July 1, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Follow the latest news on Russia’s war in Ukraine here and read more about today’s developments in the posts below.?

As the US prepares to send a new shipment of ammunition to Ukraine for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) advanced rocket system, a senior US defense official says Ukrainian forces are having “a good deal of success” using the system to target Russian command posts and degrade their capabilities on the battlefield.

“The Ukrainians are able to carefully select targets that will undermine the effort by Russia in a more systematic way certainly than they would be able to do with the shorter range artillery systems,” the official said, speaking to a group of reporters Friday.

The official acknowledged that Ukraine is still in the very early days of using the HIMARS, but they have so far used it effectively after a brief training period that recently ended. At least four HIMARS entered Ukraine already, with four more promised.

The HIMARS have a range of approximately 40 miles (about 64 kilometers), allowing the Ukrainians to strike from afar and with more accuracy than the shorter-ranged artillery.

The official also said Russia was well aware that it hit a shopping mall earlier this week in the town of Kremenchuk, rejecting Moscow’s claims that it does not strike civilian targets.

“They certainly knew what it was and they would’ve known that it could’ve had this collateral damage or this effect,” the official said.?

The official added that the missile used in the attack, designed as an anti-ship weapon, was not intended for use in crowded urban environments.

The UK Foreign Office condemned on Friday the “exploitation” of prisoners for “political purposes” after Russian-backed separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) charged another two British citizens with being “foreign mercenaries.”

“We condemn the exploitation of prisoners of war and civilians for political purposes and have raised this with Russia,” a spokesperson for the British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office told CNN late Friday.

More background: Pro-Russian investigators in DPR said earlier Friday that they have charged another two British citizens with being “mercenaries,” according to the Donetsk News Agency.

“An investigation is now underway against British?mercenaries Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill. They are charged under the same articles as the three previously convicted?mercenaries. An investigation is under way and charges have been brought,” the Donetsk News Agency reported quoting an unnamed DPR official.

On June 9, Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, along with Moroccan national Brahim Saadoune, were sentenced to death after they?were found guilty of being “mercenaries” for Ukraine by a court in DPR, Russian state media reported at the time.?

DPR authorities said that the three men were foreign fighters who had been apprehended by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in April. RIA Novosti said that Pinner, Aslin and Saadoune will be shot by firing squad, and they have until July 9 to lodge an appeal.

Russia continues its attacks across multiple areas of Ukraine. The death toll from Moscow’s overnight strikes in the Odesa region rose to 20, Ukraine’s emergency services said. At least 16 people were killed in a residential building, and four more – including one child –were killed in another strike on a recreation center.

Moldova’s minister of health said one of the buildings struck in the Odesa attack was a rehabilitation center for treating Moldovan children with health problems. One employee was killed and five were injured following the strike.?The center had been closed to patients since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the official said, and no children are thought to have been at the center at the time of the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia is conducting terrorism against Ukraine’s cities and people. “This is a targeted Russian missile attack, Russian terror against our cities, towns, our people — adults and children,” Zelensky said.

Following Russia’s?withdrawal from Snake Island?in the Black Sea, Ukraine hopes that strikes on the territory around Odesa will decrease, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Andrii Demchenko, said Friday.

Here are the other key headlines to know:

Here’s a look at the areas in Ukraine that are under Russian control:

Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at a press conference on June 27.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russia is conducting terrorism against Ukraine’s cities and people.

Zelensky was speaking during a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St?re in Kyiv.

“The Russian missile was a supersonic cruise anti-ship missile, by the way hit an ordinary residential building in the village of Sergiivka in Odesa region. Such X-22 missiles were created to attack aircraft carriers and other large military ships, and the Russian army used it against an ordinary building with ordinary civilians, a nine-story building,” Zelensky added.

Katerina Titova in her bombed out shed and jewelry station her garden in Hostomel, Ukraine.

