Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 07-06-2024

Law enforcement agencies, enlistment offices, and the army vie for human resources while criminal activity is on the increase.

Across Ukraine, June has brought with it high temperatures, but the spate of fires in apartment buildings is not directly connected with the heat. The cause is the misuse of car batteries to power domestic appliances during the long and frequent power outages resulting from Russia’s attack on energy infrastructure.   

People who can afford them, buy mini-generators to help cope without main electricity,  but others connect car batteries to their apartment’s electrical system.

Hundreds of Russians have been prosecuted under the Putin regime's censorship laws and most Russian opposition figures not in jail have fled into exile.

Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been transferred to a prison hospital and his lawyers have been denied access to him for two days, his wife said on Friday, raising fears for the dissident's fate.

Kara-Murza, 42, is serving a 25-year prison sentence on treason and other charges, one of the harshest punishments Moscow has meted out to opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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

Keir Starmer will make his debut on the international stage as Britain’s premier when he flies to Washington DC for the NATO summit next week, which is expected to include discussions on support for Ukraine. He is also due to host the European Political Community summit in the UK on 18 July. Starmer gathered his cabinet for first time in No 10 this morning. It is almost identical to shadow team, with new PM understood to favour stability, and plans to keep them in post. Starmer’s cabinet will have the highest number of state-educated and female ministers in history, as Rachel Reeves became the first female chancellor ever, although ethnic representation has fallen - The Guardian

Viktor Orbán met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, prompting an outcry from his EU and Nato allies who warned that the Hungarian prime minister did not represent them. The unannounced trip is a stark demonstration of Orbán’s position as one of the west’s most pro-Russian leaders, in what officials said breached diplomatic protocol and undermined EU and Nato unity. Irbán, whose country took over the rotating EU presidency on Monday, arrived in Russia just days after a surprise trip to Kyiv — his first since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in an apparent effort to broker peace between the two sides. Speaking to reporters in the Kremlin after the three-hour meeting with Putin, Orbán said he had realised Ukraine and Russia’s stances were “very far from one another”. Putin demanded a “full and final end to the conflict”, which he said required Ukraine to surrender four of its eastern provinces to Russia. Russia also had “other conditions”, Putin said, which have previously included a demand that Ukraine pledges never to join Nato. Ukraine has said Putin’s terms amount to capitulation and would leave the country vulnerable to further attacks. Orbán said he would continue to work on a possible end to the war during the six months his country holds the EU’s presidency. “There are almost no countries left that are in contact with both sides. Hungary is one of them.” But several EU leaders stressed that they had not mandated the Hungarian premier to speak on their behalf, a position also underlined by Nato’s leadership. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday said Orbán was in Moscow not as a representative of the rotating EU presidency but as Hungarian PM. Scholz said the EU’s attitude was clear: “We condemn the Russian war of aggression.” - FT

Today, Budapest is a Russian “satellite” and vassal. As of 2024, Budapest relied on Russia for 75 percent of its natural gas, 80 percent of its oil, and 100 percent of its nuclear fuel.

On July 1, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán assumed the rotating Presidency of the European Union (EU) for six months despite his friendship with Vladimir Putin, his efforts to obstruct Europe’s military aid to Ukraine, and his sanctions-breaking energy dependence on Russian oil and natural gas.

He is a spoiler and an outlier when it comes to foreign policy, within the 27-member EU, and has also been fined for corruption and abrogating its rules concerning judicial independence and human rights. And Hungary also lives off Euro subsidies.

Masoud Pezeshkian, billed as a reformist candidate, has won Iran’s presidential election, against the background of ongoing domestic and international tension.

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, a former heart surgeon and MP, was declared the winner of Iran’s runoff presidential election on Saturday, July 6 having secured 53.6 percent of the 30.5 million votes cast – although less than half of those qualified to vote turned out, many in protest against the government.

Considered to be a reformist, in contrast to his hardline opponent, Saeed Jalili, Pezeshkian campaigned on a platform promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement of some of the more restrictive laws in an attempt to end years of sanctions and to address some of the protests that had beset the Islamic Republic in recent months.

Historical antagonism in the past between the two nations now united against Russian aggression is undeniable. Yet in more recent times reconciliation appears to have become an unstoppable process.

Poland and Ukraine share a lot, including a common history. This history includes examples of fruitful cooperation as well as conflicts. Both elements contribute to historical memory, which plays a crucial role for nations. This memory is formed based on facts, but also on narratives, myths and external influences.

Among societies that have coexisted, it is natural that disputes exist. Such disputes can be observed between Poland and Ukraine. Each country has its own memory. Changing this memory is difficult – as it is an element of a nation's identity.

The move comes amid a cooling of relations with Tbilisi after it pushed forward a Russian-style “foreign influence” law that critics said is meant to stifle opposition groups.

The United States is indefinitely postponing large-scale military exercises with Georgia amid strained relations with Tbilisi, the Pentagon announced Friday.

The United States “will indefinitely postpone this iteration of exercise NOBLE PARTNER in Georgia” scheduled for July 25 to August 6, the US Defense Department said in a statement.

Zelensky says new British PM Starmer has reaffirmed UK's continuing strong support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday thanked Keir Starmer for pledging that London would carry on backing Kyiv, in a phone call hours after Britain's new prime minister took office.

Britain has been one of Ukraine's staunchest supporters since Russia invaded in February 2022.

NATO Secretary General says the most urgent issue facing next week’s Summit will be to confirm support to Ukraine for the long haul to ensure Kyiv prevails.

In his pre-summit press conference on Friday, July 5, ahead of the July 9-11 NATO Heads of State Summit in Washington, which will be his last as Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg laid out his blueprint for the meeting.

