Zelenskyy says Europe must prepare for Russia to cut off all gas supplies
Russia says it stands ready to supply gas to Europe, describing ongoing disruption concerns as a “man-made crisis” created by Europe.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Europe needs to prepare for the possibility that Russia cuts off gas supplies.
“Russia has never played by the rules in energy and will not play now unless it sees strength,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app, according to an NBC News translation.
“Now there can be no doubt that Russia will try not only to limit as much as possible but also to completely stop the supply of gas to Europe,” Zelenskyy said, adding, “this is what we need to prepare for now.”
Earlier, Russia suspended deliveries of gas to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for annual summer maintenance. The planned maintenance of the pipeline has stoked fears that Russia could lengthen the work and further delay gas supplies to Germany.
— Amanda Macias
Lack of rest among Russian troops is plaguing morale on battlefield, UK intelligence says
Ukrainian soldiers stand on their armored personnel carrier, not far from the front-line with Russian troops, in the Kharkiv region on April 18, 2022. Russia-aligned actors began pre-positioning for the invasion of Ukraine as early as March 2021, according to a Microsoft report released yesterday.
Anatolii Stepanov | Afp | Getty Images
The U.K. believes that a lack of rest for Russian troops in Ukraine is contributing to poor morale in the ranks.
“The lack of scheduled breaks from intense combat conditions is highly likely one of the most damaging of the many personnel issues the Russian MoD is struggling to rectify amongst the deployed force,” the British Ministry of Defense wrote in an intelligence assessment.
Since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in late February, Russian troops have faced a slew of logistical issues including fuel and food shortages and improper equipment and gear.
— Amanda Macias
Ukrainian troops arrive in UK for military training
The British Ministry of Defense said that Ukrainian soldiers have begun to arrive in the United Kingdom to take part in training alongside British troops.
“The training will give volunteer recruits with little to no military experience the skills to be effective in frontline combat,” the British Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter.
The new U.K.-led program was announced last month when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv.
— Amanda Macias
Putin expands fast-track Russian citizenship to all Ukraine
A local resident walks past a Ukrainian rescuer working outside a building partially destroyed after a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv on July 11, 2022, amid Russia’s military invasion launched on Ukraine.
Sergey Bobok | AFP | Getty Images
As Russian missiles struck a key Ukrainian city, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree expanding a fast-track procedure to make Russian citizenship available to all Ukrainians, yet another effort to expand Moscow’s influence in war-torn Ukraine.
Until recently, only residents of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and the Kherson regions, large parts of which are now under Russian control, were eligible for the simplified passport procedure.
Ukrainian officials haven’t yet reacted to Putin’s announcement. The decree also applies for any stateless residents currently in Ukraine.
Between 2019, when the procedure was first introduced for the residents of Donetsk and Luhansk, and this year, more than 720,000 people living in the rebel-held areas in the two regions — about 18% of the population – have received Russian passports.
— Associated Press
UN official says there is mounting evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine
A war crimes prosecutor (C) and a rescuer (R) and a civil, look at a destroyed building after being hit by a missile strike in the Ukrainian town of…
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