The grain corridor — a Black Sea shipping route that handles 90% of Ukraine’s agricultural exports — has not been officially closed, but it is under enormous strain as Russia steps up missile attacks on Odesa Oblast, Oleh Khomenko, CEO of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), told the Kyiv Independent on July 24.
In late June, President Volodymyr Zelensky tasked Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) with launching a "40-day influence operation" designed to compel Russia to "end the war." In the weeks following, Ukraine's mid- and long-range drones scored some headline-grabbing successes — the crippling of dozens of Russian tankers supplying occupied Crimea and, perhaps most notably, the destruction of several warehouses across the country belonging to online retailer Wildberries. But 40 days later, Russia's
According to local journalist Vitalii Hlahola, who cited sources in law enforcement, several current and former members of staff were searched in their homes.
Speaking on Aug. 5, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the incident as a "hybrid attack scenario."
The Munich General Prosecutor's Office and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office said that there are "strong grounds" to suspect the man was a "low-level agent" acting on behalf of the intelligence service of a foreign nation.
The statement comes after drone incidents and incursions in all three Baltic states have raised tensions in the region.
High temperatures across Europe led Hungary to temporarily power down the country's only nuclear power plant on July 29 and increase electricity imports from its neighbors, including Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent’s Business Desk covers the biggest news in business, economics, and tech from Ukraine, as well as global developments that shape the economy of the region.
Legal experts from First Department, a Russian human rights group, said the restrictions are "similar to de facto deprivation of citizenship."
