International

Russia strikes again at grain depots in Ukraine

Photo: AP

August 16|

Russia resumed its attacks on grain infrastructure in the Odessa region of southern Ukraine, officials said Wednesday. Several drones attacked warehouses and ports along the Danube River overnight, which Kiev has increasingly used to transport its grain to Europe after Moscow broke a crucial wartime deal to export it via the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, a full cargo ship that had been stuck in the port of Odessa since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail and was heading for the Bosporus via the Black Sea using a temporary corridor set up by Ukraine for merchant traffic.

The Ukrainian economy, strained by the war, is heavily dependent on agriculture. Its agricultural exports, like Russia’s, are also crucial to global supplies of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other foodstuffs on which developing countries depend.

After the Kremlin last month tore up an agreement negotiated last summer by the United Nations and Turkey to ensure the safe export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, Kiev has tried to reroute goods via the Danube and road and rail links to Europe. But transport costs are much higher along those routes, some European countries have expressed misgivings about the consequences for local grain prices, and Danube ports cannot handle as much volume as sea ports.

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The main target of the night’s drone bombing was port terminals and grain silos, Odessa Governor Oleh Kiper said. That included ports in the Danube delta. Anti-aircraft defenses managed to intercept 13 drones, Kiper noted.

In attacks in recent weeks, Russia has hit ports in the Danube delta, which are just 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Romanian border. The Danube is Europe’s second longest river and a crucial transport route.
Meanwhile, the container ship leaving Odessa was the first ship to sail since July 16, according to Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister. It had been in Odessa since February 2022.

The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte was sailing through a temporary corridor that Ukraine had asked the International Maritime Organization to ratify. The United States has warned that the Russian military is preparing possible attacks against civilian cargo ships in the Black Sea.

Underwater mines also make travel dangerous and insurance costs are likely to be high for ship operators. Ukraine told the IMO it would offer “guarantees of compensation for damages.”

A Russian ship fired warning shots last Sunday at a Palau-flagged cargo ship in the southern Black Sea. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Sukru Okan was sailing north to the Ukrainian port of Izmail on the Danube.

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Tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed that the Joseph Schulte was heading south.

The Joseph Schulte was carrying more than 30,000 tons of goods in 2,114 containers, including foodstuffs, according to Kubrakov.

The corridor, he said, will be used primarily to evacuate ships trapped in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odessa and Pivdennyi since the outbreak of the war.

On the front, Ukrainian authorities announced another milestone in the tough Ukrainian counteroffensive. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said troops had retaken a village in the eastern Donetsk region.

The village of Urozhaine is near Staromaiorske, a village that Ukraine also claimed to have recaptured recently. It was not possible to independently verify these claims.

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Ukraine appears to be breaking through Russian forces in the south, but it faces tight defensive lines and is advancing without air support.

Also on Wednesday, the Russian military said it had shot down three drones in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and attributed the attack to Ukraine. No deaths or injuries were reported.

International

Paraguay summons Brazilian ambassador over Itaipú espionage scandal

Paraguay summoned the Brazilian ambassador in Asunción on Tuesday to demand “explanations” and called its own representative in Brasília for consultations following Brazil’s acknowledgment of an espionage operation. The Brazilian government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attributed the operation to the previous administration.

The surveillance effort aimed to uncover Paraguay’s position in now-suspended negotiations with Brazil regarding the pricing of electricity from the binational Itaipú hydroelectric plant, according to reports in the Brazilian press.

The Brazilian government “categorically denied any involvement in the intelligence operation,” stating in a Foreign Ministry communiqué on Monday that the espionage was carried out under former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration (2019-2023).

“The operation was authorized by the previous government in June 2022 and was annulled by the interim director of the (state intelligence agency) ABIN on March 27, 2023, as soon as the current administration became aware of it,” Brazil’s government asserted.

Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez announced that Brazilian Ambassador José Antonio Marcondes de Carvalho was summoned “to provide detailed explanations” regarding the operation. Additionally, Paraguay recalled its diplomatic representative in Brasília “to report on aspects related to the intelligence activity conducted by Brazil regarding Paraguay’s government affairs.”

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International

Elon Musk to step down as government advisor, per Trump insiders

President Donald Trump has informed his inner circle that Elon Musk will be stepping down from his role as a government advisor, according to a report by Politico today.

Citing three individuals close to Trump, Politico states that the president is pleased with Musk’s leadership at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where he has implemented significant budget cuts. However, both have agreed that it is time for Musk to return to his businesses and support Trump from a different position outside the government.

A senior administration official told Politico that Musk will likely maintain an informal advisory role and continue to be an occasional visitor to the White House. Another source warned that anyone thinking Musk will completely disappear from Trump’s circle is “deluding themselves.”

According to the sources, this transition is expected to coincide with the end of Musk’s tenure as a “special government employee,” a temporary status that exempts him from certain ethics and conflict-of-interest regulations. This 130-day period is set to expire in late May or early June.

International

Milei vows to make Argentina so strong that Falkland Islanders “choose” to join

Argentine President Javier Milei reaffirmed his country’s claim over the Falkland Islands (known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina) and praised the role of the nation’s armed forces during a ceremony marking the “Veterans and Fallen Soldiers of the Malvinas War Day,” commemorating 43 years since the 1982 conflict with the United Kingdom.

Argentina continues to assert sovereignty over the islands, arguing that Britain unlawfully seized them in 1833.

“If sovereignty over the Malvinas is the issue, we have always made it clear that the most important vote is the one cast with one’s feet. We hope that one day, the Malvinas residents will choose to vote with their feet and join us,” Milei stated.

“That is why we aim to become a global power—so much so that they would prefer to be Argentine, making deterrence or persuasion unnecessary. This is why we have embarked on a path of liberation, working to make Argentina the freest country in the world and once again the nation with the highest GDP per capita on the planet,” he added.