Sixteen out of 17 Russian drones were shot down

Ukrainian forces are preparing for an offensive in the Kherson sector (southern Ukraine, ed.) occupied by the Russian army and are preparing a bridgehead for extending the offensive in the Avdiivka sector in the east. Colonel Mykola Orshalovic, of the Ukrainian National Guard Directorate, citing UNIAN, adding that units of the 15th Operational Brigade are conducting offensive operations in the Melitopol sector (Southeast Ukraine, ed.). According to the Military Media Center, the Russians are trying to prevent the landing of Ukrainian forces on the left bank of the Nile Dnieper.

A facility at the Kursk nuclear power plant, one of the largest in western Russia, has been shut down after a drone exploded in Kiev four kilometers from the complex, Moscow time. Interfax reports that Unit 4, which was commissioned in 1986 and equipped with a Chernobyl-like RBMK reactor, has been shut down today for repair work. There was no increase in radioactivity in the factory area. The plant is located in Kurchatov, just over 60 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The drone was shot down by air defense systems.

Ukrainian intelligence has sources in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. We have our sources. So to speak, in the nearest offices (of the Russian president). That is why we usually know what is going on, as in the case of the investigation of Yevgeny Prigozhin,” revealed the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence Kirillo Budanov in an interview published on the Reuters website. Budanov recounted first-hand reports that the investigation by the Ministry of the Interior in Moscow showed that Prigozhin has support in Russia, emphasizing that his power has not eroded at all after the June 24 uprising.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he shared Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s view that the conflict in Ukraine would drag on for a long time because “Westerners want the war to continue”. “One cannot disagree with this,” Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency. “It is precisely the United States that acts as a leader in supplying Ukraine with the latest weapons and ammunition. Peskov said that it is precisely the United States that is constantly pushing Ukraine to fight to the last of Ukraine.

Today the Wagner Group is posting on its Telegram channel a photo showing its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, sitting in a field tent on a tubular metal bed — in underpants and a T-shirt — while waving towards the camera. It is not clear where or when the photo was taken, but according to a Russian paramilitary group, the photo was taken, “by the Belarusian Ministry of Defense,” at Camp Wagner in Belarus. A photo of Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in the camp. Wagner was fielded on Belarusian soil by the Belarusian Ministry of Defense,” the message reads. “Today, Belarusian sources confirmed the start of Wagner’s deployment in Belarus,” the text continues. Gerashchenko notes that it was allegedly Prigozhin and that he was taken in Belarus. “Shoigu, Gerasimov, where are the pants ?!”, adds the senior Ukrainian official sarcastically, referring to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov. The Telegram channel of the mercenary community also publishes the photo. With the caption: “A very unusual photo of Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared in one of the chat rooms. In the metadata of the original photo, the date of the shot is July 12th at 7.24 am.” Some other Telegram channels post the photo but claim it was taken on June 12th, just before the failed Wagner Rebellion against Moscow on June 24th. The independent Belarusian media Nexta ran a joke on Telegram: “Prigozhin asked Putin to send him pants and a jacket.”

The spokesman for the General Staff of the Armed Forces in Kiev told United News TV channel, Andrei Kovalev, that the Ukrainian forces continue their offensive operations and made progress in the direction of Bakhmut in the past 24 hours, advancing south of the city in eastern Ukraine. , as reported by Rbc-Ukraine. Kovalev said that the Ukrainian forces continue their offensive operations with some success in the directions of Melitopol, Berdyansk and Bakhmut. In addition, Ukrainian soldiers continue to strike Russian counter-battery fire on identified hostile targets and conduct counter-battery combat. Kovalev stressed that the Ukrainian armed forces are launching an offensive to the north and south of Bakhmut.

The Kiev Air Force reported that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 16 of 17 kamikaze drones launched by Russian forces in the country last night, as well as seven reconnaissance drones.

«To receive financing, Ukraine will have to prepare a reconstruction plan, which will consist of investments and reforms. The reforms are also linked to the integration of Ukraine into the European Union and resources will be available in line with the completion of investments and reforms with the dual purpose of providing a broad stabilization function, but also specific financing for projects, ”said Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis upon his arrival at the European Council of Economic Ministers in Brussels.

“Ministers will discuss for the first time the European Commission’s proposal on a multi-annual financial framework,” said V. Ekofen. As part of this review we have a €50 billion facility for Ukraine consisting of grants and loans, for a period from 2024 to 2027. So we are offering a large medium-term package and we hope other donors will follow. contributions.

No less than 23 drones were shot down by Ukrainian defenses last night. The news was provided by the Kiev Air Force. Among the 17 drones a witness Made by Iranians sent by Russian forces, 16 were shot down, Telegram reported. The air defenses also hit a reconnaissance drone and six “tactical-operational” drones.

The State Duma has approved in the third and final reading the bill banning sex reassignment surgery in Russia: this was reported by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

For the first time since 2017, nuclear-powered submarines will not take part in the Russian naval parade on the Navy’s holiday, next July 30. The decision may be related to internal security concerns. British intelligence writes about this in the daily report on the war in Ukraine, which was revealed by the Ministry of Defense in London. State media reported that nuclear-powered submarines from Russia’s Northern Fleet will not take part in the Navy’s Fleet Day parade in Saint Petersburg on July 30. Since the party’s current format was established in 2017, this will be the first year that nuclear powered submarines do not participate. The change is likely to be primarily due to the need to allow maintenance and maintain readiness for operations and training. There is also a realistic possibility that internal security concerns following the attempted Wagner Group insurrection contributed to the decision.”

Vladimir Putin revealed in an interview with Kommersant that he made an offer during a meeting with the leader of the Wagner Group, Evgenyzh Prigozhin, and a group of militants who responded to his orders. Proposal rejected by Prigozhin. The Russian president was going to offer Wagner’s men to continue fighting under the orders of their current commander, known as Andrei “Sedoy” Troshev. “They were going to continue to work together,” Kommersant reports. “Nothing will change. They will be led by the same person who has been their leader all this time.” “Many of them nodded when I said these things,” Kommersant wrote, quoting Putin. But Prigozhin refused. “No, men will not agree to such a decision,” he said.

The Wagner paramilitary group does not exist, at least from a legal point of view: Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kommersant, speaking for the first time about his meeting in the Kremlin with the founder of the mercenary militia, Yevgeny Prigozhin, a few. After the days of the June 24 rebellion. “Well, Wagner does not exist!” exclaimed Putin in response to a Kommersant journalist who asked him if the group would remain as a combat unit. “We do not have a law on private military organizations! It does not exist! », He added:« There is a group, but it does not exist legally! ».

The Wagner Group is no longer heavily involved in military operations in Ukraine. This was stated by Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder. “At this point, we don’t see Wagner’s forces intervening significantly to support combat operations in Ukraine,” he said.

The Pentagon has confirmed that cluster munitions supplied to Kiev by the United States have been delivered to Ukraine, Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavsky told CNN yesterday. “There are cluster munitions in Ukraine right now,” Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, director of joint operations for the US General Staff, said in a press conference reported by US media, and emphasized that Ukraine does not intend to “use cluster munitions clustered near Of the civilian population, unlike the Russians’: “The Ukrainians intend to use them in a tactical environment, against the Russians, not against civilians.”

“Just 24 hours after the NATO summit in Vilnius, six countries have joined the seven largest democracies in the world with whom we agreed yesterday on security guarantees: the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. Thank you! I am sure that the number of guarantors will increase. Ukraine and the United States will keep list of countries that will sign our joint statement with the G7 on security guarantees on the road to NATO. This was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.