Russia Hits Ukraine Grain Export Route Near Romania

Russian drones on Wednesday damaged infrastructure at a Ukrainian port on the Danube, as Moscow targeted facilities vital for grain shipments from Ukraine following the collapse of a key export arrangement.

Türkiye, which along with the United Nations brokered the deal to allow Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, urged Russia after the port strike not to take steps that would escalate tensions.

Russia struck a grain elevator in the port of Izmail which sits just across the Danube River from Romania, damaging silos, warehouses and administrative buildings, Kyiv said.

Izmail is now the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products via Romania, following Russia's withdrawal last month from the Black Sea grain agreement.

The deal had allowed around 33 million tons of grain to leave Ukrainian ports, easing fears of global food shortages after the start of the conflict.

Russia has been pounding the seaports in the Odesa region that were key for the grain exports granted safe passage under the deal.

"No steps should be taken that will escalate tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a phone call.

Erdogan emphasized to Putin the significance of a grain deal that he called a "bridge for peace", the Turkish leader's office said.

'Unacceptable'

Failure to re-establish the grain deal "will not benefit anyone" and nations in need will suffer the most, Erdogan said.

In the same call, Putin asked Erdogan to aid Russia export its grain to African countries vulnerable to food shortages.

"The mood for cooperation with Türkiye and other interested states on this issue was expressed," the Kremlin said in statement.

But Paris accused Moscow of "pursuing its own interest at the expense of the most vulnerable", putting global food security at risk with the strikes on grain infrastructure.

With the Black Sea route effectively blocked, the formerly obscure ports of Izmail and Reni on the Danube have become crucial to global food supplies.

But the transit hubs are struggling to process all the arriving grain, causing massive bottlenecks, and have been targeted by Russia.

The overnight strike damaged nearly 40,000 tons of grain destined for Africa, China, and Israel, Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said that Russia's repeated attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure along the river were "unacceptable".

Ukraine needed "more air defense" to repel Russian attacks, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said Wednesday on Telegram.

In Kyiv, more than 10 Russian drones were downed during an overnight strike that left several floors of a glass high-rise damaged, the city's military administration said.

"Groups of drones entered Kyiv simultaneously from several directions," said Sergiy Popko, head of the administration.

Popko said Russia had used a barrage of Iranian-made drones, with debris hitting several areas.

Naval drills

In the Golosiivsky district, "parts of a drone fell on a playground" and a fire broke out in a non-residential building, he said, adding that emergency services were on the scene.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko had said earlier that the attack on the capital had damaged several areas, including the busy Solomyansky district.

The attacks came a day after Russia said it downed a wave of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow and vessels in the Black Sea.

A skyscraper in Moscow's business district housing government offices was struck for the second time in a few days.

Russia also said Wednesday it had launched naval drills on the Baltic Sea, involving 30 warships and boats, amid rising tensions with European countries over the Ukraine conflict.

During the drills, the navy will practice how to protect sea lanes, transport troops and military cargo, and defend the coastline, the defense ministry said.

The European Union on Thursday imposed sanctions on several Belarus police, justice and prison officials over a crackdown on anti-government activists, and on media personnel and a company accused of supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine.Travel bans in Europe and asset freezes were slapped on 38 officials, including several judges and prosecutors. The EU also froze the assets of state oil and chemicals giant Belneftekhim, The Associated Press reported.It said the company “represents a fundamental asset for the Belarusian economy and foreign policy, in particular in relation to the cooperation between Russia and Belarus in developing a common oil market.”Belneftekhim “benefits from the support” provided by President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime to lessen the impact of Western sanctions, it said.The EU also extended an export ban to firearms and the aviation and space industries.It now has imposed restrictive measures on more than 230 people and almost 40 “entities” –- often companies, banks or organizations –- since Lukashenko was returned to power three years ago in elections widely considered to be fraudulent.Journalists and activists in Belarus have faced large-scale repression since the August 2020 vote that gave Lukashenko a sixth term. Following the election, Belarus was swept by massive protests, some of which drew more than 100,000 people.

Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown. More than 35,000 people were arrested, thousands were beaten by police while in custody, and dozens of non-governmental organizations and independent media outlets were shut down.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday called for a "credible" probe into a migrant shipwreck off Greece in June in which hundreds died, saying that contrasting accounts by the Greek coastguard and survivors "were extremely concerning".

The overcrowded fishing trawler said to be carrying between 400-750 people from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt sank in international waters off Greece on its way to Italy from Libya. Some 104 men survived and authorities recovered only 82 bodies.

Survivors have recounted a doomed attempt by the Greek coast guard to tow the trawler that caused the vessel to capsize, according to interviews and evidence seen by Reuters.

The Greek coastguard and government have said no attempt was made to tow the boat and that it overturned when the coastguard was about 70 meters away.

Greek judicial authorities have launched an investigation into the causes of the disaster which could take more than a year. The acts of the coast guard are also under investigation.

In a joint statement, Amnesty and HRW said they interviewed 19 survivors, four relatives of the missing as well as nongovernmental organizations, UN agencies and representatives of the Greek coast guard and police during a visit to Greece between July 4-13.

"Survivors interviewed by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch consistently stated that the Hellenic Coast Guard vessel dispatched to the scene attached a rope to the Adriana and started towing, causing it to sway and then capsize," they said.

Judith Sunderland, Associate Europe and Central Asia Director at HRW, said the disparities between survivors' accounts and the authorities' version were "extremely concerning."

Both groups called for "a full and credible investigation into the shipwreck... to clarify any responsibility for both the sinking of the ship and delays or shortcomings in the rescue efforts that may have contributed to the appalling loss of life."

Iran plans on extending the holiday it announced to government employees in response to electricity shortage, as the temperature level ranges between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius across the country.

"The cabinet agreed to the health ministry proposal to declare Wednesday and Thursday public holidays all over the country to protect public health," the Iranian media quoted government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi as saying.

A spokesman of the health ministry described the number of heat-related illnesses in recent days as "alarming.”

In June, Iran changed summer working hours for government employees to save electricity.

IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency reported that the holiday can be extended if the health ministry decided that the heat endangers people’s health.

Professor Kaveh Madani, the Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, stated that the failure of water reserves, and the shortage of electricity and gas can’t be resolved by shutdowns and closures.

Madani previously served as the deputy of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization under former President Hassan Rouhani. He was forced to leave Iran after the IRGC-affiliated media issued security accusations against him.

Even if you have built a hundred dams, without good management there will be a lack of water, said Madani.

He added that the roots of Iran’s gas bankruptcy bear striking resemblance to the roots of its water bankruptcy but there is a crucial difference in the water and energy sectors: Iran's water is naturally limited, but the country holds one of the world's largest natural gas reserves.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) launched a military exercise on Abu Musa Island, one of three disputed islands claimed by the UAE.

The IRGC Navy and the Basij militia took part in the war game on the deployment of combat forces. It included inaugurating new boats and launching cruise missiles and drones.

The exercise aims to show “the power and combat defense readiness of the IRGC Navy in protecting the security of the Gulf ... and ... islands and it includes the use of “locally manufactured equipment and systems in the defense-based industries.”

In this exercise, the vessels of the special unit of Martyr Hojjaji that are equipped with 600-km long-range missiles were taking part to defend the island's territory, said Tasnim news agency.

Hojjaji is the name of an IRGC members who was killed in Syria.

The news agency gave no details about the missiles.

IRGC-affiliated media reported that the exercise is dubbed "Eshaq Dara" after a commander who was killed in clashes with the US forces during the Tanker War in the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War.

The drill focused on Abu Musa Island and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs which are near the Straits of Hormuz.

Iranian media released footage and images as part of the propaganda that usually goes hand in hand with military exercises.

The commander-in-chief of the IRGC, Major General Hossein Salami, and the IRGC Navy's commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, headed to Musa Island ahead of the maneuvers.

