The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated on Sunday with a series of massive drone attacks by both sides, causing casualties and significant damage to infrastructure. Ukraine targeted Russian regions, including strategic facilities, while Russia continued its devastating airstrikes on Ukrainian cities. At the same time, Russia scaled back its traditional Navy Day celebrations due to security concerns, indicating rising tensions in the country.
18:32 Lithuania plans to contribute up to 30 million euros to the joint purchase of American air defense systems for Ukraine. As reported by the Kyiv Independent website, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported.
The US-made Patriot systems are an important part of Ukraine's multi-layered air defense, capable of intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles and providing protection against large-scale attacks on cities.
The announcement came during a visit by Baltic defense ministers to the United States, where Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė confirmed the country's intention to support Ukraine's air defense capabilities. Lithuania has been a staunch ally of Kiev since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, providing humanitarian and military assistance.
Destruction of Patriot missile system in Ukraine
17:40 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to maintain the independence of anti-corruption organizations. They spoke on the phone after the controversy surrounding Kiev's moves to limit their powers.
15:43 During the past week in Ukraine, according to Kiev, Russia lost 7 260 soldiers. The number of Russian armed forces members eliminated from combat since the beginning of the war has increased to 1 049 250. This is according to data published on Facebook by the Ukrainian General Staff. According to him, over the past week, Moscow also lost 22 tanks, 42 armored infantry fighting vehicles, 239 artillery systems and six rocket launchers.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has lost a total of 11,057 tanks, 23,063 infantry fighting vehicles, 30,822 artillery systems and 1,449 rocket launchers, according to Kiev.
14:49 Russian President Vladimir Putin visited St. Petersburg on Sunday and addressed soldiers in a video message who were taking part in the large-scale naval exercises July Storm."Our main task is to ensure Russia's security and firmly protect its sovereignty and national interests," he said, according to the Kremlin.
14:30 Russia announced on Sunday that it had canceled its annual naval parade for"security reasons." "This is related to the overall situation. Security reasons are of the utmost importance," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
The parade was to be the highlight of Russia's Navy Day, which falls on the last Sunday in July. Warships and submarines were to sail past St. Petersburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reinstated Navy Day in 2017, nearly four decades after it was abolished in Soviet times, said on Sunday that"we celebrate the holiday in a working atmosphere."
Russia, which has been bombing Ukraine every day since February 2022, has faced retaliatory attacks on its territory by Ukrainian drones in recent months. The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday that air defenses shot down 100 Ukrainian drones overnight, at least 10 of them near St. Petersburg. The drone attack disrupted operations at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport, delaying dozens of flights, airport officials said.
13:12 Two men aged 50 and 56 lost their lives in a mine explosion in the Sumy region, the regional administration reported today. Four more civilians, including one woman, were injured in Russian shelling. Two people were killed and another 16 civilians were injured in Russian shelling in three Ukrainian regions over the past 24 hours on Saturday, the Ukrainska Pravda server wrote, citing authorities in the Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk and Kherson regions.
Both civilians were killed in shelling of Pokrovskoye and Myrnohrad in the east of the country. The bodies of the two victims were recovered from the rubble of a destroyed house in Stepnohirsk, Zaporizhia region, the head of the region, Ivan Fedorov, announced.
Russian air defenses destroyed 99 Ukrainian drones overnight over 11 Russian regions, annexed Crimea and the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said. There was no mention of damage caused by the airstrikes.
Kiev has not commented on the raids, but it often says it is sending drones deep into Russia in retaliation for the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, with the aim of disrupting the Russian war effort, Reuters noted.
Ukrainian drones were also spotted by residents of the Leningrad region, the Astra Telegram channel wrote, citing footage taken by eyewitnesses. Authorities suspended operations at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport and mobile internet services in St. Petersburg were down.
Russian authorities have already canceled a major naval parade that in recent years has been held on the last Sunday in July in St. Petersburg, the hometown of President Vladimir Putin. A Kremlin spokesman explained the move today by citing security reasons."This is connected with the overall situation. Ensuring security is above all," Dmitry Peskov said, according to the TASS agency.
The spokesman also said that Russia would prefer a political and diplomatic solution to the conflict, but that all of these proposals have been rejected by Kiev and the West, forcing Russia to continue the war. Reuters noted that the spokesman did not provide any evidence to support these claims.
10:08 The Ukrainian army in the Kharkiv region in the northeast of the country killed the commander of the Russian 83rd Motorized Rifle Regiment. As reported by the news website Ukrainska Pravda, the Ukrainian strategic group Khortytsia announced this on the Telegram communication platform.
Colonel Lebedev was killed on the front line near the village of Velyky Burluk, southeast of the abandoned Ukrainian city of Volchansk, where he was directly supervising the offensive operations of the 83rd Motorized Rifle Regiment, which is part of the 69th Motorized Rifle Division of the Russian Army.
9:05 Falling debris from destroyed Ukrainian drones disrupted power supply to the railway network and train connections in part of the Volgograd region in southern Russia on Sunday. The operation of the Volgograd airport also remains suspended after the attacks, local officials said. TASR reports this based on a report by the Reuters agency.
The Russian Defense Ministry said nine Ukrainian drones were destroyed over the Volgograd region. Governor Andrei Bocharov added that there were no injuries in the attacks. In total, 99 drones were shot down overnight over 12 Russian regions, the Crimean peninsula and the Black Sea, according to Russian authorities.
The Federal Aviation Agency Rosaviatsia announced that flights at Volgograd airport were suspended shortly after midnight and had not resumed by Sunday morning.
The state news agency RIA reported that the attacks had caused delays to several train services in the region. The extent of the damage was not yet known. Ukraine has not yet commented on the incident.
However, Kiev repeatedly emphasizes that such attacks are a response to continuous Russian strikes on Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the invasion in 2022 and target infrastructure that is crucial to the Russian war effort.
7:50 In the ranking of defense spending for 2024, Ukraine has already reached eighth place, overtaking France. Over the past 5 years, Ukraine has increased its defense spending more than 8 times.
In absolute numbers, Russia is almost three times ahead of Ukraine, writes Unian, referring to the UA War Infographics Telegram channel.
Based on data collected by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a ranking of the countries with the largest military expenditures in the world in 2024 was compiled. The top ten are as follows:
All ten countries with the highest defense spending increased their spending compared to 2020. The largest increases were recorded by Ukraine (+838%) and Russia (+126%), the smallest by Japan (+3%), France (+10%) and China (+10%), writes Unian.
