For today, links to seven reports from Tass, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Kyiv Post, and the Kyiv Independent, and to commentary from the Post, the Independent, and Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date, so far, is HERE, and an ASSANGE entry is HERE.) — MCM
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Russia uncertain if Ukraine would reciprocate with ceasefire — Putin. From Tass. ASTANA — Russia can’t agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine as Moscow is not sure how Kiev would respond, Russian President Vladimir Putin said as he wrapped up his trip to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana. He said agreements were reached in 2022 to withdraw Russian troops from Kiev, but . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for a second report from Tass.
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Ukraine’s army retreats from positions as Russia gets closer to seizing strategically important town, by Hanna Arhirova | AP KYIV — Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a military spokesperson said today. Chasiv Yar is a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble under a monthslong Russian assault. READ MORE . . . Click HERE to a report from Reuters.
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Russia says it destroyed Ukrainian fighter jet, vehicles. From AFP. Russia’s Defense Ministry said today its troops destroyed a Mig-29 fighter jet and two or more vehicles during a strike on an airbase at Dolgintsevo in central Ukraine. READ MORE . . .
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Russian offensive inexorably makes gains in eastern Donbas, by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post A relentless Russian offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas sector has grabbed new territory from Kyiv forces hard-pressed following massed air strikes, artillery bombardments and repeated ground assaults. The biggest Russian gain in territory was near the coal-mining town of Toretsk, where . . READ MORE . . .
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Russian attack on Dnipro kills 7, injures over 50, shopping center hit, by Martin Fornusek | The Kyiv Independent At least seven people were killed and more than 50 were injured after Russia launched drones and missiles against Dnipro on Wednesday, officials said. Five fatalities were reported on the day of the attack. A 60-year-old woman and a 58-year-old woman died in the hospital a day later, Governor Serhii Lysak said. . . READ MORE . . . Earlier reports are HERE, at top.
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F-16 ‘Viper’ combat debut in Ukraine’s skies will be slow, careful and risk-averse, by Stefan Korshak and Christopher Stewart | Kyiv Post As the clock ticks down to the first combat deployment of Ukrainian-piloted F-16 fighters against the Russian Air Force, and with it a possible . . . READ MORE . . .
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Who needs warships when you’ve got drones? Russia loses control of dominance over Black Sea, by Igor Kossov | The Kyiv Independent Russia began the war with a formidable Black Sea fleet and all the Ukrainian ports in Crimea it seized in 2014, including the Ukrainian vessels that were docked there at the time. With this, Russia could . . . READ MORE . . .
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FROM JULY 2 Will Putin attack Poland & the Baltics? by Ray McGovern | Special to Consortium News At Thursday’s debate with Donald Trump, President Joe Biden, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” claimed that he “wants all of Ukraine. … Do you think he’ll stop? … What do you think happens to Poland and other places?” READ MORE . . .