report, the Russians suffer from a “critical shortage” of surface-to-surface missiles and are therefore resorting to weapons intended for launching aircraft. However, these represent a high risk for the civilian population, the experts continue. In addition, the personnel who shoot down the rockets are not sufficiently trained.

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has released biathlete Lidia Zhurauskaite from Russian citizenship at her own request. She wants to compete for the EU country Lithuania. The 23-year-old received Lithuanian citizenship because she had ancestors from the country, Russian media reported. But the prerequisite was a break with Russia. According to Putin’s decree published by the Kremlin, Zhurauskaite, who was born in Murmansk on April 9, 1999, will have her application to withdraw her Russian citizenship.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assured the countries there that he would be supplied with food and energy before a trip to Africa. According to the ministry, Lavrov will travel to Africa from July 24 to 28 to visit Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Japan warns of increasing military threat from Russia and growing pressure from China on Taiwan. In particular, there is a risk that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine will send the message that an attempt to “unilaterally change the status quo by force is acceptable,” says the Japanese Defense Ministry’s annual white paper.

An entire chapter of the report, which analyzes the global security situation and specific threats to Japan, is devoted to the Ukraine war. Russia could also increasingly rely on deterrence through its nuclear weapons, it says. For Japan, this could mean increased Russian military activity around the island nation. Russian nuclear submarines are already regularly active in waters near Japan.

The agreement in the dispute over grain exports from Ukraine is to be signed today at 3:30 p.m. (CEST) in Istanbul by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, among others. It was initially unclear who was coming for the delegations from Russia and Ukraine. The agreement that has now apparently been reached could be the United Nations’ greatest mediation success since the beginning of the war – and at the same time the most important compromise between Moscow and Kyiv in the conflict to date.

The international community has been demanding that Russia allow the export of Ukrainian grain for weeks. Ukraine complains that its ports in the Black Sea are blocked by the Russian Navy. Russia denies blocking wheat exports.

With regard to the military situation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is optimistic. At a meeting with the heads of reconnaissance, the military and the interior ministry, the situation at the front and the supply of their own troops with new weapons were discussed.

Because of the meanwhile almost five-month naval blockade by Russia stuck in the Ukraine still tight about 20 million tons of grain. But there is hope: After a basic agreement between Moscow and Kyiv on lifting the blockade, mediated by Turkey and the United Nations, was reached last week, the signing of a formal agreement is now also planned. However, the implementation of the agreement could take weeks. Western diplomats noted that it was still possible that Moscow could use trumped-up grounds to fail to implement the agreements.