“We always try for security and tranquility; it is our way,” Salami, said in a televised address during the drill.

“Our nation is vigilant, and it gives harsh responses to all threats, complicated seditions, and secret scenarios and hostilities.”

Salami considered that all “the riots, divisions, and tensions are the outcome of US policy and the Zionist entity.”

"The islands ... are part of Iran's honor, and we will defend them," Tangsiri said, adding that Gulf security needed to be provided by regional countries.

The “Gulf belongs to all of the region's countries ... These states must be very prudent and prevent themselves from falling into the conspiracies and divisive plans of extra-regional countries," he added.

Tasnim quoted Brigadier General Ali Ozmaei, the Commander of the IRGC Navy, as saying that 1,500 members including 30 men from the Basij militia were deployed in the military exercise.

"In this exercise, Basiji fighters were quickly dispatched to Abu Musa Island by aircraft and light and heavy vessels to defend the Island, and after being transported by air and sea, the fighters were deployed in predetermined positions to defend the Island," Ozmaei added.

He went on to say that 50 soldiers participated in the training on “air assault” with helicopters, remarking the use of air and sea drones, launchers and missile launchers, and Zulfiqar boats carrying missiles on board.

Meanwhile, Iran has been trying to signal its displeasure with recent comments about the islands made by Russia.

Russia earlier this summer in a joint statement with the Gulf Cooperation Council called for "bilateral negotiations or the International Court of Justice" to decide who should control the islands.

Last month, the United States sent additional F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, along with a warship to the Middle East, in a bid to monitor waterways in the region following Iran's seizure of commercial shipping vessels in recent months.

The Pentagon dispatched the troop-and-aircraft-carrying USS Bataan to the Gulf to protect navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

For the US, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping remains a priority to ensure global energy prices don’t spike, particularly as Russia’s war on Ukraine pressures markets, said The Associated Press this week.

Iran hanged 11 on drugs charges within a 48-hour period, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Wednesday.

They were hanged between the early morning on Sunday and early Tuesday, it noted.

The group added that it recorded a total of 61 executions across Iran in July as Iran presses ahead with a surge in capital punishment that has now seen the country put to death 423 people this year.

Campaigners accuse Iran of using capital punishment as an instrument to spread fear throughout the population in the wake of the protest movement that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22. The Iranian-Kurdish woman had been detained for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

Eight men were executed on drugs charges in the main prison of Zahedan between July 30 and August 1, it said.

Another man was executed on similar charges on July 31 at a prison in Birjand city in the eastern province of Khorosan, it added.

Mohammad Arbab, 30, and 32-year-old Asadollah Amini, two Afghan nationals, were secretly executed in Zabol Prison in Sistan-Baluchistan on 30 and 31 July, it said, AFP reported.

The number of executions in Iran on drug-related charges dropped dramatically in 2018 following amendments to the anti-narcotics law but has surged again since 2021.

Rights groups say the demonstrations were targets of deadly crackdowns by the security forces in Iran's poorest region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday he hoped a Ukraine "peace summit" could be held this autumn, and that this week's talks in Saudi Arabia were a stepping stone towards that goal.

Zelenskiy told Ukrainian diplomats in a speech published on the president's website that almost 40 countries would be represented at the meeting in Jeddah on Aug 5 and 6.

"We are working on making it (the summit) happen this fall," he said.

"Autumn is very soon, but there is still time to prepare for the summit and involve most of the world's countries."

Also, Andriy Yermak,Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, affirmed in a tweet that there are preparations for the next meeting of national security advisers regarding the implementation of the Peace Formula, "which will soon take place in Saudi Arabia".

"It was one of my speech points at the Congress of local and regional authorities under the Ukrainian President," he added.

Zelenskiy and his team are working with allies to build broad support for a "peace summit" that would endorse principles to underpin a settlement to end the war started by Russia's full-scale invasion almost 18 months ago.

The summit would build on a 10-point plan outlined by Kyiv last autumn that has been actively promoted by Zelenskiy.

