- Ukrainian officials have reported an overnight “mass attack” of Iranian-made Shahed drones that had approached from different directions, killing at least one person.
- Kyiv claims to have destroyed 20 drones and two cruise missiles overnight.
- Moscow claims to have successfully repelled 30 Ukrainian attacks in 24 hours along the front line, while Kyiv claims to have advanced around Bakhmut.
- Russia’s foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin has said that he and CIA counterpart William Burns discussed “what to do with Ukraine” in a phone call.
China is not credible in its support for Ukraine: Germany
The German government said in the China strategy it released on Thursday that China is not credible in its defence of Ukraine’s territorial integrity due to its support of Russian narratives.
“Chinese propaganda is amplifying Russia’s narratives regarding its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine,” the strategy reads.
“This requires systematic, evidence-based monitoring and countermeasures on all levels, including at [the] European level.”
Zelenskyy: NATO summit gave Kyiv a security foundation
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said the NATO summit had provided Ukraine with a security foundation that it had never before achieved.
“This is very important. For the first time since our independence, we have established a foundation of security for Ukraine on its path to NATO,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted on Twitter.
“These are concrete security guarantees confirmed by the world’s top seven democracies. Never before have we had such a security base and it is at the level of the G7.”
The Ukrainian leader added, “Previously, Russia’s rulers wanted to have their own fence in front of NATO’s door. We have left this Russian ambition on the margins of European history – behind the fence of our unity in Europe and, more broadly, in the free world.”
‘Friction and confusion’ since the Wagner mutiny: US
Russia’s leadership has been suffering from “friction and confusion” since the Wagner Group’s mutiny last month, the top US general says.
“At the strategic level, it is pretty clear that you have a significant amount of friction and confusion,” General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a small group of reporters travelling with him in Asia.
“There’s a lot of drama going on at the very senior levels. How that’s all going to play out at the end of the day? I’m not so sure yet,” Milley said.
“I don’t think we’re done with it. I think there’s many more chapters to be heard on that.”
The June 24 mutiny led by Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose fighters seized the southern city of Rostov-on-Don, was abruptly defused in a deal brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko.
