Ukraine war in the live ticker: +++ 07:06 Positions of the Ukrainian military spied on: SBU arrests suspected Russian agent +++

29.06.2024

Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 07:06 Ukrainian military positions spied on: SBU arrests suspected Russian agent +++

The counterintelligence service of the Ukrainian domestic intelligence service (SBU) has arrested another Russian agent. The man is said to have prepared a breakthrough of Russian troops in the Donetsk region and spied on the Ukrainian defense forces. Press Office of the Ukrainian secret service. According to them, the alleged Russian spy is a resident of Myrnohrad who works as an employee of a private security company. Russia became aware of the man as an active user of pro-Russian Telegram channels, where he is said to have published his anti-Ukrainian comments.

+++ 06:34 Ukrainian Air Force: Ten Russian drones shot down during the night +++
The Ukrainian air defense has shot down all ten Shahed combat drones launched by Russia during the night. This was announced by the Ukrainian Air Force.

+++ 05:43 General Staff in Kiev: 102 battles at the front +++
The Ukrainian General Staff reported 102 battles on the front within 24 hours. The enemy has increased the pace of its offensive actions since Friday morning, according to the Ukrainian General Staff’s situation report on Facebook. Most of the fighting was reported in the direction of Pokrovsk. The Russian troops tried 28 times to push the Ukrainian units out of their positions. The Ukrainian army repelled 21 attacks. Seven battles are still ongoing, the statement said.

+++ 04:59 Czech Republic prepares security agreement with Kyiv +++
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala announces on X that the Czech Republic will sign a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine during the EU summit in London on July 18. He agreed with President Zelensky the day before to “complete negotiations on the text of the Czech-Ukrainian security agreement before the NATO summit in Washington,” Fiala writes. The next NATO summit is scheduled for July 9-11. The Czech Republic thus joins 19 countries, including the USA, Great Britain, Germany and France, as well as the European Union, which have already signed similar bilateral treaties.

+++ 03:59 USA wants to supply Kiev with HAWK missiles +++
The US government will supply Ukraine with $150 million worth of weapons and ammunition, including HAWK air defense missiles and 155-millimeter artillery ammunition. Two unnamed US officials said the arms aid package is expected to be unveiled on Monday. The Biden administration is responding to Ukraine’s desperate pleas for air defense support after Russia bombed Ukrainian energy facilities with airstrikes in recent weeks.

+++ 02:58 Report: Russian agents in Vienna ordered the murder of helicopter pilot Kusminow +++
Russian agents stationed in Vienna are suspected of having helped recruit and finance Russian operations, such as the killing of Russian military helicopter pilot Maxim Kuzminov. He had defected to Ukraine and was living in Spain, where the hit squad found him. This is reported by the “Wall Street Journal” citing Western security circles. The killers, who shot the man five times and then ran him over with an SUV, were criminals who were paid with cash provided by Russian state officials from Vienna, the paper writes. “We are now becoming a burden for our neighbors because Russia is using us as a base of operations,” a high-ranking Austrian intelligence official tells the paper. According to Austrian intelligence sources, the number of Russian diplomats working in Austria has risen from around 400 to over 500 in the last two years. About half of them are diplomats and managers, while the other half act as spies.

+++ 01:58 Russia: Town north of Bakhmut captured – Ukraine denies +++
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian forces have taken control of the town of Rozdolivka in eastern Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian military says heavy fighting is taking place in the areas surrounding the settlement. Rozdolivka is located in the Donetsk region, the focal point of the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine. It lies north of Bakhmut and Soledar, two towns that were brought under Russian control last year.

+++ 00:58 US Army awards Lockheed Martin contract worth 4.5 billion dollars +++
In the USA, the US Army has awarded the defense company Lockheed Martin a multi-year contract worth $4.5 billion for the Patriot air defense system. This was announced by the Pentagon. The contract includes 870 PAC-3 MSE missiles and the associated hardware. Lockheed produces the latest version of the missile interceptor system that arms the Patriot, known as the PAC-3 MSE. The Patriot system is one of a series of sophisticated air defense systems that the West is providing to Ukraine.

+++ 23:58 More Olympic starting places for Russians – Judokas rejected +++
The International Olympic Committee is allocating starting places for the Summer Games in Paris to more athletes from Russia and Belarus. As the IOC announced in the evening, 50 athletes from the two countries have so far been invited to compete at the Olympics under a neutral flag. However, not all of them have accepted the invitation, and some have already turned it down. Some judokas were rejected because they belong to army sports clubs. Of the total of twelve quota places for judokas from Russia, only two each will be allocated to men and women – it is not yet clear whether the four will accept the invitation.

+++ 22:59 Ten Ukrainians returned from Russian captivity +++
Ten Ukrainian civilians have returned home from Russian captivity, according to information from Kyiv. Among those released is Nariman Dzheljal, a leader of the Crimean Tatars, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on social networks on Friday. He thanked the Vatican for mediating the release of the civilians. Dzheljal was arrested in 2021, i.e. before the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Crimea, which had already been annexed by Russia in 2014, and was later sentenced to 17 years in prison.

+++ 22:30 Lithuania’s Foreign Minister: Kallas’ nomination recognizes stance towards Russia +++
Lithuania has welcomed the nomination of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas as the new EU foreign policy chief. Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis speaks of recognition of the views of the Baltic states and other countries on NATO’s eastern flank, which advocated an uncompromising stance towards Russia and support for Ukraine until its victory. “She has never made a secret of her position, she has spoken very clearly and unambiguously about value issues that are very important to us,” Landsbergis said of Kallas in Vilnius, according to the BNS agency. Kallas was chosen as the EU’s representative for foreign and security policy at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday. The 47-year-old liberal has been the first woman in Estonia’s history to head the government since 2021 – and is considered an advocate of a resolute stance by the West towards Moscow. (see also entries from 15:36 and see 13:38).

+++ 22:00 Baerbock: Supporting Ukraine is the best protection for a peaceful night’s sleep +++
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is convinced that peace and security in Germany also depend on continued support for Ukraine in the fight against the Russian invasion troops. “If Ukraine can no longer defend our peace, our freedom, because we no longer support them, then the question is how far Putin’s troops will advance,” said Baerbock in a talk by RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND), NDR and “Hannoverscher Allgemeine Zeitung”. “That is why the support for Ukraine is the best protection for our own peace and our own security.” Baerbock was referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Of course, one could discuss whether the billions in aid for Ukraine should be used differently, says Baerbock. But in this case, she would have to say: “I don’t know how long we can safely continue to sleep here in Brandenburg, right on the border with Poland.” Everywhere along the EU border and NATO’s external border, there are “light tests” by Russia. “Every reasonable person in the world, in Europe and Ukraine” wants nothing more than peace in Ukraine. But that is up to Putin. “To do this, Putin must withdraw his troops and finally put an end to this killing.” Instead, his answer is “more and more violence and terror.”

You can read all previous developments here.