Nearly 3 centuries following the Great Northern War, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to that major battle while speaking during a meeting of young entrepreneurs in Moscow last Thursday, noting that Moscow is now trying to recover its “original lands”, just as the Russian emperor did. Peter the Great at the beginning of the eighteenth century, likening the current Russo-Ukrainian war to that of the old.
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New developments regarding Putin’s health condition… and an urgent request from his doctors • Al Marsad Newspaper
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Exclusive translation: A Kremlin insider said doctors had advised Russian President Vladimir Putin not to make any “prolonged” public appearances due to his deteriorating health.
Putin got “urgent medical help” following falling ill while speaking to army chiefs, Kremlin insiders claim, with doctors advised him “not to appear in public for a long time.”
This comes following the Russian president’s annual question-and-answer session with ordinary citizens was postponed indefinitely, according to the Daily Mail.
Countless photos and videos have circulated in recent weeks showing the Russian president bloated and uncomfortable, while other clips showed him suffering from seemingly uncontrollable leg tremors and faintly walking.
A general named SVR said that the Russian president’s meeting with ordinary citizens was postponed indefinitely, due to the precarious health of Vladimir Putin.
A week ago, the president was preparing to answer citizens’ questions in late June, but his doctors advised him not to make any prolonged public appearances in the near future.
Russia attacks kyiv again and warns the US before supplying new weapons | International
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Russia once more attacked kyiv and its surroundings today in the first attack on the Ukrainian capital in more than a month, coinciding with the threat of Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will hit new targets if Ukraine receives missiles from the US and other Western countries. long-range.
kyiv -until this Sunday- had not been the object of attacks since April 28, when the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, was in the capital to meet with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski.
After 05:00 (Kyiv local time), the Russian Armed Forces launched five X-22 cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea in the direction of the capital of Ukraine, according to the General Staff of the latter country.
One of the missiles, launched from Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers, according to the Ukrainian Air Force Command, was intercepted over the Obukhov district of the region.
The rest impacted infrastructure in the north of the capital, according to the General Staff.
Attack on European tanks
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed to have destroyed T-72 tanks and other armored vehicles on the outskirts of kyiv. supplied by Eastern European countries to Ukraine who were in a railway car repair plant.
kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said there were explosions in the Darnitsia and Dnipro districts. One person was hospitalized.
In addition, Russian forces fired missiles at the town of Brovary in the kyiv region, according to the mayor, Ihor Sapozhko.
The attack coincided with Putin’s warning to kyiv and the West in a previously recorded interview on Russian public television.
presidential warning
The head of the Kremlin affirmed that the Russian Armed Forces will attack targets that until now had been spared if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles.
“If they do supply them, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons, which we do not lack, to attack those targets that we have not hit so far,” he said.
Putin made the remarks following the White House announced a new $700 million military aid package to Ukraine, which includes multiple HIMARS missile launchers with a range of up to 70 kilometers.
The US made this decision following Zelensky promised not to use them once morest Russian territory.
Putin assured that the US decision will not fundamentally change the balance of power on the ground, since the weapons of the US and other countries are intended to replenish the war material lost by Ukraine during the hostilities.
“There is nothing new here. First of all, these multiple-launch missile systems are already in the hands of the Ukrainian Army: they have similar Russian-made Soviet Grad, Smerch, Uragan”, capable of reaching between 45 and 70 kilometers, he stated.
The Russian president considered that, in general, “all this fuss regarding the supply of additional weapons (to Ukraine) pursues a single objective: to prolong the armed conflict as much as possible.”
Battle continues in Lugansk
Since withdrawing from northern Ukraine, Russia has sporadically attacked the capital, as well as other places such as Lviv in the west; Chernigov, in the north; Sumy, in the northeast; and Kharkov, in the east, despite having concentrated all its efforts on Donbas.
There, the fight for Severodonetsk and neighboring Lisichansk, the last major cities under Ukrainian control in the Lugansk region, continued today.
In Severodonetsk the Russians control the eastern part of the city, the General Staff said today.
After occupying 70% of the city, Ukrainian troops have recovered 20% of the territory “in two days” and now the city is once more “split in two” in what is a real war of attrition, the region’s governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said today.
According to the Ukrainian military command, the Russian units are focused on encircling the Ukrainian troops not only in the area of this city and in Lisichansk, but also trying to block their main logistics routes.
To do this they try to cut the road between Bajmut, in the Donetsk region, and Lisichansk.
According to Gaidai, the Russian general in charge of the operation in Donbas may have been ordered to “take Severodonetsk until next Friday or completely cut off the road and take it.”
According to Rodion Miroshnik, the “ambassador” to Russia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic – recognized as independent by the Kremlin – separatist militias “are fighting on the outskirts of Lisichansk.”
Follow the wear
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian troops in Donetsk claim to be regarding 19 kilometers from the strategic city of Sloviansk, key to taking the Ukrainian military stronghold of Kramatorsk.
Russian troops have not yet started the final offensive in the Donetsk region as they focus all their efforts on Luhansk.
If you take this region, the Russian Army will need considerable time to recover and regroup before a major offensive can be launched in Donetsk, experts agree.
All this while he must defend himself in the Kharkov region from the counterattacks that push him towards the Russian border and repel in the south the counterattacks in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is already counting weeks to launch a major counteroffensive to recover occupied territories.
“When will we have enough weapons? Soon. And they will see it as soon as we start a more intense counterattack, said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak.
According to his colleague Oleksiy Arestovych that will not be until the second half of July or August.
Putin: ‘I will not block export of grains to Ukraine’… Effective?
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
photo credit: Yonhap News
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will not block the operation of vessels carrying grain produced in Ukraine.
Putin said in an interview with Russian state media, Rossiya 1IV, that he would guarantee exports using Russian-occupied ports, including Mariupol, as reported by Russian Tass news agency.
It is noteworthy that this remark comes amid growing criticism that Russia has blocked export routes from Ukraine, one of the world’s largest granaries, causing global grain prices to rise, and at the same time, food problems in underdeveloped countries are getting serious.
Putin also mentioned his ally Belarus, adding that Ukraine’s grain might be exported to other countries via land via Belarus.
However, it is unclear whether Putin’s position will become a reality.
Ukraine is highly likely not to choose to export through Russian-occupied territories because Ukraine is in the position that it cannot recognize all Russian-occupied territories, including Mariupol.
Exporting through Belarus, which borders northern Ukraine, is also difficult.
Belarus is already under sanctions from the West for helping Russia invade Ukraine, which limits exports.
Although President Putin has repeatedly asserted that strong economic sanctions once morest Russia and Belarus are exacerbating the global food problem, Western powers, including the United States, have no intention of easing sanctions, saying that Putin’s claims are mere sophistry. making it clear