A Russian military delegation arrived in Istanbul for the opening, on 27 July, of a Joint Coordination Centre for resuming the export of grain from Ukraine’s ports. Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement on grain exports in Istanbul on 19 July after months of negotiations with the mediation of Turkey and the UN. Meanwhile, the first train transporting cement has arrived in Kaliningrad, crossing Lithuania, after the EU lifted the restrictions.

The US announced it was working on Plan B, together with Ukraine, for the export of grain after the Russian strike against the port of Odessa, US Agency for International Development (USAID) administrator Samantha Power told the CNN. “Plan B involves road and rail and river and sending in barges and adjusting the rail systems so that they're better aligned with those in Europe so that the exports can move out more quickly,” she said.

The European Investment Bank has approved EUR 1.59 billion of financial aid to Ukraine, EUR 1.05 billion of which will be allocated immediately.

According to British military intelligence, in the past 10 days there have been no significant changes along the frontline. In the South the Ukrainian army declared two settlements in Kherson region had been cleared and taken definitively. Antonivka bridge over the Dnieper near Kherson, which is of strategic significance for Russia’s defence, has been hit for the second time.