Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 07-03-2024

The Russian state media outlet RIA-Novosti released a video on Tuesday that showed components it claims to have been recovered from a shot down ATACMS missile.

A video of a man in military uniform wearing a balaclava sitting at a table in a rudimentary weapons workshop was posted by RIA-Novosti on Monday, July 1 and followed up by a report on its website the next day. Described as a munitions expert he displays and describes what he says is the fusing and guidance systems from a US ATACMS missile that was shot down by Russian forces.

The unnamed soldier is shown handling and breaking down one of the components and says, “We can, in principle, analyze the work of the missile systems at all stages of the flight trajectory, that is, the base of correction and how much it can be corrected because it flies along a complex ballistic trajectory.”

Ukrainska Pravda, citing unnamed government sources, said the Ukrainian president is considering firing the prime minister due to differences in political approach.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky might be considering firing Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported.

The publication, citing unnamed sources from within Zelensky’s team, said the President expects more “creative solutions and proposals” from the latter.

Kamikaze drones targeted two major electrical substations in the Belgorod region: the Stary Oskol substation and the Metallurgicheskaya substation, one of the largest in Europe.

Kyiv Post sources within Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) said that a crucial Russian military-industrial complex plant, the Oskol Ugarov Electrometallurgical Combine (OEMK), was severely damaged early Monday, July 1, in a joint operation by HUR and the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Kamikaze drones targeted two major electrical substations in the Belgorod region: the Stary Oskol substation near Neznamovo and the Metallurgicheskaya substation near Volokonovskoye, one of the largest in Europe. The attack resulted in the complete de-energization of OEMK, Russia's only full-cycle metallurgical enterprise.

Investors return to two-year bills.

Yield curve of UAH-denominated domestic government bonds placed during past two auctions

Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance offered what has become the typical set of bonds in recent weeks, but investors returned to buying two-year instruments.

Bipartisan support is growing in the US Congress to remove all restrictions on the use of long-range weapons by Ukraine against Russian military targets inside Russia.

During hearings in the International Relations Committee in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, July 2, speakers from both sides called on the White House to finally remove the limitations it has imposed on the use of the long-range weapons it has provided.

In May, the Biden administration announced it would now let Ukrainian forces fire its weapons into Russia, but limited their use to positions adjacent to the Kharkiv region.

Ukraine’s airmen are attempting something difficult: Deploying an unfamiliar, modern fighter into an air war in progress, against a more powerful opponent. It’s not going as smoothly as hoped.

As the clock ticks down to the first combat deployment of Ukrainian-piloted F-16 fighters against the Russian Air Force, and with it a possible end to years of Russian glide bomb and missile strikes launched with near impunity against Ukrainian homes and businesses, Ukrainian officials are talking about minimizing risks, unready infrastructure, and sometimes pointing fingers.

Vadym Ivchenko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada committee for national security on July 2 offered the most recent official information on when the US-made aircraft would reach Ukraine’s skies and what they would be doing, saying in a televised interview: “The first F-16s will be with us this month. I believe that in the beginning they will be deployed to defend against enemy missiles, and they won’t operate against targets in Russia.”

Trump’s plan likely involves reducing the US role in NATO, barring Ukraine’s entry into the defensive alliance, and pressuring Ukraine to give up land to Russia.

According to a Politico article published Tuesday, members of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s inner circle say their candidate would likely favor bargaining away Ukrainian land to Russia in exchange for Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s promise to stop its’ invasion.

According to two Trump-aligned national security experts, Trump would also consider barring entry for Ukraine and Georgia into the NATO defensive alliance.

Kremlin accused the assembly of "biased, discriminatory approaches, double standards, total Russophobia, unpreparedness for meaningful discussions."

Russian lawmakers on Wednesday voted to suspend Moscow's participation in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) parliamentary assembly, branding it anti-Russian and discriminatory.

Both chambers of Russia's rubber-stamp parliament -- the State Duma and Federation Council -- voted unanimously to cease participation in the body during sessions on Wednesday.

Western officials reportedly familiar with the matters said China is still weighing its options, but providing kamikaze drones could signify a major shift in Beijing’s officially neutral policies.

Russian and Chinese companies have been reportedly developing drones similar to the Iranian Shahed kamikaze drones together, but it’s not clear if, when or how they’d be supplied, said unnamed European officials reportedly familiar with the matter.

The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Bloomberg that talks between the unspecified companies had been put in place since 2023, where prototypes were built this year ahead of the planned delivery. They said the drones have not yet been deployed to Ukraine.

Ukrainian naval drones have sunk several Russian ships in the Black Sea, but strikes as far east as Novorossiysk are rare.

Russia said Wednesday it had destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones that were advancing on its Black Sea port of Novorossiysk overnight.

Ukrainian naval drones have sunk several Russian ships in the Black Sea, but strikes as far east as Novorossiysk are rare.

Only 26 percent say they would prefer to see Ukraine regain occupied territory but then accept so-called “demilitarization” and not join the EU and NATO.

