Vladimir Putin’s visit to Crimea comes as a surprise on the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the region. The Russian president, awaited via video link, instead appeared in person in Sevastopol to visit a new art school and a recently inaugurated children’s center. The two buildings are just the beginning of what will become a city park for children.
Visiting a children’s project may have been chosen by Putin in response to allegations of deportation of minors from occupied Ukraine to Russia. Allegation by the International Criminal Court for which an arrest warrant has been issued against the Russian President. Though Moscow believes it is not subject to the court’s decisions, its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, maintains that Putin can be tried in the same way as Nazi war criminals and former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. “They were all powerful figures and yet they found themselves in courtrooms,” Khan pointed out.
At the center of the back and forth between Kiev and Moscow is the extension of the wheat deal. Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov announces extension by 120 days. The extension, albeit without specifying the duration, is also guaranteed by Turkish President Erdogan, already an intermediary in the first signing of the agreement that will allow Ukraine to safely export its grain through the Black Sea. However, Moscow reiterates that the agreement will be extended only 60 days and that the possibility of a further extension of the agreement will only arise with the “promotion of Russian food and fertilizers on the world markets”.
From Bakhmut, where clashes between Ukrainian and Russian troops continue, squad leader Wagner Prigozhin tells that he wants to recruit about 30,000 new fighters for his battalion. Meanwhile, the United States has confirmed the use of Chinese munitions by Russian soldiers, although it is not yet clear whether they were sent to Russia directly from Beijing or through intermediary countries.
In Kyiv, in a new wave of top-level changes in government, Oleksandr Kamyshyn and Oksen Lisovoy have been appointed Minister of Strategic Industries and Minister of Education and Science, respectively. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy approved new sanctions against 141 legal entities and 300 individuals. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is among them.