The United States does not intend to send its troops to Ukraine, said President Joe Biden, State Department source. According to non-Western media, the United States is taking steps to increase the recruitment of those who want to fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius will result in a massive support package for Ukraine, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. Miller added that it is both political support and practical measures. According to the spokesman, the summit participants will also discuss “the events of recent days” in Russia. “How could it be otherwise,” he later added.
“NATO should streamline Ukraine’s accession procedure to speed up Kiev’s entry into the alliance,” said British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky will not go to the NATO summit in Vilnius if the leaders of the alliance countries will not show “courage,” says Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of Zelensky’s office, in an interview with Western media.The point, according to him, is that at the July 11-12 summit it was Kiev’s application to join NATO (filed on September 30) has been answered, and the answer means an invitation to join the alliance. Also Zelensky reported, Ukraine plans to start negotiations on EU membership in the next six months.
Kiev expects the decisions of the NATO summit in Vilnius to become the antipodes of the Budapest memorandum, said Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Danilov. The Budapest Memorandum was signed on December 5, 1994 by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Great Britain and the United States and guaranteed the security of Kiev, but it did not fulfill its task.
Also the Ukrainian premier Zelensky has instructed his army to strengthen the security of the border with Belarus after the transfer of the “Wagner” PMCs to Minsk
The EU intends to provide military assistance to Ukraine without prejudice to the interests of EU countries. Following the results of the first day of the Brussels summit, the leaders of EU countries expressed their support for continuing military support to Ukraine. Their final statement makes it clear that the assistance provided should not be detrimental to the security and defense of individual European countries. The EU has summarized that it is ready to provide sustained military support to Ukraine “for as long as necessary”.
Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, stated in a press conference that: “The Russian Federation is not obliged to explain anything to anyone about an attempted rebellion and the possible influence on trials in the country. If anyone in the West has doubts about stability in Russia, these are “their problems”. Finally on Prigozhin’s attempt to rebel he said: “it is difficult to call it more than a strong ‘problem'”
Regarding the Special Operation in Ukraine, Lavrov said: “Russia will destroy the “assemblies” of the Ukrainian army with Western mercenaries and generals.”
Adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak in an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper said that: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine are experiencing a shortage of ammunition and are facing serious defensive barriers and a overwhelming number of Russian soldiers, he said, answering a question about the slowness of the counter-offensive by the Ukrainian armed forces”. “The front line stretches more than 1,800 kilometers, the area of \u200b\u200bminefields exceeds 20 thousand square kilometers. The Russians have set up three lines of defense: they have dug trenches, built bunkers, placed artillery, have thousands of tanks in protected places, even from the air. They have about 360,000 soldiers,” he stated. “We have a shortage of large-caliber shells and missiles, we have limited aviation capabilities, and we cannot hit the Russian army’s reinforcement channels,” he admitted.
These words were echoed by those of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces Valery Zaluzhny: “PMC “Wagner” left the front line, but the Russian defense did not weaken for this reason” . Zaluzhny in an interview with the Washington Post further said: “Nobody says that tomorrow we should rearm and get 120 planes. I don’t need 120 planes. It will be a very small number. But they are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy uses another generation of aviation.”
The controversy over the fate of General Sergei Surovikin continues. According to the Financial Times he was arrested. It is not known whether this is connected with the charge of involvement in the Prigozhin rebellion or whether the military leader is been detained for questioning.
The daughter of the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces Sergei Surovikin told the Russian press that no one arrested the general and that everything is fine with him. According to her, “nothing happened to the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces”, no one arrested him, and now “everyone is at work.” You also recalled that the general “never appeared in the media every day and did not make any statements”. General Surovikin’s wife declined to comment on the rumors of his arrest.
According to Bloomberg, Surovikin was questioned by military prosecutors for several days. The interlocutor of the publication noted that the general is “in one place, but not in prison.” It is specified that the prosecutor’s office was interested in Surovikin’s connections with Prigozhin.
In the late evening of June 29, Alexei Melnikov, executive secretary of the Public Monitoring Commission reported that Army General Sergei Surovikin is not being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, nor in any other temporary detention facilities. “Over the past few days, representatives of a huge number of Russian and foreign media have called me very often. They ask me:” Is it true that Surovikin is in a pre-trial detention center? ”, says a representative of the PMC of the capital.
The Rostov-on-Don police seized grenade launchers, machine guns, mines, as well as armored vehicles and “Patriots”, left in Rostov-on-Don after the departure of the “Wagner” after the weekend events, the public council reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Rostov-on-Don. The number of weapons and military equipment is not specified.
On the front line the Russians are suffering on the south side. The Ukrainians cut off the top of the Vremievsky ledge, approached Rabotino.
The Russian military hit the Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to clear the area near the Antonovsky bridge in the Kherson region, 30 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, the acting governor of the region Volodymyr Saldo said. The operational-tactical missile system “Iskander” was used to stop the increased activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As of the evening of June 29, APU has been activated near Bakhmut, under Kleschiivka, heavy fighting is currently underway. Despite the fact that in the last week the Ukrainian FAs have repeatedly tried to break through the Russian defense line and have suffered heavy losses, the attack on the 29th evening, according to reports from the field, is particularly strong.
Ukrainian drones began to work actively throughout the direction, conducting reconnaissance and adjustments. Ukrainian artillery is working closely with UAVs. Repeatedly, attempts were made to advance Ukrainian infantry and armored vehicles from the side of Kurdyumovka, which were suppressed by Russian troops.
Local sources wrote online that the Ukrainians have set themselves the task of launching active offensive operations against Bachmut and Kleshcheevka by July 1.
The paratroopers repel the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Popasna area, the fighting is intense, there are wounded. Paratroopers evacuate wounded comrades in special medical vehicles. Mostly shrapnel wounds, piercing, “blind” wounds, I did not see gunshot wounds. Russian military medical source.
In the last week at the front, seven officers lost their lives: a colonel and six majors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. All died in combat or as a result of rocket attacks by the RF Armed Forces.
Russian fighters are working on Ukrainian firing points in the Zaporozhzhia direction. According to the Wall Street Journal, quoting the Ukrainian military: Kiev has stopped sending Western tanks to attack Russian positions. There were no orders to leave the Russian specialists of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. This is how Rosatom commented on the message of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of Ukraine that the Russian side is reducing the presence of its contingent at the station: “Nobody is leaving anywhere. And there are no such orders,” a representative of Rosatom, the manager of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, told RBC.
The commander of the joint forces of the Ukrainian troops Sergiy Naev urged residents of the border areas of the Sumy region to evacuate. A power outage was recorded in the territory of the Bogorodsky, Krasnogorsk, Naro-Fominsk, Odintsovo, Ramensky and Ruza urban districts.
At 15.00 on June 30, Russian paratroopers continue their offensive in the forests of the Serebryansky forestry and on the Torsky ledge. The APU has casualties, fightings are tough, but the paratroopers are advancing. The objectives of the offensive are to expand the zone of control around Kreminnaya and Dibrova before the enemy’s counteroffensive is prepared in this sector. The paratroopers must build a defense line along the right bank of the Seversky Donets in order to successfully repel the subsequent attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and eliminate the threat of enemy groups organizing raids in the forest belt.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to strike settlements in the Bryansk region. In the Klimovsky district, the village of Novye Yurkovichi was shelled: two residential buildings were damaged, there were no casualties.
Graziella Giangiulio
