War in Ukraine: Recent Developments

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Russia says it is withdrawing its forces from Ukraine’s Snake Island to facilitate Ukraine’s resumption of agricultural exports.

“On June 30, as a goodwill gesture, Russian forces completed their duties on Snake Island and withdrew a garrison stationed there,” Russia’s Defense Ministry says, adding that the move shows Moscow’s efforts to resume exports “not disabled”. from nearby Ukrainian ports.

Ukraine hails the liberation of the “strategically important” island and says Russian forces have been driven off by Ukrainian shelling and rocket attacks.

Snake Island became a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance after a radio exchange early in the war went viral in which Ukrainian soldiers used a swear word to urge a Russian ship to surrender.

A ship with 7,000 tons of grain sets sail from the occupied Ukrainian port of Berdyansk. Pro-Russian officials claim this is the first such shipment from a Ukrainian port since the war began.

Berdyansk was one of the first cities to fall to Russian troops at the beginning of the war.

Evgeny Balitsky, the region’s Moscow-appointed administrator, says the Russian Navy secured grain shipments headed for unnamed “friendly countries.”

A Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has prevented the export of millions of tons of grain and exacerbated global food shortages.

Ukraine has accused Russia and its allies of stealing its grain, allegations also made by the New York Times and the BBC, among others.

Russian lawmakers are approving laws that will make it easier to shut down foreign media, continuing a media crackdown and dissent that sharply intensified after the invasion of Ukraine.

The legislation gives authorities the right to ban or restrict “the activities of media outlets” from abroad “in the event of unfriendly acts by a foreign state towards Russian media abroad”.

Many foreign journalists fled Russia after the authorities introduced prison sentences of up to 15 years in March for spreading “fake news” about the Russian army.

But most major news outlets continue to have a presence in the country.

According to Russia, it still holds more than 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The announcement comes a day after the two sides announced a prisoner swap in which each side retrieved 144 fighters — the largest exchange since the war began.

The returned Ukrainian prisoners included 95 former defenders of the Azovstal Steelworks in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian troops held out for weeks.

Britain pledges a further £1 billion ($1.2 billion) in military aid to Ukraine to help it fight the invasion, bringing its total aid since the start of the war to £2.3 billion.

The aid will include “sophisticated air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, innovative new electronic warfare equipment and thousands of vital pieces of equipment for Ukrainian soldiers,” says London.

Britain is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine in terms of military aid.

It was one of the first nations to provide lethal military aid, such as anti-tank missiles, to Ukraine.