live blog
Lithuania has handed over armored vehicles to Kyiv. After the capture of the village of Novomykhailivka, British intelligence believes that another Russian advance is possible soon. All developments in the live blog.
According to its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, NATO has no plans to station nuclear weapons in other member countries. There are no plans to expand the current arrangement of nuclear sharing, Stoltenberg said during a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in front of British soldiers stationed in Poland.
On Monday, Polish President Andrzej Duda reiterated that his country was open to the stationing of US nuclear weapons
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in Warsaw that Great Britain would support Ukraine with additional military aid worth 500 million pounds (almost 580 million euros). Sunak met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw for talks about Ukraine and the security situation in Europe.
He also announced that Britain would gradually increase its defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product by 2030 in view of the global threat. This is the “most comprehensive strengthening of national defense in a generation.”
Lithuania has supported Ukraine with further military aid. The army of the Baltic EU and NATO country has handed over M577 armored personnel carriers to Kiev, the Defense Ministry in Vilnius said. No further information was provided regarding the number or equipment of the vehicles.
Lithuania is one of Kiev’s most determined supporters. The Baltic state says it has provided military aid worth more than 610 million euros since the Russian attack.
Ukraine has warned of a Russian summer offensive. “We are preparing. Yes, the enemy will give us unpleasant surprises,” said the commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, Olexandr Pivnenko, on the Liga.net news portal. “He will operate in areas where we don’t expect him.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called on European states to provide greater support for Ukraine. It is important that Europeans invest in their own security, Sunak said, according to British media.
He also emphasized that Great Britain has always taken a pioneering role and was the first country to supply Ukraine with battle tanks and cruise missiles with longer ranges.
Russia has announced increased attacks on Western weapons storage facilities in Ukraine. The Russian army will also target logistics centers in Ukraine, said Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
Ukraine apparently wants to draft more compatriots living abroad into military service in the war against the Russian invading troops. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on the online platform X that he had ordered measures to restore “fair treatment” of men of military age in Ukraine and abroad.
According to the British, the capture of the Ukrainian village of Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast offers Russia opportunities for further advances. “On this axis, Russian forces will probably attempt to advance towards the town of Kostiantynivka, two kilometers west of Novomykhailivka,” the British Ministry of Defense said.
Further advances north of Wuhledar could also make it possible to bypass the city’s defensive positions, which have long been under attack by Russia. The fact that the Russian armed forces were able to take Novomykhailivka shows the slow, albeit costly, progress.
Hatched: territories occupied by Russia
According to the military, nine people were injured in a nighttime drone attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. “Four of them are children – twelve and nine years old, as well as two babies who are not even one year old,” wrote the region’s military governor, Oleh Kiper, on his Telegram channel.
English language news outlets had initially reported seven injuries. The attack hit a residential area with several houses – at least 14 apartments are said to have been damaged. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 15 more drones were fended off.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
The Ukrainian anti-corruption agency NABU has the country’s incumbent agriculture minister, Mykola Solskyj, in its sights: As she announced on Telegram, a minister is suspected of having illegally transferred state land worth 291 million hryvnia – 1,250 properties with an area of almost 2,500 hectares he brought it into his possession. Ukrainian news media unanimously reported that this was Agriculture Minister Solskyj.
According to the information, land owned by a state-owned company in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy was transferred to new owners between 2017 and 2021. Solskyj’s agricultural holding company then received these for use. Employees of the land registry office and curators who are supposed to control the activities of the ministry and office are also said to have been involved in criminal activities.
Neither Solskyj nor the Ministry of Agriculture have yet commented on the allegations.
According to the Ukrainian military, seven people were injured in a drone attack from Russia in the Black Sea city of Odessa, including two children. In addition, several residential buildings in the city were damaged. 15 more of the 16 drones over Odessa and the capital Kiev were fended off.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
After the destruction of the television tower in the eastern Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj once again called for more international help in defending against Russian air strikes. Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities particularly need US-type “Patriot” anti-aircraft systems, Zelensky emphasized in his evening video speech. Germany recently agreed to deliver at least one more “Patriot” system. Kiev hopes that other countries will follow suit.
The US is preparing sanctions to exclude some Chinese banks from the global financial system, according to a newspaper report. The authorities hope to stop Beijing’s financial aid to Russian defense production, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Ukraine and the United States have begun talks on a bilateral security agreement, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky announced this in his nightly video message and spoke of a potentially exemplary agreement. According to Zelensky, Kiev and Washington also agreed to supply longer-range missiles to the Ukrainian army.
In recent months, Ukraine has already concluded security agreements with several NATO member states – including Germany, France and Great Britain. Although the agreements do not contain a guarantee of military assistance, they have great symbolic significance in terms of military, political and financial support for Ukraine in the coming years.
Britain has promised Ukraine its largest ever aid package with dozens of combat boats, hundreds of vehicles, more than 1,600 missiles and millions of rounds of ammunition. “Defending Ukraine against Russia’s brutal ambitions is crucial for our security and for all of Europe,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement in the evening before a visit to Poland. “If (Kremlin chief Vladimir) Putin succeeds in this war of aggression, he will not stop at the Polish border.”
Sunak wants to meet with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw today, the statement said. They wanted to talk about further support for Ukraine in the war against Russia. Tomorrow Sunak wants to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.
After an attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, a television tower there partially collapsed. Russia says it has captured a village in eastern Ukraine. Monday’s developments to read.