- Ukraine raises the flag of the recaptured Black Sea island
- UK Prime Minister and staunch supporter of Ukraine Johnson resigns
- Residents of Kramatorsk in Donetsk are ready for a Russian attack
KYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, July 7 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of decades of aggression against Moscow and warned that if he wanted to try to defeat Russia on the battlefield, he should try, but that would brought tragedy to Ukraine.
His remarks came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared for a closed-door meeting of foreign ministers at the G20 summit in Indonesia on Friday – the first time Putin’s top diplomat will come face-to-face with his most vocal opponents of the invasion of Ukraine since it began in February. Read more
Russian shells fell in eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected new offensive, while three were killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, authorities said.
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“We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. It is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is going that way,” Putin said in a televised address to parliamentary leaders. Read more
The West has failed in its attempt to contain Russia and its sanctions against Moscow have caused difficulties, but “not on the scale envisaged”, Putin added. Russia has not ruled out peace talks, but the further the conflict goes, the more difficult it will be to reach an agreement, he said.
Ukraine’s chief negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak dismissed Putin’s comments.
“There is no plan of a ‘collective West,'” he said, blaming only the Russian army “which entered sovereign Ukraine, shelling cities and killing civilians.”
Earlier, Kyiv lost one of its main international backers after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would withdraw. Moscow did not hide its joy at the political demise of a leader it had long criticized for arming Kyiv so vigorously. Read more
In a phone call, Johnson told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “You’re a hero, everybody loves you,” a Johnson spokesman said.
“Britain’s support for Ukraine will not change anything that happens in the corridors of power in London. Boris and all our friends in the UK have assured us of this,” Zelensky said in his evening video address.
Johnson’s resignation comes at a time of domestic turmoil in some other European countries that support Kyiv and doubts about their resilience in what has become a protracted conflict.
From the United States, support for Ukraine came from two senators — one Republican, one Democrat — who visited Kyiv on Thursday to discuss a bill they want to push through that would designate Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism.” Read more
The day began with the defiant raising of Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag on the recaptured Snake Island in the Black Sea, located about 140 km (90 miles) south of the Ukrainian port of Odessa.
Moscow reacted quickly, with its warplanes striking the strategic island shortly after and destroying part of the Ukrainian force there, it said.
Russia abandoned the island in late June in what it said was a goodwill gesture – a victory for Ukraine that Kyiv had hoped would loosen Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with parliamentary leaders in Moscow, Russia, July 7, 2022. Sputnik/Alexei Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS
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“Let every Russian captain on board a ship or plane see the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island and let them know that our country will not be broken,” Zelensky said.
KHARKIV AND KRAMATORSK
The regional governor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv said late Thursday that three people were killed and five others wounded after Russian forces shelled the city.
The bodies, lying on the ground near a park bench, were subsequently covered with sheets by emergency services. Two women who went out to feed cats in the area were killed, local resident Yuriy Chernomorets reported.
A man fell to his knees crying as his wife’s bloodied corpse was placed in a body bag. He kissed her hand.
“Dad, she’s dead, please get up,” said a man who identified himself as their son.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces continued to put pressure on Ukrainian troops trying to hold the line along the northern borders of the Donetsk region.
Having effectively cemented its full control over the neighboring Luhansk region, Moscow has made it clear that it plans to seize the parts of Donetsk it has not yet captured. Kyiv still controls some major cities.
The mayor of the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk said Russian forces fired rockets into the city center in an airstrike on Thursday, killing at least one person and wounding six others.
Pavlo Kirilenko, the governor of Donetsk region, said the rocket damaged six buildings, including a hotel and an apartment block in the large industrial center. Read more
Reuters could not independently verify these claims.
In Kramatorsk, soldier-turned-mechanic Artchk helped shore up defenses against an impending Russian attack, while nearby farmer Vasyl Avramenko lamented the loss of crops displaced by mines.
“Of course we are already prepared. We are ready,” Artczk, using his nom de guerre, told Reuters.
“It’s their (the Russians’) fantasy to occupy these cities, but they don’t expect the level of resistance. It’s not just the Ukrainian government, it’s the people who refuse to accept them.” Read more
Russia denies attacking civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize Ukraine, root out dangerous nationalists and protect Russian-speakers.
Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an imperial-style land grab with the invasion in February, starting Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II that has killed thousands, displaced millions and collapsed cities.
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Reports from Reuters bureaus; Written by Andrew Osborne, Alexandra Hudson and Rosalba O’Brien; Editing by Angus McSwan, Hugh Lawson and Deepa Babington
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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