The essentials in brief:
- Kyiv applies to join NATO
- Stoltenberg: Our door is open
- Putin completes the annexation of Ukrainian territories
- EU wants to “never recognize illegal annexations”
- 30 dead in attack on civilian convoy
Immediately after Russia’s annexation of four territories, Ukraine applied for accelerated accession to NATO. “In fact, we have already made our way into NATO,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his video address. “Today Ukraine is applying to do it de jure.”
Zelenskyy justified his demand for an accelerated accession process with the importance of Ukraine for the defense of Western society. In principle, NATO accession is only possible if the accession candidate is not involved in international conflicts and disputes over borders.
NATO chief Stoltenberg: Our door is open
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has described Russia’s recent actions in the war against Ukraine as the worst escalation since the invasion began on February 24. “This is a crucial moment,” said the Norwegian in Brussels. He pointed to Russia’s partial mobilization, nuclear saber-rattling and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories. “None of it shows strength. It shows weakness.”
Regarding Ukraine’s request for admission, Stoltenberg said: “We have repeatedly stated that NATO’s door will remain open.” However, he also stressed that such a decision “requires unanimity”.
“Four New Regions in Russia”
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech in the Kremlin that he said was “significant” on the occasion of the annexation of partially occupied Ukrainian regions. “There are four new regions in Russia,” Putin said. “The people have made their choice” and the inhabitants of annexed Ukrainian regions are now “our citizens forever”. The admission of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson was contractually sealed immediately after the speech.
The EU and the USA react clearly
The heads of state and government of the EU countries have rejected the Russian annexations as unlawful. “We will never recognize this illegal annexation,” they said in a joint statement. “These decisions are null and void and cannot have any legal effect.” Russia is thus jeopardizing global security. At the same time, the heads of state and government emphasize that they support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty without any ifs or buts.
The USA reacts with new sanctions. The White House said Russia would face “quick and high costs” for the “fraudulent and illegal annexation” of regions of Ukraine. The new punitive measures are intended to affect, among other things, Russian politicians and military representatives as well as the Russian armaments sector. In addition, the United States, together with its G7 partners, are threatening those states that support the Russian annexation plans with consequences.
Nord Stream: Scandinavians suspect massive explosive charge
Denmark and Sweden have provided the Council with updated information ahead of the UN Security Council’s emergency debate over the leaks at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. At least two explosions happened underwater, the two countries said. Seismological institutes have measured a strength of 2.3 and 2.1, which “probably corresponds to an explosive charge of several hundred kilograms”. All available information indicated that the explosions were deliberate.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the West for the leaks. “Sanctions are not enough for the West, they have turned to sabotage by organizing explosions on the international Nord Stream gas pipelines,” Putin said in his annexation speech in the Kremlin.
Many dead in attack on civilian convoy
According to Ukrainian sources, 30 people were killed and many more wounded in a rocket attack on a civilian car convoy in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia. The governor of the Zaporizhia regional administration, Olexander Starukh, blamed Moscow. On the other hand, the head of the Russian occupation administration for the Zaporizhia region, Vladimir Rogov, accused Ukraine of attacking the vehicles on his Telegram channel.
According to pro-Russian forces, an official employed by the Russian occupiers was killed in the neighboring Cherson region. The region’s deputy chief of security, Alexei Katerinichev, fell victim to a “precise attack” by the Ukrainian armed forces, said the pro-Russian deputy chief of Kherson, Kirill Stremusov. Accordingly, two missiles were fired at Katerinichev’s house with a HIMARS rocket launcher. The information cannot be independently verified.
Blog: Lyman is trapped
In the battle for the strategically important small town of Lyman in the Donetsk region, Russian troops have taken several locations east of the city, according to Russian sources. According to the nationalist military blog Rybar, Ukrainian troops have “virtually encircled Lyman”. The town of Stawky, north of Lyman, had fallen; East of Lyman, in Zarichne, there was street fighting. The Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov also confirmed the Ukrainian capture of Stavky.
London: Russian soldiers lack medical supplies
According to British military experts, the Russian soldiers in Ukraine lack bandages and other medical products. The UK Ministry of Defense said newly mobilized reservists would be instructed to bring their own first aid kit. The government in London has published daily information on the situation since the beginning of the war, citing intelligence information. Moscow accuses the British of a targeted disinformation campaign.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres insists on international law – and thus angers the Kremlin (archive image)
Russia outraged by UN Secretary-General Guterres
Russia has reacted with outrage to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ comments on the annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. Guterres does not have the right to make political statements on behalf of the United Nations as a whole, the Kremlin said.
Guterres had expressed concern about Russia’s preparations to annex parts of Ukraine. Any further move related to the annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions would be “a dangerous escalation” and jeopardize prospects for peace in the region, Guterres said. Such an approach “would have no legal value and should be condemned”.
Guterres stressed that the “referendums” could not be considered “a genuine expression of the will of the people”. The votes were held in the midst of an armed conflict in Russian-occupied territories and outside Ukraine’s legal and constitutional framework. “The UN Charter is clear,” said the UN Secretary-General. “Any annexation of the territory of one state by another state as a result of the threat or use of force is a violation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law.”
Putin admits mistakes
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has for the first time admitted mistakes in partial mobilization (archive image)
Meanwhile, Putin acknowledged problems with the partial mobilization announced last week. He called for correcting “all mistakes” and gave examples of calls for military service that went to fathers with many children, people with chronic illnesses or people over the age of military service.
Selenskyj calls on minorities to resist
The Ukrainian president appealed to minorities across Russia to resist the partial mobilization of the Kremlin. “You don’t have to die in Ukraine,” says Zelenskyj in his evening video address. Putin will continue to try to destroy lives and no one is obliged to take part in a shameful war.
According to a count by the BBC broadcaster, at least 301 soldiers from the predominantly Muslim Dagestan have been killed in the Ukraine war so far. That would be the highest figure for any Russian region and more than 10 times the death toll from Moscow, which has a population five times larger. There is no official breakdown of Russian losses. More than 100 people were arrested last week during protests in Dagestan against partial mobilization.
Scholz warns Putin against using nuclear weapons
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned the Kremlin chief against using nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine. Both US President Joe Biden and himself made it clear that these weapons should not be used, Scholz said on second German television. A similar warning was given to Moscow at the beginning of the war regarding chemical and biological weapons.
Russian oligarch indicted in the US
US justice has charged Russian oligarch and Putin confidant Oleg Deripaska with violating US sanctions. According to the US Department of Justice, the 52-year-old aluminum billionaire is accused of trying to get his two children US citizenship by circumventing the sanctions.
Billionaire and Putin confidant: Oleg Deripaska (archive image)
The charges are also directed against Deripaska’s girlfriend Olegovna Voronina and two helpers. According to the indictment, they tried to allow Voronina to enter the United States so that she could give birth to their children there. In 2020 this was still successful, but in 2022 the pregnant woman was denied entry.
The US authorities had imposed sanctions on Deripaska in 2018 because of his closeness to Putin. The oligarch tried to circumvent the sanctions “with lies and fraud,” said Lisa Monaco, number two at the Justice Department. Although he supports the Russian leadership, he has invested “hundreds of thousands of dollars” so that his child can get US citizenship and benefit from the US health care system, the ministry said.
At a press conference in Moscow at the end of June, Deripaska described the Ukraine war as a “huge mistake”. The founder of the aluminum company Rusal also used the term “war”, which the Russian leadership has banned.
rb/nob/jj/ww/mak/ack (dpa, afp, rtr, ap)
This article will be continuously updated on the day of its publication. Reports from the combat zones cannot be independently verified.
