Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 07-02-2024

The US Defense Secretary says the package will provide more air defense interceptors, anti-tank weapons, and other critical munitions taken from US stocks.

Ahead of NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington next week, the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense. “The United States will soon announce more than $2.3 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine,” Austin said at the start of a meeting.

He continued “It will also enable the United States to procure more Patriot and NASAMS air defense interceptors which will be provided on an accelerated timeline.”

Ukrainians report that almost half of all Russian assaults are spearheaded by motorcycles, ATVs and buggies, hoping that speed will catch defenders unawares.

A New York Times article on Saturday, June 29 dealt with Russia’s increasing use of motorcycles, dirt bikes, ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) and dune buggies to attack Ukrainian defensive positions. The theory seems to be that they can cross open spaces quickly, avoid obstacles and become much less noticed than armored vehicles, which become targets for drone and artillery strikes.

NYT quotes a Ukrainian military officer Lt. Mykhailo Hubitsky who said: “They move fast, they spread out and they swerve.”

Russia’s FSB was reportedly down for more than a week, following a large-scale cyber-attack, as Russia faces ongoing threats from hackers opposed to the Putin Regime.

Over the past few weeks, Nebula, a hacker collective, posted evidence of having executed cyber-attacks on Russia’s critical infrastructure, culminating in a successful mission to take Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) offline for more than a week.

Dr. Jan Kallberg, Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, and Fellow at the Army Cyber Institute at West Point said that the “ability to uphold fear and a Russian domestic authority is key for the FSB,” which is why “a successful hacker attack challenges both fear and authority because the hacker shows no fear and doesn’t care about the FSB’s power and authority.”

Despite ongoing military operations, two and a half years of war, and inevitable red tape, more than 50 percent of the region’s buildings have already been restored.

Rebuilding devastated infrastructure and homes is one of Ukraine’s key problems. Many cities are still in ruins. However, from the very first days of the full-scale war, volunteers from many countries have been helping Ukraine’s recovery effort. And a program of state funding for restoration has been working for a year now.Yet many people don’t bother to wait for compensation to be allocated to them; they repair and renovate their houses on their own.

Kyiv Post is heading to Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine that held off and pushed back Russian forces moving toward Kyiv in March 2022.

Evidence of actual damage to Ukrainian aircraft is pretty thin, but signs of image manipulation and Kremlin-style disinformation tactics are a lot stronger.

Pro-Russian social media on Monday claimed that two missiles had hit an air base in Ukraine’s northern Poltava region which took out as many as seven fighter aircraft and killed or injured dozens of ground personnel. However, Kyiv Post fact checks of the available evidence point to much more moderate results – along with Kremlin-inspired information manipulation.

A tightly edited one-minute drone video initially published on the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel FighterBomber, on Monday evening, showed images of the Myrhorod air base in the Poltava region where, according to Russian reports, two cluster munition-equipped Iskander-M missiles detonated among parked Ukrainian fighter planes.

Orban has not visited Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022 and has publicly struck out at Europe’s financial and military aid, temporarily blocking a €50 billion aid package for weeks.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Kyiv and called for a swift ceasefire to facilitate peace talks after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Orban, known for his pro-Russian stance, suggested a time-bound ceasefire to speed up negotiations.

“I asked the president to consider whether... a quick ceasefire could speed up the peace talks,” the Hungarian leader told a press conference alongside Zelensky, adding that the ceasefire he envisions would be time-bound. 

Ukraine wants and needs as much modern air defense weapons it can get, in the meantime, it makes do with its Soviet-era S-125 surface-to-air missiles.

A Facebook post by Ukraine’s Air Force (UAF) Command on Monday, July 1 details how one of its air defense crews was put together to operate a 1960s vintage S-125 (NATO: SA-3 Goa) air defense system.

While applauding the achievements of the team, the post says Ukraine still has an urgent need for the West to supply more modern air defense systems.

Ukrainian forces halted a Russian offensive supported by tanks, armored vehicles, and assault groups in the Novomykhailivka sector of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian paratroopers in Novomykhailivka (Donetsk region) repelled Russian assaults, destroying seven Russian BMP infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs)) along with their personnel, reported the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Tavriya Brigade via Telegram.

“The real portal to hell was opened by the occupiers in the Novomykhailivka district of Donetsk region, and they continue to enter it in whole columns,” the report said.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The US Supreme Court has said Donald Trump and other former presidents are partially immune from criminal prosecution, in a major legal victory for the Republican White House candidate. The 6-3 ruling did not outright dismiss an indictment that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election, but it did strip away key elements of the case against him. The justices found that a president has immunity for "official acts", but is not immune for "unofficial acts", and referred the matter back to a trial judge. The three liberal justices dissented strongly, expressing “fear for our democracy…The President is now a king above the law,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The decision makes it less likely that the Republican candidate will stand trial in the case before he challenges Democratic President Joe Biden in November's White House election. It is the first time since the nation's founding that the Supreme Court has declared former presidents can be shielded from criminal charges. - BBC

President Joe Biden’s reset after his disastrous debate performance is looking more like a return to business as usual. Even as his campaign works to quell Democratic anxiety and reassure spooked donors, Biden has been putting the focus on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump as a threat to the nation, and trying to get back to doing the job of president. The president’s schedule this week includes a briefing on extreme weather, a campaign reception, a Medal of Honor ceremony and the traditional July 4th White House barbecue. Then he’s off for a weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Nothing out of the ordinary, it all telegraphed. But Vice President Kamala Harris, in a Sunday night fundraiser, gave a nod to what she called “the elephant in the room.” The debate, she allowed, wasn’t Biden’s “finest hour.” - AP

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said the three suspects were scouting out locations of Ukrainian air defense in Odesa under Russian order, and one of them used wigs to avoid detection.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it “neutralized” a group of agents in Odesa employed by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), where a female agent attempted to avoid detection by “constantly changing wigs.”

