The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine announced that 16 ships with grain have passed through the newly opened corridor at the mouth of the Bistra River into the Danube during the last four days, reports Reuters.
The Ministry added that the opening of this corridor is an important step towards speeding up grain exports.
It is also reported that the Ukrainian side also negotiated with Romanian colleagues and representatives of the European Commission on the increase of crossings through the Sulinsky Armlet, said Yuriy Vaskov, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure.
Under such conditions and with access to the Bistra route, Vaskov added, Ukraine expects that the congestion will be removed within a week and that Ukraine will be able to increase its monthly grain export by 500.000 tons.
Ukraine will receive another $1,7 billion (€1,6 billion) in aid from the US government and the World Bank to pay its health workers and provide other basic services to citizens.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that the agency, the US Treasury and the World Bank want to alleviate the acute budget deficit caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Minister of Health of Ukraine, Viktor Liashko, said that paying health workers in Ukraine every month is becoming more and more difficult "due to the extremely heavy burden of the war".
"That money is not just another financial aid, it is an investment that brings us closer to victory," Lijaško said in a statement.
So far, USAID has given the government of Ukraine four billion dollars (3,9 billion euros) in budget support, for supplying hospitals and schools with gas and electricity, delivering humanitarian aid to citizens, and for the salaries of teachers and civil servants.
Ukraine's military says it has launched a major counter-offensive in the country's south as it seeks to retake territory previously seized by Russian troops, even as Kremlin forces continue to bomb eastern Ukraine in a bid to seize the key Donbass region. Radio Free Europe.
On July 12, Ukraine's Southern Command said it hit an ammunition depot in the Russian-controlled town of Nova Kahovka, resulting in a massive explosion captured on social media and killing several Russian soldiers.
"Based on the results of our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 (soldiers), an Msta-B howitzer, a mortar and seven armored and other vehicles, as well as an ammunition depot in Nova Kahovka," the Southern Ukrainian Army Command said in a statement.
However, Russian state news agency TASS reported that the target was a mineral fertilizer warehouse that exploded and that a market, a hospital and nearby houses were damaged. Some fertilizer ingredients can be used for ammunition.
Volodymyr Leontiev, head of the Kremlin-established civil-military administration in the Kherson region, called it a "terrorist act" and said seven civilians had been killed and 80 others injured.
As with other incidents during the war, battlefield claims by either side could not immediately be independently verified. Nova Kahovka is about 55 kilometers east of the key Black Sea port city of Kherson, which Russian forces captured at the start of the war.
Also in the Kherson region, Ukraine's military intelligence service said on July 12 that its troops had rescued five Ukrainians in a special operation in an area occupied by separatist forces.
"Five Ukrainian citizens held by the Russian occupiers were freed during a special operation by Ukrainian military intelligence forces," the statement said.
The announcement states that soldiers, a former policeman and three civilians were rescued. One had serious wounds, it added without giving further details.
Ukraine's military earlier said it had massed massive forces in preparation for a counteroffensive in the south as it seeks to recapture key seaports - including Kherson - previously seized by Russia after the invasion began on February 24.
Ukraine's efforts have recently been boosted by the delivery of High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS) and similar systems provided by the United States and allies, Security Council Secretary Alexey Danilov said earlier this week.
The United States announced on July 8 that it would send four more. It is not known whether Ukrainian forces used the HIMARS system to target Russian sites in Nova Kahovka.
Meanwhile, the White House said on July 11 that it believed Iran planned to provide Russia with "hundreds" of drones, including drones for use in the war in Ukraine.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on July 11 that Washington has information indicating that Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use drones.
Russian-backed separatist forces are surrounding the city of Seversk in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Rodion Miroshnik, ambassador to Moscow of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, said on Tuesday, Reuters quoted TASS as saying.
Seversk, claimed by the Donetsk People's Republic, another breakaway territory that Moscow is trying to wrest from Kiev's control, is on the front lines of the battle for Ukraine's eastern Donbass region after Ukrainian troops abandoned the city of Severodnik last month.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that many Ukrainians want to become Russian citizens, a day after Moscow published a decree simplifying the rules for Ukrainian citizens to obtain Russian passports, Reuters reports.
During a press conference, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "there have been no discussions" about restarting peace talks with Kiev, more than four months after Russia sent its armed forces to Ukraine.
Russia has said residents of areas of southern and eastern Ukraine occupied since February have the right to become Russian citizens, a move Ukraine and Western countries say confirms Moscow plans to retain control of the regions.
A new round of negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations on grain exports from Ukraine will be held on Wednesday in Istanbul, reports Reuters.
Ukraine is a key agricultural exporter and its inability to deliver vital grain supplies has caused food prices to rise, exacerbating concerns about a global food crisis.
Decisions on appeals by British and Moroccan fighters sentenced to death by Russia-backed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine will be made within a month, Interfax said on Tuesday, citing a separatist official.
Two Britons and a Moroccan national who were captured fighting with the Ukrainian army were sentenced to death as mercenaries by a Russian-backed separatist court last month. All three appealed the sentence.
Ukraine and Western countries have said the men are prisoners of war, entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had carried out 34 airstrikes since Saturday, one of which hit a five-story building, killing 31 people and trapping dozens of people in the rubble, Reuters reports.
Moscow denies targeting civilians, but many Ukrainian cities, towns and villages are in ruins.
Russia announced that the number of victims of the Ukrainian attack on the city of Nova Kahovka in the Kherson region, which is under Russian control, is unknown.
"Unfortunately, some people were killed, a large number of people were injured, dozens of people were left homeless," said Volodymyr Leontyev, according to the Russian news agency TASS, which described him as the head of the military-civilian administration of Kahovka district.
Reuters could not independently verify information from the battlefield.
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