Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
(Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkey and the United Nations said, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased.
ECONOMY
* Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he would give good news to the world about grain exports after delegatios from Ukraine and Russia sign a deal under a United Nations plan to resume Kyiv's grain exports later on Friday.
* Europe's thirst for oil and gas to replace sanctioned Russian supply is reviving interest in African energy projects that were shunned due to costs and climate change concerns, industry executives and African officials said.
* Japan warned on Friday of escalating national security threats, including repercussions from Russia's war with Ukraine, Chinese intimidation of Taiwan, and vulnerable technology supply chains, in its annual defence white paper.
* A tanker carrying a liquid fertilizer product from Russia is about to arrive in the United States, sources and vessel tracking data showed in recent days. The U.S. has not blacklisted Russian agricultural commodities, including fertilizers, in the aftermath of the Ukraine invasion. Still, many Western banks and traders have steered clear of Russian supplies for fear of running afoul of rapidly changing rules.
* The Kremlin on Friday rejected a report that a turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline taking gas from Russia to Germany was stuck in transit. Reuters reported on Thursday that Russia had not yet given the go-ahead to transport the turbine back to Russia, citing two people familiar with the matter.
FIGHTING
* Any "provocations" by Russia over a deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports will meet a military response, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Friday.
* Russia's defence ministry said on Friday its forces had destroyed four U.S.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) between July 5-20.
* The United States believes that Russia's military is sustaining hundreds of casualties a day in its war in Ukraine, including having lost thousands of lieutenants and captains in total, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday.
* Russia has increased its use of air defence missiles in a secondary ground attack mode because of critical shortages of dedicated ground-attack missiles, British military intelligence said on Friday.It was not immediately possible to verify the battlefield reports.
(Compiled by Nick Macfie)
