EU countries agree on new sanctions against Russia
European Union countries reached an agreement on Thursday July 23 in Brussels to impose new sanctions on Russia, diplomats said, after several weeks of negotiations.
This 21st package of sanctions aims to extend a system for capping the price of oil exported by Russia. These sanctions had to be adapted in the face of Greece’s reluctance.
Three dead, eight injured in Ukrainian strikes in Russia and Crimea
Three people, including a child, were killed and eight others injured overnight during Ukrainian strikes in Russia and annexed Crimea, local authorities said. In the Russian region of Belgorod, bordering Ukraine, a man was killed and another was injured in the Chebekino district during a Ukrainian drone attack on a vehicle, according to a statement from regional authorities published on Telegram.
In Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014 by Russia, one person was killed and four others, including two children, were injured in a Ukrainian strike, said the local governor placed by Moscow, Sergei Axionov. More than four years after the start of the large-scale Russian offensive against Ukraine, strikes have intensified in recent months on both sides of the front, causing an increasing number of civilian victims.
American mediation efforts between kyiv and Moscow have been at a standstill since the start of the war in the Middle East at the end of February, with Washington’s attention being monopolized by Iran.
Rubio and Lavrov discuss the conflict in Ukraine
The heads of American and Russian diplomacy met in Manila on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting, and discussed the conflict in Ukraine. This thirty-minute meeting took place a few hours after a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and American emissaries, organized to “revitalize diplomacy” according to the Ukrainian president.
Marco Rubio, the host of the meeting, and Sergei Lavrov sat around a table before journalists entered the room and made no statements to the press. Both are attending meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Philippines. The two men have already met several times and Washington is trying to adopt a measured tone towards Moscow.
The two diplomats “discussed the U.S.-Russia relationship and the need to end the war between Russia and Ukraine,” according to the U.S. State Department.
