Fighting
- Two people were killed and seven wounded in an apparent Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukrainian officials. A video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy showed smoke billowing from burning and badly damaged buildings next to a church.
- In Russian-controlled Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a child was killed and two people wounded when a Ukrainian artillery shell hit a two-storey building, according to a Moscow-installed official.
- The Russian defence ministry said its forces shot down two Ukrainian drones near the capital, Moscow. One was brought down near the southern Domodedovo district, where one of Russia’s biggest international airports is located, and another near the Minsk motorway, the city’s mayor said.
- Officials reported an explosion on the grounds of a factory that makes optical equipment for Russia’s security forces north of Moscow. They did not provide a suspected cause of the blast, which killed one person, wounded 60 others and left at least eight people unaccounted for.
- In the Russian border region of Belgorod, Ukrainian shelling killed one person and wounded four others, the region’s governor said.
- Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow will build up forces at its western borders following Finland’s accession to NATO. He told the governing board of the defence ministry that the entry of Finland into NATO and the future entry of Sweden was “a serious destabilising factor”.
- Poland announced it will send 2,000 troops to its border with Belarus to stem illegal crossings and maintain stability. Warsaw has become increasingly worried about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month.
- Germany announced the arrest of a German national working for the military on suspicion of spying for Russia.
Military aid
- The US plans to provide Ukraine with $200m in weapons and ammunition to help sustain Kyiv’s counteroffensive, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing two officials. This latest package will include missiles for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the Patriot air defence system, munitions for howitzers and tanks, Javelin rockets, mine-clearing equipment, 12 million rounds of small arms ammunition and demolition munitions, the agency reported.
- A European country has bought dozens of second-hand Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium and is preparing to hand them over to Ukraine, according to the arms trader who did the deal. Freddy Versluys, CEO of defence company OIP Land Systems, who bought the 50 tanks from the Belgian government five years ago, told the Reuters news agency he could not name the buyer due to a confidentiality clause.
Sanctions
- The United States and Canada issued new sanctions against Belarus, designating several entities and individuals over alleged human rights abuses and support for Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
Economy
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the revival of a deal with Russia to allow Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports “depends on Western countries, which must keep their promises”.
- The Russian central bank said it will begin piloting its digital rouble with consumers on August 15 after a lengthy testing phase with banks. The move comes as Moscow looks to widen the scope of its cross-border payments.
- Finnish utility company Fortum said it still hopes to sell its Russian assets and get compensation for their seizure by the Kremlin via arbitration. The firm is one of a handful of companies with assets placed under “temporary control” by Moscow in response to the European Union’s sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, which prompted over a thousand Western firms to exit Russia.
