#toretsk

“Russian forces shelled a town in eastern Ukraine on Monday, killing six people, Ukrainian officials have said.

Rescue workers in blue helmets were seen digging through debris and clearing rubble from a collapsed two-storey building in Toretsk in the industrial east after it was struck by Russian artillery early on Monday, Agence France-Press reports.

I had my windows open. There was a huge explosion around 5am - stones and dust,” local resident Nadia told AFP.

Emergency services said the bodies of five people had been recovered from the rubble, while a sixth, seriously wounded, had died in hospital.

According to reports, a residential building, school, kindergarten and medical college were also damaged.”-via The Guardian

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“European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday another 500 million euros ($504 million) of EU funding to supply arms to Ukraine, taking the bloc's security support to 2.5 billion euros since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

"Today at the EU foreign ministers meeting, a political agreement was reached on the fifth tranche of military assistance to Ukraine," Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in a statement.

The money should help the EU continue to jointly buy equipment and supplies for the Ukrainian military, including lethal weaponry, which the bloc has said should be used for defensive purposes.

EU rules normally prevent the bloc from using its seven-year budget to fund military operations, but the so-called European Peace Facility, which has a limit of 5 billion euros, is off-budget and can be used to provide military aid.”-via Reuters

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“Russia's Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of 'extraordinary' circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the West over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The July 14 letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was retroactively declaring force majeure on supplies dating from June 14. The news comes as Nord Stream 1, the key pipeline delivering Russian gas to Germany and beyond, is undergoing annual maintenance meant to conclude on Thursday.

The letter added to Europe's fears that Moscow could keep the pipeline mothballed in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, heightening an energy crisis that risks tipping the region into recession.

Known as an 'act of God' clause, force majeure is standard in business contracts and spells out extreme circumstances that excuse a party from their legal obligations.

Russian gas supplies have been declining via major routes for some months, including via Ukraine and Belarus as well as through Nord Stream 1 under the Baltic Sea.

A trading source, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the force majeure concerned supplies through Nord Stream 1.

"This sounds like a first hint that the gas supplies via NS1 will possibly not resume after the 10-day maintenance has ended," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro.

“Depending on what ‘extraordinary’ circumstances have in mind in order to declare the force majeure, and whether these issues are technical or more political, it could mean the next step in escalation between Russia and Europe/Germany," he added.

Uniper, Germany's biggest importer of Russian gas, was among the customers who said they had received a letter, and that it had formally rejected the claim as unjustified.”-via Reuters

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“Jill Biden will host Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska at the White House Tuesday afternoon, according to a release from the East Wing. The two women are slated to talk privately during a scheduled bilateral meeting.

Biden and Zelenska first met in person in May when Biden made a stealth trip to Ukraine. The first ladies had been in communication prior to their meeting, which was the first time Zelenska emerged from hiding since the start of the Russian invasion in February.

During their one-hour closed meeting, Zelenska shared with Biden her concerns for the emotional health of Ukrainian children.

Zelenska is scheduled to arrive at the White House at 1:30 p.m. ET.”

-via CNN

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will deliver remarks before the US Congress on Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office announced Monday.

All members of the House and Senate are invited to the speech, which is set for 11 a.m. ET in the Congressional Auditorium at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC.

-via CNN

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“The United States will continue to provide intelligence to Ukraine after recent personnel changes in the inner circle of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the US state department said on Monday.

Zelenskiy removed from office the head of Ukraine’s security service and top prosecutor in Kyiv’s biggest internal purge of the war, citing the failure of the two to root out Russian spies.

State department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters in a news briefing:

“We are in daily contact with our Ukrainian partners ... We invest not in personalities, we invest in institutions.

We do have an intelligence-sharing relationship with our Ukrainian counterparts ... We continue to proceed ahead with that.”