(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Welle said a cameramen working for the German broadcaster was wounded by Russian cluster munitions in the Donetsk region and a Ukrainian soldier died in the attack. Russia’s defense ministry said a correspondent for the state news agency RIA Novosti died from injuries from an alleged a Ukrainian cluster munitions strike in the Zaporizhzhia region. The claim couldn’t be verified. 

A Ukrainian drone strike destroyed an ammunition dump and oil depot in Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine’s armed forces said on Telegram. Sergey Aksyonov, the peninsula’s Kremlin-installed governor, said no one was hurt but railroad traffic was halted for a time. Russia attacked southeastern Ukraine with Iranian Shahed drones early Saturday and all five were shot down, Ukraine’s general staff said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy conveyed resolve about targeting Russian military sites in Crimea, after a July 17 attack damaged the Kerch Strait bridge linking Russia and occupied Crimea. “Any objective, any target that is bringing war, not peace, has to be neutralized” in Crimea, he said on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.

Zelenskiy spoke late Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he seeks to restart grain shipments after Moscow withdrew from the Black Sea safe-transit agreement. “The parties coordinated efforts to restore the operation” of the initiative, according to Zelenskiy’s office. The US wants Erdogan’s government, which brokered the original deal along with the UN, to play a “leadership role” in prodding Russia back into the agreement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.  

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Coming Up 

  • Sunday meeting between Putin and Belarus’ Lukashenko
  • Russia’s invasion hits 17-month mark on Monday

Markets

Wheat Slumps as Traders Shrug Off Ukraine Angst

Wheat futures fell more than 4% on Friday, taking a breather after surging about 11% over three days as traders focused on ample global supplies even amid continued tensions in the Black Sea. 

Both Ukraine and Russia warned this week that ships headed to each other’s ports could be considered military targets, setting off alarm bells. Friday’s comments by Russia’s deputy foreign minister suggested the worst of the worries were overblown. 

 

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