Air alerts issued for two hours as Kyiv defended itself from drone attack; Ukrainian president to meet with leaders after Nato membership rebuff
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Russia’s recent strikes on Ukraine have were “likely in a demonstrative response to the 2023 Nato Summit in Vilnius and to threaten the Black Sea grain deal,” the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, argues in its latest update.
The ISW writes:
Ukrainian Southern Operational Command Spokesperson Captain First Rank Nataliya Humenyuk stated that Russian forces targeted port infrastructure to disrupt the Black Sea Grain deal. Russia’s drone strikes on port infrastructure also coincide with the first day of the Nato summit in Vilnius and are likely intended to discourage Nato members from providing more military aid to Ukraine. Russia may be threatening the Black Sea grain deal to message the deal’s original broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that his recent statement of support for Ukraine’s Nato membership and the return of the five Ukrainian Azovstal commanders on 7 July has not gone unnoticed and is not appreciated by the Kremlin.
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