Have you missed the latest events on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes Get the point for you every night. Here is the essentials of this Thursday, July 3, 1.226th day of the conflict.
The fact of the day
Another deadly day for Ukrainian civilians. At least eight people were killed and a dozen other injured in several Russian strikes on Thursday in Ukraine, the country’s authorities announced, when Moscow intensifies his attacks on his neighbor in the absence of diplomatic advances with a view to conflict settlement. The attacks occurred in the cities of Odessa, Poltava and near Donetsk. Port infrastructure has been damaged, as well as “a recruitment center” of the army, report the Ukrainian authorities.
The Ukrainian army, for its part, tries to attack Russia directly on its soil. During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Ukrainian drone strikes killed one and two injured in the Russian region of Lipetsk, about 400 km southeast of Moscow, according to local authorities. Drones have also caused a fire on the site of a company in the city of Lelets – in the same region where several industrial complexes are located – without making a victim, according to the regional Russian governor.
The Declaration of the Day
« Our president said that Russia would pursue its objectives, namely the elimination of well -known deep causes that led to the current situation »
The words are signed Iouri Ouchakov, diplomatic advisor to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president exchanged on the phone for an hour on Thursday afternoon with his American counterpart Donald Trump. Russia “will not give up its objectives” in Ukraine, said Vladimir Putin after the telephone conversation, while saying to be open to the continuation of negotiations with kyiv.
This discussion between the two men, the sixth since the return of the republican billionaire to the White House, intervened the day after Washington’s announcement of the stop of the delivery of certain weapons to Ukraine, more than three and a half years after the start of the Russian offensive.
The announcement of the day
The Russian army announced on Thursday the death “in combat” the day before an assistant commander -in -chief of the navy in the region of Koursk, border with Ukraine and target of Ukrainian attacks in retaliation for the large Russian -scale offensive with its neighbor. “On July 2, during fighting in one of the border areas in the Koursk region, General Mikhail Goudkov […] was killed, “the Russian army said in a statement.
Mikhail Goudkov, 42, served in the Russian army since 2000 and was a former commander of the 155th Pacific fleet brigade, based in the Russian Far East, several thousand kilometers east of the capital Moscow. In 2023 he had received the medal of “heroes of the Russian Federation”, the highest distinction in the country, from the hands of the Minister of Defense then, Sergei Choigou.
He is one of the most important officials in the Russian army to be killed since the start of the Moscow offensive against Ukraine in February 2022.
The trend
The “doubts” on the continuation of American military aid to Ukraine strengthen the need for increased cooperation with the European Union and NATO, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Denmark on Thursday for the inauguration of the rotating presidency of the EU.
“Today, while doubts are hanging over the continuation of American support for Europe, it is even more important to strengthen our cooperation and our coordination within the EU and NATO, but also in our direct relations,” he said, while the United States has suspended the delivery of certain weapons to its country.
Earlier in the day, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had judged that this suspension constituted “a clear message inviting us to strengthen our own support”. We must “increase our European defense capacities, not only at the European Union level, but also at the continental level,” she added.
With the Danish Prime Minister Put Frederiksen and the President of the European Council Antonio Costa, she met the Ukrainian president in the afternoon.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
Security is one of the priorities of the rotating presidency of Denmark which also intends to advance the membership process of Ukraine to the European Union.
“Ukraine is part of our European family, and it was very important to us that President Zelensky was able to join us here today in Aarhus. Our European family would not be complete without its presence, ”said Frederiksen.
