July 4, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky?in his nightly televised address to the nation hailed Monday as a “very important day” as a conference devoted to the recovery of his country commenced in Lugano, Switzerland.

But he says the reconstruction of Ukraine should go beyond “the restoration of the walls that we had and that were destroyed by shelling.”

“Ukraine must become the freest, most modern and safest country in Europe — in every sense of the word, in particular, in terms of our environment. I’m sure we will,” he said.

Zelensky?warned that efforts on the recovery should not only focus on the next years but also on the present.?

“That is why the recovery of Ukraine is not only about what needs to be done later, after our victory, but also about what needs to be done at this time. And we have to do it together with our partners, with the entire democratic world. Do now,” he said.

Zelensky?concluded his address by congratulating US President Joe Biden and the American people on Independence Day saying that responding to the daily Russian offensive requires “superhuman efforts.”

“But we have no alternative — this is about our independence, about our future, about the fate of the entire Ukrainian people,” he said.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a joint news conference on July 4, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Sweden “would be supportive of NATO’s open door policy,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said Monday during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.?

NATO’s “open door policy” is based on Article 10 of its founding treaty, which states that any decision to invite a country to join the alliance must be based on consensus among all allies.

Sweden and neighboring Finland completed accession talks on Monday at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. Both countries formally confirmed their willingness and ability to meet the political, legal and military obligations and commitments of NATO membership, the alliance said in a statement.?

Both countries have held neutral status for years, but support for NATO membership?within the countries?has risen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.?

Andersson also said Sweden remains “open to further sanctions” against Russia.

“I think there are different opinions within the European Union if that would be the right way forward right now,” Andersson said. “We are open for it,” she added.?

Zelensky said, “Of course, I want to congratulate Sweden and the Prime Minister personally on the historic decision of the NATO summit in Madrid on Sweden joining the alliance under an accelerated procedure.”

The international community will need to find “alternative routes” to transport grain supplies out of Ukraine, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday.?

Speaking in parliament following meetings with fellow G7 leaders last week, Johnson suggested using railway lines or the Danube River if the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey cannot be relied on.?

“We are looking at all the possible options,” Johnson said, including the railways “to try to get the grain out in smaller quantities.”?

Ukraine accuses Russia of blocking its ports and trying to “steal” Ukrainian?grain. The United Nations has said Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports has already raised global food prices and threatens to cause a catastrophic food shortage in parts of the world.???

On Monday, Ukrainian officials appealed to Turkey to detain a Russian-flagged ship carrying grain from Ukraine.?

“The Turks are absolutely indispensable to solving this and they are doing their very best,” Johnson said. “I thank President Erdo?an for the efforts that he is making. It does depend on the Russians agreeing to allow that grain to get out.”?

The UK is offering de-mining facilities and insurance protection, Johnson added.

“Though they might involve a tougher approach, what we are also looking at is the possibility of using the rivers, using the Danube in particular,” Johnson said.?

The office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general announced the freezing of $12 million worth of assets belonging to Russian and Belarusian businesses.?

The assets include 300 railway containers with mineral fertilizers found to be in breach with Ukrainian customs regulations, according to the statement posted on the prosecutor’s website.

Ukrainian Bureau for Economic Security and Large Scale Tax Evasion is conducting the investigation, according to the statement.

Russian?cosmonauts?Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov pose with a flag of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic at the International Space Station (ISS), in this picture released on July 4.

Three Russian cosmonauts?have been pictured holding the flags of the separatist self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) at the International Space Station on Monday.?

On July 3, the leader of the separatist self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic declared that the breakaway region in eastern Ukraine has been “liberated” with the help of the Russian forces. The Ukrainian military said on Sunday it was forced to withdraw from Lysychansk — their last holdout in the region.

“This is the long-awaited day that the residents of the occupied districts of the Luhansk region have been waiting for eight years,” Roscosmos message added.

In March, the trio of Russian cosmonauts sparked speculation after arriving at the International Space Station wearing bright yellow flight suits trimmed with blue, which some interpreted as a symbolic sign of solidarity with Ukraine.?