He said the meeting gives leaders the chance to celebrate 75 years of “the most successful alliance in history.”

Healing Hidden Wounds is a new initiative focusing on how to address therapeutic approaches to dealing with the trauma and sense of loss caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

When Ukrainian actress Anna Yaremchuk-Bobalo got the call that her husband Oleh had been killed in the fighting at Bakhmut, the first thought that crossed her mind was a paradoxical one: “Now I will sleep peacefully.”

It was almost a relief, not to endure the torment of uncertainty, the constantly worrying about Oleh’s safety and the endless terror every time the phone rang that this might be the call.

The governors of the Donetsk, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk provinces reported casualties Saturday.

At least 12 civilians were killed and 50 injured in Russian attacks over the course of Friday regional governors said.

In the Donetsk province, 11 civilians were killed by Russian shelling, Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, said in a post on Telegram.

Internal haggling over name for NATO’s role in coordinating the delivery of military assistance to Kyiv and training its armed forces and what it reveals.

The Western military alliance has a lot on its plate: Its members have to figure out how to secure defense aid to Ukraine, deal with the impact of China’s relations with Russia, when to use their mutual defense assistance clause Article 5… and how to name new things.

We’re talking about the name for NATO’s role in coordinating the delivery of military assistance to Kyiv and training its armed forces. Its goal is largely to prevent Donald Trump, if he returns to the White House, from halting the flow of defense aid to Ukraine by moving that task away from politicians and into the hands of an institution.

The Shahed-131/136 drones were reportedly launched from Russian-occupied Crimea, in Ukraine and from the Kursk region, in Russia.

Ukrainian air defense downed most of the strike drones that Russia launched in overnight attacks July 5-6 – however, in the Sumy region, the Russians hit “energy infrastructure,” cutting off power to several areas, Ukrainian officials said.

“Emergency repair services are working to restore electricity supply. The consequences of an enemy attack are being clarified,” the Sumy Military Administration reported on Telegram Saturday morning.

In short, very bad. Ukraine has lost more than half its pre-war energy capacity, and with questions over the feasibility of protecting Ukraine’s power plants, alternative solutions are vital.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has experienced further rounds of nationwide blackouts, with a concerning prospect of no power, and possibly no heating and water, in the upcoming winter.

A recent Financial Times (FT) report, citing Ukrainian officials, said Ukraine had lost more than half of its pre-war power generation capacity. Katarina Mathernova, the EU’s ambassador to Ukraine, said that Russia’s strikes had deprived Ukraine of more than nine gigawatts (GW) of power production since March – half of what was needed to power Ukraine over the last winter.

The Kyiv café serves Crimean Tatar food while selling art and taking pride in its souvenirs stripped from liquidated invaders.

“This café welcomes those who love Ukrainian culture, those who love Tatar culture, and those who really, really, really hate Putin,” smiles Erfan Kudus, the owner of Yalta café in Kyiv.

Kyiv has several other Crimean Tatar cafes, but none brags a collection of war souvenirs, taken off the Russian soldiers killed attempting to invade Ukraine, like the one that adorns this restaurant’s bathroom.

The visit came days after Hungary took over the EU's rotating presidency and Putin told Orban he expected him to outline “the position of European partners” on Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies hit out at Hungarian leader Viktor Orban on Friday after Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted him in Moscow for talks on the Ukraine conflict.

Putin told Orban, Russia's closest EU ally, that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from regions that Moscow has annexed if it wants peace.

Faced with the growing threat from Ukrainian battlefield UAV Russia organized the conference to examine new solutions in St Petersburg on July 1- 2.

The “St Petersburg Technologies of Detecting and Countering UAVs Conference 2024” was organized by the RuDrones competence center for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) technologies in cooperation with the Vector Research Institute, part of the State-owned Rostec corporation.

Andrey Tabekin, spokesperson for Belgorod Region Ministry of Digital Development said at the conference: “We [Russia] are now facing a new threat from jet-powered drones…  and have opened a new chapter in our fight against the enemy.”

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin used a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on July 5 to oppose a negotiated ceasefire altogether and expressed his commitment to pursuing a "final" end to the war that would achieve his goal of destroying Ukrainian statehood.
• Putin is demanding both the surrender of a significant portion of Ukraine's territory and people to Russian occupation and Ukrainian military capitulation in advance of any negotiations on an end-state to the war.
• Ukrainian counteroffensive operations that liberate operationally significant territory remain the soundest course of action for degrading Putin's confidence in and commitment to his desired end state for his war of aggression against Ukraine.
• Putin's rejection of any ceasefire agreement contradicts the Kremlin's previous effort to place the onus for negotiations on the West and Ukraine.
• Putin attempted to portray Orban as an EU representative who can speak on the EU's behalf – a claim that EU officials explicitly denied.
• Recent Russian domestic polls suggest that Kremlin information operations are influencing domestic Russian support of the war in Ukraine.
• These Russian polls indicate that Russians who criticize the conduct of the war in Ukraine still support the war due to patriotism and disenfranchisement.
• Many of Russia's "non-opponents" to the war have criticisms that parallel those of Russian ultranationalist milbloggers, yet they lack the ultranationalists' close attention to the war and desire for political change in support of Russian war aims.
• Ukrainian forces conducted successful drone and missile strikes against targets in Tambov and Rostov oblasts and Krasnodar Krai on July 4 and 5.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Toretsk, and Donetsk City.
• Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials continue to portray themselves as providing adequate medical care and other support for Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine amid ongoing criticisms that the Russian military command sends injured soldiers to fight on the frontline.