Ukraine

Months of diplomacy have yielded a set of agreements allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts assess gains from the accord, which could be significant even if it does not by itself push down global food prices.

During their visit to Kyiv, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Poland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau, and OSCE Secretary General, Helga Maria Schmid have announced a new OSCE support programme for Ukraine. … The new support programme sets out the implementation of approximately 25 projects. 

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said, if both parties agreed, the UN was ready to send experts to the frontline town of Olenivka where the incident occurred on July 29.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the official start of the operation based in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, that will help implement the UN-brokered deal to resume exports of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, amid the ongoing conflict and rising food prices worldwide. 

At a conference in the Hague hosted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), among others, representatives from 40 nations agreed to coordinate efforts to bring perpetrators of war crimes in Ukraine to justice.

A report by the world’s largest security body on Thursday (14 July) expressed “grave concern” about alleged mistreatment of tens of thousands of Ukrainians at so-called filtration centres set up by Russia in occupied territories of Ukraine.

The UN Secretary-General is appalled by the deadly missile attack on Thursday against the city of Vinnytsia in central Ukraine, that reportedly killed at least 22 people, far from the frontline of the main fighting in the east, including three children and wounded more than 100 others, his Spokesperson said in a statement. 

The UN chief on Wednesday described progress between Russia and Ukraine on allowing the resumption of grain exports during UN-brokered talks in Türkiye, as a “ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world.”

Ukraine says it is investigating more than 21,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression allegedly committed by Russia since the start of its invasion.

Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday (4 July).