The head of Roscosmos denied the speculation back then saying that the crew were not representing Ukraine but wearing colors from their alma mater: Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

People in Germany must stand together to cope with the “historic challenge“ of soaring costs of living caused by Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Monday after meeting trade union and employer association leaders.?

“The current crisis will not pass in a few months,“ Scholz told reporters. “We need to be prepared for this situation not to change in the foreseeable future.”

Scholz kicked off a series of meetings on Monday to spur “the spirit of togetherness“ in a so-called “concerted action“ with unions, employers, the Federal Bank, scientists and the government in order to cope with the challenges of inflation caused by skyrocketing energy costs.??

Germany will spend 30 billion euros (USD $31.3 billion) to help households with the rising costs, the chancellor said.

British citizen Aiden Aslin stands behind bars in a courtroom in Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on June 9.

The defense team of British citizen, Aiden Aslin, who was sentenced to death by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) last month, has filed an appeal, asking to exclude several articles from the DPR criminal code, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday citing lawyer Pavel Kosovan.

Aslin’s defense has asked for the case to be dismissed “due to the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of the defendant,” TASS quoted his lawyer Pavel Kosovan as saying.

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.

According to RIA, the three foreigners were captured in Mariupol in mid-April, while “training in order to carry out terrorist activities.”

Last week, appeals were also lodged on behalf of Shaun Pinner and Brahim Saadoune, according to Russian state media.

The United Kingdom has announced a new sanctions package against Belarus, including a trade block of around 60 million pounds ($73 million) of goods, over its role in supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Announced by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Monday, the new economic, trade and transport sanctions are to ban the import of Belarusian iron and steel, while prohibiting the export of oil refining goods, advanced technological components and luxury products.

The sanctions will come into effect Tuesday and also ban Belarusian companies from issuing debt and securities in London, according to the FCDO.

The UK had previously introduced tariffs on a range of Belarusian goods and sanctioned several Belarusian citizens and companies.

The Zaporizhzhia regional prosecutor’s office has launched a criminal investigation into the theft of more than 400 tonnes of grain and sunflower seeds from a Ukrainian agribusiness in the southeastern region on Monday, according to the statement posted on the regional prosecutor’s website.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

The investigation deals with the theft of assets from a company with storage facilities in Russian occupied Polohivsky district at the end of June, according to the statement.

Zaporizhzhia regional security services are conducting the pre-trial investigation, according to the statement.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky appears on a giant screen as he delivers a statement at the start of a two-day International conference on reconstruction of Ukraine, in Lugano, Switzerland, on July 4.

The reconstruction of Ukraine is a “common task” of the democratic world, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday during the opening statement at the “Ukraine Recovery Conference” in Lugano, Switzerland – a two-day conference looking to set a roadmap for the reconstruction of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

The Ukrainian president also said that restoring his country means restoring the principle of life, “restoring the space of life, restoring everything that makes humans human.”

This reconstruction also implies “an opportunity for our countries and our companies and our specialists to show why freedom is mightier than any tyranny,” he added.

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen announced on Monday that the European Union has proposed setting up a reconstruction platform to help the Ukrainian government rebuild the country after the war with Russia.?

“This platform will be the place to shape strategic orientations and priorities for our common work,” she added.?

Von der Leyen also said the platform will “focus on future-proof reconstruction, moving towards climate neutrality, embracing the digital decade [and] building a social market economy that leaves no one behind.”

She went on to say that the Kremlin’s aim is to “undermine Ukraine’s very existence as a state,” the “the military, political and economic destruction” of the country?and that the European Union “will never let that happen.”

Von der Leyen added that the EU has already mobilized 6.2 billion euros in financial support and that “more has to come and more will come.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reiterated the need for financial assistance in his speech at the conference, saying that the country’s recovery plan will cost an estimated $750 billion.?Shmyhal said confiscated Russian assets should be a key source of funding.

According to the Ukrainian prime minister, other sources of funding for the recovery plan should include grants and soft loans from international financial organizations and partner countries, private sector investments and off-budget contributions from individuals and corporations as well as Ukraine’s own budget funds.

The prime minister also said that Ukraine’s direct infrastructure losses amount to more than $100 billion.

