Sixteen months after the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine says it is continuing its counter-offensive launched about a month ago. This has not yet triggered a decisive breakthrough.
The Ukrainian army has recaptured 37 square kilometers in the east and south of the country from Russian forces in a week as part of its counter-offensive, Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said on Monday. In the South, “the liberated territories have increased by 28.4 square kilometres”, bringing to 158 km2 the total area recovered in this area since the launch of the counter-offensive in early June, said Ms. Maliar. In the east, kyiv’s gains only reached 9 km2, she said. “The enemy is resisting strongly, a very tough duel is underway,” said Ms. Maliar.
Moscow says it foiled Ukrainian assassination attempt on leader of annexed Crimea
The Russian security services (FSB) said on Monday July 3 that they had foiled an assassination attempt on the leader installed by Moscow in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed in 2014, accusing Kiev of wanting to plant a bomb in his car. “An attempt to assassinate the leader of Crimea Sergei Aksionov organized by the Ukrainian special services has been foiled”, indicated the FSB, quoted by the Russian press agencies. A man has been arrested as part of the investigation.
Russia: no new mobilization after Wagner’s rebellion
A senior Russian parliamentary official dismissed the idea of a new mobilization to replace the members of the paramilitary group Wagner who are no longer fighting in Ukraine.
“The President of the Russian Federation (Vladimir Putin) has clearly, understandably and specifically said that there will be no new mobilization,” Andrei Kartapolov told state agency TASS on Monday. at the head of the Defense Committee of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament. “There is no need for mobilization today and in the near future.”
According to the former military commander, “there is no threat at all of a reduction in combat potential” in the medium and long term, and Moscow has manpower within the Russian armed forces to replace them. “At the time of the (aborted) rebellion, there were no employees of the Wagner group on the front line, they were all in camps,” added Andrei Kartapolov.
After his aborted mutiny in Russia in June, the boss of the Wagner group, Evgueni Prigojine, agreed to go into exile in Belarus thanks to mediation led by Minsk, an ally of Moscow. Under the terms of this agreement, Wagner’s fighters have the choice of going to Belarus, enlisting in the regular Russian army or returning to civilian life.
Evgueni Prigojine assured that his uprising was not intended to overthrow power, but to save Wagner from being dismantled by the Russian general staff, which he accuses of incompetence in the conflict in Ukraine.
On June 13, a few days before the mutiny of the paramilitary group, Vladimir Putin had indicated during an interview with journalists that “decisions concerning mobilization” are taken “according to the objectives that we set for ourselves, but he does not there is no such need today,” reports the Kremlin website.
Crime of aggression investigation office opens in The Hague
An international bureau to investigate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine opens Monday in The Hague, which is seen as a first step towards the eventual creation of a tribunal to try Russian leaders.
The International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) brings together prosecutors from kyiv, the European Union, the United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC). This form of prosecution has the task of investigating and collecting evidence. It is envisaged as a first step before the establishment of a special tribunal to try the most senior Russian officials for the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, a request from kyiv.
Calls for the creation of a special court dedicated to the war in Ukraine have multiplied, as the ICC only has jurisdiction to try war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. The court, which also sits in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant in March 2023 against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children.
kyiv has been pushing for the creation of a special court since the discovery of hundreds of corpses after the withdrawal in April 2022 of Russian troops from the town of Boutcha near the Ukrainian capital. International support has steadily grown and in February the European Commission announced the creation of the ICPA.
Ukrainian writer injured in restaurant strike dies
Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, injured in a Russian strike on a restaurant in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, died on July 1, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization announced on Sunday.
“We inform you that the writer Victoria Amelina died on July 1 at the Mechnikov hospital in Dnipro,” said the NGO PEN Ukraine in a press release, which promotes freedom of expression and Ukrainian literature in particular. “Her death was caused by injuries incompatible with life, which she received during the Russian bombardment” of the restaurant in Kramatorsk, adds the same source. “We are announcing this news now that all members of Victoria’s family are aware of it and with their consent.”
The 37-year-old Ukrainian writer was seriously injured while dining at the Ria Pizza restaurant, popular with the military, volunteers and journalists, and was hospitalized in Dnipro with “multiple basal skull fractures”. , reported the neurosurgeon Vitaliy Savenkov. Victoria Amelina was in the company of three Colombian personalities, all three slightly injured according to a press release.