Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Ukraine’s national energy company Energoatom said on Telegram that the Russian staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “is completely incompetent and does not have the appropriate experience,” according to an NBC News translation.

“During the last week, due to the constant physical and psychological pressure of the occupiers, about 30 licensed personnel of the ZNPP left Enerhodar. They managed to reach the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine,” Energoatom wrote in a post, referencing the Zaporizhzhia, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

“Remember that the decisions of illegitimate managers can lead to violations of the nuclear and radiation safety standards of the station,” the post on Telegram added.

— Amanda Macias

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the recent Russian attacks targeting port infrastructure in cities along Ukraine’s Black Sea.

“These attacks are also having an impact well beyond Ukraine. We are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone, but especially vulnerable people in the global south,” Guterres stated.

Guterres added that the destruction of civilian infrastructure may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law. 

— Amanda Macias

Wheat prices rose for the third consecutive day following tensions amid Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement that established a maritime humanitarian corridor.

What’s more, Russian forces have carried out several punishing rounds of missile and drone attacks against port and grain infrastructure.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias

Ryanair said on Thursday it plans to base up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft at Ukraine’s three main airports and fly over 5 million passengers a year when the fighting eventually ends, according to Reuters.

The airline’s statement came as Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary met Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksandr Kubrakov in Kyiv and visited Boryspil international airport, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) east of the capital.

The Irish company, which was Ukraine’s second-largest airline before Russia’s invasion, plans to expand from just serving Kharkiv and Kherson to operating 600 weekly flights connecting the three main airports of Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa to over 20 European capitals.

It also plans to open daily domestic flights between the three cities as soon as those airports are able to handle them and double the number of seats to, from, and within Ukraine to over 10 million within five years.

Ryanair said the 30 new jets it plans to base in Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa will be worth over $3 billion. Ryanair sealed a multibillion-dollar deal for as many as 300 new Boeing jets in May.

“Ryanair has committed to returning with low fare flights to and from Ukraine within 8 weeks of the reopening of Ukraine air space,” O’Leary, who has previously pledged to return quickly to Ukraine once the conflict has ended, said in the statement.

— Reuters

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Thursday said Kyiv may categorize ships traveling towards Russian ports via the Black Sea, including occupied areas of Ukraine, as potential carriers of military equipment from midnight Friday.

“The Kremlin has turned the Black Sea into a danger zone, primarily for Russian ships and ships heading in the waters of the Black Sea in the direction of seaports of the Russian Federation and Ukrainian seaports located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia,” the Ukrainian ministry of defense said, according to a Google translation.

It comes a day after Russia said it would do the same for all vessels sailing on the Black Sea toward Ukrainian ports, which it would consider involved in the conflict.

Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a humanitarian corridor allowing the export of Ukrainian grain, on Monday. Wheat and corn futures have since risen sharply amid concerns of global shortages.

— Jenni Reid

A person was killed in Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian port Mykolaiv, a Ukrainian official told Ukraine’s state news agency Ukrinform.

“The rescuers have recovered the man’s body from under the rubble. Now they are looking for one more person,” said Iliana Patsiuk, the spokesperson for the State Emergency Service’s main office in the Mykolaiv region.

Earlier, Vitaly Kim, head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, estimated that 19 individuals had been injured in an overnight Russian offensive. He later said on Telegram that “unfortunately, there are wounded and dead,” without specifying numbers.

Mykolaiv and Odesa have been under Russian fire in recent days, in retaliation for what Moscow described as Ukraine’s “terrorist attack” on the Crimean bridge.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will participate online in a BRICS meeting on Thursday, then join in person during the coalition’s August gathering, a spokesperson confirmed.

The next meeting between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is scheduled for 22-24 August. It generated furious speculation over the possibility of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s in-person attendance, given the International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest.

Putin on Wednesday confirmed he would not go in person, with Russia’s Tass news agency now reporting the Russian head of state will attend all sessions of the August leaders’ meeting virtually, according to a Google translation.

— Jenni Reid

Germany and Ukraine’s international allies are ramping up efforts to get grain exports from Ukraine by rail, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Brussels, in comments reported by Reuters.

“Hundreds of thousands of people, not to say millions, urgently need the grain from Ukraine, which is why we are working with all our international partners so that the grain in Ukraine does not rot in silos in the next few weeks, but reaches the people of the world who urgently need it,” Baerbock said.