According to the SBU press release, the three suspects were tasked by the FSB to scout out air defense systems protecting Odesa and install hidden cameras around the Odesa seaport. They reportedly moved around in taxis to photograph and mark locations of interest on Google Maps. 

These measures have been in development for several months but gained urgency after President Joe Biden‘s underwhelming performance in a televised debate with Trump.

NATO countries are gearing up with long-term support measures for Ukraine, anticipating a possible victory by Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential election.

This preparation is set against a backdrop of rising right-wing influence in Europe, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports citing the sources.

Dmytro Gordon is a household name in Ukraine with millions of social media followers. A poll in August 2023 placed him seventh among Ukrainians' most viewed "experts" commenting on YouTube.

A Russian military court on Monday convicted a popular Ukrainian YouTube blogger and journalist in absentia for making public calls to kill President Vladimir Putin.

A Moscow military court sentenced Dmytro Gordon to 14 years imprisonment, the TASS news agency reported.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren provided the update to the Dutch parliament but didn’t disclose delivery details, citing “operational security” concerns.

Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongre said the F-16 multirole fighters from the Netherlands would arrive in Ukraine “soon” in a letter to the Dutch parliament, dated July 1.

Ollongre said the “required permit for the export of military equipment to Ukraine has been issued” but refused to disclose delivery details due to security concerns, adding that the parliament would be “informed confidentially about the progress” in due course. 

But Seoul's military said Pyongyang's claims of a successful test were likely a "lie", pointing to the fact that one of the missiles appeared to have failed in the early stages of flight.

North Korea successfully tested a new tactical ballistic missile capable of carrying a super-large warhead, state media said Tuesday, with analysts suggesting the weapon could be nuclear-capable.

Pyongyang's state media claimed it had successfully launched the Hwasongpho-11Da-4.5 missile, which it said was capable of carrying a 4.5 ton-class super-large warhead.

Ahead of the second round of voting, the NFP and the Macron camp have withdrawn candidates to boost each other's chances against the RN.

In round one of the parliamentary elections in France, the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) and its allies have emerged strongest with 33 per cent of votes. Ahead of the second round of voting on Sunday, the leftist alliance Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), which came second, and the Macron camp in third place have already withdrawn candidates to increase each other's chances against the RN.

Democratic emergency

Kazakh opposition journalist Aidos Sadykov was shot in his own car in Kyiv on Tuesday, June 18. The suspects are two citizens of Kazakhstan: Meiram Karataev and Altai Zhatkanbayev.

Kazakh opposition journalist Aidos Sadykov passed away in Kyiv on Tuesday, July 2, after spending 13 days in a coma following an assassination attempt.

His wife, Natalia Sadykova, announced his death on Facebook, stating, “Aidos Sadykov left us today at 03:00 Kyiv time. My beloved husband, the father of our three children, is a great son of the Kazakh people. Aidos gave his life for Kazakhstan, suffering martyrdom at the hands of killers.”

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe held talks with Volodymyr Zelensky and attended the national athletics championships in Lviv during the visit to Ukraine.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said on Monday he had visited Ukraine and met the country's athletes to show them he "was in their corner" as the Paris Olympics approaches.

Coe held talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky and attended the national athletics championships in Lviv at the weekend during the visit to Ukraine, which is fighting the Russian invasion for a third year.

The Hungarian prime minister is the only EU leader who has continued to maintain close ties with Moscow even after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the EU's most pro-Russian leader, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, July 2. According to European Pravda, the Prime Minister's convoy of numerous cars arrived at the Hungarian embassy early in the morning.

This visit, his first to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion over two years ago, coincides with Hungary assuming the rotating EU presidency.

According to partisan reports, Russians placed the $25 million Tor-M2 complex directly above the beach in occupied Sevastopol, endangering the local population.

The Atesh partisan movement reported on Telegram that it recorded the Tor-M2 short-range surface-to-air missile defense system above a popular local beach in Russian-occupied Sevastopol, Crimea.

“The Russians have chosen another ‘ideal’ place to place their anti-aircraft missile system,” the report read, accompanied by photos of the discovered complex.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) Head Vladimir Kolokoltsev boasted that Russian authorities have increased detentions and prosecutions related to illegal migration into Russia while calling for intensified Russian government crackdowns against illegal migration.
• Russia assumed its one-month-long rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on July 1 for the first time since April 2023 and will likely use this position as a power projection base within the international system as it historically has.
• South Korea's Ministry of Unification announced on July 1 that North Korean state TV channel Korean Central TV switched to transmitting broadcasts via Russian satellites instead of Chinese satellites, reportedly affecting South Korea's ability to monitor North Korean state TV.
• Hungary assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) Council on July 1.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Kreminna, and Russian forces recently advanced near Avdiivka.
• The Russian information space continues to discuss the mistreatment of wounded and disabled Russian servicemembers in Ukraine.