Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:38 European commissioners will refuse to participate in informal meetings of EU ministers in Budapest in protest against Orban's diplomacy, said European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer. According to him, senior EC officials, rather than commission members, will be sent to informal ministerial meetings in Budapest. Mamer specified that the reason for this decision was "the latest events that marked the beginning of Hungary's presidency." The European commissioners will also skip the traditional visit to the country that has begun its EU presidency.
22:29 Trump, who today officially became the Republican Party's presidential candidate, has chosen Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance has consistently opposed aid to Ukraine. Last year, he and 18 other Republicans signed a letter to Biden calling for an end to "unlimited aid" and threatened to block such packages. He has also said that Ukraine may have to "cede some territory" to Russia to stop the fighting.
21:12 Zelensky met with journalists in Kiev after a series of trips abroad. Korrespondent.net has collected the most interesting statements by the president. Read more in the article Resignations and Mobilization .
20:58 The US is not giving Kiev permission to strike Russia with ATACMS missiles because it fears the war will spread beyond Ukraine, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said: "Washington's policy on long-range strikes has not changed... I think the important thing to understand here is that we don't want to see the unintended consequences of an escalation that could turn this into a broader conflict that goes beyond Ukraine. I think that's something that we all need to reckon with and take very seriously."
20:03 Friedrich Merz, the leader of the German opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called on Berlin to transfer fighter jets to Kiev. German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, in turn, said that Berlin does not want to supply German fighter jets to Ukraine, since several other countries are already preparing to transfer F-16 fighter jets and Ukrainian pilots are undergoing training on them. According to him, the Bundeswehr does not have such aircraft, which means that if the German Air Force supplies Ukraine with its fighter jets, Ukrainian pilots will have to undergo lengthy retraining.
"The practice of providing assistance to Ukraine has already shown that nothing good will come of everyone trying to supply everything. Instead, each country or group of countries should concentrate on what it can do best," Hebestreit explained.
18:59 Russians dropped two 250-kilogram guided aerial bombs on Liman in Donetsk Oblast - at least five people were injured, OVA head Vadim Filashkin reported. Three stores, an infrastructure facility and a private home were damaged.
18:27 On Tuesday, July 16, electricity consumption will be limited throughout the day, Ukrenergo reported. From 00:00 to 2:00 and from 16:00 to 24:00, regional power companies will apply four stages of shutdowns simultaneously, and three stages during the remaining hours.
17:42 The Strategic Review of Defense Procurement of Ukraine was approved at the 75th NATO summit in Washington, the Ministry of Defense reported. The document contains 21 recommendations to improve the efficiency of providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine in conditions of martial law and peace. Key recommendations include: ensuring interoperability of procurement between Ukraine and NATO, developing long-term procurement planning, improving procedures for direct agreements and competitive procurement, and standardizing the level of procurement secrecy.
16:53 Beijing tried to convince the European Union to accept the Chinese-Brazilian plan for Ukraine, writes the South China Morning Post, citing sources in the EU. According to them, Macron and Scholz were confident that China would send its representatives to the conference in Switzerland, but it abstained, and shortly before the summit, called on the embassies of EU countries to consider its plan, which implied the participation of Russia in the negotiations and an "honest discussion" of all proposals, taking into account Moscow's interests in the security sphere.
According to the newspaper, in March, Chinese representative Li Hui, after meeting with Putin, told Europeans that the Kremlin was confident of its victory and therefore called for Russia's position to be taken into account.
16:28 Spain is sending Ukraine a new batch of military aid, which includes, in particular, ten Leopard 2A4 battle tanks, several excavators and a large number of anti-tank missiles, the country's Defense Ministry reported. The aid will arrive in Poland this weekend, after which it will be delivered to the Ukrainian military.
15:57 Representatives of Russia should be present at the second Peace Summit, Zelensky said. According to him, the first meeting - on energy security - will take place very soon, most likely in Qatar. In addition, a meeting on free navigation and food security should be held in Turkey in August. Another meeting on the humanitarian direction - the exchange of prisoners and the return of children - is planned in Canada.
After these three points, if they work, a plan for implementing all the points will be fully prepared, the president added: “I set the task that in November we would have a fully prepared plan… I believe that representatives of Russia should be at the second Summit.”
