7 July 2023
US assistance
The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced additional security assistance to meet Ukraine's critical security and defense needs. This package will provide Ukraine with additional artillery systems and ammunition, including highly effective and reliable dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), additional air defence munitions, armoured vehicles, anti-armour weapons, and other equipment.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed without sparing the details that President Biden and his advisers had made a "unanimous decision" to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, according to SkyNews. He added that Kyiv had provided assurances on how it would use the munitons, and that Russia has been using them extensively since the beginning of the war.
Turkey
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the presidents of Ukraine and Turkey respectively, met to discuss security in the Black Sea region and in Europe in general. "We will separately discuss the protection and development of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and further efforts for food security. The world must be protected from any kind of terror," Zelenskyy said.
War
In Bakhmut, Russians are almost trapped, while in southern Ukraine the ratio of losses is 1 to 5.3, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said. She added that due to significant losses in the south, some Russian units are refusing to take part in hostilities.
The Defence Ministry is asking Ukrainian Telegram channels not to post same-day news from the front as the enemy is using this information to target Ukrainian army positions, Malyar said separately.
Russian forces are focusing their main efforts on the Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka and Maryinka sectors, where heavy fighting continues. About 20 combat engagements took place over the last day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.
In addition to targeting Ukraine with Shahed attack drones, the Russians carried out 42 air strikes and fired about 30 missile attacks from multiple launch rocket systems.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian aviation carried out six strikes on Russian clusters, two on anti-aircraft missile systems and one on a command post. Ukrainian soldiers destroyed two reconnaissance UAVs of operational and tactical level. Over the course of the day, missile and artillery units struck a command post, seven artillery pieces at firing positions and an electronic warfare station.
Human rights
The bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the terrorist attack in a Russian-controlled penal colony of Olenivka on 29 July 2022 have been recovered, and most of them have been identified, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said. He added that the UN fact-finding mission has never agreed to review the case files on the explosion in the colony provided by Ukraine.
The UN confirmed 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, had been killed in the full-scale war in Ukraine. The actual number of casualties could be much higher.
There are 317 residents of Kyiv Region who went missing during the active hostilities, the head of the main directorate of the National Police in Kyiv Region, Andriy Nyebytov, said, according to Interfax-Ukraine.
NATO
NATO has not yet decided whether to send Ukraine an invitation to join the alliance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a joint press conference with Slovak counterpart Zuzana Čaputova. Answering journalists' questions about expectations from the Vilnius summit, he highlighted the importance of NATO's unity.
Ukraine signed a contract with Slovakia to produce 16 Zuzana 2 self-propelled artillery systems. "We are working on other joint productions - the production of shells, the production of guns," Zelenskyy said.
President Zelenskyy will take part in the NATO summit in Vilnius on 11-12 July as part of the launch of a new format of Ukraine's cooperation with the Alliance, Yevropeyska Pravda reported, quoting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Polish angle
Exclusive: Former Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz suggested in an interview with LB.ua that Ukraine's accession to NATO would stabilise the situation with the Russian invasion. The West should not turn a blind eye to the seizure of territories of sovereign countries, it should provide more weapons, he argued.
For Ukraine to win the war and regain all its territories, Russia needs to collapse, he said, noting that "there are states that are afraid of such a scenario".
Energy
The power system registered record electricity consumption on the late afternoon of 6 July, Ukrenergo said. The reason for the significant increase in consumption is primarily the spike in the use of air conditioners. Ukrainians are asked to reduce electricity consumption from 16:00 to 23:00.
Crime
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) exposed a pharmaceutical company from Zhytomyr Region that supplied painkillers and other medicines to Russian military hospitals. The company set up the illegal drug supply scheme after Russia's full-scale invasion. Russia used the medicines in the occupied territory of Ukraine to treat its wounded.