Updated on 7/30/2022 at 8:29 am
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about the detainee exchanges.
- Dozens of Ukrainian POWs died in an attack on a camp in the Donetsk region. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of another war crime.
- Former US General David Petraeus thinks it possible that Ukraine could retake Russian-occupied territory.
- The night of July 30th at a glance.
For the first time since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Moscow counterpart Sergey Lavrov have made contact. The two top diplomats spoke on the phone on Friday at the initiative of the American side, as Ukraine once again accused Russia of war crimes. More than 50 people died in an attack on a camp with Ukrainian prisoners of war. Kyiv blamed Moscow and spoke of “state terrorism”. Russia, meanwhile, accused Ukraine of firing a Himar-type multiple rocket launcher at the prison.
Chief US diplomat Blinken also addressed the war in conversation with Lavrov. He clearly told Lavrov that the US would not accept Russian plans to annex more territory from Ukraine. “The world will not recognize annexations. We will impose significant more costs on Russia if it goes ahead with its plans,” Blinken said. “And, as always, we stand ready to work with Ukraine and others to support any significant diplomatic effort to end the war – to end the aggression,” Blinken said.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov informed Blinken about the progress of the “special military operation” in Ukraine. The Russian chief diplomat stressed that all goals in the country would be achieved. At the same time, he complained that weapons supplied by the US and other NATO countries were being used against the peaceful population. This would only prolong the conflict and increase the number of victims.
Read too: All current information about the war in Ukraine on the live ticker
Blinken talks to Lavrov about detention exchange
On Friday morning (local time), there was an “open and direct conversation” about an offer to release US basketball player Brittney Griner, who was being held in Russia, and US citizen Paul Whelan, Blinken said in Washington. “I urged the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we … made.” As for the possible exchange of Russian and American prisoners, a transition to a professional dialogue of “silent diplomacy” without speculation was proposed, Lavrov said, according to a statement from his ministry.
Basketball player Griner stands trial in Russia for drug possession. Whelan, who has multiple citizenships, was arrested in Russia in December 2018 and sentenced to a long prison term on espionage charges. Blinken surprisingly announced on Wednesday that it had made an offer to Russia to release the two and that they would talk to Lavrov. The two were the last in contact before the Russian war of aggression began in February. Blinken said an offer had been on the table for weeks to secure Griner and Whelan’s release.
The US government has yet to release details about the offer to Russia. In the US media, however, there was speculation about a prisoner exchange. Accordingly, an exchange with Russian arms dealer Viktor But (English: Bout), who is imprisoned in the US, should be part of the offer. In April, the US and Russia surprisingly exchanged prisoners in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine accuses Russia of further war crimes
The call was overshadowed by the deaths of dozens of POWs in a camp in the Donetsk region, who died there in an attack. “This is yet another confirmation that Russia is a terrorist state,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a message on his Telegram channel late on Friday. It was a “deliberate war crime” for which there would be “retaliation”, he said later in his video message that night.
“There is ample evidence that this was a planned crime.” More than 50 Ukrainian defenders were cynically murdered. Zelenskyy spoke of a “terrorist attack carried out by inhuman Russian monsters on Olenivka”. “The United Nations (UN) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which should guarantee the life and health of our prisoners of war, must react immediately”, demanded the head of state. He reiterated calls for Russia to be classified as a “terrorist state”. The country is now the “biggest source of terrorism” in the world.
The UN must solve the crime, the ICRC must take care of the situation of other prisoners, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. There were many wounded. Russia claims to have thousands of Ukrainian prisoners of war. The media showed images of a dormitory set on fire with dead bodies. Bodies covered with tarpaulins lay in front of the bullet-holes in front of the building.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov compared the act in Olenivka to the massacre of Soviet soldiers in Katyn, who shot thousands of Polish prisoners in World War II in 1940 and buried them in mass graves. Russia is a terrorist state that must be defeated on the battlefield, he wrote on Twitter.
Former US General Petraeus: Ukraine Can Take Back Russian Territory
Former US general David Petraeus believes it is possible for Ukraine to regain territory occupied by Russia in the war of aggression. “Indeed, it seems increasingly likely that Ukrainian forces will be able to recapture most, if not all, areas that have been occupied by Russian forces in recent months,” he told “Bild” (Saturday). “If NATO and other Western states continue to provide resources at the current rate,” he believes, the Ukrainian military will be able to “stop further Russian advances and (to) begin to recapture the areas occupied by the Russians since 24 February.” said Petraeus.
What will be important on Saturday
After Zelenskyy’s visit to the port city of Odessa, it is expected that millions of tons of grain will be exported by ship across the long-stopped Black Sea. The head of state had announced that the first ship was due to leave soon. © dpa
Updated on 7/29/2022 at 3:46 pm
According to his office, the Ukrainian president visited the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk to personally learn about the preparations for exporting grain.