A container ship bound for Russia was detained in Estonia on suspicion of smuggling

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.

Law enforcement officers have detained two people suspected of plotting to blow up a section of railway track in the Chernihiv region. According to the investigation, they were acting on behalf of the Russian security services and planned to derail a freight locomotive.

Law enforcement officers have uncovered an organised criminal group whose members are suspected of stealing commercial refrigeration equipment from a warehouse in Zaporizhzhia. During the searches, a large cache of weapons, ammunition and substantial sums of cash were seized.

Law enforcement officers have notified the director of a private company that he is under suspicion in a case involving the misappropriation of nearly 68 million hryvnias allocated for the refurbishment and construction of protective structures for one of the energy infrastructure facilities in the Mykolaiv region. According to the investigation, the work was never actually carried out.

The Security Service of Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigations and the National Police have announced that they have uncovered six new schemes to evade mobilisation. According to the investigation, 15 organisers of these schemes have been detained, and more than 200 conscripts took advantage of one of the schemes.

In Kharkiv, law enforcement officers have shut down two so-called rehabilitation centres where, according to the investigation, people with drug and alcohol addictions were unlawfully detained, isolated from the outside world and forced to work for free. Six suspects have been served with notices of suspicion.