WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia resumes overnight drone attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine military says

Russia launched an overnight drone attack on Kyiv after a 12-day break, a Ukrainian military official said on Sunday, with air defence systems preliminarily destroying all targets on their approach.

"Another enemy attack on Kyiv," Serhiy Popko, a colonel general who heads Kyiv's military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel. "At this moment, there is no information about possible casualties or damage."

Reuters witnesses heard blasts resembling the sound of air defence systems hitting targets. There was no immediate information about the scale of the attack.

Kyiv, its region and a number of central and eastern Ukraine's regions were under air raid alerts for about an hour after 2 a.m. local time (2300 GMT).

** Serious threat remains at Ukraine nuclear plant, Zelenskiy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned on Saturday that a "serious threat" remained at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and said Russia was "technically ready" to provoke a localized explosion at the facility.

Zelenskiy cited Ukrainian intelligence as the source of his information.

"There is a serious threat because Russia is technically ready to provoke a local explosion at the station, which could lead to a (radiation) release," Zelenskiy told a news conference alongside visiting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

He gave no further details. Ukrainian military intelligence has previously said Russian troops had mined the plant.

Zelenskiy called for greater international attention to the Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe's largest civil nuclear facility, and urged sanctions on Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom.

Zelenskiy later held a meeting of the top military command and nuclear power officials at another of Ukraine's five nuclear plants, in Rivne, in the northwest of the country.

"The key issues discussed were the security of our northern regions and our measures to strengthen them," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, standing in front of the Rivne plant.

Zelenkiy's trip to Rivne was a rare journey for the Ukraine leader to an area relatively far from the fighting. But it is near the border with Belarus, where Russia's Wagner mercenaries have a deal to go after last week's aborted uprising. Their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was offered the option of resettling in Belarus, on Ukraine's northern border.

Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear power authority, said on Friday it had conducted two days of exercises simulating the effects of an attack on the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, issued a statement describing the Ukrainian allegations as "simply preposterous". Russia has dismissed any suggestion it plans to attack or sabotage the Zaporizhzhia plant. Each side accuses the other of shelling near the facility.

Sanchez said his visit to the Ukrainian capital was meant to underscore his support for Ukraine as Spain kicks off the six-month rotating EU presidency. Spain would provide an additional 55 million euro ($60 million) financial package for Ukraine to help the economy and small businesses, he said.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, located near the city of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine, has been occupied by Russia since shortly after Moscow's invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, suffered the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, when clouds of radioactive material spread across much of Europe after an explosion and fire at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev must show ‘battlefield results’ in next ten days – Zelensky

Ukraine wants to make some progress on the battlefield in its counteroffensive against Russia before the upcoming NATO summit, President Vladimir Zelensky said on Friday, although he admitted that this would lead to new losses.

Speaking to several Spanish media outlets, the Ukrainian leader stated that Kiev has to “show results” before NATO leaders convene in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11, adding that “every kilometer costs lives.” 

Zelensky noted that “torrential rains… slowed down some processes quite a bit” and reiterated calls for Kiev’s Western backers to continue sending arms to Ukraine. He also claimed that Ukraine’s offensive operations conducted last autumn were undermined by the late arrival of artillery.

“We stopped because we couldn’t advance. Advancing meant losing people and we had no artillery,” he explained. “We are very cautious in this aspect. Fast things are not always safe.” 

The Ukrainian president also reiterated his long-standing demands that Kiev eventually be admitted to NATO. “NATO without Ukraine is not NATO,”he stated, claiming that there were no other armies on the continent like Ukraine’s that had the same battlefield experience.

Zelensky’s comments come after Igor Zhovka, a deputy head of the president’s office, warned that the Ukrainian leader could skip the NATO summit altogether if the bloc did not make a serious commitment to Kiev’s accession. Earlier, Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the US-led military bloc, stated that any discussions about Ukraine’s membership could start only on the condition that it prevails over Russia.

Ukraine launched a large-scale offensive against Russian positions in early June but has failed to gain any ground and has suffered heavy losses, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Zelensky himself has admitted difficulties, saying that the offensive is proceeding “slower than desired” in the face of “tough resistance” from Russian troops.

According to a Financial Times report from earlier this week, Western officials have been unimpressed by Ukraine’s performance on the battlefield, with the paper’s sources noting that long-term Western support for Kiev is contingent on the eventual outcome of the offensive.

** Kiev to be ready for talks if Ukrainian forces gain control of 1991 border — Zelensky

The government in Kiev will be ready to hold talks to end the conflict in Ukraine if its armed forces gain control of the borders that the country believes are recognized internationally, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Saturday.

These borders would include the Crimea, Donbass and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, the president said, when asked if Ukraine would be ready for talks if its troops regained control of the positions they had held before Russia started its special military operation in February 2022.

"Are we ready for diplomatic settlement and what kind of diplomatic settlement are we ready for if we're at the borders as of February 24?" Zelensky said, repeating a question from a reporter, according to a video of the news conference that he posted to Telegram.

"It wasn't our borders on February 24, it was a line of engagement," he went on to say. "And so we emphasize once again: Ukraine will be ready for some format of diplomacy when we are really on our borders, on our real borders according to international law."

Zelensky also brought up the issue of the country’s much-desired NATO membership. He said he believes that there is every reason for the alliance to invite the country to join when the bloc convenes for a summit in Vilnius on July 11-12. He said he was expecting a clear signal in this context.

Reuters/RT/Tass