Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 07-21-2024

Four months before Americans go to the polls President Biden announced he was withdrawing from the 2024 Presidential Election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.

81-year-old President Joe Biden announced that on Sunday that he was ending his candidacy for re-election, saying “it is in the best interest of my party and the country.” He had been under mounting pressure to stand down following his dreadful performance in June’s debate against his rival candidate Trump and other suggestions that his memory was failing him – referring to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as President Putin.

Here is his resignation letter in full:

According to the author Amnesty International is no longer the human rights organization it once was purported to be.

Almost two years ago, I called here for the closure of Amnesty International, once a beacon of the international fight for human rights. And I was not the only one.

The occasion was the organisation’s infamous August 2022 report on Ukraine, which accused the Ukrainian state and military of putting their own citizens at risk from Russian bombs by positioning military near civilian objects.

Finishing touches are being applied to the venues across the City of Light and thousands of athletes and officials are pouring in.

Paris Olympics supremo Tony Estanguet said Sunday that the city was “ready” for the Games as he played down complaints from some residents and businesses about the impact of the event.

“We’re ready as we head into the final phase,” Estanguet told a press conference in Paris, five days from the opening parade next Friday.

Official Russian losses according to Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) General Staff, as reported to the Ukrinform state news agency. Human casualties include those killed and wounded, unable to fight.

Russia’s total combat casualties from February 24, 2022, to July 21, 2024, amounted to an estimated 566,710, including 1,100 killed and wounded in the past day alone.

That’s according to the General Staffof Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Ukrinform reports.

Experts fear the emotional and psychological damage the situation inflicts on the children of those behind bars.

One night in September 2020, Hanna Kanavalava fled her native Belarus and crossed the border into Ukraine – on foot, in the dark and with her two young grandchildren in tow.

“That’s when Ivan asked me, ‘Grandma, is Mom in prison?’ And that’s when I told him the truth,” Hanna said.

Poland wants the European Union to launch a campaign in the US to raise awareness among Americans about the importance of the joint relationship.

In a paper prepared for an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, July 22, Poland called for positive action ahead of the US presidential election on 5 November to counter what it describes as Russian “disinformation” aimed at sowing division between the EU and Washington.

“At this critical moment in history, it is imperative that we collectively take swift and robust action to strengthen the transatlantic relations through strategic communication about the EU in the US,” the paper, seen by Reuters, says.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

A Russian flagged vessel was granted clearance by a UN inspection body to call at a Houthi-controlled port after surreptitiously exporting grain from a western sanctioned terminal in occupied Crimea, an investigation by Bellingcat and Lloyd’s List has found. The bulk carrier, Zafar (IMO: 9720263), switched off its Automated Identification System (AIS) – that allows it to be tracked by shipping services and which commercial vessels are mandated to keep on unless in danger – when it visited the Port of Sevastopol in May this year. Satellite imagery revealed the vessel’s presence at the port. Zafar then switched AIS on after leaving Sevastopol and kept it on for its journey to Yemen, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data. It docked in Djibouti in late June where it was given clearance by the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM). It is not clear if UNVIM knew that the shipment had come from occupied Crimea given Zafar sought to mask the fact it went there. While there is no suggested illegality with this shipment, experts say it creates an awkward situation where a UN mechanism has waved through a grain shipment from occupied Ukrainian territory despite Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the fact that member nations have repeatedly voted against Russia’s actions towards its neighbour.

The Israeli army says it has struck several Houthi targets in western Yemen in response to a drone attack claimed by the rebel group that killed one person in Tel Aviv on Friday. Several "military targets" were hit in the western port city of Hodeidah, the IDF said, adding that the strike was in retaliation for "hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months." The Houthi-run government in the capital Sanaa said oil storage facilities had been hit, as well as a power plant. The Ministry of Health said that 80 people were wounded in a preliminary toll of the strikes, most of them with severe burns. The Israeli strikes appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, and they threatened to open a new front in the region as Israel battles proxies of Iran - Euronews

Trump spoke for nearly two hours, in his first rally since being shot, giving a speech that rambled from the 2020 election and praise for North Korean and Chinese dictators to “criminal” immigrants.

Donald Trump commanded the stage for nearly two hours Saturday in his first rally since a gunman tried to kill him last week, with a fiery, rambling speech to thousands of passionate supporters.

Here are five takeaways from the vision painted by the Republican presidential nominee for the United States:

As the world splits ever more into democratic blocs facing those of autocracies whose tendencies spread to the West, democracies must rally with determination to promote the ideas of freedom.

It is a cardinal mistake to suppose that autocracy is merely the antonym of democracy. The struggle between a democratic nation and an autocratic one or between blocs of such nations is not a fair and square battle between two competing outlooks on the world.

There is an important difference.

Every day, Taganrog prison was filled with the sounds of screams, squeals, and crying.

He stood with the last of Mariupol’s defenders – many of them seriously injured – bunkered at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works – which the Russians had sieged relentlessly for over 80 days. Finally, on May 20, 2022, under orders, the Ukrainian fighter laid down his weapon and surrendered “to preserve the lives and health of the garrison’s soldiers.” Then, he was taken prisoner by the Russians, where, he tells Kyiv Post, he was subjected to a nightmare.

