TheOldGuy @TheOldGuy@qoto.org

Donald Trump, if re-elected as US president, might insist on Ukraine's refusal to join NATO, according to the Financial Times. JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, has supported the idea of a neutral Ukraine, suggesting this approach could guarantee both Kyiv's independence and its neutrality. Vance mentioned in an interview with the New York Times in June that neutrality is a significant concern for Russia.

Ukraine, on the other hand, is adamant about restoring its full territorial integrity, including Crimea. The US and its European allies have pledged to support Ukraine for as long as necessary and have stated they will not impose peace terms on the Ukrainians. Gideon Rahman, chief international affairs columnist at the Financial Times, highlighted that the primary obstacle to peace is not just Ukraine's reluctance to make territorial concessions but also Russia's demand for a settlement involving the control of 80% of Ukraine's territory, which it currently does not possess. Ukrainians require guarantees that Russia will not use a peace settlement to rearm and launch further offensives.

Kyiv's stance is that Ukraine should join NATO to be covered by the Alliance's collective security guarantees. The recent NATO summit declared that "the future of Ukraine is in NATO," but specified this would occur "when the Allies agree and the conditions are met."

An alternative proposal in Washington is the "Israeli option," which would avoid a formal treaty obligation to defend Ukraine. Instead, it would involve providing advanced Western military aid to Ukraine, enabling it to independently deter future Russian aggression.

Belarusian self-proclaimed President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned German citizen Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death, according to media reports.

Rico Krieger, 30, worked as an ambulance paramedic for the Red Cross and was detained in November 2023. He was accused of being a member of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, a Belarusian volunteer unit fighting alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Krieger was sentenced to death on six counts, including "terrorism," "participation in an extremist community," and "mercenarism."

Hungary Vetoes EU Joint Statement on Venezuelan Election Irregularities

According to Politico, Hungary has vetoed a European Union joint statement addressing flaws and irregularities in Venezuela's presidential election. Two officials familiar with the discussions reported that EU countries intended to express their concerns over the election results in a joint statement on Monday, but Hungary's position blocked this effort.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell later issued a personal statement, noting that "credible reports from domestic and international observers indicate that the election was marred by numerous flaws and irregularities." Recognizing Hungary's likely intransigence, Borrell decided to issue a second statement on his own behalf on Tuesday, instead of seeking unanimous support from the EU's 27 member states.

"Hungary's veto highlights a fundamental flaw in the EU's foreign policy, which requires unanimous agreement among all 27 member states for decisions, including potential future sanctions against Venezuela," the article explains. This situation has prompted some countries, like Germany, to advocate for making foreign policy decisions by a qualified majority.

🙅🏼‍♂️ Prime Minister Shmyhal Reaffirms Sanctions Against Lukoil, Addresses Slovakia's Energy Security Concerns

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that Ukraine will not lift sanctions against Lukoil and emphasized that these sanctions do not threaten Slovakia. Instead, Shmyhal pointed out that the real threat to Slovakia's energy security comes from "Russia, its hybrid energy war against the Slovak people, its blackmail, and political ultimatums."

"Slovakia is our reliable partner, from whom we do not expect blackmail or threats. Threatening Ukraine, which is defending itself from an aggressor, to allow the terrorist state to continue earning its bloody excess profits, is a dubious way," Shmyhal added.

According to Ishchenko's daughter, her father died nine days ago. However, the Ukrainian side was not officially notified of this and was not informed of the cause of death, said Ombudsman of Ukraine Lubinets.

Lubinets informed international human rights organizations about this so that they could record the death of the prisoner of war and pay attention to the conditions of detention of Ukrainian captured defenders.

@liveukraine_media

A prisoner of war from the Azov brigade, Oleksandr Ishchenko, died in a Russian detention center, the Russian media outlet Mediaphone reported. The causes and circumstances of the death are currently unknown.

The soldier was 55 years old. In February 2022, he joined the Azov TRO as a military driver, and in the spring he was taken prisoner by Russia. He was accused of “participating in the activities of a terrorist organization” and “attempting to seize power by force.”

Azov's press service told Suspilne they did not comment on the information.

@liveukraine_media

❗️In the video, a heavily intoxicated Russian woman named Elya admits she's been touching (meaning beating) a Ukrainian girl that she adopted from Mariupol ‘for as long as the war has been going on’.

The video with her confession was published on July 28 on the TG channel ‘K-Inform Surgut’ with the following comment:

“A certain lady, sitting on social networks with signs of intoxication, tells everyone that she adopted a girl from Mariupol and regularly beats her. Judging by her story, she openly hates her and starts fights with her. I ask the guardianship service to respond and take action. Thank you in advance."

In the video, Elya gives the person she's talking to her address. It’s 5 Lenin Street in Surgut.

@liveukraine_media

The United States has agreed to equip the F-16 fighter jets being sent to Ukraine with advanced American-made missiles and other modern weaponry, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Denmark and the Netherlands are preparing to deliver the first batch of these American-made F-16s to Ukraine this summer. Until recently, it was unclear where the critical weapons for these aircraft would come from.

