A Chinese shipowner is set to begin the first weekly container service through the Arctic on an express route to Europe on Saturday, making the voyages until October and prompting concerns over vessels warming polar ice.

The company, Sea Legend, tested the premise last year when it completed the first China-to-Europe container ship transit through the frigid Northern Sea Route (NSR) along Russia’s coastline.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky signalled yesterday that Kyiv was planning more long-range strikes targeting Russian oil refineries and other facilities, along with operations in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to limit Moscow’s ability to continue the war.

“The long-range sanctions plan is being implemented, and there are more and more of our mid-range strikes as well,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.

“In fact, we have succeeded in blocking off Russia’s south, and we are expanding this strategic operation, quite rightly, in response to Russian strikes on our ports and our cities.”

The Ukrainian president also signed a sanctions package targeting individuals and companies involved in what he described as the illegal export of Ukrainian grain from Russian-occupied territories.

Kremlin officials have reiterated Russia’s unwillingness to engage in any peace talks that aim to freeze the current frontline, emphasising Moscow’s commitment towards a “long-term, reliable, and sustainable” settlement on its own terms.

Russian security council deputy chairperson Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this week that Russia will suspend or end the war in Ukraine “exclusively” on its own terms.

This is in line with Moscow’s routine rejection of all Ukrainian peace proposals to end the war in Ukraine on any terms that do not fulfil Russia’s demands for Ukraine’s complete capitulation.

Moscow and Pyongyang are coordinating on matters concerning the security and stability of the two countries, North Korean state media KCNA said today.

The legacy of blood ties and combat friendship between Russia and North Korea has become a cornerstone of their relations, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said, according to KCNA.

The two countries would continue “constructive joint work” on bilateral and international issues, Putin said, according to North Korean state media.

Ukrainian forces recently destroyed a Russian first-person view drone that was radio-controlled using frequency-hopping and spread-spectrum (FHSS) technology, signalling a new adaptation in the war.

The FHSS technology enables Russian drones to evade Ukrainian electronic warfare jamming by rapidly switching frequency bands.

This could lead to an expansion of the kill zone area, currently within 15 to 25 km from the frontline, Ukrainian drone warfare expert Dmytro Putiata said.

At least 437 Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than 2,600 injured in July 2026 alone, making it the month when most people were killed or injured in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of the country began in early 2022, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has reported.

This is a 30 per cent increase from June, which was previously the deadliest month on record.

Among the 437 killed were 17 children, making July the month with the highest child casualties since April 2022.

“Every month this year the number of killed and injured civilians has increased. That trend accelerated sharply in July,” HRMMU Head Danielle Bell said.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said today that he has warned his Egyptian counterpart of a food supply threat from Kyiv caused by Russian strikes in the Black Sea.

“Ukraine is one of the largest food suppliers to Egypt and to a significant number of other countries in Africa and the Middle East. These supplies are now under serious threat because of Russia’s war,” Zelensky said in a post on X.

“There has already been a significant reduction in supplies, and this could have very serious consequences due to rising prices and shortages,” he said, urging the Egyptian president to pay attention to the situation in our Black Sea region.