His vision for peace calls for the full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity and a full withdrawal of Russian troops, the protection of food and energy security, nuclear safety, the release of all prisoners, and other points.

No venue has been agreed for the summit yet.

The United States is set to evacuate some staff and families from its embassy in Niger after military officers seized power, a US official said on Wednesday, even as the mission will remain open and senior leadership will continue working from there.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a final decision was still pending but it appeared likely.

The official added that the US personnel would be moved out of Niger by aircraft chartered by the State Department and military aircraft would not be used.

West Africa's regional bloc on Wednesday said a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger was "the last resort" as Nigeria cut electricity supplies to intensify pressure on the country's coup leaders.

Military chiefs from the grouping were meeting on Wednesday to frame a response and a delegation was in Niger for negotiations, a week after a coup shook the fragile nation and prompted ex-colonial power France to evacuate its citizens.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions and gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger's democratically elected president or face potential use of force.

"(The) military option is the very last option on the table, the last resort, but we have to prepare for the eventuality," said Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security.

An ECOWAS team headed by former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar was in Niger to "negotiate", added Musah, speaking at the start of a three-day meeting of the grouping's military chiefs in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

The current chair of ECOWAS is Nigeria, West Africa's military and economic superpower.

It has vowed to take a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020, most of them the outcome of a bloody extremist insurgency.

A source in Niger's power company said Nigeria had cut off its electricity supply to its neighbor as a result of the sanctions.

"Since yesterday, Nigeria has disconnected the high-voltage line transporting electricity to Niger," the source at Nigelec, the country's monopoly supplier, told AFP.

Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, depends on Nigeria for 70 percent of its power, buying it from the Nigerian company Mainstream, according to Nigelec.

Junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso have warned that any military intervention in their neighbor would be tantamount to a "declaration of war" against them.

General Salifou Mody, one of the Niger coup leaders, arrived with a delegation in Mali's capital Bamako on Wednesday, a senior Nigerien official and a Malian security official told AFP. They did not give further details.

Europeans leave

Mohamed Bazoum, 63, was feted in 2021 after winning elections that ushered in Niger's first-ever peaceful transition of power.

He took the helm of one of the world's poorest and most unstable countries, burdened by four previous coups since independence from France in 1960.

But after surviving two attempted putsches, Bazoum himself was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.

Their leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani, has declared himself leader, but his claim has been condemned internationally.

France on Wednesday scheduled more evacuation flights from the capital Niamey following hostile anti-French demonstrations at the weekend.

By Wednesday more than 500 people had landed in Paris aboard two flights, mostly French citizens but also Portuguese, Belgians, Nigerians, Ethiopians and Lebanese evacuees.

Two final flights have been organized for Wednesday, according to the French army.

Italian authorities also said they had evacuated around 100 foreigners living in Niger, who arrived in Rome early Wednesday, with ANSA radio reporting they included 36 Italians and 21 Americans.

Germany has urged its citizens to leave, but the United States -- which has 1,100 troops stationed in Niger -- has opted to not evacuate Americans for now.

Strategic ally

Under Bazoum and his predecessor Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger has had a key role in French and Western strategies to combat an extremist insurgency that has rampaged across the Sahel since 2012.

After joining a regional revolt in northern Mali, armed extremists advanced into Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015 and now carry out sporadic attacks on fragile states on the Gulf of Guinea.

Countless numbers of civilians, troops and police have been killed across the region, many in massacres, while around 2.2 million people in Burkina Faso alone have fled their homes.

The impact has contributed to army takeovers in all three Sahel countries and inflicted devastating damage to economies at the very bottom of the world's wealth table.

France at one point had about 5,400 troops in its anti-extremist Barkhane mission, supported by fighter jets, helicopters and drones.

But that mission had to be drastically refocused on Niger last year, when France pulled out of Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with their juntas.

Today, the reconfigured French force has around 1,500 men, many of them deployed at a major air base near Niamey.

France's army chief of staff announced on Tuesday that a pullout was "not on the agenda".

