TheVoiceOfJoyce There is fierce fighting in Eastern Ukraine. Land mines pose a significant problem, causing many casualties. The cluster bombs and air support should help the Ukrainians advance. Meanwhile, it’s slow going as Ukrainian troops edge through the many layers of Russia’s defenses. Understanding the Russia entrenchment will enable the Ukrainians to push forward. Meanwhile, the grain deal is still moving forward. Though China and Russia are holding war games in the Pacific, there’s no evidence China is adding to Putin’s armaments. Putin, according to the Economist and the Russian Army , have been weakened. Though Putin’s incursion into Ukrainian territory has strengthened NATO and the EU alliance. Unfortunately, we can’t predict when this senseless war will end. The sooner it does, the better positioned we are to tackle Global concerns. #1 WeatherExtremes.

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www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/jul/16/russia-ukraine-war-live-russia-shoots-down-nine-ukrainian-drones-over-crimea-moscow-official-says

Andrew E Kramer in the The New York Times [paywall] has written about the deadly landmines that are slowing the progress of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

It was a grisly scene of bloody limbs and crumpled vehicles as a series of Russian mines exploded across a field in southern Ukraine.

One Ukrainian soldier stepped on a mine and tumbled onto the grass in the buffer zone between the two armies. Nearby lay other Ukrainian troops, their legs in tourniquets, waiting for medical evacuation, according to videos posted online and the accounts of several soldiers involved …

Five weeks into a counteroffensive that even Ukrainian officials say is off to a halting start, interviews with commanders and soldiers fighting along the front indicate the slow progress comes down to one major problem: landmines.

The full report is here.

The Russian state has taken control of shares in the Russian subsidiary of French food producer Danone, according to a decree signed by Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

The decree also said that shares in Baltika Breweries, a Russian-based brewing company, would be transferred to state management, Reuters reported.

Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister. Photograph: Ed Ram/The Guardian

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has “somewhat intensified” as Ukrainian and Russian forces clash in at least three areas on the eastern front, a senior Ukrainian defence official said on Sunday.

The deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram that Russian forces had been attacking in the direction of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region for two successive days.

Maliar wrote:

We are on the defensive. There are fierce battles, the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day.

She also said the two armies were pummelling one another around the ruined city of Bakhmut but that Ukrainian forces were “gradually moving forward” along its southern flank, Reuters reported.TheVoiceOfJoyce

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