Zelensky also clarified his words about 14 Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades that do not have enough weapons. According to him, these are not new brigades - they simply have not received the promised Western weapons. The process of delivery is slow, but the president hopes that the recently created NATO coordination headquarters in Germany will help solve this problem and speed up the deliveries. In addition, Ukraine has already received some "positive signals" regarding the use of long-range weapons. Negotiations with allies are ongoing, "they need to be pushed through," Zelensky added.
At a press conference, the president was asked to assess the progress of the campaign two months after the new law on mobilization and training of personnel came into force. "The military says that everything is going according to their plan," Zelensky replied. At the same time, he added that there are not enough training grounds for recruits, and they are being expanded. In addition, the base abroad will be expanded, in particular, there is a corresponding agreement with Poland.
According to the head of state, Ukraine needs 25 Patriot systems to fully protect the entire country. The president also confirmed that Ukraine will receive a certain number of F-16 fighters from Western countries, but they will not be enough to fight Russian aviation on equal terms: "The decision on the F-16 is strategic, their number is not yet strategic. There is a significant number of aircraft that I have agreed on with other countries. Following my agreements, there are some processes on both sides." According to him, Ukraine will receive a certain number of aircraft in the summer and by the end of the year.
Zelensky also commented on Budanov's words about the Russian offensive in northern Ukraine: "After this statement, I called General Budanov, and he said that he was understood slightly incorrectly. That is, we understand that there may be offensives, we are at war with you... We believe that serious work has been done in the Kharkiv region to make a powerful offensive from the north impossible."
As for the US elections, Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to cooperate with any political force, including the Republican Party if it comes to power. "As for ending the war, what is Trump's vision: I understand the general things. I think that if Mr. Trump becomes president, we will work. I am not afraid of that," he stressed.
Ukraine is negotiating bilateral security agreements with nine more countries in addition to the 23 with which agreements have already been signed, the president said.
Zelensky is convinced that Ukraine will receive an invitation to NATO as soon as the war ends: "Partner countries cannot give our state a full invitation if it is at war. They need a consolidated decision of all NATO members to invite us. Therefore, I believe that at this NATO summit, Ukraine received the maximum it could receive."
14:31 The government is allocating UAH 1.65 billion to purchase modern equipment for the updated school course Defense of Ukraine, said Mykhailo Fedorov, head of the Ministry of Digital Transformation. According to him, educational cells of the course will be created in cities - one for 5-10 schools or per community. Modern equipment will be purchased for the cells through Prozorro Market, including interactive laser shooting simulators; drone control simulators; training shooting ranges and models; first aid kits and medical simulators.
14:24 Germany "almost unnoticed" transferred a large batch of military aid to Ukraine, which included 39 armored vehicles, HIMARS and other equipment, the German publication Merkur reports. In particular, the package included ten Leopard 1A5 battle tanks and 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, two IRIS-T SLM and IRIS-T SLS air defense systems, three HIMARS MLRS, etc. Thus, according to journalists' calculations, the number of Marders supplied by Germany has grown to 120, and the number of converted Leopards - to 50.
14:13 Following the meeting of the North Atlantic Council of NATO at the summit in Washington, a declaration was adopted on the establishment of the Joint NATO-Ukraine Analysis, Training and Education Center (JATEC), the Ministry of Defense reports. The department noted that this decision is an important step in identifying and implementing the experience of Russia's war against Ukraine, as well as increasing Ukraine's operational compatibility with NATO.
According to Deputy Defense Minister Stanislav Gaider, the center will become the first-ever practical platform for Ukraine-NATO cooperation and a practical tool for accelerating Kyiv's entry into the Alliance. JATEC will organizationally function directly within the NATO structure under the leadership of one of the Alliance's strategic commands. Ukraine, together with NATO member countries, will participate in the preparation and adoption of decisions by the Center.
13:40 At night, Russian troops attacked the Odessa region with a ballistic missile, preliminarily an Iskander-M, from the territory of Crimea, reported the head of the OVA Oleg Kiper. However, he did not specify any details.
13:16 The pace of mobilization in May-June has more than doubled compared to April-March, Reuters writes, citing data provided by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The department did not provide exact figures. Secretary of the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada Roman Kostenko said that at the current pace, the figure of 200,000 recruits could be reached by the end of the year. At the same time, the average age of those mobilized remained unchanged - about 40 years.
12:19 The last Russian patrol ship has left Crimea, said Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmitry Pletenchuk.
12:11 In the Oryol region, a "neutralized" drone fell on the territory of an oil depot, damaging an oil storage tank; there were no casualties, the regional authorities reported.
