Timeline: day 134 of Ukraine's defense against russia's aggression
Today is July 7. russia's military attack on Ukraine has been going on for 134 days. We're reporting on the current news. The article will be updated.
What about today?
Key points
Ukrainians are invincible! Our defenders are extraordinary! Despite everything, they don't lose hearts and smiles. The photo shows soldiers of the 59th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade.
In its morning briefing, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on the russian sabotage and reconnaissance group near Dobrianka being destroyed. On the border of the Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Ukrainian forces almost wholly destroyed the enemy's grouping and successfully repelled an assault attempt. The russians retreated, having suffered 50 casualties and ten wounded.
The General Staff also reported that russian forces are still trying to establish complete control over the Luhansk region. However, russian Defense Minister Shoigu said to putin on July 3 about the "complete liberation" of the territory of the self-proclaimed LPR.
In most directions, the russians continued to shell Ukrainian settlements with cannon artillery, mortars, and MLRS. Assault attempts were recorded in the Sloviansk and Kharkiv directions.
The russian occupiers lost 11 warehouses with military equipment in nine days, the BBC reports. These warehouses were located on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces are advancing in several tactical directions, particularly in the south—in the Kherson region and the Zaporizhzhia region. We will not give up our land—the entire sovereign territory of Ukraine will be Ukrainian!
photo: Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
It is the Ukrainian flag on Zmiinyi Island. Our soldiers installed it personally! A message for the russian military was also written on the flag, in which they were reminded that Snake Island is Ukraine.
"In the south of our country, in the occupied areas, russian forces have blocked any opportunity for people to know the truth about what is happening. They blocked access to social media, messengers, and YouTube. People should know about it. Therefore, if you can speak with people in the south—with Kherson, Henichesk, Berdiansk, Melitopol, and other cities and villages—please spread the truth there. Use every opportunity to tell the people in the occupied areas that we remember them and are fighting for them," Zelensky asked in a new video message.
Since the beginning of russia's invasion, 347 children have died in Ukraine, the country's Prosecutor General's office said. The last victim, known today, was a 17-year-old girl from Toretsk, Donetsk region. The day before, russian troops launched rocket attacks on the city. The girl was found under the rubble of one of the destroyed buildings. In addition, according to juvenile prosecutors, 646 children were injured during the war.
Ukraine's talks with russia
Currently, contacts with the russian negotiating group are maintained exclusively at the level of humanitarian subgroups on issues of exchange of prisoners and the opening of humanitarian corridors, Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said.
Who's coming to Ukraine?
On financial and information aid, weapons and politicians
About 10,000 people gathered at an air base in the Lithuanian city of Šiauliai on Wednesday to see the launch of the Bayraktar drone, which Lithuania has raised money for and which the manufacturing company has agreed to provide free of charge. The Lithuanian TV channel TV3 reported this. Haluk Bayraktar, head of the Baykar Defense drone manufacturing company, was also present at the event. "Bayraktar has become a symbol of hope and resistance. This campaign started in Lithuania," Haluk Bayraktar said.
Kuleba discussed with Blinken the accelerated acquisition of heavy weapons by Ukraine. As the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said, he agreed with the US Secretary of State to draw attention to Moscow's aggression at the meeting of the Group of Twenty and to prevent russia from spreading lies.
News from partners!
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after a meeting with members of his government on Wednesday at Downing Street, assured that he had no intention of resigning and plans to appoint new people to all vacated positions. Over the past two days, 50 politicians left the British Prime Minister's government.
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly demands that russia immediately withdraw its troops from Ukraine. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted the Birmingham Declaration, which most strongly condemned russia's war against Ukraine. The signatories of the declaration also noted that Ukraine and russia should start peace negotiations with full respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil confirmed the death of two country citizens during hostilities in Ukraine. We are talking about 40-year-old Douglas Burigot and 39-year-old former model Talite do Vali, who became victims of russian shelling in Kharkiv.
The Kremlin is preparing for a protracted war, creating the conditions for crypto-mobilization of the economy and, in many ways, initiating an operational pause in Ukraine, ISW reports. Other conclusions of American war experts:
- Ukrainian forces can create conditions for a counteroffensive on Kherson.
- The enemy conducted unsuccessful ground assaults in the northwest of the Kherson region.
- russia's Ministry of Defense has not claimed any territorial gains since July 3, confirming the assessment that russian forces are on an operational pause, continuing to conduct limited ground attacks to create the conditions for more extensive offensive operations.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Canada would not give space to russian propaganda at this week's G20 meeting in Indonesia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that they were ready for a flow of disinformation from representatives of the russian regime during the event.
Donetsk and Luhansk regions
Invaders in Lysychansk take people to filtration camps. The head of the city's civil-military administration, Valerii Shybik, also reported that there was no mobile service in the occupied city. "We already have data on the deportation of people to Stakhanov to the filtration camp," said Shybik.
About 8,000 residents remained in Sievierodonetsk, captured by russian troops. The head of the city's military administration, Oleksandr Striuk, announced this. According to him, there are no water and electricity supplies, and specialists who could restore their supply were evacuated earlier. At the beginning of the full-scale war, the city's population was about 180 thousand residents.
russia is conducting mobilization among the residents of captured Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk, the head of the Luhansk region said.
On July 6, the russians killed seven civilians in the Donetsk region: 3 in Toretsk, 2 in Avdiivka, 1 in Kodem, and 1 in Siversk. 2 more people were injured. This was reported by Pavlo Kyrylenko, Donetsk Regional State Administration.
Kharkiv region
At night, the russian army launched rocket attacks on Kharkiv. According to the head of the regional administration, Oleh Sinehubov, two rockets immediately landed near a boarding school for visually impaired children. According to preliminary data, there were no casualties due to the night shelling.
Yesterday two civilians were killed in the Kharkiv district, one of them in Kharkiv. One man was hospitalized in the Derhachi community.
Dnipropetrovsk region
A night of anxiety and shelling. The Zelenodolsk community is under fire again. The enemy continues to beat in the Kryvyi Rih district.
Yesterday evening, the occupiers shelled the Synelnykove district of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Three people were injured, and one person is in serious condition, says the head of the region, Valentyn Reznichenko.
Zaporizhzhia region
russia turned the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant into a military base, The Wall Street Journal reports. The occupiers deployed heavy artillery batteries on the station's territory and mined the reservoir's coast. Currently, about 500 russian soldiers are stationed there.
Panic has begun in the russian army: the invaders are afraid of new strikes by the Ukrainian forces from the HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems. Russian service members en masse are leaving warehouses and bases to store russian weapons and military equipment. A unit of russia's FSB arrived in the occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia region due to the desertion of 30 occupiers.
Kherson region
The situation is critical in the villages of the Kherson region. In many places, there is no water, electricity, or medicine. Fields are burning from shelling. People fear that the fire from the fields will spread to the houses. The occupiers do not allow to put out fires; people and farmers do it on their own, risking their lives and not having the means for this, sometimes even water.
Daily, dozens of regional enterprises report that they are forced to stop their activities. Either because of threats or because the business was banally taken by the russians. Ukrposhta, Privatbank, departments of state registration of civil status acts, and supermarkets are forced to stop work.
The russians are destroying the social infrastructure. Houses of culture, schools, and hospitals were destroyed. The watermelons, raspberries, and vegetables are stolen from the region, and wheat is taken away. MP Khlan reports all this.
Odesa region
At night, the russians launched a missile strike at the Odesa region. According to preliminary data, there are no victims. As the South operational command reported, two missiles destroyed two agricultural hangars. One of the hangers stored about 35 tons of grain.
