Russia shows absolutely no desire for peace – missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities do not stop. Thus, as a result of the strike on the Dnieper, 21 people died, in the city of Samara – five. Shahed's strike on Odessa took the lives of a married couple. In the frontline villages of Sumy, Kharkov, Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk regions there are wounded almost daily.
The situation at the front remains difficult: the invaders are trying to advance in the north of the Sumy region, and have amassed 111 thousand personnel in the Pokrovsk direction.
On the global stage, the world's attention was focused on events in the Middle East – on the conflict between Israel and Iran. In addition, the NATO summit showed an understanding that Russia remains the biggest threat to Europe, and therefore the most important decision is to increase national defense spending.
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ICTV Facts tells about whether the conflict between Israel and Iran has affected Ukraine, what decisions the NATO summit in The Hague brought and where the situation on the front is the most difficult.
- Missile attacks on Ukraine – Samara and Dnepr
- NATO Summit in The Hague: Zelensky and Trump meet
- The situation in Sumy region
- The situation in the Donetsk direction
- Aircraft at Marinovka airfield hit
- Conflict between Iran and Israel
Missile attacks on Ukraine – Samara and Dnepr
On June 24, the Russians launched a missile attack on the Dnieper. Explosions were also heard in the city of Samara, not far from the regional center. The enemy attacked with ballistics.
As a result of the attack on the Dnieper, 46 multi-story buildings, 41 private houses, several dormitories, more than a hundred cars, a gas station, shops, etc. were damaged. Educational and medical institutions, administrative buildings and buildings of the State Emergency Service were also destroyed, and passenger train No. 52 Odessa – Zaporozhye was damaged.
According to the latest data, 21 people were killed in the attack on the Dnieper. In Samara, two people were killed and 14 were injured. In total, 340 civilians were injured in this missile attack on the Dniepropetrovsk region, including 38 children.
On June 27, explosions were heard in the Dnieper again during the day. The air force warned of a ballistic threat. However, the enemy missiles again targeted the city of Samara. At least five people were killed as a result of the missile strike on Samara. 25 people were injured, 12 of whom were hospitalized. Four of the injured are in serious condition.
NATO Summit in The Hague: Zelensky and Trump meet
On July 24 and 25, the NATO summit was held in The Hague, Netherlands, where the Ukrainian delegation headed by President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived. An important moment was Zelensky's 45-minute meeting with his American counterpart Donald Trump.
The leaders discussed strengthening air defense for Ukraine, in particular, the purchase of American Patriot air defense systems. Trump said the United States would consider supplying more air defense batteries to Ukraine.
Following the conclusion of the Ukraine-NATO Council meeting at ministerial level, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha announced new aid packages and investments for our country.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the leaders of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland and Secretary General Mark Rutte. They discussed strengthening Ukraine's air shield, including air defense systems and interceptors of Iranian kamikaze drones.
Zelensky also discussed increasing military support for Ukraine with the leaders of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
By the way, at the summit, NATO member countries made a rather important decision – to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. This decision is also in line with Ukrainian interests.
The final document notes the importance of continuing support for Ukraine and that the main and long-term threat to NATO is Russia.
Publicly recording both threats from Russia and support for Ukraine is a positive moment for Ukraine in relations with the United States, says political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko.
Another important aspect is that the issue of Ukraine's prospects for NATO membership remains on the agenda. And the very presence of Volodymyr Zelensky at the summit is also a sign that we are de facto in NATO.
The situation in Sumy region
On June 22, analysts from the DeepState project announced that the Ukrainian Defense Forces had liberated the village of Andreevka in the Khotyn village council of the Sumy region and managed to stabilize their left flank. This was done by fighters from the 225th Separate Assault Regiment.
As analysts note, our soldiers were able to stop the enemy’s further advance towards Khotyn and Pisarevka.
Deep State
The representative of the operational-tactical group Siversk Vadim Mysnik in a commentary to Fakty ICTV emphasized that the situation in the North-Siversk direction is completely under the control of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. The Russians continue shelling along the entire line of the state northern border.
At the same time, a gradual decrease in shelling is recorded over the week, and on some days – a sharp decrease. Thus, on June 21, 162 shellings were recorded, and on Thursday, June 26, there were already 41 shellings.
– Such fluctuations are a consequence of the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are successfully destroying both enemy manpower and enemy artillery systems. We continue to strike at Russian territory, at their command posts, places where manpower is concentrated, and ammunition is stockpiled. That is, we are destroying all logistics chains as much as possible, – emphasized Vadim Mysnik.
According to the speaker of the OTU Siversk, the occupiers, having an advantage in numbers, continue to actively go on the offensive in order to advance towards Sumy.
Vadim Mysnik noted that the length of the Sumy region border with the Russian Federation is almost 550 km – not such a large section, but the enemy maintains significant forces there, constantly pulling up reserves from various units, in particular, from the Marine Corps and the Airborne Forces (VDV).
In addition to military operations, the Russians continue to terrorize the local population by shelling populated areas.
— The key goal is to exert psychological pressure, to intimidate the population. This week, such cases occurred near Sumy in the Verkhnesyrovatskaya community, where eight powerful Russian drones practically destroyed the street. Seven residential buildings were destroyed, another 22 were damaged. Unfortunately, there are dead and injured people, — said Vadim Mysnik.
