1. Russia bombs residential buildings in the Odessa region, killing at least 21 people

Ukrainian authorities say Russian missiles hit a multi-storey building and nearby resorts in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine, killing at least 21 people and injuring dozens.

The Ukrainian president’s office said three X-22 missiles fired by Russian bombers hit a building and two campsites. Ukraine’s security service said two children were among the dead.

Ukraine’s security services said 38 people, including six children and a pregnant woman, were hospitalized with injuries.

Kyiv says the missiles were fired from a plane in the Black Sea, where a day earlier Russian troops left the strategically important Snake Island.

“A terrorist country is killing our people. In response to defeats on the battlefield, they fight civilians,” said Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff.

2. Norway announces970 million eurosUkrainian donation

Norway announced on Friday that it would donate 970 million euros to Ukraine, during a visit to the country by its Prime Minister.

Spread over two years, the significant donation of 10 billion Norwegian kroner is to be used by Kyiv for humanitarian aid, reconstruction efforts, the purchase of weapons and support for the functioning of the Ukrainian authorities, according to the Norwegian government .

This money is in addition to aid and weapons previously promised to Ukraine by the Nordic country.

“We stand with the people of Ukraine,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in the statement. “We are helping to support the Ukrainians’ fight for freedom. They are fighting for their country, but also for our democratic values.”

The Norwegian government made the announcement following a trip by Støre on Friday to Kyiv, as well as to Yahidne, a war-torn Ukrainian village.

The Norwegian leader was shaken by the visit, describing what he saw in the village as “a glimpse of hell on earth”, according to Norwegian news agency NTB.

3. Kyiv calls on Turkey to seize ship suspected of carrying stolen grain

Ukraine has asked Turkey to detain and arrest the Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy carrying a cargo of Ukrainian grain from the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk.

In a June 30 letter to Turkey’s Justice Ministry, Ukraine’s Attorney General’s Office said the 7,146-ton Zhibek Zholy was involved in the “illegal export of Ukrainian grain” from Berdyansk and was heading to Karasu, Turkey, with 7,000 tons of cargo, which is a larger cargo than that cited by the official.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has asked Turkey to ‘conduct an inspection of this vessel, seize grain samples for forensic examination, demand information on the location of this grain’, the letter says. , adding that Ukraine was ready to conduct a joint investigation with Turkish authorities.

A Russian-installed official in Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region said on Thursday that after a months-long stoppage, the first cargo ship left the port of Berdyansk without naming the Zhibek Zholy.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from territories that Russian forces have seized since its invasion began in late February. The Kremlin has previously denied that Russia stole Ukrainian grain.

4. Russia seizes energy project owned by UK and Japan

Russia took control of a large-scale oil and gas project in its Far East on Thursday, which risks heightening tensions with the West.

President Vladimir Putin has signed an executive order taking full control of the Sakhalin-2 project, which is partly owned by Shell and Japanese investors.

The five-page decree, which was signed on Thursday evening, created a new company to take over all the rights and obligations of Sakhalin Energy Investment Co, in which Britain’s Shell and two Japanese trading companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi own just under 50 %.

The move follows Western sanctions imposed on Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine which hit Russia’s major energy industry.

Russian state-owned Gazprom, itself the target of US, UK and European sanctions, already owns 50% of the Sakhalin-2 project, which produces 4% of the world’s liquefied natural gas.

It is one of the largest LNG projects in the world with a production of 12 million tons, with cargoes mainly destined for Japan, South Korea, China, India and other countries. other Asian countries.

5. Ukraine wins the “borscht war” against Russia

Ukraine won a symbolic battle against Russia on Friday after UNESCO recognized that the Russian invasion was threatening the country’s borscht culture, adding it to its list of intangible cultural heritage at risk.

Borsch is a sour soup made from beets, meat, cabbage and vegetables, variations of which are eaten throughout Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Russia.

“Victory in the borscht war is ours,” Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkatchenko said following the UNESCO announcement.

Ukraine “will win both the borscht war” and on the ground against Moscow, he wrote on his Telegram account.

In April, Ukraine asked UNESCO to put borscht on its list, saying the Russian invasion was jeopardizing the “viability” of the traditions surrounding the dish.

Two months later, a UNESCO committee accepted Kyiv’s request.

While the existence of the soup was “not in danger per se”, committee member Pier Luigi Petrillo said that “the human and living heritage that is associated with borscht […] is in immediate danger because the capacity of the populations to practice, to transmit their intangible cultural heritage is seriously disturbed because of the armed conflict. »