11:56 Orban sent his plan to end the war in Ukraine to all EU leaders after his "peace tour" and the proposals are on their desks, the Hungarian prime minister's office said. "These trips were very important because our country is the only country that has fresh and concrete information about how the warring parties and the key mediating players think," the office said.
11:27 Since the beginning of the day on July 15, the air defense of the south of Ukraine has destroyed four reconnaissance drones - three Orlan-10 and one ZALA. Over the past day, July 14, four enemy UAVs were also destroyed in the south - three Orlan-10 and one ZALA, Air Command South reported.
11:20 In Crimea, drones attacked the electronic reconnaissance unit of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at night on Cape Fiolent, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel reports, citing local residents. According to them, there were eight explosions in total. The "governor" of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, announced that the UAV attack was repelled.
10:28 Syrsky ordered an inspection of the situation in the 59th separate motorized infantry brigade named after Yakov Handzyuk and to clarify the circumstances of recent losses among personnel, the General Staff reported. For this purpose, a complex working group headed by the Chief of the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be sent to the unit's area of responsibility.
Earlier, paramedic and Azovstal defender Kateryna Polischuk (Ptashka) accused the new brigade commander Bohdan Shevchuk, appointed "in connection with 'brilliant' official decisions and family ties with the top military leadership", of the fact that his actions led to the death of a large number of servicemen, including those in high leadership positions. Polischuk called on Zelensky "to pay attention and conduct an official investigation into the facts of criminal orders, deliberate negligence, disregard for the life and health of personnel" on the part of Shevchuk.
09:57 EU foreign ministers may ignore the summit of foreign ministers scheduled to take place in Hungary to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with Orban's uncoordinated foreign policy activities, Politico writes. The source noted that by boycotting the meeting in Budapest, other foreign ministers want to "send a clear signal that Hungary does not speak on behalf of the EU."
According to the newspaper, the EU may hold its own summit on the same dates as Hungary has planned - August 28-29. After Orban's "peaceful" trips to Russia and China, many EU foreign ministers have been trying to find a way to avoid participating in the Hungarian summit, which they consider a propaganda event for Orban.
09:19 On July 14, in the Kharkiv region, Russians struck the village of Boguslavka in the Izyum district with a KAB, one person was wounded, reported the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov. Another person was injured as a result of the KAB shelling in the village of Kovsharovka in the Kupyansk district.
08:44 In Donetsk Oblast, one person was killed as a result of Russian shelling on July 14 - in Mirnohrad. Another 11 people in the region were injured in the past 24 hours, reported OVA head Vadim Filashkin.
08:36 In the morning, Russians attacked a residential building in the village of Sadovoe in the Kherson region, one person was injured, the OVA reported. In addition, the enemy struck a civilian car in Kizomys from a drone, one person was injured. Over the past 24 hours, eight people were injured as a result of Russian shelling in the region.
08:30 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of July 15:
- personnel - about 560,290 (+1200) people,
- tanks - 8214 (+8),
- combat armored vehicles - 15,826 (+15),
- artillery systems - 15,324 (+62),
- MLRS - 1119 (+0),
- air defense systems - 892 (+2),
- aircraft - 361 (+0),
- helicopters - 326 (+0),
- Operational-tactical level UAVs - 12,148 (+41),
- cruise missiles - 2398 (+2),
- ships/boats - 28 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 20,623 (+85),
- special equipment - 2569 (+3).
07:23 In Lipetsk Oblast, a UAV fell on the territory of an electrical substation in the Stanovlyansky municipal district, Governor Igor Artamonov reported. According to him, there are no casualties, "the operation of the electrical substation is not disrupted." The Russian Defense Ministry stated that at night, air defense allegedly destroyed 15 drones in Bryansk Oblast, one in Lipetsk Oblast, and six in Crimea.
06:42 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that the Russian military command has redeployed forces to conduct offensive operations in the area of Glubokoe in the Kharkiv region. In the area of Vovchansk, the Russian army is preparing airborne assault groups for further offensive operations.
According to the General Staff, in the Kharkov direction, the Russians unsuccessfully attacked the positions of the Defense Forces in the areas of Glubokoye and Vovchansk three times. The most difficult situation is in the Pokrovsk direction, where the enemy attacked Ukrainian positions in the areas of Novoaleksandrivka, Vozdvizhenka, Progress, Lozovatskoye, Novoselovka Pervaya and Yasnobrodovka 35 times over the past 24 hours. The situation in the Toretsk direction also remains tense.