Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 07-27-2024

This week Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) sabotaged three Russian military helicopters deep in Russia, a source in intelligence told Kyiv Post Saturday, July 27.  On July 21, around 3 a.m., HUR damaged Mi-28 and Ka-226 helicopters parked at the Moscow-based National Center of Helicopter Construction of Mil and Kamov, the source said.

According to HUR, while the public was aware of explosions at the air base, having seen fire there, Russian officials hid “the facts of their own negligence from the Russian population.”

Russia on Saturday slammed the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games as a “massive failure.” 

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova gave a long list of shortcomings at Friday’s ceremony, which was not broadcast live on Russian television.

About 100 miles southeast of Moscow, at around 6 a.m. Saturday, July 27 the sounds of at least three explosions rang out at Dyagilevo air base, which serves as a training center for the Russian military’s strategic bomber force.

And in the same, Ryazan Oblast, Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) also struck an oil field with kamikaze drones, a source in Ukrainian intelligence told Kyiv Post Saturday afternoon.

Kamala Harris, almost certain to be the Democratic candidate for the US Presidency in November, has appropriate relevant political experience as Joe Biden’s current Vice President, former four-year Senator and six-year Attorney General for California.

She also has personal qualities that may prove attractive to the electorate and would represent what many, including me, would say is a long overdue historic precedent. Not only is she of mixed black and Asian descent, but she is also a woman and if she is elected it would be the first time the US has chosen a woman president, of any ethnicity.

In Poland, July is usually hot not only in terms of weather but also in Polish-Ukrainian relations. It is the month that marks the anniversary of the Volhynia massacre of 1943, as it is known in Poland. It is claimed that that summer, as many as 100,000 Poles were slaughtered by armed Ukrainians, dwarfing the number of Ukrainian victims.

Despite 81 years having passed, Kyiv and Warsaw still have not reached an acceptable compromise understanding on this issue.

ATM services were knocked out at top Russian banks on Saturday, July 27, day five of a large-scale Ukrainian cyberattack, a source working in Ukrainian intelligence told Kyiv Post.

The customers of several Russian banks couldn’t withdraw cash, because when attempting to use ATMs, their debit and credit cards were immediately blocked, the source said in written comments.

The 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony got underway yesterday after a rough start to the Summer Games, with suspected acts of sabotage targeting France’s flagship high-speed rail network and rainy skies over the Seine river, where athletes are parading. The boats with athletes were not the only ones on the Seine River during the opening ceremony. Fans who could afford hefty prices could watch the parade from party and restaurant boats docked along the river. The “front-row” locations were the closest that fans could get to the parade. Fans in the sitting sections down the route of the opening ceremony had to watch the parade on large screens until the boats carrying the athletes arrived at their location. The fans reacted to what they were seeing with claps and cheers. It rained during moments of the parade, prompting fans to take out their umbrellas and rain coats. The ok Refugee team — 37 athletes from 11 countries of origin, representing the world’s displaced population of over 100 million people — was the second team in the procession of athletes. More than 10,500 athletes will compete across 32 sports at the Games, which will close on 11 August. - BBC and news wires.

The Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris will turn out to be a much better candidate than Republicans think, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News. “As District Attorney and Attorney General of California, she was an effective litigator. In the Senate, she was an aggressive interrogator, especially with U.S. Supreme Court nominees. She reminds me of some athletes who are great at game time but mediocre in practice. The vice presidency was practice, and she loafed through it, letting her laugh be a primary symbol. Now she will be in the real game. She may be shockingly better than Washington Republicans expect.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and her coalition’s candidate Edmundo Gonzalez have commanded enthusiastic crowds during their campaign to unseat President Nicolás Maduro and end 25 years of ruling party dominance.

But uncertainty remains about how Sunday’s (28 July) election will play out, with Maduro – whose 2018 reelection is considered fraudulent by the United States, among others – sounding a confident note and opposition figures and analysts warning of possible underhandedness.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hit out at China’s “escalatory and unlawful actions” in the South China Sea on Saturday, hours before he was due to hold talks with Beijing’s top diplomat at a regional meeting in Laos.

Blinken is in the capital, Vientiane, for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting, part of an Asian tour aimed at reinforcing regional ties in the face of an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Ukraine reported 122 combat engagements with the Russians on Friday, the General Staff said in a war situation update Saturday morning, July 27.

Russian forces launched 80 airstrikes – using a missile and 117 glide bombs – at Ukrainian military positions and the civilian population, the military reported.

A historic boat parade down the River Seine launched the Paris Olympics with spectacular French flair Friday, as the City of Light welcomed the world’s greatest athletes for a sporting extravaganza.

A show-stopping performance by Celine Dion, a flaming Olympic cauldron lifted into the night sky by a hot-air balloon, and a dazzling Eiffel Tower light show brought the curtain down on a four-hour celebration of French culture, history and art.

A ceasefire without Russia's withdrawal from Ukraine's TOT (temporarily occupied territories) would mean giving Russia the opportunity to continue further attacks, Ukrainian Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar said in an interview with Euronews in Turkey.

According to Bodnar, the solution to the Russian occupation, which for many began in 2014 and was expanded following the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, is to protect the country’s territorial integrity in line with the requirements of international law.

A Ukrainian court on Friday remanded an 18-year-old man in custody over the murder of a nationalist former lawmaker, state media reported.

Iryna Farion – a divisive hardline campaigner against the use of Russian language – was shot near her flat in the western city of Lviv on July 19.

Russian propaganda has actively spread many fakes about the EU and European leadership to demoralise Ukrainians but failed to influence their pro-European intentions.

While Europe was actively preparing to counter Russian disinformation during the EU elections in June, Russia used this time to sow more doubt and distrust of European countries among Ukrainians.  

An old op-ed writing gimmick I’ve been guilty of using is to start a piece with a weighty quote from some great person, think Orwell or Churchill. This signals to the reader that there’s some real gravitas coming up. Instead, here’s a text message from an ordinary person I received the other night: “For the children of Ohmatdyt, we remember; we will take revenge.” This grim sentiment was sent to me by Oleksandr, a Ukrainian drone pilot based in the north of the country, close to the invading Russians. His blood was boiling.

And so was mine. That day, Russian missile strikes had killed 41 men, women, and children in various Ukrainian cities, and destroyed the children’s hospital referenced by my friend. Civilian casualties are of course nothing new in Ukraine. Oxfam estimated on the second anniversary of the invasion that 30,457 civilians had been killed and wounded, with casualties increasing every day.

A report in the Guardian tells how Oleksandr Zheltyakov was fourteen years old in December 2019 when he won his first Ukrainian championship in front of a packed hometown crowd at Dnipro’s Meteor swimming facility. To this day the memory of cheering supporters filling the stands fires him up. He likened it to being at a Taylor Swift concert.

In July 2024 the soundtrack changed. Air raid sirens blared out several times a day at this famous venue which served as one of the main training bases for Ukraine’s Olympic swimmers.