What happened in the last few hours

Here are the most important news as of 8:00 p.m. on the 511th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

Russia warns that from midnight ships approaching Ukraine will be considered to be carrying weapons. Due to the termination of the grain agreement, from 00:00 Moscow time on July 20, Russia will consider all ships heading to Ukrainian Black Sea ports as carriers of military cargo, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday, according to state agency TASS.

Putin says Russia will reactivate Black Sea deal if its demands are met. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused Western countries of having “completely distorted” the expired Black Sea grain deal, but said Russia would “immediately” revert to the deal if all its conditions were met.

Wagner’s boss tells his mercenaries they’re going to Africa. The leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgueni Prigozhin, on Wednesday welcomed the paramilitaries who moved into Belarus and assured them that they would later go to Africa. Meanwhile, adds Prigozhin, who also posted the video on his own Telegram channel, Wagner will make the Belarusian army the “second in the world”.

Finland revokes the license of one of the Russian consulates on its territory. Finland will revoke the license of the Russian consulate in Turku, one of two in the country, the Finnish government announced in a statement on Wednesday. Finland said last month it was preparing to close the consulate, after Russia expelled nine Finnish diplomats and decided to close the Finnish consulate in St Petersburg.

Ukraine is creating a temporary sea route to maintain grain shipments. Ukraine is creating a temporary sea lane to hold back grain shipments after Russia scrapped a deal allowing Ukrainian exports through a UN-backed safe Black Sea corridor, Kyiv said in an official letter dated July 18 to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations’ shipping agency.

Putin announces that he will not attend the BRICS summit in South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin will not take part in the BRICS summit scheduled for the end of August in Johannesburg (South Africa). The announcement avoids a serious problem for the Pretoria government, which is chaired by Cyril Ramaphosa. South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court treaty, so in theory it would be obliged to arrest Putin as soon as he sets foot on its territory due to the international arrest warrant against the Russian president issued by its magistrates. The possibility that the Russian president will attend has sparked a lively controversy in South Africa.