A recent poll conducted by a think tank, the European Council of Foreign Relations (ECFR), in 15 countries, including Ukraine, found that when forced to capitulate to Russia by either giving up some land or some sovereignty, 45 percent of Ukrainians said they’d rather lose some land already under Russian occupation.

Not being willing to capitulate at all was not a survey option, however, 29 percent of respondents said they “Don’t know” how to respond to the Berlin-based think tank’s question.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence directorate shared videos depicting the nighttime defeat of Russian personnel and equipment using its vehicles with drones.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) of the Defense Ministry released two videos showing Ukrainian intelligence officers destroying Russian military equipment and eliminating personnel using drones.

“Hell for the occupiers from the ‘ghosts’ of the HUR... The earth must burn under the occupiers!” read the caption accompanying one of the videos.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Democrats’ panic over Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance is turning to anger at the president’s family and close circle of advisers for concealing his condition and their unwillingness to countenance his exit from the White House race. Interviews with party donors, consultants and operatives since Thursday’s debate have revealed a growing belief that Biden is no longer fit to challenge Donald Trump for the presidency and should make way for a younger candidate. The same people have also expressed exasperation that first lady Jill Biden, the president’s sister Valerie Biden Owens and a group of aides with the most influence over the president have refused to push for his withdrawal, leaving the party in crisis as it tries to halt Trump’s re-election bid. “There seems to be a level of anger that the inner circle has been keeping things from all of us,” a veteran Democratic operative said, noting that many in the party were irritated that the Biden team had not been more transparent about the president’s weakened state.  “People want to make sure that . . . the president and his team are being candid with us about his condition, that this was a real anomaly and not just the way he is these days,” Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island, told a local television station on Monday. One person familiar with the situation said some of the intelligence officials who give Biden his daily intelligence briefing had noticed his decline as early as last year, undermining claims from White House and campaign political figures about the president’s mental acuity. - FT

Rishi Sunak is on the verge of leading the Conservative Party to the worst defeat in its 346-year history, according to a new poll for The Independent. The Techne UK survey of 5,503 voters has given Labour a 19-point lead at 40 per cent – almost twice the Tories’ 21 per cent – with just one day of campaigning left to go. While the Conservatives have gained two points from late last week, and Labour dropped one with Reform UK also losing a point to 16 per cent, the narrowing of the polls appears to be too little, too late for Mr Sunak after a disastrous campaign. If this is how the election pans out, the Tories would be only the third largest party on 66 seats, behind the Lib Dems on 70, while Labour would have a majority of 284, according to Electoral Calculus. Reform would get a foothold in parliament with six seats. - The Independent

Speaking to a small group of journalists after his inauguration on Tuesday, Schoof said the main threat to the country "clearly came from the east."

New Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Wednesday pledged continued "financial, military, and political support" for Ukraine, as he took aim at Russia in his first major speech.

"We should not be naive. A few hours' flight from here, there is a horrific war, where human lives do not matter for Russia," Schoof, a former spy chief, told parliament.

Broe takes a deep dive into Russia's Kharkiv offensive and what internal pressures Russia is now facing that could lead the world's largest country to a withering defeat. How realistic is it?

On April 7, a Russian Kalibr and Oniks cruise missile ship in the Kaliningrad region sustained heavy damage and caught fire after being hit in Ukrainian military intelligence Operation “Fisherman.”

A Russian service member in the Kremlin’s Baltic Fleet with access to classified areas on a Moscow warship aided Kyiv’s Defense Forces in an undercover attack on the cruise missile vessel Serpukhov in early April as part of the HUR’s (Ukrainian Military Intelligence) Operation “Fisherman” [Rybalka].

“This operation came as a shock to the enemy, and the FSB was furious. Some heads dropped,” HUR representative Andriy Yusov said at a press conference dedicated to this operation.

While not a holiday, multiple high-ranking Ukrainian officials have praised the troops and expressed gratitude for their role in protecting Ukraine against Russian strikes in the ongoing invasion.

Today, Ukraine celebrates the Day of Anti-Aircraft Missile Troops of the Ukrainian Air Force, one of the numerous military commemoration days in the country.

The Ministry of Defense introduced the day in 2011 to celebrate the contribution of Anti-Aircraft Missile Troops under the Ukrainian Air Force, though similar units also exist within the Ground Forces and Navy, each with their dedicated Anti-Aircraft Missile Troops.

According to local media, a Russian attack in Dnipro damaged a shopping center and caused a fire near a medical facility.

Russian troops launched a missile attack on Dnipro on Wednesday morning, resulting in three deaths and 18 injuries, including a child, the city’s mayor, Borys Filatov, reported on Telegram.

“Unfortunately, we already know about three dead, as well as 18 injured, including one child,” Filatov said in a video message.

Moscow and Beijing have deepened their political, military and economic ties since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The leaders of Russia and China were in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a regional summit, seeking to harden anti-Western alliances and press their influence in the strategic Central Asian region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin touched down in the Kazakh capital of Astana Wednesday morning for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) -- a Beijing-led regional bloc that covers Central Asia, India and Iran.

