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.
The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko embed with the 15th Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, also known as Kara Dag, part of the 1st Azov Corps, joining an FPV drone team living and fighting out of the city’s basements.
Air-raid sirens rang out around 11:20 a.m., with Ukraine's Air Force reporting Russian missiles heading to the Ukrainian capital.
Regional authorities reported that a mass Ukrainian drone attack damaged a residential building, a gas pipe, and unspecified "commercial property." While the facility was not identified, the report follows a string of Ukrainian strikes on logistics centers serving the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries.
The number includes 1,450 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.
The cause of the fire remains unclear. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry announced a drone threat over Saratov Oblast the night of the fire, and the air base has been targeted in several previous Ukrainian strikes.
Russia plans to launch a massive missile attack against Ukraine within 48 hours and is preparing for a "significant" wave of mobilization in the fall, President Volodymyr Zelensky said July 24.
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.
Nikita Malyshev signed a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry on April 8, the day after his 18th birthday. A little more than two months later, he was dead, becoming the youngest known Russian serviceman killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Malyshev came from Buryatia, a remote Russian republic in eastern Siberia that has supplied some of the highest numbers of contract soldiers and suffered some of the highest losses of any region since the start of the full-scale invasion. Days afte
