Ukraine's first silver at 2024 Olympics, prisoner exchange between Russia and West: August 1 highlights
Ukrainian athlete Serhiy Kulish won a silver medal in the air rifle shooting competition at the Olympics in Paris. An exchange of prisoners between Western countries and Russia took place in Türkiye. We have collected the main news for August 1.
Silver medal at the Olympics
At the Olympics in Paris, Ukrainian shooter Serhii Kulish won a silver medal in the men's 50 meters rifle three positions.
In total, the Ukrainian athlete earned 461.3 points. The gold in this discipline was won by a representative of China, and the bronze went to an Indian athlete.
Exchange of prisoners between the Russian Federation and the West
On August 1, Turkish media reported that Russian and United States planes landed at Esenboga Airport in Ankara. They brought people to the largest exchange between the Russian Federation and the West since World War II.
Among those exchanged, according to the Russian outlet Insider, were Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, American ex-marine Paul Whelan and Radio Svoboda journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
Meanwhile, in exchange for them, Russia will receive a hitman who worked for the FSB, Vadim Krasikov, the spouses Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva, Pavel Rubtsov and Mikhail Mikushin, who are believed to be involved in the Russian GRU, as well as other people.
Subsequently, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States managed to exchange 16 people, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens, whom he called "political prisoners in their country."
Zelenskyy: Not all territories should be won back with weapons for years
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine will never give up its territories. At the same time, he emphasized that the issue of territorial concessions in favor of Russia cannot be decided by the head of state without the will of the people, as this would contradict the Constitution.
Zelenskyy also said that the Russian troops are able to advance, in particular due to the fact that the equipment of the brigades with Western weapons has been taking too long.
Scandal over the tender for the reconstruction of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital
Journalists of the Nashi Groshi project found out that the tender for the reconstruction of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv was won by Bud-Technology, a company that offered to perform the work at a much higher price than other bidders.
This firm expressed its willingness to perform work for 307 million hryvnias ($7.5 million), although other tenderers offered to do it much cheaper — from 42 to 286 million hryvnias ($1-7 million). In addition, some other problems were found in the proposal of the company Bud-Technology.
The Ministry of Health announced that they had contacted the law enforcement officers to check the tender. Minister Viktor Lyashko stated that the Ministry of Health is "doing everything" to ensure that the process of rebuilding the hospital "is absolutely transparent."
Other news
- Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko believes that he has defeated corruption in Kyiv, but the central government wants to "undermine trust in him."
- Ukraine will soon receive $3.9 billion in grants from the United States, which is the first tranche of direct budget support from Washington in 2024.
- In Prague, communists took part in a rally against Dvizh event of the Third Assault Brigade, accusing the military of "Nazism".
- The reinstated head of the Ternopil Oblast Council was dismissed for the second time, according to media.
- Putin's spokesman says Russia will not participate in the second Peace Summit without an agenda that suits it.
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