Live: Russian troops advancing in ‘fierce fighting’ on eastern front, says Kyiv

Russian forces are advancing in four sectors on the eastern front as Ukrainian troops inch forward south of Bakhmut, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Maliar said on Sunday. Meanwhile US President Joe Biden has scheduled a trip to Europe with stops in the United Kingdom, the NATO summit in Lithuania and meetings in Finland, the White House said Sunday. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

 

9:37pm: Wagner mercenary group moves to Belarus

As the former Wagner headquarters in Saint Petersburg is scrapped of all signs of its previous occupants, the Wagner mercenary group, a newly built military base in a town 230km north of the Ukrainian border has been spotted, said FRANCE 24's Leo Mcguinn. 

According to a Ukrainian spokesperson, up to 8000 Wagner fighters may be deployed in Belarus since the failed coup in Russia a week ago.

Meanwhile exiled Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has led the armed rebellion, is reported being held up in a hotel in Minsk.

 

6:58pm: Russian troops advancing in 'fierce fighting', says Kyiv

Russian troops are advancing in four areas of the front line in eastern Ukraine amid "fierce fighting", Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Maliar said on Sunday.

"Fierce fighting is going on everywhere," Maliar wrote on social media, adding that Ukrainian troops were also advancing in one area in the east and two areas in the south.

"The enemy is advancing in Avdiivka, Mariinka, Lyman sectors. The enemy is also moving forward in the Svatove sector," she said.

Maliar said Ukrainian troops were advancing with "partial success" on the southern flank of Bakhmut, as well as near Berdyansk and Melitopol in southern Ukraine.

In the south, she said Ukrainian forces faced "intense enemy resistance, remote mining, deploying of reserves" and were only advancing "gradually".

"They are persistently and unceasingly creating conditions for as fast an advance as possible," she said.

2:21pm: Biden to travel to UK, NATO summit, Finland, says White House

US President Joe Biden has scheduled a trip to Europe with stops in the United Kingdom, the NATO summit in Lithuania and meetings in Finland, the White House said Sunday.

Biden is set to depart July 9 for "engagements" with the UK's King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the White House said in a statement. He will then continue to the NATO summit in Vilnius followed by a visit to Helsinki for the US-Nordic Leaders Summit.

1:04pm: 'Thin-armoured' French tanks impractical for attacks, says Ukraine commander

A Ukrainian commander has criticised the highly mobile AMX-10 RC infantry fighting vehicles – sometimes described as light tanks – supplied by the French government as "impractical" for front-line attacks, claiming one four-man crew had already died because of the vehicle's thin armour.

Kyiv said in April that the French vehicles, which are designed for armed reconnaissance and attacks on enemy tanks, were already in service.

But a 34-year-old battalion commander within the 37th Marine Brigade who uses the call sign Spartanets said the tanks' "thin armour" means they can be used as fire support, but not in front-line assaults.

"Unfortunately, there was one case when the crew died in the vehicle," the major told AFP on Friday.

"There was artillery shelling and a shell exploded near the vehicle, the fragments pierced the armour and the ammunition set detonated."

The crew of four inside were all killed, he said.

"The guns are good, the observation devices are very good. But unfortunately there is thin armour and it is impractical to use them in the front line (attack)," Spartanets said.

AMX-10s were developed in the 1970s, and French armed forces have begun to replace them with more modern vehicles called Jaguar.

11:18am: Prigozhin-controlled media group shuts down

Yevgeny Prigozhin's media holding group is to shut down, the director of one of its outlets said, highlighting the mercenary chief's worsening fortunes a week after the collapse of a brief rebellion staged by his Wagner Groupfighters.

Patriot Media, whose most prominent outlet was the RIA FAN news site, had taken a strongly nationalist, pro-Kremlin editorial line, while also providing positive coverage of Prigozhin and his Wagner Group.

"I am announcing our decision to close down and to leave the country's information space," RIA FAN director Yevgeny Zubarev said in a video clip posted late on Saturday on the holding's social media accounts.

Zubarev gave no reason for the decision.

Under a deal that halted the mutiny, Prigozhin, a former ally of President Vladimir Putin, was allowed to go into exile in Belarus and his men given the choice of joining him, being integrated into Russia's armed forces or returning home.

11:10am: Ukraine shot down three missiles and eight drones overnight – air force

Ukraine's air force said Sunday it had shot down three cruise missiles and eight attack drones deployed by Moscow's forces across the country overnight.

Ukraine's air force said that it had destroyed "all air targets" – eight Iranian drones and three Kalibr cruise missiles.

"Eight Shaheds were launched from the southeast, and three Kalibr missiles were launched from the Black Sea," the air force said in a statement.

Ruslan Kravchenko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration, said that three private houses were damaged by falling debris in the Kyiv region, which was targeted by a drone attack for the first time in 12 days.

A man sustained a leg injury, Kravchenko added.

11:00am: Poland to bolster security on border with Belarus, interior minister says

Poland will send 500 police officers to its border with Belarus, Minister of Interior Mariusz Kaminski said on Sunday.

The Polish Border Guard on Sunday said that 187 people tried to cross into Poland from Belarus illegally on Saturday.

"Due to the tense situation on the border with Belarus I have decided to bolster our forces with 500 Polish police officers from preventive and counter-terrorism units," Kaminski wrote on Twitter.

"They will join 5,000 border guards and 2,000 soldiers guarding the security of this border."

9:15am: ‘Everywhere is a target’ as Russia relaunches drone attacks

Reporting in the midst of a fresh air raid alert in Kyiv, FRANCE 24 correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze says that the overnight kamikaze drone attacks on the capital – which Ukrainian authorities say they successfully shot down – has shown that Russia doesn’t seem to have reassessed its strategy in the wake of the failed Wagner rebellion.

 

READ MORE:

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230702-%F0%9F%94%B4-live-russia-launches-first-overnight-drone-attack-on-kyiv-in-12-days

 

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