KIEV TRIES FLEXING ITS DIPLOMATIC MUSCLES

While the front lines in Ukraine are gripped by heavy fighting and remain almost unchanged despite Kiev’s long-awaited counteroffensive, the warring parties are exchanging retaliation strikes. In response to Moscow’s decision to suspend the grain deal, Kiev hit the Crimean Bridge with two naval drones. Having killed a married couple and maimed their daughter, the less than brilliant Ukrainian military strategists did not achieve any military goals. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack “another terrorist attack of the Kiev regime.” He called it “cruel” and “meaningless from a military point of view”, since the Crimean Bridge “has not been used for a long time” for any military supplies. The Russian president warned Kiev and announced a response from the Russian military for the attack on the Crimean Bridge and murder of Russian citizens. With another attack on the strategically important bridge which links the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula, Kiev attempted to hide its diplomatic defeat in the mainstream media. However, it did not help. Moscow has suspended the grain deal. The decision was made for a number of reasons, including the unwillingness of the parties to fulfill obligations that meet the interests of the Russian Federation. Kiev was deceived by Moscow’s decision and again targeted the Crimean peninsula with UAVs on the night of July 18. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 28 drones were used for the attack on Crimea. Of these, 17 were shot down by Russian air defense forces, and 11 others were suppressed by electronic warfare means. Another one of Kiev’s show of strength attempts failed. Zelensky’s diplomatic efforts to save the deal also seem ridiculous. He proudly declared that he had officially offered Turkey and the UN to continue working on the grain deal without Russia in some trilateral format. To explain to Zelensky that he would not be able to export grain to the “starving countries” of Europe without Moscow’s permission, the Russian military struck the largest port cities of Ukraine Odessa and Nikolaev. While the local Ukrainian authorities were assuring their public that the all-mighty Ukrainian air defense had intercepted all targets and damage was caused exclusively by wreckage of Russian missiles; fires were burning in the oil depot of the port in Nikolaev and in the port of Odessa, from where the last ship left in accordance with grain deal a couple days ago.