The very next day, the enemy used drones to strike a crowd of people in the Putivl community. Such cases are also recorded in the Chernihiv region – the enemy struck people in the Snovsk community. There are two dead, one wounded.
— It should be noted that if the Russians are reducing the activity of shelling from fire systems, then in return they are more actively using various drones — FPV drones, drops from UAVs, fiber-optic drones that fly 20 km deep.
The main directions of launching enemy drones are Bryansk, Kursk and Oryol regions. Vadim Mysnik notes that, despite numerous attacks, the Defense Forces are actively destroying Russian drones.
“We have air defense systems in almost every unit that are aimed at countering drones,” concluded the OTU Siversk speaker.
The situation in the Donetsk direction
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky reported that the Russians have amassed almost 111 thousand personnel in the Pokrovsk direction. The invaders are not abandoning their attempts to reach the administrative border of the Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk regions.
The Russians were especially active in amassing sabotage and assault groups two weeks ago. However, the Defense Forces either destroyed them or neutralized them, and the remnants were pushed further from the administrative border. Syrsky assures that the situation in the Pokrovsky direction is under control.
The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, Andrey Kovalenko, emphasized that the enemy is actively using the tactics of massacres in both Donetsk and Sumy regions.
According to Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky, the Russian occupiers continue to carry out fierce attacks in the Novopavlovsk, Kramatorsk, and Toretsk directions. In the Dobropolsky direction, the invaders are trying to advance toward Konstantinovka, but have achieved nothing except numerous losses.
“Last week, near Yablonovka, the enemy carried out a powerful attack using 24 armored vehicles. But our soldiers stopped this invasion, destroying a large number of Russian personnel and 20 armored vehicles,” the commander-in-chief noted.
Aircraft at Marinovka airfield hit
On June 27, units of the Special Operations Forces, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Defense Forces launched an attack on the Marinovka airfield in the Volgograd region of Russia.
It is reported that two enemy Su-34 fighters were destroyed and two more were damaged, as well as a place where Russians service and repair combat aircraft.
As the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized, Su-34 fighter-bombers are the main aircraft from which the Russians launch missiles and drop bombs on populated areas of Ukraine and the positions of our troops.
Photo: our website
Conflict between Iran and Israel
The conflict between Iran and Israel ended after 12 days, with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian declaring victory. A major war in the Middle East region was avoided, but the problem remained.
In a commentary to Factm ICTV, political scientist, candidate of political sciences, associate professor of the Taras Shevchenko University Igor Reiterovich emphasized that the problem in the region has not gone away, and, with a high probability, there will be a new wave of military actions in the fall.
— The US and Israel have given Iran a peace agreement document that Tehran is unlikely to accept, much less implement in practice. There are three key points: not to enrich uranium for weapons, to hand over already enriched uranium, and to limit the range of Iranian ballistic missiles. How to implement and control all of this is an open question, — the political scientist notes.
Therefore, it is highly likely that Iran will not continue these negotiations.
Since the conflict between Iran and Israel began, there have been concerns, including in Ukraine, that oil prices, a key resource from which Russia profits, would rise.
But in practice, it turned out that oil prices did not jump because the monarchs of the Middle East took a tough stance and kept prices down.
“There were some small fluctuations, but mostly of a speculative nature. Therefore, the countries that trade in oil kept the situation under control,” the political expert explained.
There are two main benefits for Ukraine from the Iran-Israel conflict. The first is that Russia has once again received a very harsh slap in the face and has shown itself to be an unreliable ally, since it has not provided any assistance to Iran.
— Russia has already been largely pushed back from the Middle East, and this puts an end to Russian geopolitical ambitions. Some naively, perhaps, thought that the Russians would behave differently with Iran. But in fact, it was all very predictable, — says Igor Reiterovich.
The second benefit for Ukraine is that Iran is now weakened and will not be able to maintain the level of cooperation with Russia that it had before. Let us recall that the Iranians transferred many components for weapons to the Russians, but now they are unlikely to do so.
It is quite possible that Iran will start selling oil to China, and Iranian oil will displace Russian oil.
As for the involvement of the United States in resolving the conflict between Israel and Iran, according to the political scientist, American President Donald Trump has shown himself to be a person who makes spontaneous decisions and does not want to acknowledge reality if it diverges from his vision.
To date, we have no guaranteed confirmation that the American super-heavy bombs dropped on Iran's three nuclear sites, including Fordow, actually destroyed them.
— The Israelis say that they have set back Iran's nuclear program by several years. Western intelligence countries say that it could be several months. Trump and Defense Minister Geghset say that they did everything superbly, destroyed everything. But there is no real evidence of this, — says Igor Reiterovich.
According to the political expert, Trump agreed to the bombings because he was ridiculed in the media. All American publications were filled with the abbreviation TACO (Trump always chickens out).
“Trump has built his entire career on ridiculing and attacking other politicians. And he did it very rudely and ugly. And here he himself became the target of such attacks. That is probably why, under such pressure, he was forced to agree to strikes on Iran,” the political scientist believes.
In his opinion, this attack has more informational benefit than practical benefit.
