Because the conflict enters its 859th day, these are the principle developments.Right here is the scenario on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Combating
Russian assaults on the central Ukrainian metropolis of Nikopol killed two girls aged 61 and 86, and wounded 9 different folks, in line with regional Governor Serhiy Lysak. The assaults broken residential housing, academic services and a clinic within the metropolis, which lies throughout the Dnipro River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia 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 Ukraine’s central Poltava area. The assault comes as Ukraine prepares for the arrival of long-awaited F-16 fighters.
Ukraine stated there had been a strike on the Myrhorod Air Base however claimed Moscow was exaggerating the harm brought about. Its Air Power commander, Mykola Oleschuk, stated Ukraine’s navy had additionally carried out a “damaging strike” on a Russian ammunition depot within the city of Balaklava in Moscow-occupied Crimea on Monday.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence stated its air defence programs destroyed 11 drones that Ukraine launched at Russian territory and the occupied Crimean Peninsula within the early hours of Tuesday.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated his nation won’t enable any clashes on its border with Ukraine after its navy beefed up air defences within the space as a consequence of 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, stated it noticed its personal strategy as the trail to peace.
Zelenskyy stated he spoke to Orban about Ukraine’s steps to carry peace at the side of worldwide companions, and that he invited the Hungarian prime minister to hitch Kyiv’s efforts.
The US’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Ukraine president’s chief of workers, Andriy Yermak, in Washington, DC and held discussions on NATO members’ intention to carry Ukraine nearer to the alliance, in line 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 by which they agreed to debate boosting defence cooperation, together with a stronger NATO presence on the alliance’s jap border, and the coordination of Ukraine assist.
Lithuania’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs stated 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 method from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport to Kaliningrad airport, the ministry stated.
A spokesman for the Kremlin stated 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 line with Russian state media.
Navy assist
The US will quickly announce greater than $2.3bn in new safety help for Ukraine, Protection Secretary Austin stated throughout a gathering along with his Ukrainian counterpart on the Pentagon. Austin stated the most recent weapons package deal would come with arms equivalent to antitank weapons and air defence interceptors, and would enable accelerated procurement of nationwide superior surface-to-air missile programs (NASAMS) and Patriot air defence interceptors.
The Netherlands stated it’ll 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.