“More than 1,200 education institutions, more than 200 hospitals, thousands of kilometers of gas pipelines, water, and electricity network, roads and railways were destroyed or damaged,” Shmyhal said.

A satellite image shows an overview of?Snake?Island, Ukraine, on June 30.

The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Military’s Southern Command, 1st?Capt. Natalia Humeniuk, said the country’s flag was dropped on Snake Island but has not yet been raised, clarifying earlier remarks regarding the status of the flag.

She also explained that her remarks about the flag being raised should be “understood metaphorically.”

“No one landed on the island. So who will install it, stick it in, raise it?,” she said. “And no one will risk people for the sake of a photo for the media.”

Earlier Monday, Humeniuk had said Ukraine’s flag had been raised over Snake Island, after forcing a Russian withdrawal from the strategically important territory.

Some background: 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.

Russian troops left?Snake Island?in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said last week, after they carried out what they said was a “successful” operation.

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.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he received a proposal from the Russian army generals on the development of the “offensive operations” in Ukraine.?

The Ministry of Defense “keeps in view” all the proposals of the commanders in the field, Putin added, saying that while military units that participated in the operation in the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) should rest, other formations, including the East and West groups, must proceed with tasks according to plans.

This comes as Putin congratulated Russian troops for “achieving victory” in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

This image released by the People's Militia of the?Luhansk?People's Republic on July 3, shows their forces with Soviet and Russian national flags on a government building as they capture the city of Lysychansk, in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Russian troops for “achieving victory” in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

In a meeting televised by Russian state media on Monday, defense minister Sergei Shoigu reported to Putin the Russian advances in the area.

“Starting June 19, [Russian] formations and military units … in cooperation with units of the second corps of the people’s militia of the [self-proclaimed] Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and with the support of the southern group of troops … successfully carried out an offensive operation to liberate the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Shoigu said.

Shoigu added that the “Gorsky cauldron” area, Lysychansk and Severodonetsk were surrounded within two weeks, and the Ukrainian army allegedly lost 5,469 soldiers in the battles.?

Putin told Shoigu that the military personnel who contributed to fighting in LPR, will be rewarded for their “bravery,” and that they should now “rest.”

“Other military units, including the East and West military groups, they have to fulfil their tasks, according to the previously suggested plan,” Putin said. “I hope everything will be successful as it happened in the [Luhansk] area,” he added.

Putin also praised the LPR’s militia for showing “heroism.”?“My?congratulations?and my words of gratitude,” Putin said.?“I congratulate you all and wish you all the best.”

Russia has taken control of Lysychansk, the last city in the?Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine?that was still under Ukrainian control. Ukraine’s military announced on Sunday that it had been “forced to withdraw” from the critical city.

Here are today’s main developments:

Russia preparing for assault on Donetsk region, says Ukraine: The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said that after taking over Lysychansk, Russian forces are preparing to continue their move toward cities in Donetsk still controlled by Kyiv.?

“In the Sloviansk direction, enemy units are trying to establish control over the settlements of Bohorodychne, Mazanivka, and Dolyna through assault operations,” the Ukrainian military said in a status update early Monday.?

The focus now shifts to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two largest population centers in the area.

School destroyed in attack on Kharkiv: A secondary school in Ukraine’s second largest city was destroyed after it was hit by a Russian missile around 4 a.m. local time, the head of the regional administration, Oleh Synehubov said in a Telegram post Monday.

There were no injuries at the school, but strikes in other areas of the Kharkiv region left at least three dead and six injured in the village of Bezruky, Synehubov added.

Hockey player detained in Russia for allegedly evading military service, per reports: Russian goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov was?detained?in St. Petersburg on the request of the military prosecutor’s office on Friday for evading military service, according to reports from Russian media outlets.

According to Russian news outlet Fontanka, the military prosecutor’s office believes that there are grounds to “consider Fedotov an army evader.” The 25-year-old Finnish-born Russian signed a one year entry level contract with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers on May 7, after the conclusion of Russian and Chinese hockey league KHL’s season, where he led CSKA Moscow to win the Gagarin Cup.

