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Ukraine has launched a major overnight aerial and naval drone attack on Vladimir Putin’s forces in occupied Crimea, according to officials.
Moscow’s defence ministry claimed to have downed 33 air drones and 10 unmanned Ukrainian boats over the Black Sea, as residents reported loud explosions near Sevastopol.
It comes as Germany revealed it would slash its military aid to Ukraine from £6.72bn to £3.36bn next year, according to its draft budget.
The country’s finance minister assured that the bulk of the money and military aid Kyiv needs has been secured “for the foreseeable future thanks to European instruments and the G7 loans.”
The blow to Kyiv comes as Donald Trump named as his vice presidential pick Senator JD Vance, who opposes military aid for Ukraine and warned Europe will have to rely less on the US to defend the continent.
Ukraine’s defence minister has said the war-hit nation will find a way to battle Russia’s invading forces even if Mr Trump wins a second term and imperils vital US support.
Switzerland opens dozens of Russian sanctions cases
Switzerland has opened investigations into more than 50 cases of possible sanctions violations and has found breaches in 15 of them so far, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
Since Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, Switzerland has adopted sanctions similar to those of other Western countries, passing new measures earlier this month.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said in an email to Reuters that the effective implementation of sanctions was a government priority and that it had opened 56 violations proceedings to date.
Of those, around half have been dropped and penalties have been ordered for 15 of them. The others remain under investigation, it said.
SECO did not name the sectors involved, nor the individual companies subject to investigation.
Switzerland said earlier this year it had set up a specialist team to investigate and enforce sanctions that Bern imposed following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain17 July 2024 11:53
