Because the conflict enters its 859th day, listed here are the highest developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Battle
- Russian strikes on the Ukrainian metropolis of Nikopol killed two girls aged 61 and 86 and wounded 9 others, in response to regional governor Serhiy Lysak. The assaults broken properties, colleges and a clinic within the metropolis, which lies throughout the Dnieper River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear plant.
- Russia stated it destroyed 5 Ukrainian SU-27 fighter jets with Iskander-M missiles and broken two extra on the Myrhorod air base in central Ukraine’s Poltava area. The assault comes as Ukraine prepares for the arrival of the long-awaited F-16 fighter jets.
- Ukraine claimed there had been an assault on the Myrhorod airbase, however stated Moscow was exaggerating the harm brought on. Its air power commander, Mykola Oleschuk, stated the Ukrainian army had additionally carried out a “harmful assault” on a Russian ammunition depot within the city of Balaklava in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Monday.
- Russia’s Protection Ministry stated its air protection programs destroyed 11 drones that Ukraine launched towards Russian territory and the occupied Crimean peninsula within the early hours of Tuesday.
- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated his nation is not going to enable any clashes on its border with Ukraine after its army bolstered air defenses within the space resulting from 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 think about a ceasefire to hurry up the tip of the conflict with Russia. Ukraine, nevertheless, stated it noticed its personal strategy as the trail to peace.
- Zelenskyy stated he mentioned with Orban Ukraine’s steps to realize peace along with worldwide companions, and invited the Hungarian prime minister to affix kyiv’s efforts.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian President Andriy Yermak’s chief of employees in Washington, DC, and held talks on NATO members’ intention to deliver Ukraine nearer to the alliance, in response to a US official. The talks got here as Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin additionally pledged to “take steps to construct a bridge to Ukraine’s NATO membership” through the alliance’s summit within the US capital subsequent week.
- The governments of Germany and Poland introduced a joint motion plan during which they agreed to debate strengthening defence cooperation, together with a larger NATO presence on the alliance’s jap border, and coordinating support to Ukraine.
- The Lithuanian International Ministry has lodged a diplomatic protest with Russia after a Russian civilian aircraft entered its airspace with out permission. The Pobeda airline aircraft entered Lithuanian airspace over the Baltic Sea for one minute on Sunday afternoon, whereas en route from Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport to Kaliningrad Airport, the ministry stated.
- A Kremlin spokesman stated Russia couldn’t touch upon former US President Donald Trump’s thought to finish the conflict in Ukraine as a result of Moscow didn’t know what the plan entailed.
- Within the Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, a court docket has sentenced a 19-year-old man to 12 years in jail for allegedly donating cash to Ukrainian forces, in response to Russian state media.
Army support
- Protection Secretary Austin stated throughout a gathering along with his Ukrainian counterpart on the Pentagon that america will quickly announce greater than $2.3 billion in safety help for Ukraine. Austin stated the most recent arms bundle would come with weapons akin to anti-tank weapons and air protection interceptors, and would enable for the accelerated acquisition of Nationwide Superior Floor-to-Air Missile Programs (NASAMS) and Patriot air protection interceptors.
- The Netherlands stated it will quickly provide Ukraine with the primary of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets, however didn’t specify what number of can be despatched within the preliminary supply or after they would arrive in kyiv for safety causes.