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Morning Headlines
The Kyiv Independent: Possible ATACMS missiles and drones targeted Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on Aug. 2, occupation authorities claimed amid reports of explosions in various locations on the peninsula. Residents reported hearing multiple blasts in Sevastopol, Simferopol, and Yevpatoria in the occupied peninsula.
ISW: Russian forces continue to make slow, steady advances in the Pokrovsk direction, largely enabled by Ukrainian manpower shortages and the terrain in the area immediately northwest of Avdiivka. Russian advances will likely slow further as Russian forces advance into a line of larger and more urban settlements.
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Reuters: U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan returned to the United States on Thursday, hours after being freed from Russian detention in the biggest prisoner exchange between the two countries since the Cold War. The White House said it negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners - 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight sent back to Russia from the West.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is inflating the true number of new contract soldiers it is recruiting by one-and-a-half times, according to a joint investigation by Important Stories and the Conflict Intelligence Team.
Reuters: The European Union's internal affairs chief warned Hungary on Thursday that its decision to ease visa restrictions for Russians and Belarusians posed a potential security threat and said she would take action if her concerns were not addressed.
The Kyiv Independent: A reshuffle is being prepared at Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his evening address on Aug. 1.
POLITICO: Ukraine's government is running into a fierce blowback from foreign and domestic businesses over its draft proposal to hike taxes to pay for the war effort.
Euromaidan Press: Mondelez, parent company of Milka and Oreo, continues to profit in Russia despite pledges to scale back, but the exact figures are now shrouded in secrecy.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's Defense Procurement Agency has signed an agreement with a domestic manufacturer to purchase ground-based kamikaze drones, the Defense Ministry announced on Aug. 1.
Bloomberg: Ukraine has made a payment of about $200 million to holders of its GDP warrants, securities that weren’t part of a recent $20 billion eurobond restructuring agreement with private creditors, the finance ministry said (archive).
Reuters: The German government played a key role in Thursday's prisoner swap between Moscow and the West with its release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of the 2019 murder of a former Chechen militant in Berlin, a decision it said it did not take lightly.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is suffering heavy losses, but in some places has "minor gains" in Ukraine's east, Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Aug. 1.
FT: Brussels has told Hungary and Slovakia to wean themselves off Russian oil and seek alternative sources after they complained that Ukraine was blocking supplies from Russia (archive).
Euromaidan Press: In July, Ukraine has launched more long-range drone attacks than Russia for the first time. According to published figures, Ukraine hit back with over 520 drones in July, while Russia sent 426 Shahed-type drones into Ukraine during the same period.
ERR: Estonia will introduce full customs control on its eastern border at Narva, Koidula and Luhamaa from August 8 to prevent sanctions evasion, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on Thursday.
Reuters: The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian forces would shoot down U.S.-built F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine, and that the F-16s would have no significant impact on the course of the war.
The Kyiv Independent: A Russian kamikaze drone struck the house of a former Russian lawmaker, Ilya Ponomarev, in Kyiv's outskirts overnight on Aug. 1, injuring the anti-Kremlin politician, Ukrainian media reported.
Reuters: Moldova expelled a Russian diplomat and called in the Russian ambassador on Thursday to issue a formal protest, after the ex-Soviet country detained two of its own officials in a spy case linked to the Russian embassy in the capital Chisinau.
The Kyiv Independent: Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko and World Bank Regional Director Bob Saum have signed a new financial agreement on the first tranche of $3.9 billion from the United States in 2024, Ukraine's Finance Ministry announced on Aug. 1.
worth mentioning
Ireland to reduce welfare payments to Ukrainian refugees
YouTube users across Russia report sharp decline in loading speeds
Rudy Giuliani's Ukraine ally runs for office in Russia
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