Ukraine’s grain exports are at the forefront of international attention, after Russia withdrew from an agreement allowing such seaborne deliveries earlier this week.

— Jenni Reid

Wheat futures continued to rise Thursday after Russia fired weapons at Ukrainian port cities and storage infrastructure for a third day in the wake of its withdrawal from negotiations over a Black Sea export deal.

Chicago wheat contracts with September expiry were up 2.65% to a just over three-week high at 9:44 a.m. London time, after an 8% spike Wednesday.

Forces of Russian paramilitary group Wagner, which formerly served the Kremlin in its hostilities in Ukraine, will carry out combat exercises alongside Belarus’ army troops, Russian state news agency Tass said in a Google-translated report that cited Belarus’ Defense Ministry.

The drills will take place at one of Minsk’s military bases near Brest on the Belarusian-Polish border.

Part of Wagner’s forces took refuge in Belarus after the failed insurrection of their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, against Moscow in June. Minsk offered Wagner fighters sanctuary, but has yet to disclose how many such mercenaries it is hosting.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russia’s Monday decision to pull out of a pact on Ukrainian grain exports imperils global food security, EU foreign affairs head Josep Borrell said Thursday, according to Reuters.

“What we already know is that this is going to create a big and huge food crisis in the world,” Borrell said, ahead of an EU foreign ministers’ meeting. He also echoed Ukraine in accusing Russia of deliberately targeting grain storage sites at the major embattled port hub of Odesa, which Moscow has been striking in recent days.

On Monday, Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which had, for nearly a year, allowed a humanitarian corridor for the export of Ukrainian grains into global markets during war time.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

— Ruxandra Iordache

At least 19 people were injured after Russian aerial attacks against the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv, regional military administration head Vitaly Kim said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.

“As a result of the impact, several floors of a three-story building were destroyed and a fire with an area of ​​450 square meters broke out,” he said. “In total, 19 people were injured as a result of the rocket attack. Eight people sought medical help – two were hospitalized, including a child.”

Ukraine’s air force on Telegram said that Russian troops once more struck the southern regions of Ukraine, hitting Mykolaiv and fellow port Odesa on the night of July 20, according to a Google translation. Russia has targeted both hubs in its offensives in recent days, following what Moscow calls a “terrorist attack” against the Crimean bridge.

Oleh Kiper of the Odesa administration said two people were hospitalized as a result of the latest hostilities, in Google-translated comments on Telegram.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian strikes on Ukrainian port cities continued overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on the Telegram messaging app, according to a Google translation.

Russia fired 19 missiles and 19 drones, some of which hit ports, residential buildings and shopping areas in Odesa and Mykolaiv, the air force said. It said it shot down two sea-based cruise missiles, three surface-based cruise missiles and 13 Shahed drones.

It is the third consecutive night of strikes, according to Ukrainian officials.

— Jenni Reid

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on its official Telegram channel that all vessels sailing toward Ukrainian ports will be considered military cargo carriers.

The announcement follows Moscow’s exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a maritime humanitarian corridor used for agricultural exports.

Russia’s military also said that all vessels transiting this waterway “will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime.”

— Amanda Macias

Russia’s missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa and the surrounding area over the last two days destroyed 60,000 tons of grain as well as crucial infrastructure, Ukraine’s minister of agriculture said Wednesday.

“The night-time attack put a considerable part of the grain export infrastructure in the port of Chornomorsk out of operation,” Mykola Solsky said via the Telegram app, according to a Google translation.

The port of Chornomorsk, in the Odesa region, has been a key port for the export of Ukraine’s grain and other agricultural products like corn and sunflower seeds. Before the war, Ukraine and Russia together accounted for 25% of the world’s grain exports.

The two days of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s ports immediately followed Russia’s withdrawal from a U.N.-brokered grain deal that allowed the safe passage of Ukrainian export ships out of the Black Sea. They also followed an explosion on Crimea’s Kerch Bridge that Moscow blames on Kyiv, though Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for it.

The U.N. and Western and Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of essentially attacking all those who rely on Ukraine’s grain exports, and of risking a hunger crisis. A large portion of Ukrainian grain and food products go to the Middle East and Africa.

— Natasha Turak