The night from Wednesday to Thursday was bereaved by the most destructive attack having targeted the Lviv region since the start of the war, killing five people, according to the authorities.
A deadly strike in western Ukraine marked the start of the day, Thursday July 6, before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy traveled to Bulgaria and the Czech Republic in search of weapons and support in view of joining NATO. Here is what to remember from the news of the conflict over the past few hours.
Strike kills at least five in Lviv, Unesco condemns
The night from Wednesday to Thursday was marked by a Russian strike on Lviv, a large western city rarely targeted. “This is the most destructive attack against the civilian population of the Lviv region since the beginning of the war”, noted on Telegram the head of the regional military administration, Maksym Kozytsky. At least five people were killed and 37 injured, according to the Interior Ministry.
“This attack, the first in an area protected by the World Heritage Convention since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, is a violation of this convention” of Unesco, reacted the UN organization based in Paris. A historic building listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site was hit. The salvo of Russian missiles that hit Lviv overnight damaged more than 30 apartment buildings and other buildings, according to local authorities. The Russian army claimed to have targeted sites of “temporary deployment” of Ukrainian soldiers. “All designated facilities have been affected”said the Ministry of Defense in Moscow.
The Ukrainian army “advances”, assures kyiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that the Ukrainian counter-offensive was slow, but assured that kyiv troops were advancing. “The offense is not fast, that’s a fact”he admitted. “But nevertheless, we are advancing, we are not retreating, like the Russians. We now have the initiative.” Nearly a month after the start of the operation to drive Russian forces out of national territory, the Ukrainian general staff has claimed progress “in some places” around the devastated city of Bakhmout.
At the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant, occupied by the Russian army in southern Ukraine, the “tensions decrease”, said the Ukrainian army. kyiv sees it as the result “of mighty work” of the Ukrainian army and diplomats, as well as of its foreign partners “who put pressure” on Russia. The two countries accused themselves for several days of an imminent provocation in this nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.
Zelensky visits Bulgaria and the Czech Republic
Volodymyr Zelensky spent part of the day in Bulgaria to discuss Ukraine’s accession to NATO and to plead for an acceleration of the delivery of arms by this major ammunition-producing country. The Ukrainian president said he came to Sofia to fill “lack of weapons”repeating that slow deliveries had delayed kyiv’s counteroffensive, which had allowed Moscow to strengthen its defenses in the occupied areas. “The motivation of our partners must remain intact”, he insisted. Otherwise “we will lose the initiative on the battlefield”. In Sofia, a “joint statement” between Ukraine and Bulgaria was signed in favor of kyiv joining NATO.
The head of government then went to Prague. From the Czech Republic, less than a week away from a crucial NATO summit in Lithuania, he said his country had “need for honesty” in its relations with the Atlantic Alliance. It’s time to demonstrate “the courage and strength of this alliance”he launched, hoping to receive for Ukraine a “invitation” to join NATO. Volodymyr Zelensky is expected in Istanbul on Friday as Moscow threatens to pull out of the Turkey-sponsored Ukrainian grain export deal.
Prigozhin is still in Russia, according to Lukashenko
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko assured that the sulphurous boss of the Wagner group, Evgeny Prigojine, was still in Russia, despite the agreement reached after the abortive rebellion which provided for him to go into exile in Belarus. “As for Prigozhin, he is in Saint Petersburg. Where is he this morning? Maybe gone to Moscow, or elsewhere, but he is not on Belarusian territory”did he declare. “I know for certain that he is free”he said, claiming to have had “yesterday” a telephone conversation with the mercenary leader, who, according to Alexander Lukashenko, assured him that he would continue to work for Russia. Wagner’s fighters find themselves “in their permanent camps” from eastern Ukraine and not in Belarus, “For now”according to the Belarusian leader.