Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 06-30-2024

Belarus has accused Ukraine of ramping up its forces on the border and stepping up UAV reconnaissance as a prelude to military action which Kyiv dismissed as “attempts at provocation.”

Two senior Belarusian military commanders issued statements on Friday, June 29 through the Russian state news agency TASS, that accused Ukraine of increasing "tension" on its borders.

Vadim Lukashevich, a senior member of the Belarusian Special Operations Command said, “We have received reports of Ukraine amassing troops, weapons and military equipment along our border… US-made infantry fighting vehicles, HIMARS multiple rocket launchers and the US M777 155mm howitzer have been deployed to the Zhytomyr Region.”

In what the British government says is a “classic example from the Russian playbook,” it sees the Kremlin’s “hostile state actors seeking to influence the outcome of the election campaign.”

Britain’s deputy prime minister warned Sunday that the country’s upcoming general election faces threats from hostile actors such as Russia seeking to influence the UK’s democratic process.

The country will go to the polls on Thursday, in an election expected to oust the governing right-wing Conservatives and put the opposition Labour party in power.

North Korea condemns drills by Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul and warns of “fatal consequences” for what Kim Jong Un thinks is a Pacific version of the Atlantic Alliance.

North Korea denounced on Sunday joint military drills by South Korea, Japan and the United States, calling them an "Asian version of NATO" and warning of "fatal consequences".

It comes a day after the allies wrapped up three-day exercises, dubbed "Freedom Edge", in ballistic missile and air defenses, anti-submarine warfare and defensive cyber training.

Despite the Churches being active contributors to peace efforts, their representation at the Ukraine Peace Summit was characterized by restraint, hesitancy and predictability.

“Home is not just a word. Home means Ukraine.”

This is how President Zelensky welcomed 90 Ukrainian prisoners of war earlier in the week.

The free world needs to act now to stop tottering Putin getting his way via Donald Trump

We are now in the third year of a full-blown Russo-Ukrainian war (the primary front of World War 4) and Putin has suffered a decisive defeat on the most crucial level of this global confrontation – the psychological. His most effective strategic tool over many years – nuclear blackmail – is no longer producing the desired results.

When the leader of a nuclear power threatens to use his country's nuclear weapons in pursuit of a localized geopolitical objective, there are two possible motives at play.  

“My recommendation to Ukrainians: before embarking on risky missions, the pilots need to become well-versed in the use of these aircraft,” says Denmark’s Air Force commander.

Fifty Ukrainians have already completed training to maintain F-16 fighter aircraft, Danish Air Force Commander Jan Dam told TV2, adding that most of the Ukrainian specialists went home to prepare for receiving the first aircraft.

At the beginning of this week, it was announced that about 20 Ukrainian pilots will be trained by the end of the year. In addition, 100 Ukrainians will be trained to perform auxiliary tasks. These are mechanics, weapons specialists, and ground personnel for Ukrainian air bases.

In passing, the tireless leader and community activist has been saluted by Australia’s Prime Minister, former prime ministers, and many other dignitaries.

Stefan Romaniw, a “titan” of the Ukrainian diaspora, passed away on Wednesday. Romaniw was aged 68 and died unexpectedly from a medical episode in Warsaw, Poland while in transit from the inaugural meeting of the Anti-Imperialist Bloc of Nations (ABN) in Lithuania to his home in Melbourne, Australia.

Described as a “giant of a man with a giant heart,” Romaniw was First Vice President of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and Co-Chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO). He was also the former Chairman of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists – Bandera Faction (OUN-B) from 2009 to 2023, and the former Chairman of the Ukrainian Youth Association.

The 70-point resolution calls on all 53 OSCE participating states to make efforts to de-occupy Crimea and all occupied territories of Ukraine by supporting the Peace Formula and the Crimean Platform.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly (PA) has adopted a resolution recognizing Russia’s actions as genocide of the Ukrainian people and the need to decolonize Russia, announced by a member of the Ukrainian delegation Pavlo Frolov in Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

“On the opening day of the summer session in Bucharest, the OSCE PA adopted a resolution condemning Russia’s 10-year armed aggression against Ukraine, which recognized the actions of the military and political leadership of the Russian Federation and its armed forces during the full-scale invasion as genocide of the Ukrainian people,” Frolov wrote.

A complicated challenge is how to alert still largely ignorant parts of the international community to the scale, gravity and tragedy of Russia’s child removal policies.

