29 June 2023
International agenda
US and European officials have told the Wall Street Journal that America is close to approving a long-range missile system for Ukraine, Sky News reprted. Kyiv has repeatedly called for long-range missiles to help recapture occupied territory and defend itself against Russia.
Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the campaign, NBC News reported. He also visited Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin ravaged by the Russian forces.
War
Ukrainian defenders repelled all Russian attacks near Maryinka, Pobeda and Novomykhaylivka.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russians' offensives in the areas of Rozdolivka and Bilohorivka in the Lyman sector, as well as in the area of Bakhmut, were unsuccessful.
Over the past day, the Defence Forces' aviation carried out 11 strikes on Russian personnel clusters. Missile and artillery units hit two command posts, a radar station and an artillery unit at a firing position over the course of the day.
Russia has now used six S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles against civilian infrastructure in the cities of Zaporizhzhya and Chuhuyiv. In addition, during the day, the Russians carried out 23 air strikes and fired about 46 times from multiple launch rocket systems at Ukrainian troop positions and populated areas.
In its morning update, the General Staff said that in the Bakhmut sector, Ukrainian defenders seized the strategic initiative and are conducting offensive operations on a broad front.
The commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lt-Gen Serhiy Nayev, stressed that the Sumy direction remains the most dangerous in the Northern Operational Zone. Therefore, he called on residents of the border areas to evacuate. He noted that almost every day the border settlements suffer from Russian shelling with artillery, mortars, and multiple rocket launchers.
Natalya Humenyuk, spokesperson for the Defence Forces South, said there are signs that Russia is likely to be preparing for missile strikes. According to her, Russia is intensifying unmanned reconnaissance along the front line and is trying to penetrate deeper into the rear regions.
At least two people were killed and two more were injured when Russians targeted a school, residential houses, a medical facility and a car in Kherson, according to the regional authorities.
In the Tavriya sector, Russian losses, both killed and wounded, amounted to almost three companies over the last day, the commander of the Tavriya operational and strategic group of troops, Oleksandr Tarnavskyy, said.
Intelligence
After the unsuccessful rebellion of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner PMC will no longer take part in hostilities in Ukraine, military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told Ukrayinska Pravda.
NATO summit
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba commended Jens Stoltenberg for his efforts to make the NATO summit in Vilnius a success. "Ukraine continues to work actively with all NATO allies to convince them that the time for clarity on Ukraine's membership in the Alliance has come," he tweeted.
Expectations for the upcoming summit in Vilnius are focused on "maximum specificity in an 'anti-Budapest' style", according to Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov. He argued that the "collapse of the Budapest Memorandum (1994) and the failure of the NATO Bucharest Summit (2008) were consecutive steps aimed at encouraging Russia's attack on Ukraine".
Human rights
The families of Tihran Ohannisyan and Mykyta Khanhanov, who were killed by Russians, cannot receive their bodies for burial because representatives of the Russian Investigative Committee in occupied Berdyansk do not give them a certificate of permission for burial, Ukrayinska Pravda has learned from sources in occupied Berdyansk.
Environment
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Kyiv as part of the international working group that will assess the environmental consequences of the conflict, particularly the scale of ecocide following the explosion of the Kakhovka hydro power plant dam. according to Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak. Thunberg met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Crime
A Ukrainian court has sentenced the head of the Russian occupying administration in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhya Region, Yevhen Balytskyy, to 15 years in prison, the Security Service of Ukraine said.
The prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into possible illegal enrichment, military service evasion and abuse of office by Yevhen Borysov, who headed the Odesa territorial military recruitment office. The Specialised Defence Prosecutor's Office is checking the information published in a journalistic investigation about the property of the official's family members abroad. In particular, the purchase during martial law of an elite car and real estate in Spain for a total of UAH 196 million.
Society
Almost 40% of Ukrainians surveyed use their phones for four to six hours a day. Almost a third monitor the latest events and check Telegram channels every hour, according to a survey conducted by Rakuten Viber, which involved more than 70,000 users, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
The absolute majority of Ukrainians (78%) have close relatives or friends who were injured or killed in the battles against the Russian invaders, according to a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.