Sanctions lead to a significant decline in oil production in Russia

The new British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has backed the decision to allow the United States to use British military bases for targeted strikes against Iran, which London describes as defensive. This approach continues the policy of the previous government.

Ukraine is considering the possibility of recruiting foreign workers due to an acute labour shortage, but they must not compete with Ukrainians for jobs. A proposal has been put forward in the Verkhovna Rada to allow the employment of foreign nationals only in those sectors where vacancies cannot be filled by domestic workers.

The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is prepared to continue peace talks only once the Russian Federation has seized the whole of Donbas. The Russian Ministry of Defence is assuring him that this can be achieved by 2026, but rank-and-file soldiers disagree.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas has stated that, as the war against Ukraine has not yielded the expected results, the Kremlin may seek a further escalation. According to him, Russia may regard the Baltic states and Poland as its next potential targets.

Major General Ihor Skybyuk is to become the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The personnel decisions regarding the reshuffle of the military leadership are due to be formalised on 22 July.

Energoatom and Ukrhydroenergo have sold all the electricity volumes offered at the first special long-term auctions. In total, the state-owned companies sold 462,148 MWh, to be supplied between August and December 2026.

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to postpone the introduction of value added tax (VAT) for sole traders operating under the simplified tax system. Instead of January 2027, the new rules are due to come into force on 1 January 2028.

The Ukrainian government is considering replacing the current 5 per cent military levy with a special tax for post-war reconstruction. This option is included in the updated Memorandum of Cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund.

During a retrial, the Kharkiv District Administrative Court quashed a tax penalty of 4,038,423 hryvnias imposed on a business owner following an inspection of a shop in the centre of Odesa. The decision was based on irregularities in the way the inspection was arranged, rather than on a refutation of the tax authorities’ claims regarding the accounting of goods.

The Innovation Development Fund has announced a tender for the purchase of 860 Starlink Internet Satellite Mini satellite modems or their equivalents. The maximum funding amount for the purchase, including VAT, is 17.028 million hryvnias.

The Ukrainian company DEVIRO has unveiled a new ‘Palytsia’ aircraft-type strike drone, which is set to become a more affordable and mass-produced addition to the already well-known ‘Bulava’ strike system.

The Pentagon has announced that the third service member believed to have been killed in the Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan is Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad. The total number of US military personnel killed since the start of the war has risen to 18.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has set a number of tasks for the new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mykhailo Drapaty.

On 21 and 22 July, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ unmanned systems unit struck a further 13 vessels belonging to the Russian shadow fleet in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. There are also reports of further strikes on energy infrastructure in the temporarily occupied territories

The Ukrainian Magura unmanned surface vessels, which have become a symbol of the defeat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, are to be manufactured in the US for the first time. The American company ReconCraft has signed an agreement with the Ukrainian firm Uforce to jointly manufacture unmanned boats that have already proven their effectiveness in real combat conditions.