China's capital has recorded its heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years over the past few days after being deluged with heavy rains from the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri.

The city recorded 744.8 millimeters (29.3 inches) of rain between Saturday and Wednesday morning, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said Wednesday.

Beijing and the surrounding province of Hebei have been hit by severe flooding because of the record rainfall, with waters rising to dangerous levels. The rain destroyed roads and knocked out power and even pipes carrying drinking water. It flooded rivers surrounding the capital, leaving cars waterlogged, while lifting others onto bridges meant for pedestrians.

Among the hardest hit areas is Zhuozhou, a small city in Hebei province that borders Beijing's southwest. On Tuesday night, police there issued a plea on social media for lights to assist with rescue work.

Rescue teams traversed the flooded city in rubber boats as they evacuated residents who were stuck in their homes without running water, gas or electricity since Tuesday afternoon.

“I didn’t think it would be that severe, I thought it was just a little bit of water and that it would recede,” said 54-year-old Wang Huiying. She ended up spending the night on the third floor of her building as the water seeped into the first floor, which holds her steamed bread shop. All the machinery is now underwater.

It's unknown how many people are trapped in flood-stricken areas in the city and surrounding villages. Rescue teams from other provinces came to Zhuozhou to assist with evacuations.

“We have to grasp every second, every minute to save people,” said Zhong Hongjun, the head of a rescue team from coastal Jiangsu province. Zhong said he had been working since 2 a.m. Wednesday when they arrived, and expects to work into the night. They’ve rescued about 200 people so far. “A lot of the people we saved are elderly and children,” he said.

On Wednesday, waters in Gu'an county in Hebei, which borders Zhuozhou, reached as high as halfway up a pole where a surveillance camera was installed.

Gu'an county resident Liu Jiwen, 58, was evacuated from his village on Tuesday night. “There’s nothing we can do. It’s natural disaster,” he said.

Two other people were trying to pass through the flooded areas to rescue a relative trapped in a nearby village.

Nearly 850,000 people have been relocated, local authorities in Hebei province said.

On Wednesday, the number of confirmed deaths from the torrential rains around Beijing rose to 21 after the body of a rescuer was recovered. Wang Hong-chun, 41, was with other rescuers in a rubber boat when it flipped over in a rapidly flowing river. Four of her teammates survived.

At least 26 people remain missing from the rains.

The previous record for rainfall was in 1891, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said Wednesday, when the city received 609 millimeters (24 inches) of rain. The earliest precise measurements made by machines are from 1883.

Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, called the recent rainfall “extreme.” Last year's total rainfall in Beijing did not even top 500 millimeters (19.6 inches).

Ma said there should be a review of how cities are planned because some places experience repeat flooding. “We need to avoid building large-scale construction ... in low-lying areas,” Ma said.

The record rainfall from Doksuri, now downgraded to a tropical storm, may not be the last. Typhoon Khanun, which lashed Japan on Wednesday, is expected to head toward China later this week. The powerful storm, with surface winds of up to 180 kph (111 mph), may also hit Taiwan before it reaches China.

Thousands of people were evacuated to shelters in schools and other public buildings in suburban Beijing and in nearby cities. The central government is disbursing 44 million yuan ($6.1 million) for disaster relief in affected provinces.

The severity of the flooding took the Chinese capital by surprise. Beijing usually has dry summers but had a stretch of record-breaking heat this year.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard launched a surprise military drill Wednesday on disputed islands in the Arabian Gulf.

It unveiled new vessels equipped with 600-km range missiles.

The drill focused primarily on Abu Musa Island, though the Guard also landed forces on the Greater Tunb Island as well, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported. Ships, drones and missile units took part in the drill, the report said.

Those two islands, along with another one, remain claimed by the United Arab Emirates.

“We always try for security and tranquility; it is our way," the Guard’s chief, Gen. Hossein Salami, said in a televised address during the drill. "Our nation is vigilant, and it gives harsh responses to all threats, complicated seditions and secret scenarios and hostilities.”

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