After weeks of fighting the Russian army, the Ukrainian military has announced the withdrawal from Lysychansk , the last stronghold of Kiev in the Lugansk oblast in the east of the country.
But President Volodymyr Zelensky reassures: " We will win it back". "We protect the lives of the soldiers and our people. We will rebuild the walls and reconquer the land and this also applies to Lysychansk", where "we will return thanks to our tactics, increasing the supply of modern weapons".
With Lysychansk , the entire Lugansk oblast is now in Russian hands , but Putin does not intend to stop and orders his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to go ahead with the offensive: "The forces engaged in Lugansk should now rest, while the other military units , including the Vostok and Zapad groups, should continue to carry out their missions in line with the approved plan, as planned ”, is seen in a video broadcast by Russian state TV. Putin also says he hopes that "in those sectors everything will go the same way as in Lugansk ".
NATO has instead announced that the protocols for the accession of Finland and Sweden will be signed tomorrow by the partners of the Alliance. The signing will take place at around 11.30 at the headquarters of the Brussels headquarters.
5.50 pm - Kiev: "We investigate over 20 Russian rapes"
Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Kateryna Pavlichenko announced to the Ukrinform news agency that the police have opened more than 20 criminal investigations into alleged sexual crimes committed by Russian troops. "In some of these 20 cases there could be several cases of sexual violence against different victims or violence committed by criminals," he said.
The case of the links between the founder of the microchip giant and the Chinese manager Alice Huang, accused of spying for Beijing, shakes the markets and opens a front on national security
The investigation concerns an alleged intermediation system for issuing visas and residence permits to foreign citizens.
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17.25 - Mariupol from today without doctors
"There is no medical assistance in Mariupol, temporarily occupied by the Russians. As of today, July 4, the city has been without doctors". The mayor's adviser Petro Andryushchenko reports on Telegram, according to which the residents of Mariupol are between life and death due to the lack of drinking water and food. Due to the unsanitary conditions of the city, between 10 and 15 people show symptoms of cholera or dysentery every day, but are not treated or simply sent home, said Andryushchenko who in the past had already complained about the lack of medicines. Mariupol.
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16.30 - London relaunches a Marshall Plan: "Guidi Kiev"
"There must be a new Marshall Plan for Ukraine and it must be led" by Kiev. This was stated by the British Foreign Minister, Liz Truss, during the Conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Lugano. Thus he relaunches the hypothesis already mentioned by several parts of an intervention that recalls the one promoted by the United States in Europe after the Second World War. London has spoken out in favor of "immediate investments" for the Ukrainian economy, reiterating the need to open ports so that the nation affected by the conflict can export its agricultural products. "We must give people hope for the future and we must provide the means to be able to support themselves," said the head of the Foreign Office. Finally, the United Kingdom is "resolute" in its support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
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2.40 pm - Von der Leyen: "Ukraine must also win peace"
"The Kremlin's goal is to undermine the very existence of Ukraine as a state and we will never allow it." This was stated by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen during the Conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, which is held in Lugano. "We have to make sure that Ukraine not only wins the war, but also the peace."
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2 pm - Putin: "Forward after the conquest of Lugansk"
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who today met with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin, has ordered the Russian offensive to continue after the conquest of the Lugansk region.
Putin explained that the forces engaged in Lugansk should now rest while "the other military units, including the Vostok and Zapad groups, should continue to carry out their missions in line with the approved plan, as planned," reports Tass. Putin said he hoped that "in those sectors everything will go the same way as in the Lugansk one".
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1.30 pm - Born, tomorrow the signing of the protocols for the accession of Sweden and Finland
The protocols for the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO will be signed tomorrow by the partners of the Alliance at the headquarters of the Brussels headquarters. This was announced by NATO itself. After the signing, at around 11.30, NATO Secretary General Jans Stoltenberg and the foreign ministers of the two countries that will join the Alliance, Pekka Haavisto for Finland and Ann Linde for Sweden, will hold a joint press conference.
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1 pm - The Ukrainian flag returns to fly on the island of the Snakes
The Ukrainian flag was once again hoisted on Snake Island in the Black Sea after the reconquest by Kiev. This was stated by a military spokesman, as reported by the BBC. "The territory has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine," Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern military command, told a press conference. The small rocky outcrop in the northwestern Black Sea was captured by Russian forces on the first day of the invasion and has since been bombed repeatedly by Ukrainians in an attempt to retake it.
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12 pm - Kiev: "French troupe targeted in the bombing of Sloviansk"
A crew of the French television channel "France 24", which was shooting a report in Sloviansk, was targeted during the bombing that took place yesterday in the city. This was reported by the state emergency service of Ukraine, as reported by local media. Journalists were left unharmed.
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11 am - Filorussi: "Advance on Seversk in Donetsk"
Russian forces are advancing on the city of Seversk, in Donetsk oblast, "from two directions". This was announced by the interior ministry of the self-proclaimed Republic of Lugansk, according to reports from the Russian agency Tass.
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10.20 am - Kiev: "At the negotiating table only after the ceasefire"
"Cease the fire. Withdrawal of Z-troops (from Moscow, ed). Return of deported citizens. Extradition of war criminals. Compensation mechanism. Recognition of Ukraine's sovereign rights. The Russian counterpart knows our conditions well. The Peskov's chief does not have to worry, the time will come and we will record them on paper ". These are the conditions for negotiation set out by the adviser to Ukrainian President Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, who replied on twitter to the words of the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, who yesterday said that Ukraine "must understand the conditions of Russia, accept them, sit down at a negotiating table, and sign a document ".
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9.28 am - Kiev, 10 thousand civilians remained in Lysychansk
About 8,000 civilians remained in Severodonetsk and about 10,000 in Lysychansk, which was permanently occupied by the Russians yesterday. This was stated on Telegram by the Ukrainian governor of Lugansk Sergei Gaidai. "We maintain the defense of a small part of the Lugansk region so that our military has time to build the defenses," said Gaidai.
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8.54 - Nine people killed in Donetsk, including two children
In the Donetsk region of Ukraine, 9 civilians were killed, including two children, and another 25 were injured as a result of Russian attacks in the past 24 hours. Ukrinform writes it. The head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said in a post on Telegram: "On 3 July the Russians killed nine civilians in the Donetsk region: six in Sloviansk, one in Avdiivka, one in Bakhmut and one in Zaitseve. Among those killed are two children: one in Sloviansk and one in Zaitseve. Another 25 people were injured ", the report reads. According to Kyrylenko, "it is currently impossible to determine the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha".
