The essentials in brief:
Apparently a drone attack near the Crimean bridge
International Ukraine Peace Conference in Saudi Arabia
British government: G7 price cap continues to have an effect
Germany delivers more military equipment to Ukraine
A Russian tanker was damaged in an attack in the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, on Saturday night. The engine room of the ship was damaged, but the crew is safe, reports the Russian state news agency TASS, citing the coordination center for sea rescue in Novorossiysk.
According to media reports, the attack was a Ukrainian drone attack. The information could not be independently verified.
rescue team on the way
Russian state media reported that a rescue team had moved towards a tanker. An alleged Russian radio message to the ships in the Kerch Strait was also published on the Internet. It calls on all ships to be more vigilant in the event of an attack by air and sea drones.
In a presumed radio call from the hit tanker, which also became public, one of the crew members reported that the engine room was flooded and the ship was therefore unable to manoeuvre. This, too, could not be verified independently.
Explosions near the bridge
According to Russian and Ukrainian media, there had previously been several explosions near the Crimean Bridge. Ukrainian media reported three explosions near the bridge connecting the Moscow-held Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and mainland Russia. The bridge should therefore be completely darkened and closed to traffic. A representative of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea spoke of an “active dangerous situation”.
A Russian official in the region denies there was an attack. “Again, there was no direct attack on the Crimean bridge, nor was there an explosion in the immediate vicinity,” Sergey Kryuchkov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has previously warned that from July 21, 2023, all ships calling at Black Sea ports of the Russian Federation and Ukrainian ports temporarily occupied by Russia will be considered military targets by Ukraine. Ukraine has repeatedly attacked Russian naval ships and also the Crimean Bridge.
International Ukraine Peace Conference in Saudi Arabia
A two-day Ukraine peace conference begins this Saturday in Saudi Arabia. To this end, the Kingdom has invited representatives of the government in Kiev, their Western allies, as well as developing and emerging countries from the so-called Global South to Jeddah. Russia, on the other hand, is not there. It also remained unclear in advance whether China would send a delegation.
Chancellor Advisor Plötner (archive)Image: Florian Gaertner/photothek/IMAGO
The meeting will take place at the level of national security advisers. Jens Plötner, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s foreign policy adviser, is traveling to Jeddah for Germany. The aim of the meeting is the “consolidation of various peace plans”, for example from China, Africa and Brazil with the ten-point plan drawn up by Ukraine, it said in the run-up to the conference from Berlin.
British government: G7 price cap continues to have an effect
According to the British government, the price cap imposed on Russian oil by the G7 countries and other allies is still having an effect. This emerges from a message from the Ministry of Finance in London, which was published on Saturday night.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported a drop in Russian oil export revenues in June of almost ten billion US dollars (around nine billion euros) compared to the same month last year. Between May and June alone, revenues fell by $ 1.5 billion (1.36 billion euros).
The research organization Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air also estimates that the price cap on crude oil costs Russia 160 million euros a day. The British also quoted Russian government sources as saying Moscow’s energy sector revenues in the first quarter of this year were down 45 percent year-on-year.
Russian oil production (in Tatarstan)Image: Yegor Aleyev/TASS/dpa/picture alliance
The price cap for Russian oil introduced in December last year is intended to force Russia to sell oil to buyers in other countries for a maximum of $60 per barrel (159 liters). The upper limit is one of the sanctions with which the West is responding to the war of aggression against Ukraine launched by Moscow. From February, the price cap was also extended to oil products.
Germany delivers more military equipment to Ukraine
Germany has delivered more military hardware and weapons to Ukraine. Compared to the previous week, the Ukrainian army was handed over, among other things, two more mine clearance vehicles, nine additional border protection vehicles and three more reconnaissance drones, according to an overview updated on Friday on the federal government’s website. In addition, anti-mine plows for T-72 tanks, automated reconnaissance systems and mobile antenna mast complexes were also delivered.
The list of planned military aid has also been updated. New plans include the delivery of 40 additional Marder-type armored personnel carriers, six armored recovery vehicles, seven long-distance mine clearance devices, five additional reconnaissance systems and 18,000 hand-held anti-tank weapons.
German armored personnel carrier Marder (2019 in Munster)Image: Philipp Schulze/dpa/picture alliance
According to the federal government, the funds for the entire support package for Ukraine amount to around 5.4 billion euros for 2023 (after two billion euros in 2022). These funds are to be used primarily for military support of the country. Ukraine has been defending itself against Russian war of aggression for more than 17 months. Weapons and ammunition from Western countries help her in this.
AR/ack (dpa, rtr, afp)
This article will be continuously updated on the day of its publication. Reports from the combat zones cannot be independently verified.