Updates on the Russia-Ukraine War, July 3, 2022: As fighting between Russia and Ukraine intensifies in the east, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the battle for Lysychansk, Ukraine’s last major stronghold in the strategically important eastern province of Luhansk, could result in the city’s fall. According to Reuters, Rodion Miroshnik, the Ambassador to Russia of the pro-Moscow self-styled Luhansk People’s Republic, told Russian television “Lysychansk has been brought under control,” he added, “but it has yet to be liberated.”
Three people were killed in blasts in Russia’s Belgorod city, near the Ukrainian border, on Sunday, which resulted in a fire in a residential building, according to Belgorod region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. According to him, the blasts partially destroyed 11 apartment buildings and at least 39 private residential buildings. “Reasons for the incident are being investigated,” Gladkov said in a Telegram message. The air defense system must have worked.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday that Ukraine attempted to strike military facilities on Belarusian territory three days ago, but that all missiles were intercepted, according to the state-run Belta news agency. “They are provoking us. I have to tell you, three days ago, maybe a bit more, an attempt to strike military facilities on Belarusian territory was made from the territory of Ukraine,” Belta quoted Lukashenko.
The mayor of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, said powerful explosions rocked the city early Saturday, a day after authorities said at least 21 people were killed when Russian missiles struck an apartment building near the Black Sea port of Odesa. On Friday, explosions flattened a section of an apartment building while residents slept, the latest in a series of what Ukraine claims are Russian missile attacks on civilians.
In his nightly video address on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the strikes as “conscious, deliberately targeted Russian terror and not some sort of error or a coincidental missile strike.” Kyiv says Moscow has intensified its long-range missile attacks, hitting civilian targets far from the frontline. Russia says it has been aiming at military sites. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cited President Vladimir Putin’s statements “that the Russian Armed Forces do not work with civilian targets”.
In another development, while speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the ongoing situation in Ukraine on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India’s long-standing support for dialogue and diplomacy. The two leaders discussed the state of global energy and food markets while speaking on the phone, according to PM Modi’s office in a statement.
Source:IE