Because the conflict enters its 859th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the scenario on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Preventing
- Russian assaults on the central Ukrainian metropolis of Nikopol killed two ladies aged 61 and 86, and wounded 9 different folks, in accordance with regional Governor Serhiy Lysak. The assaults broken residential housing, academic amenities and a clinic within the metropolis, which lies throughout the Dnipro River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
- Russia mentioned it destroyed 5 Ukrainian SU-27 fighter jets with Iskander-M missiles and broken two extra on the Myrhorod Air Base in Ukraine’s central Poltava area. The assault comes as Ukraine prepares for the arrival of long-awaited F-16 fighters.
- Ukraine mentioned there had been a strike on the Myrhorod Air Base however claimed Moscow was exaggerating the harm precipitated. Its Air Pressure commander, Mykola Oleschuk, mentioned Ukraine’s navy had additionally carried out a “harmful strike” on a Russian ammunition depot within the city of Balaklava in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Monday.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence mentioned its air defence techniques destroyed 11 drones that Ukraine launched at Russian territory and the occupied Crimean Peninsula within the early hours of Tuesday.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko mentioned his nation won’t permit any clashes on its border with Ukraine after its navy beefed up air defences within the space attributable to elevated Ukrainian drone exercise there.
Politics and diplomacy
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban made his first journey to Kyiv in additional than a decade and urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to contemplate a ceasefire to speed up an finish to the conflict with Russia. Ukraine, nonetheless, mentioned it noticed its personal strategy as the trail to peace.
- Zelenskyy mentioned he spoke to Orban about Ukraine’s steps to convey peace together with worldwide companions, and that he invited the Hungarian prime minister to affix Kyiv’s efforts.
- The US’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Ukraine president’s chief of employees, Andriy Yermak, in Washington, DC and held discussions on NATO members’ intention to convey Ukraine nearer to the alliance, in accordance with a US official. The talks got here as Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin additionally pledged to “take steps to construct a bridge to NATO membership for Ukraine” through the alliance’s summit within the US capital subsequent week.
- The governments of Germany and Poland introduced a joint motion plan wherein they agreed to debate boosting defence cooperation, together with a stronger NATO presence on the alliance’s japanese border, and the coordination of Ukraine help.
- Lithuania’s Ministry of International Affairs mentioned it had made a diplomatic protest to Russia after a Russian civilian plane entered its airspace with out permission. The Pobeda airline plane entered Lithuanian airspace over the Baltic Sea for a minute on Sunday night, on its manner from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport to Kaliningrad airport, the ministry mentioned.
- A spokesman for the Kremlin mentioned Russia couldn’t touch upon former US President Donald Trump’s thought for ending the conflict in Ukraine as a result of Moscow didn’t know what the plan concerned.
- Within the Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, a court docket sentenced a 19-year-old man to 12 years in jail for allegedly donating cash to Ukraine’s forces, in accordance with Russian state media.
Navy help
- The US will quickly announce greater than $2.3bn in new safety help for Ukraine, Protection Secretary Austin mentioned throughout a gathering along with his Ukrainian counterpart on the Pentagon. Austin mentioned the most recent weapons bundle would come with arms akin to antitank weapons and air defence interceptors, and would permit accelerated procurement of nationwide superior surface-to-air missile techniques (NASAMS) and Patriot air defence interceptors.
- The Netherlands mentioned it would provide Ukraine with the primary of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets quickly, however didn’t specify what number of planes can be despatched within the preliminary supply and after they would arrive in Kyiv for safety causes.
