Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 07-26-2024

Russia has opened dozens of cases against people it says are collaborating with Ukraine.

Russia on Friday issued harsh sentences of up to 22 years to a string of people convicted of treason and “terrorism” charges linked to Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Since launching what it calls a “special military operation” in 2022, Russia has opened dozens of such cases against those it says are collaborating with Ukraine or trying to undermine the Russian army.

Budapest did not publicly announce the loan but confirmed it upon media inquiries. The loan, the largest among its debts, is subject to be repaid fully within three years.

Hungary borrowed €1 billion ($1 billion) from three Chinese banks to reportedly finance investments in infrastructure and the energy sector

Budapest did not publicly announce the loan, but the information was available from its debt agency website. Budapest confirmed the information after it was made public by Hungarian news outlet Portfolio. 

We delve into the pivotal outcomes of the recent NATO summit, the potential repercussions of the upcoming US elections, and the strategic approaches necessary to secure victory in the ongoing war.

Coordinated arson attacks on France’s high-speed rail network on Friday, July 26 have brought disruption to its busiest rail lines just hours before the Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony.

The French authorities had prepared extensively to protect the security of the Summer Olympics that formally starts today with every conceivable hi-tech security measure in place to protect the venues, the competitors and the spectators.

Surveillance drones circle above the city, AI-equipped cameras on the ground, cyber security teams, and liaison teams from other police and security forces work to keep an eye out for any suspicious persons or activity. This is all backed up by 45,000 police officers, 18,000 military personnel and around 20,000 private security firms will be on duty in Paris for the duration of the Games.

French officials refused to comment on the identity of the culprits of the rail sabotage who appear to have had a sophisticated understanding of the network.

France’s rail network was paralyzed Friday by coordinated acts of sabotage which knocked out most of its high-speed train services hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

French rail operator SNCF said three night-time arson attacks had destroyed cabling boxes at strategic junctions around its network at locations north, south-west and east of Paris.

The $50 billion loan would be serviced with proceeds generated by some $300 billion of Russian central bank assets frozen in the West after Moscow invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies are likely to have a framework deal for a Russian-asset-backed $50 billion loan to Ukraine by October, in time to tap markets by year-end, European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday (25 July).

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Rio de Janeiro, Gentiloni said there was good progress on the technical and legal aspects of the loan, agreed in principle in June.

Kyiv Post's Editor-in-Chief, Bohdan Nahaylo, appeared on TVP World to discuss the Ukrainian foreign minister's visti to China

Brussels said 90 percent of the money would go to a central fund used to pay for arms for Ukraine, known as the European Peace Facility.

The EU on Friday said €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) had been made available to support Ukraine, the first chunk of money earned from profits on Russian frozen assets.

EU member states had agreed in May to use billions of euros in profits from frozen Russian central bank assets to help arm Ukraine and fund its post-war reconstruction.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Russian Navy Day is an annual display of Russian maritime power intended to celebrate the Russian Federation Navy. Although popular in the 1970s, the event was canceled in 1980 until 2017, when Russian President Vladimir Putin reinstated the event as a public holiday.
• Although celebrations take place all over Russia, the main event takes place in St. Petersburg with Russian vessels parading along the Neva River to Kronstadt Naval Base. This year however, reporting indicates that the Kronstadt element of the parade, which should be taking place on 28 July 2024, has been cancelled citing security concerns.
• This is not the first time that events have been canceled since Russia invaded Ukraine. However, it is the most high profile event to be cancelled and highlights a growing trend that Russia is unable to guarantee the protection of its forces.

Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko gave a briefing regarding the capture of a suspect in the July 19 murder of ultranationalist professor Iryna Farion.

A briefing was held Friday, July 26, in Lviv by the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko regarding the arrest of the suspect in the murder of Ukrainian ultranationalist Iryna Farion.

According to Klymenko, the 18-year-old male had been preparing the crime for at least 10 days.

A Russian milblogger had predicted the punishing attacks were inevitable, because of a cheeky Royal Air Force recon patrol over the Black Sea near where the missiles hit.