Russia says weekend strike on Belgorod was aimed to provoke Moscow: Moscow says the alleged missile strike carried out by Ukrainian forces on the city of Belgorod aimed to provoke Russia, according to the spokeswoman for the country’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of targeting the city of Belgorod with three Tochka-U missiles and of using drones laden with explosives to hit the Russian city of Kursk on Sunday.

Ukraine has not acknowledged the strikes.

Ukraine asks Turkey to “detain” Russian-flagged ship carrying Ukrainian grain: Ukraine has requested that Turkish authorities detain a Russian-flagged ship carrying Ukrainian grain,?the country’s ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar told CNN Saturday.???

The Zhibek?Zholy?vessel is currently at anchor near the Turkish port of Karasu as “it was in fact detained by Turkish customs authorities and it is not allowed to enter the port,” Bondar said. “Now we are waiting for the decision of the relevant authorities of Turkey regarding the actions that the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine insist on,” he added.???

Ukraine says it has raised its flag over Snake Island: The Ukrainian Armed Forces have raised the country’s flag over Snake Island, after forcing a Russian withdrawal from the strategically important territory, a spokeswoman for the military’s Southern Command, 1st Captain Natalia Humeniuk said a briefing on Monday.

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.”

A key railway bridge connecting Russian-occupied Melitopol and Tokmak was blown up at the weekend, the southern city’s exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov said in a video address Monday.?

Speaking live on Ukrainian Rada TV, Fedorov said railway traffic from Melitopol to Berdiansk was “completely paralyzed” on Sunday. Local media reports confirm the bridge was destroyed, but it is not clear who is responsible.?

An explosion blasted the Russian-occupied village of Lyubimivka, Ukrainian news outlet Ria-Melitopol reported on Telegram, adding Russian troops have been using the bridge to transport military equipment. Ria-Melitopol also reported large amounts of Russian military equipment has been seen moving through Melitopol, including tank and armoured vehicle convoys, towards Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.?

Ukrainian forces destroyed Melitopol airfield early Sunday, according to Fedorov. He added that a fire at the Russian base located there continues on Monday.?

Russian troops have occupied Melitopol since early March, using the city for ongoing assaults on Ukraine’s southern territories.?

President of the International Olympic Committee?Thomas?Bach, center left,?and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, center right, hold a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 3.

Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), visited Kyiv on Sunday, where he met with Ukrainian athletes before holding talks with?Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The visit was announced in a press release emailed to CNN on Monday.

Bach was invited by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine, and was accompanied?by the federation’s head?Sergey Bubka and Ukrainian sports minister Vadym Guttsait.?

Bach met with around 100 Ukrainian athletes?in the country’s?Olympic Training Centre, and emphasized the IOC’s support for Ukraine in a speech afterwards.?

“We are with you with our hearts, with our thoughts every day, and we want to support you to make your Olympic dreams come true.”?

Following that speech, Bach met with Zelensky and thanked him for inviting him to the country and restated the IOC’s support for Ukrainian athletes, saying, “I want to thank you for holding such a meeting addressing sport at such a difficult time for your country. This is further confirmation of your commitment to sport and the Olympic values.”?

“We want to show solidarity in particular with the Ukrainian Olympic Community, and to demonstrate to the athletes and coaches that they are not alone and that we stand by their side.”?

Zelensky in turn thanked Bach and the IOC for their “support for our athletes and the Ukrainian Olympic Community.”

Pope?Francis?speaks to the press at the Vatican, on July 2.

Pope Francis has said he still plans to visit Russia and Ukraine.

In the interview released Monday, he firmly denied rumors of a possible resignation due to health issues.

The pontiff, whose trip to Africa scheduled for July 2-7 was canceled due to problems with his knee, said he is planning to travel to Canada at the end of July, and after that, he is willing to visit both Moscow and Kyiv.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not send his?congratulations?to US counterpart Joe Biden on Independence Day this year due to the country’s “unfriendly” policy towards Russia, Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.?

“This has to do with the fact that this year marked the culmination of an unfriendly policy towards our country by the United States,” Peskov added, saying that “it can hardly be considered appropriate” to send?congratulations?in these conditions.

Putin and Biden had not spoken since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Peskov confirmed during a conference call last Thursday.

The Russian-flagged cargo ship?Zhibek?Zholy?is seen off the coast of the Black Sea port of Karasu, Turkey, on July 2.

