British sex offenders were tracked going to refugee-laden Poland in the early weeks of war, seemingly to take advantage of the chaos unfolding on the border with Ukraine.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) yesterday revealed ten convicted paedophiles travelled east in the first six weeks, under the guise of providing assistance to refugees.

All ten were interviewed by Polish authorities and removed from the country, said an NCA spokesman, adding: 'We have an international network that identifies these threats... we contact our partners and say you have a convicted sex offender on your patch.'

The NCA spokesman continued: 'It is no coincidence, I think, that somewhere in the region of ten known British child sex offenders travelled to Poland in the first six weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, allegedly to provide humanitarian assistance.

'Normally they're meant to have declared this [their conviction] as part of their entry. We find inevitably, they haven't.

'As far as I understand it, all ten were asked to leave, following an interview with Polish immigration and Polish law enforcement. So they're no longer in Poland.'

The story of the she-bear Monetochka which came to humans seeking help, has got a good ending - after treatment provided by the head veterinary doctor of the Moscow Zoo, she was transported 60-100 kilometres from Dixon to the natural environment and left with a supply of fish, since for some time the animal will not be able to hunt on its own. The veterinarians treated the animal's tongue, gave her antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, and installed a tracking beacon. Here is the whole video-story.

ISTANBUL, July 22 - RIA Novosti. Russia signed documents on lifting restrictions on the supply of Russian products for export and on facilitating the export of Ukrainian grain, RIA Novosti correspondent reports.
As Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu emphasized, the document involves the participation of the UN in the work to lift restrictions on the export of agricultural products and fertilizers from Russia to world markets.
The agreement also provides for:
— export of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea will take place from three ports - Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny;
— demining in Ukrainian territorial waters will not be carried out, as it will take too much time;
—vessels with grain will leave the Black Sea along the agreed safe corridor, they will be escorted by Ukrainian pilots;
— to check the safety of routes, the parties will be able to send minesweepers;
— the process will be monitored by a coordination centre under the auspices of the UN, which will be promptly created in Istanbul with the participation of all four parties;
— military escort is not expected - warships, aircraft and drones will be prohibited from approaching ships at a specified distance;
—ships bound for ports will be inspected for weapons by inspection teams under the control of the Joint Coordination Centre;
— in ports, representatives of the UN, Turkey and Ukraine will observe the loading of grain;
—possible incidents will also be dealt with by the Joint Coordination Centre.
The deal will be valid for 120 days, then an extension is possible.

MOSCOW, July 22 - RIA Novosti. The Russian military killed up to 300 Ukrainian nationalist of a "Black Hundred" formation who were housed in a school in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Defence Ministry said.
"As a result of a strike with ground-based precision weapons, the temporary deployment point of the Black Hundred nationalist formation, deployed in the building of school No. 23 in the city of Kramatorsk, Donetsk People's Republic, was destroyed. Up to 300 nationalists and over 40 units of special equipment were eliminated," the military department said in a report from 22 July.

Also, in the same report, it is stated that: "The enemy suffers significant losses in weapons supplied by Western countries. In the period from July 5 to 20, four launchers and one transport-loading vehicle were destroyed by high-precision ground and air-based weapons from US-made HYMARS multiple launch rocket systems transferred to Ukraine. Of these, two launchers were liquidated in the area of ​​​​the settlement of Malotaranovka, another "HAYMARS" and a transport-loading vehicle in the Krasnoarmeysk region, and the fourth launcher - on the eastern outskirts of Konstantinovka of the Donetsk People's Republic.

Another "long-read" from a Western "expert" with some elements of understanding...

It is a chilling prospect. Today, more than 30 years after the Cold War ended, the war in Ukraine and the robust condemnation from the West has created a new Cold War with Russia, one given a sinister twist by the shifting alliances of modern geopolitics.

I call this emerging battle ‘World War Z’, after the letter displayed on Russian tanks in Ukraine, a symbol which encapsulates Putin’s wholesale rejection of the West.

