ATGM operators from the Russian 20th Army destroyed a Ukraine vehicle during rotation in the Svatovo-Kremennaya front.

It took 36 seconds for the missile to hit the vehicle and if we assume the average speed is 185 m/s, the vehicle was hit 6660m further away.

Destroyed M-109 and 2S3 Acacia SP Guns

🇺🇦Prisoners taken at Klesheevka

🇺🇦Tank with demining attachment activating a mine on the Orekhov-Rabotino sector

Article on Erdogan and the "Grain Deal"

Erdogan is becoming an even bigger problem for Russia
13.07.2023 * Politics

At the beginning of next week, on July 17, the deadline for an extremely controversial grain deal for Russia ends. On the eve of X-Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin with proposals for implementing the Russian part of the grain deal. The West, together with Turkey, insists that the term of the initiative to export grain from Ukrainian ports should be extended. We analyze why this is happening and what game Ankara is actually playing. — Continued below 👇

Everyone has long known Russia's position on the grain deal: if Moscow's demands are not met, the Russian Federation will withdraw from the Black Sea Initiative. Recall the words of Vladimir Putin at a meeting with war correspondents in June: "We are now thinking about how to get out of this grain deal. Moreover, these corridors, along which ships go, are constantly used by the enemy to launch drones."

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly pointed out the futility of the agreements concluded in July 2022. The grain deal was signed by representatives of Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine. The first part involved the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports of the country, the second part-assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. And now the second part is just not being implemented, which forces the Russian Federation to talk about withdrawing from the agreement.

Initially, the West sounded quite sensible and understandable idea: all food products will be sent to poor countries. In fact, everything turned out to be wrong. Back in April of this year, DC Weekly published an article titled " Grain Deal at Risk: how the West deceived Russia." Analyst Jeff Rizzone in his article agrees that the dishonesty of the Western side in this matter really takes place.

The author notes that most of the exports go to the EU (about 50%), another 25% goes to countries with an upper-middle income, and no more than 25% of food reaches the originally intended destination (poor countries).

A February study in an Austrian newspaper confirms this: most of Ukraine's corn, for example, ended up being fed to pigs in Spain, while wheat exports flooded Eastern European markets.

According to official data, the leading beneficiaries of the deal were three countries-China, Spain and Turkey. These States are said to have received more than half of the total volume of goods sent from Ukraine under the Black Sea Initiative.

According to the UN's Comtrade database, exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia increased sharply from $ 24 million in 2021 to $ 2.4 billion in 2022. Notably, the least developed countries and low-income countries with food deficits received 11% of the volume of goods.

However, sensing the uncertainty of the future fate of the deal, Western countries are beginning to worry themselves (even though they accuse the Russian Federation of allegedly obstructing the implementation of the Black Sea Initiative). In fact, they simply turn a blind eye to the fact that much of the blame is due to the sanctions they have imposed, as well as their own irresistible fraud.

Let's not forget about another beneficiary – this is Turkey, with the assistance of which the case is being turned around. After the NATO summit, Recep Tayyip Erdogan suddenly said: "We discussed the issue of extending the grain deal with Zelensky. He is in favor of extending it. Putin made some suggestions on this topic. These proposals are being discussed."

Interestingly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented on this as follows: "I am not aware of any new proposals. Apparently, we are talking about what Putin and Erdogan have been discussing for a long time – the readiness of Russia and Turkey to work independently of any other agreements on preferential supplies of grain, primarily wheat, to developing countries that have the greatest need for this product."

It is clear that the West has fussily begun to try to make amends for differences. According to the official representative of the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, the purpose of Guterres ' message to Putin (with some proposals for implementing the Russian part of the deal) is to remove obstacles to financial transactions through Rosselkhozbank.

Anyone will notice a certain dissonance: the West does not want to deal with Russia directly (sanctions are proof of this), but it is also the first to use its benefits (through Turkish mediation).

Turkish political analyst Kerim Has shared his vision of the reasons for such a strong interest of both the West and Ankara in the grain deal.:

– Everything is clear with Turkey: it buys grain mainly from Russia and Ukraine (according to the UN, 10% of Ukrainian grain delivered under the grain initiative goes to the Turkish market). Ankara has a lot to gain economically in this regard.

