Because the battle enters its 505th day, these are the principle developments.
Right here is the state of affairs on Thursday, July 13, 2023.
Combating
- Moscow launched a wave of drone assaults on Kyiv for a 3rd evening, in keeping with Ukraine army officers. The army stated 11 of the 15 drones had been destroyed. Two individuals had been harm in a hearth brought on by the assault.
- Zaporizhia regional governor Yuriy Malashko stated 18 individuals, together with six kids, had been injured in a Russian assault on a residential space within the southeastern metropolis of Zaporizhzhia.
- Kherson area governor Oleksandr Prokudin stated an 81-year-old man was killed and his 82-year-old spouse wounded after Russia shelled the southern metropolis of Kherson.
- Ukraine’s army stated Russian forces carried out 65 air strikes and fired not less than 71 occasions from heavy weapon rocket methods at Ukrainian troop positions and populated areas alongside the entrance traces over the earlier 24 hours.
- Andriy Kovaliov, a spokesperson for the armed forces normal employees, stated Ukrainian forces “had success in some locations” amid fierce combating on the entrance line south of Bakhmut. He stated the Russians had been placing up robust resistance, transferring items and troops and deploying reserves. He didn’t say how a lot floor Ukraine had gained.
NATO Summit and diplomacy
- The Group of Seven (G7) signed a brand new framework to supply long-term, bilateral safety commitments for Ukraine. The measures cowl areas together with fashionable superior army gear, coaching, intelligence sharing and cyber defence. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated the settlement was “probably very harmful“.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed defence packages introduced by NATO and the G7 on the safety alliance’s annual summit, however stated an invite to hitch NATO “would have been perfect”. At a joint press convention with Zelenskyy, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg stated “Ukraine is now nearer to NATO than ever earlier than”.
- Zelenskyy met United States President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the summit in Lithuania and stated the 2 had “an excellent, highly effective assembly” that was “not less than twice so long as deliberate, and as significant because it wanted to be”.
- Zelenskyy stated the NATO-Ukraine Council established by NATO may give his nation “institutional readability” as a part of Kyiv’s path in direction of NATO membership. Writing on Twitter, he stated it was “vital” that the council “be an instrument of integration, not simply partnership”.
- US President Joe Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of getting a “craven lust for land and energy” and promised that the safety alliance wouldn’t falter in supporting Ukraine towards Russian aggression. Putin, he stated, had underestimated NATO. “He thought NATO would break. He thought our unity would shatter on the first testing. He thought democratic leaders can be weak. However he thought unsuitable,” Biden stated on the finish of the two-day summit.
- Stoltenberg stated the “greatest danger” within the Ukraine battle was a victory for Putin, who despatched Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022. “Ukraine has the fitting to decide on its personal path,” Stoltenberg stated, including that “it’s not for Moscow to resolve”.
- Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s highly effective Safety Council, stated NATO’s elevated help for Ukraine introduced the menace of a 3rd world battle nearer, and that Russia wouldn’t be deterred from reaching its targets in Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov stated Sweden and Ukraine signed an settlement to cooperate on defence procurement and for the trade of labeled data.
- Russia’s state information company TASS reported that Russian overseas intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin held a cellphone name along with his CIA counterpart William Burns in late June to debate “what to do with Ukraine”. There was a risk the 2 males may meet in particular person, TASS stated, citing Naryshkin.
- The Kremlin stated a go to by Putin to China was on the agenda, including the date of the journey can be introduced when it’s finalised. China’s President Xi Jinping travelled to Moscow in March.
- UN Secretary Basic Antonio Guterres despatched Putin a letter on Tuesday proposing a means ahead to additional facilitate Russian meals and fertiliser exports and make sure the continued Black Sea shipments of Ukrainian grain. The prevailing deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, is because of expire on Monday.
Weapons
- Zelenskyy introduced Australia would give Ukraine 30 bushmaster armoured autos as a part of a brand new defence package deal.
- Zelenskyy stated that Germany would provide further Patriot launchers and missiles to Ukraine. “This is essential for safeguarding life in Ukraine from Russian terror!” he stated on the Telegram messaging platform.
- The British authorities stated it might present Ukraine with greater than 70 fight and logistical autos, 1000’s of rounds of ammunition for Challenger 2 tanks, and a 50-million-pound ($64.9m) assist package deal for gear restore.
- UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace stated Kyiv may categorical extra “gratitude” to its allies for his or her assist within the face of Russia’s invasion, provided that some are giving up their very own shares to produce Ukraine. Wallace stated after he acquired a listing of weapons requests from Kyiv he had informed officers: “I’m not Amazon”.
- Biden’s nominee to grow to be the US Military’s chief of employees, Basic Randy George, informed a Senate committee that Ukraine would profit from the US provision of ATACM long-range missiles. George stated the Military Tactical Missile System would give Ukraine the flexibility to assault “assault deeper targets”.
Wagner mutiny fallout
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence stated the Wagner mercenary group, which staged a quick mutiny final month, is finishing the handover of its weapons. In a press release accompanied by a video exhibiting tanks, rockets and different heavy weapons, the ministry stated Wagner had transferred greater than 2,000 items of apparatus and over 2,500 tonnes of ammunition.
- Basic Sergei Surovikin, a deputy commander of Russia’s army operations in Ukraine, is “presently resting”, in keeping with Andrei Kartapolov, head of the State Duma Defence Committee. Surovikin has not been seen in public for the reason that Wagner mutiny, and there have been unconfirmed studies that he had been detained for questioning.
- The UK’s defence ministry stated that Russia’s Chief of the Basic Employees Valery Gerasimov made his first TV look for the reason that mutiny. “Gerasimov was seen being briefed by video hyperlink by Russian Aerospace Forces Chief of Employees Colonel-Basic Viktor Afzalov,” it stated.
- The Kremlin’s Peskov dismissed a declare by Ukrainian army intelligence that Wagner troopers supposed to accumulate nuclear units throughout their failed mutiny as “misinformation”. His feedback adopted a Reuters information company report citing Ukraine’s army intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, saying Wagner fighters reached a nuclear base – referred to as Voronezh-45 – in an try and get hold of small Soviet-era nuclear units.
