This is where the war stands on Friday, July 26, 2024:
Fighting
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Russia targetted Ukrainian energy facilities in the northern regions of Chernihiv and Zhytomyr overnight with drones, causing disruptions to electricity supplies, according to Ukrenergo, the national power grid operator. Power was being restored to most consumers by Friday, it said.
- Footage filmed in Plauru, on the Romanian side of the Danube river facing Ukraine, showed an explosion and smoke on the Ukrainian side near the town of Izmail. Drone fragments were found around a Romanian village near the Danube and Ukraine border after overnight Russian attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure, earlier reports said.
- Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu condemned Russia’s new “heinous attacks”, in a statement on X. For a second night in a row, Romania deployed air force planes to monitor the situation in the border region.
- The Ukrainian army said three soldiers were killed and four seriously wounded in a shooting incident among Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned of Russia using Hong Kong to bypass sanctions imposed by the West, and urged the administration to take measures to prevent this, his ministry said.
- Fu Cong, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, called on all parties to the conflict to seek a political settlement. Speaking at a UN Security Council briefing on arms supply to Ukraine, Fu said China has not provided lethal weapons to either party in the conflict.
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The United States Department of Defense has found $2bn worth of additional errors in its calculations for ammunition, missiles and other equipment sent to Ukraine, increasing the improperly valued material to a total of $8.2bn, according to a US government audit report.
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As a result, an additional $2bn worth of arms can be sent to Ukraine to cover the amount of aid approved by the Biden administration, the Pentagon told the Government Accountability Office.
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Slovakia called on the European Commission not to delay its decision on the request to mediate negotiations with Ukraine over disrupted oil flows from Russia.
Economy
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The Group of Seven (G7) countries are likely to have a framework deal for a Russian-asset-backed $50bn loan to Ukraine by October, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said. The proceeds would be generated by more than $300bn of Russian central bank assets frozen in the West.
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US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the threat of US sanctions on Russia’s financial institutions is impairing its ability to acquire the goods needed for its war against Ukraine. Yellen said she believes Russian revenues have been constrained by other sanctions and a price cap on Russian oil exports.
- The Kremlin said it was concerned by high levels of inflation, a day before the Russian central bank is expected to hike interest rates on Friday. Inflation was at 8.6 percent in June, more than double the government target.