In addition to the 2022 “WhisperGate” incident, the US said the hacker was behind other cyberattacks targeting US and European government institutions and infrastructure.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now offering $10 million for information that could aid the capture of Amin Timovich Stigal, a Russian hacker from Chechnya who, alongside Russian intelligence, launched a cyberattack campaign against Ukrainian institutions a month prior to Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion.

Stigal, age 22, was also behind a cyberattack on transportation infrastructure in an unspecified Central European country and US government systems in Maryland.

All commentaries were published before it emerged on Tuesday morning that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had travelled to Kyiv for a surprise visit.

Hungary took over the rotating EU Council presidency on 1 July. The Hungarian government's much-criticised stance vis-à-vis EU decision-making, particularly with regard to the war in Ukraine, has been raising doubts about the country's suitability for this role. The discussion continues in Europe's press. All commentaries were published before it emerged on Tuesday morning that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had travelled to Kyiv for a surprise visit.

Surprise us by acting like a statesman

Kyiv Post's Editor-in-Chief, Bohdan Nahaylo, appeared on TVP World to discuss the weaponization of information, its historical use, and its impact on the course of war.

Moscow has for more than two years led an unprecedented crackdown on dissent, comparable to Soviet levels of repression.

Russia on Tuesday sentenced a 19-year-old man to 12 years in prison for allegedly donating money to Kyiv's forces.

Separately, it doubled a documentary maker's sentence for denouncing the Ukraine offensive.

Video is going viral online that shows Russian female prisoners being formed into new Storm-Z squads – then going to the front in Ukraine to be part of Moscow’s meat wave.

Footage circulating virally online of a Russian woman recruited from a civilian prison, now a soldier in the Kremlin’s armed forces, shows her storming the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), as reportedly filmed by a frontline UAV unit

The video was posted by the operators of the UAV systems battalion of the 47th Mechanized Brigade and noted that the woman was trained and had high-quality ammunition.

West’s surprise Moscow visit lasted only a day, but that did not save him from criticism from local ultraconservatives who called for West’s entry ban due to his controversial lyrics.

US rapper Kanye West only visited Moscow for a day, but local ultraconservatives already called for a ban on his entry into Russia.

Reports first surfaced on Sunday, June 30, that the musician arrived in Moscow for a personal visit to attend the birthday party of Gosha Rubchinskiy, the chief designer of West’s Yeezy streetwear brand. However, Russian media said he had already departed the country on the evening of July 1, citing an image of West’s boarding pass for a transfer in Istanbul it had obtained.

A Ukrainian kamikaze drone reportedly hit a Russian 152mm Msta-S self-propelled gun, which was camouflaged in a forest, causing its ammunition to detonate.

Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance officers from the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade used a drone to blow up a Russian 152mm Msta-S self-propelled artillery mount, leading to a detonation of its ammunition.

The video, released via the Telegram channel of Eskadron, a manufacturer and supplier of FPV kamikaze drones, shows the strike.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The interplay between ongoing Russian offensive operations in the Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Avdiivka directions indicates that the Russian military command may intend to leverage the ongoing Toretsk push to create operational opportunities for advances in either the Chasiv Yar or Avdiivka areas. Russian preparations that can support multiple future branch plans suggest a more developed level of operational planning and foresight than the Russian command has proven capable of executing thus far in the war since early 2022. The ability of this operational planning to come to fruition, however, will be bounded by the overall poor tactical-level capabilities of Russian forces currently fighting in these areas.
• Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban likely used his unannounced visit to Kyiv on July 2 to posture himself as a peacemaker following Hungary's accession to the European Union (EU) Council presidency on July 1, but Orban’s efforts are very unlikely to bring about any robust peace in Ukraine.
• The Kremlin is waging an intensified information campaign aimed at pushing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia on Russian terms, and any Russian, Western, or other efforts to cajole Ukraine to prematurely negotiate with Russia would only weaken Ukraine and embolden further Russian aggression inside and beyond Ukraine.
• Several Russian State Duma deputies proposed a bill that would exclude a significant number of ethnicities from Russia's "compatriots" resettlement program, undermining the Kremlin's efforts to leverage its "compatriots abroad" to offset Russian labor shortages and set informational conditions to justify potential hybrid operations against other countries with Russian and Russian-speaking populations.
• Ukrainian forces struck an ammunition depot at a Russian military base in occupied Crimea on July 1 that reportedly housed Shahed drones.
• Russia may be intensifying its efforts to conduct reconnaissance and disrupt communications in the underwater and air space near NATO states.
• Russian authorities appear to be publicly fixating on crackdowns against fight clubs and restricting the niqab to signal that Russian authorities are adequately combatting terrorist threats in the North Caucasus instead of addressing systemic issues of Islamist extremism in the region.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on July 2 assigning the Russian 999th Air Base in Kant, Kyrgyzstan the "guards" honorific for "mass heroism and bravery."
• Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Chasiv Yar, Avdiivka, and the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area.
• Russia is reportedly recruiting women from Russian penal colonies to fight in Ukraine, and some of these recruits are reportedly fighting on the frontline.