The War in Ukraine: The “Failure” of the Counteroffensive and the Grain Deal

Speaking on state television, Vladimir Putin says Ukraine has not succeeded in counterattacking. This ensures that Kiev cannot breach the defenses of Russian forces on the eastern and southern fronts. He also says Moscow has enough cluster bombs to reject Western aid.

This morning’s attacks on the port of Sevastopol disrupted navigation in Crimea for several hours. Russia talks about terrorism and claims to have shot down ten Ukrainian drones that attacked the annexed peninsula.

This Sunday, on state television, Vladimir Putin says the current Kiev counteroffensive has failed.

In response to recent Western military aid to Ukraine, Putin made sure Russia had enough cluster bombs and other types of weapons.

On the ground, the weekend was marked by intense fighting on the southern and eastern edges of Ukraine. Kiev announced Bagmut’s advances. Moscow, on the other hand, claimed territorial gains in Kubiansk. These would be battles fought without the intervention of the Wagner Group and the militants who launched the June 24 armed uprising against the Kremlin.

This Sunday, pictures were released of a column of sixty vehicles entering Belarus, a column containing many Russian mercenaries involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

The British Ministry of Defense reveals that the insurgency has disrupted Russia’s military structure. He suggested that the Kremlin would now draw up a deal to define the future of the more than 20,000 men who had been subordinated to Yevgeny Prigogine. An unexpected call came from a senior official in the United States to end the conflict.

And in the wake of the post-war economic crisis, the world this week paused from renewing the Ukrainian grain deal.

Moscow is demanding counterparts to end sanctions on the Russian Agricultural Bank, which has already allowed it to sell 33 million tonnes of grain, benefiting dozens of importing countries and threatening to abrogate a global food crisis.