2023-07-02 17:27:48
Another Russian attack hit the Ukrainian capital again on Sunday. According to Kiev authorities, a drone attack was carried out during the night for the first time in 12 days, with air defense systems having preliminarily destroyed all targets. Moscow, in turn, claims to be managing to repel Ukrainian advances and attacks in Donbass, and confirms the elimination of hundreds of enemy soldiers.
A little over a week after the alleged rebellion by the Wagner Group against Russia’s military high command, the scene on the battlefield has not changed. The expected Ukrainian counter-offensive continues to bear no considerable fruit, leading to reshuffles in Kiev’s state structures. This weekend both forces carried out attacks against military and urban spaces.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that fierce clashes continued in three zones of Donetsk, where, according to the official, Russia had concentrated troops and tried to advance. The Ukrainian General Staff designated the outskirts of three cities – Bakhmut, Lyman and Marinka – as frontline hot spots.
According to a senior Ukrainian official, Russia has launched a night drone attack on Kiev, after an interval of 12 days, the air defense systems having preliminarily destroyed all targets on their approach. “All air targets – eight Shahed-136/131 attack UAVs and three Kalibr cruise missiles – were destroyed,” the Ukrainian air force was quoted as saying by AFP.
“Another enemy attack on Kiev,” Serhiy Popko, a colonel general who heads Kiev’s military administration, said in a message published on the Telegram channel early on Sunday.
This event comes just one day after the Ukrainian authorities updated the balance of victims of the latest Russian attacks. In the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, five people, including a child, were injured on Friday, as well as in overnight attacks, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. On the eastern frontline of the Donetsk region, at least three civilians were killed and 17 wounded on Friday and Saturday night, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
Moscow, in turn, denounces Kiev’s attacks on Donetsk, saying it is managing to repel the advances it deems “secondary”, according to the Russian news agency TASS. This same body claims, citing military sources from the Ministry of Defense, that the armed forces managed to shoot down a Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet and intercept four HIMARS missiles in Zaporizhia. Furthermore, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers would have been eliminated in the last 24 hours.
Ukrainian soldiers near the Bergepanzer 2 armored recovery vehicle at the front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Saturday, July 1, 2023. © AP/LIBKOS
Meanwhile, in northwest Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the country’s highest military command and atomic energy officials at the Rivne nuclear power plant to discuss “the security of our northern regions and our measures to strengthen them “. This meeting takes place the day after Zelensky again denounced
Although this zone is away from the fighting, this Oblast borders Belarus.
It is precisely in Belarus that the soldiers of the Wagner Group begin to arrive, following the armed rebellion against the Russian military high command, which led to the “expulsion” of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his faithful fighters who refused to be integrated into the armed forces. Russian.
Satellite images analyzed today by the Associated Press (AP) reveal the recent construction of a military camp in Belarus and it is assumed that it could house mercenaries from the Wagner group, the news agency said. This is the former military base on the outskirts of Osipovichi, where dozens of tents have been erected over the last two weeks, located just over 230 kilometers north of the border with Ukraine, precisely with the Oblast of Rivne.
If, on the one hand, the withdrawal of the Wagner Group mercenaries renewed hopes of success regarding the awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive, Western analysts and military estimate that this operation should take time and that the advances are not following the expected pattern.
US General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday that Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russia will be difficult and “very bloody”. . Milley said he was not surprised that progress had been slower than expectedbut added that Ukraine was “moving steadily forward”.
In the diplomatic field, tensions between both blocs continue to escalate.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the Ukrainian capital Kiev in a show of continued support from Madrid and the European Union for Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces. Meanwhile, four Russian diplomats were evacuated from Romania, at the request of the local government, evidencing the worsening of relations between Moscow and Bucharest.
The Belarusian embassy was attacked in The Hague, Netherlands. According to local police, individuals attacked the building with stones, and left messages against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, accusing him of committing terrorist acts.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday he wanted his country to receive an “invitation” to join NATO after the war, during a major summit to be held this month.
This attempt is part of Kiev’s plans to continue participating in international forums. It is estimated that there is a certain discomfort regarding the presence of the Ukrainian leader. On Saturday, Zelensky denounced that the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, invited him to the July summit in Brussels, which will bring together the leaders of the EU and Latin America, but that some Latin American countries vetoed his presence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attend a press conference in Kiev, Ukraine, on Saturday, July 1, 2023. AP – Efrem Lukatsky
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