Heading towards World War III?

Ukraine has accused Moscow of waging a "gas war" against Europe and cutting supplies to inflict "terror" on people.

Russian energy firm Gazprom announced it is once again reducing gas flows into Germany to allow work on a turbine on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

But Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said this was simply "gas blackmail" against Europe.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which pumps gas from Russia to Germany, has been running well below capacity for weeks.

Earlier this month, Russia's biggest European pipeline was completely shut down for a 10-day maintenance break, sparking fears in Europe that shipments would not resume at all.

Shipments did restart five days ago - albeit still at a reduced capacity. But on Monday, Gazprom announced it would be cutting its gas supply further once again.

This time, it said it needed to cut gas supply to around half of current levels in order to carry out maintenance work. The German government, however, said there was no technical reason for it to limit the supply.

"The gas blackmail of Europe, which only gets worse every month, is needed by a terrorist state to make the life of every European worse," said Mr Zelensky in his nightly address.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62300684

Creditors of Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Naftogaz have rejected the firm’s request for a two-year debt payment freeze, the country’s media reported on Monday.

Naftogaz made the proposal earlier this month, citing a “significant economic and business decline in Ukraine” caused by the ongoing conflict with Russia. The deadline for the bondholders’ response to the proposal expired last Thursday. Naftogaz has a $335 million bond maturing, as well as two interest payments that were due on July 19 and the proposal sparked fears that the company, and the government, were about to default on their debts.

According to an earlier report by Reuters, Naftogaz’s creditors didn’t think the company was facing an immediate cash crunch and continued to view the company as a profitable enterprise. According to Interfax Ukraine, Naftogaz will now prepare a new offer to bondholders.

The Ukrainian government earlier prohibited payments of Eurobonds 2022 and 2024 that were due on July 19, citing the country’s need to accumulate natural gas in sufficient quantities before the upcoming heating season, Interfax Ukraine said.

Ukraine wants to halt foreign debt payments – mediaREAD MORE: Ukraine wants to halt foreign debt payments – media
Naftogaz is Ukraine’s largest state-owned oil and gas company and a major source of income, accounting for almost 17% of the country’s total state budget revenue last year.

The Ukrainian government last week requested a two-year delay of its own foreign debt payments, hoping to reach an agreement with bondholders by mid-August, before a $1.2 billion redemption and interest payment in September. Major Western governments that had lent to Kiev quickly agreed and urged other creditors to do the same.

www.rt.com/business/559614-naftogaz-debt-plan-rejected

Russia wants to extend and expand its war in Ukraine. The US claims that Moscow wants to annex parts of Southern Ukraine. Palki Sharma tells you about Russia's plans.

Kherson's Antonivskiy Bridge is half a mile long and is one of two key routes spanning the Dnipro River.But, although it’s still standing, the crossing is now “completely unusable” after damage from the rocket attacks, according to Western military sources.Moscow depended on the bridge to resupply their troops stationed west of the river.Without it, thousands of Russian troops risk being cut off from the rest of the occupied territory.If that happens, it would provide a much-needed boost for Kyiv by retaking from Russia the most significant population centre it has so far captured since the invasion began – Kherson.The southern city, which had a population of 290,000 before the war, is currently administered by Moscow-backed officials after becoming one of the first cities to fall.

www.bbc.com/news/live/business-62330230

Editor escribió:

Ukraine Fired USA supplied Ammunition On Bridge To Kherson & Nikolaiv / Odessa Front

This week Ukraine has purportedly(Russia Forces Claim) fired USA Made HIMARS Rockets on the Antonov Bridge that To Kherson & Nikolaiv / Odessa Front. In this report I am on the bridge showing you the facts and hearing from the current(Russian placed) governor of the Kherson Region. It should be noted that Ukraine says it was not HMARS but the USA supplied 155 mm Excalibur. Both were given to Ukraine by the USA.
Another note, This bridge connects Kherson and the Nikolaevo-Odessa direction with the overland route to the Crimea.

Bosses at Western banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and HSBC are committing war crimes by continuing to indirectly finance the Russian state, an economic adviser to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Oleg Ustenko, claimed on Tuesday.