Powerful explosions followed the reported impacts of Ukraine-launched ATAMCS ballistic missiles striking a pair of Russian air bases in the Crimea peninsula early on Friday morning, causing casualties, sparking fires and damaging military infrastructure, news reports and social media said.

At the Saki military air base near the village of Novofedorivka, on the Crimean west seacoast, local media reported at least two heavy blasts occurring around 3 a.m. local time. Video geo-located to the area showed fires reaching more than 100 meters (330 feet) into the sky, billowing smoke, and more than a dozen secondary explosions.

Yevhen Serebryakov, who was arrested for booby trapping GRU officer Andrey Torgashov's car, claimed he was tasked by Ukraine's SBU in exchange for the promise of citizenship and cash.

Yevhen Serebryakov, who is accused of placing the under-car booby trap that seriously injured GRU officer Andrey Torgashov's car in Moscow on Wednesday, July 24, claims he was tasked by the Ukrainian security service (SBU). He claimed that his handler promised him Ukrainian citizenship and $10-20,000 for carrying out the operation.

On July 24, Serebryakov was detained in Turkey, where he had traveled just hours after the attack on Torgashov and was flown to Russia. It is believed that he was planning to travel on from Turkey to Ukraine.

A US government audit discovered that officials overestimated the value of certain items due to incorrect valuation methods, which amounted to $2 billion worth of additional aid for Ukraine.

A US government audit discovered $2 billion worth of additional errors in its military aid package for Ukraine.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it was prompted to conduct the audit following the Department of Defense (DOD) 2023 report that $6.3 billion worth of aid to Ukraine allocated under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) was misvalued

A former SEAL Team 6 leader Chuck Pfarrer explains that Russia's failed attack reveals deeper issues within its military, which has lost over 90% of its initial invasion force.

Ukrainian forces struck the Novofedorivka airfield in the Saki region with the missiles overnight, destroying a radar station, ammunition storage and wounding two Russian soldiers.

In the early hours of Friday, July 26, an air alert was declared on the Crimean Peninsula, which is temporarily occupied by Russia. Explosions were heard in Novofedorivka, the Okunivka area, and Simferopol. Eyewitnesses report a fire at the “Saki” airfield in Novofedorivka, where the detonation of ammunition was also heard.

The Telegram channel Astra, citing its own sources, reports that in the early hours of Friday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the Novofedorivka military airfield with ATACMS missiles. As a result of the attack, a radar station was destroyed, stored ammunition was hit, and two Russian servicemen were injured with shrapnel wounds.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

France's high-speed rail network was hit by "malicious acts" including arson attacks that have disrupted the transport system, train operator SNCF said Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. “This is a massive attack on a large scale to paralyse the TGV network," SNCF told AFP, adding that many routes will have to be cancelled and the situation would last "at least all weekend while repairs are conducted…SNCF was the victim of several simultaneous malicious acts overnight," the national train operator said, adding that the attacks affected its Atlantic, northern and eastern lines. SNCF urged passengers to postpone their trips and stay away from train stations. The attacks were launched as Paris prepares for the opening ceremony, with 7,500 athletes, 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs - France 24

One of the world's most powerful drug lords, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, leader of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, has been arrested by US federal agents in El Paso, Texas. Zambada, 76, founded the criminal organisation with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is currently jailed in the US. Arrested with Zambada on Thursday was Guzman's son, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, said the US justice department. In February, Zambada was charged by US prosecutors with a conspiracy to make and distribute fentanyl, a drug more powerful than heroin that has been blamed for the US opioid crisis. - BBC

Despite heavily disrupted preparations, with some athletes leaving Ukraine, others being killed and training facilities destroyed, Ukraine is still sending a 143-strong team to Paris.

Ukrainian Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi says "the Russians wanted his country to cease to exist" but instead over two years on from the invasion, "the opposite has happened" at the Paris Olympics.

