Georgia: call for a new pro-EU demonstration this Sunday in Tbilisi
Pro-European activists on Sunday called for a new big rally in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to demand the resignation of the government accused of having failed to obtain EU candidate status.
At the end of June, the European Union did not grant this former Soviet republic of the Caucasus, target in 2008 of a Russian armed offensive, the status of candidate and asked for major reforms beforehand.
Subsequently, several tens of thousands of people, at the call of all the opposition parties, demonstrated against the ruling party, Georgian Dream, accused of authoritarian drift and of having deteriorated relations with Brussels.
NATO: Sweden refuses to deny a “promise” of extraditions to Turkey
Did Sweden “promise” the extradition of 73 people to Turkey to join NATO? Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on Sunday refused to deny Turkish President Erdogan’s claim, which is causing embarrassment in the Nordic country.
“I have been a minister for eight years and I have never spoken about what was said at the negotiating table,” she told a press conference. “Which puts me in a bit of a difficult situation at the moment,” added the Social Democratic leader.
In an agreement signed by Stockholm and Helsinki on Tuesday at the NATO summit in Madrid, the two Nordic countries notably undertake in writing to examine “promptly and thoroughly” Turkish extradition requests, without any promise to proceed. to these extraditions is given.
>> The full article can be found here.
British intelligence assures that a referendum to join Russia could be held in the Kherson region by autumn
According to the latest update from British intelligence, Moscow-backed officials in the Russian-conquered region of Kherson could hold a referendum to join the Russian Federation by next fall.
“Moscow-backed representatives have indicated that they will hold a referendum in Kherson Oblast to join the Russian Federation in the fall of 2022. Russia is likely favoring a pseudo-constitutional vote in order to legitimize control of the region,” the statement said.
London also assures that the elected mayor of Kherson, Ihor Kolykhaiev, would have been arrested by the Russians, to silence any opposition to the occupation, although various resistance movements continue to demonstrate in the region.
“Finding a constitutional solution for the occupation is the priority political objective for the Russians. The vote will undoubtedly be prepared in order to lead to a result acceptable to Moscow”, explain the British.
Russia says it has conquered the city of Lysychansk and the entire Lugansk region
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Sunday that Kremlin forces controlled the entire Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine after capturing the key city of Lyssychansk, the heart of intense fighting.
“Sergei Shoigu informed the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, of the liberation of the Lugansk People’s Republic,” said a Defense Ministry statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
Moscow accuses kyiv of launching missiles at the city of Belgorod, near Ukraine
The Russian army claimed to have shot down three Ukrainian missiles launched at dawn on Sunday against the town of Belgorod, near Ukraine, where a local official had previously announced the death of at least three people after explosions.
“Russian anti-aircraft defenses shot down the three Tochka-U cluster missiles launched by Ukrainian nationalists against Belgorod. After the destruction of the Ukrainian missiles, the debris of one of them fell on a house” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.
Zelensky adviser says Lyssychansk could fall to Russians
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, indicated that the city of Lyssytchansk, located in the Donbass and subjected for several days to important combats, could fall into the hands of the Russians.
This same adviser indicated that the Russian forces had crossed the river Siverskiy Donets, and that they were approaching the locality from the north.
“It is indeed a threat. We will see. I do not exclude any scenario. Things will become clearer in a day or two,” he said, as reported by the Guardian and Reuters.
Ukrainian army strikes Melitopol, southern city controlled by Russia
The Ukrainian army “decommissioned” overnight from Saturday to Sunday a Russian military base in Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine controlled by Moscow forces, announced its mayor in exile.
“Today the Ukrainian military forces decommissioned one of the Russian military bases” in the city, Ivan Fedorov said in a video posted on Telegram messaging.
“At 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., 30 strikes targeted the military base exclusively”, he added, specifying that “the town of Melitopol is covered in smoke” and that “this has been going on for several hours because a depot of fuel that was on the base is burning”.
Four civilians have been killed since Friday in Sloviansk
In Sloviansk, which has been under rocket fire day and night for at least a week affecting residential areas, at least four civilians have been killed and 12 injured since Friday morning, according to the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
A rocket attack notably hit inhabited houses on Friday evening, causing the death of a woman who was in her garden and injuring her husband, a neighbor told an AFP journalist on Saturday, showing the damage caused to buildings. neighborhood.
The city’s mayor, Vadym Liakh, accused Russian forces of using cluster munitions, banned by international treaties to which Moscow is not a party.
At least three dead in the Russian city of Belgorod, targeted by “strong explosions” this Sunday
The governor of the region where the Russian city of Belgorod is located, Vyacheslav Gladkov, indicated early this Sunday on Telegram that the locality had been targeted by strikes, without however specifying their origin.
At least 11 residential buildings were targeted, along with 39 homes. Three people are said to have died in these strikes, and two people were taken to hospital. An adult, in serious condition, and a 10-year-old child.
>> Read our full article
A still confused situation in Lysytchansk
Lyssytchansk, a city in Donbass where major fighting has been concentrated for several days, finds itself in a confused situation this Sunday.
In a video posted on social media, Chechen fighters filmed what allegedly happened to them in the city. Pro-Russian separatists announced on Saturday that they had completely surrounded the locality.
Information which was immediately denied by the Ukrainian general staff, which assured that Lyssytchansk remained under Ukrainian control, where there are still 15,000 civilians, out of the approximately 100,000 who lived there before the war.
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Welcome to this live, dedicated to the news of the conflict in Ukraine on this Sunday, July 3.