TOP HEADLINES

• Ukraine said it had restarted operations at its blockaded Black Sea ports as it moved closer to resuming grain exports with the opening of a coordination center to oversee a UN-backed deal. Turkiye formally opened a joint coordination center for Ukrainian grain exports aimed at resuming shipments for the first time since the start of the conflict. Finding enough seafarers willing to sail ships stuck inside Ukraine's ports is set to pose a major challenge to the proposed grains corridor.

• Russian energy giant Gazprom drastically cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline to about 20 percent of its capacity, German authorities said. The Russian state-run company had announced it would choke supply to 33 million cubic meters a day - half the amount it has been delivering since service resumed last week after 10 days of maintenance work.

• Ukrainian forces hit a key Russian-held bridge overnight in the occupied southern city of Kherson during a counter-offensive, representatives from both sides said. The Russian army has used the Antonivskiy bridge, which has now been closed, over the Dnipro River as a key resupply route into Kherson. Ukraine's armed forces released a clip apparently showing rocket fire targeting the bridge. 

• Moscow said it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights. READ MORE BELOW

• The governor of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad says a train has delivered cement from Russia, in the first such trip since the European Union agreed Lithuania must allow Russian goods across its territory. "It is indeed the first train to have arrived after the EU decision," the TASS news agency cited regional governor Anton Alikhanov as saying. It is "quite an important achievement", he said.

• Despite damaging Western sanctions imposed on Moscow, Russia's economy appears to be weathering the storm better than expected as it benefits from high energy prices, the IMF said. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces on July 24 had destroyed more than 100 U.S.-made HIMARS rockets in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region. Reuters news agency was unable to independently verify that account. Russia has previously said it had destroyed several HIMARS systems supplied to Ukraine by the West, claims denied by Kyiv.

• Europe's second-top court upheld a European Union ban on Russian state-controlled media outlet Russia Today imposed in March due to its systematic disinformation over Russia's military campaign in Ukraine. The Kremlin called the decision "extremely negative" and that Moscow would take similar measures against Western media in response.

• U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner said at her trial she had no intention of smuggling drugs into Russia. "I did not think of or plan to bring banned substances into Russia," the two-time Olympic basketball gold medallist told a court in the town of Khimki just outside Moscow. She was detained at a Moscow airport in February, just days before Moscow launched its offensive in Ukraine.

• Ukraine's parliament appointed lawmaker Andriy Kostin as the new prosecutor general, a week after his predecessor was fired in the largest political shake-up since the start of the conflict. The prosecutor general's office said that 299 lawmakers of Ukraine's parliament - the Rada - voted to approve a request from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to appoint Kostin to the post.

• Scotland has started to house Ukrainian refugees on a cruise ship docked off Edinburgh, the devolved government has said. The first Ukrainians boarded the specially chartered M/S Victoria, in a policy that critics brand potentially unsafe and unsuitable. The Scottish government plans to use the vessel, which it says is "fully staffed" and safe, to house up to 1,700 Ukrainian refugees in 739 cabins until next January to fill an accommodation backlog for refugees.

IN DETAIL

Russia to leave International Space Station 'after 2024'

Moscow said it was leaving the International Space Station "after 2024" amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights.

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.

Space experts said Russia's departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country's space sector and deal a significant blow to its program of crewed flights, a major source of Russian pride.

"Of course, we will fulfill all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made," Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.

"I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station," Borisov added, calling it the domestic space program's main "priority".

The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although US space agency NASA says it can remain operational until at least 2030.

The United States said it was taken by surprise by the announcement.

"It's an unfortunate development given the critical scientific work performed at the ISS, the valuable professional collaboration our space agencies have had over the years," State Department spokesman Ned Price said. 

NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the agency "has not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners, though we are continuing to build future capabilities to assure our major presence in low-Earth orbit".

Russia's economy benefits from high energy prices

Despite damaging Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in the wake of its offensive in Ukraine, Russia's economy appears to be weathering the storm better than expected as it benefits from high energy prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

The sanctions were meant to sever Russia from the global financial system and choke off funds available to Moscow to finance the war.

But the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook upgraded Russia's GDP estimate for this year by a remarkable 2.5 percentage points, although its economy is still expected to contract by six percent.

"That's still a fairly sizable recession in Russia in 2022," IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said.

A key reason that the downturn was not as bad as expected was that "the Russian central bank and the Russian policymakers have been able to stave off a banking panic or financial meltdown when the sanctions were first imposed," he said.

Meanwhile, rising energy prices are "providing an enormous amount of revenues to the Russian economy."

After starting the year below $80 a barrel, oil prices spiked to nearly $129 in March before easing back to under $105 on Tuesday for Brent, the key European benchmark, while natural gas prices are rising again and approaching their recent peak.

The report said: "Russia's economy is estimated to have contracted during the second quarter by less than previously projected, with crude oil and non-energy exports holding up better than expected." 

Meanwhile, despite the sanctions, Russia's "domestic demand is also showing some resilience" due to government support.

The report indicates Europe is facing the brunt of the fallout from sanctions given its reliance on Russia for energy. The situation could worsen dramatically if Moscow cuts off gas exports, and once the European Union imposes a ban on Russian oil delivered by sea starting next year.