"Ukrainians are here, Ukraine is participating in the Olympic Games," he said on the eve of the opening ceremony.

A sample of what European media are saying on the eve of the opening of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics takes place in Paris on Friday. Europe's commentators survey the city and the event, in which international conflicts and tough security measures seem to be the dominant themes so far.

Like in a science fiction film

The New Draft Tax Law #11416 has raised concern that it will discriminate against bona fide transparent taxpayers while encouraging tax evaders and expansion of shadow economy

The following is a statement by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC), dated July 25, 2024, on the new Draft Tax Law #11416.

The ACC calls on the Parliament and the Government to ensure a level playing field for business in Ukraine and safeguard the fundamental principle that prior to squeezing greater taxes from honest taxpayers, all efforts must be made to ensure that individuals and legal entities operating in Ukraine pay their fair share of taxes in effect today. Any proposed changes must reflect sound tax policy and a commitment to ensuring tax compliance and pursuing tax justice.

With the start of the 2024 Olympic Games, Ukraine is determined to remind the world of the athletes who were robbed of their chance to participate by the war with Russia.

This year’s Olympic Games in Paris features the smallest Ukrainian delegation in the history of the Olympics’ summer games - with only 140 athletes participating.

According to a British parliamentary press release on July 24, more than 487 Ukrainian athletes, including past and aspiring Olympians, have been killed since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Commenting on the reports of debris, a NATO spokesperson said there was no indication of an intentional attack on the alliance’s territory.

Romania said it found Russian drone fragments on its territory on Thursday (25 July) and NATO said it saw no sign of an intentional attack on the alliance’s territory after Moscow troops fired 38 long-range drones into Ukraine overnight.

Ukraine’s Air Force destroyed 25 Russian drones, its chief said on Telegram. Three drones “were lost after crossing the state border with Romania”, he added.

Russian FM Lavrov said after talks with Chinese counterpart that they discussed ASEAN cooperation amid concerns about "certain countries" forming alliances to undermine Asia-Pacific security.

The foreign ministers of Russia and China met Thursday on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks in Laos, which kicked off with the South China Sea and the conflict in Myanmar high on the agenda.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement after his talks with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Vientiane that the pair had discussed issues of cooperation within ASEAN "in detail".

Sentsov talked about systematic issues within the Ukrainian military command structure that hindered its performance and proposed ways to address them.

Oleh Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker turned Russian political prisoner, turned military commander, identified shortcomings within the Ukrainian military that led to incohesive operations, and he said post-operation performance reviews are needed, regardless of their successes.

“The army is a very archaic, vertically built structure. It cannot be reformed from within. The army has always been more conservative than any other state institution,” Sentsov told BBC Ukraine in an interview published Thursday, July 25.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian forces blunted one of the largest Russian mechanized assaults in Ukraine since October 2023 in western Donetsk Oblast on July 24.
• The Russian military command's willingness to expend a large number of armored vehicles on limited tactical objectives reflects poor longer-term operational foresight, and constraints on Russian equipment in the medium- to long-term will make such failed mechanized assaults costlier with time.
• The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) indicated that Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash has become Deputy Commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS).
• Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitri Peskov attempted to frame Ukraine as unwilling to negotiate, while demonstrating the Kremlin's own unwillingness to engage in good faith negotiations by reinvigorating Russian information operations falsely portraying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an "illegitimate" leader of Ukraine.
• The Kremlin continues to strengthen its ties with the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states.
• The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and National Police announced that they neutralized a group connected to the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) that had been preparing to commit arson against civilian objects in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe.
• Select Russian officials continue to call for measures targeting diaspora groups while the Russian government continues efforts to extend its control over migrants in Russia.
• Syrian President Bashar al Assad met with Russian President Vladmir Putin in Moscow on July 24.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Robotyne, and Russian forces recently marginally advanced north of Kharkiv City and near Toretsk, Donetsk City, and Robotyne.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on July 24 granting deferments from military conscription to employees of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and Investigative Committee who have higher education and special ranks starting in September 2024.