Latest developments:
- Pope Francis appealed Sunday to Russia to revive the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal allowing Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports. The deal expired July 17. Addressing crowds in St. Peter's Square, the pope urged the faithful to continue praying "for martyred Ukraine, where war is destroying everything, even grain," calling this "a grave insult to God."
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he expects Russia to resume its attacks on Ukraine’s power grid next winter and pledged to do everything possible to protect his nation’s power infrastructure.
- The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported Sunday that Russia has lost 245,700 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia invaded. This number includes 480 casualties suffered by Russian forces over the past day. According to the report, Russia has also lost 4,205 tanks, 8,178 armored fighting vehicles, 7,275 vehicles and fuel tanks, 4,795 artillery systems, 698 multiple launch rocket systems, 459 air defense systems, 315 airplanes, 311 helicopters, 4,011 drones, and 18 boats.
News reports say Saudi Arabia will be the venue of a peace summit organized by Ukraine next month, seeking a way to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The talks will take place in Jeddah, August 5-6.
The meetings would include Western officials and representatives from up to 30 countries, including Brazil, India, and South Africa, according to The Associated Press, which also reports that a high-level U.S. official will participate.
Western officials say they hope the summit can lead to international backing for peace terms favoring Ukraine. News of the talks came after U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan visited the kingdom Thursday. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the summit.
Arab nations have overall kept neutral in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in part, because of their military and economic ties with Moscow. Also, Saudi Arabia, as an OPEC member, has kept a closer relationship with Russia, which also is a member nation.
Hosting the summit will help boost the profile of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as he is trying to improve relations with Iran and push for peace with Yemen, the AP reports.
However, relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States remain tense after OPEC cut oil production. The ongoing Russian attack on Ukraine has led to a spike in energy prices. Also, U.S. intelligence analysts have ascertained that the Saudi prince was behind the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Putin promises Africa grain
African leaders left Russia after a two-day Russia-Africa summit with no resolution on the resumption of the deal that allowed for the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea corridor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that higher grain prices, which have risen since Moscow’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, will benefit Russian companies as well as the world’s poorest countries.
In his effort to woo African leaders, Putin said during a news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg that Russia will share its profits from rising grain prices with African nations and poor countries. Russia, like Ukraine, is a major grain exporter.
That commitment, with no details, follows Putin’s promise to start shipping 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain for free to each of six African nations in the next three to four months — an amount dwarfed by the 725,000 tons shipped by the U.N. World Food Program to several hungry countries, African and otherwise, under the grain deal. Russia plans to send the free grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea and the Central African Republic.
Fewer than 20 of Africa’s 54 heads of state or government attended the Russia summit compared to 43 who attended the previous gathering in 2019.
Russian attacks
A Russian missile attack killed at least one person and injured five in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, National Police said Sunday.
The strike by Russian forces hit "an educational facility," spokesperson Maryna Polosina said.
A video released by Ukrainian police showed injured people being carried away from the scene as smoke rose from a damaged building nearby.
Moscow said Sunday that Russian forces thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to attack Crimea with 25 drones overnight.
“Sixteen Ukrainian UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] were destroyed by air defense fire," the Russian defense ministry said. “There were no victims.”
Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow early Sunday, but there were no casualties, the Tass news agency reported, citing city Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
"Tonight, there was a Ukrainian drone attack. The facades of two office buildings in Moscow City (business district) were slightly damaged. There are no casualties," Sobyanin said on his Telegram channel.
The Russian defense ministry said it downed three drones targeting the city and described the incident as an “attempted terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime."
A security guard was injured, Tass reported, citing emergency officials.
The Vnukovo airport on the outskirts of the city suspended flights for about an hour, according to Tass, and the airspace over and around Moscow was temporarily closed.
Ukrainian counteroffensive
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on his official social media accounts Sunday that Moscow would have to resort to using a nuclear weapon if Kyiv's ongoing counteroffensive was a success.
Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, a body chaired by Putin, said that Russia would be forced to fall back on its own nuclear doctrine in such a scenario.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive, which began June 5, appears to be gaining momentum.
Some information in this report came from Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
