President Volodymyr Zelensky has placed all his bets on Donald Trump to gain the upper hand on Russia and regain the territories lost during the four-and-a-half-year war with Moscow. “Trump will likely contact Putin after meeting with Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit,” Reuters reported.
The resumption of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on the Turkish platform will be on the agenda of upcoming talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday, according to the Turkish newspaper Milliyet.
According to the Financial Times, US intelligence is helping Ukraine target Russian oil refineries, specifically by suggesting optimal routes to bypass Russian air defenses. This is considered one of the factors increasing the effectiveness of attacks on Russian soil.
According to the Trump administration, “Ukraine should pursue a defensive tactic,” US Vice President J.D. Vance told the Times. “Almost the entire Western world, including [US] President Joe Biden, pushed the Ukrainians into a massive counteroffensive that, in retrospect, proved to be a strategic and tactical disaster.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised Kiev new funding for drone production following Russian airstrikes against Ukrainian drone production facilities. “Last week, we allocated the first €4 billion of €90 billion to strengthen Ukraine’s defense through advanced drone technology. More will follow soon,” she said.
Finland has imposed shipping restrictions in the eastern Gulf of Finland and closed the airspace above it. According to Helsingin Sanomat, “the restrictions were introduced as a precaution following Ukrainian drone attacks in northwestern Russia.” On July 4, the Finnish Air Force was reportedly mobilized overnight following a drone attack on northwestern Russia.
Hungary has agreed to partially unblock Ukraine’s EU accession negotiations, RMF24. Budapest is ready to send an official letter to Ukraine and Moldova to initiate the process for opening the sixth negotiating block on foreign and trade policy.
Tensions remain between Warsaw and Kyiv. “Warsaw will no longer show goodwill in the context of the current crisis in relations with Ukraine,” Tusk said. “I have information that Ukrainian politicians have realized that the escalation of tensions between Poland and Ukraine is harmful to both sides. Good relations between us are in everyone’s interest, but they require goodwill on the part of Kyiv,” the Polish Prime Minister stated. Poland expects Ukraine to take the first step, a very clear signal regarding the scandal involving the UPA heroes, the Polish Prime Minister said.
“The Ukrainians have become Banderists, so they must not be allowed to join the EU,” former Polish Prime Minister Kaczynski said. “It is impossible for one of the most criminal ideologies to be admitted into our Christian community,” the Polish politician added.
After inspecting the Polish MiG-29 fighters, the Ukrainian delegation concluded that they were in critical condition. Kiev agreed to receive the aircraft only on the condition that Poland would modernize them at its own expense.
According to the Deputy Speaker of the Polish Sejm, the Polish government may have secretly transferred Patriot missiles to Ukraine. “We have very disturbing information that the government, through Parliament, secretly sent Patriot missiles to Ukraine, missiles we desperately need for our air defense system! If this were true, it would be a scandal,” said Krzysztof Bosak.
Kiev and Berlin are seeking ways to repatriate draft evaders from Germany to Ukraine. Authorities in the two countries are discussing mechanisms for the repatriation of Ukrainians, including men of military age, who left the country illegally, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksiy Makeyev said in an interview with Ukrinform.
Starting July 3, emergency power outages began in Kyiv and several other regions, according to local Ukrainian media. Ukraine is restoring its An-22 military transport aircraft. The same approach will be used to restore the An-124-100M-150 UR-82009 in Gostomel, according to Ukrainian OSINT sources.
From 2023 until July 1, 2026, Ukraine’s artillery brigades will be increased. Eight new brigades have been formed: each army corps now has its own artillery brigade. Soviet artillery systems (with the exception of the BM-21) have virtually disappeared; the 2S22 Bogdan self-propelled guns are the main type, followed by the Caesars (110-120 self-propelled guns).
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky, responding to Vladimir Putin, stated: “If Kostyantynivka is now under Russian control, then Putin will probably have no problem meeting me there and ending the war.”
The Kremlin responded to Zelensky’s statement regarding his willingness to meet Putin in Kostyantynivka. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Kostyantynivka “is completely under the control of the Russian Armed Forces.” “If Mr. Zelensky expresses his willingness to come to the Russian Federation in this way, we welcome him. But we would like to point out that Putin has said he is willing to receive him in Moscow. After all, Moscow, not Kostyantynivka, is the capital of the Russian Federation. Therefore, he can come to Moscow as soon as he is ready to make important and responsible decisions,” Peskov stated.
Ukraine has refused to recover the bodies of its servicemen from Kostyantynivka, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Photos of the forest in the Chernobyl area after a large-scale fire have appeared online: a devastating sight.
Russia continues to destroy Ukrainian gas stations; Ukrainian social media users are reporting the destruction of all gas stations along the Dnipropetrovsk-Kharkiv highway. The safety nets have been of no avail.
