Exclusives
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Ukraine’s ballistic missile may have reached Moscow. The damage wasn’t the point.. Ukrainian developers rush new weapons into combat to gather data, not to inflict damage—the way Fire Point spent a year missing before the Flamingo started landing. The first ballistic shot was doing that job. |
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Russia’s top bankers break taboo, admit war is hurting the economy. Two of Russia’s most influential economic officials have publicly acknowledged the mounting costs of the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv’s strikes on oil infrastructure and record military spending expose growing cracks in the Kremlin’s wartime economy |
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Russia annexed Crimea to control it. Now it can’t even control the gas station line. Stations open briefly without warning as pump and resale prices pull apart. |
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Russia’s oil exports hit a wartime record—its income didn’t. More tankers sail, but their Russian cargoes are worth less. |
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Ukraine can win the battles. Without the word “victory,” it loses the war.. NATO’s former deputy commander says no one but Ukraine names victory as the goal. Ukraine’s former defense minister warns that without naming it, even a battlefield win is no victory at all. |
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Moscow spent centuries explaining Ukraine to the world. A Lviv institute is breaking the monopoly. Sasha Dovzhyk runs INDEX, a Lviv institute that brings foreign scholars to live inside wartime Ukraine long enough to get it right. She spoke with Euromaidan Press about epistemic justice and why she thinks the world still lets Moscow narrate its neighbors. |
Military
Ukrainian drones disabled 13 Russian power stations across occupied territory in 48 hours, commander says — The reported 48-hour operation targeted Russian-controlled energy infrastructure across occupied Crimea, Melitopol, Donetsk, and Luhansk as Ukraine intensifies strikes behind the front line.
Russia says it downed Ukraine’s first ballistic missile—a weapon Kyiv has never announced — Kyiv stayed silent. Moscow’s ministry did the announcing.
Ukraine urges partners to urgently release Patriot missiles after one of war’s largest air attacks — President Zelenskyy said delays in delivering promised Patriot missiles prevented Ukraine from intercepting all of Russia’s latest attack, adding that faster support could have saved lives and homes.
ISW: Russia’s spring offensive is 16 times slower than last year — and costs 19 times more blood per kilometer — Nineteen times more casualties per square kilometer — and sixteen times less ground taken.
NATO’s former No. 2 wants Ukraine to fight like it’s 1918 — The front is stuck in 1917, Sir Richard Shirreff says—trench attrition neither side can break. The way out was invented a year later.
Two power substations catch fire in western occupied Crimea in probable overnight strike — Fires broke out at the Donuzlav 220 kV and Mityaevo substations in Saky district after a probable strike, Krymsky Veter reported, citing satellite imagery.
Russia’s fourth-largest refinery is on fire again. It just came off a shutdown — Drones struck Russia’s NORSI oil refinery near Kstovo on 2 July, days after an earlier strike had already knocked out its main crude unit.
Russia strikes Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Kirovohrad oblasts overnight — A Russian drone struck a car in Kherson’s Tsentralnyi district on 2 July, injuring a 58-year-old man.
Russian attack on Kyiv kills 20, injures about 100 – UPDATED — Rescuers pulled 17 people from a partially destroyed nine-story building in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, seven of them from beneath rubble.
Ukraine says it has Donetsk airport under “fire control.” Satellite images show Russia building there anyway — Russia is enlarging launch pads at Donetsk Airport for its jet-powered Geran-3 drones, new satellite imagery shows.
Ukraine says it hit Russian hangars in Crimea holding Su-30 jets worth up to $50 million each — Ukraine’s SBU claims 5 drone hits on Russian Su-30 fighter hangars at Saky airfield in Crimea.
Intelligence and technology
Airbus joins Ukraine’s frontline defence innovation program — Airbus has signed a memorandum with Ukraine’s Brave1 defence technology cluster, marking the company’s entry into a combat-tested innovation system that feeds frontline data directly into weapons development.
Ukraine deploys its first domestically made guided bombs to battlefield, narrowing Russia’s advantages — Ukraine has begun fielding its first domestically produced guided aerial bombs, part of a broader push to reduce dependence on foreign weapons and counter one of Russia’s most effective battlefield advantages.
Ukraine’s media are top Russian cyber target: Hackers hit Ukrainian TV site with 200,000 requests in minute — The SBU says Ukrainian media are one of Russia’s priority cyber targets since the 2022 full-scale war.
Russia’s Shaheds cost $10,000 each. Ukraine just unveiled drone that kills them for $2,000 — Ukraine unveiled the ZIRKA drone interceptor at $2,000 per unit with automated targeting.
International
“We do not want materials produced in Ireland to support Russia’s war machine” – Ireland nears decision on alumina exports — Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin says an investigation into alleged alumina supplies to Russia is nearing completion, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges swift action.
NATO’s former No. 2 says the alliance must rebuild without America. Starting now. — He reported to an American commander for years. Now NATO’s former deputy chief says Washington is “an inconsistent predator” and Europe must plan to stand without it.
Canada launches new measures as Russian hybrid threats deepen — Canada is strengthening its response to Russian hybrid interference with new programs aimed at detecting disinformation, supporting victims of hybrid attacks, and improving international cooperation, as officials warn that Kremlin influence operations are increasingly targeting Canadian society.
Humanitarian and social impact
Record 52,500 people sheltered in Kyiv metro during Russia’s overnight attack — including 4,500 children — Russia’s overnight attack on Kyiv was the largest in months — and more people fled underground than any night in recent years.
Russia destroyed 49 post offices. Japan rebuilt 20 of them—as modular units near the front line — 20 modular branches now operating in Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Chernihiv, and Kherson oblasts.
Left-bank Kherson villages have lost gas, lost power — and are burning waste to survive — Residents cook on makeshift stoves using anything that burns as large fires spread through steppe and forests.
Political and legal developments
Ukraine opened a criminal case over 25 non-combat deaths at its largest assault regiment. Serving soldier’s response was to call reporter “media killer” — Forensic findings show fractured ribs and blunt chest trauma in multiple cases officially recorded as pneumonia. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations is now treating the regiment’s commander as a suspect.
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