2 July 2023
War
Kyiv is doing everything to speed up the delivery of F-16 fighter jets and long-range weapons, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said. "A lot of mines and enemy air superiority - despite these difficulties, the Defence Forces are moving forward," he added.
The Russian army is advancing in several directions - Avdiyivka, Maryinka and Lyman, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said. "It is hot everywhere," she said.
Russian troops also moved forward in the Svatove sector, where fierce fighting is taking place. They are attacking Bilohorivka and Serebryanka. The situation is quite complicated.
Malyar added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are moving forward on the southern flank of the Bakhmut sector and have partial success, while fighting continues on the northern flank.
Speaking of defence, the Avdiyivka sector is the hottest at the moment, with the most intense fighting taking place there, Valeriy Shershen, spokesman for the joint press centre of the Tavriya Defence Forces, told the telethon.
Over 28 combat engagements took place in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Maryinka sectors over the day.
The Russians launched 11 missile strikes and used eight Iranian Shahed strike UAVs, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.
"In addition, the enemy carried out 40 air strikes and fired about 30 times from multiple launch rocket systems at the positions of our troops and settlements," it said.
The likelihood of missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.
Today, around five in the morning, the Russian military fired three Kalibr cruise missiles by surprise to leave the air defence forces with no time to react, Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told the telethon. "But we can see that both air defence and other components of the defence forces successfully responded to those threats and destroyed both Kalibrs and Shakheds [UAVs]," he said.
A total of three Kalibrs and eight Shaheds were destroyed.
Navy
Ukraine is preparing to launch a mine clearance operation to clear the Black Sea of mines at the earliest opportunity, Ukrainian Navy Commander Rear Adm Oleskiy Neyizhpapa told ArmyInform. Ukraine has set up a headquarters that is already developing such an operation.
According to Neyizhpapa, next year, the Ivan Mazepa corvette is to join the Ukrainian Navy.
It will be equipped with 76-mm and 205-mm artillery systems, cruise missiles, and air defence systems with a range of over 20 km.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting in Odesa Region to discuss Navy capabilities and the sea drone programme.
Earlier in the day, Zelenskyy congratulated the Ukrainian Navy on its professional holiday.
Casualties
Four people were wounded by yet another Russian shelling attack on a residential neighbourhood in Kherson, according to the local authorities.
Human rights
The Centre of National Resistance said that the director general of the Russian charity foundation Believe in Yourself, Aleksey Talay (master of sports in swimming, member of the national Paralympic team of Belarus), has been directly involved in moving children from occupied territories in eastern Ukraine to Belarus. The abduction of children is a war crime.