There’s a traffic jam heading into the Ukrainian city of Hostomel today, made worse because the bridge over the Irpin river was destroyed as the Russians advanced back in the early days of war. Now this is just a normal commute from Kyiv toward Hostomel, Irpin and Bucha — the sites of some of the worst atrocities Russians troops committed in Ukraine.?

Bombed out bridge.

In Hostomel, life has resumed among the rubble, blown-out windows and blackened buildings. The local street market is back in front of the Hostomel glass factory, which is now destroyed and shuttered. Sounds of banging echo across the street where the corner shop is being rebuilt with all new plywood and colorful lettering.?

Shop owner Mikhail Neymet in Hostomel.

He looked on wearily as the work is carried out. It’s only the second day he’s opened the shop, which he said was totaled by the Russian army.

“I hope that things will be OK. Hope dies last,” he said. ?

With higher prices, it’s harder to buy and sell at the market. And all the quality fruit and vegetables from southern regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv, Ukraine’s traditional harvest areas, are out of reach now, lost under Russian occupation.?

Neymet has family in the US and in Europe. He could always go there, he said, and leave the country.

Mikhail Neymet in his shop.

Katerina Titova, 35; Alex Titov, 36; and her family are down the road. They fled from Hostomel on March 4, the day after the Russians bombed their garden, destroying her brand-new jewelry workshop as well as a neighbor’s house. The main house had its windows blown out, leaving huge holes in the brick wall and shrapnel embedded inside, among family photographs.?

The couple left their home on foot after that with their two children, 10-year-old Makar and 5-year-old Taisia, and eventually made it to the relative safety of Kyiv. When they returned at the end of May, they couldn’t believe their house was still standing and that the Russians hadn’t gotten inside.?

Katerina Titova and family sit in front of their home.

“I went around petting it like a cat, calling it ‘my darling; we’ll repair you, my darling,’” said Titova now, laughing at her own fondness for this place she calls home.

There was never a question that they wouldn’t return.?

Pro-Russian investigators in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Friday said they have charged another two British citizens with being “mercenaries,” according to the Donetsk News Agency.

“An investigation is now underway against British mercenaries Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill. They are charged under the same articles as the three previously convicted mercenaries. An investigation is under way and charges have been brought,” the Donetsk News Agency reported, quoting an unnamed DPR official.

On June 9, Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, along with Moroccan national Brahim Saadoune, were sentenced to death after they?were found guilty of being “mercenaries” for Ukraine by a court in DPR, Russian state media reported at the time.?

DPR authorities said that the three men were foreign fighters who had been apprehended by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in April. RIA Novosti said that Pinner, Aslin and Saadoune will be shot by firing squad, and they have until July 9 to lodge an appeal.

Pinner’s lawyer Yulia Tserkovnikova on Friday said, acting on her client’s behalf, she will appeal for clemency and leniency on humanitarian grounds so that the execution does not go ahead.?But?Tserkovnikova?said she will not challenge the guilty verdict decided by the court.

“We will appeal to humanity, as the guilt of my client has been proven by the court in full. To say that the complaint will be based on any evidence of innocence, it is not necessary,” the Donetsk News Agency quoted Tserkovnikova as saying.

On Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, France, granted “interim measures” to Pinner and Aslin, calling on the Russian Federation to ensure the death penalty is not carried out.?

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry?Peskov?said?the Russian Federation no longer complies with the instructions of the ECHR and suggested the court makes direct contact with the DPR?to discuss it.?

CNN has reached out to the?UK?Foreign,?Commonwealth and Development Office for comment.

The US is providing more ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) advanced rocket system in the latest $820 million aid package to Ukraine, the Pentagon announced Friday.?

The Pentagon did not say how many rounds of ammunition would be provided for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, capable of launching a barrage of guided rockets approximately 40 miles (about 64 kilometers), but Ukraine has made the request for more systems and more ammo one of its top priorities.

