Sunday, July 14

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Russian forces attacked the village of Budy near Kharkiv on July 13, targeting a railway station with an Iskander missile. When the first responders arrived, a second rocket struck, killing a police sergeant and a rescuer, and wounding 22 others. The bombing caused two train cars to derail.(Amadeusz Swierk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russia will attack Ukraine again from the north, Budanov says. Military intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov refused to specify if he was talking about an offensive in the oblasts of Sumy or Chernihiv so as not to “provoke panic” but insisted indications were already present that a new attack was imminent.

Ukraine can’t wait another 75 years to celebrate NATO accession, FM Kuleba says. Ukraine should become a NATO member sooner rather than later to ensure security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with CNN on July 12.

Zelensky briefly visits Ireland, Irish PM vows trip to Kyiv ‘in coming weeks.’ Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said he will visit Kyiv “in the coming weeks,” after welcoming President Volodymyr Zelensky to his country in a brief stopover meeting on July 13.

This is how Ukraine can, and can’t use its F-16s’ Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said he will visit Kyiv “in the coming weeks,” after welcoming President Volodymyr Zelensky to his country in a brief stopover meeting on July 13.

Zelensky dismisses Biden’s ‘Putin’ gaffe as ‘mistake,’ says US gave a lot of support to Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed being introduced as “President Putin” by his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden earlier this week. “It’s a mistake. I think the U.S. gave a lot of support for Ukrainians. We can forget some mistakes, I think so,” Zelensky said.

Kremlin spokesman threatens Europe over decision to host US missiles. “Our country is in the crosshairs of American missiles located in Europe. We’ve been through all this before,” he said in an interview with Russian TV propagandist Pavel Zarubin. “We have enough potential to deter these missiles. But the capitals of these states are potential victims.”

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Lukashenko claims Belarus is withdrawing troops from Ukrainian border. During a meeting in Luninets, Brest Oblast, Lukashenko said that the situation had stabilized and that Ukraine had withdrawn its troops. The Belarusian troops will be relocated to their permanent deployment positions, he said.

Poland considers downing Russian missiles over Ukraine, FM says. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the problem for Warsaw is that once downed, the debris could pose a threat to Poles and the country’s property. “At this stage, this is an idea. What our agreement said is we will explore this idea,” he added.

Russian kamikaze drone flies deep inside Belarus, whereabouts unknown. The Belarusian Hajun monitoring group reported it had flown 250 kilometers “over Gomel and Zhlobyn, entered the Mogilev region, and then the Minsk region.” It also said a Belarusian Mi-24 helicopter and Su-30 fighter jet were scrambled to intercept the drone before it “presumably flew to Vitebsk.”

Drone attack caused fire at oil depot in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, governor claims. Ukrainian drones attacked an oil depot in Russia’s Rostov Oblast, causing a large fire overnight on July 13, Governor Vasily Golubev claimed. The Ukrainian military has not commented on the reports.

SBU drones behind overnight strike on Russian oil depot in Rostov Oblast, source says. “According to our information, it was SBU drones that (caused the explosion) at the facility where various brands of gasoline and diesel fuel with a total volume of 12,500 cubic meters were stored,” an intelligence agency source told the Kyiv Independent on July 13.

Children’s theater goes underground in Kharkiv

Human cost of war

Russian attacks across Ukraine kill 7, injure 29 over past day. Russia targeted a total of eight Ukrainian oblasts over the past day — Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, Luhansk, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Donetsk. Casualties were reported in the latter three regions.

3 killed, 5 injured in Russian attacks on Kherson Oblast. In the afternoon, Russian attacks killed one resident in the village of Tokarivka. The victim was a 41-year-old man.

Chief emergency worker among 2 killed in Kharkiv Oblast. Half an hour after emergency workers arrived at the scene, Russian troops launched a second attack on the same location, Artem Kostyria, head of the State Emergency Situations Service’s branch in Kharkiv Oblast, and police sergeant Oleksiy Koshchii.

International response

US developing new ‘extended-range’ missile for Ukraine’s Air Force. The new weapon to be developed is an Extended-Range Attack Munition (ERAM), that aims to be a low-cost, quick to produce air-launched missile with a range of around 460 kilometers. The manufacture of the weapon is intended to begin no later than two years after the awarding of the contract and up to 1,000 are to be produced each year.

Bloomberg: Orban spoke against Ukraine’s NATO membership during meeting with Zelensky in Washington. Orban refused to back military support for Ukraine during the summit on July 11 and suggested that Kyiv should not join the alliance, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

Dutch company fined 1.8 million euros for participation in Crimean Bridge construction. In the Netherlands, construction equipment supplier Dieseko Group B.V. was fined nearly 1.8 million euros ($1.9 million) for its involvement in the illegal construction of the Crimean bridge, violating international trade sanctions.

North Korea threatens NATO with ‘tougher strategic counteraction’ over summit declaration. Pyongyang denounced the NATO summit declaration, calling it “illegal” and claiming that the “U.S. and NATO pose the most serious threat to global peace and security.”

In other news

Trump shot at during Pennsylvania rally. At a rally in Pennsylvania, gunshots were reportedly fired at former U.S. President Donald Trump, prompting security staff to rush him off stage. Trump appeared to fall and was quickly surrounded by armed guards, staying down for about a minute.

Biden condemns Trump rally shooting. U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that he was aware of the shooting at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania and condemned the incident. “I am glad to hear that he is safe and doing well. I am praying for him and his family and everyone who attended the rally as we await information. Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety,” he wrote on X.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by **Lili Bivings, Kateryna Denisova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Chris York, Oleg Sukhov, Dominic Culverwell, Olena Goncharova, and Sonya Bandouil. **

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