Despite the Pentagon's limited stockpiles and production capabilities, it will supply the F-16s with air-to-ground munitions, precision bomb guidance kits, and advanced air-to-air missiles. This will be done in quantities sufficient to meet Ukraine's most pressing needs, according to a senior American official.

From ‘The Analyst’ (Military & Strategic) X: MilStratOnX

RUSSIAN ‘ECONOMIC LIES’

Eight EU finance ministers have signed a letter stating in considerable detail, that the Russian Government is basically lying out of its bank teeth in regard to its economic activity.
I doubt you’re surprised.
Russian official inflation figure are now at a high 8.3%. Unofficial figures say it’s 36%.
Interest rates have been raised to 18.3%. That means interest on a mortgage is around 23%.
Factory gate prices are officially rising by 14% - which means the official inflation rate is clearly out of step.
Russia has stopped exporting sugar in all formats. They basically haven’t got enough for domestic use and can’t buy enough to meet demand from abroad.
All refined oil products remain on a black list. Again, refinery capacity has been reduced, and mechanised systems just don’t have access to repairs to make them viable again.
Add a shortage of workers, tight consumer goods supply but high demand, and you have a recipe for inflation.
Yet the Russian economy is longer a capitalist one, it’s become re-sovietised. The state prints money, the state spends that money on weapons, the company building the weapons pays the people who work for it, they pay taxes to the state that circle eventually back into their salaries. But they are building weapons. Weapons that have to be maintained and paid for until they are used up. The state is paying again. Everywhere the state is the buyer and bill payer. And the state is struggling to find the money, its currency is valueless outside of its own country. Only an ever thinning export of oil is propping it up.
It’s a closed circle incapable of investment and self financed invention.
Russian companies claim they are being deliberately bankrupted by the state not paying its bills. Forcing the company into liquidation- and suddenly along comes the state to buy up the shares of owners while they are near worthless.
Russia is not some economic success. Its figures are lies, its economy is struggling to stand up and it has turned to soviet era economics to get its way. These are simply unsustainable.
Russia knows it, we all do. The question is how long can they keep it all going? That may depend on the national wealth fund - but even that is declining at a rapid pace.
All of this would indicate why Russia is so desperate to resolve the front line to its advantage now. It simply doesn’t have the means to do it later.

Breaking: Lukashenko pardoned German Rico Krieger, sentenced to death in Belarus

Qoto seems to be accepting larger videos. Let's try this one

The two ships Britain built for Ukraine

The Russians in Toretsk tried to use an FPV drone to hit the evacuation vehicle with which Vlada Liberova, a well-known Ukrainian military photographer, was working.

She was saved by a concrete bunker, into which she ran a second before the impact, a meter away.

The situation in Toretsk is deteriorating as the russians are advancing towards the city.

⚠ WARNING!
Missile danger throughout the territory of Ukraine! MiG-31K takes off from Astrakhan!

⚠ WARNING
🚀 The threat of using the Kh-47M2 "Dagger" aeroballistic missile! Stay in shelters!

❗️6 Tu-95MS enemy strategic bombers are flying in the Penza region in the direction of the Saratov region

+-20 minutes before arriving at the potential missile launch zone. We do not ignore alerts.

There are 45-50 Shaheds in the Ukrainian airspace.

🪢 Thirty-nine (!) units of russian equipment and twenty-eight enemy UAVs of various types were damaged or destroyed by the fighters of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade named after Yakov Handziuk over the past weekend.
In addition, the "steppe predators" eliminated 206 occupiers.

The defeat of the russian attack trying to break through the defense of the 79th Ukrainian paratroopers in the Kurakhiv direction

Despite the insane amount of enemy equipment, all the enemy's efforts were again multiplied by zero: during the battle, our soldiers hit 12 armored combat vehicles, 8 Russian tanks, 9 motorbikes and buggies. 36 occupiers were destroyed, another 32 were wounded.

These shots show the brilliant combat work of our gunners, operators of attack drones, anti-tankers, sappers, and our heroic infantry.

Crippled Russian stormtroopers with their limbs torn off, who felt the fury of the Taurian paratroopers and rushed to crawl from the battlefield in panic - this is what should be shown to everyone who is still going to take part in their "Special Military Operation".

Graphic

❗️The European Commission will ask Hungary to explain in detail how Budapest relaxes visa requirements for citizens of Russia and Belarus - EC spokeswoman Anita Hipper

Hipper added that Hungary, when allowing citizens of third countries, is obliged to ensure the fulfillment of all requirements for entry into the Schengen zone.

"This applies not only to the presence of visas or valid residence permits, but also to their absence from the red lists in the Schengen databases," she noted.

Poland joined the case of Ukraine against the Russian Federation regarding genocide at the International Court of Justice of the United Nations

"Poland submitted to the secretariat of the Court an application for permission to enter the case in accordance with Article 62 of the Statute of the Court and an application for joinder in accordance with Article 63 of the Statute of the Court in the case regarding allegations of genocide in accordance with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the case of Ukraine v. of the Russian Federation)", the message says. It is noted that the right to intervene in a case under consideration by the International Court of Justice of the United Nations is provided by Article 62, if a state believes that it has an interest of a legal nature that may be affected by the decision in the case, it can submit a request to the Court with a request to allow it intervene