Ukraine has requested that Turkish authorities detain a Russian-flagged ship carrying Ukrainian grain,?the country’s ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar told CNN Saturday.???

The Zhibek?Zholy?vessel is currently at anchor near the Turkish port of Karasu as “it was in fact detained by Turkish customs authorities and it is not allowed to enter the port,” Bondar said. “Now we are waiting for the decision of the relevant authorities of Turkey regarding the actions that the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine insist on,” he said.?????

The Turkish trade ministry has not yet responded to CNN’s request for confirmation that the ship has been?detained.?

Bodnar said Ukraine initially addressed the Turkish foreign ministry regarding the ship on Thursday, and on Friday the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey received an appeal from Ukrainian authorities “to ensure its detention and inspection.”????

“Maybe, we will demand its arrest as well,” Bodnar said. “We have sent appeals to the Turkish authorities, have organized several communications with senior officials.”?CNN has reached out to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry about Bodnar’s claim.???

Ukraine has repeatedly said Russia has stolen hundreds of thousands of tons of grain since the start of the war.???

According to the ship tracking website Marine Traffic, the cargo ship left the Russian port Novorossiysk on June 22?and spent nearly a week at sea between Ukraine and Russia.????

The cargo ship turned its tracker on when it left the Sea of Azov for Karasu, Turkey, on June 29, and arrived at the Turkish port on Friday, according to Marine Traffic.????

Although it’s possible the grain came from neighboring areas, Bodnar said the ship’s loading point was “definitely” Berdiansk – “occupied territory,” without elaborating on why he is certain of this. Bodnar added that he doesn’t have the name of the company or the district where grain was taken from.

Yevgeny?Balitsky, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, now partially under Russian control, said on Telegram Thursday the first merchant ship had left the?Berdiansk?port on the Azov sea, and reiterated claims by Russia that the waters surrounding the port have been de-mined by the engineering units of Russia’s Novorossiysk naval base.????

Bodnar said Ukraine sent the second appeal to Turkey on Friday “when we had just learned that the ship was coming” after the initial appeal was made on Thursday “when we received information from open sources that such a vessel was loading and apparently intended to enter the port.”??????

Friday’s appeal has “a legal” component and has been sent “to all authorities of Turkey responsible for making decisions,” he said.?????

According to Bodnar, Turkey’s Ministry of Trade responded to the initial appeal saying the ship will remain?anchored?near the port?of Karasu without being allowed to be unloaded or go back, while Turkey evaluates Ukraine’s requests.???

“I have an impression that the Russian side tried to set a precedent and tried to start transporting everything from the occupied ports – this is?Berdiansk, it may be Mariupol,” Bodnar said.

“Moreover, this is probably one of the attempts to drive a wedge between Turkey and Ukraine. As well as an attempt to legalize its occupation of ports that belong to Ukraine.”????

In response to media reports that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has submitted a request to Turkey to detain and arrest the cargo ship, the ship’s owner, the Kazakhstan national railway company Kazakhstan Temir?Zholy?(KTZ), said in a statement Saturday that “KTZ requested confirmation from the Ukrainian authorities regarding such request.????

“Active consultations are underway with the ambassadors of both countries [Turkey and Ukraine],” the statement said.?

“The seller, which is a company registered in Europe, insists that the transaction is legal. In order to clarify the situation and exclude violations of international law, KTZ sent a letter to the lessee of the vessel with a request to provide, as a matter of urgency, a detailed explanation of the situation and submission of all supporting documents (contracts, certificates, etc.),” the company said.??????

“KTZ assures of its commitment to compliance with international law,” it added.??????

Ukraine accuses Russia of blocking its ports and trying to “steal” Ukrainian grain. The United Nations has said Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports has already raised global food prices and threatens to cause a catastrophic food shortage in parts of the world.????

Russia has repeatedly denied it is blocking the ports and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has called allegations Russia was stealing grain from its neighbor “fake news.”?

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the date when Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey made an initial appeal to investigate the ship, which was on Thursday.

The aftermath of shelling in the city of Belgorod, Russia, on July 3.

