Politics

Yevhen Khmara has officially been acting as Ukraine’s Minister of Defence since 20 July. Prior to this, the government had appointed him Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defence.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, chaired a special meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Headquarters, at which commanders of combat corps engaged in direct dialogue with manufacturers of weapons and equipment for the first time. The main topics of the meeting were the needs of the front line, the supply of troops and the modernisation of defence production.

On 20 July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Volodymyr Horbatyuk, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, for the second time in two days. The main topics discussed were Ukraine’s defence strategy and supplies from international partners.

Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester and leader of the Labour Party, has officially become the UK’s 59th Prime Minister.

The American defence firm Lockheed Martin has announced the development of a new interceptor missile for the Patriot system, which will be significantly cheaper than previous munitions.

Ihor Plakhuta, Commander of the Territorial Defence Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has issued a statement in support of Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose dismissal protesters have been demanding for several days.

Colonel Andriy Krok, who was previously the unit’s deputy commander, has been appointed the new commander of the 155th Separate Mechanised Brigade named after Anna of Kyiv. During a formal ceremony, he was presented with the brigade’s Battle Standard.

Following two deadly attacks on foreign merchant vessels off the coast of the Odesa region, the government is preparing additional measures to protect shipping. The measures are being drawn up in collaboration with the military command.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, held a working meeting with the leadership of the Armed Forces, during which he received briefings on the situation at the front, the provision of supplies to the Ukrainian army and the implementation of agreements with international partners in the field of defence

Against the backdrop of several days of public debate surrounding the military leadership, which was accompanied by demonstrations in support of Mykhailo Fedorov and criticism directed at Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Airborne Assault Troops, Major General Oleg Apostol, published an address to military personnel. In it, he called on the army to remain outside politics, to maintain discipline and to retain trust in the military command structure.

The President of Hungary, Tamás Szujók, has signed a constitutional amendment providing for the early termination of his term of office. The document marked the final stage of a political process that had lasted several months following an initiative by Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s government

Israel approached the United States with a proposal to join military action against Iran, but the US administration did not support this initiative