“The Biden administration is putting $100 million into a new program to provide Ukrainian farmers with vital supplies in order to maintain future harvests and alleviate the global food security crisis that has been exasperated by Russia's war on the country.

Some Ukrainian farms have turned into battlefields and farmers who have maintained their harvests have been unable to get machinery and other key supplies including fertilizer, seeds and storage bins that would typically arrive through Black Sea ports. Ukraine — the world's fourth-largest exporter of corn and the fifth-largest exporter of wheat — has also been largely unable to export their agricultural products due to Russia's invasion.

The initiative will also include financing for farmers who are facing rising prices at a time their incomes have been severely hit.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has already been working with more than 8,000 Ukrainian farmers to get the inputs they need to bolster their yields and the new Ukraine Agriculture Resilience Initiative (AGRI-Ukraine) effort will expend those efforts.”-via CNN

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“Russian gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline are seen restarting on time on Thursday after the completion of scheduled maintenance, two sources familiar with the export plans told Reuters.

The pipeline, which accounts for more than a third of Russian natural gas exports to the European Union, was halted for ten days of annual maintenance on July 11.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters the pipeline was expected to resume operation on time, but at less than its capacity of some 160 million cubic metres (mcm) per day.”-via Reuters (this article comes with the note “This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine”)

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“U.S. President Joe Biden, with flowers in hand, and first lady Jill Biden welcomed Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, to the White House on Tuesday for a visit ahead of her address to Congress on Wednesday.

Zelenska, the wife of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, embraced Jill Biden and received the flowers from the president, who met her vehicle outside.

Afterwards, the two women and delegations from both countries sat down for a meeting in the White House Blue Room.

Jill Biden had made a surprise visit to Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24, in May, visiting her counterpart and a school that was sheltering displaced Ukrainians.

Zelenskiy later said he expected "significant results" from his wife's meetings in Washington.

Her tasks include increasing U.S. support for Ukraine, obtaining additional support to "protect people from Russian terror" and boosting humanitarian assistance, he said in a late-night video address.”-via Reuters

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“The European Union is set to add Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, and the head of giant zinc and copper firm UMMC to its blacklist of individuals and companies accused of supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according a draft document seen by Reuters.

The new list of 48 officials and nine entities to be blacklisted, prepared by the EU foreign affairs service, also includes leaders of the Night Wolves motorcycle club, actors, politicians, the deputy head of a Russian security service, family members of sanctioned oligarchs and military people.

Adding Sberbank to the blacklist would freeze its assets in the west and completely prevent transactions, with the exception of financial operations for the trade in food and fertiliser, an EU official told Reuters.”-via The Guardian

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“The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, said the number of missiles being fired at the southern city on a daily basis far exceeds what its air defenses can deal with.

Sienkevych said in a news conference Tuesday that "for several weeks, the city has been shelled every morning."

"Therefore, it is better to leave the city to save (lives)," he added.

Russia has recently resorted to using S-300 missiles — which are normally anti-air weapons — against Mykolaiv.