Russia-Ukraine latest: Zelenskyy warns of nuclear threat at plant
Ukraine news from July 1: Ukrainian president alleges Russia is ‘technically ready’ to detonate an explosion at the captured nuclear power facility.
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for July 1:
The live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. Here are the updates for July 1:
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned a “serious threat” remains at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and alleged that Russia was “technically ready” to set off an explosion at the facility.
- Zelenskyy also accused “some” Western partners of “dragging their feet” over plans to train Ukrainian pilots to fly fighter jets.
- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his visit to Kyiv on the first day of Spain’s EU presidency showed the bloc’s “unequivocal” commitment to Ukraine’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc.
- US President Joe Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson next week to talk about the war in Ukraine.
The Take podcast: Ukraine’s other land grab
Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and its land is changing hands.
Ukraine might not look like a good financial investment after more than a year of war with no end in sight but Harvard, Saudi Arabia, a handful of oligarchs and the United States investment manager The Vanguard Group see it differently.
They are just a few of the investors who have been buying up Ukrainian land – and its rich, fertile soil – en masse, while many Ukrainian farmers argue it should stay in Ukrainian hands.
Listen here:
Satellite photos, reports suggest Belarus is building an army camp for Wagner fighters
Satellite images analysed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a newly built military-style camp in Belarus, with statements from a Belarusian armed group and officials suggesting it may be used to house fighters from the Wagner mercenary group.
The images provided by Planet Labs PLC suggest that dozens of tents were erected within the past two weeks at a former military base outside Osipovichi, a town 230km (142 miles) north of the Ukrainian border. A satellite photo taken on June 15 shows no sign of the rows of white and green structures that are clearly visible in a later image, dated June 30.
Aliaksandr Azarau, leader of the anti-Lukashenko BYPOL armed group of former military members, told The Associated Press by phone on Thursday that construction of a site for Wagner mercenaries was under way near Osipovichi.
Up to 8,000 fighters from Wagner’s private military force may be deployed in Belarus, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s border force told Ukrainian media on Saturday. Speaking to the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, Andriy Demchenko said Ukraine would strengthen its 1,084km (674 miles) border with Belarus in response.
Ukraine gains stronghold on Russian-controlled bank of Dnipro
The Ukrainian military has secured a bridgehead on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, according to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence.
In military strategy, a bridgehead refers to, among other things, an area on the ground on the enemy-controlled side of a river that, if successfully taken over, can secure a stronghold for further advances.
For about a week, the Ukrainians have been moving troops to the river’s eastern bank near the destroyed Antonivka Bridge near the city of Kherson, the UK Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence briefing on the war.
Neutral Austria ready to join Germany’s Euro air defence project
Austria, a neutral country, has announced its intention to join the European Sky Shield initiative, launched in 2022 by Germany against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
“We must and will take precautions to protect our country against the risk of drone or missile attacks,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a news release, citing “a threat that has considerably worsened”.
He stressed that the decision did not call into question the neutrality of Austria, which has been a member of the European Union since 1995.
“No European state can effectively defend its airspace against new dangers on its own,” Nehammer insisted. Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner hailed the “important step in the history” of the country.
Sanchez: Remaining Leopard tanks to be dispatched to Kyiv ‘shortly’
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced in Kyiv that the four remaining Leopard main battle tanks, out of a total of ten promised, would be handed over to Ukraine “shortly”.
“We will send new heavy military equipment very soon, four more Leopard tanks and armoured transport vehicles,” Sanchez said at a press conference with Zelenskyy.
He also announced the dispatch of a mobile field hospital to Ukraine.
Only Ukraine can set peace-talk terms with Russia: Spain’s PM
It is up to Ukraine to dictate any moves towards peace negotiations with Russia, Spain’s Sánchez said.
“Only Ukraine can set the terms and times for peace negotiations. Other countries and regions are proposing peace plans. Their involvement is much appreciated but, at the same time, we can’t accept them entirely,” Sanchez said.
“This is a war of aggression – with an aggressor and a victim. They cannot be treated equally and ignoring the rules should in no way be rewarded. That is why we support President Zelenskyy’s peace formula.”
Explaining the chaos in Russia | The Listening Post
Analysts have been deciphering the Putin-Prigozhin power struggle, how it played out and what’s next for Russian politics and the war in Ukraine.
CIA says Russia is a recruiting opportunity as disaffection with war rises
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, has said that disaffection in Russia with the war in Ukraine was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to recruit spies – and that his agency was not letting it go to waste.
“Disaffection with the war will continue to gnaw away at the Russian leadership beneath the steady diet of state propaganda and practised repression,” Burns, a former US ambassador to Moscow, said in a lecture to the UK’s Ditchley Foundation in Oxfordshire, England.