In an interview with CNBC, Ustenko announced that Kiev continues to gather data on banks it believes are financing traders of Russian oil, and plans to forward its complaints to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, against Ukrainians," Ustenko told the outlet. “In our logic, everybody who is financing these war criminals who are doing these terrible things in Ukraine are also committing war crimes,” he added, noting that Kiev will not pursue the banks themselves, but their leaders and managers.

Ustenko had previously called on the bosses of several major Western banks to cut ties with companies that trade Russian oil and sell all their shares in Russian oil and gas firms, such as Rosneft and Gazprom.

In letters seen by the Financial Times, which were sent to the CEOs of JPMorgan, HSBC, Citi and Credit Agricole earlier this month, Ustenko accused these banks of “prolonging” the Ukrainian conflict, and warned them that they would be blocked from participating in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

The economic adviser reportedly stressed, among other things, that HSBC’s and Credit Agricole’s asset management arms still hold shares in Gazprom and Rosneft, while Citigroup allegedly provides credit facilities to another Russian oil and gas giant, Lukoil, as well as to Vitol, a Dutch energy company that trades in Russian oil.

Ukraine wants $9 bn in monthly aid – FT
Read more Ukraine wants $9 bn in monthly aid – FT
JPMorgan Chase is another global bank that extends credit lines to the Dutch trader, Ustenko reportedly claimed. On top of that, Kiev believes that the lender still holds stakes in Russia’s largest majority state-owned bank, Sberbank, as well as in Gazprom and Rosneft, which were all described in the letter as some of the Kremlin’s most valued economic assets.

Ustenko told FT that Ukraine’s Justice Ministry intends to sue these banks at the ICC, which cannot investigate or prosecute governments or corporations but can target individuals from such organizations.

While not all of the banks have yet responded to Ustenko’s threat, Citi has told the Financial Times it had cut down its business in Russia, while JPMorgan noted to Business Insider that it had helped implement sanctions against Russia.

www.rt.com/news/559727-ukraine-banks-war-crimes

Kiev will not hesitate to attack Russian soil if it deems it necessary, Aleksey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, threatened during a live broadcast on Wednesday.

The security council closely follows all the missile and air strikes Russia launches against Ukraine, Danilov said, adding that Ukrainian authorities are well aware of all the locations in Russia from which the attacks have been carried out. Kiev possesses “enough political will” to order a strike against these targets if such a need arises, he added.

“If needed … anyone [in the government] will act without hesitation and sign anything that needs to be signed to destroy these objects,” Danilov said. The security council head also stated that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s words about Ukraine retaliating against the locations from which the strikes are launched serves as “proof” of Kiev’s determination.

Earlier, some Ukrainian officials said that Kiev forces may hit targets on the Crimean Peninsula or the Crimean Bridge, which they consider to be a key supply route for Russian forces. Ukraine’s military intelligence spokesman, Vadim Skibitskiy, claimed that Crimea could be targeted by US-supplied М142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS multiple launch rocket systems.

Ukraine threatens to strike Crimea with American missiles
Read more Ukraine threatens to strike Crimea with American missiles
Moscow responded by saying that Ukraine would pay a heavy price if it decided to strike Crimea. Russia’s former president, Dmitry Medvedev, said in mid-July that Moscow might respond with a “massive strike” targeting the Ukrainian leadership if that happened.

The US and its allies previously appeared to be reluctant to supply Ukraine with longer-range weapons capable of striking targets deep inside Russia as they were concerned about a potential escalation of the conflict. Washington has not yet agreed to send tactical ballistic missiles with a distance of up to 300 kilometers to Ukraine. Such missiles can be used by the US-made HIMARS multiple rocket launchers the US handed over to Kiev.

However, according to the spokesman for the army of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces may have already received 300km-range HIMARS missiles. DPR troops have found pieces of munitions with a range of 110 kilometers to 120 kilometers, which meant that Kiev could have the 300km-missiles as well, Basurin told the Russian media last week.

Ukraine threatened with ‘crushing blow’
Read more Ukraine threatened with ‘crushing blow’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that the West’s persistence in pumping Ukraine with long-range weapons, including the HIMARS, was already making Moscow reconsider the goals of its military operation in the neighboring country. They now go beyond Donbass and include several other Ukrainian regions, he added.

www.rt.com/russia/559739-ukraine-threaten-attack-russian-territory