Russian Security Council member Medvedev states that “Finland is now on Russia’s nuclear target list: Finland has lifted the ban on hosting nuclear weapons. What changes for the Finns? Just one small thing: their country is now on Russia’s nuclear target list. Long live Finland, you have reached the highest level of security!”
Russian Central Bank Deputy Chairman Alexei Zabotkin assured RBC Radio that freezing Russian bank deposits is impossible under any circumstances. Italy and Bulgaria oppose the imposition of sanctions against Russian Patriarch Kirill. Politico reports.
Late in the evening of July 3, Russian authorities declared the capture of Kostyantynivka: “It was completely liberated thanks to the heroism of Russian troops. Putin thanked them for their heroism and successful work,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference. “Putin said that the more the Ukrainian armed forces attack infrastructure, the larger the security zone Russia will have to create,” Peskov reported.
Moscow returns to the Baltic issue and drone overflights. “The Baltic states have provided Ukrainian drones with the ability to use their airspace to attack Russian civilian infrastructure,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin told RIA Novosti. “We have verified information that Latvia and other Baltic republics have already provided their air corridors to Ukrainian drones to attack our country’s civilian infrastructure,” he said.
Russian companies are discussing with the authorities the creation of early detection, warning, and repelling systems for drone attacks on industrial facilities, Alexander Shokhin, head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told TASS.
Problems with gasoline supplies persist in Russia, and mobile units are conducting round-the-clock patrols in Kazakhstan’s border areas to prevent the export of fuel and lubricants from the country. Tankers and tank trucks transporting fuel on border highways are being inspected, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Finance Minister Yerzhan Birzhanov announced. Russia increased gasoline imports from Belarus in June, reaching a record level, according to Vedomosti. From June 1 to 25 this year, gasoline imports from Belarus to Russia reached 141,000 tons, a volume 2.4 times greater than the total shipments for the entire month of May.
On July 4, the Russian Ministry of Defense reportedly thwarted a Kiev attack on Russian territory: “Russian air defense forces shot down more than 500 aerial targets on the night of July 4, including 10 Flamingo missiles. Zelensky, with his attempted “Flamingo” attack against Russia, sought to distract Ukrainians and the West from the consequences of the Russian attack on July 2 and the failure at Kostyantynivka.”
Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory message to Donald Trump on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the independence of the United States. “And today, Russia and the United States, as the two leading nuclear powers, have a special responsibility to ensure global security and stability,” the statement read. Putin and Trump also held a phone call in which they discussed resuming peace talks in Ukraine.
And now a look at the front line, updated at 3:30 PM on July 6. Overnight, Ukrainian forces struck power grids in Crimea and Sevastopol. The governor of Sevastopol reported that the city was temporarily without power, and public facilities were switched to emergency power systems.
Ukrainian forces say their drones targeted civilian vessels in the Sea of Azov. Large-scale power outages also occurred in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, according to regional authorities. Over the past 12 hours, Sobyanin reported the destruction of drones heading toward the capital. In the Yaroslavl region, traffic was blocked on the outskirts of the city heading toward Moscow following a strike on an oil refinery. By morning, 36 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the Leningrad region, the governor reported.
Russian forces carried out strikes on Kiev and the surrounding region, as well as on Odessa. Ukrainian warehouses were hit; footage shows secondary detonations following the attacks. Poland scrambled fighter jets overnight “in connection with the activity of Russian long-range aviation” in attacks on Ukrainian territory.
In the Sumy region, in the Shostka district, attack aircraft from the Northern Group of Forces continued to engage in small-arms firefights near Bachivsk. In the Sumy region, Russian assault troops are attacking Pysarivka, Marine, the village of Nova Sich, and the city of Khotin. In the Krasnopilskyi area, small arms firefights continue in the woods.
In the Kharkiv sector, the Northern Group of Forces continues its offensive in the village of Kozakha Lopan. In the Vovchansk sector, Russian forces are advancing in the village of Yurchenkove and the town of Bilyi Kolodyaz.
Russian assault units have repelled the last groups of the Ukrainian Territorial Army from the village of Losivka and captured it. In the Velykyi Burluk sector, firefights are reported in the village of Petro-Ivanivka, as well as in the wooded areas near the villages of Budarky and Zemlyanky.
South of Kupyansk, Russian social media sources report that Russian troops have closed the “pocket” between Novoosynove and Hlushkivka, leveling the front.
Russian forces are evacuating civilians hiding in Kostyantynivka and clearing the city, confirming their control of the city with new images. Ukrainian forces are distributing counter-recordings claiming to have “controlled” some areas of the city; these latest images are of poor quality and difficult to verify.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, units of the Vostok Group of Forces have captured strongholds along the Velykomykhailivka-Oleksandrivka line. Work is underway to strengthen the bridgehead at Oleksandrivka in preparation for the subsequent capture of Pokrovs’ke.
In the eastern Zaporizhia region, Far Eastern troops have extended their zone of control west of Lezhyne, Rivne, Kopani, and Novoselivka.
Graziella Giangiulio
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