Moscow says the alleged missile strike carried out by Ukrainian forces on the city of Belgorod aimed to provoke Russia, according to the spokeswoman for the country’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.

“The goal of the Kyiv regime is to strike with unguided weapons at residential areas of cities. We understand that these actions of the Kyiv regime were not just coordinated with its Western curators, but most likely prompted by them,” Zakharova said in a video statement on Sunday. “This is being done in order to push us to launch retaliatory strikes of this kind, and then further spin the anti-Russian hysteria.”

“We have so far refrained from taking such steps, but we will be following developments very closely,” she added.

Some background: The Russian Ministry of Defense accused Ukraine of targeting the city of Belgorod with three Tochka-U missiles and of using drones laden with explosives to hit the Russian city of Kursk on Sunday.

Ukraine has not acknowledged the strikes.

For just over a month, Maxym and his comrades have been sleeping in earthen dugouts, eating from cans warmed over?campfires, and following news of the?Russian military?advancing just kilometers away.

They’re dug deep into this dense eastern Ukrainian forest, not far from Sloviansk, and are part of Ukraine’s territorial defense – non-professional soldiers, most of whom signed up in the opening days of Russia’s February invasion.

So far, they have avoided contact with the enemy, whiling away the days beneath camouflage nets, next to giant pyramids of bottled water. But every moment of every day they live with the thud of artillery. Their wooded encampment is regularly showered with cluster munitions. Soon after CNN’s visit, a cluster strike heavily wounded some of the soldiers.

Their enemy is advancing, albeit slowly. Further east, Russian forces captured the industrial city of Severodonetsk, and have now taken neighboring Lysychansk – the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the separatist Luhansk region.

That puts pressure on Ukraine’s most important remaining population centers in the Donbas – Bakhmut, Sloviansk and especially Kramatorsk. The territorial defense unit is just one in a network of corks that the Ukrainian military is using to plug gaps in its defense.

Sloviansk bears the brunt of Russia’s advance from the north. To the south, Bakhmut has been paying an even heavier toll.

Read more here.

Russian goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov leaves the rink after defeating Team Denmark 3-1 in the men’s ice hockey quarterfinal match between Team ROC and Team Denmark at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 16, in Beijing, China.

Russian goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov was?detained?in St. Petersburg on the request of the military prosecutor’s office on Friday for evading military service, according to reports from Russian media outlets.

Speaking to Russian state media RIA Novosti, his lawyer Alexey Ponomarev denied that Fedotov had evaded military service.

The 25-year-old Finnish-born Russian signed a one year entry level contract with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers on May 7, after the conclusion of Russian and Chinese hockey league KHL’s season, where he led CSKA Moscow to win the Gagarin Cup.

Fedotov was detained outside the Ice Arena Kupchino in St. Petersburg and was transported to the military registration and enlistment office, where he became ill and had to be transported to the hospital, Fontanka reported.

“We’re aware of the reports and are investigating the situation. We have no further comment at this time,” Chuck Fletcher, Flyers President of Hockey Operations, said in a statement sent to CNN.

Read the full story here.

People stand where a school was destroyed by early morning shelling in?Kharkiv, on Monday.

A secondary school in Ukraine’s second largest city was destroyed after it was hit by a Russian missile around 4 a.m. local time, the head of the regional administration, Oleh Synehubov said in a Telegram post on Monday.

“Today at 4 in the morning, the Russian occupiers launched an insidious missile attack on the Shevchenkovsky district of Kharkiv,” Synehubov wrote.

Synehubov added that there were no injuries.

According to Synehubov, there were strikes in other areas of the Kharkiv oblast, with at least three dead and six injured in the village of Bezruky, Dergachi community in Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a damaged residential building in Lysychansk, on Sunday.

The decision to withdraw from Lysychansk was “very difficult” but it was the right one, considering the losses Ukrainian forces would have incurred if they tried to hold on for additional time, according to the head of the Luhansk region military administration, Serhiy Hayday.

Russia has now taken control of Lysychansk, the last city in the?Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine?that was still under Ukrainian control. Ukraine’s military announced Sunday that it had been “forced to withdraw” from the critical city.