The HIMARS ammunition will be part of the 14th presidential drawdown authority (PDA), meaning it will come directly from existing US inventories. This PDA totals $50 million.?

More on US aid to Ukraine: So far, the US has committed to sending in eight HIMARS systems. At least four of HIMARS have already entered the fight against Russia. The Biden administration had faced criticism for not sending enough ammunition for the HIMARS.

The remaining $770 million falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) where the US will contract directly with arms manufacturers to make weapons for Ukraine. This includes two advanced anti-aircraft and aerial defense systems, called the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS). It also includes 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition for the howitzers the US has already sent, as well as four counter-artillery radars.

The US has now committed $6.9 billion of equipment and aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24 and a total of $7.6 billion since the start of the Biden administration.

Russian hackers carried out a “cyberattack” on Ukraine’s biggest private energy conglomerate in retaliation for its owner’s opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine, the firm said Friday.

DTEK Group, which owns coal and thermal power plants in various parts of Ukraine, said the goal of the hack was to “destabilize the technological processes” of its distribution and generation firms, spread propaganda about the company’s operations, and “to leave Ukrainian consumers without electricity.”

The actual impact of the hack, and what computer systems were breached, is unclear. There have been no reports of outages caused by the incident. DTEK did not respond to requests for comment.

The hacking incident was disclosed days after?Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and DTEK’s owner, sued Russia at the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly costing Akhmetov billions of dollars in property rights damages.

A Russian-speaking hacking group known as XakNet claimed to have breached DTEK’s networks this week and posted screenshots on the Telegram app of purported DTEK data as proof. The hacking group surfaced in March, according to a US and allied government?advisory, and has claimed to target Ukrainian officials in support of Russia’s war.

XakNet has had access to data belonging to an organization that was likely hacked by a Russian cyber espionage group, suggesting a possible link between XakNet and the Russian government, said Alden Wahlstrom a senior analyst at US cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which has investigated some of XakNet’s activity.

On its Telegram channel, XakNet has mocked and denied the suggestion that it works with the Russian government.

CNN has requested comment from the Russian Embassy in Washington.

The hacking incident coincided with Russian shelling this week of a DTEK-owned thermal power plant in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, according to DTEK, whose websites says it employs 56,000 people.

Microsoft in an April report?made the case?that Russian hacking has sometimes been used in tandem with kinetic military strikes. A cyberattack hit a Ukrainian broadcast company on March 1, the same day as a Russian missile strike against a TV tower in Kyiv, the report said.

Read more here.

Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba speaks in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 28.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro?Kuleba?condemned Russia for the deadly missile strikes on a residential area of the Odesa region in southern Ukraine that left at least 20 dead and 38 injured early on Friday morning.

In a short statement on Twitter, he called for modern missile defense systems to be sent to Ukraine.

“Terrorist state Russia continues its war against civilians with overnight missile strikes on Odesa region killing dozens, including children. I urge partners to provide Ukraine with modern missile defense systems as soon as possible. Help us save lives and put an end to this war,” Kuleba said.

Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St?re attends a meeting with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, Ukraine on July 1.

Norway has pledged one billion euros in funding to support the “brave people” of Ukraine, the country’s Prime Minister?Jonas Gahr St?re announced during a trip to Kyiv on Friday.?

Addressing journalists during a joint news conference alongside Ukrainian?President Volodymyr?Zelensky, Gahr?St?re?said he had “to come to Ukraine to express Norway’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine.”?

The funding will be used to provide humanitarian aid and support Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction efforts, according to?Gahr St?re.?

Zelensky thanked his Norwegian counterpart for the support package, saying Ukraine appreciates that it has “real friends” nearby.?

Zelensky called Norway a “diligent and rational member of the international community,” referencing the country’s decision to support European Union sanctions against Russia despite not being a member of the bloc.?

