Update 21: Russia's war with Ukraine

21 July 2022

Russian forces now occupy around a fifth of Ukraine and continue to grind through the Donbas region in the east of the country. They also appeared to be preparing for the next stage of their offensive. Moscow said on 16 July its forces would step up military operations in “all operational areas”. The focus of the offensive is expected to be Sloviansk, a symbolically important city held by Ukraine in the eastern region of Donetsk. However, on 20 July Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow’s military “tasks” now go beyond the eastern Donbas region to permanently occupy broad swaths of southern Ukraine, calling it a buffer against US-supplied Himars rocket artillery. Russian forces have continued to carry out seemingly indiscriminate artillery bombardment and missile strikes on several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, and civilian casualties continue to mount.

Read more in the attached pdf on: the stalled diplomacy; Western military assistance to Ukraine; the trilateral summit in Tehran (involving Iran Russia and Turkey); the humanitarian consequences of the armed conflict; the investigation of war crimes; sanctions against Russia; European energy security; the blockade on Ukrainian grain exports and international food security; and developments within NATO.