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Europe
European Commission
29.07.2025 Brussels is drawing up a strategy to ensure troops can move in a matter of hours, maximum a matter of days, by upgrading 500 infrastructure projects along four military corridors spanning Europe. Europe's current infrastructure requires major upgrades, said Tzitzikostas, EU's transport commissioner. Europe’s roads and railways need major upgrades to enable the rapid movement of troops and equipment across the continent ’in the event of war with Russia’, he has warned in an interview with the Financial Times published today. Tzitzikostas said the current state of infrastructure across the bloc could severely delay ’NATO’s response to a potential Russian invasion along the alliance’s eastern flank’. Tanks called to respond to an invasion could get stuck in tunnels, lead to bridges collapsing and face delays due to cumbersome border procedures, he said. Tzitzikostas stressed that „Europe’ would not be able to defend itself unless 'troops and equipment could move swiftly from west to east. It takes weeks and in some cases months to move military equipment and troops from the western side of Europe to the eastern side. Tzitzikostas is aiming to allocate €17 billion to overhaul roads, bridges and railways across Europe in order to boost military mobility. The corridors are selected in cooperation with NATO commanders. Their exact locations remain classified for security reasons. Tzitzikostas’ strategy, set to be presented later this year, forms part of a wider push to strengthen Europe’s defenses amid reports that the U.S. is considering reducing its military footprint in the region. The initiative complements 'the EU’s broader €800 billion rearmament plan and NATO’s recent agreement to raise defense spending targets to 5% of GDP'. In June, NATO Secretary-General Rutte cautioned that Russia is rebuilding its forces and 'could attack a NATO member by 2030'. Russia has also upgraded at least five suspected nuclear weapons facilities across its territory and in allied Belarus, including one in Kaliningrad. (Source: TVP - Poland')
Tuesday 29 July 2025 The EU-U.S. tariff agreement sealed over the weekend has been described as a dark day for Europe and even a capitulation to American demands’. Part of the agreement involves a commitment to buy American oil and gas. ’Purchases of U.S. energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe’s energy security. We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of U.S. LNG, oil and nuclear fuels’ von der Leyen said in Scotland on Sunday. ’It’s not only about the trade. It’s about security. It’s about Ukraine. It’s about current geopolitical volatility. I cannot go into all the details,’ EU Trade Commissioner Šefčovič told reporters yesterday. Higher US tariffs part of the price 'Europe was willing to pay for its security and arms for Ukraine’. European countries are buying U.S. weapons to help Ukraine to defend itself. Some are prepared to send their own air defense systems and replace them with U.S. equipment, once it can be delivered. ’The Europeans also are wary’ about a U.S. troop drawdown, which the Pentagon is expected to announce by October. At the same time, Trump is slapping duties on America’s own NATO partners. ’We’re going to be sending now military equipment and other equipment to NATO, and they’ll be doing what they want, but I guess it’s for the most part working with Ukraine,’ Trump said Sunday, sounding ambivalent about America’s role in the alliance. The Trump administration has warned its priorities now lie elsewhere, in Asia, the Middle East and on its own borders. ’That was why European allies agreed at NATO’s summit last month to spend hundreds of billions of dollars more on defense over the next decade’. ’Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win,’ Rutte wrote in a private text message to Trump, which the U.S. leader promptly posted on social media. It remains an open question as to how long this entente will last. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)
European Union
29.07.2025 Nine EU members - Belgium, Bulgaria, Southern Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania and Spain - have formally expressed interest in 'receiving loans under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) scheme', the European Commission said Tuesday. 'SAFE is a €150 billion ($173 billion) financial instrument to boost defense production and joint procurement among EU member states. Funded by EU borrowing, it offers competitively priced, long-term loans to support collaborative defense projects, focusing on priority areas like ammunition, drones, and air defense systems. At least 65% of weapon system components must originate from the EU, Ukraine, or EEA/EFTA countries. SAFE also allows limited participation from third countries under bilateral agreements, aiming to enhance EU defense readiness and support Ukraine'. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)
Ukraine
12:09 ET, Tue, Jul 29, 2025 According to website of Ukraine's parliament, a law signed by Zelensky states: 'During the period of martial law for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, on the basis of a letter (written consent) from the commander of the military unit, persons over the age of 60 who are recognized by the military medical commission as fit for military service in terms of health may be accepted for military service under a contract.' Ukraine allegedly suffered massive manpower shortages in late 2024. The Kyiv Independent reported that the law does not list a maximum age limit for service. (Source: The Daily Express U.S.)
29/07/2025 - 07:45 Overnight Russian strikes killed 16 people in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region and four others in Dnipropetrovsk, regional officials in Ukraine said today. More than 40 people were wounded. Russia's summer offensive has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the offensive in 2022. Over the weekend, the Russian army said its forces had "liberated the settlement of Maliyevka" in Dnipropetrovsk, weeks after it seized the first village in the region. (Source: France 24 "with AFP" = France)
Asia
Gaza
(Tuesday), July 29, 2025 | 09:38 Israeli fire killed 78 more Palestinians yesterday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Aid delivery remains chaotic. Israel said over the weekend that the military would pause operations in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and Muwasi for 10 hours a day and designate secure routes for aid delivery. International airdrops of aid have also resumed. Yesterday, two air force planes from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates airdropped 17 tons of humanitarian aid in Gaza - an amount that would fill less than a single aid truck. Aid agencies say the new measures are not enough to counter worsening starvation in the territory. The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Lazzarini, warned that airdrops are expensive, inefficient, can even kill starving civilians, and would not address the crisis. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid shipments, said UN agencies collected 120 trucks for distribution on Sunday and that another 180 trucks had been allowed into Gaza. The United Nations and aid groups say the territory needs 500-600 trucks a day to meet its needs. Israel said it would continue military operations alongside the new humanitarian measures, only targets fighters and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the fighters operate in densely populated areas. (Source: Gulf Today - United Arab Emirates / Associated Press - U.S.)
Syria
July 29 2025 08:20 Over 1.5 million internally displaced persons had returned to their home areas, along with about 700,000 refugees returning from abroad in recent months, the U.N. said yesterday. The returns place pressure on already fragile public services such as healthcare, education, and water. U.N. envoy for Syria Pedersen also briefed the Security Council on the recent escalation in the country. He said a ceasefire declared on July 19 in Sweida was largely holding after Bedouin forces withdrew and security units redeployed at the edges of the governorate, but the situation remained tense and volatile. In the northeast, efforts to implement the March 10 agreement signed between the government in Damascus and the YPG/PKK-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) remain challenging. (Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Turkey)
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