Global Courant
As the conflict enters its 502nd day, these are the key developments.
This is the situation on Monday, July 10, 2023.
To fight
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Hanna Maliar said Ukraine was “consolidating” its gains amid heavy fighting in two areas in the southeastern part of the country and had registered “certain advance” on Bakhmut’s southern flank. Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had repelled the Ukrainian advance near Bakhmut, with the fighting complicated “not only by the daily intensity of the fire and fighting, but also by the topography. The line of contact runs between two hills”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again acknowledged that the counter-offensive was slower than he or his generals wanted, but that Ukrainian forces had the initiative. “We all want to do it faster, because every day means new losses of Ukrainians. We’re progressing. We are not stuck,” he said in an interview with US broadcaster ABC, noting that the military had overcome a “kind of stagnation” in recent months. “We would all like to see the counter-offensive accomplished in a shorter time. But there is reality. Today the initiative is on our side.” The death toll from the Russian bombing of the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman has risen to at least nine, with more than a dozen people injured. The head of the Ukrainian military administration in the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Russian troops had attacked the city with rockets and deliberately attacked residential blocks. Russia denies attacking civilians. Russian officials said air defense systems shot down four missiles – one over the Crimean peninsula and three over Russia’s Rostov and Bryansk regions. No casualties were reported.
Cluster bombs
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelenskyy, said cluster munitions were “extremely important” to Ukraine and would help “partially restore parity on the battlefield”. Podolyak added that Russia has been using such munitions in Ukraine for more than a year. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the US decision to supply Ukraine with cluster munitions, saying it was intended to prolong the war. US President Joe Biden arrives in the UK on Monday, where he will hold talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has been critical of the US move to send cluster bombs to Ukraine. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Berlin could not “prevent” the US from sending cluster bombs to Ukraine, despite its opposition to their use. However, he noted that if Ukraine no longer had the means to defend itself or if those who supported the war-torn country pulled out, “it would be the end of Ukraine”. In the US, Democratic Senator Tim Kaine and Representative Barbara Lee expressed concern over the cluster bomb decision. Kaine said he had “some doubts” about the move because it could inspire other countries to circumvent the international convention banning the ammunition. Still, he told Fox News, he appreciated that the government had “wrestled with the risks.”
Diplomacy
US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Sweden’s membership of NATO in a phone call ahead of Tuesday’s NATO summit. The White House said Biden expressed his desire to welcome Sweden to NATO as soon as possible. The two men will hold talks on the sidelines of the summit that will focus on “Ukraine’s position in NATO, Sweden’s NATO membership and the supply of F-16” fighter jets, Turkey said. Russia said it wanted NATO to discuss Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant at the summit and accused Kiev of “systematically damaging” the site. Moscow occupied the nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that next month’s BRICS summit, to which Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited, will be “physical”. despite an arrest warrant against Putin issued by the International Criminal Court. Ukrainian football club Dynamo Kyiv accused Turkish side Fenerbahce of being a club “without honor and conscience” after the team traveled to Russia to play in a pre-season tournament. Russian teams were suspended from participating in FIFA and UEFA competitions following the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (TagsToTranslate)News