“That disaffection creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity for us at CIA – at our core a human intelligence service. We’re not letting it go to waste.”
Zelenskyy says wants ‘invitation’ to join NATO at Vilnius summit
Zelenskyy has said he wanted his country to receive an “invitation” to join NATO after the war during a key summit this month.
“We need a very clear and understandable signal at the Vilnius summit that Ukraine can become an equal member of NATO after the war,” he told reporters in Kyiv alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
“This invitation to the alliance is the first, very practical step, it would be very important for us.”
Three killed, 17 wounded in Russian attacks on Donetsk
At least three civilians were killed and 17 wounded by Russian shelling on Friday and overnight in the front line eastern Donetsk region where fierce battles are raging, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko has said.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that fierce clashes continued in three areas in Donetsk, where it said Russia has massed troops and attempted to advance. It named the outskirts of three cities – Bakhmut, Lyman and Marinka – as front-line hot spots.
CIA’s Burns: Armed mutiny shows Putin’s damage to Russia
The CIA’s William Burns has said that the armed mutiny by Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin showed the corrosive effect of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
“It is striking that Prigozhin preceded his actions with a scathing indictment of the Kremlin’s mendacious rationale for the invasion of Ukraine and of the Russian military leadership’s conduct of the war,” Burns, a former US ambassador to Moscow, said in his England lecture.
“The impact of those words and those actions will play out for some time – a vivid reminder of the corrosive effect of Putin’s war on his own society and his own regime.”
Burns cast the mutiny as an “armed challenge to the Russian state” but said it was an “internal Russian affair in which the United States has had and will have no part”.
40 Russian diplomats and embassy staff to leave Romania
Forty diplomats and Russian embassy staff in Bucharest are set to leave Romania following a request from the government, with ties worsening between the two countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eleven diplomats and 29 technical and administrative staff, accompanied by their families, “will leave Romania on board a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline”, the Romanian foreign ministry said.
Romanian broadcasters showed an Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft landing at Bucharest airport. It was due to take off later on Saturday, according to airport sources quoted in the local press.
The decision “reflects the current level of bilateral relations … after Moscow launched its war of aggression against Ukraine”, the Romanian foreign ministry said.
Ukrainians and Russians flee to Bali
For decades, Bali has been known as a tourist’s paradise.
But in the last two years, it has attracted a new group of travellers. Thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have fled to the island to escape the war in Ukraine.
Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi reports from Bali, Indonesia.
Palestinian president expresses support for Putin: Kremlin
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed full support for the Russian leadership after last weekend’s abortive Wagner Group mutiny, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Abbas’s comments came in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin last week said his 25,000 armed men would “march for justice” on Moscow to “stop the evil brought by the Russian military leadership”. He later backed down and has apparently fled the country.
Joe Biden to host Swedish PM for talks on NATO, Ukraine
US President Joe Biden will host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson next week to talk about transatlantic security cooperation and the war in Ukraine.
The two leaders “will review our growing security cooperation and reaffirm their view that Sweden should join NATO as soon as possible”, the White House said in a statement about the July 5 meeting.
Kristersson said in a statement, “I am delighted that President Biden is inviting us to a meeting next week before the NATO summit in Vilnius [Lithuania] the following week. The focus of the visit will be on Sweden’s NATO accession.”
EU’s support for Kyiv’s membership ‘unequivocal’: Spain
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his visit to Kyiv on the first day of Spain’s EU presidency showed the bloc’s “unequivocal” commitment to Ukraine’s bid to join the 27-nation bloc.
The European Union will help Ukraine “as long as necessary” and “regardless of the price to be paid”, he said, pledging 55 million euros ($60m) in new aid.
“Speaking of the European Union’s perspective on Ukraine’s EU accession, my being here on the first day of the six-month presidency … demonstrates a clear and unequivocal political commitment,” Sanchez said in a joint news conference with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
‘Some’ Western partners ‘dragging feet’ over pilot training: Zelenskyy
Ukraine’s leader accused “some” Western allies of slow-walking plans to train his pilots to fly sophisticated fighter jets.
“Do they have an understanding of when Ukraine can get the F-16?” Zelenskyy asked reporters alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, referring to the West.
“There is no schedule of training missions. I believe that some partners are dragging their feet. Why are they doing it? I don’t know.”
Zelenskyy says ‘serious threat’ remains at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
President Zelenskyy warned a “serious threat” remained at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, accusing Moscow of being “technically ready” to detonate a blast at the massive facility.
Zelenskyy cited Ukrainian intelligence as the source of his information. He called for greater international attention to the situation at the nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine, which is Europe’s largest.
“There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station, which could lead to a [radiation] release,” Zelenskyy told a news conference in Kyiv. He did not elaborate.