“There was a chance to hold Lysychansk for longer, but at what cost? To hold out there for another two weeks? Then Russian troops would have made a breakthrough from the Bilohorivka, Popasna and Komyshuvakha side and encircled our troops in Lysychansk, and we would have lost the whole group,” Hayday told CNN on Monday.

Hayday called for more support from the West, conceding Russia had the advantage in the amount of equipment they were able to field in the area.

“They deployed an incredible amount of military equipment for the assault, there was daily shelling from morning till night?and thousands of pieces of equipment, and thousands of new and new cannon fodder brought to their positions,” he said. “Our defenders will continue to fight and we will wait until we receive a sufficient number of foreign weapons to be able to stop the enemy, because, unfortunately, at the moment, the advantage in artillery is simply enormous with the Russians.”

Area held for almost five months: Hayday still commended the bravery and skill of the Ukrainian forces who were able to hold territory in the Donbas for a significant amount of time.

“30% of?the oblast was already occupied?[before the war],?so our military had 70% left to build up a line of defense,” he said. “And it was the right decision – we’ve been holding it since February 24th, March, April, May, June, now July - for almost five months in a relatively small area.”?

Donbas’ remaining cities next target: Hayday went on to say Russia is likely to move towards the remaining cities in the Donetsk oblast still under Ukrainian control, to try and secure the entire Donbas.

“And as soon as we leave, they will immediately announce that they are part of the Russian Federation,” he added. “So that when we get enough weapons and start to take our territories back, they will be screaming that Ukraine has attacked Russia.”

Hayday concluded by saying Ukraine would go on to recover any lost territory. “I am absolutely sure we will get Luhansk oblast back,” he said.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said that after taking over the last remaining Ukrainian-controlled city in the Luhansk oblast, Russian forces are preparing to continue their move toward cities in Donetsk still controlled by Kyiv.?

The focus now shifts to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the two largest population centres in the area.?

After taking the city of Lysychansk, Russian forces now control nearly the entirety of the Luhansk oblast, barring a few pockets of resistance.?

US Ambassador Nicholas Burns attends the 10th World Peace Forum in Beijing, China, on Monday.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is the “greatest threat to the world order,” US Ambassador Nicholas Burns said at a forum in Beijing on Monday — a rare event that saw Burns seated on a panel alongside his Russian counterpart for a diplomatic debate.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov hit back: “I totally disagree and I can oppose each and every sentence of that intervention,” he said.

Denisov then paused for a “diplomatic courtesy” to wish Burns and other Americans a happy Fourth of July, before accusing NATO of provoking Russia’s action with “five waves of expansion.”

Denisov painted the current world order as being on the edge of an abyss due to “sabotage” of the United Nations.?

Rare showing of diplomatic debate: The event, which also included the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson and French Ambassador Laurent Bili, was a rare diplomatic debate in the wake of the Russian invasion, which Western democracies have staunchly condemned.

It was also notable that such condemnations of Russia’s war were being voiced in China. The Chinese Communist Party has neither condemned Russia’s war nor even labeled it as an invasion. Meanwhile, China’s state media has presented a carefully censored version of the war to its citizens and parroted Kremlin talking points on NATO.

Damaged residential buildings in Lysychansk, on Sunday.

Luhansk is one of the two regions that form Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine where a conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists started in 2014.

The area has became the centerpiece of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military ambition in Ukraine after his troops?failed to take over Kyiv?earlier this year.

The fall of Lysychansk takes Russia closer to achieving its goal of taking over Donbas.

Pro-Russia separatists in the area had already claimed a victory in the battle over Lysychansk. Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, declared the Luhansk region “liberated.”

Only Russia and Syria recognize the Luhansk People’s Republic as independent. Ukraine and its western allies consider it part of Ukrainian territory, currently under Russian occupation.

Video shared by Russian state news outlet Ria Novosti on Saturday purports to show residents installing the old Soviet Union flag at the Memorial to the Fallen in Lysychansk.

Fate of Luhansk: The Institute for the Study of War said Russia will likely establish control over the rest of the Luhansk region in the coming days. After that, the institute said in its latest update, Russian troops will likely focus on Ukrainian positions in Siversk, west of Lysychansk, before turning inland to Sloviansk and Bakhmut.

Read the full story here.