Starting in 2014 and especially since 2022, Moscow has implemented an outrageous policy of large-scale Russian state-enforced displacement and deportation of Ukrainian civilians including thousands of unaccompanied minors and teenagers.

One of the Russian invasion’s aims since 2022 has been to capture and then russify large numbers of Ukrainian citizens in order to prop up Russia’s declining population. This aim may be as important to Moscow as the annexation of Ukrainian territory.

Fears of votes supporting far right-wing candidates continue on both sides of the Atlantic, but Macron vows to stay the course with Ukraine in France.

French people vote on Sunday in high-stakes snap parliamentary elections which could alter France’s trajectory and see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first.

With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher, support for the anti-immigration and Eurosceptic National Rally (RN) party has surged despite President Emmanuel Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent.

Support for Ukraine and its freedom is not a partisan issue.

Often, when we look back at major conflicts, it is easy to view a simplified landscape in which one’s own country was clear-headed and unambiguous in the position it took.

Thus, it comes as a mild embarrassment to people to remember that less than seven weeks before Britain declared it was at war with Germany in 1939, 30,000 people gathered in central London under an enormous Union flag to cheer on the British fascist vision of Europe. They were egged on by Oswald Mosley brandishing his charismatic fiery oration. Even Britain had some enthusiastic and patriotic fascists. Had Operation Sea Lion, Hitler’s planned invasion of Britain, succeeded, he would have found a coterie of willingly obedient lapdogs.

Many predicted Ukraine’s football team to be a force to be reckoned with at this year’s tournament. Instead, they were faced with an early exit.

After defeating Bosnia and Iceland in the EURO 2024 qualification playoffs, many football pundits, experts and fans predicted Ukraine to perform well at this year’s competition, but the prognoses were not borne out.

The Ukrainians were placed in Group E with Belgium, Slovakia, and Romania. Many believed that Ukraine would advance out of the group to the competition’s knockout stages, and some even believed that the Ukrainians would be a force to be reckoned with during the tournament.

Looking Back on the Big Debate: Biden’s Team Should Do Better

The single most important task for each of us is ensuring American democracy prevails in 2024. That means that we must fight like hell to defeat Donald Trump in November. On Thursday night, Joe Biden failed to take advantage of an opportunity to demonstrate his vigor. But even as the President stumbled, Trump showcased disaster.

Joe Biden has been an honorable and capable public servant for many decades. During the debate he spent his allotted time discussing the successful policies that have been implemented under his administration, although not in a particularly clear manner.

Milbloggers have posted images of Stalin-era towed howitzers being fed with non-standard 130mm ammunition in Ukraine the markings of which indicate they came from Pyongyang.

For months, after Ukraine destroyed much of its first-line weaponry, Russian forces turned to whatever they could drag out from the bowels of their storehouses to replace their losses. First came T54/55 tanks, then MT-LB tracked vehicles fitted with an assortment of strange weaponry, and now M-46 towed field guns that first came into service during Josef Stalin’s time.

The milblogger WarNoir, among others, has recently posted images on X/Twitter that showed Russian artillerymen loading and firing M-46 / M1954 field guns with high explosive fragmentation ammunition produced in North Korea (DPRK). On some of the ammunition the words “for Sevastopol” had been scrawled. This is a reference to the incident on Sunday, June 23 when fragments fell on to a beach near the Crimean port city that killed six and injured more than 150 holidaymakers.

Russian ministry of Defense says it shot down three dozen of Kyiv’s UAVs attacking across the border overnight.

Russian forces destroyed three dozen Ukrainian drones near the border, Moscow's Ministry of Defense said Sunday.

“Air defense systems on duty destroyed fifteen UAVs over Kursk region, nine UAVs over Lipetsk region, four UAVs each over Voronezh and Bryansk regions, and two UAVs each over Oryol and Belgorod regions,” the ministry said in a Telegram post.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Two prominent Russian officials appear to be spearheading divergent paths for addressing religious extremism in Russia as ethnic and religious tension in Russia continues to rise.
• Russian ultranationalists continue to express growing doubt in Russian authorities' ability to prevent another terrorist attack and to address ethnic and religious tensions within Russia following the June 23 terrorist attacks in the Republic of Dagestan.
• Ten Ukrainian civilians whom Russian and Belarusian authorities arrested and held in captivity or prison, including individuals detained before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, returned to Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions near Kreminna, and Russian forces recently advanced near Kupyansk, Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Donetsk City.
• Some new Russian military personnel are reportedly receiving insufficient training before deploying to Ukraine.