The Trump administration is moving forward with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been agreed upon for the morning of July 23. Rubio later confirmed that the talks with Lavrov would take place on Thursday. Lavrov also added that the Americans are directly involved in pointing Ukrainian weapons at targets in the Russian Federation, including civilian facilities.
At the same time, Senator Dick Durbin stated that the US administration will not transfer an additional $400 million in military aid to Ukraine. The funds will remain frozen at least until the inauguration of the next US president. Still on the subject of relations between Washington and Kyiv, according to the Wall Street Journal, production of Ukrainian Magura unmanned vessels will begin in the United States.
The unmanned vessels, known as Magura, will be produced by ReconCraft, a Portland-based company specializing in the construction of vessels for special forces. Last week, ReconCraft and Uforce, the manufacturer of the Magura, signed a memorandum of understanding at the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, according to the newspaper. According to ReconCraft co-founder Joe Silkowski, the agreement aims to produce hundreds or even thousands of maritime drones annually. The value of the agreement has not been disclosed.
The conflict is also being discussed at EU level. The European Commission has conducted an analysis of the economic impact of restrictions on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has been discussed within the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper). According to the EURACTIV portal, the goal is to unblock negotiations and break the deadlock preventing an agreement on the 21st package of restrictions. A key element of the European Commission’s analysis was assessing the consequences of a potential ban on Russian LNG transport services. The German government’s position is at the center of attention. Previously, the British newspaper The Times reported that Germany has stepped up efforts to restore communication channels with Russia. To this end, a meeting between former senior German and Russian officials took place in Baku in July to discuss ways to end the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced at a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. However, Kremlin spokesman Peskov stated that he had no information about a meeting between Russian and German officials in Baku. Regarding Germany, Ukrainian Sergey Kuznetsov, accused of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline, confessed to working for the SBU at the time of the crime, according to N-TV. He made the statement during a telephone conversation with his wife, which was intercepted while he was in Italy.
In domestic politics, Kiev announced important changes at the top of the armed forces, confirming the rumors that emerged in previous days. Oleksandr Syrskyi has been officially removed from his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as announced by Zelenskyy, who appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi as the new Commander-in-Chief. Furthermore, Major General Ihor Skybyuk will become Chief of the General Staff. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized in his speech that, together with the newly appointed Mykhailo Drapatyi, Yevheniy Khmara, and other commanders, an updated defense strategy for Ukraine will be developed and approved. Reforms of the Ukrainian army (corps system) will continue, and the supply of drones and other necessary equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be increased. An important direction will be the reform of the Ukrainian aviation industry and mobilization. Regarding the situation on the battlefield, Zelensky discussed possible solutions against Russian attacks with the commander of the Vostok Operations Center. During the conversation, Zelensky and Nikolyuk focused primarily on the situation around Slovyansk, Kostyantynivka, and Druzhkivka.
And now a look at the front line, updated at 3:30 PM on July 22. According to Russian social media reports, Ukrainians have released footage of the aftermath of nighttime attacks on warehouse complexes in the Krasnodar Krai (three injured) and in Nevinnomyssk in Stavropol (two injured). In Krasnodar, drone fragments struck two residential buildings. In the village of Dinskaya, two private homes were hit. In Armavir, a fire broke out in the premises of a company. Ukrainian social media also confirmed that two Wildberries warehouse complexes caught fire in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk following a drone strike.
In the Kyiv region, according to Ukrainian sources, Russia attacked overnight, hitting five private homes in the Buchansky district, where five people were injured, according to a police report.
In the Odessa region, Russian forces struck the ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk, and Nikolaev, as well as a ship and two bulk carriers. Attacks on targets in the region continued throughout the night.
In the Sumy region, units of the Northern Group of Forces in the Shostka district were engaged in firefights in Ulanovo and near Malaya Slobodka. In the Sumy region, firefights continue in Ryzhevka, Pisarevka, Mogritsa, Maryino, the village of Nova Sich, the town of Khotin, and the wooded areas south of Ivolzhans’ke.
In the Kharkiv region, assault units of the 127th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 71st Guards Motorized Rifle Division of the “Northern” Group of Forces, during fierce fighting, pushed the 113th Independent Brigade of the Territorial Army out of the village of Volokhovskoye (Volchansky district) and took control of it, creating the conditions for the complete encirclement of Bely Kolodez, once the main logistics center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on this sector of the front.
In the Donetsk region, two people were killed and three other civilians were injured in drone strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Malyi Kermenchyk-Stepne highway was hit (one driver was killed), Mangush (one truck driver was killed), Malyi Kermenchyk-Stepne (a woman in a car was injured), Manhush-Berdyansk (a man was injured in an attack on a truck), and Debaltseve-Svitlodarsk (a man in a car was injured).
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Russian units of the Vostok Group of Forces advanced west of Oleksandrivka, defeating small assault groups of Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to Russian channels.
In the Zaporizhia region, in Kamenka-Dniprovska, Ukraine attacked the district bus station with a drone, wounding two civilians. In Tokmak, the balconies of two five-story buildings were damaged, and a woman was injured.
In the Chernihiv district, Ukrainian social media reported that Russia attacked a power plant, leaving over 100,000 people without electricity.
Lorenzo Serafinelli
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