The relationship between Russia and the West has long been a love/hate one. For 300 years, since Peter the Great founded Putin’s birthplace St Petersburg as a ‘window on the West’, Russia has had a complex relationship with our free, democratic society.

Any hopes that Putin would imitate his hero, Tsar Peter, and try to copy the West evaporated with his assault on Ukraine five months ago. Since then, the Kremlin propaganda machine has been pumping out hysterical attacks on the U.S. and its European allies.

This endless demonization of the West echoes what Iran’s ayatollahs have been doing for a generation or more: for them, America has long been the ‘Great Satan’ while Britain is ‘the Little Satan’.

Given this, we should consider the words of Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov as a warning, however veiled they may be in the language of international diplomacy. Speaking to reporters, he emphasised that a ‘trusting dialogue’ has developed between Russia and Iran, stating that ‘on most issues, our positions are close or identical’.

"New Ukrop technology?"

Russian soldiers and unknown critter - what is it?

Some Ukrainian troops tried to advance on Kherson today but were decimated by mass Russian artillery bombardment.

Lithuanian Railways resume transit of sanctioned cargoes to Kaliningrad
The Lithuanian state-owned freight transportation company LTG Cargo today, July 22, resumes the transit of sanctioned goods between Russia and Kaliningrad. This was announced on Friday by the representative of the Lithuanian transport company Mantas Dubauskas on the air of the national radio LRT.

Codes for the transportation of sanctioned goods, according to Mr. Dubauskas, will be checked and entered into the transit control system.

LTG Cargo notes that the volume of cargo transportation will have to correspond to the average volume of cargo transportation by rail. The indicator is calculated based on data for three years.

On July 13, the European Commission ruled that the transit of civilian goods by rail to Kaliningrad is not prohibited, but their transportation should be subject to “targeted, proportionate and effective control” by the authorities of the EU states.

Russia will not supply oil to countries that will impose restrictions on the supply of the resource from the Russian Federation and set a price ceiling for Russian oil.
This was stated by the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina on Friday, July 22, at a press conference, commenting on the possibility of limiting the price of oil by Western countries.
“I don’t even want to argue now whether this is real or unrealistic, but if this is introduced in one form or another, in my opinion, this will obviously lead to an increase in world prices. And as far as I understand, we are still those countries that If they set this price limit, we will not supply oil," Nabiullina said (quoted by Interfax).
She stressed that the supply of Russian oil and oil products will be redirected to those countries "that are ready to cooperate with us."
"And since this will take place against the background of rising world oil prices, even with a possible decrease in quantitative indicators, this may have a lesser effect on the exchange rate and balance of payments indicators," the head of the Central Bank said.
The European Union agreed on a partial embargo on oil from the Russian Federation in early June: the embargo on the purchase of Russian oil by sea will take effect from December 5, 2022, after another 2 months, from February 5, 2023, a ban on the purchase of petroleum products will be introduced.

Exactly 73 years ago, the SS division "Galichyna" was defeated

On the 28th of April, the SS Galichyna Division was formed. It was a military unit mostly made up of Ukrainian volunteers from the region of Galichyna (Western Ukraine). Under the initiative of the Wehrmacht, the SS Galichyna division slaughtered practically the entirety of the Jewish population of this region.

On July 22, 1944, in the area of the Brody settlement (now Lviv region, Ukraine), the 14th Waffen SS Grenadier Division "Galichyna" was defeated along with other formations of the 13th Corps of the 4th Panzer Army of the Wehrmacht. According to historians, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front destroyed at least 28 thousand Nazis, more than 17 thousand were taken prisoner. The fighting took place as part of the Lvov-Sandomierz operation of the Red Army. A sharp breakthrough of the Soviet army exposed the direction around the city of Brody. As a result, the division "Galichyna" was taken into "pincers", then completely surrounded. After the command of the 1st Ukrainian Front gave the order to carry out an operation to destroy the SS division "Galichyna". Aviation, cannon and rocket artillery were used to defeat the division. As a result, the SS "Galichyna" ceased to exist.