The Ukrainian leader also responded to the Russian missile strike on the port city of Odesa carried out during the early hours of Friday, calling it another example of an “act of terror against our cities.”?

“This brutality from Russia yet again confirms how correct the decision of our partners was to support Ukraine with defensive weapons. No country should be left alone against this evil and I’m grateful to Norway,” Zelensky continued, highlighting how the country supported Ukraine “straight away.”?

In the aftermath of Russia’s early morning missile strikes on a residential area near Odesa in southern Ukraine, Moldova’s Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco has said one of the buildings struck in the attack was a rehabilitation center for treating Moldovan children with health problems.

In a statement on Facebook,?Nemerenco said?that although the building itself was not badly damaged, with only windows smashed in part of the building, one employee was killed and five were injured following the strike.?

The Moldovan-owned rehabilitation center?gave “children with health problems in the Republic of Moldova the opportunity to benefit from medical rehabilitation services on the Black Sea coast,”?Nemerenco?said.

Nemerenco?paid tribute to the facilities’ medical staff who were injured and killed in the Russian bombardment.

The center had been closed to patients since the start of the coronavirus pandemic,?said Nemerenco.?No children are thought to have been at the center at the time of the attack.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto speaks during a press conference in Helsinki, Finland, on July 1.

After Finland was formally invited to join the NATO this week, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto spoke to CNN about the new world order where Finland could not maintain neutrality as its neighbor Russia becomes a security threat.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has changed the?security atmosphere,” he added.

Pekka also said there are concerns about “the loose talks about the nuclear weapons, the chemical weapons,” leading the world back to the Cuba missile crisis during the Cold War.

“Yes we have a strong traditional?military.?We have our F-35s coming and so?forth.?But what if we’re threatened by unconventional weapons?” Pekka said about Finland’s security concerns.

Finland Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told CNN that “of course” war in Europe beyond Ukraine is a possibility.

Following decades of neutrality, Finland — along with Sweden — was formally invited to join NATO this week during the alliance’s summit in Madrid, marking a historic expansion of the defense bloc that directly undercuts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aims as his war in Ukraine grinds ahead.

The group collectively decided to approve countries’ applications to join after Turkey dropped its objections Tuesday, paving the way for NATO’s most consequential enlargement in decades.?The decision will now go to the 30 member states’ parliaments and legislatures for final ratification. NATO’s leaders said they expected the process to move quickly, allowing for an unprecedentedly swift accession and a show of unity against Putin.

When asked if Ukraine can win the war, Haavisto said, “They can maintain the situation?and in that sense, they can win?this battle.?I think they are of course morally on the?high ground.?They are very united.”

“They need our support,” he added.

CNN’s Jamie Crawford contributed reporting to this post.

US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Griner, center, arrives to a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow, Russia, on July 1.

The prosecutor in the trial of?WNBA player Brittney Griner announced the charges against her during a hearing Friday in a court near Moscow, Russian state news agency TASS reported.?

At the Khimki City Court, Griner was accused by a prosecutor of smuggling less than a gram of cannabis oil in her luggage. The prosecution believes that then Griner had the intention to import the drugs into Russia’s territory and put the prohibited substances into a backpack and a suitcase, according to TASS.

The Phoenix Mercury star plays in Russia during the WNBA’s off-season and was arrested at a Moscow airport a week before Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year.

When Griner arrived on a flight from New York to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17, “two cartridges of hashish oil were found in her hand luggage during an inspection,” according to TASS.

Cannabis oil is subject to control on the territory of the Russian Federation and is classified as narcotic drugs, according to TASS.?

The offense?of smuggling significant amounts of a narcotic substance is punishable by up to 10 years in prison in Russia.?

US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Elizabeth Rood said she was able to speak with Griner inside the courtroom and that the US government is working “very hard” to bring Griner and other “wrongfully detained citizens” safely home.?

Griner’s lawyers, Alexander Boykov and Maria Blagovolina, said they were unaware of any plans to exchange Griner for a Russian prisoner held in the US in an impromptu presser at the end of the first day of her trial.?

