Zelensky: If Russia is ready for a ceasefire, it must stop massive strikes on Ukraine.
Also, we reviewed Trump’s proposal in London, adjusted some minor details, and sent it back for approval.
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Zelensky: Trump’s team proposed a strategy for a ceasefire during London talks.
Ukraine, European countries, and the U.S. reviewed it, adjusted certain points, and created a document that's now awaiting Trump’s approval.
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Zelensky: Russia dislikes Ukraine’s presence in Africa and opposes normal humanitarian and economic relations between Ukraine and African nations.
Russia seeks exclusive influence not only in Africa but globally.
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Zelensky: Russia kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children. Today, I handed President Ramaphosa a list of 400 names.
We seek South Africa's assistance in returning them home.
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Zelensky: If Russia says it's ready for a ceasefire, it must stop massive strikes on Ukraine. That's Ukrainians who have been under constant Russian attacks.
Former British Army Colonel Ingram: Russia wants Ukraine to capitulate, pause the war, restore foreign ties, rebuild its army and strike again.
It will come back for another slice of Ukraine, Georgia or elsewhere. Moscow plays for generations; the West plays by elections.
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Ingram: It is too early to say Putin’s inner circle is turning on him. Putin controls them.
If one speaks against him, he tends to have an “accident,” usually a ninth-floor window. Putin is oligarch-in-chief: he lets them keep money and corruption, or he takes them out.
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Ingram: After Putin’s staged reelection, he may claim a mandate, call this an existential war against NATO and order general mobilization.
Ukraine kills or badly wounds 30,000+ Russians a month; 39,000 in June. Russia cannot replace them fast enough.
Kapustin, commander of Ukraine's Russian Volunteer Corps: What breaks a captured Russian soldier isn't our gear. It's that after four days drinking from puddles, we hand him water from our own hands.
That's when something cracks. 1/
Kapustin: Russian POWs from Vovchansk arrive with frostbitten feet, some missing toes.
Sent out for weeks without winter gear, they wrap their feet in foil thermal blankets, thinking it's waterproof. One captured 18-year-old lost several toes after being sent to fetch snow. 2/
Kapustin: Russian soldiers infiltrating near our lines dropped radios for phones rigged with Starlink, reporting coordinates by Telegram.
Once Starlink access was cut, they lost their only link to command. We took many of them prisoner, frostbitten and starving. 3/
Who else but Ukraine can shut the Black Sea to Russia with naval and aerial drones? In 18 days in July, Ukraine hit 196 vessels
Russia’s Azov oil-product exports stopped. In Black Sea ports, exports fell nearly in half to 1 million tons. Tanker calls dropped from 55 to 27, EP.1/
Together with strikes on Russian refineries, these attacks stopped exports of key oil products.
Russia no longer exports gasoline. Jet fuel exports stopped. Diesel shipments fell to 4% of the level before Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries, oil sites, and logistics.
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Ukrainian drones hit rudders, propellers, and bridges.
The ship loses movement, drifts, waits for a tugboat, and goes into repairs. One repair can cost $2-5 million.
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