The soldier, who will be called “Petro” for the article – as his real name and call sign cannot be disclosed for security reasons – was initially held for three or four days at the “transit point” of Olenivka, a camp that the Russians set up for prisoners of war (POWs) in the occupied Donetsk region.

Paraphrasing Pushkin, here's a candid, open letter from a Polish patriot and democrat to the rapacious imperialist Russian slanderers of Poland and Europe.

I have found that writing letters sometimes helps. I recommend it. Try writing a letter to someone you love, someone you hate, a country, a person. It's cathartic. Write a letter to your relative who is being held hostage, or to their captor. I know it's just an intellectual exercise, but it works wonders, believe me.

Here's my take on it.

Ukrainian Navy says there are no safe locations left for Russian warships in or around Crimea. One Kremlin combat vessel out of range in the Mediterranean with eight Kalibr missiles.

In the Sea of Azov, as of 06:00, July 21, Russia keeps four warships on combat duty, with no Kalibr cruise missile carriers among them, while no naval vessels are being observed in the Black Sea.

That’s according to the Ukrainian Navy press service, Ukrinform reports.

At the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump has been officially nominated as the party's candidate for the presidential election, with J. D. Vance as his vice-presidential running mate.

Trump as a much-needed wake-up call for Europe

Europe needs to get its act together, says political scientist Piotr Buras in Polityka:

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The boss of the cybersecurity firm responsible for worldwide IT outages admits it could be "some time" before all systems are back up and running.

While the software bug has been fixed, experts say the manual reboot of each affected Microsoft computer will take a huge amount of work. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, with banking, healthcare and payment systems all affected. In the UK, GPs have been struggling to access records, pharmacies have been hit and TV channels knocked off the air.

Long gone are the days when Western officials said Russian military production couldn’t sustain its war in Ukraine, or a Ukrainian official said Russian strikes would soon stop due to lack of ammo.

The Kh-101 cruise missile that struck the Ohmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv in early July perfectly illustrates the ability of the Russian defense industry to overcome Western efforts to cut its supply of key components.

The July 8 attack, which killed two people and damaged large portions of the surrounding buildings of the clinic treating about 600 patients, provoked international outrage.

Ukraine hopes a rollout of AI-enabled drones across the front line will help it overcome increasing signal jamming by the Russians as well as enable UAVs to work in larger groups.

In Ukraine, a handful of startups are developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to help fly a vast fleet of drones, taking warfare into uncharted territory as combatants race to gain a technological edge in battle.

Ukraine hopes a rollout of AI-enabled drones across the front line will help it overcome increasing signal jamming by the Russians as well as enable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to work in larger groups.

A Russian media outlet quoted an economist stating Ukraine will lower the price of land in the new debt agreement – which simply cannot happen due to the nature of a bond in any country.

Russian media outlet Radio Sputnik quoted economist Sergei Tolkachov, who stated that in new debt agreements with the EU, the collateral value of Ukrainian land will be lowered due to “increased risks.”

Tolkachov mentioned land while commenting on Ukraine’s debt restructuring negotiations. In his opinion, it is unlikely that Ukraine will announce default in August.

The success of attack drones and the failure of combat helicopters on Ukraine’s battlefield may not have sounded the death knell for rotary aircraft but will call for a rethink at least.

Speaking in February upon the cancellation of the helicopter based Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, as well as the announced end to production of the UH-60V Black Hawk in 2025, US Army Chief of Staff General Randy George said: “We are learning from the battlefield – especially in Ukraine – that aerial reconnaissance has fundamentally changed.”

He added: “Sensors and weapons mounted on a variety of unmanned systems and in space are more ubiquitous, further reaching and more inexpensive than ever before.”

Despite looming negatives, Europe must “stand on its own feet,” but America cannot simply pull the plug without causing serious political and economic difficulties.

This fall, Americans will choose an internationalist or an isolationist to become their President. But the future of Europe, the outcome of the war in Ukraine, the global economy, and current world order are also on the ballot.

If Trump the isolationist is elected, he may withdraw or dramatically reduce contributions to NATO which would force Europe to quickly build a bigger military force and finance Ukraine indefinitely in its struggle to fend off Russia’s westward march.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with former US President and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on July 19 and discussed an end-state to the war in Ukraine.
• Ukrainian drones struck a Russian airfield in Rostov Oblast on the night of July 19 to 20.
• Russian Minister of Defense Andrei Belousov and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) continue to use meetings with Kremlin-affiliated milbloggers to attempt to rehabilitate the MoD's image among pro-war Russian ultranationalists and portray Belousov as an effective manager of the MoD.
• Russian authorities are likely trying to strengthen coercive measures aimed at impressing migrants facing deportation into military service.
• Spanish authorities arrested three individuals accused of conducting cyberattacks as part of a prominent pro-Russian hacking group that consistently targets Ukraine and NATO states supporting Ukraine.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Svatove, and Donetsk City.
• Kremlin-affiliated business-focused outlet Kommersant reported on July 19 that low quality machine parts grounded five Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) Il-76MD-90A transport aircraft.