Russia has taken control of Lysychansk, the last city in the?Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine?that was still under Ukrainian control. Ukraine’s military announced on Sunday that it had been “forced to withdraw” from the critical city.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, left, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky give a press conference in Kyiv, on Sunday.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the Kyiv region on Sunday, travelling to Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin, before meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,?Kyiv Governor Olexiy Kuleba said on his official Telegram channel.?

Kuleba said Albanese expressed Australia’s solidarity with?Ukraine?and the crimes committed in the Kyiv region.?

According to Kuleba, Albanese was “stunned by what he saw: ruined civilian buildings, traces of mines, the ruined Antonov Airport.”

Albanese then announced a new assistance package to Ukraine, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s office.

The package includes:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Lysychansk, in Donbas on Sunday.

In his nightly televised address to the nation, Zelensky said the retreat from Lysychansk was meant to save the lives of Ukrainian troops facing an onslaught of thousands of Russian artillery shells.

Zelensky vowed?Ukraine’s armed forces would retake Lysychansk and Donbas when they receive new modern weapons.

Damaged residential buildings in Lysychansk, on Sunday.

The Ukrainian military has been “forced to withdraw” from the city of Lysychansk, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of?Ukraine?said Sunday on its official social media platforms.

The general staff said the decision to withdraw was made in “order to preserve the lives of Ukrainian defenders.”

The armed forces said it will “continue the fight.”

“Unfortunately, steel will and patriotism are not enough for success — material and technical resources are needed,” the post read.?

Read more on this here.

At least six people were killed and 15 injured during shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Sunday, according to Tetiana Tiurina, the head of the?Public Information and Communication Department?of Donetsk region.

In a video message posted to Facebook on Sunday, Sloviansk Mayor Vadym Liakh said “many” people had been killed and wounded due to shelling in the city.

The mayor said the city was experiencing its heaviest shelling in recent days and up to 15 fires are blazing around Sloviansk.

The nearby city of Kramatorsk was also hit with three missile strikes on Sunday morning but there were no casualties, according to?Ukraine’s Donetsk regional military administration.?

A residential complex and part of a road in a residential area were damaged, the regional military administration said.?

CNN has been unable to independently verify those claims.?

The Ukrainian military launched “a deliberate strike” with Tochka-U ballistic missiles with cluster munitions and drones on residential areas of the Russian cities of Belgorod and Kursk, a Russian Ministry of Defense spokesperson claimed Sunday.?

Konashenkov claimed the three Tochka-U ballistic missiles with cluster warheads launched by “Ukrainian nationalists” at Belgorod were destroyed by Russian air defense systems in the air.

The wreckage of one of the missiles fell on a residential building in the city, he claimed.

Konashenkov also claimed Russian air defense systems destroyed two Ukrainian military drones as they approached the city of Kursk, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Belgorod.

CNN has been unable to independently confirm those claims.?

The Ukrainian military has not yet commented on the strikes.?

Earlier: The local governor of Russia’s?Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least three people were killed and dozens of residential buildings were damaged in Belgorod after it was hit by explosions early Sunday morning.

At least four more were injured, including a man currently in critical condition and a 10-year old child, according to Gladkov. Five houses were fully destroyed in the blasts, while 11 apartment buildings and 34 private residential houses were also damaged, Gladkov said.

Ukrainian?forces destroyed a Russian military base in Russian-occupied Melitopol early Sunday morning, the city’s exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov said in a video address.?

According to Fedorov, between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday local time, “more than 30 shots were fired exclusively at the military base,” rendering it “unable to function.”?

The head of the Russia-installed council in the Zaporizhzhia region, Evgeny Balitsky, said that “shells fell on the territory on the airfield” and that “there were no casualties,” in a Telegram post Sunday.??

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti also confirmed the attack, reporting that?Ukraine?had hit the Aviagorodok area of Melitopol, but did not specify what had been targeted.?

Volodymyr Rogov, a local Moscow-installed official in the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region, said on Telegram that between 16 to 18 Ukrainian MLRS rockets had hit Melitopol in two strikes.

Melitopol fell to Russian control in early March, weeks into the Kremlin’s invasion of?Ukraine.??