The court will continue to hear the case next week on July 7 at 2:30 p.m. local time.

Later on Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that officials from the US embassy in Russia “attended Brittney Griner’s trial today in Moscow.”

“We – and I personally – have no higher priority than bringing her and other wrongfully detained Americans, including Paul Whelan, home,” he said in a tweet Friday, referencing another unlawfully detained American there.

“We won’t stop working until they are reunited with their loved ones,” Blinken said.

What Griner’s wife says: Cherelle Griner, the wife of WNBA star?Brittney Griner, told CNN on Thursday she wants US officials to do whatever they have to do to bring the basketball legend home – and she needs to see them do more.

She also said she would “absolutely” like to meet with US President Joe Biden and humanize Brittney to him so he can “see BG as we see BG.”

“While everyone wants to tell me they care, I’d love for him to tell me he cares,” she added.

Read more from her interview here.

CNN’s Abby Phillip, Steve Almasy and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

Rescuers evacuate the body of a person from a destroyed building in the Ukrainian town of Sergiivka in the Odesa region on July 1.

The death toll from Russia’s overnight strikes in the Odesa region has risen to 20, Ukraine’s emergency services have said.

At least 16 people were killed in a residential building, and four more – including one child –were killed in another strike on a recreation center.

A third strike landed in a field, authorities said. A rescue operation is ongoing and 38 people were injured in the strikes.

Previous updates from Ukrainian authorities suggested two children had been killed.

“We don’t expect to find anyone alive, but there is a chance,” first deputy interior minister Yevhenii Yenin said earlier on Friday, speaking from the scene of the attacks.

A war crimes prosecutor, center, looks at a destroyed building in the Ukrainian town of Sergiivka, near Odesa, Ukraine, on July 1.

Following Russia’s withdrawal from Snake Island in the Black Sea, Ukraine hopes that strikes on the territory around Odesa will decrease, a spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Andrii Demchenko, said Friday.

“It’s now known why the enemy took the island. They filled the territory with the means of destruction and fired from them,” Demchenko said at a briefing. “We hope now shelling of the territory of Ukraine will decrease.”

Demchenko went on to say he hoped the Ukrainian border service would be able to return to the island soon.

“The situation with Snake Island remains tense as the enemy could have mined the ways to the island. Now the situation is being monitored and investigated,” he explained. “I hope the Ukrainian border guards will return to this piece of Ukrainian land as soon as possible.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed Western sanctions are pushing Russia and Belarus toward?“speeding up integration” in various sectors, which he said would “minimize the damage” of the sanctions.?

“Russia and Belarus continue to grow in their cooperation in the political, trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres,” Putin said in a video message to the participants of an annual Russia-Belarus forum on Friday

“The unprecedented pressure of sanctions from the so-called collective West is pushing us towards speeding up integration. Together it is easier to minimize the damage from the illegal sanctions,?it is easier to set up the production of demanded products, develop new competencies and expand cooperation with friendly countries,”?Putin said.?

Belarus is a staunch Russian ally and helped facilitate Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February, with some Russian forces entering the country through the Ukrainian-Belarusian border.

A number of joint programs between the two nations have already been developed and more are on track for the coming years, Putin said. Areas of cooperation include?technological and industrial innovation, finances and transport.

Putin said the joint programs were aimed at creating “equal economic conditions for our countries” and would “form a reliable framework for a financial market and transports base.”

His message comes just days before Belarus celebrates its independence from Nazi Germany on July 3, and as Russia and Belarus marked 30 years of diplomatic relations earlier this year.?

Oleksandr Usyk during a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, London, England, on June 29.

Heavyweight boxing world champion?Oleksandr Usyk?said he didn’t want to leave Ukraine amid the ongoing war but was urged by injured Ukrainian soldiers to “fight for the country” in his rematch against Anthony Joshua.

