Did you miss the latest developments on the war in Ukraine? 20 Minutes gives you an update every evening. Between strong statements, advances on the front and the results of the fighting, here is the essential information from this Monday, July 1st.
The fact of the day
The Russian Defense Ministry reported Monday that it had shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight. The drone strikes caused power and water outages for several hours in the border region of Belgorod, and could trigger more, according to local authorities. Authorities in the neighboring Russian regions of Kursk and Voronezh said outages were also possible after the strikes.
The Russian Energy Ministry announced that it was carrying out repairs in Chebekino, a border town regularly targeted, and specified that 240,000 people were affected by the power cuts.
A four-year-old girl was killed and seven people were injured in multiple Ukrainian drone strikes that hit electrical installations and homes, Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. He also reported that a civilian was killed when a shell fell on a business in the village of Novaya Tavoljanka.
Russia, for its part, has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian power plants for several months, causing power cuts across the country. And on Monday, the Russian army claimed the capture of two villages in eastern Ukraine, where it continues its slow advance. Since Saturday, it has claimed the conquest of five villages in several sectors of the front.
Statement of the day
« “I am confident that we will continue to move forward, and the reason for that is, again, that it is clearly in the interests of the people that we are all here to represent.” »
The words were signed by Anthony Blinken on Monday. The American Secretary of State said he expected European allies to continue to strongly support NATO after the victory of the extreme right in the first round of the legislative elections in France.
“The alliance is mobilizing to make sure that we have the right defenses across the alliance, where they are needed, where they are important,” Blinken told the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. “That has been a clear trajectory for the last three and a half years. I don’t think that changes, regardless of the politics of the moment in Europe,” he added.
Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, NATO has welcomed two new members, Finland and Sweden, bringing its total membership to 32.
NATO is holding a summit in Washington next week to mark the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance.
The number of the day
Two. This is the number of civilians killed this Monday by Russian strikes on the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine. Two women aged 65 and 70, who were in the street, died in the city of Ukrainsk, according to the regional prosecutor.
Ukraine’s industrial and mining east has been under constant Russian bombardment, and the Kremlin has claimed slow but steady gains there since the start of the year.
The prosecutor said multiple Hurricane rockets also damaged an administrative building and several homes in the town, which had a population of 13,000 before the war. Following the attack, Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin called on civilians to leave.
“Every day, the Donetsk region has more and more victims of Russian war crimes. It is dangerous to stay here! Be responsible! Evacuate!” he wrote on Telegram.
The trend
The Finnish Parliament on Monday passed a defense agreement with the United States that will increase the U.S. military presence and allow U.S. military equipment to be stored in Finland. The Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) was unanimously approved by the Finnish Parliament after the Finnish government signed it in Washington last December.
Everything you need to know about the war in Ukraine
The text allows the United States access to 15 military bases in Finland and authorizes the presence and training of American soldiers, as well as the storage of military equipment on Finnish territory.
The vote on the text comes after Finland’s entry into NATO in April 2023, more than a year after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Finland’s relations with Russia, with which it shares a 1,340-kilometre border, have become very strained since Finland joined NATO.
The defence agreement between Finland and the United States helps to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in crisis situations. The agreement is framed by the obligation to respect Finland’s sovereignty, its national laws and international law, the government and the Foreign Affairs Committee have stressed.
The United States has similar air defense agreements with 11 other NATO countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