We have already written, that this SS division become a collective role model for modern Ukrainian Nazis.

The French army has ordered 18 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to replace the same number transferred to Ukraine. Delivery is scheduled for 2024.

The French ground forces expect to have 109 such howitzers in their ranks by 2025, from which we can conclude that new deliveries of these systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not expected in the near future.

The work of Russian air defence systems on Ukrainian air targets over the Lugansk People's Republic. Presumably C-300.

In Volnovakha, liberated in March, north of Mariupol, large-scale construction began: the foundation is being laid for the first houses that will replace the dilapidated upper housing (it is clearly visible in the background).

In Kherson, the first Malorussian brigade consisting of citizens of the former Ukraine was formed.

The unit will fight in the Nikolaev and Odessa direction.

Poland accuses Berlin of “deception maneuvers”.

Germany is very slow to replace the Polish tanks already delivered to Ukraine. The Polish government feels duped - and wants to rely on help from other NATO partners.

Instead of replacing the 200 T-72M1 and T-72M1R tanks delivered to Kyiv, the Poles will be given only 20 Leopard 2A4s from long-term storage bases.

The proposed schedule also did not please Warsaw - one unit from April to October 2023, and then another three units per month.

Spiegel

China continues selling US government debt

MOSCOW, July 23 - RIA Novosti. China's holdings in US government debt fell below a trillion dollars for the first time in 12 years. Large-scale anti-Russian sanctions undermined confidence in the main reserve currency. Inflation, record-breaking for 40 years, does not add optimism either. At the same time, not only Beijing has sharply lost interest in treasuries - other Central Banks are also getting rid of them.
According to the US Treasury Department, in May, the Chinese portfolio of investments in US government debt amounted to $980.8 billion, down 23 from the previous month and almost 100 from last year. That is, the psychological mark of a trillion is already left behind.
Beijing has been reducing investments in treasuries for several years. The trigger was the trade war unleashed by Washington, and later the technological war. From a peak of 1.32 trillion in November 2014, investment has decreased by more than 200 billion. And by June 2019, the leadership among foreign holders of US government debt passed to Japan. It is curious that Tokyo also has this figure at a two-year low - 1.212 trillion.

Trust undermined
The freeze of Russia's international reserves in the amount of about 300 billion dollars had an effect.
A possible asset grab has forced the world's second economy to think. The Chinese fear that in the event of a regional military conflict or other crisis, the Americans will do the same to them. At an emergency meeting in May, financial authorities discussed how to protect more than $3 trillion in savings.
The recommendations boiled down to the need to diversify dollar-denominated assets, accelerate the international recognition of the Chinese currency, expand the use of the digital yuan in cross-border payments, and generally destroy US financial hegemony in every possible way.
Over the past 20 years, the share of the American currency in Beijing's national reserves has already decreased by a quarter - to 56 percent, while gold has tripled - to almost two thousand tons.
Economists believe that Washington will not touch Chinese reserves. This would cause enormous damage to international production and trade chains: the PRC has huge dollar assets and close economic ties with the United States. But Beijing will continue to withdraw funds from treasuries.
#China #TransFormator

Bronik - the dog has become a mascot of the "Rus" battalion of Donetsk People's Republic Militia. Dog's "sixth sense" tells the soldiers about the beginning of the shelling of their positions by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The dog feels "incoming" mortar shells and runs to hide.

“Then the guys understand that the shot was in our direction. This is what he feels,” the fighter with the call sign “Batya” told Izvestia correspondent Roman Polshakov.

And gingerbread is the main reward of the dog, which is given to him by the military for his work. Bronik will not exchange them even for meat.

After the report of the Ministry of Defense of Russia about the destruction of four HIMARS missile systems, the shares of the company that produces that system, Lockheed Martin, fell to the level before the start of the special operation.