Usyk returned to Ukraine, took up arms and joined a territorial defense battalion in Kyiv following Russia’s invasion of his homeland and spent weeks helping out in the war efforts.

Back in March, the Ukrainian sports minister said Usyk would be granted permission to return to training in the lead-up to his fight with Joshua, but still the 35-year-old was reluctant.

“I really didn’t want to leave our country, I didn’t want to leave our city,” Usyk told reporters, according to Reuters. “I went to the hospital where soldiers were wounded and getting rehabilitation from the war.

“I know a lot of my close people, friends, close friends, are right now in the front line and fighting. What I’m doing right now, I’m just supporting them, and with this fight, I wanted to bring them some kind of joy in between what they do.”

Read more here.

US officials say a trio of assassination attempts targeting pro-Russian officials over the past two weeks suggests a burgeoning resistance movement against pro-Russian authorities occupying parts of southern Ukraine.

While it is just a few incidents isolated to the town of Kherson so far, US officials say the resistance could grow into a wider counterinsurgency that would pose a significant challenge to Russia’s ability to control?newly captured territory across Ukraine.

The Kremlin “faces rising partisan activity in southern Ukraine,” Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, said during a conference in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

The United States believes that Russia does not have enough forces in Kherson to effectively occupy and control the region, one US official said, especially after pulling forces from the area for the?fight to the east in Donbas. Another US official told CNN that move may have provided Ukrainian partisans with a window in which to attack locally installed Russian officials.

Ukraine has also conducted limited counterattacks near Kherson, further straining Russian forces.

The region is critical to Russia’s hold on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast and controls access to the Crimean peninsula. It’s unclear how many Russian forces are in or near Kherson, but an occupation against a hostile local population requires far more soldiers than a peaceful occupation of territory.

Read the story in full.

Russia is making further gains in eastern Ukraine, and launched strikes on residential buildings in Odesa overnight that killed several people – including two children.

It’s just past midday across Ukraine. Here are the key headlines this Friday.

A destroyed building after a missile attack in Odesa, Ukraine, on July 1.

Ukraine says an additional person has died after Russia’s overnight missile attacks in Odesa, bringing the death toll to 19.

Three Russian missiles hit a nine-story building and two recreation centers in the village of Sergiivka, in the southern Odesa region of Ukraine.?Two children are among the dead and 38 people were injured, authorities said on Friday.

According to first deputy interior minister Yevhenii Yenin, there were no military targets or infrastructure in the vicinity of the areas struck by the Russian missiles.?

Speaking at the scene, Yenin also said search and rescue operations were ongoing.?

“We don’t expect to find anyone alive, but there is a chance,” Yenin said. “According to preliminary information, there could have been two more people in the premises of the recreation center.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Friday that Russian forces “do not target civilian infrastructure” during what Moscow euphemistically calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.

He said Russia targets areas where ammunition is stored – but as with previous Russian attacks on residential or community buildings, he failed to provide any evidence that this was the case at the Odesa sites.

European Commission President?Ursula?von?der?Leyen?delivers a speech via a video link to Ukrainian lawmakers during a parliament session in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 1.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday reiterated her support for Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” during a virtual speech to the Ukrainian parliament.

She added that five months ago it would have been “unimaginable” for Ukraine to be given EU candidate status but that the country has a “very clear European perspective.”

“It’s a long road ahead but Europe will be at your side every step of the way, for as long as it takes. From these dark days of war until the moment you cross the door that leads into our European Union,” she said.

Russian citizens will from Friday require a visa to enter Ukraine, as Kyiv scrapped a decade-long visa-free regime that facilitated travel across borders for citizens of both countries.

The decision to end the visa-free regime was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, following a petition from a Ukrainian citizen.

Zelensky said that against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion, he supported the introduction of stricter controls for the entry of its citizens.