Secondly, it is one of the most important agreements where Turkey in general and Erdogan in particular play a key role. This increases its rating, its international status. From the West, this gives Erdogan big bonuses.

Russia, of course, does not benefit economically here. However, in my opinion, why the Russian Federation agreed and agreed to extend the deal several times is a geopolitical and military aspect of the issue.

What do I mean by that?

If Russia withdraws from the agreement, there is a risk that the leading NATO countries (primarily the United States and Great Britain) may send warships to the Black Sea to escort grain ships. There is a caveat here: whether or not Turkey will allow foreign warships to pass through the Bosphorus. Ankara will be in a difficult position. If it allows the passage, then there will be a negative reaction from Russia. If it does not allow it, then Erdogan may have problems with the West and NATO.

The expert believes that Russia, understanding all this, will not want to put Turkey in a difficult position: "Choosing from two options, it is clear that Erdogan will choose the Western bloc. And this is risky for Russia, since the passage of foreign warships can lead to provocations in the Black Sea. This may provoke a direct military clash between NATO and the Russian Federation. I think it is precisely because of such geopolitical issues that Moscow will not want to withdraw from the deal."


Statistics that show that food goes mainly to Western countries, according to the expert, directly indicates that when promoting the agreement, these countries took into account their own interests. But there is another point, adds Kerim Hass: "It is important for the North Atlantic Alliance to maintain at least one open channel of communication with Russia through a NATO country. This is in the interests of the West. If suddenly there is another stab in the back of Russia from Turkey, it will already be a stab in the heart. It will be more painful than in 2015."

Leading NATO countries, the expert emphasizes, maintain contacts between Erdogan and Putin. Given the recent steps of the Turkish leader, Kerim Has believes that Russia, unfortunately, will face such surprises more and more often: "Before the election, Erdogan was a problem for Russia, and now he is becoming an even bigger problem. We'll see more of that in the near future."

Polina Konoplyanko

Turkey overtook Belarus in terms of exports to Russia in the first half of 2023 and became the second largest exporter to Russia after China:

1️⃣China 42%
2️⃣Turkey 13%
3️⃣Belarus 12%
4️⃣Hong Kong 9%
5️⃣Kazakhstan 5%

2022
1️⃣China 38%
2️⃣Belarus 24%
3️⃣Turkey 5%
4️⃣Netherlands 3%
5️⃣Germany 3%

The increase in Turkey's exports has been in the clothing sector as Turkish brands have taken over from American and European brands.

🇷🇺BMP-3 from the 102nd regiment of the 150th division, covered the AFU shift change somewhere near Bakhmut.

As a result, the entire enemy group is code 200 (KIA)!

🇨🇳🇷🇺Russia became the world's biggest importer of Chinese cars, Bloomberg reports, citing data from the Chinese Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

According to the results of the first 5 months of this year, 287 thousand cars from China were delivered to Russia. This is 1.8 times more than the figures for auto imports to Mexico, which last year ranked first in the world in terms of car imports from China. Belgium unexpectedly came out on the third place in terms of deliveries with an indicator of 120 thousand cars.


China is very dynamically increasing its automobile exports, this year it took the first place in the world in terms of car deliveries outside the country: in the first quarter of 2023, this volume reached 1.069 million units,which is 22 thousand more than in Japan, which was previously the leader. By the end of 2023, Chinese exports may exceed the mark of 4 million units.

https://expert.ru/2023/07/13/rossiya-vyshla-na-pervoye-mesto-v-mire-po-zakupkam-kitayskikh-avtomobiley/?utm_source=finobzor.ru

Afternoon😊

🇨🇦🇺🇦🇷🇺 AFU evacuate damaged Canadian Roshel.

⚡️Capture footage of the mobilized 88th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Vremevsky area

— brought them hell knows how;

- at first we didn’t go there at all;

- then the Marines were thrown into the field;

- they reached our positions almost crawling under the fire of "Grads".

The interrogation is carried out by soldiers of the "Madman" company from the 3rd battalion of the 60th motorized brigade.