[Korrespondent] 21:44 CBS TV channel reported that US Marine Corps veteran Ian Frank Tortorici was killed during dinner at a restaurant in Kramatorsk. According to journalists, he arrived in Ukraine 15 months ago and fought as part of the International Legion.
21:38 Some of the ZNPP collaborators and Rosatom personnel have left Energodar, Mayor Dmitry Orlov said. According to him, another part of the Rosatom personnel, brought in from Russian nuclear power plants in the amount of up to 100 specialists, left the city at the end of the previous week. Now there are about 5-6 thousand ZNPP workers in the city, who are actually hostages of the Russian army, because the occupation authorities do not allow them to leave the city. They are also not allowed to go to work, since everyone who did not conclude a contract with Rosatom had their passes blocked.
21:07 Germany and Poland could not agree on servicing the Leopard tanks transferred to Kiev, writes Der Spiegel. The main reason, according to the publication, is the difference in the assessment of the cost of work. The Polish Defense Enterprise Group (PGZ) is demanding more than 100,000 euros for initial tank diagnostics, while in Germany it costs about 12,000. In addition, PGZ does not want to provide any warranty for repairs. A repair plant in Poland was supposed to open a month ago, but negotiations between the countries are still ongoing.
19:23 Heavy fighting is going on everywhere at the front in Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said. So, in the East, the enemy is advancing in several directions - Avdeevsky, Maryinsky, Limansky - "it's hot everywhere now." In addition, the enemy moved forward in the Svatovsky direction - he is attacking Belogorovka, Serebryanka, the situation is "rather complicated."
In the Bakhmut direction, Ukrainian troops are moving forward on the southern flank, with partial success. Fighting continues in the north, the enemy has deployed two air assault regiments there. In the South, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting hard, but are gradually advancing in the Berdyansk and Melitopol directions. They face intense enemy resistance, remote mining, redeployment of reserves, but create conditions for the fastest advance.
18:39 The Vatican does not yet have a plan that would help start negotiations on Ukraine, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi said at the end of his trips to Kiev and Moscow.
16:57 Ukraine needs means to combat Russian Lancet kamikaze drones, Yuri Sak, adviser to the head of the Defense Ministry, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph: "Our intelligence found out that the Russians have begun to invest more money in the production of these drones. Anything that can pose a threat to our troops is of concern to us."
15:13 Zelensky is in the Odessa region on the day of the Ukrainian Navy. The President said that he heard the report of the Commander of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexei Neizhpapa: "Many important topics. The operational situation in the Black Sea, the defense capabilities of the Navy, the development strategy of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the war and in the post-war period. Interim results and prospects were discussed. development of the naval drone and missile program".
14:55 In Bucha, in front of the entrance to the city park, an installation appeared in memory of the residents of the city who died during the Russian occupation in March 2022, Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk said. He recalled that the death of 501 people was confirmed.
14:43 There are no intense urban battles in Bakhmut now, said Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, there are Ukrainian sniper groups operating there, "some other units that can be discussed over time." Cherevaty added that a massive offensive is under way on the southern and northern flanks around the city, "and in principle, we have advancement there."
12:54 The Russians fired at one of the residential areas of Kherson, hit a high-rise building - at least four people were injured, civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged by debris, the Office of the Prosecutor General said.
10:17 Fierce battles are going on in the Kherson region near the Antonovsky bridge, Natalya Gumenyuk, speaker of the OK Pivden, said: "Now there is a powerful combat work, in particular, an emphasis on counter-battery combat, because the peculiarities of the front line in our area of ​​​​responsibility is that it lies along the Dnieper River. At the same time, its channel was somewhat deformed as a result of the catastrophe that the Reshisty created by blowing up the Kakhovka dam. And this combat work is very complicated." Gumenyuk added that now the military needs information silence.
09:29 At night, the Russians attacked Ukraine with Iranian Shahed-type attack drones and Kalibr cruise missiles. UAV launches were carried out from the southeast direction, Caliber - from the Black Sea. All air targets - eight Shahed-136/131 strike drones and three Caliber cruise missiles - were destroyed, the Air Force command said.
09:01 In the Kiev region, as a result of falling debris from drones in two districts, three private houses were damaged, one person was injured, the head of the OVA Ruslan Kravchenko said.
08:55 In the Donetsk region over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed (in Avdiivka), three more were injured. In the Kherson region, five people were injured, including three children. In the Kharkiv region, two people were wounded as a result of the shelling of the city of Balakley with cluster munitions. In the Zaporozhye region, three were wounded, according to the IVA.
08:34 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of July 2.
- personnel - about 229,660 (+790) people liquidated,
- tanks - 4052 (+10),
- armored combat vehicles - 7888 (+20),
- artillery systems - 4188 (+26),
- MLRS - 637 (+5),
- air defense systems - 390 (+1),
- aircraft - 315 (+0),
- helicopters - 308 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 3557 (+12),
- cruise missiles - 1261 (+0),
- ships/boats - 18 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 6816 (+22),
- special equipment - 583 (+3).
07:45 The Russian army is concentrating its main efforts on the Limansky, Bakhmutsky and Maryinsky directions, there are heavy battles. During the day, there were 46 combat clashes, the General Staff said in the morning summary .
06:26 Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, in an interview with Bild, urged German politicians not to impede Ukraine's movement into NATO, as Merkel did: "Do not repeat the mistake that Chancellor Merkel made in Bucharest in 2008, when she fiercely resisted any progress on Ukraine's membership in NATO. According to the minister, it was that decision that "opened the door for Putin's invasion of Georgia and, ultimately, for the illegal annexation of Crimea." If Ukraine had already been a member of NATO in 2014, then the annexation of Crimea, the war in Donbas and the invasion of the entire country would not have happened.
Kuleba reaffirmed that Kyiv does not expect admission to NATO during the war, but after the war "it would be suicidal for Europe not to accept Ukraine into NATO." According to him, this is "the only way to close the door to Russian aggression against Europe and the European-Atlantic space as a whole."
The minister stressed that such a decision is "a path to peace," since Russia will not dare to attack Ukraine again if it becomes a member of NATO. In addition, Ukraine will remove the burden of protecting its eastern flank from Germany and other Western NATO countries, taking "this burden on its own shoulders."
03:37 The Russians attacked Kiev with drones - this is the first UAV attack on the capital since the beginning of the month and in the last 12 days. All enemy targets in the airspace around Kyiv were detected and destroyed by air defense forces, there were no reports of casualties or destruction, said Sergey Popko, head of the KGVA.