Russian forces have been able to make small gains in the Lysychansk area, taking parts of an oil refinery, located on the outskirts of the city, the head of the Luhansk region military administration, Serhii Hayday, said on Friday.?

Big picture: The Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff said: “[Russia] is concentrating its main efforts on encircling our troops in the Lysychansk area from the south and west, establishing complete control over the Luhansk region.”

Hayday made a similar analysis.?

“The enemy tries in vain to surround the Ukrainian military, attacking Lysychansk from the south and west,” he said.?

Russian forces have also made a renewed assault on the Bakhmut-Lysychansk highway, the main supply line into the city, but were repelled by Ukrainian forces, Hayday added.

Inside the city: The situation remains dire for the nearly 15,000 residents that remain in Lysychansk.

Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, the Russian military also intensified the shelling of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff.

Former US Defense Secretary James Mattis criticized Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling it “immoral” and “operationally stupid,” while?speaking Friday at the Seoul Forum 2022.?

When asked what military lessons could be taken from the war so far, the former US Marine said: “One is don’t have incompetent generals in charge of your operations.”?

He also called Russia’s military performance “pathetic” and decried “the immoral, the tactically incompetent, operationally stupid and strategically foolish effort” of its campaign in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a news conference after meeting his Indonesian counterpart at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on June 30.

Mattis spoke of previous US efforts to try and bring Russia into the “community of nations,” but said that was not possible with Vladimir Putin as leader.

Putin had removed anyone from his circle that would disagree with him, so he “probably thought that the Ukrainian people were going to welcome him,” Mattis added.

Rescue workers work at the scene of a missile strike at a location in the Odesa?region, Ukraine, in this handout image from July 1.

At least 18 people were killed, including two children, when three Russian missiles hit a nine-story residential building and a recreation center in the southern Odesa region’s village of Sergiivka on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said.

Another 30 people were injured in the strikes, according to the Ukrainian President’s deputy chief of staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

Authorities said the numbers are likely to rise as they continue search and rescue operations.

The Southern Command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said the buildings were struck by Kh-22 air-to-surface anti-ship missiles, launched from Tu-22 strategic bombers flying over the Black Sea.

These are the same type of ammunition Russian forces used during an attack that hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine on Monday that killed at least 18.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks during his evening video message on Thursday June 30.

Snake Island is “free again,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Thursday.?

The small but strategic territory was the scene of one of the opening salvos of the war in Ukraine, with?demands from a Russian warship?calling for the Ukrainian defenders to surrender, who boldly replied with “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”

Known as Zmiinyi Ostriv in Ukrainian, Snake Island lies around 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Ukraine and is close to the sea lanes leading to the Bosphorus and Mediterranean.

Some background: Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian troops left the island on Thursday, after they carried out what they said was a “successful” operation. Meanwhile, Russian Army spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing that its forces left the island “as a gesture of goodwill.”

A picture taken on June 21, shows smoke billowing over the oil refinery outside the town of Lysychansk amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian troops have “completely taken over” an oil refinery in the embattled city of Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, Vitaliy Kiselev, the?assistant minister of the interior of the Russian-backed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), announced on Russian-backed media outlet?Zvezda.?

Meanwhile, Ukraine says Russia is still conducting assault operations in the area of ??the Lysychansk oil refinery and “had a partial success, and holds the northwestern and southeastern parts of the plant,” according to a Thursday evening update from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, said on Thursday night that Lysychansk is an “extremely difficult situation,” but denied Russia controlled half of the city.

President?Joe Biden speaks during a press conference on the final day of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain on June 30.

The NATO summit this week in Madrid made headlines as the US-led military alliance renewed its focus to address Russia’s war in Ukraine and China as a threat.

US President Joe Biden said these developments show NATO is “moving to a place that?reflects the realities of the?second quarter of the 21st?century.”

Here’s a look at key remarks from Biden’s speech at the conclusion of the summit.